#when it was my first ever spn con... and i still very much enjoyed myself!!

[mybrainproblems]

Hey! I have a quick convention question. There’s going to be a con near me soon(driving distance, won’t need a hotel) and I can’t afford much more than general admission. Do you think it would be worth it to just go for the panels and maybe sns? I’d hate to miss the opportunity to see the cast in person but if I cant have the “full” experience of getting autos and photo ops is it better to just stay home? Thanks!

hello! i hope you don't mind me answering publicly with a very long answer to your very quick question, but i wanted to give my honest review of going to a spn con as someone who loves spn and spnwin, but did very few ops. as a disclaimer: i am not criticizing folks who get a lot of auto/photo ops (a lot of my friends get them and enjoy them! i love seeing ppl's photo ops and hearing auto op stories!) but it's just not something i'm super interested in for myself.

short answer: my favorite part of the con was getting to meet ppl who i don't get to see much/hadn't met before and the general feeling of being part of a community. (if that sounds like you, definitely go!) doing a photo op with a group of friends and the spnwin actors made for a cute memento and we had fun with it, but i don't think you need (m)any extras to feel like you had a "full" experience unless you really want to spend a few minutes with the actors. but again; i'm not someone who cares much about directly interacting with the actors.

even more in-depth response plus some recommendations for if you go:

the panels were really fun and i highly recommend the ones with kim & bri, ruthie and dj. my understanding is that they're almost always all on friday for 3 day cons. the "ladies of spn" panel is also a good one and was on saturday. karaoke on friday night is free and super fun as an audience member - i highly recommend it! i recommend SNS as well, but also i got to be there for the rare occasion that jensen sang lol. unfortunately i was a bit out of it bc of anxiety meds so i don't think i got the "full" experience on that one, though i still enjoyed myself!

i will say that if you aren't interested in either walker or spnwin and don't have (m)any ops, you're gonna have a lot of down time so definitely take that into consideration. the only panels i was interested in on sunday were mark s and j2 (the gotham screening was a nice bonus bc otherwise it would've been a really sparse sunday for me). bc the first half of the j2 panel was almost entirely finale Qs, it had really weird downer vibes (the crowd/Qs really impact the panel vibes). once they started getting more general questions about spn and their other work it picked up a lot. jared and jensen both talking about their kids was really sweet and was probably my favorite part of their panel.

** unfortunately, both sp8 and rob had to back out due to conflicts/illness which was a bummer and i think i'd have enjoyed the con a bit more if they'd been there. but also jake abel filling in with a solo panel was fun and why i decided last minute to do jake and chill that evening.

all in all, i think the best part of cons is seeing friends who you may not usually (or ever!) get to see normally. and as fractious as the spn fandom is, we all love the same show and it's cool to see how many other ppl love the show. i really don't think auto/photo ops are necessary for a "full" con experience. m&gs might be worth the money if you wanted to get some actual time with the actors but those can be $$$ and stressful to get due to the auction process. photos are a cute memento but they are very rushed due to timing with panels/autos/m&gs. i didn't do an auto op but my understanding is that while it varies person-to-person, usually you only have a minute or two with with j2m; things are more relaxed with the rest of the cast. if i were an artist/had spn fanart i was proud of making, i'd probably do an auto op tho! (i mean, i do have spn fanart i'm proud of. but bc of the media i used, it would feel more like getting it defaced vs acknowledged lol)

side note: i do some event organizing with tight schedules as a part of my job and seriously, hats off to the scheduling folks and organizers at these events; the actors really do love engaging with fans which means almost everyone runs over and somehow the staff manage to keep the wheels not only on, but turning.

for reference, these are the "extras" that i did:

friday night karaoke (free with fri/full weekend admission - highly rec & did i mention it's free?)

SNS (definitely rec!)

jake and chill (fun, but not a "must-do")

group photo op with spnwin cast and friends

group photo op with baby and friends (v affordable and relaxed!)

i mean this in the kindest way; if you really feel like you're going to be missing out not getting any direct interaction with the actors, then i'd say skip it and save up for next time if you can. the worst feeling is paying the top of what you can afford for something that isn't quite what you wanted.

one crit thing i will say tho and i feel kinda bad about it: i thought i was prepared for how personal fans were going to get with the actors during panel q&a and... i was not. afaik CE no longer screens Qs and i don't want them to, but i wish some fans would keep in mind that their catharsis might be someone else's trigger. it's not like it happened a lot or destroyed my experience (i'm planning to go to another con in 2024), but i've never needed to take that much xanax over the course of 72hrs before.

