#this reminds me of the profile pages of the fanfic writers who i used to read stories of on ffnet for some reason

[averlym]

oh. uh hi! here’s me answering all my tag-answer-thingys at once! thank you so very much to everyone who tagged me and,,, apologies for the wait.

answer 20 questions: tagged by the wonderful @radcowboyalmondtree, @one-time-i-jumped-off-a-cliff, @existencialvoidofexistence, and @that-gremlin-girl

Name: Audrey

Pronouns: she/her

Nicknames: avvy, auds

Zodiac: rooster (鸡), aquarius

Height: 158cm, about 5’2 for those of y’all who don’t use the metric system

Languages: English and Chinese (nearly took French, ditched it for art, also spent a year learning Malay when I was ten)

Nationality: Singaporean

Favourite season: spring or autumn. I like the in-betweens. Maybe because I’m a very passionate person, I love and hate strongly and fast but it flashes by fast, like a candle burning on both ends, much like my temper and angers. The in-betweens are slower, calmer, and I don’t get enough of that inside my head. Also, the temperatures are nicest. But we don’t have normal seasons here so in that case, monsoon season, hands down. More rain, less hot, and I like getting soaked in the rain occasionally.

Favourite scent: lavender, old books, my grandmother’s laundry detergent. mum’s deodorant. vanilla. coffee. (in that order please and thank you.)

Favourite colours: forest green, black, greys. (blue goes nicely with these too!)

Favourite animal: dragonfly.

Favourite fictional characters: anne of green gables, my multiple ocs.

Coffee, tea or chocolate: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, milk tea, coffee, tea, white chocolate (in order of preference). anything with toffee or caramel gets propelled to the top of the list.

Average sleep hours: ranges from no sleep, or half an hour-ish to twelve hours or more. on school times: 4-6 hours.

Dog or cat person: I love them both. Soft spot for cats. Also soft spot for dogs.

Number of blankets I sleep with: one, sometimes two.

Dream trip: malaysia, london, nyc, melbourne. (no order of preference, all these places. malaysia a bit higher, but that has to be a specific place in malaysia. same for melbourne and nyc. london is because of the general vibes.)

Blog established: 16 September 2019 was my first post if I remember right! I did lurk a bit before posting, so give a few weeks or so! If you’re interested in the post that gave me somewhere to start: it’s here and I keep it bookmarked to this day. It’s the version on @incorrect-sixquotes because that was one of my favourite ever blogs and hence my first post was based on that.

Followers: tumblr doesn’t show follower counts and I think it’s brilliant and I’m not going to ruin that by posting my follower count but I will tell you: I last hit a milestone on 17/4(?) but tumblr crashed as I saved my thank you post and it was just not meant to be. so you’re never going to find out my follower count unless you dm me specifically asking.

Random fact: I like doing something and watching chaos unfold because of something small I did.

10 questions from the brilliant @that-gremlin-girl (thank you again!)

1. Favorite season?

spring or autumn! (winter is nice but I freeze, and summer is too hot for my liking!)

2. Have you got any phobias?

a really big one of horror. the rest are pretty minor. (horror scares me so much. trailers for horror movies aren’t even tolerable. I went for a horror thing in school once and had nightmares for weeks.)

3. Are you a spicy or sweet person?

personality-wise, I’d like to say sweet because I try to be nice? with a tinge of chaos sometimes. irl I’m not confident enough to be spicy. (if for food, I adore spice but can’t handle it too hot. I’m not a very sweet-inclined person? would choose salt over sugar. would even choose pepper over sugar actually.)

4. Favourite book/movie series?

harry potter/ chronicles of narnia (childhood favourites!)

5. If you had one, what superpower would you want?

the power to be invisible/change shape (goodness my anxiety would disappear so fast hhh)

6. Current favourite song?

shut up and dance with me/broken hearts club. depends on whether I want motivation or to feel emotional. (if you want me to suddenly become soft though, your best bet is any wizard rock song)

7. Worst injury you’ve ever had?

I’ve been rather lucky! I’ve never broken or twisted or sprained anything, there’s been nothing that’s needed stitches. It’s grazed skin and cut fingers and accidental scratches. I’ve got a bit of scar on my right leg where I somehow cut myself (how remains unknown) and had to go to the hospital for tissue glue. another would be from when I went ice skating with friends and we were clowning about then fell and my lip got cut by one of the blades on a skate. (that one was lucky- I’m told I might have nearly needed surgery but it wasn’t that deep and it naturally healed)

8. Dream home?

multi-storied. this counts as a loft, or actual levels. I want tall windows and natural light and small rooms and quiet corners and one big open space for everyone to hang out together. I’d design it, and there would be the loveliest hidden passages and rooms and it’d be as magical as I could make it. It would have a garden and on the outside, it’d show the city view. (I’m a city girl at heart.) It would be fairly small, like a studio apartment, but with a decently large area in the living area. I’d have at least one bay window and a place with a sloped ceiling. loads of storage space.

9. If you were to be invisible for a day, what would you do?

hide from my responsibilities. buy presents and sneakily leave them about for loved ones. wear my fanciest clothes out. see how quiet I can be. go out and watch people and draw them and take all the photos I want, and not be scared of anyone ever watching. feel confident about my appearance. (I know I’m invisible and that’s the point)

10. Least favourite colour?

I had a thing against olive green as a child. not very fond of beige either.

and 10 more questions from the amazing @djts-arts! thank you!

1. What’s 9 + 10? wrong questions only

my heart says 11 but my mind says nO

2. How are you doing?

I’m doing… okay. could be better, could be worse.

3. How are you coping well in this pandemic?

I’m alive? It’s alright. *shrugs* (I’ve been indoors but I’m usually indoors so my daily lifestyle hasn’t changed that much, I suppose. School has us writing thank you cards to frontline workers and I have feelings because they all sound repeated and empty words and I am most annoyed. Also, to anyone reading this, if you’re going out without reason, please go screw yourself, you suck and I hate you.)

4. Do you want virtual hug?

yes please hugs are always nice <hug hug> (hugs are accepted especially if virtual because then people can’t touch me and that means they can’t hurt me because I’m untouchable “and here you see my paranoia coming out” *gestures like a tour guide*)

5. What do you normally wear when you go out?

a shirt and long pants. (best outfit: slytherin t-shirt, necklace, and jeans.)

6. What languages do you speak?

chinese (badly) and english. for simplicity’s sake- just english. (look I can technically speak chinese but I’m bad at speaking/writing it. I can understand it fine though. usually.)

7. If you ask a person to kill you, would it be murder or suicide?

suicide. probably murder if in court. but on another note, why would you? (please don’t.)

8. Fav thing to quote from vine/tiktok?

hhh there’s so many good ones! the one I use most often would probably be ‘yeet’? I blame my friend’s influence. (the first vine I learnt was “what do you have?”“A KNIFE!””NO-“. tiktok things I have somehow learnt are the “never gonna get it never gonna get it” and “I know exactly what I want and who I wanna be”. I don’t use either vine or tiktok, never have, probs never will *shrugs*)

9. Do you watch anime?

nope! the art is pretty but idk it doesn’t appeal to me. The most would be Ghibli films (totoro is nice! we watched it in school and !!!).

10. If so what anime are you watching right now?

-not applicable-

thank you all for the questions <3

I was going to come up with 10 questions as per the rules but I ran out of original ideas and it started to sound like I was one of those “get to know me!” sheets used as icebreakers in school, so here’s some (not quite 10) questions/ prompts instead for anyone to try if they want to (please tag me if you do this, I would like to know) 1. favourite symbiotic relationship?

2. ramble about an interest of yours! any interest!

3. favourite incorrect quote you’ve seen/made?

4. what made you come onto tumblr?

5. what’s a word that you find pretty?

and with that, we’re done! (for elaboration on the questions I made you may look to the tags. congratulations for reading this far, and I hope the ‘keep reading’ thing works.)

[monster-bait]

That last post really called me out! I'm that person who reads my favorite fics over and over again and wishes there was the way I could let the author know. Can I ask if it's not offensive, how you like to be shown support for your wonderful writing?

Hello! Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate it! 

Soooooo, I’m going to answer this as two different questions, because that’s what you (unwittingly) asked. If you’re a person who reads and re-reads your favorite fanfic or original fic or Mandalorian meets the Hobbit gang and they all wind up backstage at a Harry Styles concert doing jello shots with Hozier fic or Monster Romance stuff, and you’re wondering how you can better support the creator of your favorite work, YOWZERS have I got great news for you!

...you just did it! You saw my post, clicked my inbox, and sent me a message. It’s really that easy. Do it on anon, do it in the comment section of AO3, shout your name loud and proud if you want, write an epic mutlti-paragraph review or just a keyboard smash. Send a little note saying “I love this.” That’s it! That’s all it takes!

(My normal caveats attach, as always: don’t do things that make you uncomfortable, take care of your own mental health, etc etc infinity. If you don’t have the emotional energy to leave a comment, take care of yourself. I am, however, going to verrrrry gently remind you that the person who created the thing you love so much has their own well of emotional well-being to keep up. Creation comes at a cost, and if they’re not in a position to refill that depleted well on their own, they’re going to be hoping for an outside bucketful. If those buckets dry up, the creative well may run dry.)

The comment culture on sites like AO3 and its ilk can really run a writer down. It’s very easy for people to become addicted to that sweet, sweet validation, and watching your hits climb and the kudos and comments remain stagnant can be gutting. I totally get that sometimes you just want to scroll to your favorite hurt/comfort fic and indulge without feeling like you need to write some effusive praise. That’s fine. Enjoy the content however you want, however you’re able. But if you can, send the creator a message or leave a comment when you’re feeling up to it.

When I reblog posts like the one to which you responded, I’m doing it to pay it forward to my fellow writers who ARE posting on comment-driven sites like AO3 and FFN. I was there once, and I get the frustration that can come with watching your hit count go up and your comments stay empty. I sound like a broken record, but: support the things you love, in whatever way you’re able. Leave a kudos, leave a comment (any comment!) reblog, send a message...lots of ways to show support!

Now...if you’re asking to support *me* personally? I don’t post my work on sites other than my Tumblr and now Patreon. I don’t really care if you guys leave comments on my work. If you do – wonderful! But it’s not something I’m losing sleep over or staying up until the wee hours of night to obsessively read and re-read. (I do check out the tags on reblogs because sometimes you guys are fucking hilarious.)

Honestly, the best way you can support *me* right now is simply by following me on other channels and signing up for my publication alerts. I’m going to be putting Girl’s Weekend up for pre-sale soon, and making an author profile on Amazon & Goodreads, and believe me, y’all are gonna hear about it. You guys can like my author page on Facebook and join the reader group there (once it launches) and follow me on Instagram. My inbox here is always open, and I love getting your wacky/hilarious/insightful asks.

In general, the best way to support creators on *this* platform is to reblog their work.

If you’re in a financial position to subscribe to Patreon or give a ko-fi, awesome, thank you, I appreciate it. If not, that’s fine too. I lost my job in July and my industry is in complete shambles right now, so believe me, I get it. (which is why the work I publish on Patreon will be exclusive to Patreon—I appreciate the support and that’s my way of making it worthwhile for my patrons.)

The ways you can support the creators of the content you love are myriad and plentiful. Just remember that it’s creator content to which most of us turn in times of distress—art, music, comics, fiction, poetry, movies, etc. 

Support the things you love so that the things you love stick around.

[moondustaeil]

If your moots (or blogs you want to be mutuals with) were fanfics, what would they be? I personally think you'd be a 'royalty au, protective brother king!Kun × princess/prince!reader × suitor!Sangyeon' fanfic! 📚

You just seem very mature and put-together to me.

hihi, my love!! This was so nice to do even if it took a long time, I loved it so thank you. Also thank you for saying what fic I would be, I wish I could live in that fic 🥺💙

If you’re not in here, I’m so sorry, I’ll still add you if you want or next time someone asks me this, I’ll add you!

you can find the fics and moots under the cut! I didn’t go in any particular order, just who popped in my mind at what moment and émi last bc she’s my world yes. This is way longer than expected

@sunhyuck

Au: soulmates 

Pairing: wanderer!Haechan x Kei 

Backstory: ever since Donghyuck accidentally met eyes with a stranger on the street, he is greeted with sunflowers scattered along his path. Young sunflowers dance under the sun, turning to the source of warmth and light. Just like the sun is all you've been gazing at ever since you walked on the same path as your soulmate. 

