#three years and still over 100k to write

[chimcess]

So I only have 8 chapters of Trees that Wheep left to write and an epilogue... wish I could say the same about all the editing...

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

Only two chapters left of Wobbly Hearts and then I’m DONE. 21 is pretty much finished I just got to edit it and look over it and all that, and 22 needs some tweaking but its almost done too and I’m AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA longest I’ve ever worked on anything like this and it’s almost done!!!!

[reasonsforhope]

"Three years ago, Araba Maze was reading a book to her niece on the front stoop of her Baltimore home in a perfectly ordinary fashion.

But as the pages turned, the number of local children gathered around for “stoop storytime” increased until Maze had to take notice. ‘What are they doing?’ she thought.

When she had finished reading to them, they asked her to read another. “Go home and read,” she said. “We don’t have any books,” they replied.

Little did she know, but those fateful minutes of reading time launched Maze’s career as a librarian and influencer who champions a cause of getting books into the hands of urban children with no access to libraries.

Now known as Storybook Maze, she started work at the nearest library, which wasn’t that near since her neighborhood is one of the worst ‘book deserts’ in Baltimore. Using her training, she began to curate collections of books and get them into the hands of children using three creative methods.

The first is a free book vending machine. Using her extreme popularity on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, she gathered funds to install a book vending machine for kids on the street in 2023. Through her efforts in opening pop-up bookstores, she’s distributed over 7,000 books to children.

Throughout the process, she routinely hosted more ‘stoop storytimes’ where she would read to children throughout the city, driving publicity through her social media channels.

Now, Storybook Maze is attempting her largest project yet—a book trolley. With the goal of raising $100,000 on GoFundMe, she hopes to have a colorful children’s train that will toot-toot its way through the book deserts of Baltimore, providing as many books as can fit in the carriage cars.

“This book haven on wheels aims to break down barriers and provide access to books that traditional libraries can’t reach,” Maze writes. “As the wheels of the Book Trolley turn, so do the pages of countless stories waiting to be discovered.”"

-via Good News Network, May 8, 2024 (GoFundMe is still running as of now! $30k/$100k!)

-video via StoryBookMaze, November 10, 2023

[muffinlance]

State of the Muffin Report 2023-24

Happy belated birthday to my fanfics! Little Zuko turned six back in March. <3 

Behold, my annual roundup stats, because you can get fanfic from the math teacher but you can’t get the math out of the fanfic:

[id: Screenshot of an excel spreadsheet showing my 2023-24 word counts. Important info is that over six stories, I wrote 104k words, for a monthly average of 8.6k and a daily of 284 words. End id.]

Fanfic:

After not touching the birthday fic itself since 2019, Little Zuko v the World is finally finished! Woooo.

Otherwise, a slow-but-steady sort of year on the fanfic front.

Serious Face Writing & RL:

Li’s Friends has now raised $4,206.21 USD for wildlife charity, not counting gift matches. <3

Finished the second book in my original fic series, Fox’s Tongue; The Skin Stealer’s Son officially launched yesterday! (Affiliate link, so that if you happen to buy it, Amazon pays me extra money for the privilege.)

I also created a secondary tiny human, and she is a DELIGHT. She was last seen a half hour ago crawling after her brother like a particularly aggressive tripod, Hop on Pop in one hand, and slap-screaming at it until he read it to her. My children. <3

Year Six (2024-25) Goals

Fanfic: 

Gonna finish the new case of Dark Night in Ba Sing Se. Gonna finish it so good. (This is a donation fic for the winner of my Fandom Trumps Hate charity auction and is therefore due by the end of the year, so woo artificial timelines! Ah external motivations, how I missed you from my school days.)

I’m incredibly excited for Blindsiding Badgermoles, and have that same lovely external motivation in the form of my sensitivity reader, so planning to focus on that this year.

Finish the current book of Towards the Sun. We’re currently on the final field trip, so that should be very doable. —I say, using the exact same wording for the third year in a row. Honestly this one’s less a goal than a joke to see how many years it’s actually going to take me. And hey, I’ve been making progress! We now have the delight that is Lady Jun! Third year’s the charm?

Serious Face Writing & RL: 

Get a solid start on Fox’s Tongue Book Three, Face of the Wolf King.

Get out large print editions of the first two books.

Continue raising children.

Special thanks this year goes to First and Secondborn, who blessed me with the ability to still manage over 100k in a year, which is way more than I anticipated at this time last year.

Cheers,

MuffinLance

[liveyun]

an unknown library.

⊹ liveyun reads of 2023 so far !! joon and seokjin version.

man 😮💨 i really should've made this earlier to avoid the pile-up. there are so MANY golden fics from many underrated authors here which deserve so much more. i’ve been reading for over three years and sadly, the fics compiled here would be the ones which i managed to find in the brink of time ㅠㅠ

there unfortunately have been MANY blogs who've either deactivated, or are inactive since a long time. it personally saddens me a lot, whether they're still into bangtan, whether they're still writing, whether they're all okay.. and more, but above all, i really hope that they're doing well. this is optional, obviously, but leaving a feedback to content really boosts up spirits a lot <3 whether it's an inactive blog or an active one, if it's possible, try communicating or atleast reblogging. it helps a lot :)

most of these fics are rated M, and abiding by the author's wishes, you have to be 18+ in order to read them. however, i’m not responsible for the content you consume online, hence, reader's discretion is adviced.

