#this was fun to write! I don't try to write spooky very often lol

[kalmiaphlox]

✨Writing Interview Tag Game✨

Thank you @pinkberrytea and @preciouslittlebhaalbae for the tags 💕

When did you start writing?

I would write creatively throughout middle school and that was it for the most part. For my first long fic that was planned out and kept up with to completion, I started writing in December 2023 and never stopped. It was like a dam had been broken!

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I am a horror lover. Movies, books, art, etc I love all horror. I would love to be able to write a horror story, but the things I make up in my mind don't feel all that scary/spooky so I don't think I could translate it well.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I don't think so? I just write the way I want to read. I don't think its anything special, my writing is just word vomit that I feel happy with.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I kinda just write wherever when the mood strikes. Currently I am sitting on my couch with Northernlion playing Slay the Spire on youtube, I like background noise of any kind, doesn't even have to be music. I write on my phone a lot (a regrettable choice) because I like to write anywhere like work or the store if I need to jot something down.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Lots of daydreaming and driving in the car gives me my best ideas (I think), not sure why it gets my brain going, but it just does. I have also been inspired by art and I put credit for those works in my chapters when they do inspire something.

Sometimes reading fics would also get ideas flowing because it makes me want to write again (I'm not taking ideas from other fics), but I have barely been reading recently.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Maybe for my main fic? I think something that comes up a lot is not letting the past control your future for a lot of my characters. Also realizing family can be anyone, as long as you let them.

What is your reason for writing?

Mostly just for fun. I felt like I had a good story to tell so I wrote it down, regardless of whether other people like it or not. At the end of the day, this is for me.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I like all my comments in general and I go back and reread them occasionally 💕 Some that really stick with me are the ones where people make suggestions or even question things. There have been comments that made me change entire outcomes because someone left a comment that made me rethink how a character was acting or how an event unfolds.

Also anytime anyone says they have reread my fic just blows me away. It's such an honor but I also want to ask "Why?" because that shit is long and so freaking messy lol

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I don't know, I'm just a person. I hope my readers think they can ask me any questions about anything and that them just taking time out of their day to read my word vomit is so cool and I love every single one of those goobers. Readers are the best. Everyone likes to say they only do it for themselves, but any engagement really keeps us writers going.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Maybe dialogue and humor. It's hard to say honestly.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I waffle between thinking I write some good shit and then also hating every single thing and how on earth do people read my garbage lmao.

I know I don't use proper sentence structure and grammar, but if I start following all those rules, it won't be fun for me anymore.

I am not very descriptive in my writing specifically because my brain likes to fill in the blanks with limited descriptions. I have things look certain ways in my head, but I like to leave a lot of it up to internal interpretation for other people. I also skim a lot when descriptions get too long while I'm reading so I just try to write the way I want to read something. It's probably boring but at this point, I really don't care, I aint changing.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

Purely for myself. My first fic, I had over 100k words already written before I even thought about posting it for others. I may or may not be working on a sequel to my fic, but who knows if I'll ever post it lol

I hope this is all understandable. I am extremely hungover 😅

tagging my writer pals if you would like to answer any of these! @teamdilf, @busy-baker, @spagyricqueen, @dabbles-in-drabbles, @ofsilentthings

[charlieslowartsies]

oooo ok gimme director's commentary on ghost strings :V and (optional!!) if you're up for a second one i'll throw in a ⭐ for whatever else you may wanna commentate :VVV

I rambled lol sorry.

GS was the first fic I actually planned out plot wise beyond my typical method which was--and quite often still is-- Step 1. Make title. Usually I have 2 or 3 titles that I let percolate. Step 2. Make summary. My favorite part is making summaries, I have no idea why. Step 3. Write out interesting chapter titles. Step 4. Begin writing. Have no idea where to go and what story to tell beyond 'this scene sounds fun!' 'Oh this one too!'

That's my writing process. Bare bones, not very polished, but it's my favorite way to write haha. It find I destress a lot when I just have fun writing scenes with characters. But with GS, I actually drafted stuff ahead of time and stuck to an oddly consistent schedule for writing. Actually, GS released on FFNet in November 2015, and that year I actually was trying to do NaNoWriMo! It was my first year that resulted in a story I liked enough to post, and even though I didn't make the writing goal obv, I did finish GS which is a personal success for me since I'm terrible at finishing fics. Honestly it's a miracle that the KGA is as finished as it is.

I still have my notes on Ghost Strings. It contains some unused dialogue, some quotes that eventually made it into Last Shift and Lies Within, and a list of summaries for the fics that followed...and a few fics that are yet to come ;)

Ghost Strings was written while I was playing through Oblivion and also Nancy Drew and the Haunted Carousel/Shadow at the Water's Edge. I know we also got FNAF3 and FNAF4 at the time, which set up my thinking for where I wanted the story to go with Pizza World.

GS is easily one of my favorite fics in the kga series. I don't typically like my writing, and if I do, it expires within a year or two. But GS still stands up to time for me. I remember realizing the characters better. Mike and the gang had dug into their personalities and I was able to feel like I knew how to drive the damn car without derailing or getting lost.

But looking back I also remember I was feeling bored with the gang, having written them straight for 3 fics, and I was worried readers would be bored too. 'Mike goes on another adventures, spooky, sad, funny, who cares?' I think, in the end, it was me who was the most bored. I wanted to move on to other projects but didn't know how to. Plus, it seemed like FNAF games would never end...

It was Reader response to Danny Fitzgerald that made me twist FF into something more insidious and forewarning, putting him in the spotlight and making him go through The Horrors. (FF is my least favorite fic though, sadly, for a few reasons.)

[quaranmine]

hi What was the 2rd book in your book poll titled?

Hi! Sorry I forgot to answer this when I was home but I'll answer now. It got a little out of hand, oops. Here's a link for the poll being referenced right now.

