#well it is about one specifically but i’m blocked on five wips at the moment so none are really working | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hello-yue-here · 4 years ago

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thank you @chiptrillino for tagging me in a wip game!

not quite sure what the rules are but based off of your AMAZING POST OF ART WIPS (check it out here yall chip is so talented) ive decided to just share some parts of my writing wips that i rlly like because i cannot draw whatsoever lmao

enjoy some lil snippets hehe

from heart don't stand a chance:

"Zuko couldn’t get over her eyes. She was looking past the camera towards the man who took it. Zuko could see clear as day the love she held for Sokka in her gaze.

It was a perfect moment that Sokka had captured. No wonder held it with him at all times. If someone had looked at Zuko like that, he’d never want to see anything again.

As he took in the photograph, Sokka sat next to him in silence. His hand was clutching the ring around his neck again in his fist, pressing it close to his mouth as he peered over Zuko’s shoulder to look. Zuko turned to him to compliment the picture and saw a sad fondness lingering in his eyes."

this is a scene i wrote a while ago thats gonna appear in a much later chapter. but yeah. more yue angst for you guys im so sorry.

from i love you (and that's all i really know):

"Mister Sokka," a little voice wishpered in his ear as he felt tiny pokes on his cheek, "Wake up Mister Sokka."

"Good morning to you too Izumi," Sokka responded wearily as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked towards the little girl who was standing on her tippy toes to see over the edge of the bed and poke his face until he rose.

She smiled at him once she realized he was awake.

"Can we have pancakes?" She asked shyly, hiding her mouth just below the edge of the bed as she looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

That look was going to be dangerous for him later on, he could aready tell.

"Sure thing, Izumi, just let me sleep for five more minutes, mkay?" He asked as he shut his eyes again. He was exhausted from last nights events, and the sun had barely risen. How did Zuko do this?"

this is a scene from the next chapter of this fic. so much sokka and izumi bonding you guys are gonna explode hehehe.

from cherry (the mailee fic i wont shut up about that is now a whopping 19 pages):

"Mai never had to guess with Ty Lee. She always knew when Ty Lee was happy about something because she would use an obnoxious amount of exclamation points. She would send gifs of people or cartoons making outlandish expressions whenever she wanted to react to Mai’s text with a specific facial expression. Sometimes Ty Lee would even send voice memos whenever her thoughts became too long, or she got too excited about a story that her fingers couldn’t type as fast as she could speak."

hehe i love mailee.

from yours (the mailee sorority fic that i promise i did not forget about):

"Mai lifted her head off the pillow again and met Zuko’s eyes. She studied his impassive expression, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. He did seem like he missed Mai and Azula, so maybe he did really just want to catch up with them.

But Mai wasn’t going to give up a golden opportunity like this.

“Tell us everything about the boy toy as well and you’ve got yourself a deal,” Mai said.

Zuko rolled his eyes and sighed, “Ugh, fine. And his name is Sokka by the way.”

“Nuance. You also have to wake up Azula.”

“No chance in hell,” Zuko scoffed, “You’re the roommate and her fellow ‘pong princess,’ wake-up duty is all yours.”

“If she murders me, it’s your fault. She’s a bitch when she’s hungover.”

“Whatever you say, Mai,” Zuko grinned before returning back to his phone."

i have decided that zuko is a little shit for this fic and no one can stop me.

from Where'd All the Time Go? (the yuekka fic that i have severe writers block with that i also promis i have not forgotten about):

"“Sokka I really think you need to take a moment and-”

“I am fine Aang, I don’t have time for a feelings talk right now. Right now I need to find the fucking chief of this damn place.” His words came out harsher than he meant, but he didn’t have the time to dwell on that.

Before Sokka could run off again to continue his search, a hand grabbed his arm. One of Arnook’s advisors, Malina, had started dragging him towards the podium.

“Do you not realize how late you are for this Sokka? The ceremony was supposed to begin with your speech nearly an hour ago-” she hissed at him as she pulled him along through the crowd.

“Malina I’m sorry but I really need to speak with Arnook it is urgent-”

“This damn speech of yours is what’s urgent right now Sokka, you can speak with Arnook later but the guests are getting antsy so you need to give your speech right. Now.”

“But-”

“Now.”

Maline shoved Sokka towards the podium and suddenly all eyes were on him. Every guest in attendance had their focus solely on Sokka."

homeboy is stressed in this scene. things are slowly going to shit in this chapter. i promise i will update this before the end of the year. i swear. im so sorry.

from a currently untitled jetko/sukka boiling rock fic:

"“Oh good, you survived after all,” She said in a mocking tone.

Jet didn’t answer. He knew anything he said would be used against him. He didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know what was happening. But he would be damned if he showed that weakness in front of the fire nation.

“I was told you were more talkative than this,” the girl mused. There was something familiar about her, “my informants were very detailed when discussing your little teashop romance.”

I knew it. Jet snarled in his mind, That bastard betrayed me."

i want this fic to be a little darker but idk how good i am at writing darker fics because i love fluff and humor too much. this could be good angst practice for me.

from a toph and sokka fic that i wrote a while back to help me cope w some shit that i dont know if ill ever post:

"“Sokka? Are you still there?” Toph asked, the slightest hint of concern began to slip into their voice

“Tell me a story,” he was trembling. Despite all of his efforts to sound calm, he knew his voice came out trembling and scratchy and pathetic-

“Is everything okay? You don’t sound too hot,” Toph said through the phone.

Breathe, Sokka, breathe. You don’t want them to be worried, you just need to calm down.

“Please, Toph, I just,” he said through shaky breaths that weren’t nearly deep enough for him to be getting enough oxygen, “I just need a distraction. I just need to hear your voice okay?”"

nonbinary toph anyone?

from a 10 things i hate about you kataang and zukka au:

"“What? Something on my face?” the guy asked deadpanned. He rubbed at his scar as if he were wiping off a smudge of mustard, and Aang’s face went pale.

“Stop scaring the sophomores Zuko, this one’s new. He won’t get your… humor… just yet,” Ms. Wu said as she waved Aang off again.

“I’m hurt that you’d imply I’m not funny, Wu. I’m hilarious,” the senior, Zuko, said as he walked past Aang.

Aang let out a sigh of relief knowing that this Zuko guy didn’t seem all that offended by his awkwardness, and darted out of the room."

zuko is a little shit part 2. the amount of sarcasm i have dripping off of heath ledger zuko is glorious. let zuko be a little shit. i havent added to this in months but when i finish some of my other wips i cant wait to get back to this.

i have more wips and drafts saved but none of them have anything juicy or funny or interesting yet because all of them are like less than three pages so far

but yeah, heres a good chunk of sneaky peakys from my wips!

I hope you liked them!

anyone who wants to do this can totally go for it. imma tag @ambykinns @lumities and @flowers-inthepieshop (only if you all want too!!) because this was fun :)

#liv talks about writing #liv talks ab fanfic #liv wips #liv fics #i love sharing my writing #especially when i have a bit of a block going on with well.... every fic #maybe this will give me inspiration!!!#i love sharing my writing im proud of these little snippets and i hope you all likes them as well :)#atla #avatar: the last airbender

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fountainpenguin · 3 years ago

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It’s an Update

Hello, Riddle here! I know I’ve been pretty quiet on Tumblr lately. Here’s an update on my situation:

I will definitely post more fanfic updates soon. I’ve picked at drafts, but haven’t posted anything lately. Here are the reasons why:

I got a new IRL job. It’s a good fit for me, but I have less free time than I used to, of course. It’s a job that involves writing lots of articles on a variety of topics, and I enjoy how every day is a little different

Most of my free time for the last year has gone towards my mod work at the Creature-Crossing ARPG, and to my personal CC writing. I’ve been working on new activities over there (my recent favorite being our seasonal familiar shows... I won first place in the summer show!) and I have a lot of plot plans that are coming together now. If you ever want to see my original characters and read my CC writing, you can find my character directory HERE and my Table of Contents HERE.

Once November 1st hits, I won’t be preparing for the release of any more CC activities or events. All future activity or event releases will be overseen by the other mods, and I’ll simply be someone they can ask for extra help if needed. This is a big change for a mod who spent the last 12 months working on new releases, and will give me back some of the free time my IRL job will eat

The Creature-Crossing admin (my boss) greenlit my request to bring an assistant on the mod team who will specifically help me with a lot of my behind-the-scenes work, such as data entry and organization. I’ve never had another mod who specifically helps me with the back end duties before, so that will be awesome. I will need to spend some time training them, but once they are official, that will take some of my workload off and allow me more free time for this blog and personal writing time.

===

Fanfic updates you can expect to see soon:

- Reedfilter Rules

- Frayed Knots

- Origin of the Pixies

- Debut of Factor It In, my Kid Math-centric “WordGirl” fanfic (Subtitled “Tales of a third-grade superhero in training”)... Yes I am still in love with this idiot boy, expect lots of doodle pages soon

- The 130 Prompts project is on a slow-burn writing schedule... I’ll write for it when I want to, but I mostly want to focus on Origin and Knots this year.

Further info below the cut. There is more info about non-Fairly OddParents ‘fics in here too (under “non-FOP fanfics”), so if you’re looking forward to Mario World or “WordGirl” ‘fics from me, give this a click so you know what’s coming!

So, what does this update mean for your fanfics?

They’ll be active again soon! I’ve been picking at them behind the scenes, trying to build up a buffer. In an ideal world, I would love to release a new chapter for SOMETHING every Friday. I doubt this will be possible, but it’s something I would love to work towards in the future. Realistically, you can probably expect some kind of fanfic update once every two Fridays (two updates per month).

There might be some Fridays where posting an update is not possible. Instead, I’ll make a post about what progress I made instead. In the past, I often overworked myself to get a chapter out in time for my old deadline. I will not be doing that anymore, but will instead hold myself to a goal of “Make progress on something every week.”

In the best ideal world, I would love to post one FOP fanfic update per week and one non-FOP fanfic update per week. This is not likely to happen for a long, long time, but that would be the dream.

Here are the things I most likely worked on if there is no fanfic update:

- A fanfic chapter draft that needs more time

- A sideblog profile

- A Toyhouse profile for personal characters

- IRL work or mod work may have kept me busy this week

- Creature-Crossing writing... I will try to prioritize my fanfics more, but my CC writing is still important to me and I will be working on it in a lot of my free time too. At the moment, I have a hard deadline of December 14th that I need to meet if I want to release huge plot drama on the day that it happens in canon. I’ve been building up to this for a long time, so I’m really excited about that.

I currently have summer or autumn 2022 planned as the “finale” for the majority of my plot to explode. I will be hosting a member-run event in Creature-Crossing that will last for two months, so a lot of my time from January until the event’s release will be spent doing event prep. Once the event ends, my story content will mostly be a “return to slice of life.” Stories will be more casual one-offs as characters grow, live their lives, and start their own families. Hitting seasonal deadlines for plot will no longer be so important. I’ll be giving Creature-Crossing work less attention after that, and much more attention to my fanfics.

- I may not have a fanfic chapter out each week, but I WILL post a note every Friday to let you know what I have been doing with my time. You’ll see me around. Feel free to send Asks and talk!

===

What non-FOP fanfics would you like to work on?

For literal years, I’ve been claiming I want to post Mario World fanfics. This is still something I want to do. I tag Mario World posts as “mushrooms and more.” I’ve already done a lot of worldbuilding, I have thousands of words of content written for this fandom... I just haven’t posted any of it. I hope to do this soon.

- “WordGirl” fanfics are prioritized over Mario World fanfics. After I finish my first “WordGirl” multi-chapter, I will probably be ready to post my Mario World ‘fics. I may possibly post some Mario World one-shots in between other fanfic updates. Might take another year or more before I touch Mario stuff unless there’s high interest in seeing it sooner?

I also really want to write some WordGirl ‘fics and get more involved with the fandom community. I’ve been building headcanons and lore for this show ever since I was a kid, and I have multiple ‘fics for this fandom that I want to write.

- “AlgoRhythm” is a ‘fic I have already posted on FFN and AO3, about WordGirl introducing Kid Math to the villains in town

- 28 Cities is a ‘fic I started about Rhyme and Reason before they arrived in Fair City. I put it on hiatus since it didn’t seem like anyone was interested, but I’m willing to post more for it if there is interest in it now that years have passed and I’ve gotten more followers who like WordGirl. I have a lot of worldbuilding and plot I never shared for it

- Factor It In is a ‘fic I’ve been working for a while that parallels the official show from the moment Kid Math arrives in town. It focuses on Rex’s struggle to adjust to this world as a child coming into his superpowers for the first time (Y’know, the whole “superheroes don’t have powers when they’re on their home planets” thing), his struggle to adapt to the social world of a non-logical planet, and Becky’s struggle to help him become accustomed to Earth and learn to share it with her as well. If the episode “Kid Math” was a full-length novel about Rex’s arrival and character development, that’s what this story is. This is the highest priority of all my non-FOP ‘fics... I’ve had a cover image made for 6 months and even though I tried setting it aside, I’ve always been super inspired to write for it. If I felt like it would be a good idea to commit to weekly updates alongside my FOP updates, I would, haha.

- I have two one-shot WIPs called “Squishy Feelings” and “A Little Ambiguity”, one of them focusing on Becky and Rex talking about the events of “Rhyme and Reason” and what it means for Rex’s secret identity, and the latter being a future ‘fic showing WordGirl and Kid Math dealing with life 10 to 15 years down the road. I’ll probably post the latter, not sure yet on the former.

- If desired, I may make a WordGirl specific sideblog where I post lore, answer Asks, post character profiles [smaller than my FOP sideblog ones], and mention fanfic updates. If you would be interested in this, feel free to send me an Ask requesting I do this. If there’s not interest, I’ll just keep my WordGirl stuff on the main blog.

- I’d like to get more involved in the WordGirl community, so I’ll probably post more content and reblog more art and headcanons

I also have a handful of miscellaneous ideas I might follow through with. I’d like to write at least one “TUFF Puppy” fanfic so I can say I did. In a perfect world I would like to finish the two “Danny Phantom” and “Bunsen Is a Beast” fanfics I started because... I just kind of want to dip my toe in each of the Hartman shows once since I already went through all the effort of worldbuilding for them to make them canon in a single Hartman show universe. “ChalkZone” is another show I adore and might touch someday (You may recall I have a full outline planned for an FOP/ChalkZone crossover ‘fic called “Dust to Dust”).

Will I write all of these things? Maybe not. I have no idea if I want to spend the next 10+ years writing fanfics, or if I’ll simply be done with all misc. fanfics immediately once I decide to be done with my main ‘fics. I definitely intend to write for a few more years and finish my main ‘fics, but I might not go through with some less popular side ‘fics if life is getting busy for me.

===

What is the posting schedule for FOP ‘fics?

Reedfilter Rules, Frayed Knots, Origin of the Pixies, the 130 Prompts project, and “Come What May” are all high priority FOP writings. I will swap between them depending on my mood that week.

Here are some other ‘fics I want to work on.

- If you like, you can send me Asks requesting I work on a specific story above the rest. I will try to prioritize whichever stories interest you guys most.

Snips and Snails is a ‘fic I started and posted the first chapter for years ago. I’m not sure when I will get back to it, as I ran into some writer’s block. It’s still on tentative hiatus for now..... Possibly forever, though I hope it isn’t forever since it’s only supposed to be, like, five more chapters.

Pink and Gray is on official hiatus. I actually have a lot written for it, but I know it’s a little weird to put so much time and energy into Gary and Betty content when... well, let’s be honest: they’re my niche favorites and most of you probably don’t care. So, I am lifting my usual “no spoilers” policy from my Ask Box. If you would like to ask about my Gary and Betty backstory headcanons, feel free. I will tag my replies as “ridwriting spoilers” for anyone who wants to blacklist the tag, and spoilers will be hidden under a Read More line.

I’d like to return to this story someday because there are tons of things I like about it (ranging from Betty’s secret tattoos to Gary’s plot drama with his mom to the background drama between Talon and Anti-Cosmo, but I always feel immense pressure to make it extra cool to make up for the fact these are weird side characters, so... it’s officially at the bottom of the priority pile. Once Talon shows up in Frayed Knots and readers understand who he is and why he exists, I’ll consider coming back to it.