Why: because I truly think of Kei as one of the people I'll always go to and when thinking about soulmates, I think of people who find each other and accept each other despite different lives. That I will connect to the weird variety of subjects we talked about. I love you, my angel (if you're reading this). 

⠀

@neo-cult-ure 

Au: demonic entities , haunted house , roommates 

Pairing: composer!Taeyong x journalist!Ley 

Backstory: Taeyong has been shouting over his music to you for over half a year, almost begging you to dedicate a column to him and his music. When his equipment starts picking up the strange noises coming from the house, it becomes clear that the clock hasn't been stopping at 3:19am for nothing. With Taeyong discovering the entity living among you, you decide to dedicate the article to Taeyong and your invisible roommate. 

Why: do I even need to explain, this queen owns horror and the horror concept. She's the one I'll bow to because I owe her a lot and she's freaking talented.

  ⠀

@ceruleanskies 

Au: secret relationship 

Pairing: soloist!Yuta x stylist!Kai 

Backstory: ever since Yuta appeared on the red carpet with a short haircut, fans hunt for the person that made the decision to get rid of his mullet. All fingers point towards you, stylist of Nakamoto Yuta, from each finger a new opinion flows into your ears: too short, not the right colour, better looking with the mullet. Though one finger shoots the arrow right in the heart "they're dating." 

Why: because I truly adore Kai even though I'm way too scared to actually tell, I don't want to mess up and make her think that I'm some kind of weird person. In my eyes, she sparkles through my screen. 

⠀

@neonun-au 

Au: dating app 

Pairing: photographer!Johnny x Mads 

Backstory: just like he with a button alters between the different pictures on his camera, Johnny alters between the different profiles, swiping them in his desired direction. That's how you strand in his life and mostly his camera roll: the pictures he takes, one by one, capture you. 

Why: because even though we don't know each other well, I truly want to capture her in my memory and think about the smiles I had on my face when reading her messages. 

⠀

@flowerhyucky 

Au: arranged by fate (you can call this soulmates but I'm calling this arranged by fate)  

Pairing: Hendery x Ana 

Backstory: one day, the flowering plant amaranthus caudatus settles itself in the middle of an empty field. Another day, someone else's birth flower is planted next to the amaranthus caudatus. The young miracles of nature grow just as their owners do, however, they don't bloom until the love between you and Hendery starts to bloom. 

Why: I really like Ana and her URL actually inspired the story, I could write so many adorable aus to fit her but nothing would compare. I truly like her vibes and her personality is so beautiful, like wow. 

⠀

@smileyjaeminies 

Au: university , writer 

Pairing: writing student!Jaemin x student!Alex 

Backstory: exam season is closer than expected for you, with only a few days to go until you scribble your knowledge down on the exam sheet and a week to go until you need to hand in your paper. However, someone is willing you help you with that paper. Na Jaemin, student and writer who seems to have more control over his life than the earth has over global warming. As the word document increases in pages, so does your liking towards the young writer. 

Why: I met Alex thanks to thesunnyshow that we're both co-admins of, and it immediately felt as if we were friends. Alex helped me through the screen when I fell off my bike (yes haha, a 21-year-old one took the wrong brake) and I try to make it work when she's busy with uni but we have a shift. So I think we're a great team and that's why I picked this au. 

⠀

@fruityutas 

Au: broken relationship 

Pairing: Taeil x Emily 

Backstory: "Can I go on?" Taeil asks himself every morning, gazing upon your sheet-covering body as you drown in the world of sleep. The wind howls outside the window, and Taeil wishes the wind would push you towards him, but the soft blowing only pulls you further away from him. You feel a soft breath against your neck, the soft lips murmuring "without you, there's no way." 

Why: I don't know why I chose this particular plot, maybe it was because I was listening to a song and based it on that. Initially, I wanted to go for a cheerful and happy plot that reminded me of her URL, but I ended up with angst. I remember we had this talk about angst and went from that. Also, I adore her so much, I probably expressed that once in a gc already but I'm saying it again. 

⠀

@afishcalledfatin 

Au: friends to lovers

Pairing: Jungwoo x Fatin 

Backstory: for as long as you can remember, you've been friends with Kim Jungwoo. In your childhood and teenage years, the term BFFs would be engraved in each object you gave to each other, but now that you two are adults, life is different. You want to give him the world because he deserves everything, he wants to give you love because his heart is longing for yours. 

Why: because she feels like a friend that I've had for years, we don't always talk but when we do, it just feels like we've been friends since forever. I love that a lot about her and I love how easy she is to approach and talk to, she's a true darling. 

⠀

@heartyyjeno 

Au: strangers to lovers 

Pairing: Sungchan x Alesha 

Backstory: trainee life is tough for Sungchan, even thinking about having to walk for over half an hour to get to the dance studio is something Sungchan stopped looking forward to. However, he meets you on his way, walking along the same path to get to a different location. One step a day with you along his side is all it takes for him to look forward to it again, to walking with you and getting to know you better. 

Why: because Alesha is a great friend and we, unfortunately, don't talk as much as we used to, but that doesn't take away I'm always there for her and she's always there for me. Sungchan's walk resembles the many different talks that we had together and not all of them were fun, but we walked the path together.

⠀

@jimjamjaemin 

Au: youtuber , vlogger 

Pairing: vlogger!Mark x vlogger!Mona 

Backstory: Mark and you have been a couple for over a year, with the growing interest in your relationship, you and Mark start a YouTube channel. From a look in the life to fun challenges, you and Mark take over the crown of cute YouTube couples. 

Why: Mona and i didn't meet in the best situation, we started to talk when there was quite some drama in the fandom. But I love Mona and the thing she made me for my birthday reminded me of an editor which led me to a youtuber au!

⠀

@chaoticdeobi 

Au: bakery/coffee shop (bc how can I not, she kicked me out of the coffee queue) 

Pairing: soft-spoken!New x coffee shop owner!Bea 

Backstory: the coffee quote that hangs inside your coffee shop, is something that Chanhee cites every day. With a soft voice, he orders his coffee and then flashes you his smile when you proceed to tell him that the cookie is on the house. As you bring the coffee to his table, the last minute of your shift ticks by, and when you sit with him, you start your shift as girlfriend. 

Why: I literally love love love Bea, sometimes she reminds me of a soft-spoken person and other times she reminds me of a chaotic deobi. I still laugh to myself thinking about our talks, thinking about having fun together. We don't get to talk as much as I'd like, but when we do, I wish we could talk forever. 

⠀

@juyeonzz

Au: criminal , badass , something chique  

Pairing: criminal!Jacob x partner in crime!Qiu

Backstory: pointing the gun at his future victim, Jacob awaits your return. You explore the house: tugging at knobs of money-filled drawers, opening jewellery-clad treasures. But you are looking for the key to Jacob's heart, a golden key dusted with scratches, poisoned with old blood from when someone else locked his heart and pulled the key out harshly. 

Why: because Qiu really gives me chique and sad vibes, when I think about her, I think about a longing feeling described with poetic words. Qiu wasn't my first mutual but if I need to mention my first mutuals, there's a big chance I'll include her because it feels like she was one of the first people I got close to. 

⠀

@atbzkingdom

Au: dream 

Pairing: Haknyeon x Dee

Backstory: if Haknyeon were to have one more day on this earth, how would be spend it? He would make a timetable of which you are the only returning factor, because he would like to drown himself in time with you. Twenty-four hours in which he is the sun that illuminates each part of the world, the world that is you, rotating until the sun is replaced by the moon. 

Why: I don't know Dee that well because we haven't talked overly much, but whenever I think about her, I think about references with the earth, sun and moon or natural things. She's just a sweet person, and it seems really natural to talk to her! 

⠀

@127-mile

Au: muse , painting 

Pairings: Ten x Émi (but there's also Renjun in here)

Backstory: from the brush that Renjun manoeuvres, droplets of paint colour the blank canvas in a self-made story. Ten, the master that learned Renjun how to portray his muse, is now standing next to Émi, the young woman returning in each painting of Ten. Never had they stood next to each other: artist and muse. Never had they consciously smiled at each other. Never had they been real. Until now. Immortalised on the canvas, Ten hugs his Émi, they might both be droplets of paint with a shadow, but behind the canvas Renjun bids farewell to his last painting. His tear streaks the painting, blurring the line between reverie and reality 

Why: because Émi and Renjun are both my muses in life and writing, creatively but also in daily things. I proclaim my love for Émi a lot but that never takes away how genuine it is, because I genuinely love her and sometimes it seems so surreal that she's in my life. Sometimes I'm afraid that she's a dot, a droplet of paint that will fade by time until I have no more remains of her. But however long we have left, I will cherish and love her each day just like she loves Ten (isn't that a sad love story, I literally cried for like five minutes after this 😂)

[gemstoneconstellations]

I love your fanfics! And I was wondering do you have any tips for original fanfic writing or just writing fics in general?

wow this actually ended up a lot longer than i thought it would, but here we go!

Original fanfics, hmmmmmm....

What I generally do is base things off of my own personal experience. Like all my iida fics are stuff that happened between me and my husband before we got married. Can’t help falling in love fic with bakugo, that was a previous relationship i had (which there is more to that story). Caught with todoroki..... thats how i got out of a ticket with a cop and how i learned that when i half check someone out and half start thinking about what i would do to that fine man in uniform (curse my uniform kink) that i glare/make a suspicious face. and when he confronted me about what i was doing, ready to write some kind of ticket for whatever i was doing wrong, i was so embarrassed that i blurted out that i found him very attractive and what exactly was on my mind and how i wanted to take that uniform off him.... that has happened with a emt too, i missed the green light looking at his bulging biceps after he rolled up his sleeves to write on a clip board.... he waved and i proceeded to squat in my seat and slam my face against the stirring wheel. escape artist cat was actually a dream i had, someone was taking off my cat’s pretty ribbon collars and putting ugly ones on her and i woke up sooooo mad, but i turned that dream into a romance story (reality kuiper was taking her collars off herself cause she was a brat) Stories about yourself, no matter how small you think it is actually has great potential to become a fic.

its also okay to borrow ideas from other forms of media. I do. example, Silk Maiden, based off of  an old batman episode from the early 2000s. its completely okay to do that. I’m not saying copy and paste the exact scenes. Just take the premises and then change it. some examples, like the movie Brave is the Scottish version of Aladdin. the princess who wants to be free and live her life beyond her princess duties needs to get married and she is not having it and wants to change the rules and runs away to find something new. premise is the same but how the story is told is different, one denies every prince and find her own prince in the streets of her kingdom and the other finds a cake that turns her mom into a bear that helps them understand each other and appreciate each other more. a weeb example is isekais. There are sooooo many isekais. japan, Korea, and china are all mass producing isekais right now. the premises are all the same, someone from one world now in another world primarily thanks to magical truck-kun who is probably could be branded as a mass serial killer at this point. I read a lot and i love korean isekai romance novels. I have read an isekai where the character was a villain who then was reincarnated with the memories of her villainous previous life who decided to live her new life by repenting by helping others but guess what? truck-kun came in the form of a airplane crash and she wakes up again in her first life’s preteen body before she became a villain. I’m reading an isekai isekai, author of an isekai met truck-kun and woke up inside the body of one of her characters in her isekai novel. all the same premise but told in a different way. i want to write an isekai for bnha! take a premise and write what you wanted to see happen between those characters if they were in that situation.

same for some fanfics, like you read a fanfic and you like the story that you read but you wished for something more. You like the idea but you wished that it went in this direction or you wanted different  types of interaction, its okay to write your own fic with the same premises. i’ve done that. (side note: but if you are gonna base off of it where a lot of the stuff is the same the give the proper credit where it deserves. no stealing peoples hard work) thats what fanfic was originally made for, fans wanted something more from their favorite works or wants something different (Thank you star trek fandom who started all this). I’ve read a lot of villain deku fics and i was craving a specific type of villain fic where “he really isnt a villain but is one but there is a reason why hes being evil cause it is for the greater good cause of deku’s savior complex and border line martyr complex he’s had since he was a child” with a side of “hero/villain romance”, “surprise quirk” and “badass” and a healthy scoop of “bakugo becomes a better person on his own without deku at UA through the power of friendship cause he has that potential without deku’s constant interference”. no one had what i wanted, so i started writing it myself.

also dont worry about being original. you can write a common idea that everyone sees a thousand times a day, like isekai, and people will love it. focus on how you are telling your story, dont put so much effort in being different. actually, common or typical tropes/ideas help make the story more relatable. two books can be equally as good but one person can like book A over book B because they felt more connected to the characters in it. they could relate to the emotions that were being conveyed. 

