#what's up I'm procrastinating writing by making posts about other peoples writing lmao

[thesaintofnevergettingitright]

Does anyone else have a running list of phrases/details etc. that they’ve read in fanfic that made them go, “I’m FURIOUS I didn’t write that”? Like things that you see that were so good that you had to take a lap around your living room? Little phrases that you just want to scoop up and start using in your own writing immediately??

The two I’ve been hyped about recently are,

“Bloody the altars,” used as a curse in place of like “jesuschrist” or “ohmygod” or “goddammit” in worlds with witchcraft or pantheons or whatever, but no Christianity. Like! That’s so good! It’s so hard to avoid using colloquialisms that wouldn’t make sense in a fantasy world, and this is such a good alternative! It delights me every time I think about it. **(from shrug off the shroud by unconscious on ao3)   

“... good sir, madame, or otherwise.” “Otherwise.” “Good otherwise...” That’s such a fun way to incorporate nonbinary/agender/gnc-inclusive language in a fantasy setting! It flows perfectly, it sounds right at home in that high-fantasy/renaissance-adjacent way of speaking. I’m obsessed. I love the idea of “Otherwise” being an honorific used as commonly as “sir” or “madame.” 10/10 incredible stuff. **(from Braided Threads by stele3 on ao3)

 Basically what I’ve learned is that I get really excited when people find clever ways to add to the universe they’re writing in. I think it’s so cool every single time. If anyone else has any good ones, please feel free to add on!

[random-potat]

and they were roommates - kjs. - pt. 4

part 4. moving in (wc. 456)

Packing your belongings that's enough for six weeks in forty-five minutes is definitely easier said than done, but alas, it is not completely impossible. Honestly, you can't really tell if you are overpacked or underpacked. What mattered most was that Bada didn't kill you for procrastinating.

With five minutes to spare, you rush down to the parking lot to store your luggage in the trunk of the car.

The rest of your members come down to say goodbye. Let's just say the dramatics were turned on, that's for sure. 

“I'm surprised you actually packed quickly,” your leader says. 

“What can I say? I'm serious about my cookie dough.” 

"I can't believe you’re leaving me behind,” Ria dramatically wails. 

Rolling your eyes, you pull her in for a hug. “It’s not like I’m permanently moving; I’ll be gone for like six weeks.” You pat Ria’s back and say, "Plus, we’ll still see each other for practice.” 

“That’s only if there is something to practice for.” Eunwoo interrupts, hugging the two of you. 

Bada lovingly pinches Eunwoo. “Don't say that, Eunwoo, we still have festivals to practice for,” Bada says as she joins in the group hug. 

“As much as I would hate to break this group moment, we really have to go now, YN,” manager Woo interrupts. 

After saying what seems to be but isn’t really your final goodbyes to your group members, you head into the car for a long one and a half-hour drive away from the city.

After a long ride that only involved sleeping, you arrive outside of the shared villa that you’ll eventually be sharing with five other people, who also happen to be idols. “Can’t wait to get cancelled,” you thought. 

Manager Woo begins to give you a quick debrief of what is going to happen.  

“Everything is already set up in the house. The producers will be in the hallway guiding you where to go, and you guys will all be entering individually.”

“Wow, this is some Love Island-type shit. Minus the love part,” you quickly look around your surroundings, “and the island,” you respond.

Manager Woo gives you a stern look and says, "After that, everything is going to be directed by the producer. Schedules will be sent to you like normal, but most things won’t interrupt the filming for this show.

You nod your head.

Manager Woo gave a small smile, "Just enjoy the experience, don’t take everything too seriously, okay?”

"Sir, yes, sir.” You send a mocking salute.

Getting out of the car and dragging your luggage towards the house, you take a deep breath in and out. “Of course I’m the first one going in. Well, here goes nothing. A hot new bombshell enters the villa.”

a/n: very subtle love island references cause that was my hyperfixation when i was writing this in the summer :p but other than that hope you guys are enjoying it so far. really just creating this as i go but i do have ideas that i know i want to be in the story, so we'll just have to see where this ends up lmao!! also school has officially started as im posting this so that's really fun :)) much more writing to do although essays aren't fun

synopsis: With long-time K-pop fans asking for another season of the infamous variety show We Got Married, MBC brings it back with a spin-off, We Became Roommates. As a way to bring K-pop fans together, the first season involves six idols born in 2005. With seeing each other every day, doing missions for every episode, making memories, and fans watching and shipping, blossoming friendships and a bubbling romance can't be helped. pairing: idol!jongseob x fem idol!reader genre: idol au, crack, fluff, humour, coworkers to friends to lovers

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[bropunzeling]

Since you say you love to chatter, I hope you don't mind being asked a few questions :)

what's a scene/detail/piece of dialogue etc that you really wanted to include in [fic of your choice], but you couldn't find room for? here's your chance!

if you had to write an epilogue (or sequel!) to any of your fics (that you are NOT currently planning on writing an epilogue for), which would it be and what would happen?

for the ships you're currently writing about (and have written for in general), is there usually one character you like more than the other? (will you tell us who? has it ever changed?)

what's a ship/fic idea you want to read about but don't want to write yourself? maybe somebody will be inspired!

share anything you'd like about a wip!

aw thank you anon! especially for the opportunity to procrastinate on working on my current wip :) answers under the cut:

some dialogue that i ultimately cut from the spain scene in marriage bets where they were having tapas (originally there was going to be ALL this flirting over the tapas and then it went on too long so i got straight to the questions):

"You're not going to eat that?" "Hey, I tried it." "You're so American." "It's the texture--" "Such a wimp." "I'm sure plenty of people aren't into eating octopus." "Uh-huh."

if i had to write an epilogue or sequel:

oh gosh. i think a lot about the one where marriage bets matthew and leon get married for real for real, with suits and their families present and everything. it WOULD involve matthew finally telling brady that he was not, in fact, the first tkachuk to get married. the other one i think about is, of course, rat baby in a cup. she reigns eternal.

is there a character in a ship that i like more than the other?

i think it's hard for me to enjoy a ship where i don't actually like one side of it! that said, there are definitely characters where i find it much easier to get into their headspace than others. i've probably said this before, but leon is such a straight line thinker and so easy for me to get that for a long time it was hard for me to try and write anything from matthew pov because his is a little more twisty-turny. they're both equally complex! but it requires different skills to get the effect i want, which is normally the pov character not having a clue what the other one is thinking. it's a lot easier to have leon misreading matthew than the other way around. except now of course i've written a lot from matthew pov so finding my way back to leon pov has been a challenge.

a ship/fic i want to read but don't want to write:

god what DON'T i want to read. lmao. i would love for someone to write a good achy jamie/trevor post-trade fic. i would love for someone to write a long slow friends-to-lovers matthew/sasha fic! i would REALLY love a brady/quinn future fic. especially if it features divorced brady. i feel like future fic especially is a trope/concept that i just feel less comfortable writing so whenever someone else writes it i eat it up with a spoon :)

share anything you like about a wip:

well the wip is going SO SLOW and is VERY HARD for me because im challenging myself by writing a slow burn and cant rely on sex scenes to do the chemistry work for me this time rip rip. but here is a wee snippet:

“Draisaitl. Tkachuk,” Coach says, gesturing at the starting line.