Identity Theft is a story about Foop and his time in the alternate dimension he was flung into following the episode “Playdate of Doom.” To put it short, Foop was abused by alternate versions of his parents in this dimension and he witnessed some pretty intense stuff, including the death of the alt version of himself who existed in that reality. The trauma he experienced resulted in his alternate personality, Hiccup. Foop himself has very few memories of what happened, as Hiccup has all of those memories. This story is canon in my works, and it is regularly referred to during the 130 Prompts as part of Foop’s backstory. It’s my highest priority side story to work on.

Along the Cherry Lane is a 20-chapter work focusing on the lives of the main human cast from age 11 to age 30, with one chapter showing a snippet of their lives each year. You see Timmy raising Tommy and Tammy in this ‘fic, and it ends with them receiving godparents. Since the 130 Prompts don’t give humans much attention, this ‘fic does. You’ll probably see it debut two years from now, closer to when the 130 Prompts is ready to talk more about humans.

If this becomes a popular ‘fic of mine, I’ll probably write a sequel or continue it past Chapter 30 and write about Tammy and Tommy living with fairies, but I won’t if there’s no interest in that.

Little Imperfections is a Pixie AU ‘fic of mine about what life would be like in a universe where the Fairies are even more like insects than I play them as during my main works (where I already play them as semi-similar to insects). In this world, the Head Pixie is a figurehead whose duty is to reproduce for the sake of the colony and do nothing else, and he’s bored out of his mind until he befriends Sanderson, who introduces him to music. It’s extremely self-indulgent and silly because I like Pixies.

Francis is a multi-chapter ‘fic about bully Francis’s life getting yet another fairy godparent in a long string of memory wipes and godparents. It takes place during the canon series, and when you see an “orange fairy” mentioned in some of my writings, it’s usually referring to this fairy. His name is Rover and I occasionally post art of him. I feel like I can’t truly call myself an FOP fanfic writer until I actually write about a godkid and their godparents, haha...

Hawthorn Haven is a side ‘fic that will be posted towards the end of the 130 Prompts, as it veers off from the prompts in its own self-contained multi-chapter story. It will be approximately the length of “Baby, You’re a Rich Man.”

Acacia Arcadia is a far-past ‘fic detailing the fall of the ancient fae, the imprisonment of the nature spirits, the rise and fall of the chimera nation, the fall of the Martian genies, and the early days of the cloudlands. This is close to the bottom of the priority pile... It’s something I spend time on for personal reference to ensure accuracy in my other ‘fics, but it’s probably not what you guys came here to read.

AA has a bunch of characters in it that you might vaguely recognize, such as Ezekiel Whimsifinado, Evadne, Ione, Two Feathers, Rho, and Sablewood (If you’re astute, you might recall cloudland legends and landmarks in modern day that refer back to these characters). There are also a lot of characters who were reincarnated as Anti-Fairies, in accordance to traditional Anti-Fairy beliefs; Foop for example exists as a main character in one of his past lives, and you’ll see a hint dropped about each of his lives in the first chapter of Identity Theft. My tentative plan is to use Foop’s past lives as my central characters, following the events of each part of the timeline until he gets killed and reincarnates at a later point of the timeline.

I also keep some one-shots in a file I call Mixed Nuts and I may possibly post them someday (they’re mostly just one-shots of main cast characters I do to get a feel for their personalities, I have some Wanda and Cupid in here). @zachbrightside and I are also working on a collab ‘fic called Like a House On Fire that shows more of Timmy and Chloe’s lives during Season 10 (especially around the time of “Which Is Wish?”) No news on a release date for that yet.

As I’ve said before, once all my other FOP works are complete, I will write Devil’s Backbone, which is my far-future ‘fic and the finale of my FOP writing. I do not plan to write any more FOP content after that story is finished, as I expect to have all other FOP projects done by then.

- Devil’s Backbone is a finale 'fic, so all worldbuilding from all stories is fair game to blend together, and it’s highly recommended you read everything else first. This story has been outlined since 2016, and it might not be published for another 10 years... Who knows! But it’s something I always work towards as a concrete endgame goal.

- If something serious comes up in my life and I officially decide I don’t want to write this story, I will post the outline for it. The link to this draft is included with all the other Google Docs links I have in a far-future queued post unveiling my WIPs in case I unexpectedly die and you still want to know how my stories would have gone, so you’ll get access to this story eventually even if I die young. Yes, share access is turned on for them all and I do take extra careful measures to be sure that post doesn’t get posted early skldfj

===

What is the plan for the main blog?

Every Friday, I will post either a fanfic chapter or a progress update. You can blacklist the tag “ridlife” if you do not want to see the progress updates on your dashboard. Fanfic updates will not have the “ridlife” tag, so you will not be blocking them.

During the rest of the week, I might post doodles, reblogs, or general comments. Basically... you’ll see the blog become active again. Feel free to send in Asks about my worldbuilding and thoughts on fanfic characters.

@fountainpenguin is my personal blog, so you will see non-fandom things on here sometimes

@riddledeep is my FOP-exclusive sideblog. It contains all my lore notes and goes into a ton of depth, more than my fanfics give in one breath

===

What does this mean for the Riddledeep sideblog?

I really want to go back and edit those character profiles that were posted early by mistake. The reason they were queued is because if I turned them into drafts, they would have been buried all the way at the beginning of my draft collection, and I have many, many drafts saved. There are no page numbers to navigate quickly through the draft collection, so I would have to click through each page one by one if I ever wanted to look at them. I hated doing this, which is why I kept my posts queued.

I was regularly updating the queue deadlines, trying to keep things in the order I wanted to post them in, but Tumblr made a change to the way drafts are dated and it kept throwing off my system. My inability to remember when my queued things would post combined with my busy schedule led to some profiles being posted early and incomplete. I want to fix these.

Over a year ago, my good friend Vulpix150 helped me finalize my designs for the Aos Sí and Daoine Sith. I’ve been sitting on that art in secret for a while, and at some point I plan to post it on the sideblog and talk more about that lore.

Updating fanfics is my higher priority (and it was the priority my followers voted for when I asked you to send votes to my Ask Box a while back). So, I will usually spend my free time working on fanfics unless I need a break from them and want to work on sideblog profiles instead. Thank you for your patience!

===

TL;DR

I’m posting fanfics again soon. I’m going to take a more relaxed approach to posting them. I’m going to post more of what I want to post and what I feel motivated to post, not always a main ‘fic update. If I’m not “feeling it” when working on a draft, then I’ll set it aside for a while unless I know my followers and readers have high interest in the next chapter of that story. I always write for me first, but if I know there are other people who care a lot about a story, then of course I want to write it for you too!

I’m going to embrace my decade-long love for WordGirl and post more ‘fics and art or this fandom. I’ve always been a little shy about doing this, but I’m ready to make it an official fandom on my main blog (unless there are lots of requests for WordGirl things to be contained in their own sideblog). I will be posting the first chapter for a ‘fic called Factor It In very soon. Love my easily frustrated alien kiddos having a long day.

I am working on Creature-Crossing stuff too, and will be especially busy in November and December. Updates will be slow for a few months, but I hope to find my groove and a good pace soon.

Each Friday, I will post either a fanfic update or a mention of what I am working on. I will be checking in on Tumblr regularly. Feel free to talk! I much prefer you send messages to my Ask Box, not my private messenger, please <3

===

Is there a specific story of mine you like and want more updates for?

Asks and reviews help me know which ‘fics people are enjoying. I plan to keep writing ‘fics no matter what, but I definitely give more time to the ‘fics that get more attention (and I have been spending so much time writing for Creature-Crossing because that’s where the attention was coming from)

It’s easy to stay motivated and get the next part of a story out soon if I know that people like it. It’s always harder if you feel like people are silently judging you and ignoring your posts. So, let me know what you’re interested in. And if you only leave Likes or Favorites instead of asks and reviews, that’s okay too! Thank you for interacting anyway and enjoying my work.

Thanks for reading!

#WordGirl #Factor It In #Kid Math #FAIRIES!#ridlife #riddleverse mention #ridwriting #Mushrooms and more #Satirical vocab alien child show #Frayed Knots #130 Prompts #Origin of the Pixies #Pink and Gray #Acacia Arcadia #Devil's Backbone #Hawthorn Haven #Along the Cherry Lane

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naralanis · 3 years ago

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Fic Writer Review!

Thanks @mssirey for the tag! I totally didn't have a crisis with the very last question, not at all bwhahaha

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

41, soon to be 42. ASJKLDBLAHSDSD how. And also why. But mostly, how.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

565,934 EXCUSE ME WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. I was going to check my unpublished works but ya know what. Maybe I've written enough akdjsa

3. How many fandoms have you written for?

Technically speaking, I've written and published fics for five fandoms. However, I only have one story for OUAT (and I have @shadowdianne to thank for that... or do I?) and one for Captain Marvel. Mirandy was my first love, Cissamione the second, and Supercorp has burrowed in my brain and just won't let go.

I've also technically written for Xena, Legend of Korra, and Criminal Minds, but since I never published those, we're going to pretend they don't exist!

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

Only two are WIPs! YEAH! They're the top two, but WHO CARES, here they are:

1) Perhaps, aka my baby, my child, my darling, the apple of my eye. If I ever had to choose to finish only ONE of my WIPs, this would be the one. This story has grown with me, and I think you can tell when you read. Or maybe not!

2) For the Better. If the former is my baby, this one is like... my moody teenager. I love it dearly, but... it takes a lot out of me. An ode to one of the first fandoms I actively wrote for, it sits unfinished, but nearly, oh so nearly done. I will finish it, damn ittt.

3) The Date. Honestly, this one really surprised me -- it's one of my oldest one-shots, and something I definitely dashed off between lectures back in Scotland, maybe alternating with FtB chapters. It's one of my first attempts at humour, I think.

4) Bits and Pieces. AYY, I wasn't sure Supercorp would make the cut, WOOOT! This one was the second Supercorp fic I ever wrote, and I did it because Lena Is Baby and the idea just wouldn't leave my brain.

And lastly, the fabulous number 5... Perfect. AKA Nara's First (published) Explicit Fic, featuring Praise Kink and an Enchanted Dildo (for... reasons). I'm not gonna lie, I am so HAPPY this one made it, because it has a special place in my heart. It's where Soft Butch Hermione comes to life, and if you don't love Soft Butch Hermione, I'm sorry, we can't be friends. I love her.

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

Eeermmm... some? I do want to respond, but I'm terrible with keeping up with comments, I really am. For whatever reason, even when I do my best, I don't really love responding directly on AO3. I also turned off all email notifications for AO3 because turns out my brain WILL be distracted by even a single one.

I'm much more responsive on Tumblr, I promise!

6. A fic you've written with the angstiest ending:

Any of my Narlily works, I guess? Like... All Flowers Wither or Carry On.

Unshackled would be another one, though it's Cissamione... but I caved and made a happy(ish) second part for that one.

7. Do you write crossovers?

Nope! Crossovers just don't do it for me, generally speaking (reading or writing).

8. Ever received hate on a fic?

EvEr rEcEIvEd hAtE-- yes. Oh, yes. I've been told my writing is terrible, I've been told my stories were a 'waste of time,' or 'overhyped,' I've had people tell me there was only One Way to write a certain pairing and my way was definitely Not The Way.

The list goes on.

It used to really, really bother me--still does, but in a much smaller way. Delete/Block buttons are my friends.

9. Do you write smut?

I write an absurd amount of smut. I just don't publish any of it because. Fear.

My pretty, pretty pens have created some filthy, filthy things.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

A couple of times -- only once or twice like, straight up attributed to someone else who acted like they were the one writing it. The other times were reposts or translations (without my permission, so still. stolen).

11. Ever had a fic translated?

I've authorized a couple of translations of a few of my DWP works. I'm usually cool with people translating my stuff IF THEY ASK ME FIRST and GIVE ME PROPER CREDIT.

9/10 it's some Brazilian who translates it to Portuguese without my permission and then gets upset when I, another Brazilian, do not endorse it and politely ask them to take the thing down. Thankfully it's been a while. ASK ME, DAMN IT.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Nothing published bwhaha!

13. All-time favourite ship?

Right now SuperCorp is definitely barking a little louder, so to speak, but I don't really have one favourite overall. It depends on the fandom, sometimes! Cissamione is very dear to my heart, because it's just so fucking out there and literally every one in this ship has some of the most fascinating headcanons for this pairing and it's just. So wonderful.

14. WIP you want to finish, but don't think you ever will?

Eeeeuuughhh.... Right now? Probably The Appraisal. I forget what I wanted to do with it, I'm not sure if I'm still feeling the premise... IDK.

I think the same could be said of For the Better, but I PROMISED to finish it, and GOD DAMN IT, I am so close I can't throw in the towel just yet.

15. Writing strengths?

You want ME to say good things about MYSELF? I'm still learning how to do that asldkjbasdn it's a work in progress. But I think I'd say... maybe world-building, at least on my longer works?

I would also like to think I do pretty OK in... IDK, some of the punchy stuff? The 'oh wait a minute' moment? IDK if that makes sense!

16. Writing weaknesses?

Organizing. Plot (HAHA IKR). Consistency. Editing (which is rich from someone who literally edits shit for a living... but go figure). Pacing. Weirdly long sentences? Commas for DAYS.

I could go on.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I am a-OK attempting it in French/Spanish/Portuguese. It may not sound natural, but it will be correct. If I'm trying another language, I'll definitely get help! But I've got no problem with it.

18. First fandom you ever wrote for?

Harry Potter, Dramione specifically, and you'll never find a shred of it. I was like 12, and almost a decade later I figured out Hermione was much better off with Draco's mother.

19. What's your fav fic you've written so far?

DON'T MAKE ME CHOOOSE asdkljasdl I CAAANNN'TTTT

I mean, obviously Perhaps is one of them -- it is my baby, that has been established. I think Little Bumps in the Road is also up there, because it was just a random writing exercise that got out of hand, and honestly? I'm here for it. Andddd.... I GUESS I'll put A Valentine's Evening up there as well, because it was the first time I didn't second guess every word I wrote when posting smut. I just... felt it, went for it, wrote it, and it felt really, really good to release some of that into the world lol

WHEW, this was a long one! I'll be tagging @intheinkpot, @shadowdianne, @delirious-comfort, and @16-pennies because I am a curious bastard. But, as always, feel free to treat this as an open tag. Go nuts!

#tag game #this was illuminating in several ways #aka i need to finish my wips #(though that ain't exactly news)#but more importantly #i've written way more than I think I have #and ya know what #it's OK to be proud of that #i am proud of all my children #and i love them all equally #*side eyes Decisions Decisions Decisions*#even you #nara rambles

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epicstuckyficrecs · 4 years ago

Text

Weekly Recap | August 10-16th 2020

Complete

💙 With Only You by brucespringsteen (Time Travel | 47K | Explicit): Steve, semi-retired and still a bastard who doesn’t follow rules, touches a cube that sends him to 1938, eighty-six years in the past. He takes it well. Bucky, twenty-one and baby-faced, takes it even better.

Forgive, Yet Never Forget by Kalee60/ @kalee60 (Post-Endgame | 8K | Explicit): Steve Rogers was a broken man. He'd failed to keep his friends alive, had lived through the snap, the blip, Thanos, whatever that torrid time of his life full of blood, fear and pain had been. Yet the one good thing to come out of the worst years of his life - he had Bucky back. And a head full of issues along with it.Issues that meant the only way Steve could get out of his overbearing mind is to fall into oblivion by paying one night stands, use people he never had to see again, people he couldn't let down.So what happens when Bucky accosts him after a mission and wants answers, wants only to help Steve? Can an old weary supersoldier, whose self worth is nonexistent, start to heal and find happiness, when he truly believes he doesn't deserve it?

Love Me, Hold Me, Squeeze Me by musette22/ @musette22, paperstorm/ @paper-storm (Evanstan PRF, PWP | 4,5K | Explicit): Chris grabs his junk when he's anxious. Sebastian notices.

Closer by musette22/ @musette22 (Evanstan RPF | 5K | Teen): The relief that floods Sebastian at seeing Chris alive and well is intense, lifting some of that debilitating weight that’s been pressing down on his chest all evening, but it’s short lived. Because Chris looks... Well, he looks unfairly gorgeous as always, with his beard and his soft, cerulean eyes, but he also looks nervous and just a little bit shifty.The feeling of unease grows when Chris shoots him a smile that’s tense around the edges and says, “Hey, Seb. Can we talk for a moment?”