[ ★ ] : favorites | [ f ] : fluff [ a ] : angst | [ s ] : smut

[ ♪ ] : series

—ꗃ kim namjoon

⊹ bloom by @hobidreams ( a, f, s , 20.7k ) ★★★

⊹ cien anos by @icedmatchatae ( a , 15.1k ) ★★★

⊹ how to not train your dragon by @almostkoo ( f, 2.1k )

⊹ brightside by @lavienjin ( a, f, 8k+ )

⊹ you set my heart on fire by @hayjeon ( a, f , s , 21k ) ★

⊹ out of the woods by @angelicyoongie ( a, f, s , 26.7k) ★

⊹ forever rain by @ddaenggtan ( a, f, s , 18.8k )

⊹ moonstruck by @jeonbunnie ( f, s , a , 4.1k)

⊹ the bodyguard by @rmnamjoons ( f, s, a, 62.9k )

⊹ mr and mrs kim by @jjkeverlast ( s , action, 4.6k )

—ꗃ kim seokjin

⊹ the obsidian pearl by @angelicyoongie ( a, s , 16k ) ★★★★

⊹ 9 months to fall in love by @floralseokjin ( f, s, a, 100k+) ★♪

⊹ the light of the dead stars by @ahundredtimesover ( f, s , a, 150k ) ★♪

⊹ take you down by @lookingforluna ( f, s , 3.5k )

⊹ sunday by @here2bbtstrash ( s , 5k )

⊹ counterfeit culture by @ggukcangetit ( comedy, f, s , 29k )

⊹ to kill a king by @foxymoxynoona ( a, f , s, 70k + ) ♪

⊹ met him last night by @dollfaceksj ( s , 10k)

[turnmyheadupsidedown]

Young royals faves fest

This year I’ve been tracking my reading and I have some favorites from the 499 fics I’ve read. So why not share them now during @youngroyals-events faves fest?

There are an insane amount of amazing yr fics on ao3 and this is only some of my favorites from what I’ve read this year (sadly didn’t track last year..)

one hundred and seventeen

by thatgayprince (@prince-simon) E 15k

Wille celebrates his birthday in Vegas, courtesy of Maddie, where he runs into Lady Gaga's background dancer

Let’s start with a classic (for me). This one has a special place in my heart. I think this was one of my first fics that included some kind of gender/trans/non binary/fluid and I was so reluctant to read it because of that and now I love it.

Constellations of Love

by Spidaya (@simons-purplehoodie) M 80k

An enemies to lovers & fake dating story, with focuses on Simon’s struggle to keep his family afloat despite his father’s abuse and addiction, and Wille’s trauma and anxiety from childhood to adulthood, heavily based on the book “They Hate Each Other” by Amanda Woody

This is for those of you who want to feel when you read. I cried multiple times both times I read it this year.

forever i'm yours

by goldenwilmon (@goldenwilmon) E 22k

Simon takes a chance when he sees Wilhelm from afar at a party on a January night, sparking an instant connection between them. They spend a year falling in love.

You wanna have some good feelings? This is for you! According to my notes it’s “so fucking cute and lovely”

Little Light

by unfortunate17 (@unfortunate17) E 22k

Wilhelm never returned to Hillerska after winter break. Ten years later, Simon watches him come out on national television. Then, they reconnect.

Simon is not okay. It will hurt and you need to take care of yourself while reading this.

Is It Over Now?

by itsme_hi_imtheproblem (@iwouldnevergetintofanfic) E 75k

It's clear from the start that Crown Prince Wilhelm and Simon Eriksson, member of world-famous boyband sensation HIGH 5, don't have a future. Against all odds and under scrutiny from media, management and the royal court, they still try - and fail to preserve their fragile relationship.

It's over.

Until Simon decides to release three songs, ten years later. Three songs about Wilhelm. Times have surely changed, but so have they. Both of them struggle with the strong emotions that reappear. Are they just memories? Or are things not quite as over as they thought?

Buckle up, because this will be an intense ride! The angst level is high but it is worth it, so worth it!

In Another Life

by embracedthevoid (@embracedthevoid) E 100k

Wilhelm and Simon stumble back into each other's lives and decide to give themselves one last night together.... or so they thought it would be their last night.

Wilhelm never returned to Hillerska after winter break, and he has spent his entire life regretting it. Nearly a decade later, he runs into Simon. He had hoped he'd successfully moved on from his feelings after all these years, but clearly, he was wrong. The two spend a passionate night together, expecting it to be their last. That is until it happens a second time when the two come arrangement that suits both their needs. Friends with benefits? No, they'd have to actually be friends for that to be the case.

Complicated feelings and really good smut? Yes please!

Fools in a Fable

unfortunate17 (@unfortunate17) E 39k

Simon, a journalist at a left-wing magazine, eagerly accepts the chance of a lifetime to write a scathingly honest piece about the newly crowned King Wilhelm, who has a history shrouded in parties, drugs, and gay allegations. His plans, however, go to shit when he realizes that Wilhelm is nothing like he expected.

You wanna read almost 40k with the constant feeling of “shit will hit the fan really fucking soon”? This is for you!

The bro-tap

itsme_hi_imtheproblem (@iwouldnevergetintofanfic) M 5k

What if Wille bro-tapped Simon a little too hard after rowing practice in S1E2?