now writing tips....hmmmmm well not everything works for everyone but this is what i do

I write notes down, lots of them. I have notebooks full of notes for my fics. some people can just sit there and start writing, but i like notes to keep me on track and remind me of stuff i wanted to add. Writing it down makes it easier not to forget, cause you are just lying to yourself if you think you’ll remember the idea for later. i got dialogue, scenes, plots, random quirk ideas, diagrams, (12) oc profiles, outlines, lists, and a event idea that i have that i want to do some day, all in my notebook. If you are going to write a long fic i strongly encourage that you do this. Outlines are your friend, they are bones of the story Ex:

Hero By Another Name original outline:

meet at a fire, firefighter impresses kiri who will later seek her out

kiri is becoming popular and wants to share the fame

they bond some how(?)

firefighter kiri, kirishima needs to wear a firefighter uniform

firefighter turns out to be a mega fan of red riot

photoshoot

kirishima finds out shes a nerd and is cool with it

firefighter is now popular

camping with baku or bakusquad?

miscommunication

kirishima does a big confession

I always start off with the key things i want for sure to happen. then i start adding to it. I write out the scene i definitely want to see or i can see clearly in my head. i just keep adding to it till its at least three pages long of just outline that has some images, random dialogue i want someone to say or little summaries of the scene i want.

its okay to jump around when you write. there are some parts that you know you need in a story to help it move a long but it can be boring. so i write one scene that i want to happen next and then i think of what needs to happen to get to that point. like how in hero another name where kirishima shows up unannounced to her apartment  and finds out she hoards all his hero merch while not wearing pants.  how do you make that not sound creepy and have kirishima be okay with it? by adding bits of how much of a fan she is through out the story! when they first have dinner together i threw in that red riot shirt to help break the ice and that he would then know that she was a big enough fan to buy his merch and that she admires him and that he is an inspiration for her. then later adding that interview where she talks about how she became his fan shows that she has years of dedication to him as a hero. so when he sees all the merch she has, it would make sense to him that she had all of that and not go “huh, will i be able to leave this place if i enter?”

if you dont know it, look it up. research. i wrote a fic before where the reader was pregnant the entire time, i started at two months to birth. I knew nothing about pregnancy on how it can affect your daily life and what it feels like beyond what health class and child development class taught me. So i looked it up. there is seriously so much that doctors look for during those many ultrasounds cause there are so many things that can affect your health and the baby’s and did you know there is pregnancy diabetes? you can become diabetic only during pregnancy, like after you give birth it can go away or stay, the human body is just tripy. but thanks to that research, people who have had children before left comments going “yessss, i remember feeling that” or “god, this was my sister in this scene, it sucks”. Its that relatability i mentioned before that really helps and it makes the story more believable.

(this is just my personal opinion mainly here feel free to ignore) when it comes to smut, write what you know and not what you fantasize about. im not calling anyone out but i can tell from how someone writes sex that they never had it and they are most likely younger than me. i’ve experimented a lot in my 25 years of life and i find myself going “oh sweetie, thats not how the vagina/anus works” when i read fics sometimes. there are guides online that are very informative and tell you what the feelings are like that you would expect. dont rely on porn too much on how sex works physically, maybe for dialogue. (i think of porn as just live action fanfics for the human mating ritual fandom). its okay to use other smuts as reference tools as well, especially if you dont know anything of the bdsm lifestyle.

beta readers help a lot. if you are unsure of ideas that you have, talk it out with a friend. I sometimes do this for myself or help others with their fics. its actually a lot of fun with a group of people where you just keep shooting off ideas together about stuff and just go all out fangirlling to the point you are rolling on the ground smiling. this can help with writers block or motivate you to keep writing. also having another pair of eyes to look at your fics, not just for corrections but for input on the story can help make it better. someone can see things from a different angle and point stuff out to you, plot holes or things that you can add.

im not sure what else to say other than stuff like format and spacing. sometimes i see people who write too long of paragraphs or there is no clear separation between them. thats killer on the eyes and makes me not want to read at all cause all i see is this wall of text thats just overwhelming. i want to call who ever formatted textbooks cause thats how they do it and it makes it so hard to concentrate on reading and absorbing the info. if i see fics with no clear breaks or long running paragraphs, i usually give up half way cause i just cant do it. its hard to keep track where you are reading and you start trying to focus on it too much that the story is just lost on me. it is hard on people like me who have dyslexia (who ever called it that is just cruel to people who have it cause you can never spell it without spell check and pronouncing it is just ugggh) 

i hope this helps

[monstersandmaw]

Patreon Tier Reshuffle in February and General 2020 Developments...

I gave my Patrons first look at this post, since some of the changes will affect their tiers (only to add content though!). Now I’m posting most of it to Tumblr for you to look at and perhaps have a think about...

It’s a long post, and I’m sorry for that...

First of all, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s supporting me on Patreon, whether you’re a long-time supporter or you just joined. I know it's a big deal to give your heard-earned cash to someone on the internet and am well aware of the responsibility I have and what an honour it is to be on the receiving end of your generosity and support. So, yes. Thank you more than I can probably ever express.

Secondly, a reminder that all tiers have access to our chilled out Discord server forever. We’ve got a channel for sharing photos of pets, for general chat, for monsters, for sharing artwork of all kinds, a library to share your own stories, an nsfw chat, recipes etc., so hopefully there’s something for everyone, but there’s no pressure to be active if you’d rather not be! There’s also an ongoing DnD game with some of the folks on there too, which is fun!

It might be worth joining the server anyway because I have plans for a new perk which will involve Discord (see below), and I also occasionally run ‘Discord Drabbles’ where I ask for prompts on Discord from folks, which you might have seen posted on Patreon from time to time.  

Now, finally, round to the topic of this post!

I’ve been thinking about how to make sure that every tier gets the most that I can give them for their money, so I’m going to do a little reshuffle. It will start in February, and I’ve made sure that I’m pretty much just adding stuff to each tier, so you won’t miss out in the reshuffle.  

Here are the new things I’m running only on Patreon from February 2020 in addition to everything else (see below):  

Sculpt This!

Patrons can submit artwork or detailed descriptions (a creature/monster, a character, an object) to a designated ‘Sculpt This!’ channel on Discord, and I will pick one to sculpt once a month. I will create a post on Patreon with the artwork and the artist’s name (and a link to their page/site if they have one, and photos of my final sculpture based on their design. That will be available to everyone from the $1 tier upwards.  

For those on the $5 tier upwards, a short video will be available, featuring footage of the sculpting process itself.  

If the person whose art I use is on the $20 tier or upwards, I will post them the sculpture if they’d like it. 

Trope Tuesdays!

A poll will go up prior to Tuesday, with a list of common tropes (notably from the world of fanfic – things like ‘coffee shop’, ‘bed-sharing’, ‘enemies to lovers’, ‘5 times +1’ etc. etc.) and the winning trope from that poll will be the theme for a short story to be posted on a Tuesday.  

I’m aiming for these short stories to be a variety of fluffy and steamy, available to everyone from the $1 tier up.  

Character Letters

$10 and up patrons can request a letter once a month from their favourite characters from any of my stories (providing I wasn’t using someone else's OC for a commission or the like). This can be sent as a PDF by email and/or posted publicly to Patreon only (not Tumblr), with the option to remove the name if you’d rather remain anonymous.  

$20 and up patrons can request a hand-written letter once a month from their favourite character, again with the option to have the text posted to Patreon or not, and with their name, or not.  

Commissions 

I'm still in two minds about opening these up on here because I got absolutely exhausted – mentally and physically – at the end of 2019 and I’m only just recharging again. I had said I would open them up to patrons only in January 2020, and I may yet do that. If I do, I will create 5 slots, and a maximum of 5k words per story initially, and see how that goes. I realise that’s a small number of slots, but it’s still a lot of work for me on top of the rest of the Patreon commitments. I hope you understand, but I know a number of you responded in a poll to say you’d be interested in commissions from me again.

$10 patrons receive 5% off the first 5000 words of writing commissions, and $20 receive 10% off the first 5000 words of commissions.  

Continuing rewards:  

Monthly story – the monthly exclusive story will still be available for $5 and up (some of these stories have been known to go up to 10k words and be in multiple parts – think Kieran the satyr’s story from October 2018!)

Early release – I will continue to offer all Tumblr stories (except paid commissions from non-patrons and giveaways/specials) on early release – minimum of 4 days, sometimes longer.  

Polls – help me decide what to write next

Character bios and artwork

Future things I hope to bring in later this year:

Gaming with Ghosti

I hope to do some streaming via Twitch of me playing things either on the PS4 (like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or we could do a special Dragon Age: Inquisition playthrough together), or from PC which could include a number of games, from Witcher III (I still haven’t played much) to Mass Effect, chilled out Minecraft sessions, and a huge number of other games which you could choose to inflict on me and watch me flail around in.

Hopefully Mr. Ghosti could join in too and laugh along with you and just generally have a chilled out time. This would probably happen at the weekend, but I’d have to look into the logistics of it if there’s enough interest.  

Discount for Patrons on my Etsy shop

It’s actually live right now, but I haven’t got anything listed yet as I’m unsure of the last few things I need to get in place, but once I’ve got things up on there, I’ll make an announcement and give patrons a special discount code to use in case there’s anything you’d like to buy, from jewellery to polymer clay charms/sculptures.  

More Q&A type things and video content

Some of you seemed to enjoy the video I did answering your questions, so I could always do more of this, if there are things you’d like to ask! It could be about anything, not just writing. If there’s interest, I’ll look into it.

More milestone giveaways and mystery ‘lucky dip’ giveaways

I love sharing things with you, so when I hit 200 patrons, I’ll have to think up something special, and in the meantime, maybe I’ll do some more giveaways for you.

If there’s something that you would like to see that you think I could put up on Patreon for you, then please get in touch! I’m always looking for ideas

All tier rewards will be as follows from February 2020:

Brand new items in bold, and slight changes in italics:

(putting in a ‘keep reading’ because it’s getting silly now...)

Shadows:  

access to the Patreon-only Discord

access to the ‘Trope Tuesdays’ poll and story

access to the ‘Sculpt This!’ posts

access to some character profiles, aesthetics, polls, and story ideas

small discount on my etsy store (when it opens)

and my undying gratitude!

Pixies and Goblins – all of the above, plus:

one Patreon-exclusive monster story per month

access to the ‘Sculpt This!’ process video

access to the extra, long-running story, released once a month (Werewolf story - coming soon!)

early access for all Tumblr monster stories (excluding paid commissions)

the ‘what’s next?’ poll to help me decide what monster or reader to write

Elves – all of the above, plus:

you can request a letter once a month from your favourite character of mine! This can be sent as a PDF by email and/or posted publicly to Patreon only, with the option to remove the name if you’d rather remain anonymous.

entry into the monthly 3k word story commission – if you are chosen (at random) from the Elves tier (and above) you can have a 3k word story of your choosing written for you

access to ‘Writer’s Corner’, featuring occasional blog posts about writing and workshop goings-on

small work-in-progress previews from both my monster stories and my original fantasy fiction ‘Weaver of Threads’

5% off the first 5000 words of writing commissions, and priority placement in the commissions queue

Orcs – all of the above, plus:

you can also request a letter once a month from your favourite character, but yours can also be hand-written and posted to you if you’d like! You also have the option of it being posted to Patreon or not. 

One short story (maximum 1500 words) with a monster and reader of your choice per month (by request only), included within your subscription

A PDF version of any monster story I’ve written and published on Patreon or Tumblr (by request, and sent by email)

10% off the first 5000 words of a writing commission

if your design was selected in the ‘Sculpt This!’ feature, I can post the finished sculpture to you, if you’d like to have it.

Dragons – all of the above, plus:

One 5000 word story of your choosing will be written for you per month (no fanfiction) as a thank you for your patronage (by request only)

Entry into the monthly top tiers free story draw but your story is 4k words instead of 3k

20% off the first 5000 words of a writing commission

A character with a name of your choosing (upon approval!) will be added to a monster story

Priority on jewellery and metalwork commissions and a larger discount on my Etsy store (when that opens)

Kaiju – all of the above, plus:

if you win the random free commission, yours is 5k words instead of 3k!