💙 a question of worth by Deisderium/ @deisderium (Post-Endgame | 30K | Teen): In which Steve and Bucky return the Infinity Stones, and return to a world drastically changed from the one Bucky left five years ago, and Bucky has to struggle with the knowledge that his best friend held Mjölnir, and at least briefly had the power of a god. So where does that leave an ex-brainwashed assassin?

Adorably awkward by darter_blue/ @darter-blue (Shrunkyclunks | 32K | Explicit): The one where Bucky uses Steve’s car window as a mirror and Steve can appreciate the view…

Extra Sugar, 32. the future by luninosity/ @luninosity (Evanstan, Dom/Sub AU | 112K | Explicit): Sebastian's feeling anxious about a change. Chris will always want to help. (Part 6 of 💙Like Sugar (Spell It Out))

💙 Songbird by chicklette/ @chicklette (Singer Bucky, Fake relationship | 66K | Explicit): At 43, James Barnes is a washed up old man. He’s got a dozen Grammys in the hall closet, an agent that can’t get him a deal, a decade-old case of writer’s block, a moody teen-aged daughter, and the gorgeous actress Natasha Romanova for an ex-wife. Enter Steven Grant Rogers, struggling twenty-something, orphan, and someone who has no idea who Barnes is. The two men meet by accident, doing nothing more than passing the time in a quiet bar. But when a pap gets a shot of the two men embracing, Bucky takes it as a chance to finally come out as bisexual, and his agent makes him a proposition: Ten new songs and one very sweet boyfriend will get him a new record deal that will maybe, just maybe put him back on top. Now all he has to do is write the songs, convince the kid, and not fall in love. Should be easy, right?

💙 Heirloom by 2bestfriends/ @addyetc (Royalty AU, Arranged Marriage | 21K | Explicit): King Steven Grant Rogers of Aphekion is only 20 years old. He relies on the wisdom of his advisors, the strength and honesty of his people, and the love and kindness his mother left to him. He wants nothing more than to honor them all by bringing peace to his kingdom. So much has been sacrificed already. If he must sacrifice his hope for love, then so be it.

WIP

💙 Querencia by SinpaiCasanova (Royalty, ABO AU, Tudor Era | 4/6 | 14K | Explicit): “Oh no, Mother, not another courting ceremony,” Steve protests, a whine slipping into his voice that he’d be rather embarrassed about if anyone other than Sarah ever heard it. “I beg you, no more. I can’t go through that puffed up charade again, being paraded before a dozen worthy Omegas like I’m some prime cut of meat. She probably won’t even like me.” “Well, Steven,” she gently corrects, “she is a he, and the only one you’d be ‘paraded’ in front of.”

💙 Sergeant Barnes and Colonel Rogers: Lessons in Lust, Longing and Inappropriate Erections. by darter_blue/ @darter-blue (Shrunkyclunks | 3/4 | 17K | Explicit): Bucky Barnes is a decorated (though young) Sergeant in the United States Army, a Ranger with the 75th regiment, a sniper of unparalleled skill; he still expects his first day as an Avenger to be challenging. He is not at all prepared for the greatest challenge to be one hot as fuck, steely eyed, Colonel Rogers. More specifically, he is not expecting the greatest challenge to be keeping his dick under control whenever Colonel Rogers, with his broad shoulders and his authoritative command and his fucking thick, gorgeous beard, enters into Bucky’s immediate vicinity.

💙 (i will) leave a light on by crinklefries/ @spacerenegades (Post-Endgame, Canon Divergent | 4/7 | Explicit): Twice a day, every day, Steve lights the lantern at the top of the lighthouse.One day, every year, a door opens and Bucky steps through. This is the story of how Steve and Bucky reclaim all of the years they've lost and what Valhalla means to someone who's willing to wait for it.

💙 Tender is the Ghost by Hark_bananas/ @harkbananas (Post-WS | 8/12 | 97K | Explicit): This thought is uncontrollably followed by another one: I’m not alone anymore. He looks over his shoulder, through the kitchen door, to where Bucky is sitting at his usual place at the head of the dining table, and he feels an unconstrainable smile breaking out across his face, the barest hint of threatening tears along its bright edge. Bucky is still looking past Steve’s left ear, but slowly, gingerly, one side of his mouth quirks up. Steve feels giddy, he wants to shout, or faint, or something to relieve the carbonated pressure that is bubbling up inside of him. Instead, he laughs, short and cheerful, and opens the oven door. (Part 2 of Tender is the Ghost)

💙 sharpen your teeth (tell yourself that it’s just business) by voxofthevoid/ @voxofthevoid (Post-WS | 1/2 | 8K | Explicit): He stays because it’s safe, because Hydra cannot get to him here, because Rogers—still waiting for his dead friend to claw his way out of the Winter Soldier’s broken psyche—will go to the ends of the earth to find him if they do. So he watches Rogers watch him, and Barnes doesn’t know what he’s looking for, but he knows he has found it the first time he sees Rogers’s eyes drop down to his lips and dart guiltily away. Barnes pretends he doesn’t notice and unlike Rogers, he can act. The Red Room made him well, and Hydra could ruin only so much. He changes his act, a few weeks in. He starts looking back.

💙 Revenance by JJK/ @trenchcoatsandtimetravel, SinpaiCasanova (The Old Guard AU/The Song of Achilles AU | 4/? | 11K | Mature): And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone. Or, the one where Steve and Bucky are immortal and used to be known as Achilles and Patroclus.

Re-read

Leg Day by Brokenpitchpipe (Shrunkyclunks | 12K | Explicit): Or: The one where Sam is Bucky's long-suffering roommate, Bucky is a hot mess of a millennial, and Hot Steve spends far too much time on the Lat Pull-Down machine.

the sound of rain on tin by luninosity/ @luninosity (Stucky & Evanstan Crossover | 3/4 | Teen): Okay, Bucky thought. He could deal with sudden universe-hopping. He’d seen weirder things. Hell, he himself probably counted as a weirder thing, brainwashed cryogenically frozen former legendary assassin and all.Chris, who looked like Steve, but who wasn't Steve, stared at him some more.

#stucky #stucky fic #stucky fanfic #stucky fanfiction #stucky fic rec #weekly recap

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englandsgray · 4 years ago

Text

Sherlolly Self-Interviews 2020

Well hi 👋

Ignoring the internal image of Gilderoy Lockheart smiling smugly while flashbulbs pop and saying ‘In my autobiography, Magical Me...’ 🙈😆 I shall take the opportunity of this lovely event to introduce myself as a writer of Sherlolly fanfiction on AO3...

I am English and somewhere over 30. I watched the show as it aired, and lost my heart as quickly to Molly Hooper as to Sherlock Holmes. The kiss is British television history. Series 4 is my favourite. Moriarty on the beach is life. The Holmes brothers break my heart every time.

I am extremely lucky to have been provided some questions to answer here by @ohaine and @mybrainrots - huge, huge love and thanks to these two lovelies, and not just for this. I admire you both so much as writers, and your support means the world to me ❤️ Thanks too, to @sherlollyappreciationweek!

Where did you begin to write, and have you written for other fandoms? I wrote my first fanfic when I was eleven years old - a 100 page ramble about The Monkees. Oh yes. Then in 2018, I fell for the characters of the Disney Pixar film Cars and began writing and publishing. So far so random! Writing in this fandom sprang from binge-watching all four series of Sherlock during lockdown. I remembered reading Louise Brealey talking about being disappointed Molly didn’t get chance to ‘roundly kick Sherlock’s arse’ and agreeing with her wholeheartedly. That, over a few weeks, turned into my first fic - Who You Really Are.

You’re a recent (and welcome!) arrival to the Sherlolly ship, and I was wondering if writing in an established, less active than it used to be fandom has been a challenge? Thank you, firstly. My experience of this fandom has been incredibly positive - the sense of welcome has been wonderful. I will admit I was terrified posting the first fic - there are hundreds of times more stories posted daily in the Sherlock fandom as in the one I had some experience of. But I needn’t have worried, it’s been a blast. I will also admit, that it’s no small thing to be surrounded by such brilliant writing and the long-standing passion which goes with it. But I find that inspiring in itself, and I’m very glad to be here - how supportive the fandom are makes me feel like I always have been!

What’s your favourite place and way to write? My aesthetic is Lin-Manuel Miranda in his in-law’s laundry room 🤣 I wrote my first ten-thousand words on the notes app on my phone before my other half told me to stop being ridiculous! I switch between the laptop, my phone and longhand (I’m a sucker for a nice notepad and a Uni-Ball Eye) and, more often than not, not sat up properly at a table.

Since you’ve (done something I’ve never managed successfully and) written a novella length fic... how did you organise/keep track of all the details and where you wanted the story to go? Did you outline/plot in advance? First of all - I would love to see a novella length fic from you @mybrainrots! The final scene of Who You Really Are came to me very early on and I knew I wanted the fic to fit within TFP - a lot of it takes place in the timeframe of the final montage. At first, it was going to be much more about Sherlock’s relationship with the ideas of sentiment and love (the phrase ‘I’m not sentimental about you, I love you,’ haunted me for a while) and I spent some time researching the psychology and playing with scenes from throughout the series - one of my favourites I didn’t go on to use was inspired by the final scene of THoB. Using scenes from the canon gave an automatic structure, and I was always aiming for the final one I wrote early on - the two of them on the beach (everything is about the beach, with me!) As I went along and started, inevitably, to slow down, I mapped out the chapters with a short note of what I wanted to be in each, then would add notes or phrases as they came to me - often emailed from my phone! I had to force myself through a tricky section set in Baker Street at one point, but it came together in the end. I did plot The Pathologist’s Skeletons on paper first, as I found with a casefic which remains a WIP, that I can get confused and lose focus when it comes to details and how to reveal them in a way which stays paced and interesting. I’ll certainly do that from now on with longer stories and cases. How did you keep up enthusiasm for the work? I want to write an original novel, so I am forcing myself to work through the knotty bits and blocks as a learning experience. Not everything is destined to be finished or finessed, of course, but I’m finding this process is building my confidence that I can overcome problems and slow periods. I also find I know when I need some external inspiration - some of my favourite scenes have come to me while out walking the dog or sitting on the beach. I’ve also been inspired by books or other series or things going on in the world, as we all are, and sometimes that’s pushed me on. Plus, of course, I’m a newbie - I’m very much in the honeymoon period of my writing, even though I’ve loved Sherlock for ten years! (Ten years! Bonkers.)

You’ve got a knack for writing Sherlock’s thoughts and capturing his voice. That said, which character do you find easiest to write? Which is the hardest? Thank you so much. I absolutely love writing Sherlock and Mycroft, and I’m sure that’s because they suit my somewhat over-the-top writing style! I find Molly and her POV really difficult. I want the scenes I write from her perspective to sound completely different to Sherlock, but that means writing in a style which doesn’t come as naturally to me. I’m a long way off happy with that at the moment, but I’m enjoying the challenge.

Is there a scene or character that specifically inspired you to start writing Sherlolly? The whole of TFP, but especially from the moment Sherlock arrives at Musgrave onwards. I am desperate to see what a Sherlock Holmes who has been reacquainted with his own heart would look like. I find his emotionality in those final scenes hugely compelling (Mycroft’s office is one of my favourite moments from across all four series) and, as I have always believed in him and Molly, I practically jumped up back in May after watching it and said ‘right, where’s my notebook?!’.

There’s a lovely peaceful, quiet feeling to your fic ‘We’re All Right At The Moment’. Can you tell us what inspired it and if you’ve thought of doing the backstory that goes with it? Thank you! Like everyone, I would go back to January of this year and start again in a heartbeat, but I am hugely fortunate to be able to say that I have a lot to be grateful to the UK lockdowns for. I might never have begun writing in this fandom otherwise, for one, and I have had a brilliant time so far and met some lovely people. Honestly, I don’t feel able to do any sort of justice in my writing to what has happened in the world in any broader sense than drawing on my own experiences of staying at home and enjoying my family. This particular super-short fic sees Molly cutting Sherlock’s hair at home in Baker Street. I wrote it in the evening after I had cut my other half’s hair and had been reminding myself that despite how horribly worried I was - and still am - about everything, we were all right in that moment, and to focus on that as much as possible. I wanted to try to capture that, if for no reason other than to look back on this entire experience and remember something lovely, so I am so pleased to hear you felt the fic did that. It was only after I finished it and reread it, that I realised it is ambiguous as to whether Molly is worried about Sherlock contracting the virus, or whether she is remembering him being treated for it... As I say, I don’t think I could write more about these extraordinary circumstances - perhaps it’s just too close at the moment - so I don’t plan on extending it. But you know how it is, the plot bunnies hop where they will...

Do you have a Sherlolly music playlist? What are your top five favs from the list? Here’s a run down of (6 🙊) songs I have been getting emotional over in the last little while, leading my brain to assign their significance to my favourite couple...

Kissing You - Des’Ree - It’s so 90′s, it’s a bit cheesy, it’s oddly disturbing. It helped me write A Request, Made Properly, and that gave me an excuse to have Sherlock kiss Molly in the snow.

How Long Will I Love You? - Ellie Goulding - part of the playlist, but also in remembrance of a friend who passed away recently. Life is very short, love is forever.

High and Dry - Jamie Cullum - It’s made me emotional for a very long time. The original is my partner’s version of choice, this is mine.

Think About You - Delta Goodrem - Okay, this one isn’t emotional, and it’s not my usual vibe! Blame the zoom exercise class I do! But oh my goodness, it’s Molly. Bless her.

Blinded By Your Grace (P.T.2. F.T. MNEK) - Stormzy - One of the best ever, I reckon. Spent an awful lot of time thinking about angels and demons, grace and what it takes to save someone, while writing my latest - The Pathologist’s Skeletons. This has been in my head most of the (blimmin’) time!

Love Me Like You Do - Ellie Goulding - I didn’t know I was a fan of Ellie until I wrote this list... I don’t subscribe to the theory that the love Molly wants or that which Sherlock has to offer is any lesser because it isn’t ‘normal’ or expected. I don’t think romantic entanglement would come easy to either of them. But it’s still love and it would be beautiful.

Thank you so much for reading. Thanks and love to @ohaine and @mybrainrots. And thank you @sherlollyappreciationweek for the event and for everything you do ❤️

Feel like I should sign off with a quote from the show...

“You’re not a puzzle-solver, you never have been. You’re a drama queen!” Dr John Watson (Moffat & Gatiss) 2014 😜

A fav fic of mine by @mybrainrots

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7563193

A fav fic of mine by @ohaine

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10562904

My stuff:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnglandsGray/works

#sherlolly #sherlollyselfinterview20 #sherlock #sherlockbbc #writing #fanfic #ao3 #ao3 author #read on ao3

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risoris · 4 years ago

Note

13. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

Fun Meta Asks For Writers

asdfhjk this answer is long overdue sorry im a sloth

13. hhh i’m in some kind of a writer’s block rn but i still can talk about it! The Scene I’ve Been Dying To Write is set in this very specific urban fantasy au i have in my head and it’s the moment when Jack wakes up alone at the edge of the woods near the town where the B4 lives and realizes he just survived a vampire bite lmao. the AU still needs a plot get to this scene (not to mention i literally have more than five wip right now, so it’s going to be a long time until i get to that) but man i have so many vampire jokes saved up for this...... not to mention the good ol’ jack frost angst!!

18. Trim has a longer alternative version, actually!

the story was supposed to include Jack and Merida because i originally wanted to write Rapunzel giving all three of them a haircut. i ended up (ahem) trimming it to one person to fit the prompt request, but basically: weeks after hiccup's haircut, Merida somehow got some of her hair stuck on a low-hanging tree branch and - out of impatience - lends Punz her own hunting knife and asks the brunette to cut it free for her lmao.

Jack a few days later jokingly asked for a haircut too, just for the heck of it, but turns out Rapunzel is prepared with a scissor by now, and he ends up getting one for real lol. but at this point its also obvious among him, Hiccup and Merida that asking Punz to help with your hair in any capacity means that you trust her as a friend (because hair, as well as the act of cutting it, is a pretty huge deal in Rapunzel's life) so as absurd as it sounds these two scenarios are supposed to happen all soft and sweet in Punz’s eyes

idk, maybe one day i'll take another shot at this idea again. and thank you for asking!

