#this looks more like a fic than a scene rewrite lol

[comfysofti]

Continuing with the 811 swap au drafts, this time doing rewrite of uhhh, death scene in the beginning. I think i remember it fairly well to be able to rewrite it for the au :33

Plus i just woke up and have absolutely nothing else to do. Anyways

Leaving the rewrite under the cut because it ended up a lot bigger than expected

Can i even call it a rewrite? I dunno, will call it an attempt at one, if 811 was a novel, lol

Yea, death scene but in 8:18 swap au

You don't understand who just attacked you. The person seemed both familiar and foreign. You were able to get away, but now with a bleeding wound... You hope your wound wasn't too severe, as warm blood soaks your clothes and clings to your skin. You almost feel lightheaded, although you're not sure why exactly

But then you hear footsteps. Hurried one's, obviously worried. You know who they belong to

"L-Leon! Oh no no no, this wasn't supposed to happen!"

You see Ryker run up to you, with worry in their eyes. They look at your wound, with obvious horror, panic and... Realisation?

"...Ryker, we need to... We can exit through-"

But you quickly get interrupted. Before you know it, Ryker, without another word, wraps their arms around you for support and drags you to the confessional, that you honestly didn't even noticed until now. They shove you inside, before closing the door... But they pushed something else inside. You look briefly at the object, before looking at Ryker through the grates of the confessionals door

"i don't have time to explain, im sorry! But i need you to trust me. We both have limited time. You see the notebook?"

You look down, looking at the object Ryker pushed inside with you... Isn't that Ryker's diary?

"...yes?"

"good. Don't open it no matter what, unless i give permission. But don't let others have it either... I-i'll explain once danger passes. For now, stay here, patch yourself up and again DON'T open that "notebook". Please"

You're confused. Worried. Conflicted. Your wound seems rather unimportant right now. You're worried for their safety. You're the oldest damnit! You should be keeping them safe. Not the other way around... You try to open the door. It doesn't budge, like it's lock got stuck in place. You want to try again but-

"Leon please. Stay there and be quiet. I promise I'll explain everything. And we don't have time right now... Just please stay here and wait. That person is only after me. But now that he knows im not alone-..."

They trail off, pausing at some commotion nearby, something falling, braking in the other room

"... I don't want to put you in a bigger danger, nor i do i want you to die. Please. Just trust me"

Their voice is shaky, they almost stumble over their words in panic and worry. They give you apologetic but serious look. You pull your hand away from the door

"...okay"

"thank you... And don't feel guilty for what might happen to me"

You hear them step away

Then there's some silence... You're still bleeding. Right. You should have some bandages on you, maybe other medical supplies too. You pray they didn't fell out from your coats pocket

...

Here's the bandages! As you take them out, you hear some footsteps. You freeze, trying to see what's going on. It's hard to see, but you see the person that attacked you before approach Ryker, as they seemingly try to leave. You have a bad feeling at the pit of your stomach. You really want to leave, to do something, but as you testes before, you couldn't open the door. Damn it. Ryker, please be safe-

"...V-Vittorino!"

There's brief silence, just for a mere second, before you see the figure point a rifle at Ryker. They take a step back, raising their hands. Oh no no no-

"Please let me explain-!"

"◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻"

Then you hear a gunshot. You feel like your heart left your body. You can't see what's happening clearly and you only get more worried. The only thing keeping you grounded is your own wound. You'll take care of it later

"Christ, Vittorino! ◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻!?"

The person starts talking again, but it sounds like some cacaphony. Voice human and not. Words and laugh, sounds like it's in reverse but also not, all at the same time. You can't understand a word the figure is saying. You focus on Ryker. You can't clearly see where they were shot. But you see blood on their clothes

More talking from the figure. More of this chaotic cacaphony, before the figure grabs Ryker and drags them away. You see them looking at the confessional, with such apologetic and scared look. Fuck it. You try to open the door-

It doesn't budge. You try again-

But then you hear commotion ln another room. Where Ryker was dragged off to. Something breaking, shots... Screaming, flesh tearing, something breaking... Something burning. You feel sick. You try to open that door again and again, but nothing, as the commotion continues. You're too weak because of your wound... Right. Ryker asked you to patch yourself up. You take the bandages, that you didn't even saw you dropped, wrapping them tightly over the wound. You hear the commotion come to a halt. You hide the bandages, before looking at the book or notebook, that Ryker left you... "Don't open it no matter what"... "Don't let anyone have it"

You sigh and hide it in your pocket, holding one hand over it, before trying to open the door again

It opens with ease this time. You slowly step out, listening to any noise. But you don't hear anything. Only your own rapid heartbeat. You pray to god that Ryker is okay

You go to the lobby, seeing Rykers blood stain on the carpet like a long line, leading you. You see some paintings on the wall, previously untouched, stained by something red, like the paintings themselves bleeding

The closer you step to the lobby, the better you feel scent of burned flesh. It makes your stomach churn. And then you see it

Ryker

Or rather their body

Their face is burned practically to the bone, whatever was supposed to be the remains of it, and their mouth look like a huge mess, than something that's part of a human. And there's a huge hole, going right through their chest

Screams of terror and pain get stuck in your throat as you don't even notice how you run up to the body, holding it in your trembling arms, staring in shock. You feel your mind go blank

"...Ryker-"

The name barely leaves your mouth. They're dead. And whoever killed them is still here. That person knows you're here. You need to get help-

You carefully lay Ryker's body back on the floor, before covering their face, or remains of it with a cloth, before staring more at the body. You don't understand who would do this. Why Ryker of all people?

Your legs feel weak and shaky, like there's cement blocks tied to them

"...who... Why you...? God, why- why they?"

You ask, more to yourself than anyone else

There's silence, only storm outside, reminding you that this isn't a dream

But then you see something red, slowly fall on the floor near your feet and Rykers body. A letter?

Indeed it is. And it only has a red paper with "Rosso Cadere" and coordinates written on it

Rosso Cadere... Basilica? Did God answered your question? Is this a lead to figuring out who and why did this to Ryker?

You're not sure, but... Both you and Ryker went to the Basilica. It was an odd place. Maybe it indeed has answers

You pocket the letter, with a quiet "thank you" before looking at Ryker's body again

...no you can't bare looking at it any longer

You need to find help first

Despite the storm outside you quickly leave the church, not knowing where you're running, ignoring the pain in your chest from your wound, clutching the pocket with the "diary" Ryker left you. Your wound is the least of your concern right now. You need to find help first. Maybe if you're quick enough, you'll catch the murdered before that person got away

You can only pray you will

Wounds and questions will wait

[foreingersgod]

you’re caroline harvey fic absolutely ate. please write more for her there’s such a lack of fics 😫

Scaredy Cat . CH

pairing: caroline harvey x reader

A/N: i had to rewrite this 3 times because it kept sounding super awkward, so if this is horrible, im sorry LOL

“maybe we should watch something else, babe…” caroline offered from the spot next to you on the bed. she had an arm wrapped lazily around your shoulder, legs tangled with yours under the sheets “it’s gonna get you scared and then you won’t be able to sleep”

it was a simple date-night-in on a gloomy saturday. the rain pouring heavily outside made it impossible to continue with your original plans, forcing you and caroline to resort to a movie night in your shared apartment. in all honesty, you didn’t mind-you’d much rather snuggle up in bed with your girlfriend, snacking on a half eaten box of pizza and throwing on a show. you had been scrolling through netflix for what felt like an eternity until you came upon the horror section, recognizing a movie poster that you thought looked quite interesting. you turned to caroline with a pleading look, begging her agree to watch it with you. but she knew you more than you knew yourself and was quite quick to suggest something else.

she knew you were jumpy person, easily paranoid over little things, so she was aware that watching this movie wouldn’t end like you thought it would. you always claimed to like horror movies-love them, in fact-but without fail, you’d end up shutting it off before it even got to the good part. she thought she’d spare you of the jumpscares and inevitably the nightmares you were sure to have by picking a different movie.

“but it looks so good!” you pouted, bottom lip jutting out as you gave her your best puppy dog eyes. a look you knew she could never refuse “i promise i won’t chicken out! please?”

she rose her eyebrows at you, head tilting to the side in distrust. but you doubled nonetheless as you continued your pleas.

“alight alight, fine” she agreed, rolling her eyes “but i don’t want to hear about how scared you are when we go to bed, got it?”

you smiled almost instantly, shaking your shoulders in excitement and pressing play on the movie. your body scooted closer to caroline’s and your hand found its way to her sweatpant-clad thigh. an off key, eerie music emitted from the screen as the movie began to roll.

“i’m a woman of my word” you said, waving her off “it’s probably not even that scary, i’m sure i’ll be fine”

famous last words.

like caroline had expected, your excitement was short lived. only 20 minutes had passed before you were jolting in your seat and clinging onto her arm. it took all she had to not burst out laughing every time one of the jumpscares took you by surprise. she noticed how your hand squeezed her bicep every time one of the scenes got increasingly suspenseful, how you would cover eyes with one hand with your fingers parted slightly.

finally the movie ended after a huge plot twist, resulting in you letting out a relieved sigh. just like you had promised, you made it the entire way through.

“so,” caroline began, watching the credits take over the screen as she turned the TV off. she looked over to you, fear practically radiating off of your body “was it worth it?”

“yea” you nodded as you chewed on the inside of your cheek “not bad at all”

it was quite obvious that you were lying. from the meekness of your voice to the extensive clingy-ness, caroline knew that you were more deceiving than you intended to let on. but despite that, she wanted to let you have your moment of pride and let you workout the fright yourself.

“y’sure? you’re looking a bit pale, babe. gonna make it through the night?”

“i’m fine!” you shrugged it off once more, slumping down on the bed and pulling the comforter up over your body abruptly. sleep seemed to be the only thing to soothe your mind. your feet found company with hers as you grappled for any source of comforting touch “can we just go to bed now?”

caroline obliged as to not press any further. you wouldn’t be a happy camper if she had proved you to be wrong. she followed in your actions, nuzzling into bed and pulling you flush against her chest like she always did. for several moments, it seemed the world was silent for the night. trees rustled outside your bedroom window, the frame of your apartment building creaking with each whoosh of the wind, the quiet breathes of your girlfriend hitting the nape of your neck softly. it was like any other night, drifting off to sleep with one another, until caroline felt you tossing and turning.

“YN,” she mumbled, half asleep. she sat up using her elbow to prop herself up as she gently shook your arm “what’s going on, you keep moving around over there?”

you muttered something into your pillow, your words incoherent to caroline. the restless movements of your limbs continued as she tried asking you again, only to be met with a defeated whimper.

“what?”

“i said,” you finally removed your face from your pillow, craning your neck so she could hear you better “i really need to pee”

“you-” she shook her head “if you need to pee, go to the bathroom…”

“but i can’t”

“why not?”

“because,” an embarrassed whisper escaped your throat “i’m too…scared to get up”

her infectious laugh bounced off the walls of the bedroom. a sound soothing enough to make you forget about the pressure on your bladder for a swift moment. you groaned as she carefully pulled the duvet down the bed.

“alright, scaredy cat” the bed dipped as she threw her legs off the mattress, feet already planted on the plush carpet “come on”

“huh?”

“i said come on” she was now on your side of the bed, searching in the dark for your hand blindly. she gripped it softly as she tugged you out of bed “i’ll go with you”

“you don’t have to do that” she guided you towards the bathroom with her hand still grasping onto yours. the ground beneath you creaked with each step, causing you to stay on high alert. you felt caroline’s thumb rub small circles on the skin of your hand to let you know she was right there with you.