Leon gets ready, bracing his stick over his thighs. He’s already raced Jordan and Gourde—beat Jordan, beat Gourde—but he hasn’t had to go against Tkachuk yet. Hasn’t had to do much of anything with Tkachuk yet. Yesterday they were at the other end of the line from each other, or opposite sides of the rink. It had lulled Leon into a false sense of security.

Now, though, Tkachuk is watching him with that way that he has, like—

One time, while making kebabs, Leon got a splinter from the bamboo skewer under his nail. It hurt like a bitch, had him cursing for five minutes until Jenna told him to stop squirming and tweezed it out. The splinter had been miniscule, almost impossible to see, and Leon had wondered how something so tiny could be so aggravating and painful, would make him do anything just to get it to stop.

That’s how it feels when Tkachuk looks at him. How it’s always felt. Like his gaze is digging in under Leon’s skin, until Leon’s entire body is red and inflamed. It makes Leon want to scratch at his shoulders, his chest, until he can finally tear Tkachuk out.

[halowritesthings]

i love learning about things a week late through youtube recommendations from random channels i've never seen before

(bad grammar and typos cause i'm shooting my shot as fast as possible so I can get back to Important Adult Stuff(TM))

i suppose i can't really gripe because i'm still largely logged out and wouldn't have heard otherwise so maybe I should take it for what it is

i know i'm a random person who writes as a hobby so I don't necessarily "owe" anything to people online, but y'all have been so sweet to me and I feel it would be unfair to keep dropping off the face of the planet like I have been, plus, I have been stewing over quite a bit of my thoughts these past few months and making a large "get all my thoughts out in a word vomit" post is a good way to A.) sort out my shit and B.) to procrastinate homework

college is BEATING MY ASS and i'm not even at the harder junior/senior year type stuff so even if my writer's block wasn't the worst it's ever been I highly doubt I would be writing anything anyway. i cannot say for certain when I'll be able to get back (it seems the universe is tailored specifically to punch me in the face whenever I have the slightest inclination to do so) but i will say it is always on my mind. i don't ever want to give up writing fully because of how many good things it's brought me but i want to be mature and say that it has taken a backseat in my life.

i still don't regret the things I've created and i will always be thankful for the experiences I've had + the friends I've made (even if we haven't talked in a while :') sorry guys) BUT this situation has just become the nail in the coffin for me in terms of what i want to do with my ds/mp and other adjacent fics. i can't say for certain what I'll go through and orphan/keep or just outright delete (WIPS/unfinished series will probably get deleted is what I've decided so far) so this is a BIG WARNING sign right here and now: if there are any ds/mp fics of mine you are fond of, please go and save them now. even if you think the one you really love is "safe" it's better to be cautious and have it yourself than hope for the best outcome.

now's a good time to mention that i have been feeling similar feelings toward my fl0wer husb4nds fics (gonna come out and be honest: i don't particularly care for sc0tt anymore, sorry) so if you like those you should also search them out. i think a hard majority if not all of them will be orphaned, so they'll still be up, but it never hurts to be able to read something while offline anyway

however, due to the aforementioned Important Adult Stuff(TM), i won't be able to get to the whole Properly deleting/orphaning process for a hot minute. that does not mean you should put off saving my fics because my brain could decide one night that i HAVE to do it IMMEDIATELY, but i can promise that it's not happening tonight (might hold off for at least a week just to give people time to see this post).

TSALP, my pride and joy, is perfectly safe and fine. when i think about whenever ill be able to write again, this series is the First thing to pop up in my mind. i have so many things i want to do with that series (and h3rmitcr4ft as a whole) that make me smile despite all that has happened surrounding mc/yt. someone will need to threaten me with death to make me even consider giving that up. hell, even taking a step back, i can say that i will never fully let go of mc/yt. i straight-up have tickets to go see tommy's america show later this month (send my dad well wishes as he's the one taking me LMAO) .

remember to drink water, take breaks, tell your friends you love them etc. I'm terrible at giving advice since I'm a bonafide mess of a person, but i will say that the best thing you can do for each other is support one another. i've always been a bigger fan of giving support to those who are hurt than trying to go and cause more pain to the people that you can argue "deserve" it. the people you care about are going to be with you much longer than the assholes, so be sure to put more energy into focusing on them than the ones that don't even deserve your scorn.

[dairy-farmer]

So I've recently made a new AO3 account (completely separate from my main one, different email and everything lmao) bc I want to start writing porn, and I was wondering if I could have your permission to use some of your asks as like, prompts or ideas? Especially ones that were my own (this is PP!Tim Anon btw, and I've sent in. A lot of asks without signing them off as that, like I could make an entire list and it would probably hit double digits of which asks you've gotten that were mine lmao)!! I would ofc credit you and your blog! I don't know how to imbed links to the individual asks (I'll still try but I can't promise anything lmao), but I'll at least mention your Tumblr name and AO3 account!

I really wanna try my hand at some random, filthy oneshots without a bunch of world building or context, bc that's something I tend to get hung up on in my writing, and I wanna stick to some short and sweet smut oneshots about Tim being a pregnant, underage nympho slut, or a puppy factory, or a cocksleeve for the rogues of Gotham and their goons, all that good stuff!!

On that thought tho, do you have any pieces of advice for like, consistent writing, or motivation to write? Bc that's my biggest struggle tbh is sitting down to start writing. Usually once I start I can churn out a couple thousand words in one sitting, but I gotta start first, ya know? Any words of wisdom would mean a lot ❤️❤️❤️

answered out of order:

yes of course❤️❤️❤️!!!!!!!!!!!! you don't believe how happy that makes me to hear!!!! so many of the asks i get sent are just so brilliant and well done and it would make me so beyond happy to know people started writing or got inspired to write out their ideas!!! and i'm sure that people who submitted other posts you get inspiration from would love to see others expand further on their asks ❤️❤️❤️❤️!!!