One 7000 word story of your choosing will be written for you per month (no fanfiction) as a thank you for your patronage (by request only)

One hand written letter of thanks (I have nice handwriting, don’t worry!) sent to you by post, including a little short story

25% off the first 5000 words of a writing commission

30% discount on jewellery and metalwork commissions

Dedication by name in any published work (let me know if you wish to remain anonymous)

Hope you’re excited, and don’t forget that you can always get in touch with me on any of my platforms – Patreon, Tumblr, Discord. If you want to share something but also want to remain anonymous, just send an anon to Tumblr and ask me not to post it. 

__

| Masterlist | Patreon | Ko-fi | Writing Commissions |

[ladylynse]

I don't know why, but I often feel like I'm not writing enough and it stresses me out

Hey, Anon. You’re not alone, and your brain is lying to you when it says you should be writing more, at least if it’s fanfic and not something you’re being paid to do. I know that doesn’t help much, but it’s the truth. Everyone writes at a different pace, and how fast you write will change depending on what’s going on in your life, not just how excited you are for your own story or how well you know where it’s going. 

I also look back at the fics I haven’t updated in half a year, the collab I haven’t touched in years months, the sequels that never came to fruition, the ideas I want to write but still sit unwritten or languish partly finished, even the three sentence fic requests that sometimes sit in my inbox for days or weeks, and feel like I’m not writing enough. Like I’m disappointing other people. Because I’m not fast enough, or that if it is fast-ish, because it’s not good enough, or because it just doesn’t meet their expectations (or I don’t think it’ll meet people’s expectations). And sometimes I let that get to me, and I just get worse. It gets harder to write, the words just aren’t there or don’t fit, or the scene doesn’t work or the characters are too OOC or the plot idea sounds much worse than it first did, and I typically remember every bad review I’ve ever gotten and start to think they’re right–even when the good reviews outweigh the bad.

Don’t get me wrong. Positive feedback is a wonderful thing. But as much as having other people express excitement/joy/tears/anticipation over whatever you’ve written or are writing helps immensely, that won’t give you more time to write, or make you mentally refreshed enough to be able to plan/think/write coherent sentences (let alone edit them), or give you the energy to even contemplate writing if you’re exhausted. 

And–especially if you are talking fanfic–every person who just demands an update and doesn’t say anything else about your work seems to add to the burden. And that burden makes it harder to even start when you do have time and technically could be writing. Because there are expectations, and now there’s also guilt, and when you’re forcing yourself to write, you hate every word put down, and you call yourself a bad writer. A bad person, maybe, if you’re prone to extrapolation and your brain has a tendency to believe the lies you tell yourself when they serve to wear you down.

But you’re not a bad person, and you’re not a bad writer.

You just need a break.

If you’re trying to write because you think you have to, not because you want to, then you need to stop for a while. You need to allow yourself time to recharge. Because if you’re not having fun, if it’s too much like work and you’re just failing each self-imposed deadline and beating yourself up over it, you’re only making things harder for yourself. And if you ever hit a point where you feel like you’re just churning out fic after fic or chapter after chapter and you’re burning out and no one (or very few) seems to appreciate it, instead just demanding more? You need to take a step back. You’re not a machine. You shouldn’t treat yourself like one or let other people treat you like one.

Writing fanfics should be a hobby, something you enjoy. It shouldn’t be something that causes you stress, and when it is, you need to take it out of your life for a bit. That probably sounds counter-intuitive when the stress is over not writing enough, but in reality you’re probably stretching yourself too thin and placing unrealistic expectations on yourself, and you need to take a step back in order to see that.

If you don’t have any idea how much of a break you need but you suspect it’s not a short one, throw up a note in your profile and/or in the summary of your WIPs to let people know you’re going on hiatus for a bit. The vast majority of people will understand, and you owe nothing to the few who don’t. (You owe nothing to anyone, really, because you’re doing this for free, but a note is nice for the rest of the people so they don’t wonder if something terrible happened to you.) You aren’t a lesser person or a lesser writer for taking a break you need. It’s more important that you take care of yourself first. And it helps, or at least it’s helped me in the past.

And when you do get back to writing? If you get back to writing? Try to fight the temptation to compare yourself to others, especially in terms of update speed. Some people write their entire fic before they post it. Some people plan their entire fic before they write it. Other people happen to have a lot of time on their hands. Others don’t have a lot of time but choose to spend most of what they do have writing. Everyone’s different. You need to figure out what works for you. If you find you work better with a set update schedule because you’re better when you have a deadline, great. But if you’re late, try not to feel too guilty. Life happens–even if it’s in terms of a wonderful distraction from writing as opposed to being super busy with important stuff. If you’re better off writing a few chapters before you ever post one, and you always try to keep ahead of yourself as you’re writing so you have a buffer for posting when you don’t have time/don’t feel like writing, that works, too. If it’s completely sporadic, everywhere from multiple updates in a week to months of radio silence? That doesn’t make you a terrible writer. Anyone who likes your story enough will wait for you. (A couple of stories I’d reviewed and followed back in 2012 were updated and completed last November after six years of no activity from the writer whatsoever. It was wonderful. I hadn’t thought they’d ever get finished, and I’d been resigned to that fact but happy to get as much of the story as I did, so I was absolutely delighted when they were finished and made a point of telling the author as much.) 

And me, personally? I’m a lot slower than I used to be. I used to be able to churn out about a 4 K chapter a week. Now I can’t, and I feel bad about that. (I feel very bad when I think about those months-between-updates fics.) But my life circumstances have changed–I really don’t have as much time as I used to and sometimes I find it a lot harder to write than I used to (emotionally, I mean)–and I’ve changed as a writer. I try to give myself credit for the fact that I keep going, but sometimes that still doesn’t feel like enough. And that’s when I need to remind myself that I’m not who I used to be, and I’m not that person whose fic I’m following who faithfully updates every Saturday, and that I’m doing this because I love writing, not because I owe people updates. 

You’re you, Anon, not anyone else, in your own unique circumstances, and you don’t owe people updates, either. And you certainly don’t deserve to be causing yourself additional stress over not being able to write enough. There is no enough, no magic word threshold that you should be reaching in a certain period of time (not when you’re doing this for free, anyway). Enough is as much as you feel you can do, however much that is and however much that changes from week to week, month to month, and year to year. Enough is as much as makes you happy or makes you feel that you’ve achieved something. (Sometimes, I’m prouder of a single sentence (or, let’s face it, half a sentence) than three paragraphs or three pages, even if they all took the same amount of time.) Enough is not stress and guilt and desperation and self-hatred; enough is enjoyment.

[wolveswithhats]

writing wip game

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you or interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it! 

The titles weren’t interesting so I vainly just posted some excerpts from a grab bag of more recent stuff. If I did everything it’d honestly probably go on for pages. I have a lot of unfinished stuff (pretty much...exclusively unfinished stuff dfjkdjfkg). Like a decade’s worth.

Tagged by @ackbang​. TY TY, MY DUDE. If you see this and you’re a writer, consider yourself tagged. Like for real. Only not tagging because I can’t remember who writes fanfic and who doesn’t.

Looooooong post below.

ling ling the goblin king (ling + lan fan, fma)

"lan fan did it," the prince says, and for a moment she feels a flare of anger and betrayal over his deception. 'it wasn't me, i didn't do this. i didn't kill anyone.' but the prince is bending at the waist, low enough that that his tail of hair brushes the dirt, and she realizes his lie is for her benefit. "thank you, m'lady. i owe you my life."

her mouth feels dry, face hot from exertion and the burning gaze of her older peers. "d-don't do that," she stutters, and she's not sure if she's referring to the lie or the bow.

"you dare give me orders?" but there's no heat in his voice, eyes crinkling with humor as he rises to his full height. she has no idea how he can look so amused with a hole in his shoulder, covered in the blood of a man he just killed. he grins lopsided, teeth crooked and painted red. the sight is altogether ghoulish.

limb choppy choppy (lan fan + greed + ling, fma, part of the revival au)

And Greed is stilling his struggles, catching his wandering hand in his own, running comforting circles with his thumb over Ling's blood-smeared cheek. “Hey, you little pissant, this is nothing, piddly kids table shit. Remember that time that one Central soldier tried to gut us? Right down the middle, like splitting a sausage. Goddamn crimson tide. I thought we'd never get the blood out of that coat. Now that was an injury.”

“T-they took my arm.”

“Yeah, and who needs one of those anyway? Gonna get you all sorted, get you one of those shiny metal ones, like your girl Lan Fan here. Guess the adjustment period takes a bit, a year or three, but bet we could expedite the process with proper motivation. I'm thinking sandwiches.”

He laughs, or something approaching as much, a soggy intake of air. She's struck with an unexpected wave of jealousy, that it's Greed that's offering reassurance and intimate personal jokes. A former homunculus, a former demon, a watery imitation of a man. Creature comforts from the creature. It should be me, she thinks, though she has nothing to offer beyond promises of protection, and even those feel like falsehoods after all that has happened here. Comforting platitudes are beyond her. What could I ever say to make this better?

lets get lit fam (greedling + ed, fma)

wobbly-legged, too uncoordinated to walk. almost stumbles into a line of trash cans at the mouth of the alley, but ed hooks his elbow and steers him away. "what the hell were you thinking? we're supposed to be keeping a low profile."

it's not an accusation he's fully equipped to grapple, not when he's still so bleary from sleep—and some other pleasant, dizzying sensation he thinks might be inebriation. he's never woken up drunk before. he's never been drunk before period. "what'd i do?"

"not you, ling. you would have gone straight for the food menu, not the liquor list. i'm talking to the dipshit you share a mental occupancy with. greed, what the hell?"

"was just a few drinks," ling slurs, but it's not his words, or his voice, and wow he's never been so aware of his own tongue before.

solid citizen (ling + greed, fma)

"geez, kid, you're certainly in a mood." so he was reading his thoughts, just fantastic. he look he gives him is withering, but greed pats his shoulder, almost condescendingly, pitying for sure.

"you're plenty fine, kid. i'll give you the ears, but you're top shelf in the looks department otherwise. if you were ugly, i'd tell you straight up. i don't lie. this here," he points to his own face. "is ugly. nothing like my old human face."

it's a bated response, he knows, and he doesn't really feel like playing, but greed did make a passing effort to make him feel better. "human face?"

he beams, dreamily, which is an impressively soft expression to pull off a mouthful of razors, and ling is suddenly reminded of the mythology of the man fawning over his own reflection. surely greed can't be that vain? "yeah i was a real stunner. fucking gorgeous." or maybe he could, apparently, what did ling know anyway.

wreckage (vincent, re-l, ergo proxy)

When she makes it back to the Rabbit, chest burning and damp with exertion, Vincent has already stripped Pino of her overalls and laid her across the table. Cooling fluids draining, frayed wiring spooling out of her gashed torso, sprawled like a tiny metal Tityos. Her left arm is snapped off and dangling at the elbow, her eyes glassy – glass, literal glass – staring at the ceiling. Broken doll parts. Just another disassembled AutoReiv, but this isn't like that at all, because Pino isn't just another AutoReiv. She's like Iggy--

It's almost too much for Re-l to take. Hand over her mouth, breathing sharp through her fingers in short repetitions. Tries to steel herself, to be calm and assertive, because one of them has to be, and Vincent-- Vincent was awkward and mousy and sensitive, Vincent who spilled his cereal and tripped over his own feet and housed an ancient being of unspeakable power in his lanky boy-frame. But his god-strength was of no use here, drowned under the weak, simpering, overpowering grief for something that was no more human than he was.

do NOT worry about meryl (vash + wolfwood + milly, trigun)

milly caught the hurt. naive, for sure, but shrewd. "oh, we'd never think that of you, mr. vash. it's just our job as representatives of the bernadelli insurance society to mitigate any and all damages from the humanoid typhoon, even the rumored ones."

wolfwood: "bernadelli employing a little insurance of their own, eh?"

milly nods. "if we had to pay out claims on every false report of mr. vash's wrongdoings, we'd go belly up in no time!"

caught up on the word 'wrongdoing', growls, "you make it sound like i'm doing any of this on purpose."

"it's just sensible. your name has a lot of weight, vash."

grumbles: "yeah, i'm aware."

"and that's why meryl was so insistent on following up on this one, even knowing it wasn't really you. so many people drag your name through the mud, and it just doesn't seem fair at all."

his name had long since been dragged, strangled and shot, left to rot under a flock of buzzards circling its carcass in the heat. There was no saving it. still, the intent was kind, if not bewildering. "you...were trying to protect my reputation?"

milly looks at him like he's insane for thinking otherwise. "well, yeah. we've come to think of you as a friend, mr. vash, and that's what friends do.”

baby scrub (locke + rachel, ff6)

offers his hand and a single word: "lock."

her faces scrunches distastefully at his uncouth greeting, but she's not sure what else she was expecting from a dirty street boy. "lock?"