We will end this list with a short one shot which is both funny and very beautiful. I’d say this is my favorite first time-fic.

[dervampireprince]

The Historical OCs Have Designs!

I've been saying I'd get this done for a while.

I have three ASMR audio series where I initially had no plans for the characters I portray in them to be actual proper original characters. No name, no design, no attachment. And the first one I did, the 'visiting king', was initially meant to be just a one-off audio. I had no idea these series would get so popular, and the first 'visiting king' audio is still my most viewed video on Youtube currently sitting at over 100k views. And soon what was a one-off audio became a whole series, and then I made others similar to it.

These three audio series ('Visiting King, 'Villain x Hero' and 'Guilty Priest') never had character designs or names. But as people started liking them and as I kept getting more requests for them I wanted to try and design them and turn them into proper OCs. But I was scared. People loved the audios that just had photographs of my outfits in them, what if my designs were a disappointment? What if they didn't live up to people's imagined versions of them?

Back in April-May 2024 I designed the Guilty Priest and named him Father Hawthorn. I added him to the OC stickers and keychains I have for sale on my Etsy shop.

And then I just never got around to designing the other two. And it felt more nerve-wracking to try and design them, especially the Visiting King as he's my most popular series of audios in terms of Youtube views (yes even more than Love Bites).

But yesterday I thought okay, enough, I have to design them. People have been asking for over a year and I keep saying I will, I have to try.

I had a much clearer vision for the Visiting King, so I challenged myself to design the Villain first. I really struggled. I erased so many sketches. And I only kept a few of the scraped designs on the final concept art sheet. Finally I got so frustrated I stopped drawing him in the basic standing pose I use for all my ref sheets and thought I'd try and draw a more fun pose and maybe that would help. And somehow it did. And then drawing the King was much easier.

(Thank you to mellon_soup for their free-to-use pose references, you can check them out on Patreon where they have free poses (with extra behind their paid memberships) that you can use to reference or use as a base).

I shared the work-in-progresses of drawing these guys with my 18+ Patreon-only Discord members to get feedback as I went along and they were so sweet. Me and my Discord members also discussed other ideas I had about the characters, including the fact that I... have started shipping them very badly. To the point I think it's canon now (not canon in their 'x listener' audios but in their regular stories). And thank you to my Discord members for letting me write just so many drabbles about them last night and how I think they would meet and get together.

And thank you to my Discord members for joining in on writing about them and in someone's case, instantly drawing fanart of their designs. They all already had pages on my fanart museum, but now the King and Villains pages are updated and there is a page for fanart of both of them together.

So below are their reference sheets. In order of when I first came up with the characters (which ironically is the opposite order of when I designed them). Lucien (the King) and Lysander's (the Villain) sheets are entirely new, whereas Hawthorn had one before but I've finally drawn a full body of him that isn't a chibi so the sheet has been updated. These are also on my fanworks guide now.

Thank you guys so much for the support on all my audios, and especially my original character ones. It always means so much when people listen to them, even if you came only for a fandom character and then gave my original boys a shot. It's always been a dream of mine to have original characters that other's like and care about and I can share with other people, and I'm so happy to have found that space with you guys.

The next time each of these characters have new audios I hope to have thumbnail art drawn that will replace the photographs of myself. I hope that change doesn't upset or disappoint anyone.

Anyway this got long. The men are below. I hope they're all kissable.

(PS. If there is an interest in my posting my drabbles about Lucien/Lysander please let me know, I've already written sfw and n#sfw things about them and I'd love to draw them as soon as I get less scared of drawing romantic and n#sfw art. If I end up writing a lot of drabbles or anything longer I'd put it on my dervampireprince AO3 too. I have a n#sfw Leon/Dracula Castlevania fic (my first full fic I've written in 2+ years) I posted no there last week, and Alucard/Olrox NSFW drabbles and art I've been posting all week on here.)

[loneamaryllis]

Week 4 of HP Rec Fest

More recs for @hprecfest

Day 25: Holiday (national holiday)

Folie à deux by thesewarmstars (Harry/Snape, E, 7k)

It's Christmas and Severus is adamant he won't be spending it with Harry. Then Harry finds out Severus has family and gets invited to spend Christmas with them. Love all the dialogs in this fic, and the way Harry and Snape get together!

Day 26: a fic under 5k

If it Serves you by @devil-doll13 (Snape/Reader, E, 3k)

Reader is a teacher at Hogwarts during the year Snape is Headmaster. She persuades him to be merciful to the students by using her body. A hot, smutty oneshot!

Day 27: smokin’ hot fic

Hyacinth Wild by @danpuff-ao3 (Harry/Snape, E, 5k)

Harry gets dosed by sex pollent at a party and seeks out Snape. Cue a lot of hot sex. The fic has a non-linear narrative, cutting between past and present, and I find it greatly enhances the hotness of the smut. Danpuff always write such hot smut!

Day 28: a fic over 100k

Fuel to Fire, Part 1: Chord Left by @gigantomachy1916 (Female!Harry/Snape, M, 110k, WIP)

This is a fanfic of a fanfic, but you don't need to read the fanfic it's inspired from to enjoy it! We have a Slytherin Female Harry (Mary) in her third year, grappling with a crush on Snape, her responsibilities as Heir to her house, and the problems of being a teenage girl. There's no romance yet but the fic will go on to cover all seven years so it will happen. A nice fic to sink your teeth into for those hungry for long Snarriet fics!