one shots are a really great way to really get back into a sort of groove of writing because it can be shorter, the plot may be not as dense or complex as something from a multichap (though you can also write VERY long one shots that are incredibly detailed too), and it can be mainly composed of "fun" writing in the sense that you don't have to do buildup for bigger things like you would in longer multichaps or those that are heavily plot driven. i totally get struggling to get motivation to write, for me it was always like i had to wait for my brain to be turned "on" or in a working mode for me to get any writing for my fics done which meant it usually only happened when i was studying for exams or doing projects for school. however for me that meant when i was in the 'off season' like breaks from school it meant that even though i had time, i no longer had motivation to write. that's something i'm still working to break myself out of and i think one think that is pretty effective is thinking of a scene or piece of dialogue i'm excited to write and look forward to getting to so it motivates to write to reach it. that works sometimes, other times i think of a reward i'll get myself once i finally finish. something like candy or some snack or food i don't often get or go out of my way to get. and another thing that works for me sometimes is basically planning the fic, for a short one shot the major bullet points of what happen would be a short list and so it would pretty much trick your brain into thinking 'wow a short task list i can do all of these pretty quickly/complete them without too much hassel or procrastination!'.

ultimately i think writing one shots takes a lot of pressure off since as a single chapter there's basically no further commitment needed like it would during a multi chapter fic which can be very relieving for people who get easily stressed or pressured by commitments with no hard deadline.

im very happy to hear you'll be expanding on your tim ideas and look forward to them!!!!!! also if you need any help with embedding on aow the reference collection on ao3 is really helpful and its where i learned to embed links with this tutorial ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[mandalhoerian]

I have an urge to talk in Turkish here but I gotta keep it to myself now haha. Your page gives me a sense of comfort with the fact that you're Turkish.

What I was trying to say, that if you feel like no one's is interested in our girl Vera etc or the content/posts you want to make for her here apart from the fic writing, don't think like that because it is your page and your followers follows you for a reason.

But most importantly, what I was trying to say, that Vera gives me so much comfort as a Turkish woman myself like her ( my hair is also wavy like her how her hair gets after rain haha ). I love your Vera content. I just wanted to say that. She is also giving me inspiration for my own oc making. Back in the time I was so hesitant with the thought of making Turkish ocs, but with her and you of course, I started to beat that voice.

i'm answering this a bit late so my apologies! I wanted to say a lot but ramadan has me lazing around not wanting to do anything, so I procrastinated 😭

i know the as bayrakları as as as 🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷 feeling like the last thing I expected to find here was another Turkish RE creator like. It's such a bizarre kinship and comfort, I know how you feel! I'm happy I was able to give it back.

Our girl Vera has me GRINNING, but not to change the subject too much, I know,,, it's a feeling that comes and goes. I used to barely get any interaction regarding her prior to the release of RE4R and when im deep into the hyperfixation i don't care much for feedback, I just create. Like. I guess multiple chapters beyond the 10K threshold are proof of that, looking back i had to be insane to be in it that deep. i remember being like "OMG 180 HITS BETWEEN CHAPTERS THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!" on ao3! 😭 the lack of interest gets to a writer, eventually, i guess, you just want the readers to show they're enjoying to work or not in some way. But the reminder that (some of, at least) my followers follow me for Vera is extremely consoling, thank you so much!

I'm so happy that you like Vera! It's very humbling to hear she as a Turkish woman is resonating with you, I never thought about having any Turkish readers at all when I was working on her... I always thought if I had, would it be cringy or not.

Because us as people really have an inferiority complex and are too self-conscious regarding these things, I remember how literally all of my Turkish writer friends (every single one of them) thought a Turkish main character would be EMBARRASSING in any fandom we would write for. We hated it, and everybody and their other writer friends also did. The idea of a Turkish character was cringy. But when other foreign writers would write Turkish OCs suddenly it was so cool and "AS BAYRAKLARI" .

I had a couple Filipino friends on wattpad who would write Filipino OCs and be so proud of their heritage and how they were incorporating it into the story, like, for example, I had a friend who re-designed and rebranded the planet Alderaan from Star Wars using their culture because the actress who played the queen was Filipino and she was so happy about it. It was so fascinating to me how she genuinely did something so creative and made it work so well. Another Filipino friend did this for Stranger Things, and in the heart of her story was immigrant struggles.

I never really questioned why Turkish people couldn't be like this until I was working on Vera, and her being Turkish started out as a joke. I wanted to immediately scrap it, thinking "no lmao what the fuck of course not" .

If another person did this, I would eat !! it !! up!!

But when I seriously wanted to make her Turkish it was suddenly embarrassing. It was a hard thing to get over. English fanfic reading really wires our brains to accept characters only of foreign nationalities and ethnicities because "it fits the story better" -- we only consume western media and hold it in higher regard.

I understand you so well, and I'm so glad I'm somehow encouraging you on this matter. Because why are we so embarrassed of ourselves?

Thank you for this ask, it really meant a lot to hear all of this! and I'm sorry I really went off on a tangent 😭

[fattybattysblog]

20 Questions for Writers

Thank you for tagging me @residentdormouse I am procrastinating and this will be a great time filler.

How many works do you have on AO3?

58. I have been posting since 2017.

What is your total AO3 word count?

113,141 I mostly write shorter fics.

What fandoms do you write for?

Outside of Original Works, I mostly post Pokemon fanfic. Though I suspect JJK will overtake that in no time.

What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. The Journals of an Alien Mate - 218 2. An Odd Request and a Dutiful Butler - 82 3. Falling into a Lizard's Nest - 50 4. Shelter from the Storm - 28 5. Supervision - 23

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yeah, I love responding to comments. Getting any comments at all is a big deal and I wanna let them know I saw them.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

"Too Late" ends with Hairi bawling her eyes out over the death of her boyfriend.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think the ending to We Meet Again is very happy considering everything around it. Thalia and Aokiji left on bad terms and run into each other again and at the end they make up and become friends.

Do you get hate on your fic?

When I was younger I got comments calling me cringe, but honestly I haven't gotten a single bad comment since. And those stories are still there sooooo....

Do you write smut?

All the time. Majority of my fics are smut. I love sex.

Do you write crossovers?

No... I'm really not into crossovers.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. And I do check on occasion when I get paranoid. Honestly, I think because I mostly write self indulgent OC stuff people don't care to.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Almost did once. They asked if they could but then about a year passed and they never did.

Have you ever co-written a fic?

In a sense. I RP with friends and write it out. My boyfriends write on occasion and feed me ideas. I never fully wrote something with someone.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

I don't ship Canon/Canon very often. My top c/c ships are Franky/Robin and Geto/Gojo. i could eat those up for ages.

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oeuf, all of them?? Most importantly, this big FF9 fic I have planned. Though I haven't quite started it yet. I really, really wanna write it. Like so much.

What are your writing strengths?

I've been told my smut is really sexy, lmao. I have been told I write fight scenes pretty well too which is awesome cuz I used to struggle with those like crazy.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing things. On a real note, though, I feel that pacing is one of my weakest points.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

If they're speaking another language, why not? If the whole fic is enveloped in that language (I.E. writing a fic about people in Japan) then the whole thing should be in one language.

First fandom you wrote for?

Zelda. But I'll be damned if you find that fucker.

Favorite fic you've ever written?