#asks #this reminds me i have so many stuff i want to write but aaaaaaaaaaaa absolutely no drive and time to do so atm #rotbtd

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writing-with-olive · 5 years ago

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Ways to start writing every day

I’ve been writing for a few years now, and early on, I would write for a few days at a time, and then I’d abandon my work for months at a time and not write. During the beginnings of Project Toxin, my main WIP, I went three months without writing a word. And while missing a day or two is okay, especially if you’ve got mental health stuff that day (do not ignore your mental health), at least for me, there was this guilt that would grow worse and worse when I wasn’t writing. Somehow, that made it harder to write. There was a sense of “well I’ve screwed up by not writing, and I know I should be writing, but it’s not worth it now.” Which, by the way, is flawed reasoning. Below are some tips that I’ve discovered are useful to write every day, or at least 30 days of the month.

Coming out of writers block

1) Watch videos or listen to podcasts with writing advice.

I’ve found this effective because there’s that sense of “oh, I want to try that.” You’re not actually forcing yourself to write at this exact moment, and even if that seems counterproductive, it does take some of the stress off. Think about it; writing a book is frequently described as running a literary marathon. You can’t just jump up from the couch one day and go do it. You’ve got to get into the right mindset, and you have to be ready to do it. Seeking out inspiration is one of those steps to get you back into it.

2) Open up your writing document/notebook and read the last chapter

You don’t have to write, but open up your WIP and just read the stuff at the end, or if you’ve got the time/willpower for it, read the whole thing. A lot of times, procrastination - and writer’s block - is the fear or aversion to starting. It’s that first step that’s hard. So make it easier on yourself. Make the first step as approachable as you can. It might feel like you need to be strict with yourself, but going back to writing after writer’s block is all about easing back into it.

3) Do a writing sprint about your story

Set a timer for however long you like: five minutes, seven, ten, fifteen, twenty. Then during that time, write about your story. Things you like, don’t like. Why you haven’t been writing. Don’t stop. Don’t filter yourself. A lot of times, writer’s block is filled with a distructive sense of guilt - a distructive sense of “I need to be writing but I can’t so I won’t.” Getting all of these feelings on paper can help you distance yourself from those thoughts and put things into better perspective. The writing about your story itself can also give you new ideas about where you want to go, and where you feel like you’ve been. If you don’t have a WIP, then you can write about stories that you want to write. Or ideas that you think are cool.

Sticking with writing

1) Set up a reward/negative outcome system for writing

People tend to fall into one of two catagories: people who are motivated by reward, and people who are motivated by punishment. For me personally, I’m easily motivated by reward, but punishment never really makes that big of an impact. I also know people who are the other way around. Think about your past life experience, and think about what’s more motivating to you.

If you’re a reward motivated person, come up with rewards that you get for doing certain amounts of writing. Maybe you get to watch an extra episode of your favorite show if you get your daily wordcount. Maybe achievement in a day is cumulative; for every x number of words, you get another ten minutes of your favorite video game. If you don’t think that you’re going to be able to follow through (ie you think that yo’re going to be prone to grabbing the reward anyway regardless of your writing), let a friend or partner or sibling know what’s going on; maybe have them take away whatever thing it is until you’ve completed your goal. Make the thing a legitimate reward.

If you’re a punishment motivated person, think about things that you enjoy. Those things are now going to be taken away if you don’t write enough. Maybe you enjoy it when your partner gives you a shoulder massage. If you don’t write, you don’t get a shoulder massage. Make sure that whatever thing is on the line is not going to negatively affect your mental health. Don’t take away things like food in general (though taking away a specific type is fine), water, sleep or physical activity. If you don’t write enough and you don’t let yourself have these things, it’s only going to keep you from writing more.

2) Celebrate your wins and successes

If you’ve passed a writing milestone, celebrate. It can be big, but it doesn’t have to be. Acknowleging that you’ve completed something can be enough. It shows that you’re getting somewhere, and sometimes progress itself can be good inspiration.

3) Make sure you’ve got a setup that works for you

Some people need to write at the same time every day. Other people just need a certain location and a cup of tea. Others need certain sounds or levels of organization. Figure out what works for you, and set that up. This might also include what processer you prefer writing with. Make sure you’ve got the setup that helps you write the most successfully, and that puts you into a positive mindset.

4) Seek out inspiration

Inspiration is great for writers, but it’s not always reliable when it will hit you. So seek it out. Are there specific types of videos or images that get you into your story? Are there places where you like to stop and hang out? Books or shows that get your gears turning? Many people also say they have their best ideas on their commutes or in their shower, and this is because you’re most creative when you’re relaxed. When you’re commuting or taking a shower, you’re more relaxed in general, allowing this sort of inspiration to appear seemingly out of nowhere.

+++++++

So what might this look like?

For me, I’m a person who’s not in the middle of writer’s block, so I would skip to the second section. I’ve discovered that I’m more reward oriented, so I focus on setting up things to work toward, rather than things to work away from. I use a site called 4thewords.com, which is a site that gamifies writing, where the goal is to defeat monsters by writing words. The reward I get is the satisfaction that comes from defeating monsters and finishing quests. I celebrate a lot of my successes by talking to my family about them (they’re supportive), posting about it here on tumblr, and letting myself play extra rounds of video games. The setup that works for me is whenever I get a chance, I grab my laptop, turn on some music, and write on 4thewords. For inspiration I look for how-to videos and I do things that let my mind wander. Overall, I haven’t missed more than two days in the last four or five months.

note: if you want to join 4thewords, you can use this referral (my username is quinn-erto): S2XSR15522

#writing #writing on tumblr #writeblr #writing tips #writing advice #writers block #how to combat writer's block #how to keep writing every day #writing every day #overcoming writer's block #olive's writing vibes

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padfootagain · 6 years ago

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The Jedi And The Pilot (I)

Part 1 : A (Not So) Flamboyant Escape

HEY!! GUESS WHO'S STARTING A NEW SERIES WHEN SHE ALREADY HAS A FAIR DOZEN OF WIP?!?! Yep… that's my dumbass self, as you can see.

I'm in a deep Obi-Wan phase. The pit is endless and I know I will never reach any bottom. The fangirl pit is such a scary place… Anyway…

(To be completely honest, I'm in a Ewan McGregor phase, which is even worse… but that's enough of my desperate fangirling… My life is ruined anyway, and I know it.)

So, here we go with a new series!! How long will it be? No idea. What to expect? No clue. Let's just figure it out together, shall we? These are my favourite fics to write!!!

No warnings to apply, everything is pretty fine, just a little bit of adventure and fighting to start.

Word count : 3695

The situation seemed pretty bad.

Actually… actually it was bad. Very bad. Some would have said terrible. Some would have even spoken of desperate.

But Obi-Wan Kenobi was too much used to risking his life on a daily basis to see such a hopeless matter in his current situation. He only saw a little complication in his mission, that was all. As long as he was not dead and still had his lightsaber, he considered that he still had the upper hand. Was it foolish of him to think so? Perhaps. Perhaps it was even a little pretentious of him. But he was simply used to face death and stare at it right in the eyes, and was thus able to see all hopes in desperate situations.

His experience on the field had made him wiser as well, and if he was brave and sometimes a little optimistic about his odds, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t able to recognize the moment when it was better to run and live to fight another day, rather than being stupidly killed playing the hero.

And the more time passed by, the more he thought that this situation called precisely for this kind of flamboyant escape.

Taking down a branch of the black market and organized crime was not an easy task, after all. After a month spent investigating the origin of some unregistered weapons, he had finally connected the black market and organized crime into one major scheme, allowing advanced weaponry to be available freely, but also to be given to the enemies of the Republic he was fighting so hard against. After some of these weapons had been used in a terror attack on Coruscant, causing the death of thirty innocent civilians and two Clones, putting a stop to this traffic had become top-priority for both the Senate and the Jedi Council. And it was General Kenobi who had been assigned to this mission.

Information had proven to be difficult to get. It was a dark world he had no access to as a Jedi, and sources were rarely reliable. But he had finally gathered enough clues to discover this remote factory.

Only, after wondering through the place for a while he had been discovered before he could reach his ship… that was now reduced to dust and melted metal pieces. As he tried to find cover, he had found himself trapped in this dark circular room. Nothing inside and no lights on. Before he had a chance to turn around, he was trapped with his enemies. The door was closing upon several criminals, but he didn't have enough time to count them as they entered. Now, he stood still in the middle of the circular space, surrounded by cut-throats and bounty hunters, and he reckoned the situation was not in his favour…

In the thick veil of darkness that covered the room, nothing but his blue lightsaber shed any light. How many of these scoundrels surrounded him? He couldn’t see any of them in the shadows, but it didn’t matter. The Force was enough for him to know where his enemies were.

He closed his eyes as he focused on the energy running through him, around him, everywhere… He could feel how the Force moved through the room. Its movements were different around people, specific for every person. He could have recognized someone he knew merely by the way the Force changed around them. And right now, this skill was perfect to know how many enemies he had to face : two behind him, one on each of his sides, three right before him.

Seven against one, that was hardly a fair fight.

He could feel through the Force the two bounty hunters moving behind him. Not a sound was made as they took a step towards him, but with the Force by his side, Obi-Wan didn’t need to hear them. He could feel the disturbance in the Force that they made as they moved.

He waited for the first blaster to be shot. He knew it would be coming soon. From behind, or from one side? In front of him would be too easy to block. They weren’t this stupid.

His senses were sharpened, expanded by the Force running through his body. He focused all his attention towards it: the soft change in the air, the barely noticeable energy moving around him, the way his lungs moved in his chest, the tickling sensation of the Force moving through his muscles and to his fingertips. The most peaceful sensation, and yet so many information were reaching him at once, a sharpened awareness of himself and what surrounded him. Suddenly, he wasn't thinking thoughts, he was feeling sensations instead. And this connection towards both himself and the world around him was making him something more than just himself. Did that make sense? To anyone else but a Jedi, probably not. But he had no other ways to describe it all.

A flinch through the energy he felt all around him. A string pulled in the infinite web of the Universe. A tremor not louder than the whisper of a foreign star. And then a second movement, like a ripple spreading through the calm water of a lake.

First on the left, and next behind him.

Just a fraction of a second before the blaster would be shot, Obi-Wan's lightsaber had risen to his left, and he had no difficulty dodging the blast. He didn't even stop his movement to block the next shot, actually. He just continued his movement around his frame to pass the blue blade above his shoulder and behind his back, dodging the second shot without difficulty either. He took a step ahead to avoid the blast that came from his right, the red laser flying across the room to collide with the wall and explode in a thousand sparks. The flashing red lights now coloured the dark room as well, although Obi-Wan did not pay any attention to them. Instead, he was still focused on the Force and its movements, its oscillations, its tiny sparks running through and all around him.

Bending down he avoided another shot from behind him while at the same time he gathered his strengths to push the scoundrels before him against the wall by simply raising his open palm towards them. The push was like a tidal wave through the Force around him, but he felt the tremor on his right anyway, and with his eyes still closed, he blocked the new shot with his burning blade again. It was all happening so fast, and yet, Obi-Wan had no trouble for now. He would probably win if this fight went on that way.

But if the men inside that room were in difficulty, no doubt they would call for help and soon receive it. If the Jedi felt no trouble for now, he guessed that it would be another story. He had to find a way out, and quickly.

He deflected a shot towards another of the criminals, and the woman fell to the ground in a thud.

Seven, minus four… only three left.

His eyes opened again, and with the flashing lights of both his saber and the firing blasters, he could distinguish enough of his surroundings to look for an exit. While he kept on fighting, blocking and dodging the sparks of red light, he noticed only one door. A ventilation system too, right above his head. The grid didn't seem very strong, he guessed he could quite easily go through it. Once inside, he had a chance to escape. If the jump up to the passage would be an easy thing for him, he reckoned that it would be another story for the scoundrels around him, the ceiling being around three meters from the ground. It would give him more than enough time to escape.

The door lost in shadows opened, and soon five more criminals were storming inside the room and firing at Obi-Wan.

Eight against one. He could have had better odds.

It was time to make one of his brilliant escapes…

He focused a little harder again, deflecting some of the shots upwards to weaken the grid and allow him to jump through it directly. Sweat was glistening upon his forehead, and yet his breathing was still calm and controlled.

Another criminal fell to the ground as he let out a hoarse cry.

But a bounty hunter jumped forwards behind the Jedi, and Obi-Wan couldn't dodge both the punch thrown to his ribs and the lethal flashes of light fired at him. The choice was easy to make.

His breath was caught in his throat, he was suffocating for a brief instant as the punch hit his back. All the air was taken out of his lungs. He heard the loud, clear crack of a breaking rib, and the pain was too intense for him to react for a second. He merely let out a groan though, and the lightsaber quickly twirled through the air in a fluid, mastered movement again, and the bounty hunter's helmet fell onto the floor, and the rest of the armour soon followed.

The gasps the other criminals let out were loud and clear, and Obi-Wan knew it was now or never.

With a buzzing noise, the blue blade disappeared, and shadows thickened through the room. The blaster shots were back in the blink of an eye to lighten the area, but it was too late. The Jedi had already jumped and effortlessly entered the ventilation system.

He let out another groan as he crawled on all fours through the passage. He heard the blasters shooting, and he recognized the sound of metal being pierced and partially melted behind him. And then there was silence, shouts, and Obi-Wan knew that he had little time before his enemies would climb up as well. He had to hurry.

He clenched his teeth with the pain piercing his chest, and moved forwards anyway. The ventilation system ran through the whole building, it was narrow, dark, dusty and smelled a strange mix of oil and putrid water.

Soon enough, he recognized voices echoing through the passage. Luckily though, he had enough time to reach an exit before they would close up on him, and with a quick movement of his lightsaber, he was out of the building.

He arrived out of the factory and hurried towards the next building, a hangar where everything needed to repair a ship could be found.

For sure, he could find a ship to 'borrow' and get away from this miserable planet…

It was night across the desert of Tatooine, and the temperature had radically dropped in comparison to the arid climate of the day. Above his head, stars shone through the velvet canvas of the sky, drawing patterns that only dreamers could see. Besides the lights from the factory behind him and the ones emanating from the hangar ahead, there was nothing as far as the eyes could see. In the middle of the desert, there was nowhere to run nor hide. His only chance was to find a ship and get as far away from this planet as possible.

Wind rose, carrying sand to hit Obi-Wan's cheeks. He pulled his brown hood upon his head, holding it in place between two fingers to protect his eyes. He tried to run, but his rib was too painful, and as he coughed a couple of times, he was forced to slow down in favour of a rapid walk, resting a hand against his chest in an attempt to ease the pain. If any doubt remained, it was for certain now that at least one of his ribs was broken.

He was certain that he was followed, but no shots were fired, so he guessed that the shadowy night provided enough cover for his frame.

The hangar was not so far, but he knew the two places were not linked. He had checked that fact before coming to Tatooine. But he also knew that it didn't mean that he would find friends there either. It was Tatooine after all…

He sneaked up inside the hangar, the main door being wide open offered no difficulty.

He looked for a ship that seemed in a good shape. Or at least, not in the worst shape possible. Several of them were clearly unable to fly, and he paid little attention to those.

He quickly spotted a cargo ship. The light freighter was surprisingly well tended, in contrast with the rest of the hangar, and he wondered why such a ship was in such a terrible place. But the question quickly left his mind. He heard shouts coming from the outside again, and he hurried towards the freighter.

He had found the right ship, he just had to 'borrow' it now.

--------------------------------------------------------

You were almost asleep. You knew you shouldn't have been, but your client was late. First, he made you fly to this miserable planet, and now he was making you wait. Fantastic… These were the kind of people that made you doubt your job. You could always stop, find something else.

Flying cargo and people across the galaxy paid well for those who knew by whom to be hired, but it wasn't worth all the trouble. The many times when transporting cargo had been turned into smuggling, the weird people that hired you to take them from one end of the galaxy to the other… Some even tried to hire you to go through uncharted areas of the Unknown Regions, but you weren't a fool. You would have rather been poor than dead. Money wasn't worth that much. And you didn't even like breaking the law through smuggling. These days though, it had become a necessity if you wanted to put food on the table and fuel in your freighter. There weren't so many pilots sharing your doubts and troubled conscience though. So what else could you do?