Day 29: a fic rated E

The Afterlight by @perverse-idyll (Harry/Snape, E, 70k, WIP)

The writing in this fic is incredible, and anything I'll say won't ever do it justice. There are sentences in there that are permanently burned into my mind. Snape is delightfully intense, and his relationship with Harry is layered and deeply sexual in the best way. Also, glove kink (yum).

Day 30: fic on your TBR that you’re most excited to read

Hinterland by NoFootsprintsInSand (Hermione/Tom Riddle, Hermione/Snape, E, 53k, WIP)

The tags make me think I will greatly enjoy this fic... Tomione with time travel and mutual obsession while Snape is also there? Sounds delicious.

Day 31: Most recent fic you loved

Hauntingly by @obsidianpen (Harry/Tom Riddle, Harry/Voldemort, E, 434k)

This fic has the perfect title because it's still haunting me even though I finished it weeks ago. The writing is pitch-perfect, the characters are all wonderfully three-dimensional (special mention to Snape, who is smart and incisive and powerful and so flawed), and the plot is riveting. I loved the ending as well!

[climbthemountain2020]

2024 Fic Writer End of Year Roundup

Answer and then tag three or more creators to keep the game going!

(If you're in my answers consider yourself tagged if you'd like to play!!)

1. How many words did you publish on AO3 in 2024?

437,868! 

My goal was 100k hahaha I got a little carried away.

2. How many fics did you complete this year?

14 fully completed and posted!

3. How many in progress or ongoing fics did you start this year?

Woof. Lol, one actively in progress fic of just my own, one surprise sequel for January that's done but not posted, one timeloop that’s still going strong, and countless WIPs because I have no self control. Plus three books in various states of completion.

4. What was your favorite thing you wrote?

I think Hope of Spring is closest to my heart because it was my very first. I kind of picked up writing in January for the first time since high school, and having it be somewhere where people could actually see it for the first time and, more than that, liked it, was so insane to me. Sentimentally, that would be my favorite. 

But I think I had the most fun with Flame of Autumn and Your Eyes Whisper Have We Met!

5. What piece was your most experimental or different from your usual style?

Azris! I have never ever written mlm before, and I took it on as an alt in the gift exchange (If Only In My Dreams). I’ve read SO much Azris, but it was my first time writing it and I had such a blast.

6. Did any fics surprise you - either while writing or their reception?

Absolutely Your Eyes Whisper Have We Met. I was so intimidated to start my little feysand one shot because the big feysand writers were who tempted me into the fandom so hard in late 2023. I felt like there was no way I could do it justice, then the “one shot” became 150k lol

7. Do you have a fic you wrote and loved that went under the radar? (This is your sign to reblog/repost it!)

For sure my Helion x Lady of Autumn fic Love You Like Oxygen. I LOVED writing that fic, I just think it’s in a real niche area, but I’m always so pleased when people find it and like it!

8. Who is an artist that inspired you?

This list is endless

@velidewrites @jadedbugart @witchlingsandwyverns @laxibbeb and absolutely a million more. I have such awe for the artists in this fandom--everyone blows me away!

And in terms of moodboards and other creative joys, @octobers-veryown has a talent for it that I cannot comprehend. Truly--every thing is a masterpiece. Did you see her gift exchange bookmarks??

9. Who is an author that inspired you?

I could not possibly name every one haha.

Before actively joining the fandom, I was busy fangirling over @popjunkie42 @the-lonelybarricade @rosanna-writer @separatist-apologist @thesistersarcheron and many others.

Once I joined, that group became infinitely larger! I will read anything by @witch-and-her-witcher @wilde-knight @missfckingfortune @beesays @cauldronblssd @iftheshoef1tz @chunkypossum @secret-third-thing @acourtofladydeath @tunaababee @belabellissima @shardminds @damedechance @foundress0fnothing

and a trillion others. I will say until my dying breath that I think this fandom has some of the most absolutely insanely talented writers in the world.

Special shoutout to @ablogofsapphicpanic for her brave take on my favorite piece of fiction this year.

10. Who is a new author you discovered?

Okay literally everyone though since I was brand new. I am SO inspired by the talent I see on the daily in the fandom. It’s insane to me what so many of you can do.

11. Did you do any collaborations? How did it start?

Timeloop with the @feysand-hivemindhivemind has been a real joy! We’ve had so much fun running with our crazy ideas this year (shout out to @gaeleria) 

12. What accomplishments are you proudest of?

Everything haha. I was just a new tumblr baby in January. I’ve been reading on Ao3 since middle school, but this was the first year I made my own account to write (I was bookmarking in a spreadsheet in Excel SOS)

My only goal for this year was to write a fic, aim for 100k, and publish it online. 

Art wasn’t even on the table in January, and neither were all the incredible friendships I’ve made here. Frankly, that has been the most important part of all this!

13. What did you learn about writing or creating this year?

That while it IS a wonderful way to improve your craft or should also always be a way to have FUN. I've improved so much this year, but more importantly, I have had such a blast and made so many lifelong friends. That's been the real joy from writing this year.