So far, my favorite fic is Sleeping Over because it's gentle, soft, and very comforting. How Nanami acts towards Hairi despite all her nervousness and embarrassment is precious.

[dogmomwrites]

15 Questions, 15 Mutuals

Got a couples tags for this one, so thank you, @andromedaexists, @eli-writes-sometimes, and @mariahwritesstuff! I'm gonna pass it on with soft tags to @axl-ul, @zoya-writes, @traveler-of-realms, @littlepatchofhell, @magic-is-something-we-create, @penspiration-writing, @thetruearchmagos, @witherednightmare, @zmwrites, @writingpotato07, @regalserpent, @fearofahumanplanet, @pluttskutt, @smzeszikorova, and @the-finch-address, as well as an open tag in anyone wants to join in! I'm well aware I'm a bit behind on this one lol

Since I had multiple tags, in addition to my own answers I'm gonna answer half of the questions for an oc and the other half for another oc. I'm gonna use the brothers Riley and Jimmy from my unnamed WIP (and it's unnamed sequel! *sob*)

⚠️ really long post, sorry! ⚠️

My answers

Are you named after anyone? Not to my knowledge. My mom was pretty random about names—my oldest sibling wasn’t named after anyone at all whereas my second oldest sibling was named after two different people

When was the last time you cried? I genuinely do not remember but I know it was a really long time ago

Do you have kids? No, thank goodness, because while I’d be a better parent than most parents I see in public, I very very much do not want that. I get worn out by nothing, I really could not handle a whole actual human child

Do you use sarcasm a lot? Yes. I’ve been told I have a dry humor (to which I responded “well, yeah, I grew up in a landlocked state.” He laughed the whole way back to his office lmao)

What’s the first thing you notice about people? Whether they seem happy or not

What’s your eye color? Dark blue, but I have sectoral heterochromia in my right eye! The different color is brown, and there are three sections of it, so it looks like I have a brown star in that eye! My heterochromia and my hair have always been my favorite things about myself lol

Scary movies or happy endings? This is circumstantial for me. I don’t really have a preference betwixt these options on their own. Curse of the Black Pearl scared the shit out of me when I was…however young I was when it first came out, I don’t remember and I don’t wanna math my age, but—it scared me then (that was before I learned I have severe kinemortophobia; I can handle CoBP skeletons now) and now it’s one of my all-time favorite movies. Alternatively, Return of the King technically has a happy ending cuz they succeed at destroying the Ring, and that is also one of my favorite movies of all time. I would need more info about the movie to make my pick, but I do prefer action and comedy, so happy ending? Most labeled scary movies are really dull to me and only rely on jumpscares (which annoy me illimitably). Anyway, I’ll shut up about this question cuz that ended up really long; sorry!

Any special talents? Uhhh rambling, I guess lmao

Where were you born? Arkansas, although I have never actually lived in that state. I am grateful for that

What are your hobbies? Writing. Reading. Games—video, board, card, outdoor. Procrastinating writing 😔

Have you any pets? Yesss! I have always had dogs and sometimes cats, and as of now, I have two buppy and the dumbest kitty I’ve ever had. She will literally run face-first into the wall and doesn’t always catch herself when you slowly lower her to the floor in that sliding motion, like you’re pouring water from your hands. She has landed on her face—multiple times!!—from that because she apparently doesn’t think landing on her paws is important. She's so dumb, it's great

What sports do you play/have played? Softball when I was peewee. Since then, I haven’t been on any actual teams, but I have dabbled with mini golf and yard football (I have a good spiral but I do not have the yeet)

How tall are you? 5’8, close to 5’9 I think?

Favorite subject in school? English cuz I got good grades in it lmao outside of quizzes and tests, I always loved reading about biology and I really enjoyed my psychology classes

Dream job? Writer tbh, with like a side gig at an animal sanctuary or smth

For Riley. He’ll take the odd numbers

Are you named after anyone? When his biological mother was young, she had a dog that she loved more than anything; had it throughout her teen years and even a couple years into her twenties. It was rough on her when the dog passed, but not long after that, she had her firstborn with her husband. She never considered any name other than what her dog had been called—Riley Zeke

(3) Do you have kids? Yes, although that’s a very sensitive topic for him

(5) What’s the first thing you notice about people? Behavior and how they communicate with those around them

(7) Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings. He was a big fan of scary movies when he was a dating teen tho lol

(9) Where were you born? Alabama, although when his biological parents died, he and his brother were moved up north to their paternal grandmother. He had a bit of an accent when he was first moved, but it faded

(11) Have you any pets? No, actually. While Riley has never had a pet of his own, there were many a dog and cat brought into their house during his younger years; however their mother drew the line when a nest on baby squirrels was brought inside

(13) How tall are you? Riley is 6’2, and stopped growing somewhere in his late teens

(15) Dream job? All he knows is soldiering tbh it was his dream ever since he was five years old. He does love being the center of attention though, so something to do with a stage would be pretty good for him

For Jimmy, who gets the even numbers

(2) When was the last time you cried? That’s a tough question. I know of a couple times he’s cried, but he doesn’t cry very often

(4) Do you use sarcasm a lot? Oh yeah, he uses sarcasm a lot

(6) What’s your eye color? Jimmy has dark green eyes. No heterochromia for him tho (RIP)

(8) Any special talents? Quite a few, actually. For starters, he’s not the best musician in the family, but he does know how to play three instruments, he can control lucid dreams, he can roll multiple coins across his knuckles at the same time, he knows a few magic tricks, and he can juggle just about anything—if he has four or fewer items, he doesn’t even need to pay much attention to what he’s doing. Lots of things were broken during his practicing years for that

(10) What are your hobbies? Nonsense, shenanigans, and a little dabbling in tomfoolery

(12) What sports do you play/have played? Jimmy was probably the laziest of his siblings tbh he didn’t care much for sports. Tried most of them out but never committed to them beyond the season. He didn’t even finish the season for soccer. He doesn’t like running

(14) Favorite subject in school? Science. He’s always loved doing the experiments himself, and science is the perfect scapegoat for when something gets set on fire, as it is more than just an excuse, it is a reason!

[sergeantsporks]

Vigilante anon again, hiya! Tbh it may not be plot holes so much as I felt a character heavily involved in the story wasn't fleshed out enough, which made me overthink and caused me to hide, but now I have about 20 notebook pages of character aliases, background information, powersets, important information, and character backgrounds and motivations with 9 additional pages on the plot points alone without all the filler. So things that progress the priority plots forward, not just things I want to add for character growth.

I ended up caving and posting the first three chapters since they didn't majorly ruin anything later, though I'm struggling with chapter 4 now because the main character said something that might ruin a smaller plot I wanted to do later and I can't think of any other solution than what was said.

All in all, very happy to be back at it. As for the fandom thing: You're not wrong. Hell, I've seen VLD people still kicking lmao. I think there'll be a spike in activity for at least a month following the finale, and hopefully my fic will get more attention then so I don't lose motivation. Thanks!