You kept on repeating yourself, more and more often these days, that you could always drop it all. Stop that job and do something else. But what? You weren't keen to work for any government either. You didn't want to settle on a planet and stop flying, it was all you knew how to do, after all. But then what were the possibilities before you? There seemed to be none.

At least, for now, you could remain neutral, neither taking sides with the Republic nor the Separatists. You reckoned that it would sooner or later push you in the midst of the raging war, and warzones were the last places you wanted to visit.

You heaved a sigh. That was why you were sitting there, in your cockpit, your feet set up on your console, slowly drifting off to sleep and questioning your life.

But a loud bipping noise brought you out of your dizzy state and back to reality. A little glimmer was alit on the control panel, indicating that the ramp had been manually opened from outside.

You frowned hard, your brain working as fast as it could as all your neurones were now fully awake. What could that all be about?

The first coherent thought that formed in your mind had you reach for your blaster. Was someone trying to steal your ship?

Well, if so, they would soon regret it…

You unlocked the door of the cockpit, your blaster set on stunning mode but at the ready. You weren't ready to kill someone, but you would give whoever intended to steal from you a fair fight.

Slowly, you moved out of the cockpit, but stayed before the door. Whoever was trying to take your ship would have to reach the controls after all. And you would stop them.

You could hear hurried footsteps coming your way. But your finger was on the trigger. As soon as the intruder would come on sight, you would fire…

Only you didn't.

Because you recognized the intruder's attire in an instant. Long brown cloak, and beige shirt… the lightsaber by his side was obvious too.

What was a Jedi doing on your ship?!

He froze at the sight of you, raising a surprised eyebrow, a little smile, almost amused, playing on his lips.

"Oh… hello there."

His voice was warm and full of humour. He was holding his chest for some reason. If he was a Jedi, was he wounded?

But you shook yourself, and quickly tightened your grip on your blaster. You weren't taking sides in this war, and helping a Jedi most definitely meant taking sides. Besides, you were expecting a client, you had enough on your plate without a Jedi popping up on your freighter unannounced.

"Who are you? What do you think you're doing in my ship?"

"Well… My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's a pleasure to meet you," he answered with a charming smile. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to borrow your ship."

"I didn't know Jedi were pirates!" you replied in a cold tone.

"I am no pirate. But I am indeed a Jedi, and I am in desperate need of a transport out of this planet."

"Well, then, why don't you go and steal someone else's ship, huh? An empty ship? This hangar is full of those!"

"I'm afraid it is quite impossible."

"Why?"

"Because there are a dozen of criminals of the worst kind chasing after me and looking for me through the hangar. If I go out of your ship, I will probably be killed. Would you really want to have the death of a Jedi on your conscience?"

"Better to have your death on my conscience than being killed myself."

"I understand your argument."

"I'm not going to give you my ship. Not a chance. And I'm expecting a client who is paying me to fly him somewhere else. So, you see, it's quite impossible. I don't give into charity."

"Well then, perhaps we can negotiate…"

Obi-Wan fell silent as suddenly loud voices were heard. He had no doubt they belonged to those who were chasing him.

"What about I double your client's offer?" he proposed.

"You don't have that amount of money on you."

"If you get me to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, it will be arranged in the blink of an eye."

"Does helping you involve getting shot at?"

"I'm afraid it's a rather probable possibility."

"Then it's not worth to only double the offer. I would have had a very boring flight with this other client of mine."

"I'll triple it then."

You thought for a moment. Triple it… that was an awful lot of credits…

You had always thought that risking your life was not worth it. You would not go through dangerous flights just for money. But this amount of money… it could be your way out of it all. A way out of this almost illegal life. A way out of this kind of men who had hired you today.

You studied the Jedi a little more in detail. Hair falling before his blue eyes, fatigue colouring the skin under his eyelashes, a beard covering his cheeks, sweat on his brow, a glimmer in his stare that you couldn't quite identify…

At least, he looked good. What could you do against that kind of argument, huh?

You heard someone banging against the hatch of your ship, and by the look on Obi-Wan's face, you had no doubt that they were the ones looking for him.

Without taking money into account, if they were making a Jedi Knight run, then they were dangerous. If they found this man here, in your ship, they would probably kill you as well.

Was it really a question of money, or rather not survival at this point? This Jedi had dropped out of the blue, but now he was dragging you down with him. If you didn't swim, you would both drown soon.

The thought of turning him over to these criminals crossed your mind. It did. It lingered there for a second, but passed like a cold breeze. Your conscience would never allow you to do something like this. You couldn't condemn a man to death to save your own skin, especially if he was a Jedi. You had always been one of their sympathizers. The war had turned them into soldiers more than anything else, but you remembered a time when all they did was to protect people and try their best to help. That was your experience with the Order, at least.

You heaved a sigh. No matter if this Kenobi looked handsome, he was too much trouble already, and you were starting to seriously hate him for it.

A second loud banging on the door, and some loud shouts broke through the hall.

There wasn't much of a choice, really…

"Triple the offer, alright," your reluctantly agreed. "Take a seat, Jedi."

Obi-Wan's relieved sigh was badly refrained.

"Thank you," he nodded to you as he followed you inside the cockpit.

He sat down by your side as you started the engines. Detonations burst through the hangar as the bandits fired at your ship, but no damage was made for now. You quickly moved the freighter towards the doors, but several criminals were blocking your way… and you couldn't just crush them…

With a quick gesture of his hand, Obi-Wan had sent the outlaws flying against the left wall. You couldn’t refrain a gasp.

"Nice," you commented.

"Well, thank you," he answered with a nod and the ghost of a smile. "Just focus on flying, I'll handle them."

And indeed, he did. He kept them out of your way, and just a few seconds later, you were taking off, aiming at the shining stars…

… until you heard the loud sound if engines coming behind you. On your radar, you recognized the dots of ships coming your way.

One… two… three… four of them

"Do you have any weapon?" Obi-Wan asked with a calm voice.

But you let out a chuckle.

"Just focus on not throwing up on my ship, I'll handle them, Jedi."

***************************

Tag list : @madamrogers @yana-versio @ponycake27 @horsesreign @xinyourdreamsx @jbluevelvet @notkeppeki @daynigt-dreamer-stuff @fudgeflyss @stuckupstucky @snek-shit @suchatinyinfinity @i-padfootblack-things @buckybsarmy @goldenor5

#obi wan kenobi #obi wan #obi wan x reader #obi wan kenobi x reader #obi wan fanfiction #obi wan imagine #obi wan kenobi fanfiction #obi wan kenobi imagine #star wars #star wars imagine #star wars fanfiction #fanfic #imagine #writing

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thelightofthingshopedfor · 5 years ago

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Fic author ask meme

haha so @veliseraptor tagged me literally months ago, as in so long ago I have no idea when it actually was, and I didn’t get all my answers typed up until...now. actually a lot of them were typed up a few months ago and then I finally finished this yesterday on the plane home. no, I don’t know why either

Author Name: 100indecisions on AO3

Fandoms You Write For: it's pretty much all Loki at the moment and has been for the last several years. I've written for other fandoms in the past and I have others on my WIP list, but yeah, it's like 95% Loki.

Where You Post: everything is on AO3, and I do mean "everything" because I get obsessive about that sort of thing. I do still have an FFN account under ladymoriel and most of my fics are reposted there, although none of my most recent fics are because I haven't gotten around to digging up cover images for them. also FFN sucks but I crave attention/validation and there are still some people who only use FFN, so I'll get around to it at some point.

Most Popular One-Shot: for some reason “the state of my head” has 1,157 kudos on AO3, so I guess it would be that one.

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: technically “the adventures of tiny Loki and Thor (and friends),” because it’s a multi-chapter fic (boy is it ever) and it has 1,020 kudos, but if we’re talking actual planned fic it would be “the kindness of strangers” at 623.

Favorite Story You Wrote: man, I don’t know. I’m partial to “I am a time bomb ticking away the hours to blow your world apart” because I like my headcanon and I think I structured it well, and “all this that is more than a wish is a memory” gets points for being the longest thing I’ve actually finished. but honestly I don’t know that I have a single favorite.

Story You Were Nervous to Post: haha well I'm sure there's been more than one, but if we're talking about the fic I was most nervous to post, I think that honor would go to my Grandthorki fic "I will kiss you till your breath is found," which is the most explicit AND most fucked-up fic I've written so far. I was nervous about...so many things with that one.

How Do You Pick Your Titles: probably 99% of them are song lyrics. sometimes I'll start with a specific song that's relevant to the fic itself in some way, but I also have a whole list of song lyrics that sound like good titles to me whether the rest of the song has anything to do with the subject of the fic. often I'll come up with a good lyric early in the process, just like "oh yeah I've had this hanging around in my list for ages and it works here"; otherwise, once I've finished or nearly finished a fic (or much earlier, actually, if I'm obsessing over an aspect of writing it that is...not actually writing, which happens a lot), if I still don't have a title I read through my whole list and make a much shorter list of titles that seem to fit this fic. if nothing from there seems just right, I’ll go hunting through my iTunes library and then Google for semi-relevant song lyrics. on occasion, though, the title comes first or otherwise shapes the direction of the fic, like with "I will kiss you till your breath is found"--I had a vague idea of what I might want to do, but it was very vague and I hadn't committed to it, and then I just happened to listen to some Sufjan Stevens and went "heyyyyy I know exactly what to do and it's terrible and I'm gonna do it, I have a title now, I have to do it"

Do You Outline: it depends on the fic. for long ones, at a minimum I'll write a bulleted list of plot points I need to hit, which often ends up being basically two or three pages of a zero draft that I then struggle to turn into actual prose...and then I often re-do the outline at least once or twice as I go along so I can compress it into something more useful that fits on one page and I can cross stuff out as I go. (if a list can’t fit on one page/view, there’s basically no way I can hold all of it in my head at once.) I often end up with shorter lists of scenes I still need to write and specific things to hit during revisions, too. for short fics it's not really necessary, although I often do still write up something similar if I've let it drag out over way too much time and I can't keep straight what I wanted to do with it. (don't be me.)

How Many of Your Stories are complete: welllll, as a rule I don't post WIPs because I know myself well enough to know that that way lies several different kinds of madness, so in general, my only completed fics are what's up on AO3, and everything there is complete. in practice that's not 100% true because I'm very bad at deadlines and I have a few different fics where I couldn't finish in time and I either posted the first chunk of the fic that still functioned as a self-contained story even if it wasn't the full story I'd planned to write, with the intention of properly finishing it later, or I did the same thing but worse because the part I posted was...not really a complete story. in my defense I've only done the latter a couple times, and in the case of "going down to nowhere" I really thought I'd be posting the rest soon because it was all written, it was just extremely rough, and for various reasons I still haven't gotten around to revising and posting the remaining 80% of the fic. (as far as the opposite issue goes, I have 0 finished fics that I haven't posted anywhere, because I'm too obsessive about being complete to do anything else. I think I do have one old, extremely short, very bad Lost fic on FFN that I never reposted to AO3 because I decided it sucked...and if we're being completely technical about it, I have some stories I wrote as a little kid that are technically fanfic because they featured licensed characters, but nobody wants to see those. all the other old stuff I haven't posted, including at least two Neopets fics, never got finished and that's the only reason I never posted them anywhere.)

In-Progress: uhhhh. well, this made me realize my posted WIP list is out of date, not because I've finished anything on it but because I have MULTIPLE short fics that were supposed to be QUICK so I figured I didn't need to bother putting them on the list and then they weren't quick because I am so fucking bad at 1) sitting down and actually writing and 2) finishing anything. But yeah, basically what’s on there.

Coming Soon: fuck, I don’t know. Half the fics on my WIPs list are ones I thought I could crank out in one or two sittings, AND YET. But I’d like to finish the rest of my Whumptober fic soon, because that one really should be pretty easy...and I’d also like to finish the short little Endgame fix-it I thought of on my way out of the theater, where 2012!Loki hops universes and revives IW!Loki...and then there’s the even older IW/Endgame fix-it that’s basically just “everything is fine because I say so, let’s have a little recovery”, especially because I’m like 90% sure that one’s almost done but probably some of it needs typing up and then it all needs stitching together...oh, and finally getting around to finishing typing one of two notebooks reminded me that the other theoretically short fix-it where the Guardians pick up both Thor and Loki is also nearly done, I just need to finish typing it. so...one of those, probably.

Do You Accept Prompts: in theory, although I...don't think I get prompts often enough to know one way or another? plus my brain is The Worst, so my general reaction to actually getting a prompt is basically "that's interesting but I have never had an idea in my life, ever, and apparently I'm not starting now", with an added element of social anxiety or something because it's Somebody Else's Idea and that puts a mental block on my ability to develop it as my own idea. so...anyone's welcome to send me prompts, with the understanding that I might well never do anything with it and if I do, it might take literal years.

Upcoming Story You’re the Most Excited For: I also don’t know. I mean, in recently typing up some older stuff (like the one where the Grandmaster decides publicly executing Loki sounds like a fun idea, from which I posted a couple excerpts recently) I got excited about those again, which is a good reminder of why I want to stay on top of my typing, but I don’t know if I’m more excited for one specific fic than others.

Tag Five Fanfic Authors to Answer These Questions: I have no idea who might have answered this months ago so I’ll just say that if you read this post and you want to answer these questions, please consider yourself tagged. yes, that means you.

#fanfic #writing #ask memes

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akitokihojo · 6 years ago

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In Between: Chapter 4

Wow, I have nothing to say for myself. I lost inspiration for this for a little while there and actually completely forgot about this fic until I was scrolling through my wips folder. But hey! Look! It’s back and I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter!

The previous chapters can be found in my fic masterlist, as well as on AO3 and ff.net

----------------

"I hope you aren't taking any of this personally."

She hadn't looked at the caller ID before answering the phone.

"Who is this?"

She'd blindly pressed the green answer button on her screen as soon as the call rolled in.

"It's not you I'm after, really."

She thought it was her mom. She'd been expecting her call, so of course she answered.

"But I sincerely hope you enjoy the gifts I sent as an apology. I know how much you love daisies."

She looked at the small table where a large box of chocolates and nicely wrapped bouquet of yellow daisies sat. She found them outside her door just before she'd gone to yoga this morning. Just before she'd changed her mind and stayed in. Suddenly, daisies were the most repugnant flower she'd ever set eyes on.

"That was... who are you?"

"Just know that none of this is your fault, Kagome."

"I don't understand."

"You're only involved for one specific reason."

"To hurt Inuyasha?"

"Precisely."

A clammy, uncomfortably thick sensation washed over her face, running down her throat and into her chest, a cold sweat dotting her forehead.

"Why?"

There was a breathy chuckle.

"You really should be more concerned about yourself."

"Answer me! Why are you using me to get to Inuyasha?"

"It's much more interesting this way. I like watching people break."

"You're sick."

"I'll see you soon, Kagome."

Three dull beeps in her ear let her know the call had ended.

Kagome stared at her phone in shock, the screen going black as she processed every riddling word just said to her. His voice sounded deeper than she'd initially imagined.

Even though it was just a phone call, she could feel her body wavering, her abdomen leadened and tingly, not a single part of her body holding the right amount of stability. She was scared, unnerved, flummoxed, and overriding all of that was the sudden surge of audacious fury. Kagome dropped her cell on the couch, stomping over to the table to scoop up the unwarranted gifts and toss them in the trashcan as aggressively as possible, the plastic bag losing its grip on the bin and dropping inward.

Who the hell did this guy think he was; calling her, pretending it was nothing but a courtesy, acting as if he was being kind by sending her chocolates and daisies, and giving a cheap explanation? He was scum. Horrible, terrifying, disgusting, worthless scum. What was Kagome supposed to do now? Tell the police? She had no valuable information to give them, and this time he took the liberty of blocking his number. He hadn't given any sort of idea to what "see you soon" meant, and she knew it would only be a waste of everyone's time.

She'd just have to swallow this one on her own.