[hawkland]

Destiel fic recs #3 - the (mostly) longfic edition!

It’s been a while since my last rec post - mostly because I’ve been wallowing in a number of longer fics (50-350k!) so it’s taken me a while to have enough to talk about in one post (and boy do I talk a lot, here!)

With these longer fics, I do sometimes have some caveats with my recs - or at least reasons why they might not appeal to every Dean/Cas reader. But note that if I didn’t overall strongly recommend reading the fic I wouldn’t include it in my recs here at all, so any quibbles I bring up are minor compared to my overall enjoyment of the stories. Just, I don’t want someone to commit to a long read without knowing what they’re getting into and why it might not be their thing.

I’m still not into reading complete setting AUs at this time, but a lot/most of these are canon-divergence AUs, often written/set at the end of a season and giving an alternative take on what happened next. I love those kind of stories, as it’s often so interesting to see how fans thought of what might happen in the next season (especially when it’s better than what we actually got.)

Onto the recs & discussion behind the cut!

The Sinking Ship by UnfortunatelyObsessed (114k). This is a story that ripped my heart to pieces (in a good way!). I stayed up all night to finish reading because I simply couldn’t stop once I started on it and it gave me a massive fic hanger from all my emotions. Season 14 divergence, imagine if Dean did go into the Ma’lak box to trap Michael under the ocean with him forever...and once there, he discovers that Cas has stowed away with him. Because of course Cas would never leave Dean to such a fate on his own.

I loved literally. Every. Damn. Thing. About this fic. Cas telling Dean stories to pass the (endless) time. Their small intimate moments while realizing they can never consummate physically while trapped in the box but finding every other way to express their love. The absolute heartbreak that had me SOBBING when Michael fights for control of Dean and destroys everything they’ve built together and Cas thinks he’s lost Dean forever. Sam & Gabriel & Rowena & Claire & Jack doing everything they can to devise a plan back home to try to save them both while keeping Michael trapped. Also even just the wonderfully sensitive portrayal of aroace Jack still closely bonded with Claire and Maggie and just. And just. This is a story I’ve already re-read just to savor how much I loved it and its portrayal of everyone in TFW 2.0 and their extended family, it just hit my id in all the most incredible ways and I have nothing but absolute love for this one.

Beautiful Chaos by anyrei, mugglerock (141k). Season 9 canon-divergence, in which Dean doesn’t simply abandon Cas to fend for himself post 09x03. Instead he sets Cas up in a kind of squatter’s nest in an abandoned building near the bunker so he can keep tabs on him and help him out. 

This fic definitely gets the award for FILTHIEST, HOTTEST, SMUTTIEST Dean/Cas (and Cas/other) I’ve read in, like, ever, for human!Cas turns out to be a rather insatiable sex fiend/cock slut and Dean is too up his own repressed ass to easily give Cas what he wants/needs. It is dark at times, Cas ends up in some very unsavory/non-con situations, and the authors do mention that they tried to hone in on endverse!Cas’s characterization more than what we saw in Season 9...so you might roll with it, you might not. I adored their original character Jerry the tattoo artist in this, and like I said it was seriously hot (if you are good with total bottom!Cas and Cas with others, I know those are not everyone’s cuppa). I did have a few minor issues. For one, the last chapter felt a bit rushed and hand-wavey, but clearly the authors weren’t fond of the canon conflicts of season 9 & 10 (Abbadon, Mark of Cain) and just wanted to be done with them. Can’t say I really blame them. And I did have to laugh a bit at Lebanon, Kansas apparently having such a bustling gay bar/tattoo artist/etc scene being someone from a butt-fuck nowhere American small town myself. But, SPN was never all that realistic in how Lebanon was shown (and yes I’ve spent too much time roaming around it on Google maps), so if you can suspend some disbelief this is an awesome hot/angsty/occasionally heartbreaking read.