14. Any advice you’d like to share with new or aspiring writers?

A few things!! First, just jump in!

So much of the fun, experience, and worshipping of writing is just in getting the thoughts on paper. I'm a big outlined, but they're SLOPPY in that first draft. I get an idea and I just brain dump the absolute fuck out of it in a Google doc. There's not a chronological order, not any real storyline yet, just all the things as they come to me so I don't forget them. Having that word vomit step is really vital for me to get everything down. 

Of course I go back later and fix it all up, but oftentimes just getting it on paper is what I need to get going, even if it's ugly on that first draft. 

The same applies to when I get stuck in my writing. Sometimes I get in a space where it feels like nothing is working. Because I hate myself, I'm not one to step away for a bit. Instead I just wrote nonsense until things start taking shape– I don't worry about grammar or anything like that until later. Something about returning to that info dump helps me break out of the funk!

Last but not least, don't worry about the interpretations of others. There are ALWAYS going to be people who don't see the characters the way you do. That's the beauty and joy of reading! But that shouldn't stop you from writing what inspires you! You like a soft Eris? A mean Eris? Do it! You think Azriel is secretly a softie or a huge dick? You want to write the Tamlin healing arc you wish to see in the world? YOU SHOULD. Write what you feel and who cares if there are people who don't like it? 

So clearly my best advice is just to write it, lol. As with all my fics, I could have been more concise and chose not to be 🤣

15. What are your creative goals for 2025?

I really want to focus on not doing a million long projects at once 😅 it won't happen, but it'll be a nice dream. 

Overall, I think I just hit the scene very over excited this year and I burned myself out a bit at the end trying to do everything. I think I gotta set myself some boundaries for how much I'm wanting to do versus how much is a healthy and reasonable amount 😅

I'd also love to experiment with some new pairings and styles too!

[kay-jay-self-shipping]

Words of Wisdom For Fellow Writers

I've been writing stories for thirteen years, mainly fanfiction, but that's as valid and writing a full length novel, given how many words my main story alone has. (over 300k words.) And I wanted to pause to give some advice to new writers, or even writers that have been in a bit of a funk lately.

I read stories as much as I write them, but haven't done so in a while, because it feels like the amount of stories for my favourite characters has dropped significantly as the age of media changes. Hopefully, this little act of motivational speaking will remedy that a little.

Write what you want, no matter how cheesy it might seem. Yes, make your characters well-rounded and ensure they're fleshed out and interesting, but don't be afraid to experiment and come up with new concepts that YOU find interesting! Is that storyline overdone? Who cares, if you would read it, write it, because you're guaranteed to find at least one other person who would read it too!

Don't be afraid of making mistakes! My stories can range from 10k words to 100k words and even further, do you think every word is perfect? One story I've been writing for eight years ended up needing a total rewrite at one point due to some spelling errors and then a software error that caused it to get corrupted. Hell, even now, I'm still going back and fixing mistakes that I made recently! If I stopped writing because of each mistake, my Naruto story wouldn't be nearly 60 chapters long! Try to curb your need for the perfect sentence until you start proof-reading, because you won't get anywhere if you keep obsessing over that one phrase that doesn't sound right.

Imagine your story as a movie in your mind. I grew up watching anime and reading manga, so I find it easier to write if I imagine the scenes happening like a scene from a show in my head. Put in the detail you want, but don't repeat yourself, (unless its a flashback.) Actions speak louder than words, but since words are our tools, explain the actions.

Emotion makes for a compelling scene. I use music, especially sad music to help me put emotion into my writing, because if I can feel it, the audience can feel it. There are so many emotional, happy and angry scenes in my stories that were pushed on by music, and I am not ashamed to admit it. Don't be afraid to make a playlist of music you know will inspire and make you feel, because the best storytelling comes from the heart.

If a chapter seems too long, don't be afraid to split it into more chapters. While my chapters can be 10k to 16k words unintentionally when I know a chapter pushes even beyond that, I split it into two or sometimes three chapters to ensure it doesn't drag out for far too long. If I had kept up my old chapter-writing style, I'd only be 20 chapters into my Naruto story, rather than 60.

Make a habit of writing at least one day a week, and set yourself a word count limit to help motivate you! I learned this one recently, but I managed to push out a chapter I was struggling to finish within a month thanks to my goal of writing 2000 words every time I put my fingers to the keys. I also have at least three scheduled writing days a week to make sure I get work done and don't neglect my love for writing or my desire to make an original series I want to get published.

Don't punish yourself for not writing. I admit, this is something I'm still trying to do, and it is hard. But fanfictions are supposed to be a hobby, and if you have to suffer to make it work, then obviously something is wrong and you need some time to rest. Don't give up, of course, but know your limits and take time to write something else if the mood fancies you. Hell, I did this and I came back to my other stories refreshed and ready to spell out a storm on paper!

There's probably more, but this is long enough, so I'll finish by stating the most IMPORTANT tip for any writer, be it original or fanfiction centered...

Learn the difference between criticism and cruelty. If someone comes onto your story and says "You suck and your story sucks," then that's cruelty. But, if someone comes up and says "I really love this story, but the characters seem a little off here, don't you think there should be more emotion, or maybe a change of heart?" That right there, is criticism, and it is VITAL that you learn the difference. Some cruelty can come off as criticism, so try to go through each one with a fine toothed comb to make sure that you understand and desensitize yourself to the content. Criticism is never meant to hurt you, remember that and make sure you take each word with grace. Delete hate though, no one has time for that, lol.