The first book was What the Eyes Don't See by Mona Hanna-Attisha. It's the story about how Dr. Mona, alongside other researchers and community members, discovered that people living in Flint, MI were being exposed to high levels of lead in tap water. The books says it's "paced like a scientific thriller" and tbh I might read it next because I'm very interested. I work in lead poisoning prevention (with a side of environmental justice) professionally, so it's of specific interest to me.

The second book, the one you originally asked about, is The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen. It's a "vivid tour of Earth's big five mass extinctions, the past world's lost with each, and what they all can tell us about our not-too-distanr future." It is also "part road trip, part history, and part cautionary tale."

ALSO. HELP. I just realized that this is the same author who wrote one of my favorite articles that I read in my upper level historical geography class about climate history. I knew his name looked familiar!! In that case, I'm sure this book will be amazing because I cannot stress enough that I think about that Atlantic article literally all the time. It's one of the first things my mind brings up on the subject of climate change.

The 3rd book on the poll was How To Astronaut: An Insider's Guide to Leaving Planet Earth by Terry Virts. Terry is an astronaut who spent 200 days as the commander of the International Space Station. This book has 51 short chapters, separated in the table of contents in neat little sections by subject, about space related things. I need to admit right now I bought the book when I was writing on IBW because I was like ooooh I'm doing spaceship stuff!!!

I don't doubt there's science in this book of course, but the reason I called it more of a silly-fun read is because I anticipate it can mostly be read via whichever chapters interest you most and is definitely written for a general audience who're interested in such questions as "how to astronauts pee" LOL. I just don't think it will be as technical as some of the other books on my shelf, which is frankly very nice (for someone trying to coax herself into reading "real" books more often.)

The fourth book is Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. I'm still going to give this book a try because it sounds SO interesting. I just started reading it immediately after I bought it and was pretty annoyed in the first 35 ish pages. It's like an eldritch supernatural survival horror novel. Talks about "a thrilling descent into madness and obsession as one man confronts nature--and something even more ancient and evil answers back." Some of the back book jacket quotes say things like "Can a place be evil?" and "the dread of something monstrous wearing the face of someone you love."

Basically, if you like spooky wilderness things (are you a fan of the SAR nosleep stories on reddit, perhaps? [location] gothic posts on tumblr?), and the "came back wrong" trope, it seems like the perfect book. I just found the first POV character to be annoyingly shallow 😭 but like he probably grows as a person over the course of the book and/or dies at the end so I should just keep going

The winner of the poll was Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine, since I had already read half of it starting last year and just inexplicably stopped for no reason, as one does when one gets distracted. I started rereading it since last week's poll and probably only lack 40 pages now. The book is about a series of trips they went on (mostly between 1988-1989) to look for endangered species. All the trips were recorded for BBC Radio at the time, and Douglas Adams tagged along to write this book.

It is, like every work by Douglas Adams, a very fun and witty read. The saddest part, which I mentioned in a previous post, is that the book was published in 1990 and some of the species he writes about are now extinct (or functionally so) in 2023. So that's a bit of a bummer to an otherwise fantastic read.

The final book from the poll is The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee. It's a historical YA social drama that I think I bought a year or two ago? It’s about 17 y/o Jo Kaun who works as a lady's maid to a wealthy family in the Old South. She starts a newspaper advice column under a pseudonym, becomes wildly popular, and starts to get backlash as she uses her column to challenge social norms about race and gender.

Books I Read Already:

Now, for a few more book notes because I'm having fun LOL. The book I just finished was Fire Season by Philip Connors:

I ran across this book in Half Price Books around January of this year, and immediately recognized Philip Connor's name on the spine because of previous research for Firewatch AU. I had been specifically looking for literature or poetry about fire lookouts, which led me to his website where I read the first chapter of this (it also led me to Gary Snyder.) So when I went to the environmental science section of the store, I saw this and out loud said, "Philip Connors! I know who you are!" and bought the book. So yes, I've spent actual money on researching this fanfic xD

It's a really cool book. It drips with beautiful description and is packed with the history of the land, the US Forest Service, and fire lookouts as a whole. I realized after I finished that I've probably been subconsciously modeling my writing style for descriptions in my fanfic based on Connors' writing! Also, the references section of this book is going to actively Make Me Worse, because Connors introduced me to much more writers and literature about wildland fire. I'm interested in Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean, Mountains of Memory: A Fire Lookout's Life in the River of No Return Wilderness by Don Scheese, Black Sun by Edward Abbey, multiple works by Jack Kerouac, and Poets on the Peaks by John Suiter as a result now.

I really recommend Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge, translated by Jeremy Tiang. I read this last year and enjoyed it a lot. It was originally published in Chinese in 2006, and published in English in 2020. It's a magical realism fantasy book about an amateur cryptozoologist (and romance writer!) who is tracking down the "beasts" in her world to write about. Each chapter is about a different one, and each chapter draws her deeper into a mystery "that threatens her very sense of self." Whatever your mental picture if a beast is, this book is probably very different. I don't really know how to describe them either, you just need to read it.

I read this book completely in two sittings and found it very interesting. I also have to confess I bought it specifically because it hinged on the same philosophical concepts that I was obsessed with when I wrote my fanfic How to Be a Human Being--what does it mean to be human? what does it mean to not be a human? does it matter? how does personal identity intersect? The book describes itself as "part detective story, part psychological enquiry" and "explores existential questions of identity, humanity, love, and morality."

Cold Storage by David Koepp is the first audiobook I listened to when I got the Libby app. I HIGHLY recommend it, I loved this book. It's a sci-fi thriller about a highly mutative and highly deadly fungus that takes over people's brains and controls them. Think the zombie-ant fungus. A sample was thrown in, ahem, cold storage, by the US government in the 80s after it was discovered, but was forgotten about because only two people on the planet ever actually lived to see how dangerous it was. The underground vault was eventually sold in later years to a storage company and it has sat undisturbed for decades until now--when it's escaping. Most of the book takes place over the course of a day as two unwitting storage company night shift workers go to investigate an alarm going off deep underground, and the retired bioterror operative tries to respond to the threat as fast as he can. Be aware of body horror and gore in this book!