These Forsaken Lands by destielpasta (53k). I came upon this story when looking for fics that dealt in some way with the aftermath of Godstiel. This is a wonderfully atmospheric late Season 9 “fill-in” case fic (post Meta-fiction) where Cas ends up in a small town that had been visited by Godstiel...and while initially residents have reaped much good fortune, there has suddenly been a wave of deaths/bad events and he is determined to find out what happened and set things right. He calls upon Dean for help, but Dean is fighting the Mark of Cain and it’s going to take a lot to get past its control and find a way out for both of them. Together they work on repairing an old church while trying to repair each other and their damaged relationship.

I loved this story for how well written it was, really invoking a gothic small-town/Americana atmosphere. The original characters blend in very well with the case-fic at the center of it, and the author deals really well with Cas at a very fragile point when he’s running on borrowed grace and trying to navigate Dean’s MoC-enhanced anger. It’s Dean/Cas but actually much more of a Cas character study, so I highly recommend it to my fellow/compatriot Cas-girls who love a good wallow in his head.

Mixed Emotions by Tierra469 (50k). Canon 12 “parallel” fic that then goes canon-divergent with the season finale. I actually stumbled on this while in the mood to read some Cas/ or & Mary fic after enjoying their interactions in Season 12 (don’t hate me). This is sort of two fics in one. The first half focuses mostly on filling in the gaps with some critical S12 Cas episodes, especially Cas & Mary’s developing friendship (and one night of something more). But of course Cas’s feelings for Dean (and vice-versa) are always there, and when Cas figures out a way to get his powers fully back, the question is if Dean can open himself up to be vulnerable - and express love - the way Cas needs for this to work.

This was an interesting fic in a lot of ways. I loved the author’s take on angels’ connections to their vessels and grace, it was very consistent in a way the show sometimes/often wasn’t. Cas is very Cas in not understanding privacy and personal boundaries (so he does some questionable things, admittedly, which might squick some readers). The smut is fucking HOT - though I will caution at one point it involves Cas temporarily in a younger (NOT underage) female vessel (and the story does point out Dean’s discomfort with this and some of the consent issues involved, I don’t want to spoil too much). I wanted the Mary plot resolved more than it was, but I still recommend this story strongly for the quality of the writing and unique/well-developed take on angel lore and mechanics that was quite different from what I’m used to reading.

We Are Either Here Or Not Here by petramacneary (54k) A post-season 12 fic that goes on a different tangent to how Cas returns, and what happens in the meantime. Particularly, it offers a different take on what apocalypseverse!Cas would be like—as Mary makes her own way back from that world with AU!Cas as her prisoner.

What I loved about this story: first off, BAMF!Mary is awesome here. Dean is so heartbreaking, not quite knowing what the fuck to do with this different Cas who at times is just a painful reminder of who/what Dean’s lost...but then becomes a chance for Dean to say and express some of the things he always was afraid to in the past. And when (real/our) Cas finally returns, there’s some very interesting stuff that happens with both Cas & AU!Cas and Cas & Dean that I don’t want to spoil. (And let’s also just say that when real!Cas and Dean finally get together it’s AMAZINGLY awesome. Like, hot Impala!sex. So is the artwork that goes with this story.)

You Can Keep Holding On by NorthernSparrow (353k) The longest fic I read this time around and probably the one I have the most mixed feelings about, but a while on I do keep thinking about parts of it so I do rec it with some caveats. This is a canon-divergence after the end of Season 11. Dean & Sam find Cas after he’s been blasted out of the bunker...to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Mary isn’t in this one except for a brief appearance/visit, which Dean thinks is Amara’s gift to him. Life seems good for a while, they’re enjoying dealing with mundane problems for a change, but then Cas seems to be pulling away from the brothers, spending less and less time with them at the bunker, taking a mundane job at another Gas ‘n Sip, and clearly preoccupied by something else. Or is it someone else? Dean is worried yet finally ready to accept that Cas maybe has a girlfriend, or a boyfried, but then it turns out that is not at all what Cas has going on. It’s something far more serious than that.

Honestly I almost stopped reading when the reveal happened - it’s a subject that’s very sensitive to me from personal/family experience and not something I usually like reading in fic (especially if there is a sad ending.) So I admit I jumped ahead to read how it would end first before committing to finishing it. And I am glad I did, because the author handles the subject matter with a realism and obvious knowledge of experience as well, not how I often see it in fanfic. There are a lot of emotional ups and downs but it’s nice seeing Dean in his momma-hen/mode, and Sam is so so good in this one! I think I enjoyed Sam’s characterization here most of all! And the author has a really cool/well developed angel/wing lore that hit my wing-kink pretty hard. I do think it could have all been edited down a bit - I found myself skimming parts, especially in the last third, just to get on with things. But it’s definitely a story you can disappear into for a good long time and I’ve bookmarked the author’s other works to read later, so again, I do rec it even with a few caveats.