Ahhhhh, yeah. Having character sheets is important (and a fun way to procrastinate actually writing the thing, lmao). Knowing a lot about the characters, even if it never makes its way into the actual writing explicitly, is good. That's a lot of pages, I salute you.

[unprocione]

hello, dear!

your study on leon is so well thought i am always left speechless as i read your posts. i am in love with how you portray him and how aesthetically pleasing your blog and writing is, making my little neurodivergent brain stick around and focus more easily.

i wish you a great day.

please, never stop writing.

softie.

thank you so much!! i've been seriously enjoying writing and thinking about leon & his point of view lately and i've been having a ton of fun with it behind the scenes, hopefully that post is one of many more to come because i have alot of ideas in store! i'm so glad that you're enjoying my portrayal and find my blog & writing aesthetically pleasing, because i put alot of time and thought into what i want on this blog these days, and what's helped me significantly is cutting down on what i reblog here and just setting up a separate spam sideblog for all of my fanart and etc. posts if they aren't related to specific character bonds, and i potentially have an aesthetic sideblog in the works too to streamline things more. i feel like i have a more concise place to write leon when i have everything organized, when i look back on my archives and recent posts now, i have like.. a sense of consistency? and it makes it so much easier to keep going when i feel concrete like that.

my friend over at blitzkriegers, ty, has been like... the tumblr version of marie kondo for me lmao, this 'does this spark joy' figure helping me sort out alot of my anxieties around being on this blog and tumblr in general, and writing overall, and has been a massive help in identifying all the little ways i procrastinate to put off writing because of some internal confidence issues. alot of that came across in constantly remaking graphics (ty actually made alot of material for this blog so i could focus on writing - if you like my icon borders i use for leon, those are all his work), alot of that was doomscrolling on pinterest, alot of it was just generally a bad mindset i had gotten into with the way the rpc in general, not just resident evil, functions - lately feeling very draining at times, learning how to navigate all of that w/ his support as a friend has been really positive for me.

so if you like what i put out on my blog here, i can't recommend enough that you check out his blog at blitzkriegers, where he writes karl heisenberg, as well as my other friend cj, who writes a splendid ethan winters on wintersdecay & a stunning ada wong, amongst other muses, over at greenherb. she does alot of study posts that are in significantly more detail than mine but far more legible, and her and ty's mutual worldbuilding is so easy to fall in love with. both of their blogs are more than great in my opinion if you're like me and have issues with focus but become super invested in roleplay and how people individually portray their muses, their blogs are very aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and their writing styles even more so. they're a joy to discuss headcanons and dynamics with, and alot of what i have on this blog i have built either with them directly, via their suggestion, or with them in mind! if you follow one i bet very soon you will be following the other lmao.

i hope i never do stop writing. it was tough going there for a while, but i feel like at least for right now i can reach that source of joy that i was out of reach from for a long time that inherently drives my writing. thank you for sending in such a sweet message!! it seriously made my evening to read it, and it really makes me proud to know that i'm putting time into one of my favorite hobbies and it's paying off not only for myself, but that someone else besides me is getting alot of enjoyment out of it too, and the reminder, the validation of that, is just always a wonderful gift to receive.

have a lovely day yourself! :) rian!

[siriusly-sapphic]

22 and 41

Fanfic Writer Asks!

22: describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

It's honestly rather straight forward even though I can take so long lmao. Ideas come from either prompt memes, fests, or random things I see that make me think/discuss headcanons. As soon as I have an idea, I make an outline of sorts.

This outline is sometimes a sentence long "these are the vibes" thing, or just two bullet points with "they run into each other. they get high. they kiss." or, if I'm particularly busy, I'll make a long detailed outline on paper during class. (So many boring lectures spent making wayyy too detailed outlines.) Like, those are easily 4-6 pages for a single oneshot or chapter.

Then the writing is kinda just, sprinting while filling out the blanks? With that really detailed outline, that's pretty easy honestly. Everything's there, I just have to string it together. Most of my writing is done through sprints (either in discord or just timing on my phone) so I can keep track of how long I'm writing.

Editing is either forgotten, or I send it to 1-3 people to betaread and almost blindly accept all their improvements.

For chaptered fics I also try to keep track of like, details I mention while writing? Like character descriptions of smaller characters or little events that happened. (like, I describe Emma Vanity as a plump girl with jet black hair in one chapter, so next chapter she should preferably not to be blonde, yknow)

This is all broken up by endless procrastinating, taking walks with playlists that remind me of the fic, and sending my friends excepts going "look at my dumbass children"

41: what is the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.

There are two contenders. One is a strange Narcissa/James/Sirius/Lily/Remus Ballerina AU I was somehow talking about with @stonecoldhedwig (yes, yes all of them. at the same time. idek.) it never got written and maybe that's for the best.

The other is a Minerva McGonagall/Horace Slughorn forniphilia fic. This came about during a discussion with irl friends and I ended up writing and posting it as a Christmas gift. I made a whole new account just to post it. It's terrible. She's a cat at one point. It's here if anyone feels like dying inside.

That same account is going to hold more weird crack fics, though. I've posted a Wario/Taylor Swift/Sportacus fic, and I'm planning a Jane Austen/Matt Healy/Adam Groff fic. These are all gifts for my friends for either Christmas or birthdays. Not sure why.

[lenasai]

before 2022 ends (for me) i'm gonna steal an idea from @thehallstara and do a recap of the stuff i wrote this year, with commentary because i feel like it...and also so it's not like. exactly the same thing lmao

first, go take a look at hir post if you feel so inclined. if you have the time, those twines are all bangers.

list below the cut because this will probably be long when it appears in the tag:

the splorts poetry series as it exists now. the first two sets were from 2021, but i started the series after realizing i was going to post more individual blaseball poems. turns out putting a bunch of poems in one work and waiting for those to be done before you publish them means a lot of stuff just goes unpublished, so i moved toward publishing stuff individually. if you wanna just look at the poems i wrote in 2022, start with lucky number 81 (what if)

the merry exit (un?)memorial dimension traveling club - a fun little exploration of the merry exit from the gamma 1 test circuit and the merry exit from the tutorial game

hold on, you'll live to play again - look i KNOW what's going to be in the second chapter. i just haven't written it yet. every now and then i go "oh no i abandoned the happy story about the kids" and stare wistfully at the pages document hoping the second chapter will just write itself. i will write it eventually. shoutout to the random person who left kudos on the first chapter like 50 years after i wrote it, knowing there's a nonexistent second chapter. anyway. i wrote the first chapter for the first anniversary of longest thursday. it's about the season 20 postseason and the moment we knew everyone (mostly ivy) was going to be safe. it's got more core lore than i expected to write. thank you mechs.