It's being made into a movie, and I'm pretty excited! I imagine the production has been completely halted by the strike, however. Well, it's in post-production so maybe there is a chance. I hope it gets delayed if it needs to be though for solidarity with the strikers. They cast Joe Keery as one of the main characters and I think it's flawless casting. However, I'm a bit annoyed they cast Liam Neeson for another main character though because like....that guy was NOT white in the book??? Also they said they started filming in Rome, Italy, which is sooooo???? No part of the book takes place in any location similar to that. So I'm stuck between thinking it will be fantastic because of the casting of Keery and highly worried by these other details.

I also read Aurora by David Koepp via audiobook, but I'm not gonna lie I really did not enjoy that one. I feel like Koepp made some very bizarre pacing decisions, mostly ignored all of the most interesting elements of his plot, and failed to make me care about any character which therefore made the ending fall flat. Most of the negative Goodreads reviews share my same thoughts...soooo sorry Koepp! Loved ur other work though <3 and your work with the Jurassic Park movie script <3

Other books on my list/currently reading:

-I'm currently listening to the audiobook for Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. I really love it so far. If you're into alternate universes, this is for you. It's also a sci-fi thriller. Shortest blurb I could use to explain it is: what if you were just minding your own business and your alternative universe self kidnapped you and forced you to switch places with him? Be aware of strong themes of unreality in this book.

-Dune by Frank Herbert is also on my list because I wanted to be stubborn and read the book before ever seeing the movie. Folks this one might take a hot second to force myself to read...but I own it and it's on my shelf.

-Losing Earth: The Decade We Could Have Stopped Climate Change by Nathaniel Rich is also on my shelf, unread. This book was originally a long piece published in the New York Times. Frankly, the reason I did not include it in the original poll is that it seems like a bummer of a read 😭 like I am VERY interested in environmental science (duh) and this book will be very informative but frankly I probably need to have a specific mindset to start this on

There's a few more books on my shelf, such as a fantasy travel guide, an astrophysics book I received as part of a high school science team, a YA novel set in space, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, or a Bill Bryson book my mom gave me about Australia, but that's probably a good enough place to end this for now.

[thelastspeecher]

if you're taking halloween prompts, maybe Stan and the gucks dealing with the headless horseman coming to the guck farm?

I tapped into my Irish folklore knowledge and did my best to make a kinda spooky story.  Hopefully, I pulled it off moderately successfully!

(Oh, also, this ficlet takes place immediately following the last ficlet I posted, of Stangie going trick-or-treating.)

——————————————————————————————

              Stan parked his car outside the McGucket farmhouse. He grinned at Angie.

              “Damn, we got a huge haul,” he said.  Holding the buckets filled with candy, Angie grinned back.

              “We sure did!”

              “Time to go eat so much we make ourselves sick.”

              “Yeah!  Wait, what?”

              “I’m jokin’, Angie, don’t worry.”  Stan turned the car off and took his bucket from Angie. “C’mon.”  The two got out of the car.  Stan heard rustling.  In his peripheral vision, he could see movement.  He tossed the bucket back into the car and rushed over to stand protectively in front of Angie.  A figure emerged from the bushes.

              “What in the-” Angie started.

              “Back away, Angie,” Stan hissed.  He and Angie backed away slowly.  The figure followed, only to split away from them just as they reached the porch.  Stan watched as the figure headed for a horse tied to one of the porch rails.  Angie suddenly gripped Stan’s arms tight enough that he had to bite back a yelp of pain.

              “Stan!” Angie whispered, terrified.  “That feller don’t have no head!”

              “Yer seein’ things,” Stan said back.  He looked more closely.  His blood ran cold.  Angie was right.  The figure looked exactly like a man, but a man missing his head.  The front door opened behind them.

              “Kids, inside!”  Pa McGucket roughly dragged Stan and Angie in, then closed the door and locked it.  “Sally, the salt.”

              “On it, dear.”  Ma McGucket gently nudged Stan and Angie away from the door.  She laid a line of salt across the threshold. “I can check the other points of entry.”

              “Thank you, sweetheart,” Pa McGucket said.  Ma McGucket left.  Pa McGucket looked Stan and Angie over, relief on his face.  “I’m so glad yer safe.”

              “Uh, yeah, we- we are,” Angie squeaked.

              “What’s the deal with No-Head McGee out there?” Stan asked, jutting his thumb in the direction of said headless man.  Pa McGucket sighed.

              “He’s one of the Fair Folk,” he answered. Angie’s eyes widened.  Stan frowned.

              “The what?”

              “Oh, that’s right.  You wouldn’t know much ‘bout the Fair Folk, would ya?” Pa McGucket mumbled to himself.  “Well, come on into the livin’ room.  We’ll have a chat.”  Stan and Angie followed Pa McGucket into the living room.  Pa McGucket sat in his favorite armchair, while Stan and Angie sat on the couch.

              “All right, explain,” Stan said.  Pa McGucket raised an eyebrow at him.  “…Please.”

              “The Fair Folk have been called many things. They can be found in just ‘bout every place in the world, so’s each culture had their own name fer ‘em.  The one yer prob’ly most familiar with would be ‘fairy’.”

              “Fairy?  That ghost-looking thing was not a fairy,” Stan interjected.  Pa McGucket sighed.

              “The real Fair Folk are a far cry from the pop’lar representation of a lil lady in a sparkly dress and wings.  ‘Course, my fam’ly never called ‘em that.  We called ‘em the Fair Folk, or, on occasion, used the name they gave themselves, the aes sidhe, or just the sidhe fer short.”