A few shorter fics, too, just because I don’t want to forget about them...

Eleven Erogenous Zones of a Fallen Angel by almaasi (15k) Pure gratuitous wing!kink for me :) Cas uses the last of his grace to manifest his wings...but then is stuck with them in his human form and not even able to use them to fly as he used to. This presents a lot of awkward problems to deal with but also the excuse for Dean to help him keep them clean :) I did say wing kink, right? :D :D I loved how Cas seemed confused about the pleasure signals he got from bathing vs. sex vs. grooming and all of that. It’s sweet and hot and has my favorite kind of caretaking Dean in it.

Fossil Tracks by SegaBarrett  (3k). Dean & Sam & Cas and dinosaurs. How can you go wrong with that? One of the SPN stories from the Id Pro Quo collection I really enjoyed reading (and didn’t write myself, lol).

[castiel-left-his-mark-on-me]

Heyy. How can one increase notes on an original post? Idk if it sounds whiny or not, but i try to post things that may be appealing but i dont get notes. And its a little disappointing to me. I used to post stuff about spn but i kinda stop cause no one likes it and if j2m would post a pic, i would try to post it but you have 4 other blogs posting it... I want to be thst blog that is very interactive but i can't when i dont have followers who interacts back! And i LOVE the followers that i have!

Hey Kay,

It doesn’t sound whiny at all– don’t worry. And I don’t know if my answer will help or not– but I hope it does since you’re always so sweet to me.

When it comes to Tumblr, I find that less is usually more. When I first started out, I attempted to do what you’re doing now and tried to appeal to what I thought people wanted … the only problem with that is: what they wanted– they already had. The only thing they didn’t have yet, was me– pure and simple. As soon as I stopped caring about notes and getting people to reblog my posts, that’s when they started doing so more and more… because I was finally being myself.

Now, that’s not to say every post I make is some magical note-gaining phenomenon. Of course not. I still make a bunch of “flop” posts that only ever get a few notes no matter how many times I reblog it. Some posts just don’t appeal to the masses, but that’s just the way it goes. Ultimately, if you are yourself and post the things that make you laugh, make you think–make you feel strongly in any way, shape or form … others will usually empathize and agree. Sometimes that’s only 40 or 50 others… somtimes it’s 4 to 5 thousand. That just depends…

So many factors come into how a post takes off: time of day, day of the week, holidays, goings-on in other fandoms, popular tags, the general mood of the fandom at that time an so on. Like right now for example, many of the posts I made are not being heavily reblogged because 1: it’s the weekend, 2: it’s a holiday weekend (at least in the US) 3: SPN is still on hiatus and 4: the fandom as a whole is usually less active on Tumblr during this time of year because it’s at a slow point in the show and interesecting with the break in the con season. So no matter how well I tag, how many times I self-reblog, how much feeling I put into my posts, not many people will care because not many of my followers are even on right now. It’s not anyone’s fault and I am not “posting poorly” … it’s just the way it is right now.

Now, when all those factors change … when the show comes back on and the cons start up again and the guys begin tweeting a lot more over the next few months, you need to make sure that you got your tags ready (tagging the actors’ names and episode numbers are usually the best) and you need to figure out when your followers are normally online. Mine tend to be on around 8am, 1pm and 6pm my time; and I found that out by setting up my queue to post a few things every couple of hours, and just seeing when the most people started reblogging from me– and those were the general times that I found. Yours may be different of course, and it’ll always change with the more followers you get.

And speaking of followers, I found that they usually come with the reblogs. If I have a post that gets over 2 hundred notes, then I’ll usually get at least 5-10 more followers with it. And now, since I have a good amount of followers, more will just follow me here and there throughout the day. I honestly never expected to get as many followers as I have. I thought I’d get a few hundred and max out … but with writing fic and keeping active, talking to my followers as much as I can, being positive (as much as possible… I know I’ve been a Debbie Downer lately) and trying to be helpful whenever someone comes to me with a question, or if they just need a listening ear … I have found that that has brought more and more people over to my little trash blog. Some of them aren’t even Cockles shippers… but I have somehow made a good impression on them so they have stuck around, and I could not be more grateful to them for being here with me.