ashes, dust, and other reminders of what once was - for the garages fic exchange, about chorby soul and parker macmillan. HOO BOY this is the one i'm proudest of. if you read only one piece from this post, i hope you will consider making it this one...which is a huge ask because it's nearly 11k words. if i had a nickel for every time i wrote over 10k words of People In The Vault Being Sad About Things i would have two nickels. that's not a lot of nickels, but very funny it happened twice. this is also the first work i've written for another person, and they were an absolute pleasure to write for. anyway. i think chorby soul and parker macmillan should be besties.

what if the light at the end of the tunnel burns me again - for the firefighters fic exchange, about Agan Espinoza's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Season 24. i love them. i curled up into a little ball of shrimp emotions when they fell in the last fall ball with parker macmillan. god damn.

end-of-the-world tour - i wrote 1.5k words about parker macmillan's roam to the (prehistory) crabs and immortals in like two hours. absolutely no proofreading went into it. i wrote it and tossed it into the void after my computer threatened to fuck me over at the deadline. written for the blaseball zine jam.

batting practice - yeah so i procrastinated until the week of the deadline, then got possessed by some kind of writing demon and wrote 5.5k words about wyatt quitter and jasmine mason. not to say it was rushed, but it may have a residual formatting glitch i may have missed when copying from pages into ao3. i went over it many times to try and get rid of those, but if you see a couple of paragraphs fused together, no you didn't. written for the lift fic exchange.

[lu-lus-dicks]

Nobody expects Russian spies! But there's one here.

I'm sorry, yesterday was a difficult day, so I didn't do daily interaction with you, my Georgian supervised. So, second day, twice the dose!

Do you like taking things apart and putting things back together for absolutely no reason?

Have you ever been given an electric shock?

Light. Artificial or natural?

Two small ones or one large one (no specific items, just curious)?

Do you like indoor plants?

Do you wear glasses?

Are you a perfectionist or not? Procrastinator or not?

Have you played D&D? If so, Lawful Evil or Chaotic Good?

Have you been abroad?

Have you been to prison?

Are you political or apolitical?

Answers.

Yes. A lot. A damn lot.

Fortunately or unfortunately, yes. A little though.

Natural.

One large one.

Yes. I have cactus that is around 2.5 meters height.

Yes. I have relatively small myopia.

Perfectionist? No. Procrastinator? Absolutely.

Yes. With my friends. And my choice is Chaotic Good.

Yes. In Latvia in 2019 (or 2018???).

No and thank whoever up there.

Political. I have gift or curse to slowly change topic of every relatively long conversation into damn political debates.

You don't need to interract with me daily for us to be homies y'know. Take care of yourself first bby <3

I do but unfortunately I can't a lot of the time. I took apart and put back together an old laptop once and it was so fun

Yes? Very light ones from electrical outlets. I once kept shocking people (static electricity) and I joked how I should be plugged in an outlet, would save the bills

Depends on the item but usually one large over two small ones. (I'm thinking of apples specifically as I write this lmao)

I hate indoor plants because my mom makes me water them. Other than that, no. They supply me with oxygen and that's sexy. Plants are sexy

No goasses, though my eyesight could use some. I used to have a superpower with my vision when I was younger and now I need to move my phone up to my nose to read text

Hard to say weather I am or not since I avoid completing tasks. I could be avoiding them because I'm lazy or because I'm a perfectionist and the thought of not living up to my expectations makes me quit. Either could fit

100% a procrastinator. Just coded a game last night while procrastinating on a fanfic, which I was procrastinating on my homework with.

Haven't played it but I'd be a chaotic good probably

No, but I really wanna, especially to canada.

Nope. Haven't been to prison. They probably banned me from there because of the posts I make on here

Apolitical. Constant yelling at my house about politics gets annoying so I choose to completely ignore it's existance. I like the idea of anarchy though, but not the "let me do what I want" kind, more the "I believe in the good in humanity and if we let ourselfs do whatever we'd be much better off without all the wars and politics bullshit. Everyone should help eachother out"

Was the shock coming across my blog? (I'm curious on what exactly shocked you)

Good thing I'm used to dealing with people who get extremely political. You're easy compared to my parents tbh

[haitokunohonoo]

Meme thing because I'm procrastinating. Originally from here. Don't feel like answering every question though.

1. What is your species? - Ugh....

2. Are you out? To whom? - I talk to friends about it sometimes but I know most of them think it's weird. Twitter and Tiktok kinnies have made things... difficult.

3. How old were you when you realized you were not human? What made you realize it? - [REDACTED]. Friends joked about it. Went and read some studies and anecdotal essays about it. Realized they were right.

4. Do you identify as a part of the “otherkin”, or, “therian” community? What communities do you identify with? - I stay on the edges and just observe but sometimes I use the 'kin label. Can't narrow it down between "otherkin" and "fictionkin," hence an apostrophe.

6. Have you faced any abuse because of identifying not human? - No. There have been jokes but people shut up when I put my foot down.

8. Do you believe there should be non-human pride? What do you imagine it being like? - It'd be nice if more people were accepting of alterhuman identities but it's very hard to get anyone outside the community to take it seriously. Even parts of the community itself don't take it seriously. If these obstacles were overcome, I think a non-human pride event would be similar to a furry gathering but with a larger variety of non-animal things. Maybe similar to a combination furry/anime convention.

9. What does being not human mean to you? - Slow organization of whatever the hell is bouncing around inside my skull.

10. What have other people said about your non-human nature? - They're jealous of my excellent night vision and high tolerance for spicy food.

14. Tell us about a time you met another non-human, whether in real life or online. - The sister of a friend of a friend once dated a guy that was a vampire. Him and the sister had gotten frisky and he'd bitten her and left marks, which her brother was not happy about. I don't think he knew it was just a foreplay thing but the family was weirdly religious. Who knows. Anyway, the brother ambushed the guy and sucker punched his balls. It was brutal, I don't know why they didn't just talk it out. After the guy recovered, they finally came to an understanding about it but the whole thing was wild. He got punched when I was like 4ft away lmao

16. Your favorite “non-human” book (as in, non-human characters are the main focus). - Monstrous Affections by Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant. It's an anthology.

17. Your favorite “non-human” movie. - Lost Boys is good. Terminator on a technicality.

19. Is being non-human spiritual for you? - No.

20. Tell us a few thoughts about what it’s like being your species. - Always fogging up the damn windows. Weird dreams.

22. What do you believe causes non-human identity? - From the studies I've read, it makes sense that in a lot of cases it's a coping mechanism for some difficult to process trauma. There's the spiritual aspect too, though I haven't read as much on that and won't write about it here. Another possibility is that everyone plays pretend as a kid. You're supposed to just stop doing that once you reach a certain age? Alterhumanity is deeper than just "pretend," but it's bullshit expecting people to not ever feel like something else as adults.