              “She?” Stan said, testing out the word.  Pa McGucket nodded.  “That doesn’t sound English.”

              “It ain’t.  It’s Irish.  That’s where my fam’ly came from.”

              “I kinda figured.”

              “I had a feelin’ ya had figured that out on yer own,” Pa McGucket said, a twinkle in his eye.  “Yer quite the clever fella.”  He cleared his throat.  “As I was sayin’, the Fair Folk ain’t the fairy you’d see in a cartoon.  They’re mysterious, magical folk who manipulate perceptions of the world, an ability referred to as glamour.  They live in the hills of the old country, in a world that runs parallel to ours.  If ya wish to visit ‘em, ya need to go ‘sideways’.  At least, according to tradition.”

              “Uh…okay,” Stan said after a moment.  Angie leaned forward.

              “Pa?”

              “Yes, Junebug?”

              “Is the feller outside Seelie or Unseelie?” she asked.  Pa McGucket smiled.

              “I’m so glad to hear that yer pa’s old stories stuck in yer brilliant lil mind.”

              “Pa!” Angie whined.  Pa McGucket chuckled.

              “The Headless Horseman ain’t aligned with either Court.”  Pa McGucket turned to Stan.  “Broadly speakin’, the Fair Folk tend to belong to either the Seelie Court or the Unseelie Court.  ‘Course, there are those, like the feller outside, who opt out of the system.”

              “Let me guess,” Stan said slowly.  “Seelie is good and Unseelie is bad?”  Pa McGucket leaned back in his chair.

              “Not quite.  It ain’t wise to use such human terminology to refer to bein’s what are so far from human.  Their minds don’t work like ours, so their morals don’t, neither.  The Seelie Court is the kinder of the two, yes.  They won’t attack unless ya offend.”

              “That’s nice of them,” Stan muttered.

              “Eh.  The Fair Folk have very specific etiquette to follow, and it’s very easy to accidentally offend.  So even if yer in the presence of a Seelie, yer not out of the woods.  The Unseelie Court, they thrive on pain and suffering and chaos.”

              “So, stay away from Unseelie.”

              “Stay away from all Fair Folk,” Angie said firmly. Pa McGucket nodded.  “Some are kinder than others, but they…”  Angie scratched her cheek.  “They ain’t human.  They don’t think like we do, they don’t understand us, we don’t understand ‘em. Seelie are better, yes, but ya never want to be in the company of the Folk unless yer in complete control of the sit’ation.”

              “Exactly,” Pa McGucket said.  “There are Fair Folk on our property that we have communicated with before, and each time, we determine when and where, and protect ourselves against their glamour.”

              “Wait, what?” Angie asked.  “Pa, you’ve seen the Fair Folk before?”

              “Of course, dearie.  Grandmama and Grandpapa set up our current arrangement with ‘em back when they settled here.  And the Headless Horseman tends to drop by on Samhain.”

              “There are so many new words,” Stan groaned, putting his head in his hands.  “I feel like I’m in school.”

              “I’ve never seen him ‘fore,” Angie said, ignoring Stan.

              “You’ve never been up late enough to see him ‘fore,” Pa McGucket said.

              “The Fair Folk never go sideways to our world unless they have a reason.”

              “Sweetie, they don’t need a reason on Samhain.  It’s as much their celebration as it is ours.”

              “Fine, I’ll bite,” Stan said.  He lifted his head.  “What is Saw-win?”

              “Samhain is an ancient Irish festival to signal the end of harvest and comin’ of winter.  Tradition holds that it is when boundaries between worlds are the thinnest.” Pa McGucket shrugged.  “Don’t know how true that is, but it’s what they say. And it’s when the Headless Horseman shows up, so.”  Pa McGucket looked in the direction of the front door.  “I’m glad that this Headless Horseman appears to be dif’rent to the kind Grandmama and Grandpapa told stories ‘bout.”

              “How so?”

              “He’s never killed anyone by sayin’ their name, fer one thing,” Pa McGucket said dryly.  Stan’s mouth went dry.

              “How long does he stay before leavin’?” Angie asked. Pa McGucket shrugged.

              “Depends.  It could be a while though, you should start gettin’ ready fer bed.  It’s late.”

              “I don’t think I can sleep knowin’ he’s out there,” Angie said softly.  Stan nodded in agreement.

              “I’m not easily scared, but that guy doesn’t have a head.”

              “Don’t worry, he can’t get in here.  Not with the precautions we’ve got: holy water, blessed iron, salt, the whole nine yards.”  Stan and Angie stared at him silently.  “I can go check if he’s gone, though.”  Pa McGucket got up from his chair and headed for the front door. After a few moments, he called back to them.  “Yep. He’s gone.  Come see fer yourselves if you’d like.”  Stan and Angie headed for the door as well, Angie lagging slightly behind Stan.

              When they got to the front door, Pa McGucket had it wide open.  He stood on the porch, surveying the yard with his hands on his hips.

              “See?  No Folk here,” Pa McGucket said cheerfully.  Stan stared.  No one was there.  In fact, he was beginning to doubt he’d seen the Headless Horseman in the first place.

              “They usually leave behind a sign of some sort,” Angie said, brushing past him.  She made a beeline for where the Horseman’s horse had been tied to.  She crouched down, inspecting the soil.  Her eyes widened.  “Stan, come here.”  Reluctantly, Stan joined her.  His blood ran cold, just as it had when he first saw the Horseman.

              In the otherwise undisturbed dirt, there was a set of fresh hoofprints.