“no,” she said, flipping the switch to the bathroom lights and ushering you in. she found residence on the sink counter, her legs kicking carelessly in the air “but i want to”

you couldn’t help but smile, a rosy blush creeping onto your cheeks. caroline had to the be the sweetest person on the planet. not everyone was so fortunate to have a partner that would escort them into the bathroom at 2 am after watching a scary movie. you did your best to keep the bathroom break short, doing your business quickly as you felt guilty for waking your girlfriend up.

“better?” she asked as you washed your hands.

“much” you sighed before facing her, letting your arms drape across her shoulders as you melted into her embrace “thank you, baby, you’re the best”

“anything for my girl” she grinned. the scent of her berry chapstick lingered on her lips as she leaned into you, placing a chaste kiss to your lips “but that was the last time you’re watching a scary movie, i told you that you were gonna get scared”

“okay whatever” you joked, releasing her from your grasp as you headed back to bed “maybe i just wanted you to protect me”

you both climbed back under the covers, the mattress below you still warm from your weight. the night was still peaceful, everything just the same as you had left it. your bodies fell back into their typical positions as you placed a hand atop her chest.

“mmm” she mumbled, burying her face in the crook of your neck once again “you know i always will”

“yea,” you said, feeling how her heartbeat slowed under your touch, indicating she was nearly asleep. with heavy eyelids, you let yourself do the same as you drifted into a similar slumber “i do”

[erinwantstowrite]

Let me just quickly say, cross-overs can sometimes get REALLY difficult to map out and write in a cohesive way but you have absolutely NAILED IT!! I absolutely ADORE LoF!!! I usually don’t even bother reading fics with the ‘Richard Grayson is Richard Parker’ premise cause I felt like they were super confusing and overcomplicated but this fic?? SUPERB. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. OH MY GOD I ADORE IT. Everyone’s characterizations are so nice and wonderful aaaaaaah!!!! <33333

Ok ok I did actually have a question as well: would you be willing to share what your writing process looks like in terms of a chapter you’ve already posted? I was just wondering since I’m also currently working on my own fic (it’s been a few years but I managed to get fixated on an idea and it grew legs lol) and I’m currently fighting the organization of it haha.

How do you keep track of the plot points and/or foreshadowing you want to get a ‘lightbulb!’ moment for later? Do you have any tips?

Thank you so much! I absolutely adore your writing AND your art is so gorgeous omg it adds so much to the incredible story :DDD I hope you have a good day!!

I have a secret: I actually didn't like "Richard Grayson is Richard Parker' tag for a while for the same reason. Sometimes they felt like they missed the mark or it's just. A thing that's there? I almost didn't include it for LoF, but I'm glad I did because it changed the direction in such a big way.

Another secret: this made me incredibly happy because I have read so many wikis and scoured the internet to make sure that I had enough info on both fandoms so LoF could make sense to anyone who's reading it, whether they know Spider-Man, Batfam, or neither at all. Sometimes I worry a lot before I post that I'll miss a mark and will confuse people.

As for the question: I definitely am willing to share what my writing process looks like!

Be prepared for under the cut, I love to yap. It's in my blood to yap. And that's why it took a minute to get to this ask haha

(Spoilers for Leap of Faith!! Everything mentioned has already been published ((Chapters 1-11))

I had to go and find out which chapter I wanted to use as an example and I think we're gonna go with Chapter 5 for the most part :)

My writing process is, as described by alighterwood:

I think the description fits because while I'm all over the place, I have to be very detail oriented and I store everything in one spot.

Starting with the overall process, what I find is most helpful for me, when organizing, is having a notebook rather than doing it all digitally. I've been using a 70 sheet notebook that I had lying around waiting to be used, and as of yesterday, I officially filled the entire thing front to back. It's been an incredible help, for a lot of reasons, but mostly because it's a lot easier to remember something I physically wrote down than it is to remember something I typed. I'm now on to my second notebook for LoF, and I might even have to get a third.

In another ask, startupkat asked me this:

And I shared a little about my outline process there, but I'll try to go into a little more depth here. Emphasis on little because this is so long.

I write a truly insane amount of outlines in this notebook.

This is just what I can show you, but a good chunk of the notebook is just outlines. Over and over and over again. That's because they're always changing/adapting based on so many different factors. Sometimes I get to a chapter I thought I had fully planned out and then realize it just doesn't work anymore. Other times, I get to the chapter and realize I don't want to write that anymore/isn't as interesting as I thought it would be. A few times I got halfway through a POV of a scene I was struggling on and decided to switch POV's, which will change up the outline for a chapter every now and then.

Which is why I don't write incredibly detailed outlines and try to keep it vague until I actually get to that chapter. It's a lot less daunting to rewrite a chapter outline than it is to rewrite the entire outline.

Fic outlines and Chapter outlines look a lot alike.

This is what I said in the other ask, but I didn't elaborate on it all the way.

I make a list just like that, and then I try to put it in chronological order/in an order that makes sense. I keep the Fic outline vague by writing down "Goals" for a chapter rather than scenes. But I also keep notes to myself if I really think something is important. The more important I think a scene needs to be, the more details I write down to make sure my future self recalls what I had in mind when I thought it up.

Really simple example:

Chap 1 Goal: Peter gets to Gotham and meets Babs while running around. Meet Nightwing too? Get shelter.

Chapter 2 Goal: Bats are like "???" about Peter. Batfam dynamic important... Peter stalking Batfam back? Peter meet Batman >:)

When I get to a chapter, that's when I make a far more detailed list of wants/needs/goals. It's the Step 2 from the Step 1. Here are some examples from Chapter 5:

Needed to have:

More POV's from universe 1299 (Peter's home universe)

Tony's POV more specifically, how he's doing/feeling, what he's figured out

What they've figured out on 1299 side vs what's going on in 1300 (Gotham)

Explaining more about Peter's trauma/his past

Dick learning more about Peter, and vise versa

Wanted to have:

Ned being a more central character

Natasha :)

Loki being a little shit

Tony and Cap bickering

Peter talking to Nightwing again

The last name Grayson

Gymnastics!!

(This is the shortened list, because the chapters are so long)

When I looked at this list before writing my outline, I had to figure out how I could incorporate everything. If I needed more 1299 POV's, and I wanted Ned, Natasha, and Loki, there's one scene accounted for. I had to get their side of things and wanted that trio together. I needed a Tony POV, and I wanted Tony and Cap bickering, so those went together, plus I got 1299's POV of Ohnn and his plans explained.

I needed to have Peter explaining more about his trauma, and Dick and Peter to talk/get closer. I wanted a Nightwing POV, to have Peter say his last name, and them doing gymnastics. I knew Peter wouldn't willingly talk about that, so I had him have a nightmare. Not only did it give readers perspective but it made Peter more susceptible to talking to Nightwing because he was more emotionally vulnerable/lonely, and that's how that scene came together.

That's when I would write down the chronological order of these events by writing out "Scene Blocks." (This is what I wrote down but my handwriting was so bad I can't subject y'all to it):

scene 1- Ned talking to Loki. Natasha should be nearby and observing Loki's behavior. They are not on friendly terms. Ned is more worried about Peter than he is as to what Loki could be up to, so Natasha takes on that role.

scene 2- Tony is freaking out about Peter being in an alt dimension. He should attack Ohnn when he's not prepared for it. Beat his ass? Beat his ass. Cap there too.

scene 3- Peter's nightmare. "Ben, where do you go when you die?" "Where do you think?" "With you. Where you went."

scene 4- Nightwing and Peter.

Of course, things come to attention when writing. Like originally, Tony and Cap were arguing in the Tower. But it was a little too much like his and Natasha's argument, and I kept in mind that Tony is smart. Sometimes I forget that the characters are smarter than I am, so I have to account for what they would figure out. So Tony would have picked up the puzzle pieces and come to more conclusions than I originally thought about, and I figured he'd be way more proactive about it than just. Being in the Tower and waiting.

Which means that that scene ended up being as listed above: having a squabble with Cap, learning more about Peter's dynamic with the Avengers in this universe, and seeing how Tony is reacting to it by throwing himself head first into trying to capture Ohnn.

I'll realize I need something else to be mentioned or put in and I'll have to shimmy things around, but that's basically how it goes.

As for other forms of organization:

Keeping a timeline is so important because it tells you a lot about the environment your characters are in. It's also important to remember what a character has on them, what money they've spent, who they've met/who you have mentioned, every alias that is being used, to read your work and write down edits you want to make before you make them, to write down ideas beforehand of situations you can use, and, most importantly: MAKE A MAP!! This has saved me so many times. Sometimes your brain WILL trick you or make it harder on you to envision a scene. Make a map of where your characters are physically!! It will save you too!!

As for foreshadowing and plot points, I'll let you in on yet another secret:

Your subconscious is doing a lot more than you think it is.

Sometimes when I foreshadow something, I didn't even know I was until I got to it. I very often go back to read chapters that came before this to see what I've mentioned and what I haven't, and when I do, I'll see something and go "I have to bring this back" or "I almost forgot about that!"

Other times, I am very aware of what I'm foreshadowing, and that's because I follow a mystery plot formula. You have to keep in mind everyone's intentions, all the time. How are they feeling? What are their motivations? And: what are they doing right now, while this character is doing this?

Like Beck and Ohnn. From the very beginning, I knew I had to make sure that it was obvious Ohnn wasn't working alone. From there, I had to weave through the story and slowly build him up as someone who's working behind the scenes. Even from Ned's first POV, I made sure to mention that this person knows Tony and is tech savvy.

My biggest tip is to make sure you reread your work or at least skip through it, because sometimes you don't even know that you placed something there.

And sometimes, it's very purposeful. :)

I hope this helped! I really tried to keep it short but I am insane and the process is sooooo long. It sounds complicated but it really is simple when you're actually doing it I swear

[weirdgenetic-fuckup]

Hiiiii can you do no nut November with the rest of metallica too ( james, kirk, and jason or cliff or both ) ??

*also I loooooove your fics ❤️

A/n: Thank you sm! I'm glad you like my writing <3. I really should've expected people to request for the rest of Metallica lol so I wrote this, I'm also going to rewrite the one for Lars because someone asked for another with him and I figured why not, Cliff is also coming.

I make no guarantee's that any of these come out in a timely manner though :'3

Kirk, Lars, James, Jason

(Pre-written Lars + Cliff)

Metallica had another interview. Going into it none of them thought it would be any different to any other ones they’ve done, they’d talk about tour dates, upcoming albums, plans for the future, etc, etc.

Just as they expected they were hit with the usual questions, and a new one.

“What are your thoughts on no nut November?” The interviewer asked from behind the camera. The four bandmates exchanged confused looks.

“What the fuck is that?” Lars asked. The interviewer gave a small chuckle.

“You try not to, um, participate in any, uh, inappropriate acts..?” The explanation was met with more questioning faces.

“We can’t fuck for a month?” James asked.

“Exactly.” Silence.

“Well, that’s fucking stupid,” Lars stated, “who the fuck would do that?”

“I thought that was just just every month for you.” James teased with that horse grin of his. Lars swatted at him.

“You think I’d beat you then?” James went to say something but paused as he didn’t know how to respond to that. He didn’t want to lose but in this case it might be better?

It was clear the interviewer was intrigued with this, it was a new story about an uprising band. Everyone would want to hear about this, surely, no?