And this is just a final word. Cherish your readers, make sure they know how much their words make your day, because if you start a project, they might be the reason you don't give up. For all my readers, just know that I thrive when you talk to me, because it makes every struggle worth it if you smile by the end of my books!

Thanks for reading... and writers? Good luck on your projects, you're amazing and as a reader, I love it when you post new content!

(And just to prove how much you need to go easier on yourself with errors, I'm not proof reading this. My OCD hates me, but who cares! I'm proving a point!)

[fi-niamh]

Ellipsus vs Google Docs

(from someone who's been using Ellipsus for 3 months)

I think I've finally been using ellipsus long enough to be able to give it a proper comparison against Google Docs, which I've using for almost ten years

Is ellipsus still in open beta? yes. will this review be out of date in a couple of weeks? probably.

Do I still recommend it to literally anyone? yes absolutely

For those unfamiliar, ellipsus is a website that's (from what I've seen) being marketed as a google docs competitor specifically for writers. it's really good, I really enjoy it, but it does have some draw backs

I haven't tried any of the collaborative feature, so I won't be talking about them here, but here's the TLDR:

Ellipsus is great overall, it doesn't crash on you randomly like Google Docs tends to, it has built in dark mode, the drafts feature is an absolute godsend, and Ellipsus explicitly states that they won't feed anyone's work in AI training. The two biggest downsides is that there is currently no custom dictionary option, nor is there offline support. But both of these options are planned and in development, respectively

I'm going to go into a bit more detail here with some pros and cons that I've found. Please note that this is not a guide on how to use Ellipsus, just a general pros and cons list that I've created over the past few months

Pros

Built in dark mode

I cannot stress enough that this was the thing that made me switch over to Ellipsus in the first place. The fact that Google Docs still doesn't have native dark mode on browser was starting to drive me insane, so once I learnt that Ellipsus supported it, I made an account immediately. And it's not the bad dark mode where all the colours are inverted; it's proper dark mode with greys and a nice off white text to match. And there's also light mode for those of you who prefer burning your retinas off /s

Drafts

The drafts option basically makes a copy of what you've written and gives you an option to play around with your writing without changing original document. This was basically what I was doing with Google Docs, but instead of trying to balance three separate documents and inevitably confusing myself, it's all in one spot on the side bar. Plus, there's an option to compare changes so if you're like me an write in the draft instead of the main document by accident, you can see the exact place you went wrong

No AI Training

Ellipsus is very clear that they will not share any of our writing data with AI which is really nice and something I'm certain Google will never guarantee.

Ellipsus will explain it better than I ever could so if you're interested, you can read their stance of generative AI

Folders!!!

Ellipsus has folders!!! Folders!!!

Because I refuse to use Google Drive to organise things, my Google Docs home screen was either filled with a million documents (one for each chapter) or one very, very large doc with some 100k words on it. It did not load. I crashed my browser on more than one occasion.

This is not an issue with Ellipsus because they have folders.

It doesn't crash

A constant issue I've with Google Docs is that once a doc hit 20k words, I would get phantom lines running across my screen, the screen would tear when scrolling, and occasionally my browser would crash entirely. This isn't an issue I've encountered with Ellipsus.

Now, I haven't tested just how big of a document Ellipsus can handle but I've written up to 15k words in one document and didn't run into any issues other than scrolling was occasionally a bit unresponsive

A dedicated AO3 export button

A big problem I know a lot of people have is that Google Docs formatting does not carry over to AO3 very well so if you add italics for example, copying and pasting from Google Docs to AO3 will result in random spacing. Example:

"This is how it should look!"

" This is how it ends up looking !"

Note the spaces between the punctuation and the words. It gets really annoying having to go back and fix it all, but it's not an issue with Ellipsus because they export directly into ao3 friendly HTML

Easily accessible word count

This one is very minor, but I love that the word count is just hovering at the top of the screen. The shortcut to access it on Google Docs was annoying, so not having to bother with that is really nice

Cons

No Custom Dictionary

I imagine this one is a deal breaker for a lot of people, but you don't have an option to add words to your own custom dictionary. This feature is planned, and has been since May 2024, so I imagine that there's a lot of backend stuff that makes this feature pretty complicated. Still, it is pretty annoying especially when writing fiction. For the time being, I've just turned off the spell check and used a third party grammar and spell checker that allows custom dictionaries.

No Offline Support

Unlike Google Docs, Ellipsus has no offline support which means that nothing you write is saved to your computer. This was a pretty big one for me, so I've started manually saving everything I've written into a folder on my laptop and uploaded it to a cloud service just in case something happens to the Ellipsus servers.

This is a bit of a pain, but this feature is under development so I imagine I won't have to do this for much longer

The website can be slow to load

It's hard to tell if this is because of my terrible Australian internet, Ellipsus servers, my million folders, or a mix of all three, but occasionally the website does take a bit to load. It's not too bad, and it's like lightning compared to how long Google Docs can take to load sometimes, but it's something to be aware of if you're like me and suffering from already slow internet

Formatting

This one is mostly just nitpicky, but it put me off at first so I imagine it might do the same for someone else.

The formatting is constantly being improved, but there are some things that aren't great.