[lucky-draws]

3 10 & 15 for the writing asks?

hello thank you 4 asking!! :]]] 📺

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

HRM. ok im not interesting enough to have something particularly cursed, but i guess my "ritual", for longer stuff especially, is that i usually write by hand first and then type it up either on my pc or phone.... i will make initial notes on my phone but i sort of just Prefer to start things off by hand, like properly sitting down at a desk w pen + paper.... and then when i type it up its like then i can change stuff and spot mistakes etc. the handwritten stuff is like the first draft.

also ive like got into the habit of always using the same type of notebook lol. they're plain ass ones like basically school exercise books LOL like we used to use in class..

maybe the cursed thing is my handwriting. i think i half-deliberately went ok if i write small and messy so that only i can properly read it then no one will be able to look over my shoulder or snoop in my notebooks and easily read my sentences about big boss and revolver ocelot kissing each other. but i also just have awful writing when im doing it quickly. i can be neat if i try i promise.

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

heee hee OK i don't often annotate/write in books that much but i will highlight stuff/underline stuff; i actually would do that sort of thing more if i like. owned more books but a lot of the time i get books from the library LOL and im not gonna write in those bc that's naughty. but i think it's fun and a good thing to do. obvs u might have a Fancy Edition of a book that u don't wanna ruin but for regular paperbacks. i think they become sexier if they're full of ppls annotations and thoughts and enjoyment etc.

i don't usually dog ear pages because erm. sorry but i leave the book open upside down sometimes like ruining the spine kind of way. and also often i just close the book and remember the page number or chapter i just got to in my head.....

i don't read in the bath but ok actually maybe i should. i forgot that's a thing that can happen. i prefer to be Alone when reading and bath = optimal situation for that. hrm.

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

ooooh....good quastion. i guess “haunting” would mean something that sticks with u, or at least has u feeling kinda crazy/jarred/uncomfortable/insane for a little while after reading. trying to think of a specific thing erm....i guess i’ve read some ww1 poetry that's pretty impactful, war poems in general are obvs pretty haunting in the grim sort of sense. wilfred owen has some very good ones.

ty for asking!! o7

actually gjjgjf if we take haunting to mean like licherally spooky or supernatural or scary in nature. im gonna take this opportunity to shout out to @la-li-lu-le-lol 's otasune fic called Red Collar Job. i've been meaning to re-read it lol, i read it like ages ago when i first got into mgs i guess, it's a spooky flavour of otasune and it was very enjoyable, some very memorable scenes/imagery.

[purpamint]

A lot of people seemed to like the Kris doodles, so I decided to draw an au with all three humans as siblings! :]

I have a lot of headcanons for these three since I thought a lot about them while drawing, but I'll try to keep those under the read more so you don't have to read them unless you have the time to hear my silly little rambles, haha. (this AU takes place in the deltarune timeline btw, just for reference, so yall know asriel is in college and they are in hometown)

Kris's normal clothing style is definitely the most grunge + indie style in the fam, however, on school days they normally wear hand-me-downs from Toriel and Asriel. They get fancy button-up shirts and comfy skirts from toriel, and jackets, sweaters and corduroy pants from asriel. On on school days they wear those formal clothes, but they are happy to wear brightly colored t-shirts after school and on weekends (I can relate, many years of going to a school with uniformed sucked lol, so after school I'd change into an ugly but comfortable outfit). They're also a junior in high school now which is probably 2ish years after the deltarune story takes place. Their favorite things are video-games, diy or homemade stuff, spooky movies, and pranks.

Chara is next, they're about 14 and going into high school very soon. They mostly wear hand-me-downs as well, but from asgore instead of Toriel or Asriel. And unlike Kris who usually changes after school, they don't mind Asgore's old clothes, and appreciate the practicality. They really like to garden, which is a trait they get from their dad, so they often stick around and help Asgore out with his flower shop. Despite Kris already being fairly introverted, Chara is somehow even more introverted than Kris, so they get a bit grumpy when people bug them... however if someone gives them the chance to talk about gardening and books they will sometimes open up and ramble on about it for hours. They always carry a small shovel and wear hiking boots because they think it's convenient... their favorite things are flowers, toriel's cooking, knitting, and reading.

Frisk is the youngest, at about 11, and since Kris and Chara have already taken most of the hand-me-downs, Frisk is able to pick out anything they want! Their favorite colors are blue, purple, and pink and they wear those colors 24/7. Despite still being a teensy bit shy, they all the most social out of the humans, and they have lots of friends in town and much like their eldest sibling, Asriel, they have become very popular. They are very silly and like to tell lots of jokes which makes lots of people smile. They usually are pretty relaxed, but when they are feeling down they listen to calming music. Their favorite things are drawing, calm music, hugs, silly jokes, and adventure.

Wow this became a lot longer than intended but I hope you guys enjoy my little rambles, I had a lot of fun drawing this and just as much fun writing about it, too. I'll try to post some owl house art later this week since the season is ending soon, but until then, have a nice day ^.^

[multi-lefaiye]

for the ask game, 1, 5, 7, 20!

HELL YE thank u!!!

What’s your longest wip right now?

Okay I answered 1 already, but I'll go ahead and explain a bit about the abandoned WIP I mentioned called Spotters' Quest, because that's still my longest piece of original writing! Somehow!

Spotters' Quest was a dark fantasy thing about a group of characters accused of different crimes being offered a chance at redemption, if they can find a rare artifact that many don't believe truly exists. It was kind of a mess of a story but I had a lot of fun with it!!! Maybe.... maybe someday I'll try and revive it in some capacity.

Anyway.

Do you listen to music while writing or no? If yes, what’s your favorite kind of music to listen to?

For me this really depends!!! I definitely listen a lot to music while I'm brainstorming, because listening to music and thinking about OCs is my favorite way to develop a story, but when I'm actually writing I actually don't listen to music very much. Instead, I tend to listen to narrations of horror stories, or video essays, or movies I've watched a hundred times.

I find that music tends to distract me when I'm writing more often than not, and it tends to influence the mood of whatever I'm working on. Listening to something spooky or that I've listened to a hundred times fulfills my need to have background noise while also not distracting me too badly. I do the same thing when I'm drawing!

Of course, there is the risk of whatever story I'm listening to affecting whatever I'm writing, but that hasn't been too much of an issue for me tbh.