After some arguing, Kirk trying to calm James and Lars down and Jason just giggling at the whole scene, they came to an agreement of sorts. If they were the ones to initiate something with anyone, they lost. Jerking off and wet dreams also count as a loss. The exception was that if someone else initiated it, it wasn’t a loss.

Where the idea was had been lost on pretty much everyone, no money was set on the line, nothing happens if you lose. It was a bet based on how you thought of it, but it got James and Lars to calm down and the agency the interview was with was more than happy to pay for the details of the challenge to print in upcoming magazines.

[vizual-static]

DBDPromptober Day 1: Mirrors

First fic! I'll be putting this up on AO3 in the @dbdpromptober collection too in a couple days, but I wanted to start the month off with posting on the proper prompt day, so that means we’re on tumblr for the time being lol. Enjoy!

Blurb: “Oi! You’ll rip your arm clean off! Stop that now!” Charles steps around the edge of the book-laden desk to stand beside Edwin, who looks up at him with his own irritation. The furrow of Edwin’s brow is almost petulant, and there’s a half second where Charles thinks he might rip his own arm off out of spite. Instead, he rolls his eyes and reluctantly stops struggling against the manacle pinning him to the mirror.

Rewrite of the Ep 2 Dandelion Sprites London office research scene: Now with more Coming Outs! 

–

Closet Mirror

“Those tomes are perfectly understandable with a bit of study– If I could just–” Edwin pulls harder against the rippling surface of the standing mirror, wrenching his arm until Charles can practically hear the tendons of his shoulder groaning in protest. 

Concern shoots through Charles, blotting out the frustration that’s been building up over the last hour of dead end research. “Oi! You’ll rip your arm clean off! Stop that now!” He steps around the edge of the book-laden desk to stand beside Edwin, who looks up at him with his own irritation. The furrow of his brow is almost petulant, and there’s a half second where Charles is worried Edwin might rip his own arm off out of spite. Instead, he rolls his eyes and reluctantly stops struggling against the manacle pinning him to the mirror.

Charles puts a hand on Edwin’s shoulder, almost rubbing lightly at the muscle as if to soothe the ache of his over stretched limb before catching himself. He claps him on the shoulder a second time to still his hand. “I know it's driving you mental, mate, but you can’t go tearing yourself to pieces over this, can you? Here, see for yourself. Nothing on page 181 of big, blue Blood and Bone.”

Charles pulls the thick book across the desk, cracks it open, and holds it between them both for Edwin to check for himself. Charles isn’t even annoyed that Edwin keeps insisting he didn’t read the book right. He can tell his friend’s been off all day since the Cat King laid his caging spell, and some of his current misplaced annoyance is obviously from that. So if Charles can soothe that irritation by holding up every book for Edwin to inspect himself with those beautiful blue eyes–

Not going there, mate. Charles thinks to himself as he hoists the book up a little higher. 

Edwin lets out another sigh while leaning in closer to peer at the book. “No, no. I trust that you read it thoroughly,” Edwin says by way of apology, though his eyes do scan over the pages because he really can’t help himself. “I just can’t stand not being able to access the whole collection.”

Charles understands the feeling well enough. He thinks he would also be more than a little twitchy if he was magically barred from his bag of tricks. But there’s something else about how worked up Edwin is that Charles can’t pin down, and he’s pretty sure a certain feline bastard is at the heart of it. 

“Honestly, Edwin, can’t you tell me what really happened with the Cat King?”

Edwin stiffens beside him, not looking up from the book. “I have told you the lot of it. He was uncivil, garish, and I was taken off guard when he spoke close to my ear.”

“He whispered in your ear?!” Something flares hot in Charles’s chest, the embers of this past hour’s frustration sparking back up in an instant. He tosses the book onto the desk and turns to face Edwin fully. 

Edwin coughs and looks away. “Really, Charles, it wasn’t like that.”

Charles’s alarm only grows. “Wasn’t like what, mate? What did he do to you?”

“He did not do anything other than what I have previously described. There is nothing more to it,” Edwin snaps, flicking a cold look back at Charles. 

Charles’s jaw clenches as the urge to push it rolls over him. Charles wants to know what happened in the three hours Edwin was gone. Charles wants to know what that cat freak did to throw ever-perceptive-Edwin off his rhythm so much that he allowed for a magical binding around his wrist. Charles wants to know what he did to put Edwin so on edge. 

He takes a deep breath to smother the flames in his chest. “Look, I’m just worried about you, mate. Gotta make sure the Cat King doesn’t try any more funny business, but I can’t know how to fight the bugger if you won’t tell me about his tricks, can I?”

Edwin seems to soften a little, the rigidness seeping from his posture as he lets his mirror-arm go slack. He lets out a short breath. “I do not believe we’ll need to fight him. He just– As I said, he caught me off guard.”

Charles isn’t itching for a fight (okay, maybe he is), but this resignation from Edwin rubs him the wrong way. “You also didn’t think we’d have to fight the ‘docile’ nymphs in the Case of Singing Lake. Always better to be prepared if we have time to plan and research an enemy’s weakness, though, yeah?” 

“He’s not that kind of threat.” Edwin shoots back too quickly before his mouth presses into a thin line, and Charles can tell he would be pressing his fists together if he had use of both his hands. His voice comes out strange and tight as he continues, “I assure you, Charles, that none of the Cat King’s ploys would work on you. He seems partial to trickery, as you said, but knowing what we do now, I am fairly certain he would not be able to entrap you using the same mind games I fell prey to. Even after that single encounter, I also get the sense that he himself is not one for direct coercion or violence. Therefore, if and when we do encounter him again, I will simply have my mind more well fortified against his tactics, and you should be perfectly fine as you are.”

Charles still doesn’t like the cloudy picture of this “encounter” that he is beginning to fill in from his friend’s vague words. He huffs. “You’re so sure his ‘ploys’ wouldn’t work on me, are you? I’m flattered, mate, but even I know a trickster god could get in my head if he wanted.”

“I do not believe you would fall prey to his flirtations.”

Charles’s eyes widen, and something twists in his gut. “Flirtations?”

Edwin’s eyes mirror his, suddenly realizing he’s said more than he meant to. He opens his mouth mutely and closes it. 

Charles’s temper flares again, suddenly wanting to take a cricket bat to the Cat King’s lair and smash all of his bloody stupid shipping crates to bits, but as quickly as the rage comes, he pushes it deep, deep down. That’s not what this is about right now. 

This is about his friend– his best mate– and the implication laced under this whole bloody opaque conversation that Charles had been too dense to catch. Hell, apparently he’d been too thick to catch it for the past 30 years. 

He didn’t realize Edwin likes blokes. And that feels like the bit Charles can focus on to ease the tension that’s been brewing since they got back. That feels like the thing he can fix right now. Cause, well, Charles’s been keeping a bit of a secret too, hasn’t he? 

He leans back against the rim of the mirror, letting his head rest against the wood frame as he smooths out his features and gives Edwin what he hopes is a convincing smile. 

“You’re right. He’s not my type.” 

Edwin blinks and turns away, huffing out a nervous laugh before picking up a random book off the corner of the desk and flipping it open. “Right. Exactly.”

“Not that he’s not fit in kind of a Loki way. But I don’t usually go for dickheads who kidnap my best mate, so I should be safe.”

Edwin whips his head around, nearly dropping the book, and Charles springs up off the mirror to catch it, steadying it in Edwin’s hands. Suddenly the two boys are up in each other’s space, and Charles’s chest feels tight for a different reason. He drops his hands. 

Edwin is studying Charles with wide eyes, trying to puzzle through his meaning. If Charles could blush, he knows his cheeks would be hot under his friend’s pretty gaze. 

“Well, yes. Obviously. Though my assessment was based on the fact that you don’t usually go for– Or, rather– That you tend to express more of an interest in–” Edwin stumbles, like he’s editing himself midsentence, “... People like Crystal.”

Given the course of this conversation and, you know, 30 odd years of friendship, Charles knows the next part will be okay, but he can’t help the twinge of nerves that shoots through him either. Internalized biphobia is a bitch, yeah? He tries not to fidget, though, keeping a soft slouch to his shoulders to remain “casual” as he allows for this revelation. This is Edwin, afterall. And it seems the two of them share this too. 

“Girls, you mean?” Charles says the quiet part out loud. 

Edwin makes a soft noise of agreement, almost an afterthought, eyes still fixed on Charles with something between anxiety and the intensity of trying to solve a case. 

Charles forces himself to smile through the nerves. “I mean, yeah, girls are pretty brills. But blokes aren’t too bad either, are they? So, you know, if you need to factor that into your calculations about the Cat King. I could theoretically be wooed by a trickster god like him. If he wasn’t a giant knob.”

A small smile slips past Edwin’s guard, but he’s still quiet for a moment. As he searches Charles’s face for sincerity it grows wider, dimpling his cheeks in the most genuine smile Charles’s seen on him all day. It makes his insides go all soft seeing that smile.

“I will make note of it for future cases,” Edwin says, overly formal, of course, but there’s a conspiratorial edge to his voice like it's an inside joke. 

Charles half expects Edwin to pull out his notebook and write down these new “findings,” and Charles laughs to himself before lightly bumping Edwin’s shoulder. He feels warm and a little giddy with having told this to somebody after so long– his best friend no less– and having it go so well for both of them. 

They stay like that for a moment, shoulder to shoulder, Edwin looking down at whatever book he picked up and Charles looking out over their slightly messy office, not trusting himself to face Edwin head on lest his overwhelming fondness show up too plainly on his face. It’s a fondness he’s not quite willing to name yet. But he tucks that away to be examined later. For now he’s just pleased that he helped Edwin to relax a smidge, and let him know he’s not alone. 

Edwin makes a startled noise beside him, and straightens up, causing Charles to jump to attention in confusion. Edwin looks sheepish. “I just felt a tug on my sleeve back in Port Townsend. Likely Crystal. We should bring back as many books as we can carry and continue searching through them back at her apartment. Hopefully nothing too dire has happened with Niko while we were dawdling.”

Charles rolls his eyes at “dawdling,” but he scoops up an armful of books with a grin. “Right. Plus she can help us look through them too.”

Charles starts back towards the mirror before Edwin strains forward, reaching towards a book on the far end of the desk. “Be sure to collect the–”

Charles pauses and throws him a look, one leg already phasing through the mirror. “Oi! What did I just say about that arm?”

Edwin drops his outstretched arm with an exasperated groan, turns around, and passes through the mirror back into Crystal’s flat without another word. Charles just shakes his head fondly and follows.

[blakbonnet]

AUTHOR OF THE WEEK: @adhduck

Please give it up for the nicest and one of the most creative writers in this fandom: Duck! I'm just such a fan because not only does Duck manage to write the softest, gentlest, loveliest Ed and Stede (both together and apart), their fics somehow perpetually keep me looking like 🥹 all the time ough. And they were very very nice about sharing their writing process with me:

What's your writing process like? Do you start with the beginning or the end? Do you write in order or as the scenes come to you?

Mostly it’s the Taika “look at a document for 8 hours and then close the document,” honestly. I’m a very slow writer and lose motivation very easily, so I mostly get by on the muse’s fire hydrant and forcing myself to write those fifty words even when every single one feels so bad.

I go moooostly beginning to end because even though I’m generally an outliner, I always end up with little details that will affect later scenes and I don’t wanna lose continuity or have to rewrite a bunch. However, I do definitely let myself do a [finish this scene later] and move on to the next scene because otherwise I will get really fucking stuck, and sometimes I’ll write a line or a paragraph I thought of that sounds really good and tuck it away for a later scene.