Kagome paced back and forth in her living room, still donned in the yoga outfit she hadn't bothered to change out of. She'd figured that since she wasn't comfortable going outside today, thanks to the ugly flowers and distasteful candies, she'd just flow with her home practice, but then she'd received the call. Her nerves were flared, her muscles where trembling, an intolerable rush was coursing through her bloodstream causing her to be annoyingly antsy, and there was absolutely no hope of her staying still for more than twelve seconds at a time. Her apartment was suddenly too small and she wanted to go outside for a breath of fresh air, but then the world was too big. She was suffocating inside, and she was blind outside. Everything was a lose-lose, and Kagome wanted to yell, wanted to break something.

But what good would that do?

Why should she have to buy a new lamp just because some conniving creep thought he was cunning? She tried stilling for a moment, taking deep breaths to release at least a little stress, and very slowly she could feel herself coming together again. The cramps in her lungs were beginning to lessen, and her limbs began to feel closer to normal, a little gelatinous like they would after a workout, but better than they did moments ago. She wasn't there yet. She wasn't one-hundred percent okay. Maybe sixty-two percent, but it quickly snapped back down to ten the instant her phone's ringtone blared once more, her head whipping to view the illuminated screen laying on the cushions of her hand-me-down couch.

As if a signal was shot into her brain, Kagome began trembling all over again, an insurmountable amount of thoughts racing through her mind and holding her captive. He's calling again. Jesus Christ, he's calling again! He just called! Why is this happening? Stop calling me! Mom? It's mom. It's just mom. What if he has mom's phone? No, it's mom. It's okay. You're okay. Answer the phone. It's just mom.

She reached for the chiming device, constricting her chest muscles to control her heavy breathing and calm down. Who would have thought that a single attempt at contact, hearing his voice one time, would cause her to be such an inconsolable basket case? Her face was freezing from the dewy sweat glistening her face, some of it drying and tightening against her skin only to be dampened again with a new layer. Kagome lightly pressed her fingers over her sticky flesh, wiping the beads away, wiping away any physical evidence that she was not okay.

"Hi, mama." She'd barely managed to answer the phone before it went to voicemail, putting it on speaker so she wouldn't take the chance of dirtying the screen by pressing it to her ear.

"Hey." It was always easy to hear the smile in her mother's voice, a sense of smooth serenity flowing through. "How are you?"

"I'm okay. How are you? How's work?"

"You don't sound okay, Kagome. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, mom, I'm fine."

"Kagome..."

"I've just had a busier morning than I'd planned. How are you? How's Sota?" She tried again.

"I'm alright. Tired from the nightshifts, but it's nothing your mother can't handle. Sota's keeping his grades up and even seems to have a girlfriend, though he's in the too-cool-to-tell-your-mom stage. You know how that goes. When are you coming home to visit?"

"Soon. I can't wait to tease him for finally getting a girl to look in his direction."

"Kagome." She expected the tone to be more stern for her knock at her little brother, not one of concern. Was she that easy to read?

"Soon, mom. I promise. I just... I have a few things I need to take care of that've had me tied up on the weekends."

"Are you sure you're okay? I haven't heard much from you lately. I can't help but worry."

"I'm perfectly fine, mom. Just... busy."

"Alright. Well, we miss you."

"I miss you too. Tell Sota to use protection."

"Kagome!"

"Love you! Get some rest!"

"I love you too."

"Bye."

There was no way in hell Kagome would tell her mom what was going on. She couldn't take a chance of involving anyone else. If her mother knew, she'd insist she come stay at home until the police caught her stalker, but the creep already knew where her family lived. There was a photo taken of her and her brother the last time she'd gone to visit. This guy had invited himself into her home more than once, so who's to say he wouldn't do the same if she switched locations? There was absolutely no way she'd put her family in danger like that. They didn't need to know. She can't take those chances.

Still, Kagome was fidgeting in place. She needed to get out of her house. The windows had been closed up for too long and the stuffiness was getting to her. Although the conversation was brief, talking to her mom had calmed her down considerably. It was a super power of hers, and thanks to it, she felt stable enough to go outdoors. A quick walk would do her some good.

She didn't bother changing. She didn't want to give herself any time to talk herself out of it. The moment Kagome urged herself to go out for some fresh air, she grabbed her small backpack, something she opted for on the weekends that was easier to lug around than a purse, shoved her phone into the side pocket of it, squeezed her feet into an abused pair of sneakers she wore too often, and marched out the door, triple checking that it was locked like she'd done everyday since the break in.

The weather was substantially nicer than what they'd been enduring lately. The sun was out for the first time in at least two weeks, and she hoped the trace amount of vitamin D on her skin would be enough to lift her spirits. Even just a little. Still, it wasn't particularly warm, and Kagome was glad she never removed her thin, cotton sweatshirt or else she'd look like a shivering mess walking along her path. She didn't know where she was going. She let her feet lead the way. She had no place she needed to be, and no place she necessarily wanted to go. She just wanted everything to stop. For a small gap of time, she wanted absolutely nothing to happen.

Kagome tried keeping her mind busy to prevent it from floating back to the phone call she'd received this morning, and the ever-ominous, second, "see you soon," she'd gotten that held the potential of breaking her down again. She thought about future projects and lesson plans for her students, and thought about her brother going through his hilariously embarrassing, too relatable, teenage angst years, and thought about seeing her mom again, and thought about this funny-by-five-year-old-standards joke Shippo had told yesterday, and thought about some grading she needed to do, and then stopped altogether. She'd walked at least a mile, surprised at how successful she was in distracting herself, never once minding her whereabouts. Which could have also led her to trouble. From where she stood, she was probably asking for just that.

Feudal Knockout Gym

The air was dense, smelling of musty salt. For someone who had left the smothering state of her apartment so that she could breathe, she'd definitely come to the wrong place. In fact, Kagome didn't know why she'd come here at all. She had no business waltzing into the gym Inuyasha frequented, a gym she'd only been to a handful of times before only because he'd brought her along.

Inuyasha ducked, dodging the wrapped fist flying his way, guarding his face before throwing a punch of his own. There was sweat gliding down his forehead and over his brow, about to drip into his eye, and he could only hope the velocity of his kick would track the dangerous bead of salt away, even by a centimeter, just to delay the sting. He nailed his opponent, pushing him back just enough so he could use the wrapping around his knuckles to soak up the sweat, barely blocking his opponents quick moves as he came in swinging. The half demon took the punches as they came, blocking left and right, waiting for the assailant to show a sign of fatigue before making his move. At the first opportunity, Inuyasha punched at his opponent, knowing he'd easily block it, but also knowing the force of his throw would nudge him back, taking advantage of the space to nail him with a spinning heel kick.

As the guy stumbled to the side, Inuyasha caught a familiar scent, the sweet, warm aroma clashing with the stench of the gym that filled his nose, stealing his undivided attention as he turned to face the direction it wafted over from. Before he could say anything, or notice anything significant about her, the crack of knuckles to his face knocked him over, bringing him crashing to the ground.

"Here's a tip: you wouldn't have gotten decked if you kept your eyes on me."

"I didn't ask." Inuyasha grunted, taking the offered hand held out to him and rising to a stand, rubbing out the new ache in his jaw.

"I hope it bruises." He laughed, clapping the half demon on the shoulder before walking away. Inuyasha brushed it off, more concerned with the girl standing in the entrance. Kagome held herself awkwardly, undeniably uncomfortable, her shoulders slouching forward as she loosely wrapped her fingers around the straps of her bag. She was dressed in a grey sweatshirt, a loose t-shirt that used to be two sizes too large for her before she cut it, the new hemline of the thin cotton rolling up to meet her midriff, tight, rosy-colored leggings, and rundown, black sneakers. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail that gently wagged from side to side as she looked back and forth over the gym, every now and then meeting his gaze, but then glancing back over to a banister-draped wall.

On instinct, but with a cool control he forced himself to bring forth, he made his way over to her, stopping with a comfortable gap to mind the distance between them.

"What's up?"

Kagome took a deep breath, almost like she wasn't prepared for the question in the first place, her chest rising from the deep inhalation, lips twitching upward as she tried to force them into a prepared smile. "I-I... uh... I... wow, I'm sorry..." She said, chagrined, a pink hue tinting her cheeks as she looked away from him, chewing her bottom lip before trying to speak again. "I don't know what I'm... I-I...I think I just need to punch something."

Inuyasha could feel the twisted expression he wore, obviously worried. A dominant part of him wanted to press her into telling him what was wrong, because clearly something was, but shaking the truth out of her wouldn't get him what he wanted. There was no use in trying to talk about it right now. With the way she was fumbling over her words, her train of thought appearing scattered, if he even tried asking what was wrong there was a high chance that she'd snap. Instead, he stepped back, keeping up that control he couldn't help but be proud of himself for maintaining, holding his hand out to point her in the direction of the nearest punching bag. She gave a feeble smile, toeing her shoes off before stepping on the large blue mat and walking over to the thick, black punching bag weighted with water.

He glanced over at his gym buddy who was watching curiously as he packed his bag. It was quiet, mostly because classes didn't start until the evening on Saturdays. Surprisingly, mid-morning was the best time to fit in some peaceful and efficient practice with maybe a couple other people doing their own thing on the side. Until Kagome showed up, it was only the two of them. He gave a nod toward the door, hoping his friend would catch the hint, and thankfully he wasn't the prying type. He quickly finished shoving his shit into his duffle bag, zipped it up, and walked out.

Inuyasha looked back over to Kagome. She'd propped her small backpack against the wall nearby, standing idly in front of the bag, staring at it with weakly-formed fists laying at her sides. The air about her was heavy and tightly-wound. Something was wringing her dry, thieving away her positive and alluring energy, and she was doing a balancing act just trying to keep herself together. But what the hell was he supposed to do about it? She'd told him she wants nothing to do with him. She doesn't want his help, yet here she was stumbling into his gym looking thirty seconds away from a mental breakdown. He was jammed between a rock and a hard place. If he helped, or tried helping, there was a good chance she'd probably tell him to fuck off and mind his business. If he left her alone when she really needed him, she would probably tell him to fuck off for being an asshole.

He could handle mysteries. He could handle puzzles and riddles, algorithms and horribly long, tedious criminal cases that involved their psychologist having to come in and break everything down bit-by-bit, but by god, he struggled with the full spectrum of human emotions. More particularly, female emotions. Even more specifically, Kagome's emotions. So what was the right move here?

He was staring, she could feel it. No matter how hard she tried to ignore him, she was hyperaware of the sensation of those ember irises boring into her. The more he waited for her to do something, the more anxious she became. The last thing she needed was him witnessing her flimsy strikes against a bag that would probably end up inflicting more damage on her than she could ever do. With the pressure already resting on her shoulders, and the additional weight she'd just piled on top thanks to her dumb instincts and horrible speaking performance, she was feeling considerably more self conscious than normal.

"Can you not watch me do this, please?" Kagome asked sheepishly, glancing over her shoulder at him.

Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest, giving her an ambivalent look before walking away to find his own duffel bag. He meagerly distracted himself by toweling off the drying sweat on his forehead, neck, and bare chest, listening to her fists smacking the material of the punching bag as he pulled a black tee over his head, drawing his ponytail through before the hemline could snag it and loosen the messy knot. She kept going, small grunts escaping her throat as she started punching harder and harder, the rough sounds of knuckles against the bag coming quicker as she finally felt comfortable incorporating her left hand. He could tell she wasn't hitting right. He knew her. He always had to remind her how to do it, and the harder she went, the more likely she was to get hurt.

"Hey, I'm not watching or anything, but keep your wrists tight. Like I taught you." He said before taking a swig of water from his bottle.

Kagome looked over, making sure Inuyasha was telling the truth, reassured that he was only figuratively looking out for her. She adjusted her fists, rolling them out real quick and then flexing the muscles to hold them straight like he'd shown her several times over, her punches coming much more solid.

It didn't take long for her to start imagining the bag was her stalker, punching him hard right in the gut. It wasn't good enough, though. Without a face, a body, a build, anything other than his deep, raspy voice to go off of, the fires in her stomach remained raging. So, she imagined the guy that paid a visit while she got coffee, and threw her fist right at his arrogant smile. Still not sufficient. He was the go-between, the delivery boy, but he wasn't the one that taunted her on the phone this morning. He obviously wasn't the mastermind to all of this; he just so happened to carry out the mastermind's orders. Even so, imagining him didn't feel half as good as she thought it would. What the hell was it gonna take? Kagome punched harder and harder, her throat burning from the ragged cries her body gave to provide more force. Her knuckles were stinging, but she kept pushing. Her biceps and shoulders were fatigued, but she continued to hit as violently as she could muster. She was exhausted and scared and hunted and alone. It was her fault. It was entirely her fault. She refused to bring any of her friends and family into the mix, and she pushed away the one person that could, and even wanted to help. She isolated herself, let her pride call the shots, threw a temper tantrum, and still had the impertinence to imagine the punching bag was now Inuyasha. Kagome swung one more time, gasping as her middle knuckle slid against the leather, clutching her fist to her chest just as she noticed the half demon standing next to her.

"I'm fine!" She snapped, throwing her hands up and turning away before he could say anything. There was a click in his breath as he stopped himself from speaking and it was enough to topple her barely-held restraint over the edge, so she turned back to him, lost in her reverie, her dark ponytail whipping her cheek from her spin. "No, you know what? Screw you, Inuyasha! I can't believe you'd just leave like that!"

"What the hell are you going on about?" He asked incredulously, trying to bite down the shock of her huffing and puffing before him.

"You always want to play the hero, so why would you throw this golden opportunity in the gutter, huh? Tell me the truth! I can handle it! I'm handling everything else just fine, so lay it on me!"

"Yeah, clearly."

"What ever happened to, "I won't let anyone hurt you, Kagome?”" She deepened her voice, giving her best attempt at mocking the half demon.

“Did something happen!?”

“Stop! You don't get to pretend like you care right now! You left my case!”

“How the hell did-"

"Was it because of what I said!?"

"Kagome!"

"I don't know what to do, Inuyasha!"

"Calming down is the first step!"

"I'm sorry! Is that what you wanted to hear? Because I am!"

He didn't rebuttal that time. Inuyasha dropped his hands to his sides, fists clenched, chest swelled, waiting for her to explain what the fuck was going on since he could sense her self-defeat. Kagome's breathing was labored and her cheeks were a furious red, lips almost the same color from the way she kept pressing them together and biting down on the bottom.

“I know I was out of line. It was wrong of me to treat you the way I did. The way I have been.” The tension radiating from her was finally easing, her anger waning, changing, shifting into sadness. No, guilt. Tears lined the brim of her tired eyes, spilling over as she blinked, her fingers gliding through her mess of bangs. “I was a jerk and I said things I shouldn't have. You were right, okay? I was still upset. I didn't expect any of this to happen, though! One minute, everything was fine, the next I've got both you and a stalker in my apartment! My ability to process things was, I don't know, shaken I guess. I know I probably deserve this, but a part of me never considered you’d hand over my case to anyone else.”

“Who the fuck told you I did?” Inuyasha asked, a fierce expression on his face, setting his jaw to silence his growl.

“I went to the station the other day and Hojo said you weren't on my case anymore.”

“So you just assumed I left it?”

“Well y-“

“You idiot.” He grunted, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t willingly leave it! I was kicked off! I’m involved in more ways than one, so our defense attorney said in order to make sure there’s a chance of a prosecution at the end of this, we had to do it by the book.”

Kagome stared at him, mouth sealing shut as she realized she never wanted to talk ever again, her belly gurgling with the unsettling humility she'd sheathed herself in. He hadn't abandoned her. Using the sleeve of her sweater, she hastily swiped away the tear stains on her cheeks, hoping that if she rubbed hard enough, she'd be able to erase her blowout from ever happening.

"You could have called me if you were that upset. I would have told you." Inuyasha said, crossing his arms over his chest, a subtle roll in his eyes.

"I was... I was mad at you."

"Face it, you still are." He said, holding his palm out so she'd give him her hand, wanting to see the knuckle she kept rubbing.

"No, that's not... I don't want to talk about that." Kagome looked away, unable to fight off her embarrassment, not wanting to meet his gaze.

"Me neither." He scoffed, grabbing her wrist when she didn't give it over, inspecting her reddened skin. Luckily, she didn't hit hard enough to split the delicate flesh, but she'd burned it pretty well. It'd be sensitive, but she'd be fine. "So, are you gonna tell me what happened, or are we gonna stand around in this awkward silence for a little while longer?"