24. Write something or post a picture about non-humans that upsets you. - Two words: Twitter kinnies.

25. What is the worst argument you’ve heard against being non-human? - "It's just a social media/reality/delusion/etc disorder and shouldn't be taken seriously." Like no shit something's off.

26. Who is your biggest ally? - They follow me here (hi)

27. What is your favorite types of cake? - Local place has this chocolate mousse thing with chocolate shavings that's awesome.

28. What is your favorite type of pie? (Or, is pie an acceptable replacement for cake?) - Pie and cake are both killer. I like pumpkin or strawberry & rhubarb pie.

29. Where did you first learn about being non-human? - DeviantArt back around 2005-2007. I knew a lot of wolves, but I was young and mean about it.

[sweetfushi]

thank you so much for the tag lene <3 this looks like an essay and a half but i'm down

started writing?

i cannot pinpoint the exact date i started writing, probably in 2017-18. i too first wrote on wattpad and was obsessed with reading and writing but i'm not sure what my first publication was... it may have been a bts fanfic DO NOT come for me or ask me about them i have long abandoned my obsession with them lmao

started blogging?

i'm not new to tumblr, i've had about two writing blogs prior to this (ones which i will not disclose) and they gained a lot of attention (like i had thousands of followers on them) but i abandoned those and started fresh as sweetfushi in march of 2024 <3

followers?

i currently have 641 followers! i'm so so grateful for the support i have received on this blog and for my writing <3 i could not have the motivation to continue writing if it weren't for my sweet followers

communication?

tumblr has definitely been one of the places i have met the most amount of new people, including my mutuals <3 i'm not a very social person so i am very low maintenance as a friend, but i am always open to meeting new people as long. i prefer to have low maintenance friends too because i am a very busy person who rarely has time to check up on myself let alone others, but don't let that throw you off from interacting with me <3 i am based in london, england and i have a feeling that most of my mutuals are based elsewhere because i can sense time zone differences in the times we interact :(

likes?

i appreciate every single like that i receive (although i do wish the like to reblog ratio was better). as lene said, it is a bit disheartening when low-effort drabbles receive much more attention than my fics, as the latter take much more time to write. again, as lene said, reblogs with tags expressing how you like our writing have to be some of the best interactions we receive <3 but we appreciate any kind of interaction so long as you are supporting us writers :)

requests?

my requests are currently open and they usually are always open because i manage them quite specifically. i don't oblige myself to write any requests i receive because not every idea is one i like or can write for, so i tend to ignore those requests that just disinterest me or put me in a writer's block. that's why i never really close my requests, because sending one in is like a lottery to see whether or not i actually write your request (i say this lovingly, do not come for me) <3

writing?

i love writing, if you cannot already tell. luckily, i've been deemed an english scholar by many of my teachers and, much like lene, have little need to proofread (that does not mean i do not make mistakes). i write everything on google docs which is also where i store my study notes, meaning every time i go to write something to post, i get it done because i associate opening a document to cracking down on it and getting what i need to do done. but procrastination will always get to me at some point and it will always hit hard :')

fic(s) you're proud of?

i love through heaven and hell with gojo, it was a fic that hit me hard when i was writing it because i too have someone i love very much and hold very dear to my heart, and writing that fic reminded me of how devastating their death would be. i love fics that i can empathise with and relate to and that is not exactly one i relate to but it does get me in my feels. another one i love is not a fic but my toji grumpy x sunshine drabble! it was actually one of those posts that required zero effort but got the most attention out of all my works so, initially, it did throw me off but i see why people love it. i love a good fluff drabble that expresses the dynamic between the reader and the character <3

no pressure tags: @lcvemiyuki @asahiee @yuutx @froyaoya @stqrriichiigo @ikihtoe @m-inluv @raeson

Behind the scenes of a Tumblr Writer - Tag Game

Hey there, I love behind the scenes and since this is something that's rarely talked about, let me start the chain... if you feel uncomfortable with a question, just skip it. You can add some if you want as well.

Started writing: I wrote my first Harry Potter fanfic at age 10. Started posting around 15,16 years old. I'm now 31, so...

Started blogging: I started on a German fanfiction site around 2010/11 I think. Might have been earlier too, but back then I was mostly reading, no posting. I really started when I got into One Direction (very late, tbh)

Followers: Currently at 961, which is wild to me. I don't even know that many people IRL. I convince myself that half of them are bots tbh, so I don't freak out all the time.

Communication: The people I talk to regularly are: a few writers who answered after I constantly reblogged and commented on their works and a few people who commented and reblogged my work. Writing and blogging on here can be pretty lonely, depending on your personality and the time you're active (I'm from Europe and a lot of my followers seem to be living in Northern America, so there's the Timezone thing) ... And I found that the best way to strike a conversation is to reblog, comment, and to not be shy. I do wish I got more asks, though....

Likes: I actually filter them out. I have 793 original posts up at the moment. It doesn't give me anything to know how many likes a fic has other than to tell me which characters are liked more than others or maybe that one fic does especially well. My activity only shows me comments, asks, reblogs with tags, and answers to my own asks. I live for the tags and the comments.

Requests: I love talking to people about ideas. That's how I started the plotbunny game because I have so many ideas and so little time. And sometimes an idea just doesn't want to be written out fully. Requests are fun because YAY, I get some mail... but then I freak out because I don't really know how to write this NOW and then I freak out because it's been a week already, two weeks, wait, two months? I'd rather have suggestions where people tell me vague things like "I'd love to read something about this side character" or "Have you ever considered this character with a soulmate trope"? because then I don't have the feeling of failing the request when I write it a little bit differently.

Writing: I am a fast writer. I know that's one of my talents. I can churn out a oneshot of 1k words in less than an hour. People read slower than I write. That can suck sometimes because you've just posted this and you want to know what people are thinking but they're not as fast as you are. I do have a lot of ideas. I want to write constantly but my brain doesn't always want to. I am trying to respect that.

There are also certain things that I just feel wrong writing. I cannot write anything suggestive (I also don't like reading it) and everything past that gives me panic attacks. I can hardly write mean characters and jealousy feels so wrong to me that I cannot write it. I've also overdone it with the soulmark trope and now I feel like everything I write about it feels lifeless.

I write best in the mornings before going to work, but I don't have much time there. I don't need special music (but it helps), but I need to have at least some energy left and at best, no distractions. But I have been writing for over 20 years, so I will say experience helps a lot.

Tagging: @revasserium @shoulmate @lemurzsquad @screamin-abt-haikyuu @toomanygoldfish @satorisoup @emmyrosee @reverie-starlight @alienaiver and @writingsofanomnivore and everyone else who wants to join

[elsaclack]

Hi :) This might sound weird haha but I adore reading you talk about your writing, it's really inspiring and I feel like I learn a lot of things every time I read you talk about it (you know I'm a fan of your style haha). And anyways while I was reading your answer to your last anon, this struck me: "when i was outlining that chapter i think the only line i dedicated to the actual fight itself was “and then they have a crazy knife fight (good luck future me)”" and I wanted to ask you (1/2?)