Do you outline before writing? If so, what’s your outlining process like?

I didn't used to do much in the way of outlining, but in recent years I've tried to make much more of a habit of it! Generally when I outline I just try to write down a basic list of every event that needs to happen, and then as I develop the story I fill it out more.

If I'm really having trouble getting into something, I'll plot out a whole scene by essentially listing everything that happens.

How much I plot something usually depends on how important it is to me that I know what happens going in, but I find that outlining something too much tends to actually make it harder for me to write the scene!! I work best when I have a basic outline to go off of and can kinda.... do whatever feels best based off of that.

As an example of what my basic initial outlines can look like, here's a snippet of my initial outline for a scene in Fragile Things:

Arthur is helping cut Noah's hair short for the first time and he's doing a bad job.

Noah doesn't really like the final haircut, but he doesn't want to make Arthur feel bad.

Arthur can tell Noah doesn't like it, though, so he lets Noah cut his hair too as payback

Noah does a similarly bad job

They both laugh about it and they're just having a nice time

This is an example of one of my beefier outlines actually (in that it's not just a one-sentence description of a scene lol), but it's still short and sweet enough for me to play around with it.

How do you usually come up with story ideas?

I answered this one already as well, but I'll talk a little about my inspiration for Bleeding Over Eden specifically!

So Bleeding Over Eden was initially inspired by two series that are near and dear to my heart: a TV series called The Finder, and a creepypasta series called Infected Town Case Files.

Bleeding Over Eden 100% started as a ripoff of The Finder, because while I care about that show and I think it's super cool and creative, I also think there's a lot of.... issues with it.... that make me uneasy (mainly in its treatment of its Romani characters, in that it has non-Romani characters freely use the g-slur and just hhhhhh not great). Essentially I just like... took the basic archetypes for the main cast and made new OCs based on them, which I later developed and expanded upon.

The second bit of inspiration came from Infected Town Case Files, but it was kind of a, like... vague concept. Infected Town Case Files is the sequel series to a different creepypasta, but I've never read the original and honestly I think that kinda adds to my experience a little, in a weird way. Because Infected Town Case Files is the story of a character AFTER his big paranormal adventure, dealing with the aftermath and his trauma and grief, and that was SUCH an interesting concept for horror for me that I kinda.... yoinked it... ASDJFKL

So the original concept of Bleeding Over Eden was just a character dealing with the aftermath of a massive supernatural event, with a touch of the basic character archetypes from The Finder (the quirky protagonist with some sort of supernatural power, the supportive best friend, the delinquent, the love interest, etc.), but since then it's grown and changed and (hopefully) become its own thing distinct from its inspirations.

Though tbh I might lean a bit into the inspo from The Finder again, because I was rereading my original notes for these characters and I actually really really like a lot of what's there.

[writingsfromthegrave]

Hi! Can I get a Monster Prom matchup, please?

I'm a transgender man who's queer. I don't really have a label for my sexuality yet so I pretty much go with anything.

I'm into heavy punk/rock music and I enjoy dressing alternative! (I like to drift between grunge and goth). I typically enjoy going to indie concerts (the smaller venue the better) and taking walks through my city. I like digital art though I have trouble sharing it with others. I also love video games! Horror, slice of life, indie rpgs, etc are all fun! I wouldn't mind playing co-op with someone. I'm a huge animal person too; when I was younger, I'd go out in the garden after it had just rain and try to catch critters. I specifically love snakes, cats, and dogs. Off topic but I love cryptids too!

I don't like spicy food. Bummer, I know. I just don't have that good of a tolerance. I don't tolerate people who get off to making fun of others for their fashion choices (unless it's offensive). It gives off petty middle schooler vibes y'know? I also don't like people who try to act like they have the upper hand in a friendship/relationship.

I'm usually a self-reserved person but I'm not afraid to speak up when I want to. I'm often respectful towards others and I have a tendency to compliment people when they're dressed nice or simply wearing something I know (like a band shirt). My love language is gift giving; I love to spoil my friends and they're usually my first thought when I'm out shopping. I would say physical touch is my love language too but I'm usually not the one to initiate it lol.

out of all fandoms i write for, i would've never expected a monster prom ask. yipee !! i love monster prom sm its such a shame theres not much content for it anymore :'(

anyways, i think you'd look good with . . .

[🏈] Scott Howl !!

♡ Since the beginning of your time at Spooky High, Scott has always been up your ass about your intriguing style, which is very much different that anyone else he knows.

♡ So, can you really blame him? He's a diehard supporter of your fashion choice and always tries to squeeze his way into a concert with you. Honestly thinks you're the coolest person he's ever seen, like, ever.

♡ The compliments never end. "You're so handsome!", "You look cute today!", whatever he can come up with. He makes sure you know how much he loves you, daily. Every hour. Every minute.

♡ Although Scott is more used to loud and rough crowds, he very much enjoys being in your company at said venues. Is never not close from you and is always giving positive feedback when he can, even if he doesn't particularly like the music and isn't familiar with it.

♡ Whatever makes you happy makes him happy, really. You could be excited over a banana and he'd be so fucking ecstatic over it too. When you're sad, he's sad. When you're angry, he's angry. Though, when it is needed, Scott will try his best to comfort you and get you through tough times.

♡ ...Walks? Walks. In the CITY? Yeah no you're never going on another walk alone AGAIN. Constantly asks you when you're going out, and if he can tag along. Unless you have a schedule- then he's up and ready ten minutes early. It's his favorite thing to do with you! He'll point out anything funny/interesting or anything he thinks you'd like.

♡ Thinks you're super talented and will praise your art to no ends if you decide to show him a piece. You're better than Bob Ross, Picasso, and any other historical artist he can think of. As long as you're comfortable, he'll mention and brag about your amazing art skills to anyone who'll listen.