Kagome took back her hand, gently massaging the tender area once more. She was right to assume the punching bag would do more harm than she ever could.

"I don't know... everything just became too much." She replied, giving a minute shrug. "Y'know, it took me two days to get my apartment back in working order, and I had to call out of work for one of those because I had to wash all of my bedding and clothes. Now, this morning, I wake up to gifts outside my door and a phone call from this guy saying he's sorry. Sorry." She chuckled cynically at the last word, too caught up in the audacity of her stalker to notice Inuyasha's stiffened reaction.

"What!?"

"No, it's-" Kagome caught herself, knowing that if she said it wasn't a big deal, Inuyasha would fight her into the cold ground. "There were chocolates and flowers, and I threw them in the garbage."

"He called you? Give me your phone!" Inuyasha ordered.

"It was with a blocked number this time." She turned to kneel in front of her backpack, doing as he said and fishing her phone out.

The hanyou snatched it up, glaring at her recent calls list in an attempt to scare the phone number into appearing. Even if it did, even if the perp hadn't bothered using star-sixty-seven like a little bitch, chances were it was just one of his burn phones. This guy just liked to appear all over the place to throw everyone off. The more you switch it up, the less there is to expect. "What did he say to you?"

"He gave me this cheap apology."

There was more. He could see it in the way she fluttered her lashes and continued to avoid eye contact. She was an awful liar.

"What else?"

She shook her head.

"Kagome, what else did he say?"

She looked up at him, her big, brown eyes riddled with perturbation, loosely wrapping her arms around her front. The discomfort spilling from her spiked, making it hard for Inuyasha to stand there idly until she was ready to speak. What had this fucker said to her? Something grotesque? A threat? He needed to know and he needed to know now before he lost his shit like she had. What the fuck did he say to make her mentally topple over this way? He opened his mouth to push her once more, his breath halting in his throat as she gave in.

"He said he's only using me to get to you." She said, her voice timid and small.

"Is that it?"

She nodded.

"Okay." He breathed, slightly relieved, allowing his shoulders to relax and his chest to deflate. He didn't like that the piece of shit was trying to play mind games with Kagome, but he couldn't help but be thankful that it didn't turn out to be anything worse. And in his line of work, he's heard so much worse. Inuyasha didn't blame her for her outrage. He didn't blame her for how exhausted she seemed, or how tiny she tried to make herself appear. The amount of stress she was under was incredible. It was only a matter of time before she broke down.

"Okay?"

"I kind of already figured that out."

"What? How?"

"Intuition. Look, don't worry about the nitty gritty right now." He tried to soften his tone, stepping forward an inch and hovering a hand beside her arm to see if she'd flinch away. She didn't. Instead, she seemed to ease her hold on herself, her fingers unfurling from the cotton of her sleeves. Slowly, gently, he gripped her shoulder, giving a small squeeze of reassurance. "That's my job, not yours. The only thing I need you to do is trust me. Once we have more substantial information, I'll let you know. Otherwise, premature details will only freak you out further."

"But you're off the case. How can you do anything if-"

"I'm helping, I just can't be in the immediate investigation. Everyone's still communicating with me. They let me know you stopped by and what happened. I was going to drop in and check on you, but I wasn't really in the mood to get yelled at." He retracted awkwardly, handing over her cellphone.

"Okay, yeah I kind of blew my top, but in all fairness, you egged me on." She stated, grabbing the phone and dropping it on top of her bag to be forgotten.

"I did not!"

"Can you get your head out of your ass for like twelve seconds and talk to me?" She mocked again, crossing her arms and cocking a brow to mimic his usual stature.

"First of all, you dick, I sound nothing like that."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Second, I said to talk to me. Not call me names and chew me out!"

"You just called me a dick."

"You called me an inconsiderate ass!"

"Maybe so." Kagome shrugged, not bothering to argue that one away. "You were pushing me to do it, though! You told me, and I quote, to get the pent-up aggravation off my chest!"

"You can't say "and I quote" if you're going to change my words around." He huffed.

"Oh my god, Inuyasha! You wanted reciprocation for your efforts, and that's all I had for you! You wanted to talk about a sensitive subject at the worst possible time! What did you expect, pleasantries!?"

"A civil conversation, maybe!" He barked.

"Oh, because you're captain of civility." Kagome responded sarcastically, almost laughing.

"I can be civil!"

"Mhm, like right now?" She smirked, shrugging her brows in a challenging expression. This was the most fun she'd had in weeks. Mostly because she knew she had him backed in a corner.

"What's your point?" Inuyasha asked, stiffening as he bit back his irritability in support of his argument.

"Only that you get all frustrated and pushy when things aren't going your way, and lose all traces of basic manners. Look, I take full responsibility for what I said, but you instigated my temper. There's a time and a place, Inuyasha, and that was not it."

"Maybe so." He echoed, the hint of sarcasm tainting the remark. "Would it have actually made a difference if I brought up the topic at a later opportunity? Because, I don't think it would have."

"You don't know that."

"Shut up!" Inuyasha groaned, shaking his head. "I know you. I fucking fear your temper. No matter what, you were bound to lose it."

"Not necessarily! There probably would have been less pillow throwing!"

Inuyasha inadvertently chuckled, nodding in agreement. She had him there. Kagome was never one for physically offending a person.

"In my meager defense, I wasn't prepared. For any of it; for my apartment to be turned upside down, for a screaming match in the middle of the night, or even to discuss what happened in the first place. It was kind of overwhelming." Kagome shrugged, partially conflicted with the whole matter. On the one hand, she knew she had the right to be upset with Inuyasha. He broke her trust. He'd crossed a line four months ago. On the other, she didn't deserve any sort of defense for what she'd said to him. She'd intended to hurt his ego. In turn, she'd crossed a line four days ago.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Inuyasha brushed off. "Neither was I. Hope you got it all off your chest, because what you need to learn to grasp now is that I'm here. I'm not fucking going anywhere, especially after this, so get used to it. Either we forget about what happened, or we hash it out. Those are our options." He knew he sounded brash, but he also knew he was getting his point across. He wasn't going to leave her.

Not now.

Not ever.

It was never supposed to happen at all. It was one giant clusterfuck of a situation, but at this point in time, he didn't give a damn. As frustrating as she was, as horrible of a fall out as they'd had, he loved Kagome too goddamn much to let her slip away again; to let her deal with this bullshit alone. Even if they never reestablished whatever they used to have, he was fine with that. That wasn't what mattered. Being her friend wasn't even what mattered right now. Everything came second to her well-being.

Eventually, Kagome gave an acknowledging nod, releasing a large sigh as she gave a feeble smile. He knew she wouldn't opt for talking about things right now, and a part of him couldn't help but be grateful. It wasn't necessary. Not at the moment. Her head wasn't on straight, which was more than understandable. While he knew the ins and outs of victimization, she didn't. This was new to her, and obviously she wasn't handling things very well anymore. Hell, she'd hung on longer than he'd expected, though, and credit was definitely due there.

While her skin may be delicate, her mindset and her heart were not. Kagome was tough, and in many ways, much stronger than Inuyasha. She didn't know this, and if he had his way she never would, but not too long ago one affectionate graze from her had him mentally, and almost physically, debilitated for hours. Pigs would fly the day he ever saw Kagome literally swoon the way he pathetically had.

"Look, um..." Inuyasha cleared his throat, clenching his fists to resist the thirst he had to run his fingers through her bangs. "Like I said, don't worry about anything else right now, okay? It's not important. You still need to hit something?" He asked, walking towards a large equipment closet at the other side of the gym.

"That's probably not a good idea with the show I just put on."

"It'll be fine. Catch."

She flinched, barely snagging a small punching pad before it slipped through the crack in her arms, looking up to see him on his way back over with another, similarly sized pad in his grasp. He gave a small chuckle at her clumsiness, taking the object from her as soon as he closed the distance, dropping them both to the floor. Inuyasha began undoing the wraps protecting his knuckles, the long, black material unfurling and reaching the mat.

"Come on." He gestured for her to put her hand out before him, and Kagome mindlessly followed suit, watching as he began to wrap her palm with the black lining in a design that covered both her knuckles and wrist.

"Gross, it's sweaty."

"Deal with it. I didn't bring any extra." Inuyasha murmured, securing the fit before undoing his next hand and wrapping her other one over. "Tight enough, or too tight?"

"No, it's good." She replied, curling and uncurling her fingers to test the padding he'd created.

"Make a fist." He said, waiting for her to show him so he could adjust her thumb and wrists. "Jeez. Every time, Kagome."

"It's been months!" She defended. Inuyasha retrieved the punching pads from the floor, sliding his palm into the gloved portion at the back and securing the strap around his wrist. He handed the other one over to Kagome as she aided him in getting it secured, watching him smack the two circular cushions together before holding them out in front of him.

"Okay, now remember to pivot into your- get in the stance. Come on."

She did as she was told, angling her form with her left hip and shoulder facing Inuyasha, knees slightly bent, bringing her fists up to protect her face. "Pivot my back foot for more force. I remember that much."

"You can remember that, but you can't remember to keep your wrists straight?"

"It's not-"

"Wrists straight, Kagome!"

She quickly adjusted her wrists, guarding her face from his flying, padded hand as he gently swatted her head. "Okay! I'm sorry!"

"Remember the combo?" Inuyasha asked.

"I think so."

"Good. I want you to go until you can't anymore. Aim for the pads, not my face."

"I wouldn't do any damage."

"You've damn near given me a concussion before."

"Hush. You're just a sissy."

"Yeah, yeah. Show me what you got, baby." Inuyasha slapped the pads together once more as he steeled his position, a loud smack bouncing off the walls of the gym.

#inuyasha #kagome #Kagome Higurashi #inukag #Inuyasha fanfiction #Inuyasha fanfic #Inuyasha fic #inukag fanfic #inukag fic #in between #my writing #akitokihojo

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spectrumscribe · 6 years ago

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i was in a bad headspace last night, but i worked out most of that negativity with some writing for a fluffy self-indulgent fic. today, i slept in and made sure i ate good food, and now i’d like to talk about my original stories! i’ve been working hard on two of them specifically lately, since the stories are really starting to come into focus and i’ve named a bunch of the most important characters- plus!! worldbuilding!! i adore creating societies and ecosystems and... just, everything. this is a story i’m legit wanting to publish someday, so running the wip concepts by you guys is a good test run for that future!

under the cut, so i don’t clog your dashes.

What Remains of Eden - currently my most fleshed out story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, plus everything in between.

i’ve spoken about this story before, when someone graciously asked me to info dump about my ocs. now that i have it more figured out, i’ll give a try at a summary.

“Monica wakes in a forest. Before that moment, she has no memory of anything, not even herself. As she’s drawn from the forest by a connection she can’t explain, Monica walks into a world full of magic, joy, hardship, and... only children. From five to fourteen, no one is older or younger.

Joining a ragtag band of kids, who welcome her into their messy, tightly packed home, Monica does her best to stay afloat in her new world. She encounters gangs of bullies, squadrons of peacekeepers, and guilds of all trades and types. The city of children is never quiet, and Monica’s curiosity isn’t either. She seeks answers to questions no one else seems to be asking- where did they come from, why do they instinctively know things despite having no prior memories, and what happens to those who fade away to ashes?

When Monica suddenly stands to lose someone precious to her, she has to band together with her friends and track down the source of everything, utilizing her wisdom, her skills, and the belief that together they can unravel the mysteries of their world.”

not bad? could be better. probably will be once i’ve written the entire thing. i have a few pages of the first chapter now, as well as a poster board that i’m using to plot the entire story (its taped up in my house’s hallway and i’m really grateful my family is okay with me cluttering up the wall with sticky notes and random pieces of paper).

i guess now i’ll talk about my favorite part of this story: societal power structures :D

how the city is split up territoriality changes all the time, and there’re different layers of who has claim to what. the peacekeepers- self appointed older kids, typically responsible for making sure things don’t get out of hand in fights or disputes- have a citywide authority. whether people listen to them or not depends on how willing the kids are to negotiate their issues, or how much patience the peacekeeper has that day. the peacekeepers, along with being the eldest ages, will recruit strong fighters and powerful magic users. sometimes leads to some branches getting a little brutal and corrupted... but since everyone is a kid, and kids don’t let that stand, the branch is eventually set straight and order is restored.

next level is the gangs, who ‘own’ anywhere from a few blocks to up to a third of the city; these are made up of either residents of the neighborhood, or any kid who wants to work their way up the social ladder and is willing to move around to achieve that. they sometimes clash with peacekeepers- since they tend to cause fights over turf disputes or deals gone wrong with merchants- and the temperament of each one is dependent on who runs it. aggressive, passive, assertive, subordinate- the gangs come in all types, and sometimes aren’t really ‘gangs’ at all, but groups of kids who hang around each other constantly.

the final powerhouse in the city, and the true ruling force, is the guilds. merchant guilds- the ones who make the clothes, pottery, toys, etc.- run market places throughout the city. each one made up of collectives of kids who have skills or powers that aid their craft. other guilds are the farmers and the hunters- two guilds who dare to venture outside the city’s safety and bring back food everyone needs to live.

and within the inner city are two of the most important ones of all: the library guild, and the nest guild. the librarians occupy the center most tower of the city, which is the only stone one, and keep records of essentially everything. they’re invaluable as a source of information to whoever needs it. the ‘nest’ guild is a nickname, because the guild that provides clean, purified water for everyone is... a bunch of little kids. there’s a reservoir that flows from the depths of a chaotic, hivelike building, which is guarded fiercely by hoards of little kids, who have come together because there’s safety in numbers. while the city is meant to be a utopia, it still comes with all the challenges and conflicts and dangers that all humans create for themselves, even kids. the smaller children are safer together, cared for by trustworthy older ones, until they grow and learn enough to handle themselves outside of the nest.

to answer the question before it’s asked, Monica joins the hunters guild, because of her desire to know more about their world, and because of her power of perfect accuracy with whatever she throws. i have a collection of ocs from that guild and from some others- like the library guild, which plays a major part of Monica’s mystery solving. from the hunters guild we have Sen, the very serious sword girl from my previous talk about this story, and from the library guild we have Yvon, a high energy bookworm who lives for documenting things, people, and places. i have more to say about these two, but that’ll come later with character specific posts.

well... that’s enough info dumping for one night. i have an insane rush of shifts the next few days, so i need to get a good night’s sleep and avoid getting sick like the rest of my family! i’m not going to have much time for fanfic or original writing for a while, but!!! if people wanted to send me asks about this story- or my other ones, if you know anything about them- please feel free! it’ll probably make me think harder about details and characterization, and improve the quality of the story as it is.

to anyone who read this entire thing, you’re amazing, i love you, thank you for liking my writing enough to take interest in my original works too. <333

#WRoE #WRoE world building notes #if there are typos here i'll come back later and catch them #for now my fingers are tired and i'm gonna wind down for sleep #spec ocs

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risualto · 6 years ago

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20, 23, 31, 33, 50

Thanks, friendo :D

20. Post a snippet of a WIP?Under the readmore at the bottom bc it’s long.

23. Single or multi-POV and why?I typically prefer third person omniscient, but I never jump between perspectives without reason and I only write from one at a time. If I change perspective, it’s either because I’m changing a scene or something drastic about the current scene has changed. I’ve been trying some more third person limited recently, though, and it’s going pretty well.

31. Hardest character to write?Generically? The shounen anime protagonist boys. I find most of their personalities to be difficult to convey without accidentally sounding like a bad 4Kids dub. Specifically? Grieving Mother from Pillars has been kicking my ass recently.

33. Do you listen to music while you’re writing?Already answered~

50. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had?Technically already answered but I suppose I can just come up with another one. Once, when I was stuck on a tour bus, someone said something at like 2am during the drive and I started making a note on my phone about the nature of silence that ended up reading like some kind of pretentious classic literature. It got deleted accidentally, but I remember there were ghosts involved.