Favourite trope or headcanon you like to explore while writing?

Ooooooooh, I don’t know if this is a trope but there’s just nothing I love more than huge feelings contained in mundane stories, of feelings so big you can’t actually express them and so they’re this constant hum throughout the story. I also love writing about touch for both of them, how Ed gives casual touch to hide the deep well of desire for intimate touch, how Stede is so unused to touch and craves it so deeply. (Can you tell I just really like subtle yet overwhelming emotions? Maybe it’s the aroace in me idk but that shit hits HARD.) Oh, and I love a fuckin’ allegory or object to discuss all those big feelings, whether it’s monsters or gardening or peaches or what the fuck ever (I have used all of these lol).

Whose voice is easier to write - Ed or Stede? Why?

I think Ed’s voice comes to me faster because the way I personally speak is closer to Ed’s voice, but it also means I’m sometimes double-checking myself to make sure I’m still deep in his voice, not my-voice-but-Ed. Stede isn’t necessarily harder for me, I’m just doing all that double-checking to make sure I’m not slipping into Ed voice or, god forbid, Aziraphale-lite voice. So, idk! I love writing them both, the little details of each of their inner dialogues are SO important to me (Ed’s tangents and his pshh-I-don’t-care moments, Stede actively avoiding thinking about things he doesn’t want to face, etc etc etc).

Your personal favourite thing you've written that you'd like more people to read

For the longest time it was There is Love That Doesn’t Have a Place to Rest, mostly because it was posted the day before another fic and, while I find them to be siblings and equal quality,  the other one got way more attention. That fic is about the time between signing the Act of Grace and getting to the academy and I think I really nailed where the two of them are at.

However! (And I know this is cheating okay shh.) Nowadays the one that I wish people read the most is Not Only the Sugar, But the Days. It’s the sequel to my “offscreen 30 year slowburn friends to lovers finally get together” fic and I put my whole fucking heart into it, honestly. The two boys basically go on a bunch of dates to live out the teenage experiences they never got together and work through the biggest feelings and I just! Really want people to see it! (It also can be read as a standalone, which I didn’t advertise super well lol.)

What is the one word that you think you use a lot?

Unfortunately it’s probably “just” or “a little” or filler words like that. Also obviously if the word fuck counts then, yeah, that. Maybe warm? Or something about yearning??? If I have a classic word please tell me I’m fascinated by this idea.

Do you have a beta reader? Have they made you a better writer?

The person who beta’s for basically all my fics is Owen @trans-top-stede and they are sooooo fucking helpful and incredible. So good at catching all the little things I miss, making sex scenes make sense, reminding me positioning in general is a thing, cheerleading me on, etc etc etc. My fics are so much better for their help.

Why OFMD 🥹

Ed and Stede just fit so fucking well into all sorts of AU’s (they try to invent their own AU’s in canon, even) while also having so much fun space to explore within canon. Their range is also perfect perfect perfect for writing fics—they can be in the wells of misery and fluffy as fuck and obnoxiously cheesy and realistic all in the same fic, if you want, and it’s completely accurate to their canon selves. It’s also helped me to embrace being silly and cheesy and earnest because life is about being yourself and finding your people and feeling deeper, feeling bigger, feeling more authentically without fear of being too much. Fuck I just really love these boys. (Also they’re so pretty and the whole crew’s so pretty we WON.)

Please head over to @ofmdlovelyletters (who also made the header) and send your love to all your favourite authors (and authors of the week 😈 watch that blog for some special letters coming your way)

[hopepaigeturner]

An Offer From An Avid Reader: Jail Scene

Ever since reading An Offer From a Gentleman I have wanted to rewrite a better confrontation scene--so like a good ol' writer these scenes came to my head in the middle of the night lol.

And now that the name and casting of Sophie Baek has been announced I can finally post it!

I hope you enjoy it! Shout out to @orangepeelshortbreadcookies for beta-reading this. Go check out her awesome fics and blog at that name!

✨CONTEXT: ✨

I have split the jail scene in two for I agree with @eleanorbradstreet that the rapidity of plot points tied up via exposition could be improved upon. (post here)

So, part 1 will cover the confrontation with Araminta, Bridgertons swooping in, and jail release yet will not include the blackmailing of Araminta. That is for a future post where Kate & Violet BADASS Bridgerton come to the fore. 

Multiple ideas/motifs in other posts link to this one. Most importantly are my ideas for how Sophie’s trauma could be shown in the show, (here). So I recommend reading that if you want a bit more context. Yet you can still enjoy the piece. 

This scene follows straight on from a scene between Anthony, Benedict and Genevieve here.

Due to the length I have posted an extended version on AO3 that is also uncensored.

Check it out here

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ✨The Scene ✨

“Ugh I give up!” Sophie yells as a rat scurries across the floor.

We find Sophie in a musty prison, water dripping down the walls, and a soiled floor. In the distance are muted sounds of wailing and shouts of injustice. She has just risen from a stool—the only furniture present apart from a dirty (but empty) chamberpot. Her dress is rumpled, her typically perfect braids in disarray, as she stares at the bars encaging her.

“Do you hear me! I give up!” She shouts but at what she does not know. Fate? God? Herself?

“It is somehow fitting that after being behind figurative bars my entire life that I should find myself behind real ones.” Sophie puts her head back against the wall, looking up with unfocused eyes. “And there’s no point complaining because you got exactly what you wanted, didn’t you Sophie? A fresh start, mind you in Australia rather than the Americas, but one cannot be picky. A position far away from the Bridgertons and everyone else, so far that you will never make anyone you love or like miserable. And you cannot really make people more miserable when they are in chains—although knowing you there would be something. Yes, this is what you wanted wasn’t it? This is what you wanted when you rejected him, to be all alone, no happy ending. As it should be, as I deserve to be.” Sophie looks down at her scarred hands.

A pause.

“Yet there’s still one final question. Why?” Sophie looks back to the ceiling. “Because that has always been the question. Why? Why did you keep me only to ignore and then discard me? Why did you give me the lessons and ribbons and fairytales but never a smile? I could have lived without all that, it would’ve been hard but I would have never known better. I would have been content as a servant in the kitchen with calluses because I would never know what it was for hands to be smooth . Fairytales would be in books not in half-realities that all too easily get snatched away. Life would be hard but far easier than the half-life you’ve rendered me to.”

“And again why?  Why Papa?” She stands her voice growing in volume. “Yes, I will finally call you Papa because that was what you were. My papa. You were my papa even though you never gave me a kind word or an embrace. Why did you not love me papa? Why did you not protect me papa? Why did you let her hurt me, papa? Why did you let her treat me like a dog when I was your daughter?

“I did everything right.” 

Sophie starts pacing as for the first time, the anger, the pressure, the pain has space to rise. 

“I squashed myself into the boxes that you liked with the pretty ribbons and bows and locked anything that did not fit far, far away. I put on the mask and played the part to perfection.  The perfect daughter, shining and sweet. The perfect step-daughter, quiet and subservient. The perfect servant, meek and mild. And yet you still did not love me!”

And it is not impossible! I did none of it—hell, I did the utter opposite and still Benedict bloody Birdgerton chased after me!” She cries, not bothering to stay silent, not now, not when she has nothing to lose. “Still he loved me even when I exposed it all, still he loved me even when I pushed him away.”

Her volume rises and ries.

“So what was your excuse, papa? What is your excuse, when I did everything right? Why? Why could you not love me even though I did nothing wrong!” 

The words are wrenched out of her. They hang suspended in the air, her eyes seem to follow them as they dissipate. 

“I did nothing wrong,” her voice is softer, and she slides down the wall. “I did nothing wrong…”

Sophie takes a long, deep breath, as if something has flown from her chest enabling her to breathe deeply for the first time. Sophie sits, eyes lost in the wall as the statement settles in her chest.

She did nothing wrong.

Then comes the noise of heels on stone.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

“Well, well, well, look what we have here.” The camera pans to Araminta, sneering through the bars. “The little b----d is finally getting her just desserts.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Benedict, Anthony, and Genevieve Delacroix enter the frame. The latter two talking and the former unnaturally withdrawn. They pass in front of Bridgerton House.

“I insist you come in for refreshments—we have kept you the entire morning,” Antony says. It seems in their little quest he seems more at ease around Genevieve.

“Oh, I do not think it would be proper.”

“Neither would be my brother marrying an illegitimate daughter,” Anthony quips back earning a smile as they ascend the stairs. It seems he is not the only one whose ice has thawed during this encounter.

“We must find her first,” Benedict mumbles. Genevieve’s face falls.

“I cannot think of another place she could have gone…perhaps you should try the docks? She would muse about saving money and boarding a ship to America…a place where class is not so rigid.”

“America?” Anthony cries.

“I have already asked around the docks, but none are sure they have seen her.” Benedict exhales wearily. “But if she is on a boat then she will be safe…safe from all who could hurt her or failed her.”

“Benedict you have never—”

“I have failed her far too many times.” His eyes are distant; the ball, Penwood Place, the lake, the studio.

The trio start climbing the stairs.

“But if she has gone to America, what would you do?” Anthony asks, looking pained at his brother’s drawn face. Benedict rolls his shoulders as if winding himself up then gives a smile—a pale imitation of his usual grin.

“Never fear, brother, I will still be useful. I shall shower your children with presents, be their greatest conspirator for pranks and corrupt them when they turn of age—you better watch out Anthony, your children shall adore me and I will undoubtedly be the best Uncle of them all."

“You could find another—”

“No.” Benedict’s voice is determined but gentle, as they stand in front of the door. “No. There is only Sophie. I knew it two years ago, I know it now and I shall know it on my deathbed.”

“Benedict…” Anthony says, hand reaching for his shoulder. Benedict steps away.

“Please, do not—”

The green door slams open.

“We found Sophie!” Hyacinth cries, barreling into them as they go into the hall. The other ladies are following—Violet at the front. “Penelope found Sophie!”

“What?”

The crowd parts and Penelope comes forward.

“I received a couple notes from my informants–” she hands Benedict a letter. 

Benedict snatches the paper away—his entire frame trembles when he sees the words.

“There was quite the scene along the cobbles of Grosvenor Square two day ago, when a young woman was accosted by the Countess of Penwood on the grounds of the woman stealing from her. Considering the most recent scandal the countess has found herself in, this author cannot guarantee the validity of the countess’ claims. But the constable had no such quibbles when he carted the young woman off to jail…"

“That damn witch!” Genevieve cries then remembers her surroundings and curtsies, “ My apologies lords and ladies.”

“Not at all, I can agree that Lady Penwood is an utter b---,” Kate says without flinching. Meanwhile Anthony is reading the paper. In the background is Benedict pacing, running his hands through his hair, his face in anguish.  

"We still do not know which jail she could be in?” Anthony mutters. “It does not say whether they have taken her to Fleet, or Newgate or Westminster.”

“We could send three parties, one to each prison?”

“But would we have time? It has been two days, if they had sentenced her–”

“They would not hang her?”

“I would not put it past her, that woman has despised Sophie for years.”

“Will you all stop and someone tell me what we are going to do!” Benedict cries.

They all stare at Benedict who looks ready to bolt–or hyperventilate. Anthony steps forward. 

“Benedict–”

“Ant, I, I—”

Anthony grasps Benedict by the shoulder but he tries to shrug Anthony off. 

“Benedict, look at me, look at me,” Anthony commands.

Benedict does, his eyes seeking support like a child. And for once he finds support in Anthony’s eyes—not the other way around. Anthony continues, words slow but full of feeling.