"with an e," he adds, as if that clarifies anything.

"that can't be real. you just made that up."

"all names are made up," huffs locke-with-an-e, looking impatient with her slow uptake on this odd world of his. "and i never said it was real, but it's all you're going to get."

spike bday (spike + dawn, btvs)

“if I show you something, you need to promise not to say anything. not to the watcher, or your sister. not to anyone, right?”

even through her tears, she nods, curious. spike's always good for skirting just outside the limits of good taste.

“I'm serious. spool your intestines out your nose, string 'em up like christmas garland. I mean it.”

“colorful threats of bodily dismemberment, I get it.”

hands her a faded yellow tintype. a young man, twenty-five or thirty maybe, a riot of disheveled curls, glasses, frumpy suit. not an unattractive man, but a timid one, uncertainty written into the slanted bow of his shoulders. he had the weedy air of someone who spent a lot of time duct taped to flag poles, or whatever the victorian equivalent would be. did it count as a twirly if you were dunked into a chamber pot?

a rebellious counterpoint in wrinkled tweed to the hard, starched lines of victorian decorum – interesting, but not very relevant. and a little disappointing, if she was being totally honest. spike's anecdotes usually had more flash and gore. “I don't get it.”

he's exasperated, fingers twitching like he's ready to snatch it away, and he tucks his hands under his arms in an awkward self hug. she takes in the hard set of his jaw and the...flush of his cheeks? god, she didn't even know vampires could blush. it had to take some serious breaking of undead physiology to ping that level of embarrassment, and something beyond that even to flap the unflappable spike. he hisses impatiently. “would you just—look at the face.”

and she does, tilting the little photo to and fro in the dim of the crypt. unassuming man-hermione with hair that cannot be tamed. sharp cheekbones and dark heavy brows under the rims of his glasses and suddenly she sees it—him—the angular planes of his face coming into sharp relief, like a camera finding its focus. “oh. oh my god! this is you. holy crap, spike. you look....”

“normal,” he finishes for her, and something in her stomach swoops and clenches, stones in a pond. “mundane.”

“i was going to say like a megawatt dorklord, but we can use your word instead.” she wipes her nose on the back of her hand. he snorts, amused and embarrassed.  

“i was a poet.”

she tried to envision anything beyond smutty limericks carved onto the wall of a bathroom stall.

“were you ever published?”

“i was a shitty poet,” he amends, grimacing.

boston au (spike + dawn, btvs)

bodily kicking a dumpster, sending it careening into the street with a rusty scream of metal. a hydrant follows suit, ripped from the sidewalk. caps off his tantrum with a boot to the side of Angel's GTX, but even the size-10 crater marring the passenger door of the angelmobile did little to ease his frustration.

“better?” dawn asks, when he drops bodily into the driver's seat with an aching sigh, anger dissipating. she looks so tiny and forlorn, knees drawn to her chest, picking at a cigarette burn in the upholstery. two years ago she'd have been a ripe treat, poor little lost lamb. now the idea twists his gut, her sorrow palpable, proprietary, under his skin and in his veins.

“no,” he grunts, staring out impassively at the aftermath of his outburst. water spurting from the sidewalk, skip spilling out into the road. half a dozen cars along the block chirping in a chorus of wailing alarms. and angel in the foyer, something vaguely resembling pity etched across his massive cavebrow. fucking wanker.

...

“we go back to sunnydale then. try again. badger the scoobies until they agree to help. we'll figure this out.”

“i don't want to.” quietly. barely a whisper.

“to figure it out?”

“to go back.”

“dawn...”

“there's nothing there. they're not going to help because i'm nothing. it's an ongoing memorial to my own non-existence. can we not go back? can we just keep driving?”

“where?”

“I don't care. away.”

thinks about leaving sunnydale. thinks about what he's leaving behind. shitty memories, regrets, lost love. he has a small collection of personal effects; records, first edition books, family heirlooms that cannot be replaced, a hundred years of mementos of his whirlwind romance with dru. wonders if he can ring up clem, ask him to send a care package once they get to wherever they're going. looks at dawn in her clearance-rack pajamas, realizes she has lost everything. she has no belongings, no family, no remnants left as evidence she even had a family. nothing but him and her, here, in this moment.

it's just stuff. it's surprisingly easy to let go.

he drives.

taco hell  (spike + dawn, btvs, part of the boston / unravel au)

Right where her window was supposed to be, a swirling doorway of light ringed in licking green flame, spilling out into....a fast food restaurant?

"I think it's Taco Bell," Dawn said, pinching a tissue to her--aw hell--bleeding finger. He took inventory of the spell books around her, the scrying bowl, and the ashy pentagram burnt into 70s shag weave of her bedroom carpet. So much for their security deposit.

"You opened a hell dimension to Taco Bell?"

She craned her head to squint at the pimply teenager manning the register, oblivious to his cross-dimension spectators. "I think it's just a regular Taco Bell. I don't see any dragons or shrimp people or anything."

"Not all alternate universes have shrimp people."

"I know that. You know, it actually looks like the one downtown, across from the KFC? On Kellner? Unless the Kellner Street Taco Bell is a Taco Hell. I've been reading up about liminal spaces, where the fabric between realities is weakened. Maybe it's a hot spot, and all the employees are actually like, octopus centaurs. How would we know? Not like I'm going to crawl over the counter to check, you know?"

"Well, now's your chance to ask Squiddly Diddly here what he's got going on downstairs." Slack-jawed employee finally cottoned on to the door to another universe in the restaurant lobby. Dawn awkwardly waves. Poc Ock waves back, bewildered, before the portal collapses in on itself in a burst of white light.

"It stopped bleeding." she holds up her finger.

-- 

(I don’t think anyone would, but as a precaution: please don’t reblog these to the Herald. They’re sloppy and incomplete and mixed in with a bunch of other fandoms so it’d just be really weird. THANK)

[dfcfanfics]

Howling Into The Wind About 2018

(Or: My first State of the MiraculElse Address. This is a text rant, not a story, so if you're not up for that you should not feel bad about pressing F to show respects and skipping it.)

I started writing fanfiction this past spring -- not just for the Miraculous universe, but period. It had been a very long time since the creative writing bug had bitten me, unless annoying people on message boards and Twitter counts. Long enough ago that the last time I'd dabbled in anything resembling that, it was on Usenet, back when Usenet was an actual communication medium and not just a transmission vector for spam and porn and binaries.

Those of you young enough to ask "What's Usenet?" are forgiven. Suffice it to say that I am olde. Old enough to be a grandfather to a few of you, and a Weird Uncle to most of the rest.

I am old, and writing fanfiction for what is at least nominally a kids' show. Yes, my wife gave me a bit of a funny look when I told her that, and yes, she should've. (She's watched some of Season 2 with me and enjoyed it; she thinks Marinette is unbearably cute and liked the humor in it. But I'm handling the obsession part for the two of us.)

Why? As my profile pages state, it's a love letter to this show and its creators. Even within the frustrating framework of 22-minute non-serial episodes with nearly no defined running order, flaky continuity and scheduling snafus, it's a marvelous show with a ton of heart at its core. The characters crack me up and remind me of some of my own teenaged battles with unrequited love, back in the dark ages. It should have stopped there, if I was a rational person.

But I read the leaked half-transcript to Troublemaker and thought, Hmmm, I bet I could take that somewhere interesting! I read a couple of flailing attempts at fanfic that someone posted on Reddit and thought, with egotistical glee, I could do better than THAT!

And so I did. I lashed together what became Summer Break, put it up on FFN, and figured that three people would say "that's nice" and it would disappear and I would go back to being a normal old fart.

But people seemed to like it! And that encouraged me to start writing a handful of "episodes," canon-respectful one-offs meant to mimic the status-quo, 22-minutes-and-we're-out format. They got nice feedback as well. "What if I did a multi-parter?" I thought, and I tried it. THAT got nice feedback, including people clamoring for more of it when I posted the last chapter. (And here I thought I'd already rambled on with it too long! Maybe... I was getting the knack of this?)

A discussion about a theme in that story inspired me to write The Marinette Project... and its fan reaction EXPLODED beyond my wildest dreams. I watched all the numbers go up on FFN and AO3 and couldn't believe my eyes. I still can't. (I remember showing my wife when it hit 5000 views on FFN and losing my mind over that. It's at eleven times that now, and ten thousand hits on AO3 (where hits are counted more rationally than FFN's system). Who ARE you people?)

Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright followed. I figured that this was going to be a short thought experiment, dabbling in non-canon with an AU Kwami personality and a generic villain and my usual piles of fluff and one-liners and references. But people _loved_ the Kwami I'd invented, the villain took on a distinct personality of her own, and before I knew it four chapters turned into nine and I had another hit on my hands.

My current project (Let's Take It From The Top) was probably overambitious from the start, and it's never found the same kind of audience as the last two. But it's been fun to write, and those who have read it have enjoyed it, and that's good enough for me.

"So what?" flits through the reader's mind at this point, either in the form of "I already knew all of that" or "Get to the point, you old fart."

The point is: Once you get past the reference to my Summer Break story above, NONE OF THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. None of it was anticipated by me. I had no idea that I was going to turn the corner from "a guy who wrote a short story once" into A Writer.

You and people like you made that happen. The response to everything I have put out there (even the two crackfics!) has absolutely blown me away from the start. It's been overwhelmingly positive and every last word of it has been appreciated. I've read my PMs and comments and reviews and grinned from ear to ear. I've laughed out loud, I've gotten good ideas and interesting speculation, I've acquired some regulars, I've had many requests for sequels, I've had others recommending my stories, and my mind is absolutely BOGGLED. Boggled, I say. I shake my head and letter dice fly around and people make words from them.

(Those of you too young to know the "Boggle" word game are, of course, excused again.)

I was particularly astonished when something legitimately mindblowing happened twice -- other people made their own creative responses to something I had written.

@yunyin did me the considerable honor of sending me a pair of images, one a depiction of a scene from Let's Take It From The Top, the other a portrait of La Tigresse from Tyger, Tyger. My first fanart ever! My post gushing over them is still on my main page, so if you haven't seen them, scroll down and marvel at them. I'll wait.

Not long after, @brittsarts reached out to me and blew my mind when she asked permission to do a comic version of Tyger, Tyger. (As if I was going to say "please, no, DON'T pour your heart and soul into bringing my characters to life in a visual format!") She has been doing a wonderful job of interpreting my story and making it come alive, and that comic is the reason why 95% of the Tumblr followers I have found me in the first place.

So here I am. I am banging out the ending to Let's Take It slowly and steadily, concluding my longest story to date. I am debating which of several ideas will be the one I tackle next. I am checking my comments and PMs and reviews on FFN and AO3 more often than is healthy, because every time something pops up there it warms my heart. I am still wondering how I got to this point. And to all of you who've read my stories, enjoyed them, and encouraged me in all these ways and more to keep creating them:

Thank you so much.

And now, off to bed because I remain an old fart who needs his sleep.

[velkynkarma]

Get to Know the Author

@bosstoaster has been tagging me all night :P

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

I’ve had the name ��Karma’ for about 17 years now? I don’t even remember where it came from. The ‘Velkyn’ got added a little over 10 years ago when I decided I wanted to get back into fic writing. But I was still in that phase where you think you’re supposed to ‘grow out’ of fandoms and writing fanfiction, so I didn’t want any of my friends to know I was doing it. I was embarrassed. It was silly. I picked a different handle, VelkynKarma, which actually means ‘hidden Karma.’ Later I just liked the name and also got over my embarrassment for fic writing and just started using it everywhere.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

No matter what statistic you look at, Routine Maintenance wins across the board by a large margin. Parasite Knight only has 1 less subscription, though, so I guess it’s a fair contender on subs.