Send me a question! | Original post

The assassin scoffed, and Iruka pictured him trying to smirk as he hissed, “You don’t know shit. There’s dozens of us. None of ya are gettin’ out of here alive. ‘Specially not you, mi–alckk–”

In a movement so quick it belied years of morbid practice, the weapon at the assassin’s neck was replaced with Iruka’s forearm, pressing violently against his windpipe. The leather of her vambraces slipped slightly, revealing that indeed the man had bled, but the pressure was enough to block his airways. Iruka began to count again. One, two, three…

Outside of her head, she caught Lenore’s again-frightened blue gaze and said firmly, “If that were so, how could not one of them have caught sight of me? Those ‘dozens’ you claim are either incompetent beyond nature or a lie.” When Lenore still made no move to aid her, Iruka sighed and pulled the man back another step. “I could kill him right here, if you like,” she lied, catching Lenore’s attention. Her eyes swept over the room of painfully clean fabrics and sparkling mirrors and crystal. “But he hardly seems worth ruining your carpets.”

Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…

Lenore nodded, then, wordlessly, and walked with forced confidence towards where the assassin’s sword had fallen. She bent down slowly, eyes still on Iruka, and picked it up by the handle with both trembling hands.

Iruka nodded her encouragement as the woman moved hesitantly to hand over the sword. When she was close enough, Iruka let go of her own knife and took the assassin’s blade. “Thank you,” she said. “Now the window.” Lenore moved towards it, seemingly gaining confidence back with each movement, and unlatched the window. She pulled it open, the damp night air rushing inside with a soft sigh.

As she began to rush towards the door, Iruka stopped her with a sharp, “Remember.” Lenore hesitated, a statue in the middle of her own room. “Speak not one word of my appearance.”

The woman nodded. She looked Iruka firmly in the eyes and managed a quiet, reverent, “Thank you,” and then she was gone, bedroom door slamming behind her.

Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven…

“F–agh–ck you,” choked the assassin in her grip as Iruka moved him to stand before the open window. The pressure of her arm on his throat let up for a moment, and he began to cough violently, flecks of blood flying from the wound Iruka had left into the rug. “You think yer–hahhgh–some kind of hero, lady?”

“If it would make you feel better to believe so,” Iruka murmured as she tightened her grip on the sword (and counted anyway, thirty-three, thirty-four…), “instead of knowing that you were beaten at your own job by someone simply better than you…” The man’s jaw tightened in anger, the lines of his body becoming jaggedly stiff as he inhaled to yell out the window. That shout, however, fell off of his lips in a bloody, wet gasp as Iruka drew the sword from hilt to tip across his throat and shoved the body forward. As it tumbled to the ground, landing with a grotesque crunch, Iruka sighed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the sill. “…be my guest.”

The counting did not stop. Forty, forty-one, forty-two…

#risuresponds #my friends #shinyivyleaves #thanks dude #enjoy the ominous D&D side stories

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theticklishpear · 7 years ago

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WriteblrConnects December Festive Fun

@writeblrconnections did a month-long palooza of daily questions to get to know each other. They wanted us to blog the original posts to add on, but I didn’t want to spam you all with the posts every day, so instead, here are my responses under the cut, all at once, in case anyone was interested. (Sorry for breaking the rules, M3....)

Day One: Why did you pick your current Tumblr handle? Is there a story behind the handle? How did you come up with the idea for it?

I wanted to do something related to literature, but I also knew I didn’t want to be a blog solely dedicated to whatever it was I referenced. I didn’t have a reason for choosing Harry Potter aside from it being a series I grew up with and one of the reasons I started reading on a regular basis. I wanted something that wouldn’t seem too overt, but if you knew the books well enough, you’d get it. Add the original illustration for the moment in the books as my avatar to help pass the hint along, and there I was: theticklishpear.

Day Two: Where is your favorite writing spot?

The floor! Laying on the floor with a notebook and pen is the best way I’ve found to get myself unstuck and to ease myself back into writing after a long break. It puts me in stronger touch with the words themselves somehow.

Day Three: What is your favorite kind of music to listen to while writing?

Movie and game soundtracks! It’s got to be lyric-less. I don’t have specific playlists for different stories or types of scenes, though.

Day Four: Awful AU Ideas: Name one (or more if you’re so inclined!) AU idea(s) that would either have your readers crying (because it’s good but incredibly sad) or cringing (because it’s truly terrible).

I... don’t really get AU ideas?

Day Five: Post a GIF to describe your current attitude/state with writing (please keep it PG-13 or below!)

Day Six: Name your top three “bad” habits when it comes to writing. This can be anything that the “rules” (or any other common writing advice) say are “bad.” Think of this as flouting the rules!

1. “Just” and “very.” 2. Long, sometimes-too-complex sentences. 3. Ignore the idea of flaws. Not that they don’t have what some would consider “flaws,” just that I don’t put any stock in the idea of calling them flaws. They’re just another facet.

Day Seven: What do you find the easiest–first drafts, rewrites or edits? Which is the hardest?

Easiest is edits. There’s nothing subjective about those. Either it’s spelled correctly or not; either the comma belongs there or it doesn’t; either the sentence is convoluted or it’s not; either the sentence achieves something and belongs, or it doesn’t and it gets cut. Drafts and rewrites are more fun, but they’re also more work and more imagination and more effort. Edits are just factual.

Day Eight: Take a look at this amusing explanation of plot bunnies. Which one(s) do you struggle with the most?

Lethargic, easily startled, and dying bunnies are common for me. I often get an idea I love that I’m very enthusiastic about until I’ve written a portion of it, at which point it loses steam, and I have a hard time getting back into it, particularly if the bunny doesn’t come with an end-point for the story to move toward. After that initial steam, it takes a while for me to sit down and puzzle out what the story really is.

Day Nine: What’s your favorite way to break writer’s block?

Breaking writer’s block is never fun for me, so “favorite” is a bit of a misnomer. I hate dealing with it and I hate having to break it and none of the techniques are my favorite because I’d rather I didn’t have to do them at all. It hurts. Mostly I have to figure out what’s caused it to begin with, whether that’s overworking or a need to reorganize my priorities or mental health. I have to fix what’s keeping me from doing that, and it may mean continuing not to write until I am better. So, often times, it’s a process of healing, which involves waiting until my mind feels bright enough to write again. And then I stretch out on the floor with clipboard and pen in hand, and I give myself permission to start something new, to ease into what I want to write, not what’s been waiting for me or what I need to write. It’s as simple as that. Heal first, write what I want, get back to the other projects when I’m able.

Day Ten: What is your preferred beverage when writing? Coffee? Tea? Hot chocolate? Or something else entirely? BONUS: If your favorite drink is hot, how often does it end up going cold because your writing made you forget about it?

Tea, and it isn’t really fair to say that it gets cold every time I write, because it gets cold every time I make tea, regardless of whether I’m writing or not. I take forever to drink anything.

Day Eleven: What is your editing process like?

Forget about it! Do several read-throughs and make lists of things that are missing, loose, unnecessary, not well-articulated, repeated themes, and more. Rewrite or actually write those inadequate or missing scenes. Read through it again for continuity errors with the new segments, style problems, and other medium-sized things; and then read through it again, looking for small things like spelling and whether each line is holding its own weight.

Day Twelve: Share a snippet of one of your earliest pieces of writing (cringe-worthy or not!). If you’re not comfortable sharing an excerpt, share one of your earliest ideas!

My earliest writing was all done on disposable things--most notably napkins in restaurants--so I don’t have any of my earliest stuff, but I have a couple of early story starts, probably from twelve years ago or so. It’s a single page in an otherwise blank notebook, and I think it’s the origin of the first ideas for the Moonwater Series....

Jumping up, she took a small glass vial from a pouch, raced to the window, and threw it open. The sounds of the bustling market came in along with the dying afternoon light. It was just that time between afternoon and evening when the crowds of the day began to look up at the horizon, mothers snatch children to their sides, and men lead their families back to their homes. Leaning out into the cooling air, she uncorked the vial, waved it around a bit, brought it in, sniffed it, shook her head, waved it around again, then corked it quickly and with the air of one who has just made a fantastic catch. Tipping the vial upside down, she flicked the bottom, grinned, and flung the shutters closed for the evening. “You can never have enough good, quality twilight around. I think I just got the right aging, even. It’s either too early or too late, but I think this is just right.”

Day Thirteen: Do you write lots of stories at once or only one at a time?

I usually actively write just one, kind of dabble in writing a second or third, and then think intensively about three or four additional ideas.

Day Fourteen: The Muse of Writing comes to you and offers to grant you one wish in regards to your writing ability or style. What do you wish for? Do you want to write like a specific author? Improve one area of your writing?

I don’t want anything to change all on its own in regards to my ability or style. I’m pretty fond of my style, and I would prefer for my ability to grow through my own learning. What I do need is more time and energy throughout the year so that I can write. That, and the wider appeal of my writing/stories, would be most helpful.

Day Fifteen: Do you prefer writing by hand or on a computer? Why?

Both, in different situations. By hand when I’m having trouble focusing, have been in a long slump, or am puzzling through something. By computer when I need quantity over quality, like NaNoWriMo. I also have a bluetooth keyboard for my Kindle Fire tablet, which I use for write-ins and whatnot.

Day Sixteen: Describe your inner editor. What do they look like? Sound like? How do you usually shut them up (and yes, duct-taping them to a chair is fair game)?

A copy of me, but dressed in slacks, button-up, and an excellently-fitting suit vest. They usually have a pen hanging lazily from one hand and drawl a bit as though I’m slow to understand obvious things. “Unnecessary, nobody needs that, nobody even cares, extraneous, so many things you could do better, you know.” I’m fueled by spite, so my response is usually gritted teeth, a wave of the hand, and a, “Yes, I know, but it will be necessary, it is important, and I’ll show you!”

Day Seventeen: Secret Santa Event

Day Eighteen: Confession time: where do you get your best ideas? In the shower? At work? In the middle of the night while you sneak Oreos out of your roommates stash? What are you usually doing when you’re hit with inspiration?

I’m usually in the shower or staring at a blank page. Part of my writing process is just thinking, putting words together in sentences until one has a strangeness to it. I’m listening for double meanings or ambiguous phrasing that could be twisted into something unexpected. When I’ve decided to write on something new as a break from my normal WIPs, I just stare and think and listen to the way my brain puts words in order. There always has to be a moment of, “Okay, but why?” As soon as that happens, I’m off!

Day Nineteen: Who is your favorite character from each of your WIPs?

Moonwater Series: Cyrian is a lot of fun; equal parts cryptic and cheeky. Sheytana is easy and smooth to write, so she’s probably a close second because I don’t have to think much when it comes to her. She’s very natural.

Gran and Gwyn: Oh, Gran, for sure. Crotchety 83-year-old detective who is exasperated by everybody.

The City Docks: Quill is great because of his down-to-earth, practical perspective, but Fell is great, too, for all her wonder and excitement.

Day Twenty: Describe your dream writing environment. Castle in Ireland? By the beach? A trendy cafe? Don’t be afraid to have fun with this one!

Somewhere quiet, rain pattering off the roof, a window letting in the grey light, and beyond the glass, nothing but dripping woods and a distant, fogged lake. No other houses, no one to look through the window and see me laying on the floor dreaming, nothing to break the peace, quiet, and illusion of loneliness.

Day Twenty-One: If you could meet one author, living or dead, who would it be and why?

I’m a terrible conversationalist, so I’d want to meet him with low contact stakes, like, if I was part of a panel audience or something, but C.S. Lewis would be my guy. I grew up with Narnia--my dad was deployed overseas when I was five or six in the 90s, pre-digital, and he had more or less nothing to do over there, so my mother recorded herself reading the books, with voices and the whole bit, on cassette tapes to mail over to him to listen to on a walkman. My sister and I would lay on the hallway floor after we were supposed to be in bed, with our ears pressed up against the crack at the bottom of the door to listen to her do these, and then when he came home, he brought them back and I got them--still do!--and I used to listen to them as I went to bed. I’ve read and listened to Narnia so many times that I had them memorized for a long time, and my first email address--which I also still have...--was Narnia-related. So yes, I’d like to listen to C.S. Lewis talk about constructing story.

Day Twenty-Two: You’re hosting a dinner party and can invite any of your characters. Who do you invite?

Sheytana Roper, Baron Sinister of Thieves, and Cyrian Greystoke, former Baron Sinister of Thieves from the Moonwater Series, Pixel Constant and Cairn Shipstealer from The A Team world stories, the narrator from Singers of Sand and Sea, and probably a couple of minor characters from the Moonwater series like Keetan who runs the orphanage, Captain Adedayo from the pirate conglomerate of Anderlene, and matron Rada Kaye.

Day Twenty-Three: Have you ever participated in an activity or gone to an event JUST to make your writing more realistic? Share what you did if you’d like! If you haven’t share something that you’d LIKE to do as writing-related research!

Geez, half the courses I took in college were to make my writing better. Dad always wanted a justification for why I was taking classes not specifically for something, or why one class over another for the general requirements--not that he preferred one over the other, he just wanted to know if I was thinking about why I wanted to take courses, what I was hoping to get out of them.

“Why geology?” “For worldbuilding--to build better, more realistic worlds.”

Heck, my entire Anthropology minor was for the betterment of my culture-building, and that was 40-some-odd credits.

Day Twenty-Four: How old were you when you started writing?

I was an oral story-teller first, because reading and writing was hard, but I liked stories and I liked to tell them. Writing didn’t come into the picture until I worked harder at reading and started to actually like it, so some time after Harry Potter when I was 8. Writing in earnest as a Thing(TM) was 13 or so.

Day Twenty-Five: What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten on your writing? Who did it come from? Any fun stories behind how you got the compliment?

I don’t really get compliments on my writing, but I do get compliments on characters. The biggest indirect compliment was that both my fiction and creative nonfiction capstone classes in college had reading periods, and we were only supposed to read for about 10 minutes each before workshopping a piece. My creative nonfiction class always asked very excitedly for me to read and had literally visceral reactions to the stories; and my fiction class just unanimously decided once very early in the course that I could read up to 20 minutes. I’d read my 10 minutes, said, “And that’s my time. Thanks,” went to sit down for the critique, and the professor looked scandelized, the whole class groaned and he waved me back up, saying, “You have to finish the scene!” And from then on, I always got to read at least 15 minutes.

In that same fiction class, I did have several people say one of my characters reminded them of Han Solo, which, in retrospect, fits his character really well, so that was nice?

Day Twenty-Six: What’s the best writing advice you’ve gotten? What’s the worst?

I still stand firmly by the time a professor serenaded me with “Don’t Stop Believing” in his office as some pretty damn good advice. For real advice, that same professor taught me to think about whose story I’m telling to help center and focus the on-screen events.

I don’t think I’ve gotten bad advice, though. Bad critiques, yes; bad advice, no. Advice can’t be bad--they wouldn’t tell it to you if they didn’t think it had merit. Some techniques work for some and not for others, so the advice isn’t bad, just not right for you.

Day Twenty-Seven: SECRET SANTA REVEAL! Reblog this post with the writeblrs you are a Secret Santa for OR send a direct ask to the writeblr and reblog this post once you have!

Day Twenty-Eight: Do you ever set long term goals (think New Year’s Resolutions) for your writing? Would you ever consider setting those kinds of goals? Why or why not?

Rarely for writing aside from the vague “write more” kinds of resolutions. I have the Moonwater Series at a current “goal,” but it’s not a firm timeline or anything. I just want to keep moving. That’s the key.

Day Twenty-Nine: Name your top three “most loved” tropes and your top three “most hated” tropes.

Most Loved: Found family || close sibling friendship || snarky magical companions (usually creatures)

Most Hated: Friends of different genders can’t just be platonic friends!! They must be lovers!!! || incest or even might-be-incest-but-not-really-I-promise-haha!!! || protagonist is the most [adjective] in all the land, but they sure don’t act like it! Isn’t is cute and funny??

Day Thirty: The Muse of Writing pops back by again and gives you the ability to rewrite the plot of one book. Which one do you choose?

I have too many books of my own to care. The write wrote it that way for a reason that made sense and was satisfactory to them. I’m going to strive to do the same. I don’t need to rewrite somebody’s book. (But if I did, The Mermaid’s Sister would get a yank in the right direction.)

Day Thirty-One: What are your writing goals for 2018? If you don’t set writing goals, what project are you particularly excited about writing or finishing in 2018?

Annual call-out.... Finish Gran and Gwyn, finish Spirit Shores, plot out Book Five and start writing it (hopefully), work on City Docks, consider The Book Well and the Alchemy Engine. Maybe shop The Evening Road around again.

#about the blogger #memes #writing #writeblrconnects #spontaneous writeblr #pear here #pear responds

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