“We shall rescue her; we shall free her, Benedict. And you two will be married and you will live the rest of your lives in love. I swear it on my title, and on father’s name. Do you hear me?” Benedict mumbles. “Do you believe me?”

“Yes,” Benedict’s voice is hoarse. “Yes, I do.” “But how will we find her?”

“We know!” 

Everyone turns to find their housemaid Nadia and Rae, Penelope’s ladies maid. 

“Rae? What do you know?”

The girls rush forward.

“A tradesman down by Newgate saw a woman being taken into the prison two days ago.”

“How do you know it was Sophie?”

“She dropped this.”

Nadia hands over a messy gukwa knot, the mauve yarn fraying from age but still recognisable as if its meaning of eternity was embedded in the very strings knotted together. The viewer recognises it as the chrysanthemum knot always hung around Sophie’s waist, the one made by her mother. Similar to the one Sophie gave Benedict all those weeks ago.

Benedict’s jaw clenches. 

“We need to go to Fleet.”

“Right,” Anthony straightens, years of responding to crises galvinating his mind. “Let us fetch a carriage and free Sophie. After all, if my title means that I am a hoarder of privilege, power and wealth that was built on the backs of the oppressed—then I might as well use it for some good.” he smirks at Eloise whose mouth is open at the parroting of her words.  “Let us go.”

“Wait for me!” Violet Bridgerton calls, grabbing her purse from Mrs Wilson and walking towards the doors.

“Absolutely not,” Anthony states. “I will not have you exposed to—”

Violet brushes him off.

“Oh, Anthony, it is not as if I am a wilting flower. And this is not up for discussion.” Violet does not make a habit of using the divine right of mothers, but when she does it is felt with force. “Also, I can vouch for Sophie’s character.”

A staring match between Anthony and Violet…Violet raises her eyebrow. Anthony breaks the stare. Violet smiles and walks out, calling over her shoulder,

“Now, we must make haste!”

Benedict and Anthony share a look, Benedict nods slightly and follows his mother—still visibly distraught.

Anthony reaches back and pulls Kate in for a kiss.

“We shall be back anon.”

“Bring her home safe, my love.”

“Ofcourse. And make sure Madame Delacroix has something to eat—she has not broken her fast yet.”

“Lord Bridgerton I am quite capable—” but Anthony does not hear the seamstress as he runs out and bundles into the carriage. As soon as the door is shut Anthony, Violet and Benedict cry,

“Ride on!”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

We return to the prison where Araminta is standing tall and proud outside Sophie’s cell. Yet Sophie remains in her prior position, staring at the wall with her eyes unfocused as her most recent revelations continue to unfurl and take root in every cell of her being. 

Araminta frowns then strikes the bars.

“Are you listening, wench?”

Sophie slowly turns to Araminta, finally registering her presence.

“No.” Sophie says absentmindedly before turning back to the wall.

Araminta changes tack.

“You must know I could not believe it when I heard you had the audacity to return to London. Nor do I know whether to be shocked or impressed that you had somehow wormed your way into the Bridgertons’ affections. Then again you always had a proclivity to squirming your way into places you did not belong--like mother, like daughter.”

Sophie stares resolutely at the wall.

“Unfortunately for you the magistrate does not look kindly on thieves.” Sophie continues to ignore her. “The shoe clips were bad enough but he grew ever so angry when he heard how you stole my engagement ring.”

Sophie whirls around but bites her tongue upon seeing the sly smirk on Araminta’s. Sophie glares mutinously at her, which makes her smile wider.

“As you well know it is your word against mine.”

There is the beautiful saccharine sweet smile that has haunted Sophie’s childhood. But this time Sophie does not shiver, instead she crosses her arms.

“I see you have it all worked out.”

Araminta shrugs.

“Lucky for you I have pleaded clemency on your behalf so that you do not lose a head—then again I have heard all sorts of stories about wild animals in Australia.”

“A model of Christian charity,” Sophie bites out. “The justice will be so touched.”

“Indeed.” Araminta preens, revelling in her victory. Sophie stares at Araminta for a moment before finally asking that damnable question.

“Why? Why did you hate me so? I tried so hard to impress you and abide by your rules—why?”

Araminta’s smile drops, she comes close to the bars and hisses through them

“I do not hate you, I despise you. No woman should have to live with another woman’s castoffs, yet he paraded you around in my presence, educating you, clothing you, providing for you until his death. All as a ploy to punish me.”

Sophie’s brow furrows, which spurs Araminta on.

“He kept you to remind me of my failure as a wife for not giving him a son as easily as a serving wench could give him a b----d. You were my punishment, an insult and mockery I had to bear every day. You have no idea the depths of pain and humiliation you forced me into.”

Sophie can only stare, not in horror, not in sadness but…pity. For finally she can see the truth. Araminta is a girl in a cage, yet one who took her fire out on those around her and so became so much worse than a caged phoenix—for she took her fire out on an innocent child.

“You were as trapped in a cage just as I am, yet you wallowed in your pain and took it out on an innocent child.” Sophie stands. “I was a punishment? You speak as if my father cared for anything other than his pride. And you speak of pain and humiliation yet you cannot see what pain you inflicted upon me. Do you know what I have finally realised? You are not a monster, just a very sad, powerless woman who is trapped in her pain and does not know how to let it go.”

Araminta’s perfect face falls into something far uglier. She bangs her fist on the bars and Sophie jumps back, eyes wide.

“I am not trapped. I am not the one in the cage. I have the power. You deserved everything I did to you, because you are nothing. Look at yourself.” Sophie looks down at herself. “You are unloved, alone, encaged just like the filthy b----d child of a whore you have always been and will forever be.” Sophie shivers and does not look up. Araminta continues savagely. “I am the one who is free, I am the one who triumphed, I am the victor! And who are you?”

Sophie breathes heavily, closing her eyes against the words. But then we see flashes of memories.

“Who are you?”

The image of her laughing with Ginny over wine.

A shot of her chatting with her fellow servants, Nadia and John.

A shot of Sophie comforting Eloise as she weeps on her bed.

“Who are you?” Echoes in her head.

A shot of Sophie grinning while sat at tea ensconced in conversation with the Bridgertons.

A shot of her discussion with Violet about love, wallflowers and Eloise.

And finally of Benedict’s words in his studio.

“You are a woman who is kind and compassionate even after a life of hardship that would bow or break the strongest of men. You are a woman who stands by her convictions no matter how people try and sway you, no matter how many lashes you endure or even if the other road is easier. You, Sophie Beckett, are brilliant, in mind, heart and soul...”

Sophie looks up, her piercing eyes resolute.

“I am not nothing.”

Araminta’s eyes widen at the resolve in Sophie’s tone.

“I am a compassionate friend and a trusted confidante. I am a survivor.”  Sophie takes a step forward as Araminta steps back.

“I have survived destitution, loneliness and disrepute.”

Another step forward. Araminta takes another step back. 

“I have survived the fiery venom that you spat at me every day of my life and the lashes you afflicted me with your actions. Yet I have emerged with a richer soul and a far stronger spirit that you will never break. For I am loved.”

An image of her being embraced by Ginny, another of her being kissed by Benedict.

“I am wanted.”

The shot of Benedict on one knee in front of her.

“I am enough.”

Sophie stands tall, her head held high, backlit by the sunlight through the jail cell window.

“I am Baek Soo-Hye, the daughter of Si-Woo Gun, Lord of Gun, and I shall never bow nor break.”

Araminta is a couple steps away from the bars in the gloom. The shot is positioned so that the shadows of the cell’s bar are cast over Araminta. She sneers like a caged animal and goes to spring forward,

“You little—”

“Sophie!”

They halt.

“What?” Araminta turns towards the sound.

“Sophie!” The voice rips through the air.

Sophie turns to the sound, hope in her eyes.

“Benedict?”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Read the rest here

Hopefully this ‘rewrite’ achieves a couple things:

A satisfying confrontation that reflects the character journey and healing Sophie undergoes in S4.

Does not justify Araminta’s backstory but shows the mindset of an abuser.

Links in with imagery around ‘cages’ and ‘masks’ that I have planned for in previous and future S4 posts.

Stress that Sophie’s identity comes from herself and the relationships she has formed–not just the one with Benedict.

Retain the chaotic comedy

Have Benedict Bridgerton getting into figurative, and literal, conflict for the love of his life.

Cute Benophie feels. Supportive Anthony feels. Violet BADASS Bridgerton feels. ALL the feels.

As always I’d love to hear your ideas/corrections/opinions and always open to chat or requests!

So, check out the list here, for more of my ideas.

Or check out the general arcs of my prospective S4.

[ladytauria]

trick 🤭 or treat 💖

hello my love <3

you've seen pretty much every tim-centric/tim-involved fic that i have, lol

so for you, i've decided to rewrite a scene from "you know just what i need" (first fic of dom!omega 'verse) from Tim's POV :)

Tim is hanging up his cape when Jason walks into the locker room. He rolls his shoulders, adjusting to the lack of weight on them, and then reaches up to undo the catches on his utility belts. It’s been a long night, but a good one. Not too quiet, not too busy—the kind of night that Tim likes best.

The locker room opens. Tim glances over, half-expecting to see Bruce, despite it being too early for him to turn in.

He finds Jason instead.

It’s been a long time since he’s had to be wary of Jason, but even now, he still finds himself aware of him; the way he moves through the room.

A good thing, too. It means he doesn’t start when Jason leans up against the locker next to him. The movement is carefully casual—immediately piquing Tim’s interest. Jason is still wearing his scent

He pretends to ignore him, hanging up his utility belts.

He feels a lot more naked without them than he does without his cape; the absence of their weight much more noticeable.

“Hey.”

Tim turns to him. “What’s up?”

Under his gaze, Jason’s look turns less casual. He shifts in place, the muscles in his face twitching. His hands twitch, too. Small, subtle tells that tell Tim Jason is… nervous? He almost scents the air to confirm.

Jason is still in his uniform, though. His blockers are likely still in place. All that would do is give away that Tim has noticed his discomfort—and then Jason is likely to try covering it harder, and whatever this conversation is meant to be will rapidly devolve.

“I, uh. I know it’s not my business, but. I wanted to ask you somethin’.”

Tim can feel the way he perks up in curiosity; his spine straightening, gaze sharpening. He sees the way Jason responds, too; looking even twitchier.

But not running.

Not hiding.

Must be important, then.

Jason opens his mouth once, twice. “I… The other day. Steph said, um. What did she mean. When she said you were… bossy?” He’s wincing before he even finishes speaking.

Tim’s brows raise. Of all the things Tim might have expected Jason to ask, that certainly wouldn’t have made the list. He can’t stop his mouth from twitching. “I prefer to dominate, instead of be dominated. Most Alpha I’ve met don’t like that much. Or at all.” He sits down and starts tugging at the laces on his boots.

“Oh.”

Tim doesn’t look up to see Jason’s expression. A mistake. Because he nearly falls over when Jason follows up with:

“I—um. I wouldn’t mind.”

“…what?” When Tim looks at Jason, he finds that Jason, too, has looked away—staring intently at the row of lockers to the side of them, a blush creeping up the back of his neck and spreading over his ears. His stance widens a little, like he’s steadying himself.

Grounding himself.

Jason swallows. Tim watches his adam’s apple bob—and then his shoulders rise, fall as Jason takes a deep breath. His own heart has started to beat faster, his palms sweating. It feels like the anticipation before he fires his grapple.

“I—wouldn’t mind. Um. Being dominated.” Jason barely manages to get the words out, his voice falling into a hoarse whisper.