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

Same as my tumblr icon, it’s one of my OC’s, Morrigu Lovel. He is a little smartass and I love him.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Oh for sure, there’s a few lovely readers that come back every time and always have something to say. I love you guys :) And a few others that don’t comment on every chapter or every work, but the comments they leave are always phenomenal and make my day.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Depends on my mood, and I don’t necessarily read the entire fic, just the paragraphs/scenes/chapters that really stick out to me. But yeah, I’ve got some favorites I return to a lot.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

Oh geez. This one’s hard to say since I watch stuff on AO3 and FF.net. A lot? I think a lot of those fics are dead now though.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Mmmm I don’t really have a tendency to stick to any particular series or AU for very long? I guess in terms of general themes I’ve done zombie AU’s the most, between Age of Heroes for Young Justice and Road Trip to End Times for Voltron...something about zombie apocalypse scenarios just fascinates me, especially since it can be done so many different ways.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

252 user subs, 444 work subs, 2039 bookmarks. I didn’t even know that until now, huh

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

There’s some character interactions that are such hot-button topics in the VLD fandom I’m cautious about approaching them because I don’t want to deal with people complaining or begging for things to get escalated. Like, I love Keith and Lance’s interactions in canon, but don’t have much fic centered around them because ship lashback is real.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Short fic. What is brevity even? I can’t do zines or commissions because I can’t figure out how to manage a damn word count.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Nope! I don’t write any ships at all. I just write platonic interaction. Though I guess I wouldn’t be adverse to a platonic ‘rarepair’ as long as I liked the characters’ interaction potential.

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

So far, 25. 23 of those are Voltron, 1 is Young Justice, and 1 is Supernatural (experimenting with cross-posting on both of those last two, some fandoms are just hard to break into or not on certain sites).

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

Oh boy. In progress? I wanna say 3. Notes? A lot, lot more.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I jot down notes! Or email myself ideas if I’m at work/out and about. Or speak them into a little portable digital tape recorder I keep next to my bed, if it’s the middle of the night and I have an idea, but lack dexterity to type.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Not in a long, looong time.

16. How did you discover AO3?

Through TVTropes. Every time I finished a new series I’d swing by to read tropes pages and see if there were any decent fic recs. At first they all went to Fanfiction.net or livejournal but, over time, this ‘Archive’ thing kept showing up. I made an account to lurk or subscribe to things but didn’t actually start posting to it until at least a year later.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Moderately well known in the platonic corner of it probably assuming people know bosstoaster and I are not actually the same person lol but probably not well known outside of that. Once upon a time I was a Big Name in the One Piece fandom, but after the timeskip I fell out of the fandom and lost my pirate king throne. That’s okay, it was fun while it lasted.

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

No but you all are too kind

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

In terms of ‘official’ authors, Brandon Sanderson is everything I ever aspire to be as a writer, and I take a lot of inspiration from that. For fic? My buddy BlackFriar was super helpful during the Young Justice era. More recently in the VLD fandom, @maychorian was big for just...getting me to stay in the fandom at all? One of her fics got me hooked and I stuck around, and then felt compelled to write, instead of just drifting off to the next interesting thing. And the Think Tank ( @bosstoaster @butteredonions @ashinan @mumblefox ) have all been huge for getting me to keep writing, between writing sprints and interesting discussions and a lot of encouragement, so that’s been huge for me this past year.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

At the risk of sounding like that one video...just do it. It’s scary to put yourself out there, but just do it. You learn by doing. You also learn by absorbing new things around you, so read a lot and try new stuff; you never know when something completely random or a personal experience might actually add a lot to your story. And finally, write for you, first. Write the stories you want to see. Writing for comments/bookmarks/reblogs only goes so far. It means your motivation is reliant solely on people liking your work, which means you start writing for other people and not for yourself...and if reception is lackluster, it can kill your ability to finish a project, which hurts your practice at follow-through. It’s a slippery slope and starts to make the whole thing a lot less fun and a lot more of a chore. Write things you want to read, and if you feel like sharing them after, other people might like them too, but it’s important that you like it, first.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Has to be plotted completely. If I try to wing it I meander or get hung up on trying to keep track of details. Turns into total garbage.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

A few times, sure. Happens to everyone. Most often, it’s people begging, demanding, or insinuating that my platonic fics should include a ship, especially if the fic focuses on the interactions of two specific characters. Those are very frustrating because I’m always upfront about the fic being friendship only, and there are usually a million other ship fics already out there. Leave my platonic fic alone! I usually ignore the comments, or just politely remind people it’s friendship only and will remain that way. In one bewildering instance in a different fandom I had somebody who had been thoroughly enjoying the fic up until the climactic battle, whereupon they were furious at how it was resolved, and took great pains to tell me just what they thought. That one stung. I had to sit on it for a few days before I worked up the nerve to respond, and chatted with a few friends over it too. In the end I realized that it was more comparable to a fan really enjoying a canon work but being mad about a sudden twist that just didn’t seem right to them. It happens. I thanked them for reading, explained that I disagreed with their comments but did hear them, and thanked them for their time. Best I could do.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I am straight-up incapable of romance, period. Even so far as to slide into ‘fake’ romance (I once got prompted for fake marriage/dating and literally couldn’t envision how to do it? It’s just so foreign to me). Or flirting. I can’t even identify flirting IRL. Basically anything in that general area of writing is completely out of my league. I can write intense scenes that are intimate in non-romantic, non-sexual ways, but those are really difficult for me to do too and I’m constantly second-guessing myself in case it’s maybe too much.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

If I told you I’d have to kill you. But no, srsly, I don’t like to share ideas in progress until it’s almost done, just in case. Sometimes I share and then immediately lose interest, but I’ve already raised peoples’ hopes, and that’s just a dick move.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

I’ll have outlines, or sometimes need to plan around prompts. I don’t usually do series, so I never really need to plan too far ahead though. Sometimes if I’m plotting a crossover/AU I’ll obtain the source material and read/watch/play it to start gathering notes for that fic while working on a different fic, so that by the time I’m done writing the current story, the AU’s skeleton is plotted out and I have a place to slot in all the characters.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

No. I’ve gotten better habits since working with the Think Tank but I still tend to be more of a ‘burst’ writer (no activity for days or weeks, and then suddenly word vomiting 100K in a month).

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

By a HUGE margin

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

Oooh, that’s a toss-up between Phantasmagoria and Prince of Memory. The former because I love writing horror and it’s an idea I’d wanted to tackle for a while. The latter because it was a personal writing challenge to myself that I honestly wasn’t sure was going to go over all that well, but the response was stunning, and I was quietly surprised.

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Caged Bird, from a different fandom. I make it a personal rule to never delete stories that I’ve posted, but ooh man, I wanted to get rid of this one really bad. I was happy when LJ gutted it. I actually don’t have any real dislike for any of my Voltron stuff.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Still writing because I’d die if I stopped. Like a shark. But with writing.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

That flash of inspiration, when you get an idea and suddenly it’s building itself almost too fast for you to keep up. Dialogue. Action sequences.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Getting started. Titles. Editing. Research. Any particularly emotional moment.

33. Why do you write?

Because fandoms are fun but I have so many questions after. “What if X happened? What if Y was a factor? Why not Z?” I try to hunt down answers to these questions in fandoms and if the fic isn’t already written, I write it. Also to challenge myself to do things that haven’t been done in the fandom yet, or to tackle things I haven’t tried yet.

I think everyone’s been tagged already so...feel free to play if you want, I guess!

[fool-errant]

Ask a Writer

I got tagged by @rabbitkinder

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

Well my studio handle is Foolish Mortal - but someone’s been sitting on that username since dirt. So I went with fool-errant - like knight errant but stupider. The fool part is obvious - and errant means alternatively “straying from proper course or standards” and “traveling in search of adventure” - which I felt summed up thing pretty decent. My handle on FFnet and AO3 is NoCapes - cause I wanted to make sure thatif you looked up my website for art - you didn’t accidentally stumble on TF2 slash. That name comes from the fact I have a little Edna Mode figure sitting on my computer monitor that caught my eye at the time I was looking for a name. 

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/favorites, follows/subscriptions, visitor hits, kudos)

Erm - well I only have ze one main fic online these day. My long suffering TF2 fic Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Though even compared to the long lost junk I wrote in high school - its still got the most feedback.

3. What is your FFnNet/AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

I’m not sure I ever got an icon on those accounts. I just never got aroundto it. 

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

I honestly love all commenters. I have a few regulars who became buds of mine that I love. Also anyone that ends up making something in reaction to my writing is special to me. 

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Not really. I’m a horrible person. I also have a mind that retains little details, so I am the sort that reads something once and can remember it clearly later. 

I DO have a few genre/ tropes I like to revisit reading wise. One is Lavellen/Cullen from Dragon Age. Another one I binge hit recently is anything about Finn from Star Wars needing and receiving hugs and people (mainly Poe) supporting him. And Princess Leia shows up to remind people to take care of themselves and Storm Pilot snuggles ever after.  

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

Uh...I’m honestly not sure. I squirrel away bookmarks and forget about them later. I have a couple in progress stories I subscribe to. 

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

I really don’t do AUs - unless you count the gag bit I wrote where Spy and FemSpy are the parents of Carmen Sandiego.  I tend to feel people are the products of their settings and removing them from that takes a lot of their traits away. Though that’s my opinion and I’m never going to tell anyone they can’t or shouldn’t go write and enjoy their own thing. 

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

Welp on AO3: Bookmarks:74  Subscriptions:77

Here on Tumbles: 268

on FFnet - I can not make heads or tales of that one. Though I seem to have a couple of folks in South Africa reading - which is cool. 

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

.....*Maniacal laughter*  I deal with chronic depression and anxiety. So I have a very large list of things I WANT to do but don’t. A lot of it is due to the fear of judging - and a lot of “no one wants this - what is the point?”  

I had an original concept involving airship pirates - colonialism - and the main lead was a trans pan sexual in a setting that didn’t have words or play book for hat sort of thing. The story wasn’t ABOUT the fact the lead was the way they were, it was just aside thing. But I scrapped it cause I figured no one wanted it - it was stranger and I didn’t want people coming out of the woodwork telling me I didn’t have a right to do that or that I wrote the lead wrong.  

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

I have long ago accepted my inability to porn well.  I’d love to be better with my updates. But as mentioned earlier I deal with depression - so my brain meats aren’t the most efficient at cranking out things in a timely manner.  Also replyingto comments/ social media shit. I am awful at. 

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

I guess Rarepairs...I suppose. 

12. How many stories have you posted on FFNet/AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

Three/four - one large chapter monster and lots of little drabbles that sort of grew around it. 

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

*cough* Lots

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

...Depends on how long the story idea bugs me, how complicated the idea is and if I intend to do anything with it.  

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Not exactly. A bud of mine and me in high school triedto do that but gave up. Now a days I just co author smutty bits with someone else cause I am no good at those on my own.

16. How did you discover FFNet/AO3?

I knew about FF.net before the great PornPurge. I am not even sure HOW I found them. Probably just wandering the net as a young impressionable nerd. I also used to deal with webrings if you want to guess how old I am. 

AO3 I...think I heard about on tumblr, or I had a friend or two metion them tome when I started writing fic again seriously. 

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on FFNet/AO3?

No. I always end up baffled to find out people have read or remember anything I’d worked on. 

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Not really? What?

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Not to my knowledge - I think there was a quote about art that I picked up via Ted Naifeh about how you have to get through 1000 bad drawings to get to the good ones. That tends to stick in my mind about  writing or anything I’m trying my hand at. 

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

I don’t have much for writing - but creating things in general. When I started doing art in high school the forums I hung out on always had the reminder, “There will always be someone better than you. But you will always be better than someone else.” Write as things come to mind. You don’t have to write in sequential order - you can edit that later. Don’t worry if things come out rough and ugly in your first drafts, things can get polished later. Write what you want, not what you think others will want. Also to paraphrase Dr Suess - if you draw a monster with three heads, be sure to give it three toothbrushes. Keep details in mind when building a world/ scenario.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I have a rough skeleton or shape I start with - when I start writing it all out things start getting filled in - or changed from the original plan cause something better came up. 

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Occasionally I would get folks complaining about “the slow bits” where it’s just banter - or folks getting snotty about the lack of sex scenes, but generally nothing “bad” just antsy. 

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

SMUT - I’m a poor little ace robot. My brain doesn’t quite know what to do with smut scenes. Where do hands go? What do they do? People do what? Don’t they know what comes out of those places? EVERYONE NEEDS TO WASH THEIR HANDS.  I don’t cut the scenes since I know it’s a thing people do- and it feels disingenuous to have violence in a story and then get all fiddly when sex shows up. So I have cucu help me out - and have lots of feedback from other folks as we muddle along. 

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

Still working on Smoke as I can and trying to flesh out an original concept, which is sort of a post apocalyptic noir,

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

YEP 

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

Not DAILY - but I do try to make myself add 500 words to what I’m working on when I do sit down to write. 