(2/3?) do you have like any tips for writing a multichapters fic? I guess from what you wrote here you outline the whole thing before you start with it? Or it depends or the story and sometimes you just go with the flow and see where it goes haha? Do you mind sharing some of your writing process of multichapter fics? :3 Bc I tend to get "bored" really easily and if I don't finish something in one sitting I usually never ever finish it. But also I'd like to learn how to take my time sometimes

(3/3) and idk maybe learning how to properly "get ready" to write something long would help haha. I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense at all but yeah in any case just thank you for blessing my nights with your fics and killing me over and over with feels, I'm sure I said it before but you (and all of the amazing writers this fandom is blessed with) are a true inspiration!!!

you are SO sweet to me i die fhflkdsjf

i’m gonna go ahead and throw 100% of my answer under the cut because i haven’t even started yet and i know this is about to be. So Long. i am sorry in advance lmao

there are a couple of different aspects to this ask that i want to touch on so i will be as brief as possible but as i have proven twice over tonight alone, i am really not capable of that lmfao

i’d say first and foremost, the biggest thing you can do to help yourself in this arena is figure out how to best discipline yourself. which SUCKS it’s like the worst most mom answer ever but in all honesty, developing discipline in writing is what separates the “i could write a book” people from the people who actually do write books. everyone is capable of writing, but not everyone has the discipline or patience to do so. long-form narrative requires even MORE discipline than a one-shot (or even a long one-shot) because it’s like you said, it requires the author to come back over and over and over again to write new material and edit existing material and figure out a way to cohesively connect everything they’ve written into one consistent narrative, and some people have a much harder time with that than others do. there’s nothing wrong with that either way!! the world needs short stories just as much as it needs longer stories. but if you’re wanting to work on writing longer-form narratives, working out a way to best discipline yourself should probably be your number-one goal.

that kind of brings me to my next point (and also ties in part of what i was talking about in that other ask) - comparing your writing style, your progress, your everything to other writers will only lead to heartache for you. when i first started reading and writing for b99 i came across a specific author (who is now one of my dear friends) whose fics were just. next-level works of art. and while i read through just about everything she’d written for b99 and LOVED every single one of them, i found myself getting more and more down on my own writing, because i knew i’d never be able to write like her. but the more comfortable and confident i got in my own writing, the more i realized that it’s less about writing more like That Person and more about developing my own style (my favorite comparison to make between my writing and hers now is that hers are like beautiful and intricate fairy tales, and mine are more of a smokey back room at a bar where a guy is sitting alone at a table and he says “come here and listen to this story.” they’re both Very Different, and perhaps have varying audiences, but one is not inherently Better Or Worse than the other). all of this to say, if you’re working as hard as you can and being really disciplined but still find yourself struggling with writing a multichap, THAT’S OKAY!!! there’s NOTHING wrong with that!!! your writing, however short or long, serves an INCREDIBLY important purpose within the fandom as a whole and no matter what, there will ALWAYS be an audience for your writing.

so okay as for the actual Advice!!! i actually have a couple of steps that i usually follow prior to actually Writing the first chapter of any long fic i’ve written (or am in the process of writing...@king and lionheart yikes). i have yet to really find any consistency in how i think of ideas for multichaps - so far the idea every multichap i’ve written has come from a different source (which is actually kind of Frustrating for reasons i won’t get into). but basically once i actually have An Idea, i’ll take a day or two to kind of think it over and flesh it out as much as possible. if it really starts expanding in detail and an actual Story constructs itself around the idea, i’ll move on to the next step, which is to find a few trusted mutuals here on tungle.corn and say “heyyYYY CAN I YELL ABOUT AN IDEA I HAVE FOR A SECOND” and then spill everything i’ve thought of so far. usually i can tell if an idea will live or die based on these conversations - if the other person is Into It and we start sort of developing the world within the chat, i know it’s time to really sit down and make an effort to pursue the fic. in that case, i will go and copy&paste that part of our chat into a google doc and i’ll build an outline in a separate doc. i used to despise outlines and i would refuse to do them in high school, but once i got into writing as a hobby and i started pursuing longer narrative forms, i tried once or twice to write a multichap without an outline and i just forgot a lot of the details i originally wanted to include, which left me feeling really frustrated with myself and with my writing. i came to realize that outlines kind of a necessary evil, so in writing them i made them as fun for me as possible (i.e. the “good luck future me” line from the king and lionheart outline i mentioned lmao). now i love them and i have them open at all times while i’m working on writing a new chapter.

so i know that i started this off by saying that writing multichaps requires a special kind of discipline, and i stand by that, but also...writer’s block and real life responsibility and just plain exhaustion are all Very Real Things, and they take precedent over keeping up with a publishing schedule (if you’re so inclined to make one of those for yourself). when i started writing king and lionheart, i didn’t know at that point that i would be headed back to school in the spring, and thought that i would have all the time in the world to write. right around november, i realized that i would be going back to school - that’s about the time i took an unofficial hiatus from writing king and lionheart, because i knew trying to keep up with writing that fic the way that i want it to be written and all of the intensive and demanding coursework was going to kill me. taking a step back from posting and coming back to it later is okay. i know i talk a lot about feeling guilty for not having an update for king and lionheart (and the cancer au before it) but in all honesty i know that it’s okay for me to take some time and deal with my real life. and, you know, it’s also okay to lose inspiration for a while and to take a step back until that inspiration comes back. i think it’s that fear of not being able to take longer breaks between updates that scares a lot of people off from even trying to write a multichap - as the queen of procrastination, i am here to tell you that it is 100% okay to start a multichap and to take a break and come back to it when necessary!

writing a multichap is very much like running a marathon - it requires a different kind of energy than a 400 meter sprint or a 1k fluffy oneshot. it’s gonna hurt and it’s gonna suck and there are gonna be times when you’re ready to just quit writing altogether. but there will be parts that are really fun and really easy and you’re gonna get some really great views along the way - and at the end when you cross that finish line and you’re able to check that “complete” box on ao3 before you post the last chapter, you won’t remember the parts that sucked. trust me!! i wouldn’t write as many as i do if the actual shitty parts of the writing process negated the good things that come from writing it and sharing it with other people!

it’s also worth noting that just because you get bored with an idea doesn’t mean that you can’t pick it up again later!!! honestly the first 2 or 3 paragraphs of on your heart like a tattoo sat in my google docs for MONTHS before i randomly decided one day to open it and take a crack at finishing it, and to this DAY i’m still getting people regularly commenting on it. every idea has its purpose and its place, even if it doesn’t always immediately seem like it.

i really hope this helps and i’m sorry if it doesn’t!!! you are such a kind and wonderful person and i absolutely adore you