The font options aren't super extensive, and I really only like one of them (which is entirely subjective, I know), and there's no option to set a default one. At the moment, you can't embed images, add page numbers, or add links to page breaks further down in the document. These features are planned, but it might be a while before they're added.

I know that formatting is important to a lot of people, and by no means is ellipsus formatting bad, it just might not be right for you. It didn't impact me too much because I was able to readjust my workflow so that I didn't need page numbers, but others might not want to do that

Final Thoughts

Ellipsus is really good for what I use it for, and I don't think I'll be switching back to Google Docs for writing any time soon. I might give another update on my thoughts in the following months when I'm back at uni and need to use Docs for uni work, but from what I can tell so far Ellipsus is the superior writing app

It's definitely missing some key features, but it's still in open beta so that can only be expected

New features are being added, just in the last few months some new text colours were added (I think, maybe I just never noticed them) but they didn't impact me as much as I imagine they impacted others. The biggest thing I'm looking forward to is offline support but my software engineer brother tells me that requires a lot of work so best of luck to all the ellipsus devs

[starryeyedjanai]

🥤+ 🪐

thanks for the ask! 🥰🥰🥰

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love there are so, so, so many authors i love and admire and the list would be way too long, so i am just going to name a few fics i recently read and loved:

baby what's the scene? by @carbonbased000 incredible, showstopping, so hot. had to stop reading several times and collect myself

Mr. Harrington, You're Trying to Seduce Me by @3minsover just so unbelievably hot. my note in my spreadsheet for this fic is "scorchingly hot"

reach out, touch faith by @occasionaloverboy i love this so much. the note for this one in my spreadsheet is "he's got the gendah and the panties to match"

Nature Offers a Violence by @cheshiredogao3 this was SO good. i finished this a few days ago and i am still turning this fic over in my mind

Wrap Me Around Your Finger by @steddielations this is so, so good. incredibly hot and tender and actually made me tear up at one point

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

the farmer's market is opening back up next weekend and my bestie and i will get to go and walk around and have picnics in the park again🩷

my most listened to artist on spotify last year, xana, is coming to my city in june and i have tickets and i am extremely excited. i have not been to a concert since pre-lockdown and i am quite literally vibrating with excitement

i've been having so much fun writing lately. yesterday i hit 100k words written so far this year!

ask me things!

[ike9306]

max you're literally so amazing but i have no clue what tf you're talking about half the time i need it explained to me like im five (/hj)

Hehehehehehe I'm glad you asked :3

So ! The TCFAD series first. You already know that one, it's the Parting Gift series I'm currently writing. The rest of the fics are coming. I'm just slow to write.

But yeah, kinda works for a character study cus it very much explores Jon's psyche after his kidnapping and his Circus trauma, with the added bonus of bringing Tim into the mix and being a sorta fix it (lie).

And that fits the 100k words well. Fic one was 12.5k words. Fic two is well on its way to be at least 20-30k, and fic 3 will be at least 20k, so... that's already a lot. And there's still the maybe fic 4 that I need to decide if I can make it viable. If I do, it'll likely be a 50k words one so. Def checks out there, lol.

The TMIAATTTMG AU is the JonGerry Friendship one I talked about on Discord a while ago ! The one I made a Jom design for over here.

The narrative is non-linear, exploring both the Assistants in 2015, discovering what the hell is going on, and Jon and Gerry in 2011 as Jon's promotion as Archival Assistant for Gertrude proves to be. Something for sure.

Definitely going to be a very long fic, though I'm not sure about the word count yet. And very much character study in the divergence.

Finally, the Nightfields Wake AU ! Full name of this baby is Somewhere Else : Nightfields Wake.

In this, we follow 15 years old ADHD child Jonathan Sims as he and his adopted siblings prove that their calm little town is, in fact, a cover-up for multiple cults. And their adoptive dad is the leader of one. And, apparently, he wanted to sacrifice three of them to make Jon into his messiah. What a mess.

A very comedic and absurd tone for that one, although there is some good angst at some point. The subtext is important, though. Also a long AU, we cover the whole series in this setting, so strap on for a wild one.

I can share snips of all three AUs if you want btw. Just Ask (preferably on the other account though cuz this one isn't much for TMA stuff).

Anyway, that's all for now :)

You can choose to kick my ass so I write one of them (not all three at once, though cuz I already have the AA crossover and my Project for school lol)

[enemyanemonee]

Chris is reaped but Eddie is over the age limit so he can't volunteer for him. Buck is from another district but is moved by Eddie's attempt to save Chris on tv, feels like he has nothing waiting for him - his parents don't care, maddie is gone with doug - so he decides to protect Chris in the games (i have this very specific mental picture of Buck picking up Chris as soon as the canon goes off and running - picture the scene where he runs from the tsunami with Chris). They survive until there's only one other person left, Buck kills that person but not before a knife hits Chris in the chest like Rue. Buck defies the capitol by saying that he will kill himself if they don't save Chris immediately. They both survive. Buck and Eddie meet after and become best friends and fall in love (slow burn). In the quarter quell, both Eddie and Buck go back into the arena. The rest of the team is either a previous winner or part of the resistance.