♡ Co-op video games? He may not be as good as you are, but he's surely trying his best. If you end up playing a game in which you fight each other, he'd probably accidently win. Just smashes the buttons and hopes it works tbh. Though, after figuring out the basics, he'd purposefully lose for you. Gets all excited when you win, "yeah, beat me up! go go go!"

♡ Do I even need to mention anything about you being an animal lover? No. I think this one explains itself quite well LOL. You two would probably have a pet snake, or a bug.

♡ Mostly does the speaking for you in public settings and ordering food and whatnot. Doesn't mind at all! He never pressures you to speak or do anything you're not comfortable with. Though he'll definitely hype you up and try to encourage you to break out of your shell more! (Mainly because he doesn't really understand self-reserved people).

♡ You're in luck! Buy Scott a present and he'll go insane with buying you gifts back and will shower you in kisses & "thank you's". Could be the smallest little thing or something you made for him yourself and he'd love it forever. Cherishes anything you give him no matter what. Even if it's a shirt that doesn't fit or an item he can't use.

♡ Don't worry about initiating physical touch, Scott has got it covered! Understands boundaries (if you have them) perfectly clear, but sometimes forgets, though he deeply apologizes for this and tries to make up for it any way he can. Adores hugs, kisses, cuddles, you name it. Anytime and any place, as long as you're okay with it.

♡ He's just a big goofball that loves & cherishes you no matter what, you could grow seven tongues and five eyes and he really wouldn't care. As long as you're the same, self-reserved, caring person you always are; his love for you won't ever change.

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

To Do List:

What's up, my Herd of Nerds?

Anyway, as you can tell, tomorrow is AU Sunday. But, because it's one after a 'my input' one, it's a follower input AU day! Yay!

So, send me your AUs and I'll put all of em in a hat to pick one randomly. The winner is picked and posted and we'll all try and make headcanons about your AU.

Done:

Zombie Apocalypse AU :: (https://hermitcraftheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/618314308275863552/zombie-apocalypse-au-masterpost)

Pirate AU ::

Currently In The Raffle:

-Toy Story AU.

-Ever After High/Descendants/Vaguely 'nex gen priness' AU.

-Eldritch Horror AU :: Or if that's a bit too out there, a more normal Monster AU. I don't care, but in my heart, I know Cleo is some kind of eldritch horror. Zombie is far too easy.

-Eldritch Monster AU! Hermits are all Lovecraftian horrors who all individually decided that they wanted to pretend to be normal and are all trying to hide their otherworldliness. I also feel like Mumbo or X or someone as the one actually "normal" player on the server would work well. Most hermits don't know that everyone else isn't normal either, but some find out about friends maybe.

-Rabid Debate Club AU :: Random weird au idea where it's basic hs/uni au but like two of them try to start a debate club, then invite some friends just so there's enough people; cut to like two months later, it's all the hermits just fighting over whether or not pineapple should go on pizza or not lol it isn't very good i'm sorry but ya know rabid debate club AU.

-Animal/shapeshifting AU :: (Suggested Twice.) Every hermit can shapeshift into one token animal. (If it's something like "dog," they can only turn into one breed and color of dog, EXAMPLE: doc can shift into a black sable belgian malinois, but not anything else.)

-Wedding Planners AU :: Hermits work in various unrelated businesses such as a bakery, flower shop, etc., but see each other semi-often bc they're semi-often called upon to work together by another hermit's wedding planning business (obvs if you couldn't tell i know absolutely nothing abt wedding planning & businesses n shit lol but it's the /concept/ of it yannknow)

-Avatar: The Last Air Bender AU. (Suggested Thrice.)

-Fusion AU :: (Also suggested by Anon.) (Suggested Twice.) What if Hermits could fuse with each other? (Viva and Jumbo fused into MumboJumbo.)

-SCP AU :: The hermits have spooky powers and are kept locked up bc of it (or they have to keep the world safe from monsters and cursed objects!)

-RPG AU :: I feel like someone already thought of that but I am just wondering about it lately :p -🍋

-Adventure Time AU :: The hermits live in a post-apocalyptic world and the Lich (bad guy) is making everything decay. They need to gather all the gems (belt colours) to unlock the Enchiridion (a book) and have one wish each granted from Prismo (multiverse wish granting dude) before the Lich does. Only 4 elements can enter the multiverse: Slime (The Lich & Jevin), Redstone (Tango or Mumbo?), Ice (Stress), and Dirt (Grian, much to his dismay). Only the elementals can see the book. Grian's the protagonist with his sidekick Scar. He originally started collecting the belts because they were shiny but eventually decided to read the book and find out what they were for when Scar said he didn't see it. Doc, False, and Iskall are major obstacles because they don't believe the book exists.</p>

-Total Drama Island AU.

-Magical Girl AU :: Zedaph's the lead magical girl and rounds up a bunch of other magical girl hermits.

-Pokeman AU :: What are the Hermit's roles in this world? Who's the Champion, Elite Four. Are they scientists? Trainers? Do they compete in competitions, do they specialize in types? Who's everyone's starter? Has anyone encountered any legendaries?

-College AU

-High School AU

-Wizard101 AU :: I (🦊) recently got this AU idea and recently started going off somewhere with it in terms of writing, but, like, Hermitcraft meets Wizard101. Tons and tons of magical shenanigans, monster hunting, and idk what else.

-Magic AU

-My Hero Academia AU :: Headcanons can be about which hermits would have what quirks and occupations based on them.

-So I'm writing an AU where there's a second game of Demise but 5 years later. So far the first 2 hermits (Joe and Xisuma) have died, and their dead forms are cracked with an arrow in his chest (Xisuma) and cyborg (Joe). So since it's Saturday, I'm looking for what some skins would look for.

-City AU :: I mean this is really just a normal everyday AU.

-School AU.