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Thankfully 

28. What is your favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

I dunno - I mean I don’t have much going on right now that’s eaten my time and attention as much as Smoke Gets in Your Eyes has. 

29. What is your least favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

Nothing that I’ve left out in public. I cleared out my old writing archives ages ago and I tend not to let myself look back. 

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

I don’t actually know. I rarely consider myself a writer. I am an artist - I went to school for art and drawing. I just sort of accidentally picked writing back up. 

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Planning - Conceptualizing. The early stages when everything is still nebulous and nothing is forced into words. 

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Putting things into words. Also the whole “creating things to toss into the void” sensation.

33. Why do you write?

Because my brain sort of will keep daisy chaining ideas and building stories with or without my permission. So focusing on them - writing them and getting them out on paper for others to look at seems the only real solution.  Also cause my friends got sick of my being like “so hypothetically - if blah and blah happened - you think such and such would shake out of that?” 

I taaaag @fat-mabari @vkiera @prinxvariety

Cheers!

[daughterofsinsloth]

Tag game!

thank you very much aja-san @aja154ever for tagging me!!! be well!

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean? My username is alchemy_omi! alchemy coz Im a huge fan of  fullmetal alchemist and I would like my cat name to be alchemy and omi coz my friend mia think of it as a name for my grandma’s newborn cat & I love it  and it reminds my of the latin word omni meanning all.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos)

I have only 2 fics, but okay.. My second one “can you sew my suit?” has more bookmarks and kudos (thank you all for your love)

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

I wanted a good skk pic. i had anothe one in mind, but the pic couldnt upload, so i choose this one since its almost chrismas

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

well I just start.. ehm that 6 people who comment at my work I thank them very much!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 and if anyone else want to comment please feel free!

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

its “la vie an rose” (forgot the writer!) [its a photographer!dazai & writer!chuuya au, ongoing]

“find somothing worth fighting for (and learn how to live)” by kibasix

“rumrunners” and “hunger” series by esselle 

and every fic by anonlearnstowrite and sodenoshirayuki_23

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

since I made an account resently I have put any , but I always kept a pepper with the fic name and its little over 30-35

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

I love modern art AU coz there are more chances to freeform and for the characters to be together. Fluff is a must!

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

I have 7 bookmarks.. no subscribed

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

for a long time i did write coz i was afraid so now that i start i want to put all of my ideas!

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc. 

first of all, english! as a not native speaker there are many mistakes, but thankfully God blessed us with google translate and dictionaries. then I would like to be better at the expression of my thiughts.. I need to work hard..

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

i write only soukoku but im thinking of writing a shin soukoku fic

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

1 oneshot and 1 more that have 3 chapters in tottal

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

about 5

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

in my head. i like to thinking about them throu the day

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

nope i havent, but i always talk about them with mia and she helps me (I wuv you hon) and also post some ideas here and tumblrs will give me ideas ( you guys will be in my credits at the next chapter of my new fic- thank you)

16. How did you discover AO3?

my sister always talked about fanfiction. after i hooked up in bsd and skk i start reading ant got addicted! I finished all the skk ao3 stories in one summerbreak before i start the new ones!

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

okay, no chance in hell!

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

nope

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

sodenoshirayuki_23 my sweetheart mia was always telling me to write and helped me. I own her a lot. (she is an amazing writer btw she always make me feel relaxed with her fics. she is great.)

other than her.. kidasix? she was the first fic I read

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

go for it. if you care about people liking your work or not you wont have fun. your will to write is already half the fic. you can do it!

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I have the plot in my mind, the start and the ending. all the others I write them based where the fic takes me

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

thankfully til now only good once!

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

acton scenes. I cant find the words

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

mow im writing the second chapter of “can you sew my suit?”. I will focus on that and later move on with my unfinished ones.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

i always think of new ones, but I wont to have finished my works before start a new one

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

yep! every night a write a bit based how tired or not Im. normally I write till 1 in the morning

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

only a bit.

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

my  first one “teardrop” coz  its meaningful for me. its a gift for my friend and has lots of meaningful words in it.

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

no one yet! :’)

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

i just hope im still a writer then!

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

crack dialoge and the thoughts of the charecters. also a bit of angst

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

put my words into thoughts. make the scenary of the dialoge. to give the image of my imaginary to the readers but also leave some parts for their imaginary

33. Why do you write? 

idk. i have a lot of ideas that take me out of reality and i wanted them to have a full image. in bsd fandom coz i wanted to see something diferent. and i start coz i had people who advised me and support me so also wanted it for them. righting is really relaxing and it is like a door rom the world. i like to think it like a place when you can feel and dream not only for me but also for everyone else. thats why i like writing about modern au coz is closer to people’s reality.

I may have only 2 works now, but please wait more from me. thank you for your suport and kind words. 

please take of meee

I wont tag anyone beside @chuuyabelongswithhappiness and @gureshin-trash  and @sinenceq   since I dont know any other writers! you are free not to write this of course!

thank you again! have a nice day!

[bsinoranges]

In which it gets sappy

Tagged by the amazing @lethesomething!!

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

So uh. BS is actually short for bittersweet, but now it doubles as my in-joke for BS in whateverCourse -- hence the in. So BS in oranges.

Then it’s bittersweetoranges because i read this fic called bittersweet and it was damn good to me at the time. Also my favorite fruit is orange.

...I’m bot good at giving names nor titles. Haha.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

Hm. Overall, that would be my KuroYachi one-shot The Lights in the Sky are Stars. It was sort of my love letter to the KuroYachi ship, and so I’m not entirely sure if I’ll be able to add on to it.

For subscriptions that would be my still unfinished brofest piece, The Thief, the Witch, and the Fae. This one is my bid at making an interesting take on certain characters and dynamics in a dark fantasy setting. Futakuchi is the lead if only because @haruhi02 accidentally gave me his name when I asked for random characters.

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

A freezing link from Breath of the Wild. Well, why not? Haha. I love Link, I love Breath of the Wild, and when I resurfaced back on tumblr botw recently came out and also the free icons.

(the rest is under a cut because it’s long and sappy)

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Well. I won’t name favorites. Frequent commenters tho... they’d be my friends from chat, so shoutout to @lethesomething and @haruhi02 because you guys are great.

To be fair, I don’t think I post frequently enough for people to keep their eyes peeled for me.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Boy, do I. Basically anything in my bookmarks are the things I regularly return to read. Quite notable, however is anything by bigspoonnoya. God. I love her work. From the HQ to the BNHA to the YOI.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

I bookmark more than I subscribed. Buuuuuuuuut I’m subscribed to a grand total of 4 works, and I’ve bookmarked 62 fics.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Fantasy. Hands down. There’s three-ish urban ones, then there’s two full-on fantasy pieces. The rest are slice-of-life.

There’s just something about fantasy that makes me really happy. It might be the freedom to make, or that I like using fantasy as a substitute for when I want to comment on current events. But usually I like writing things that are fantastical.

Someday I want to make write a slice-of-life that makes the mundane fantastical, and then vice versa. If only because it’s the little things that steal my heart and imagination every single time.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

Four wonderful people are subscribed to me, while 12 are subscribed to my stories. For bookmarks, I have a total of 24. ^^

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

Many of my topic matter don’t really make much, if any, waves -- at least that’s what I think. I’m only afraid I can’t do justice to my dark/fantasy elements, because that would be a real shame.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

First it’s definitely finishing what I start. My multichaps aren’t incredibly long, but I worry a lot about continuation and future chapters that it spoils writing the present one, so I hope to work on that.

Next is my exposition and narration. I can only say “Name smiles.” so much before I think I write in a horribly stale matter.

... Does writing romance or any sort of sexual or romantic contact count? Cause, boy do I need practice.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Is YamaYachi popular? KuroYachi? I’m pretty sure they’re an okay and accepted ship. But in any case the rarest pair I’ve written is KuroYachi, and then KamaFuta. Because those pairs need more content, and I’m pretty willing to fill them.

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

I have 9 works in total. Five of which are completed oneshot, and the other four are unfinished multichaps. See the trend yet?

One of the finished oneshots is the longshot Nowhere in the Sea. It’s the first fic I finished in my whole 17 (at the time) years of living.

Of my unfinished things, one of them is an anthology (that I should probably close since I’m not planning on updating anytime soon) and then the three fantasy pieces that has a lot Worldbuilding™.

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

H A H A.

Hm. So, I switch between Google Docs, Sublime Text 3, and OneNote. But there’s a whooping 17 unwritten stories in various states of disrepair.

I’m most excited for the YamaYachi one, and also the sprawling ensemble cast one. :D

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I mostly keep them in my head. So they flit in and out of my memory like deadlines. On the rare occasion that I’m possessed by the idea, I’l have written the idea down and then some on anything I find convenient at the time (laptop, phone, or paper.)

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Yes. @haruhi02 was my partner for the hq fantasy fest thing. She was with me when I finished my first ever fic Nowhere in the Sea.

16. How did you discover AO3?

I was friends with this author back in FF.Net, and she had an AO3 account. Then, I branched off her fics to read the FE:A fics.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

LOL. Of course not. I can say, with confidence, that I am probably obscure.

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Hm...

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Fun fact, the first fan fic I wrote was an unfinished novelization of the Swan Princess (Nest Family Entertainment), and then an illustrated re-telling of Barbie’s Princess and the Nutracker. I started seriously pursuing writing around... the grade 5, when my bully of an English teacher said I had a talent for writing. If I had any it remains to be seen. But it was my friends back on FFnet. The likes of Mafi, and Tune, and Loke. They were there for me during my baby days writing for a fandom. We weren’t in the same fandom, but they inspired me so much.

Also I really like Philip Pullman and J.K. Rowling and thought it would be awesome to publish and write books.

Today though, it’s my friends in the chat who continue to inspire me everyday.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

I don’t think I’m qualified. But if I should, it’d be to stay strong and welcome to addictive cycle of happiness and misery. Because there’s nothing like writing that one perfect scene -- it’s worth all the stress and the struggle.

Also. Writing is like wine, it get’s better with age, but it doesn’t mean that you like wine.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I plot a lot. Like a lot. But I throw out a lot through the window when push comes to shove. Sometimes I’ll outwrite what I’ve planned or plan something new and then I’ll get flung into a crisis. Haha. Fun.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

The worst comment I’ve had is spam on Nowhere in the Sea. I just wish I had more comments. #NoShame.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

Smut. A bit of action, but action is easier than doing the sexy.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

I’m focusing all my energy on Amor Fati, which is my gift for the fantasy exchange. I need to finish that because it’d be sad if I didn’t. And, most importantly, I want to make my giftee proud.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

The plan is to keep up with my plans. I have no shortage of plans. Hahaha. But I do plan on finishing up Amor Fati then finishing either Scales or The Thief, the Witch, and the Fae before moving on to other projects.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

Nope. It would probably be better if I did, but acads just eats a lot of my time.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

I think it’s arrogant to think that I did, but I guess I did. I was 13ish -- two years after fifth grade -- when I took writing more seriously... And looking back my writing style changed. ^^

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

I love all my stories for different reasons. To be honest tho, it’s what I haven’t written and am yet to write. I love The Thief, the Witch, and the Fae for it’s dark and heavy atmosphere. Scales for its hesitance and its secrecy. Amor Fati for the melancholy and for its world. Nowhere in the Sea for being my first in a lot of things (but also it’s magic system and world gdi). Lights in the Sky are Stars for it’s sweet fluff. Class Pizza for its tomfoolery. So on and so forth.

As much as I have a hard time looking at my writing, I won’t deny that I love them for the things that they are and could be.

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

... Probably my anthology? It reminds me of bad memories.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Here, still suffering but instead out of school (hopefully) and knee deep in some sort of job.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

The planning and the talking and the crying and the reading.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

The writing. Or maybe that point between the first scene and the third. Something like that.

33. Why do you write?

Why don’t I? Writing is me. I’ve did things for the sake of reference, I’ve devoted a lot of myself to writing and the idea of writing. I love it. It’s an amazing way to express.

I wouldn’t give it up for the world.

Sooo. For tagging. @spacegaykj and @astersandstuffs and @slothesaurus if you guys don’t mind ^^. Feel free to ignore if you want. Thank you for the time.

Also double tagging @haruhi02 because I can.