Oh.

Oh, Tim can work with this. He stays exactly where he is, sitting up, leaning back on his hands slightly. “Say that again.” Tim lets a little Command thread his voice. Not enough to force Jason to listen to him, but enough to catch his attention. “To my face this time.”

The blush spreads over Jason’s face, coloring his cheeks. It takes him a moment to drag his gaze away from the lockers—and even then, he doesn’t quite meet Tim’s eyes. He tries, though; Tim sees them flicker to meet his before he ends up focusing somewhere else on his face instead.

It’s cute.

“I wouldn’t mind. If you dominated me.” His voice comes out a little steadier this time—but still soft.

Tim sets his boots aside, under the bench, and stands. At his full height, he’s just about eye-level with Jason’s mouth. That’s alright, though. He steps into Jason’s space, crowding him in, and grabs his jaw.

It’s a grip Jason could easily break if he doesn’t want it.

Jason doesn’t.

He lets Tim hold him there; his eyes a little wider, pupils expanding, swallowing up the teal of his eyes.

“Is that so.” It’s not a question. Tim’s fangs itch. He wants to sink them into Jason’s skin—wants to bite and hold, until Jason is whimpering under him. He wants to tell Jason to get on his knees, right now. Wants to see just how obedient Jason is willing to be. Tim doesn’t. He swallows his desire, all of his desires. “You wanna be a good boy for me, Alpha?”

Jason whimpers.

The sound shoots straight to Tim’s groin. He feels his cock twitch as blood starts to fill it. There’s a warmth in his pussy; an awareness of it he usually lacks. It almost prevents him from noticing the way Jason’s knees are shaking.

“Yes. Yes, Omega, please.” Jason’s voice cracks around the words. There’s a desperation in them—in his face.

Tim’s browse raise slightly before he schools his face again. How long has Jason been wanting this? Craving it? He’s dropping fast. Tim runs his tongue over his teeth. “Okay, baby.” He smooths his thumb over Jason’s cheek. His skin is surprisingly soft to the touch.

Jason sighs, lashes fluttering, leaning his cheek into the contact.

Tim’s heart swells. Poor, sweet alpha. “You’re going to be so good for me, aren’t you?” he murmurs, smiling slightly at Jason.

Jason’s response isn’t verbal—just a soft little hum of agreement as his eyelids droop. Tim strokes his cheek again. His smile widens.

The alpha is so brash, so brazen… Tim never would have expected him to want this. To be like this; so sweet and soft and submissive.

He also never would have expected Jason to seek it out from him.

But he is, and he has, and Tim—

Tim can hardly wait to take him apart.

“Okay. Finish up whatever else you need to take care of. Then, I want you to go to my room. Under my nest is a cushion. I’d like you to kneel on it, waiting for me. I’ll meet you there when I’m done. Understand?” For an order, it’s not very stern—but he doesn’t want to shove Jason too deep, not yet. Just offer a little guidance.

“Yes, Omega,” Jason breathes.

“Good.” Tim almost purrs the word. Jason doesn’t hesitate to rumble back at him, and Tim smiles again; wider. He strokes Jason’s cheek one last time, and then lets go. Jason twitches, like he’s going to follow, but he stills himself instead, taking a deep breath. Then he steps away from Tim, and reaches for the clasps of his armor.

As tempting as it is to linger and watch, Tim makes himself bend to grab his boots so he can store them in the locker. He grabs the pajamas waiting for him, and then locks it before heading to the showers.

All the while, his mind is spinning with ideas, plans—more than could ever be accomplished in one night.

[galvanizedfriend]

hi! so i’ve read pretty much all of your works and loved them so much. your writing is amazing and some of the best fan fiction i’ve read.

the only ones i haven read from you are the wolf series but i keep hearing so many good things about it.

i know it’s a TO rewrite with caroline instead of hayley (and i could look past the baby plot if it means klaroline) but i’ve tried watching the show a few times and hated hayley’s personality and some other nuances to the show and o was wondering if The Wolf is Caroline in place of Hayley but her personality and the way she acts in situations is how Hayley does in the show, or if it’s very much so Caroline if she were put in the position Hayley is in? if that makes sense

First of all, thank you very much, nonnie! ❤️ Glad you enjoy my little fics 🥰 Your question makes perfect sense, yes.

The short answer is: no, Caroline is not just Hayley in a wig 😂 If you're asking me, I'm obviously going to say it's completely different! I'm biased, but I also know how much work I put into it, so I know all the ways TW deviates from the show. I think Caroline is very IC in this, if I may say so myself, so obviously not Hayley, and every time I've gone back to re-read parts of this fic I have had a great time 😂 So personally, I think this is a very entertaining story, but again, it's my story lol Other people might be able to give you less biased opinions.

If you hate hate The Originals, there is still a chance you won't like this anyway, but I do think it's very different, and I have a longer answer if you're interested.

Under the cut because I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! Be careful what you guys ask me, you might get a freaking bible as a reply.

I have become deffensive of this fic over the years because I have received some very nasty comments in the past (not saying your question is offensive in any way, nonnie, this is a very valid question!). I can respect people not liking it, I can respect this isn't everybody's cup of tea, and that's totally fine. What I can't stand is when people tell me I haven't done anything to the show, or that Klaus and Caroline are exactly the same as Klaus and Hayley. I did not spend the amount of time I have spent overthinking and overwriting this shit into something that makes much more sense and is way more fleshed out than the show ever was to hear from people that I've done nothing. I can't even list all the ways TW deviates from the show, or Caroline from Hayley, because I'd be here for the rest of the day.

As the person writing the story, I know exactly how much thought I have put into it, how many original scenes and dialogues and shit I write each chapter, and how much of what I've taken from the show I have cracked my brain to twist and change in a way that fits. I have spent more time of my life overthinking the crappy writing on this show in order to add context and find correlations and make connections and rationalize characters' behaviors and add depth to their actions and their thoughts, and let me tell you, nonnie, it was not easy. It's unbelievable how weak the writing for TO is, the actors do a lot of the work all by themselves. My friends who were with me during this time know how fucking annoying I was lol

This was me sending messages to @definedareasofuncertainty in the middle of the night to explain an idea:

I realize I can't expect readers to feel the same way, everyone is entitled to their opinions and I can only be responsible for what I write, not for how people are going to understand it, but I can't help the way I feel because, to me, it's insane when someone reads this and thinks it's the same. The entire premise of The Wolf is different. It's never about the baby, the baby is almost background noise. The Originals starts and ends around Hope, but The Wolf is not about baby Eve (that's the baby's name), it's about Caroline. Everything is about Caroline, and about Klaus' feelings for her.

A lot of what I think is wrong with TO is that it just doesn't make sense. The things they do, the choices they make, the way they relate to each other just doesn't work, and what I tried to do was rewrite it in a way that it did make sense, not only moving the story forward, but also, and especially, the characters, their motivations and their relationships. I feel like TO was always going to be a better show if they'd focused more on characters than on plot, because that's what I was there for from the start, the family and their bonds, not undercover werewolf packs or baby-stealing aunts. But the writers sacrificed the characters so much for the sake of some arguably very silly plots (don't even get me started here…). While I do keep the plot points, what I tried to do (and hopefully succeeded, at least to a certain degree) was to bring the characters to the front and push the action and enemies and wars and such to the background. So instead of having the characters reacting to the plot, I have the plot serving the characters, if that makes sense. I kept the parts that interested me and that I felt I could use to serve my purposes and threw out everything I could dispense with.

And what I was aiming for first and foremost was to get Caroline the center stage I always felt she deserved, and the love story she could've had with Klaus. So the whole thing is really about that. S1 is the two of them sorting through their differences and understanding their feelings for each other, S2 is the two of them negotiating an actual relationship, S3 is them being married. That's it. I had the best time writing about the two of them through the eyes of the other characters, to have Elijah and Rebekah and Kol and Marcel witnessing and monologuing about Klaroline, all these different points of view on them. And my actual favorite part of the entire story is the part that isn't The Originals at the end of TW2.

So anyway, my point with my TO rewriting was never to fix everything that is wrong with the show. I wasn't writing the version of TO I wish it had been, my ideal spin off. I could've done that, but I didn't, because it's not what the project was ever about when I started. I wanted to keep the show as close to what it is as possible, whilst trying to prove a point (to myself, but also, hopefully, to some other people) that there was a way that this show could've still kept me invested. I'm an easy girl, just give me faves on their journey towards endgame and I'm satisfied, you know.

If you made it to the end of this, congratulations, nonnie 😂 You wanted a yes or no answer and you got a STATEMENT. I'm very sorry for my dumbass response, I've just become *protective* of this fic. If you do read it, I hope you'll find it enjoyable. If not, that's ok too! There are many amazing fics out there for you to be wasting your time on something that won't spark joy for you ❤️ And thanks again for reading my other fics, that's very lovely of you!

[roomwithanopenfire]

Six Sentence Sunday

Happy Sunday everyone!! Thanks for the tags @blackberrysummerblog and @artsyunderstudy!!

This week I’ve done the big three: writing, editing, and ignoring my wips, with perhaps a bit more of the last one than I’d like. Most of my writing this week has been for an exchange fic for a different fandom, which I finally finished the rough draft of. Cue the celebration. However, even if I wanted to share anything from that, I can’t, it must remain hush-hush, but I am getting pretty excited to share it (and way more excited about receiving my own exchange fic back, this whole thing is very fun).

I’ve written less than 300 words on my COBB this week, and none of them are good, but I have gotten some editing done of Proof of Life. I can’t share any more snippets of the next chapter though because I’ve shared too much already. So instead, I figured I’d do a bit of a process post this time around, because I always love reading those. Check that out under the cut! (and i'm sorry this is long, i still have not learned brevity)

So my editing process isn’t too crazy, and is brought to you almost entirely by google docs comments. I also use the word ‘editing’ very loosely to encompass rewriting, revising, and proofreading. Sometimes editing means completely rewriting a scene/section, sometimes it just means switching around a couple of words or cleaning up a sentence. 

Mostly, I try not to take everything so seriously, because I know that I could edit something forever and ever and never post it if I let myself get too carried away. So I try to keep everything pretty chill. So here’s my steps I go through for each chapter that I edit. 

Step One: Reread the whole chapter. While I do this, I’ll leave comments on big picture things. “Maybe move this scene into the next chapter” or “The dialogue in this scene feels stilted” but I don’t add a lot of comments at this point. Once I’m done with this I’ll copy over any comments I had on the first draft or the beta reader copy over into the ‘draft two’ document. 

Step Two: COMMENTS. Again, my fics are brought to you by google doc comments. I like to go through from the bottom up, reading scene by scene and leaving comments on pretty much every single sentence. 

A lot of the time (read: most of the time) these are really vague like:

And sometimes these are more detailed like:

And occasionally these are compliments

Step Three: Once the whole chapter is filled with comments, I go through scene by scene (in whatever order speaks to me), and rewrite, edit, or fix sections. This part I find really fun, because I’m taking parts that aren’t good yet and I’m making them better. I love fixing things and getting rid of all the comments. It typically ends up being a lot of  rewriting, but I always finish a scene feeling better about it then when I started.

For example, here’s the draft one vs. draft two version of a snippet from the first chapter of Proof of Life. This is one of the scenes I pretty much rewrote. Others look a lot more similar to their original versions.

Original:

Edited:

Step Four: Then before I post a chapter, I’ll read through the whole thing and sometimes find smaller bits to fix. Then I’ll run it through a grammar checker and ignore half of their suggestions in the name of ✨style ✨.