-Terraria-Minecraft Fusion AU :: Who chooses what class? what events do each hermit prefer? how to they deal with the world infections? preferred biomes? Favourite NPCS? It has potentiallllll.

-70s/80s Teen Horror AU :: (like Stranger Things, Carreie, The Lost Boys, Halloween, etc.) -🦇

-Demi-God AU :: Sort of like percy jackson (everyone being the children of different gods from all different cultures.)

-Supernatural AU

-Marching Band AU :: Xisuma is the band major and all the show music is the remixes. I need to come up with some ideas for uniforms. Outfits and flags for the colorguard too.

-Different Eras AU :: (Suggested Twice.) All the hermits are from different time periods or eras. Like Wels is from the mediveal/dark era, Mumbo is from 1890-1920's, Iskall is from 2030, TFC is from 2020(?), Cleo is from 2130, etc!!! Like the mobs/animals became feused with humans, is when the mob players came from.

-Star Trek AU :: Like maybe they could be on one ship and each have different roles like engineers or doctors? I don’t know if this has been suggested but hope you enjoy! - 🐦

-House Mates AU :: ApartmentAU but scaled down?

-Atlantis AU :: (Could be merged with Mermaid AU???)

-Fighting Game AU :: Some influences would be Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Ultra Instinct, that kind of stuff.

-Time loop AU :: The hermits each have to deal with their own time loop.

(All those above in red are from our community's lovely Anons!)

-Superhero/superpower AU :: They each have a unique power/powerset that is in some way connected to their personality. (ie Mumbo *could* control electricity because of his love of redstone) Some Hermits may even choose to be "villains" and prank their other servermates. If you need power ideas, I've got a couple. (12u3ie)

-Daycare AU :: The recap peeps are the caretakers :P (-@tikauniverse.)

-Incredibly Long Cross Country Train Ride AU :: they all are in the same train car, telling stories of where they’re going, backstories.)

-Stuck In An Airport AU :: pretty similar to train au but they can be going diff places.

-Doctors AU :: they’re all doctors working at the same hospital.)

-Circus AU (Also suggested by an Anon.) (Suggested Twice.)

-Spy AU (Also suggested by @shadeswiftdraws.) (Suggested Twice.)

-Runaways AU :: The hermits are all teenagers who have run away from home, they all live on the streets until TFC takes them in. Head canons can be about backstories, living on the streets, or when they’re with TFC.

-Criminals and Police Officers AU

(-@lookitsspacekween)

-Dancer AU :: I mean, I already got a list kind of planned out, but headcanons for why specific styles are chosen would be appreciated! :) (usedtobelucythefallenangel)

-Broadway/Musicals Hermits AU :: The hermits are all casts of various musicals and when this newly-built theater opens up they all fight for which musical gets to play in it first (they have a riff-off maybe?) musicals mainly included are Hamilton, BMC, DEH, SiX, Beetlejuice, etc (feel free to add more!) (-@heyitsroby.)

-DnD AU (Also suggested by Anon.) (Suggested twice.)

-Mermaid AU :: In honor of the end of Mermay

-Space exploration AU :: There could be different ships, command centers, aliens.... Maybe someone could even get stranded/crash on a new planet? Who knows, could be fun.

-Paranormal/ghost hunter AU :: A couple Hermits could be the ghost hunters going to haunted locations to prove/disprove their hauntedness, others could be camera crew, owners of haunted buildings, or even the ghosts themselves.

-Camping/Vacation AU.

-Summer Cottage AU :: They all spend summers/weekends along the same shoreline and do different summer activities together. Outdoor fun and shenanigans!

-Space AU :: like star trek or similar.

-I would say evil clone au but I think that's pretty much the entire Hermitcraft tumblr right now lol. (Suggested twice.)

(-@shadeswiftdraws.)

-Magic AU :: Magic exists and all the hermits have powers. They can also summon a weapon but what that weapon is depends on the hermit. I'm thinking it'll take place in a sort-of Demise 2 in S7 with a big war. So far I've got: Grian - Cloning himself to his different personas (each has a different power). Xisuma - Making barriers, teleporting, and transforming into different mobs. Scar - Making mutant plants & boosting other hermits' attack & health. (-@datsaltyperson.)

-Demon AU :: Something enters the overworld and turns into a supernatural style-demon through Dimentional Distortion. Who gets posessed first, who goes crazy, and who actually kills it? Honestly I think that, if anything, Tango would know how to gank it, for obvious reasons. (-@fireflower-dusk.)

-High Street AU :: Everyone owns a different shop on the same street or some run a shop together (-@violets-arepurple.)

-Cat AU :: Either they're were always cats, or Hels turned everyone, including himself, into a cat, and they have to survive and overcome challenges in the Season 7 world. An example of a challenge would be Cub's a Sand Cat(the cats that always look like kittens no matter how old they are and live in deserts), and everyone's not sure if he can actually swim, so they have to find a way for him to get around without involving water. (-@scp10000.)

-How about a secret AU.. Every hermit has their big secrets and when Grian joined. He doesn't really know anything about those secrets even till season 7. Not many hermits talked to him in S6 anyway.. Mumbo was the closest to him so they would have regular chats For Iskall is mostly business related things Grian wants to know why so he set out on a quest to force the others to at least talk to him so he wouldn't be lonely. (-@babylightstudentbiscuit.)

-Hermit Family AU :: Xisuma is very busy dad but when he isnt busy the kids and younger hermits annoying the hell out of him. Grian once asked to use Xisuma's computer and crashed the whole thing trying to download illegal gamesites and get money off the internet. Mumbo and his trains run through the entire house and Xisuma trips on them daily. (-@gamerutx.)

-College AU!! But they are not students. THEY ARE THE TEACHERS (-@ivi-prism.)

Ones I planned to do anyway but Hermitblr Hivemind and all that:

Battle of The Bands AU: i believe u once mentioned a bands/ battle of the bands au... thats my jam... (Anon.)