[kelandry5]

Question tag for AO3 writers~~

Tagged by @herdustisverypretty and @justsimplyl

I found the original questions on AFF a while back, and I thought since I’ve been tagged in so many meme things lately, I’d also tag a bunch more people in this one XD Since the questions were designed for AFF, I’ve reworked some of them to fit for AO3 writers. I also removed two questions rather than trying to translate them to AO3 terms. So, I’ll fill out my answers first, and then put the blank questions again at the bottom for you to easily copy and paste!

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

It’s my writing name/the name I use for writing plus a number

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos)

Uhhh Sold and Broken has the most hits, Unexpected has the most bookmarks and kudos and subscriptions (Whyyyyyyyy??????)

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

It’s a picture of Akashi and Kuroko because I love them and mostly write for that pair anyway

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Yes.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again? 

Yes.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

118 bookmarks. Idk if it counts subscriptions anywhere but there are four pages

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

mental illness if you can call that an au. 

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

Subscribed: 755

Bookmarks: 432

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

I mean...considering what I have already written about, no, not really. Though maybe I am a bit afraid of writing smut but it’s more a fear I’ll suck at it and be judged for sucking at it than for simply writing it.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

I would LOVE to be better at updating!!!!! (I am sooooo sorry I suck).

I would love to be better at writing in general though, too. And maybe better at fluff/romance in particular.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Popular...but I have a couple unpublished rarepare fics started...

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

19

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

Uh...34 saved separately plus at least five documents with pieces of multiple stories I don’t feel like counting.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

Ha. I write them down. Otherwise they would disappear

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

No. But I’ve helped with the planning. I don’t think I would be any good at doing more than that.

16. How did you discover AO3?

Probably google. I honestly don’t remember. (It was like maybe a year ago but it’s not like I thought “oh I should remember finding this and how it happened because this site is going to mean something to me one day and someone will ask me how I found it!”)

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Hahaha not at all. 

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

No???

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Yeah. I don’t remember off the top of my head all the ones who inspired me to write fanfiction and I’m too lazy to look right now, but there definitely were. And pretty much every writer inspires me.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Forget the rules. Forget the “do not’s.” Forget trying to be right or perfect. Forget trying to please others. Write what you want, what you feel, what you love, what you need to say, what you think. Everything else will come.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Uhhhh....I pretty much figure it out as I go. Unless I’m rewriting. 

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Idk if it was exactly bad. I had someone tell me something in a story was unrealistic and would never happen and couldn’t work like that etc etc and how they will read the story but they will be cringing. I generally just try to explain why I did what I did or what my thoughts were on the matter and then remind them they don’t have to read if they don’t like it. Maybe ignoring it altogether would be better but I’m not the best at that. I usually explain first then ignore. whoops

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I can’t write smut or physical affection really at all. It’s just.... bad. I struggle with anything light hearted/fluffy too unless there is some underlying angst.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

I’m sort of in a rut rn to be honest. But I am still thinking about all my unfinished ones. There is one in particular I’ve been sort of working on more, but it’s not a published one. I hope to update Weightless, Unexpected, and Fragile by the end of December at the very least if I can get my life in order a bit.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

Of course!!! 

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

Nope. I doubt I could ever write every day and it would feel too much like work if I forced it.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Oh god I would certainly hope so!! But yes.

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

Weightless Phantom

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Haha... it’s actually my two most popular ones. Unexpected and Sold and Broken (though I think Sold and Broken is just popular because it has multiple fandoms so a larger possible audience)

I just think the writing and plots kinda fell apart for both. 

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

I don’t know. Thinking about the future rn is more than I can really handle.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Uhhhh is there supposed to be something easy about it?? I guess fixing spelling and grammar is the easiest thing.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Writing...

Jk jk. Well yes, but I guess more specifically, getting started. Once I’m on a roll it’s not so hard but starting is hard. 

33. Why do you write?

To express myself, to cope, to spread a message, to live another life, there are lots of reasons. 

Anyways that’s all the questions, so I’ll put them here as well without the answers to easily c+p.

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean? 2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos) 3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it? 4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters? 5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again? 6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked? 7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most? 8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page) 9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!) 10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc. 11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often? 12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)? 13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program? 14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head? 15. Have you ever co-authored a story? 16. How did you discover AO3? 17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3? 18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers? 19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write? 20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author? 21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go? 22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do? 23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..) 24. What story(s) are you working on now? 25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)? 26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself? 27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started? 28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written? 29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written? 30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years? 31. What is the easiest thing about writing? 32. What is the hardest thing about writing? 33. Why do you write?

Tagging: @mymistakewriting @ragingdrumboner @appleciderr @agapantoblu

[kristalynda]

Hey @cloversdreams I’m stealing this LOL! 

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

It’s just a set username I use when i make new accounts. Krista Lynn is also a pen name i set for myself when i started to write. 

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos)

As of now:

Book Marks: The Mermaid Prince (Has 3 Bookmarks)

Subscription: I’m not too sure where to look for that. 

Hits: Be Happy With Him (Has 526 hits.) 

Kudos: Tie between Be Happy With Him and Childlike Wonder (Both with 25 kudos.)

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

I’m using a pic of Denki brushing his teeth from the manga. I thought it was cute. 

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

I don’t get comments on my fics a lot. The random ones i get are nice though.

 5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

I like to reread some of my own fanfics so i can remind myself i wrote them :3

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

I’m not subscribed to any stories or have anything bookmarked....

 7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

I still have ideas planned for my mermaid AU.I’m just to lazy to finish anything. I have two unfinished drafts sitting on my computer. 

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

Subscriptions:11

Bookmarks:16

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

I do eventually want to write more for my OC’s. People hate CanonXOC relationships so i’m pushing it with Shizuka Origins. 

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

I want to be better at writing smut LOL.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Half of my fics are KirishimaXKaminari. (Hardcore KiriKami Shipper) What’s that tell ya? 

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

As of now. 11. Some of my fics i feel aren’t good enough to post anymore so i don’t bother. 

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

You don’t wanna know. X3

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

If something i come up with sounds really good, i jot it down immediately.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

No, but I’d like too!

16. How did you discover AO3?

I was looking for some Mystic Messenger Fics and came across the site. Fanfic.net and Wattpad werent doing it for me. 

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Hell No. There are people WAY better than me. Either that or my ideas suck!

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Wut? :3

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

I’ve been writing since i was little. I was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome when i was 10. And each Aspie is good at at least one thing. My mom is always telling me to be a writer, so i took her advice. 

I will say that i really like the fics CloversDreams writes. I kinda look up to them for my KiriKami fics. 

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Write whatever comes to mind, even if it’s bad or doesnt make sence! If it’s something you want to do, do it!

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I just write what comes to mind. I don’t sit for hours making a plot. Sometimes i get the idea when I‘m writing the ending. 

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

I had someone tell me i was nasty for my Puppy Yoosung story.  I just deleted the comment and went on my way.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I have trouble typing up action scenes and smut. 

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

To protect whats’s precious to me, and Shizuka Origins. I’m just too lazy. 

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)? 

All the time. I have so many unfinished fanfics i don’t think i’ll ever touch them again. 

26 .Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

No, but it doesn't sound like a bad idea.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

I do! I’ve learned how to write stories better as ive gotten older, and i know it’s helped me. 

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

Be Happy With Him is one I’m proud of. I wrote it after seeing a lack of KiriKami and a lot of KiriBaku. The idea just came to mind in under and hour, and it made me happy people liked it!

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

I don’t really have a dislike. I put a lot of work into my stories.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Hopefully, landing a job as a journalist or maybe work for a magazine or something.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Creating Characters. You know the personality so it’s not that hard to figure out what they’d be like and say.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

For me, it’s keeping characters in the right personality. Sometimes i wonder if when i write for Denki and my OC Shizuka, if i’m keeping Denki in the right mindset...

33. Why do you write?

Because it’s a way i can express myself and if i don’t like something in a series, i can write it an alternate way and be happy!

I’m not gonna tag anyone, but feel free to use! I’m also gonna leave my A03 account here too. 

https://archiveofourown.org/users/KristaLynn

[the-laughing-phoenix]

Get to know the author

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

Funnily enough, Pride and Prejudice is involved.  Specifically, the line “for what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?” I was about 16 and an anxious mess fighting with my family about my course load (I lost - they made me swap from advanced calc to regular calc) and wanted to remind myself that I’d always find that laughter again.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

If we’re talking AO3? Avoiding Politics the Obi-Wan Kenobi Way, which is a collaboration with @timesandteacups​. If we’re talking fics that I wrote alone, it’s  Love Courage Strength.

On FFN, Venatori reigns supreme.

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

It’s the same stylized firebird as my tumblr icon, which also happens to be my FFN icon. Why mess with a good thing?

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Yes, but it varies story by story. I have more regulars on FFN, but that’s entirely down to Venatori again.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

There are a few.  i just happen to like apples (i am not afraid of snakes) is a delight, and I use the entirety of @deadcatwithaflamethrower​‘s works as an incentive to get shit done. Also amusewithaview introduced me to possibly my favorite variant on the soulmates trope, so.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

I’m not currently subscribed to any stories, but I have 36 bookmarked on AO3 and 54 on FFN.  I keep meaning to bookmark stories and then forgetting.  Maybe once I get my applications in and the house is sold and I find ten minutes to breathe?

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Currently I’ve got two soulmates fics in the works.  I am a sucker for the trope.  Otherwise my strong point is “let’s shove this pebble into the stream and see how it diverts” (which, uh, has taken the form of character death?)

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

AO3 stats Subscribed to me: 33 Subscribed to my works: 575 Bookmarks: 587

FFN stats: Author alert lists: 48 Favorite author: 39

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

Nothing springs to mind.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Updating better.  I’ve been so busy with things going on in brickspace that it’s severely impacted my ability to write.  If I can get more efficient with my writing time, I can update again.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

I... don’t often write ships, honestly, and when I do they’re usually happening in the background. Sunrose Transplanted would be the exception, but since I was deliberately addressing the events after an elopement...

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

29 works

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

I am embarrassed to admit that I don’t know. I have a lot of partials that are probably never going to be posted, or will only be posted in the event of my death as a sort of “here are the things she was working on” memorial.  Currently I have 5 I’m sort of working on here and there?

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

Write them down.  If it’s not been written down, it’ll get lost.  This is occasionally a problem, because I frequently have FANTASTIC ideas while in the shower, so I’ll be scrambling for a notebook with damp fingers while my hair’s still wrapped in my towel.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Yes, though only my collaborations with @timesandteacups​ have been posted so far.  I’ve got one with @rustingroses​ in the works right now.

16. How did you discover AO3?

Credit for introducing me to AO3 goes to @rustingroses​

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Not remotely, but I’m cool with that.

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Nope.  Is that a thing?

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Tamora Pierce, Diane Duane, Terry Pratchett, Diana Wynne Jones... I’m certain I’m forgetting some.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

If you’re not having fun, then why do it?  Find a way to make it fun and don’t let anybody bully you into writing in a way you hate.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

A bit of both.  I go into fics knowing what the major highlights are and then figure out how to get from point A to B or R to S as I go.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

I’ve responded in three different ways. Most bad comments, I’ve just ignored. On occasion I’ve asked for clarification, mostly when someone has an issue with how I’ve tagged. And once, I snarled at them - this was a reader who came in telling me they were “here to help [me] improve my writing” and made a bunch of... kind of condescending suggestions. My grandmother had just passed away, I was very jet-lagged, and when I checked I noticed that they had 0 works to their name.  So I told them where to get off.  I don’t plan to do that again, and I definitely wouldn’t have under better circumstances.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

Probably smut, because I almost never write it.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

Priority goes to my Yuletide submission.  Otherwise I’m vaguely working on the next chapters of Avoiding Politics and Venatori, two soulmate AUs for BSD, and a BSD fic that I’m going to collaborate on @rustingroses​ with.  We have very different writing methods, so we’ll see how that one goes.  All of them except my Yuletide are on the furthest back burner, because I’m applying to graduate schools and helping my parents get the house ready to move.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

Oh god yes.  I have a massive plot bunny hutch and actually find I work best when I can swap between things.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

Ahahahaha no.  I don’t have time right now.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Absolutely.

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

I have to pick? Um. Probably Venatori

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Probably Worship

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Hopefully someone who has finished Venatori and has developed better writing habits.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Individual scenes.  I have scenes show up in my head as clearly as if I was watching them on a TV screen, and all I need to do is get them down on paper/in a word processor

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Getting from Point R to Point S.  I know what needs to happen, what I don’t know is how I’m getting there.

33. Why do you write?

Because I have an idea, and I think it’s cool and want to share.  

Consider yourself tagged if you wish to be tagged!