Overall, I feel like I have a pretty basic editing strategy and I’m really pleased with it. Even though sometimes I feel like more robust edits would make everything way better, it’s a good mix of fixing things but not spending too much time on it. I remember I spent like a month on editing the very first fic I posted at that was only 6k words. If I kept doing that for everything, I'd never post anything at all. With fanfiction, I know that y'all will be nice to me even though it's never perfect <333

Tags and Hellos!! (I'm unsure if we still need the spaces, but i've been burned too many times lol)

@you-remind-me-of-the-babe @m1ndwinder @facewithoutheart @run-for-chamo-miles @raenestee

@onepintobean @prettygoododds @noblecorgi @hushed-chorus @angelsfalling16

@thewholelemon @monbons @shrekgogurt @brendughh @hertragedyconnoisseur

@beastmonstertitan @valeffelees @horsesarenotdeer @drowninginships @supercutedinosaurs

@fiend-for-culture @rimeswithpurple @cutestkilla @alexalexinii @ileadacharmedlife

@arthurkko @rbkzz @skeedelvee @bookish-bogwitch @brilla-brilla-estrellita

[perenial]

gene im so glad you said this cause I haven't seen anyone else comparing it to the book as source material for like character and tone but i am So sure that if terry was alive the season would not be like this but i fear good omens fans dont realise how big a factor the lack of terry's influence is?? or like they forget that good omens was never just neilman???

ok before i go any further: i rly don't want to detract from anyone's enjoyment of the season and everything im going to say comes from a place of love for a) the original novel (& season 1 to a certain extent bc it got me back into it lol) and b) tv as a medium so like peace and love on planet let people enjoy things etc etc

but

like u said, terry's influence on the book was enormous – what makes gomens gomens is the balance of his genuine warmth and precise understanding of humanity tempered with neilman's sardonic voice and general like.....savvy approach to storytelling? i guess u could call it? anyway what rly helps the book is that it took them years to write it, passing ideas back and forth and rewriting each other's work until their voices blended seamlessly and a well structured capital-s Story was created. when i praise the book for being self-contained i think a huge part of that comes from the circumstances in which it emerged: two authors with complementary styles writing in a v particular time period where they had both the space to play with their ideas and the constraints of the novel as a storytelling format from which to craft something extremely specific.

adaptations are a tricky business and a tv version of gomens produced literal decades after the book was always going to have some unique challenges, but i don't think that's a bad thing bc the challenges could prove to be creative opportunities to take both the established audience and those new to the story by surprise. my biggest hot take here is that i don't think translating a story into a different medium means it has to follow the original narrative exactly, bc each medium has its own ways of communicating information and these structures, rules and traditions in turn inform what that story is. what matters more than following a story beat-by-beat is capturing what that story is about at its core, what themes and messages and ideas it works through and how.

all this is to say i never expected tv gomens to be a perfect reproduction of the book and if it had it been, it probably would have been worse off for it. that being said, there are parts of the book – like u said, its tone and character – that needed to have some fidelity in order to pull it off, and for the most part s1 did that bc it was still working predominantly within the bounds of the novel & its core ideas. while i did have some issues w how neilman & amazon adapted some details and characterisations, i generally rly liked s1 – it reminded me of why i loved the book and it was just generally fun to watch.

s2 was. not that fun to watch

a few positives before i go ham w the critiques:

the hair & makeup + costumes were fantastic (although i feel like s1 was slightly better re: makeup?)

the sound design & score made some of the more awkward scenes bearable and thats no mean feat imo

david & michael gave incredible performances w what they were given – michael especially managed to salvage aziraphale enough that his complete 180 didnt feel completely tonally dissonant (more on this later)

the detail of the sets is NUTS and i genuinely want to see more of hell bc of how intricate and fun the props look

i actually like gabriel/beelzebub!! their getting together montage worked for me, although they could have spent sliiiightly more time establishing what it is they like abt each other so much + why gabriel wanted to stop armageddon 2.0 so suddenly

the opening scene, although not on par w the novel's & s1's, was visually gorgeous and thematically resonant (although neilman owes me royalties for ripping it off from this shitty fic i wrote back when raphael!crowley was all the rage lol)

now w THAT being said:

like i said yesterday, the pacing was fucking awful. flashbacks are hard to work w at the best of times and the way they were used in this season felt so needless, especially the 40s one in ep 4 that takes up like 90% of the episode. in both flashbacks + present day there were scenes that dragged for no real reason, dialogue that looped back around on itself to stretch out the runtime, and weirdly enough places where there should have been character & plot work where there just,, wasn't any?? for example, maggie & nina's night locked in the café – some parts of the dialogue in later episodes made out that they'd had some rly deep conversation abt how they feel about each other or even that they'd had an affair, but that isn't clear from those scenes in the café. i'm not saying we had to see that conversation in its entirety but that there needed to be more connective details – either in dialogue or direction – that gave that part of the story coherence.

(there were pacing issues w the editing too but i don't want to jump down the editor's throats on this one bc im more focused on writing & direction issues)

the second major problem that i mentioned in my tags yesterday is the protagonist shift, which is an issue that started in s1. aziraphale & crowley are side characters in book gomens – significant ones, yeah, but still somewhat peripheral to adam (& anathema who counts as a deuteragonist imo). this works incredibly well w who they are as characters: they're Just Some Guys who happen to be involved in this epic biblical-level bureaucratic nightmare and importantly, they don't want to be in the spotlight. the arrangement was created so that they could explore what it meant to be themselves away from the Big Narrative; literally any time they get involved in larger affairs is bc the plot is alive and caught them unionising on company time. the last fucking chapter is adam (& god) being like haha u guys are alright keep it sleezy and letting them go. like. hello. neil u let them go.

but then!! tv gomens s1 does something interesting at the end w the body swapping addition that i dont totally hate – it gives aziraphale & crowley the extra bit of character work that brings them slightly more adjacent to their book selves. see i kinda view tv a/c as the younger, less settled versions of book a/c; they're still caught up in the immediacy of being key players and haven't fully realised that earth is their home. i haven't watched s1 in a while but one scene i remember rly clearly is crowley throwing all those astronomy texts in the air and angsting abt when he was an angel; i remember it bc his anguish in that scene feels a lot newer and rawer than book crowley's feelings about falling. when tv a/c do their bodyswap, it gives them the chance to land a blow against heaven/hell in a way that solidifies their allegiance to earth in a way that more closely resembles what book a/c have been abt the entire time (still adjacent, though. not parallel).

the reason why this works is that it does one final pivot to orient aziraphale and crowley as almost-main characters in a manner that makes sense in relation to a) their book selves and b) the position the tv show has placed them in. a combination of factors made tv a/c feel a lot less mature than their book counterparts but at the end of s1 they're sort of facing the same direction the book ended in, albeit through their own flashy late 2010s means.

when s2 was announced i was.......apprehensive bc to me, that felt like a satisfactory ending. i get the impression that amazon saw how wildly successful the adaptation was and was like oh shit we could make way more money out of this and neilman, having all those undead darlings that he and terry killed in the process of whittling the book into a workable novel, jumped at the chance to resurrect all those half-realised ideas. but not only were those ideas probably discarded for a reason, they've either been laying in wait for years unworked or they're new inventions, which means they weren't molded in the way that the book had been. like i said before, book gomens underwent years of rewrites and creative collaboration, and i think that process was what made it so good; s2 didn't have that. even if some of terry's ideas made it into s2, his influence is still missing bc he and neilman weren't in dialogue the same way they were in the book (and in some ways s1 bc i know terry was involved in the process of adapting gomens to screen before his death).

i don't think it's a case of newer fans forgetting terry so much as it is the context of terry's involvement being so removed from the current circumstances that certain aspects & discourses (i.e. is the s2 finale queerbaiting (no), does binge watching change the viewership experience (yes), etc etc) about the show overshadow other discussions that would usually be taking place. and before anyone says it's a case of neilman forgetting terry, i definitely don't think it's that either bc thats. yknow. wildly disrespectful. but also there are larger systems and structures at play than one writer no matter how much beef i have w him and his decisions, bc ultimately he's just one guy (a powerful and wealthy guy, but just a guy) and there's a wider cultural shift happening rn towards rehashing old stories without understanding what made them successful in the first place, and that same culture just doesn't allow for much, if any, constructive discourse analysis

so yeah

[breadvidence]

Subjective ranking of I.VI.II versions, chapter title “Punish Me, M. le Maire”. Judged primarily based on horniness and comedy.

1. The Brick. The silent treatment. “The strength of your loins.” “It is lucky that you recognize the fact.” The long aside about accents and the evolution of names, because Victor Hugo wrote this, which somehow does not derail the vibes. I have serious thoughts on this scene but this list is not about literary analysis, it’s about how much Javert wants to be licking M. Madeleine’s boots (to the max), Valjean opposite him with actual dom energy (present), and the lol factor (top of the line).

2. ’98. No, hear me out. Rush’s Javert despairingly tries to lead Neeson’s Valjean to the right conclusion like an experienced sub guiding a vanilla top through a scene. Neeson is bewildered. Rush exudes frustrated erotic energy. I am having flashbacks to bad hookups and dying on the inside. A+

3. A hundred different fanfic rewrites of this scene in which dicks touch. Bless y’all.

4. ’78. Perkins doesn’t bring as much frustration to the table as Rush, making this less funny, but in his defense he’s opposite Jordan, who is as vacant as a beach ball. Solid rendition regardless.

5. ’25. Faithful to the novel, but lacks spice. Best moment occurs when Gabrio gestures with open arms and Toulout looks blankly horrified, as if thinking Gabrio might go in for a hug.

6. 2012 (Hooper). I debated the ranking but this *is* a scene that launched a thousand fics, so while it seems to me that Crowe’s Javert needs aftercare more than a spanking (so wrung out), clearly fandom disagrees. Loses points for lack of comedy.

7. Stage musical. “But Bread,” you might say, “The musical doesn’t adapt this scene.” I am counting the end of “The Runaway Cart” as an honorable mention, since it still includes Javert embarrassing himself.

8. ’35. All I remember is Laughton quivering and maybe a repetition of the line about laws good, bad, and indifferent (a line which reflects such a misunderstanding of the character I can only squint). Erotic levels at 0%, not amused.

9. ’52. I have zero recollection of how the scene plays out and can’t be fucked to rewatch.