Buck wins the games alone and only meets Eddie after. Eddie is a previous winner, he volunteered for Chris two years ago and is very famous bc of that. Eddie and the rest of the team are secretly part of the resistance and when Buck starts his new life being paraded around as a victor he's slowly introduced to the resistance while also being used as a pawn in the Capitol's games.

A more traditional version: Eddie is Peeta (Shannon is Katniss?) and Buck is Finnick (in the sense that he's the Capitol's pretty boy that is "rented" to whoever the president wants). Eddie and Shannon win the games together using the berries trick, and then have to prove they're in love but actually their relationship is very complicated and becomes even worse after the games. Buck falls for Eddie pretty quick but Eddie is still in in his mess with Shannon. They all end up in the arena for the quarter quell but Shannon dies (or not?). If Shannon dies, Eddie vows to destroy President Snow for her, becomes the mockingbird in her place.

I like all three of these options and I can't decide which one to go with. All of them would be buddie endgame, of course. It would be interesting, if I wrote them like the 100K word behemoth they are just begging to be, to include Buck/Tommy as Buck's bi awakening and other plotlines from the show. I just don't wanna write something that is literally the plot of the books (Eddie and Buck as Katniss and Peeta)

[foster-the-world]

Special Ed = Blah

Meeting with the Special Ed lawyer was not great. I never like any of the Special Ed people. I mean I love the special ed teachers but not the advocates/lawyers/people who help you work the system. I think it's a mix of a couple of things 1. I'm super sensitive about baby boy 2. Its never fun to have someone read a couple of reports about your kid and think they have everything figured out and 3. They aren't particularly likable. They all seem very full of themselves. None of them bother my husband but he's not bothered by anything and he's not the one doing all of the prior work. He just shows up for the meeting.

She said we have a 90% chance of winning a lawsuit. Which is good odds but if we don't win we are on the hook for the $100K (or more) bill. Yikes. She managed to say both that he might be so poorly behaved that the special ed schools might not take him and at the same time the DOE might not pay because he could "mature over the summer and do great in a Kindergarten class of 25 kids." Despite all of his previous history saying otherwise. I would love if that would happen but we've been waiting for it for 4.5 years without luck. On the unlikeable part she also managed to criticize baby boy's birth parents. I hate when random people (and its always random people) say rude things about his parents. Not your business. I don't know more than the surface level details of their life so you certainly don't. She also asked us what color our other children are and talked about how much it would help him to have a sister who is black. Of course, we agree but I wasn't looking for opinions on my families composition, thank you very much. Then went on and on about how he needs swim lessons. Yes, we know hyper kids like to swim. That's not my concern right now. She clearly had not read everything. Despite me saying on three different occasions his IEP and past due process hearing was under his old name she asked "who is his "previous name". why did you send me their documents?" I was kind of okay with paying the crazy price of $550 because I thought she would at least read all of his documents.

She did give some next steps. She's not wrong that the Special Ed schools may not take him. Who wants a high maintenance kid = nobody. The Neuro report has to make him sound really high needs while at the same time the Special Ed schools need to think he's manageable. No good options.

We need his teacher to write that he requires a private school. Which she said to us orally but no idea if a DOE employee will go on record to say the same thing. I think she will but not sure her boss will allow it.

I'm really hoping I can not think about this stuff over Christmas break. I just want to enjoy my kids.

I was still feeling a little bad yesterday so I took a day off to hang out with baby boy. We had a nice day. Lots of kinetic sand and playdoh. I worked on my puzzle next to him. He was his hilarious self. It was a nice day.

[voxofthevoid]

Writing Log: November 2024

I spent the month pecking away at my current sukuita+goyuu WIP, and I'd say I've put a dent in it: I've passed the halfway mark, and the fic is well over 100k now. However, I still have a good ten chapters left to write, and it's not even the final arc yet, so I have a feeling this fic will follow me into 2025.

the mouth of the wolf, the eyes of the lamb [JJK, sukuita and goyuu; Yuuji moves into a small isolated town after his grandpa’s death and acquires a demon fixated on him as well as a demon hunter more interested in him than in the demon]: 47,589

Total: 47,589

No. of writing days: 22

Total JJK word count: 1,160,975

...I wonder if I'll cross 1.2 million this month. Only needs 40k. "Only."

On the plot bunny front, I removed the following idea:

Yuuji semi-accidentally seduces Higuruma after their fight in the Culling Games, and during the one-month time skip after Gojou’s unsealed, he manages to semi-accidentally romance both men to the point of inevitable heartache.

My April anniversary fic for this idea has the hiita part I was excited about, and the way canon ended makes my plans for the rest of this fic fall flat. I have retained an interest in hiita, just a different flavor of it, but I've reworked that into a hole mission idea I'll get to...someday, maybe.

Three more ideas have been added:

Gojou/Sukuna/Yuuji: Yuuji and Sukuna don’t set out to share their lovers; they don’t even like it. It keeps happening anyway. Gojou’s not complaining.

Gojou/Yuuji and Tōji/Yuuji: Canon-divergence genderbent AU where a series of events leave fem!Megumi with fem!Gojou and fem!Tōji as her divorced parents, and fem!Yuuji ends up in both of their beds sooner than later.

Adult!Gojou/teen!Gojou/Yuuji: Soon after Suguru’s defection, seventeen-year-old Satoru time travels over a decade into the future, where he takes a dim view of his older self and the boy who claims to love him.

So the total is now 115. Sigh.