10. BBC 2018. I do recollect this scene and I wish I didn’t. I watch, I’m bewildered, Oyelowo telegraphs meaningfully into the camera, his meaning is unclear, none of the implications are derived from the source text. Oyelowo tries to look like he’s experiencing gay lust and fails. They shake hands, I clutch my pearls. -100

[compacflt]

i’ve got a question about your writing process: in order to write a 30 year narrative, you create it out of hundreds of individual moments & actions, and each one has to function by itself and also part of a whole—have truth to itself and emotional resonance in a timeline. imo the key to doing this successfully is to care about each moment and make each one memorable, which seems very difficult: you have to get at the meat of the human behavior, believably, in a way that matters and explains and progresses the story, every time. and to write 200k words of it you do it hundreds of times! could you talk a bit about idea generation for each moment and how you brainstorm and write them?

omg an excuse to make more diagrams ! Thank you so much for this lovely ask!

okay: in case you don’t want to scroll through like four/five months of my inane icemav Poasting, I’ve done a couple other posts that go into my process — here about specifically chapter 1 and here about the fatal flaw of my fics from a construction standpoint

but from an idea generation standpoint… it’s pretty boring and cynical. I literally just make checklists. “things that HAVE to happen.” here’s my notes app check list of stuff that HAD to happen for the story to make sense in my rewrite of what is now chapters 8 & 9. this is from last december lol

and here’s a checklist/diagram of the major story beats and the changes in relationship dynamics throughout the story. any one of these dynamics changing reflects on the others in a way that‘s worth talking about. the hard part is finding a framing device or scene to talk about them.

the A plot of the fic is ice’s relationship with the navy, primarily. his arc is defined by his rank. so that’s the number 1 dynamic I wanted to focus on in such-and-such scenes, and why I stuck as stringently as possible to the “one rank per chapter” formula until ice got to the top & had to reckon with what being at the top actually means. His change in ranks is inspiration enough for most scenes because it shifts the dynamics in a way that is worth remarking upon in and of itself.

as an example im thinking of this scene (mostly because it’s short but also) because i think it’s kind of representative of how my idea generation process works

It fills a lot of gaps that i needed filled at that specific juncture in the story. the idea started with a stupid little section of dialogue in my head (mav would be surprised that ice’s official Navy docusign signature isn’t his actual signature) that happened to be symbolically relevant too (of course ice would have two different signatures for his two different personas). Then it morphed into a discussion of Ice’s canonically unhappy-looking compacflt portrait, which is canonically unhappy-looking. Then add onto that ice admitting he’s only happy at home (home obviously meaning with maverick, given that he’s literally in his house right now and still doesn’t feel like he’s home) and maverick telling him, “well that’s a problem that has literally the easiest fix in the world. youre making this way more complicated than it needs to be. just come home to me.”

so it’s literally just checking off boxes of things I wanted to talk about. as I said, a very cynical creation process. ✅ ice and mav doing the long-distance-relationship phone call thing (framing device for the whole scene). ✅ mav knowing ice’s real vs fake signature ❤️. ✅ ice’s canon unhappy compacflt portrait that makes an appearance in TGM. ✅ ice not feeling at home in Hawaii. ✅ ice not being fulfilled by the job & only being fulfilled by mav. ✅ ice coming up with excuses to see mav at any possible chance he gets. ✅ ice still obviously thinking of mav and Bradley as his family & maverick as his home. Etc etc. You see what i mean? how many stupid little ideas, symbols, and dynamic shifts can i cram into a page or so? that’s pretty much my thinking.

[morningstargirl666]

Hey, just finished my re-read of TBBW and am looking forward to new chapters, any idea of when they will be posted? Keep writing and rocking!

Oh thank you! ✨❤️✨ I've had several asks like this over the past several months and my answer has always been different lol because I always end up writing more.

Not sure how up-to-date you are with what's happening with TBBW so I'll explain: the editing I talked about doing in the end notes of the last chapter I posted? Yeah, kinda turned into a full rewrite.

I started writing TBBW in 2020 and I like to believe my skill as a writer has grown a lot since then and not only that, but the story has grown too. It's evolved into something so much greater than I ever thought it would be. Originally, it was gonna be like 20 chapters? And it wasn't going to be a full canon rewrite, there was going to be time jumps instead, moving onto season 4 quickly - there was no damon murder arc - it was almost a completely different fic. The story that it is now, the one posted on AO3 isn't even a full canon rewrite, more a canon divergence --- but what I'm writing right now certainly is.

I lasted until chapter 5 before I started adding new chapters. As the chapter count stands right now (43, no longer 35) I know its not set in stone because if I've written 8 new chapters already and I'm only on chapter 30, I'm bound to write more by the time I'm done. Elijah, Kol and Rebekah are much more central to the story, with their own flashback chapters and character arcs weaved into the subplots. I've slowed down the Klaroline development even further so it feels like you're there with them, getting to know them, slowly falling in love with them as they are each other. Sam and Kiera are now much more developed and well-rounded characters, with conflicts with Klaus. The Mystic Falls gang are more present, and you get to see Caroline's relationships with her friends and Tyler evolve and twist and strain and bind tighter, depending on the situation.

This rewrite has dozens of new scenes (at this point I've lost count how many), dozens more of extended scenes and dialogue (I'm currently writing chapter 30, which will now be entirely klaroline, set after the 20s decade dance when Klaus drives her home) and the word count is continuely rising. I actually broke google docs and hit the word count limit so I've had to split the rewrite into two docs: PART 1 (Chapters 1-21) and PART 2 (Chapters 22-43? 45? Who fucking knows at this point). I'm on about 280/290k rn overall. And although I'm writing chapter 30 currently, I haven't actually finished 30 chapters --- I've only completely finished around 25 and many of them need editing once this rewrite is finished.

I'm hoping I'll be finished by Christmas, my present to you all. But I can't garrentee it. Whenever the update comes, it's going to be posted all at once and you will be able to devour it to your hearts desire. The new chapters, which I guess were originally going to be chapter 36 and 37, are drafted out a little bit but I gotta admit stuff doesn't really start happening till the end of 37, as I'm basically starting a new subplot arc. It's mostly canon and/or filler stuff to start with, so not that exciting. I doubt they'll take long to finish once the rewrite is done, but I make no promises. After that, I'll be back on my bullshit of regular chapter updates, hopefully. Then the fun really begins.

Whatever the case, when this update lands, I'm hoping to blow your socks off. Jury's out on whether that'll happen, but I guess we'll see.

(It's going to be awesome, hehehe)

[battlemaiden13]

Hey almighty maiden, I have a question. It's just I need advice lol, so like-

What if you feel motivation to write, and the moment you look at your writing progress, you suddenly feel demotivated to write.

Like this has happened to me multiple of times already 😭😭 what would you do?

Go find something you wrote when you were in your first grade of school. I bet you didn’t even use capital letters correctly let alone know all your letter sounds. Or find a story you wrote (or tried to write) a few years ago and laugh at your foolishness. 

I also am willing to bet you’ve improved more than you think you have, sometimes it’s hard to see progress when you're so close to the work. I go back to some chapters now and am amazed at how bad they are or sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. 

If you are motivated to write. In that moment, don’t look back at your past writing if you know it will discourage you or confidently call it practice and know that this time you’ll be better and prove it out of spite. Past me thought that was the best chapter I ever wrote? Prepare to be wrong! 

Alternatively if you can’t help it try to write 100-200 words, knowing they don’t have to be good, knowing you will probably rewrite them and knowing these are just a stepping stone for you to either get in the groove or say ‘nah not gonna write any more today’.  Use the 200 words to describe an emotion or a color without using the color's name or a scene you are super keen to write or jot down that maladaptive daydream you’ve been thinking about over and over again. 

I have a scene with ORange and boba tea that I wrote a month ago and I am vibrating with excitement over the stupidity of it and I can’t wait to use it! But I wrote it on a day I felt my writing was no good. It was just a scene I wanted to write. 

Side note this is how I feel about the M.A.G.E Project. You know the fic I’ve been updating a lot recently. I didn’t and sometimes still don't like it. It is the weakest of my fics, the premise is not as entertaining and I find it a chore to write but it is good practice. I don’t get the same amount of comments on it. I have never gotten fanart of it, no one has reached out specifically asking me to update that fic but it’s good practice. It’s helping me with scene setting and slower fluff chapters and when I get discouraged writing it cause it feels like my writing is stagnant in it I remember that the story is for me. I wrote the story for me, it’s still for me. It doesn’t need to be good as long as I enjoy it. And I do. I am looking forward to the angst and beach chapter and the end. I am excited. 

Write for you. If someone else enjoys it, that's great. But write for you. 

I have no idea if that helps… I just sort of went on a write… if you get discouraged don’t look at such early work or set yourself a goal regardless and write a story for you. That’s it.

[bluecatwriter]

⭐ Step into the Light, which deserves way more attention

Thanks so much for the ask! This is one of my fics I'm most proud of. :)

The fic in question: "Some scenes from Quincey Morris's and Jonathan Harker's complicated relationship, from their time in Varna to the end of the novel, told through their alternating points of view."

Spoilers ahead…

-I know that, like most of my fics, this one was inspired by a Tumblr discussion, but I can't remember who started it or exactly what it was about, other than something about being able to surmise a very interesting relationship between Quincey and Jonathan near the end of the book, culminating with Quincey dying in Jonathan's arms. There was just a lot to explore there, and the idea of doing a back-and-forth perspective switch came to mind.

-Figuring out which beats of the story would be from which perspective was a little tricky; this was one of the few fics where I created a rough outline, and some of the perspectives got shuffled one to the other in order to keep them alternating.

-I usually write in third person, but the idea of using first/second person, with Quincey and Jonathan referring to each other as "you" in their respective scenes, got stuck in my head. It gave the story such an interesting intimacy to it, showing how these events are causing their worlds to sort of revolve around each other. To lend a greater sense of immediacy, I made it present tense instead of my usual past tense.

-Writing Jonathan's scenes came fairly naturally, since I've written a lot from his perspective (albeit in third person) and my third-person voice for him isn't that different from his first-person speaking voice. 

-Quincey's scenes were much more of a challenge; I ended up drafting them in my "normal" narrative voice and then went back later to rewrite nearly every sentence, taking into consideration his speaking patterns. Although I don't know anyone from Texas very well, I drew a lot from my extended family who live in the South, trying to capture the vivid phrasing and storytelling sensibility that goes into a lot of their speech. 

-I always have a hard time coming up with titles (which is why half my fics are named things like "Two Men Talking" LOL). But I was pleased with the title from this one, alluding to the lines: "I feel you staring at us like a coyote outside the light of a campfire ring…I wish I could grab your hand the way you grabbed mine just days ago. Draw you into this ring of light, hold your hand till you know you're safe."

-I decided that I wasn't going to explicitly say whose perspective we were in during any given scene, relying on the line breaks and the different in dialect to get it across. I think I succeeded.

-My preferred headcanon of Jonathan during this time is actually a lot less bitter and standoffish, but it was interesting to explore this version of him in this fic. He's running on pure animal instinct at this point, and Quincey is (wisely) treating him as such.

-I got a bit obsessed with the dynamic of Quincey being fully aware that Jonathan would kill him if he ever tried to stake vampire Mina— and him being cool with that. They've each made their promises, and it's Quincey's job to make sure that this clash never has to happen (but to accept the consequences if it does).

-I had to throw in a lil Quincey pining over Jonathan (and vice versa) because I am a big sucker for Yeehawrker. :D

-I am still very happy with the lines, "You'd look good spattered in the blood of a fresh kill. You'd still look good, even if the blood was mine." (Foreshadowing babey)

-Had to let Jonathan have a good cry! I thought this was an important moment, too, because Jonathan being able to not only break down in front of Quincey, but accept his comfort, was a big turning point for the two of them. Live in the moment, Jonno. You got this.

-Originally Quincey's death scene was from Jonathan's perspective, which makes more sense than writing from a guy who's dead, but I actually really like that my back-and-forth formula ended with Quincey's view of his own death; I think it gives the scene an eerie, almost dreamlike feel, and nicely bookends the whole fic through Quincey's eyes. (Present tense to the rescue, too.)

-I decided to draw out Quincey's monologue a bit more, and give Jonathan a couple words, as well as tying back in the imagery of Jonathan covered in Quincey's blood. And of course, we gotta have the final image of Jonathan (metaphorically stepping) into the light, smiling in the light of the sunset. It was a nice image to end with.

I'm enjoying these Director's Commentaries a bit too much! ;) Thanks again for asking!

(Ask game here)