All in all, it does take some work to gain a large following, but it takes passion and honesty most of all. Be passionate about what you post– enjoy it for yourself, make yourself laugh and soon enough, others will be laughing with you.

I hope that helped in some way, Kay. I love you to bits!!!

Good luck!

[sil9800]

Demons I Get, People are Crazy

Hey everyone! This is sil here! Ya know those times when you should probably just leave something alone, but you also know if you do nothing, it'll start messing with your mental health? I apologize, but yeah, this is that.

It seems I need to set the record straight again with regards to a few matters. I was going to post this yesterday, but decided to wait at least 24 hrs until I can simmer down. It's now been closer to 36, but it's also been a very stressful day. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the norm around here lately. Which is probably another reason I can't let this go. There's so much going on right now that I can't fix, when something comes along I *can* fix, i guess I kinda I glob onto it.

So yesterday, a friend of mine let me know that my name came up on spn_goss. For anyone that doesn't know, goss is a mostly hat community for SPN gossip on Live Journal. It’s made up of mostly hats, bullies, and a ton of trolls. Again for those that don't know, a hat is someone that believes J2 are in a romantic relationship.

As most of y'all know, I honestly could not care less about who ships who, or who believes in whatever RL relationships. I have many hat friends, so this isn't a condemnation of that community. I actually have friends across the board of this fandom. I care about the kind of *person* someone is, not the way they enjoy SPN.

Please pardon my language a little bit here, but I've seen very nasty people from all over this fandom attack and bully others, but I gotta say, it takes a special breed of asshole to insult someone with the memory of their deceased mother on an anonymous gossip comm! This person claimed that I had misused funds that were raised on my behalf to attend a con, by claiming I was trying to use the money to take my mother too. Obviously this person knows NOTHING about me, yet this is what she's telling people. For those that were not following me back then, at the time, my mother was at home on hospice. She passed away the day after the con. She was diagnosed with cancer just 2.5 months prior. I miss her daily.

To further illustrate my point, even if I *had* misused the funds, it would have gone to BILLS! As I sit here with my phone cut off and my gas and cable/internet in danger, I'm not even entirely sure how we're going to eat. When you can't even afford the basics, there's not really an opportunity to misuse what little funds we do have.

Now, I'm not saying all this for pity's sake. Until just now, even my *friends* didn't know! I say it to prove how preposterous it is to accuse me of this in the first place! I say it to clear my mother's good name! And I say it so that any of my followers that also read goss will hear *something* to the contrary. The moderators at goss were good enough to freeze the thread, but unfortunately, they were not good enough to *delete* it immediately, until I contacted them myself. The great thing about an anon comm is that someone can post something they overheard, was told, or witnessed a celebrity say or do and not have to worry that the celeb or other source can trace it back to them. But using an anon comm to dirty a NON-celebrity's reputation is malicious and disgusting! It should have been deleted immediately and I blame the mods 100% for allowing it to remain until I contacted them.

I'm really sorry for getting into all this. Usually I can ignore stuff like this pretty easily, This one though just hit me where it hurts. I miss my mother so much! I've been having dreams about her nearly every night lately. My father still cries for her regularly, as do I. And as for our finances, we were in pretty bad shape before my mother passed, but when she did, we lost $700/month and that has been devastating! I'm desperately trying to find work, but no one seems to be interested in someone with no current experience due to taking care of their parents the past 3 years.

I also wanted to share this because it *matters* to me what you think of me. Maybe it shouldn't, but Chuck help me, it really does. Most of you probably never saw the post I'm referring to, but I'm posting this for those that did and wondered.

I sincerely thank you all for your friendship and understanding. Unfortunately, it's honestly becoming more and more difficult to do what I do these days. I absolutely love doing it for you all, but the frequency of less-than-constructive-criticism and snarky commentary is taking it's toll. Y'all have always been so genuinely kind and caring and supportive of me! I cannot thank you enough! But I think maybe I need to step back a little and take some me time. Many thanks to everyone who's ever had my back!

Much Love, ~sil

[morganaspendragonss]

1-40

I get that whoever sent this was probably having me on because I put in the tags that nobody would actually do this, but I honestly don’t care because it’s interaction with my followers.

(Also I love talking about my writing hmu about it)

This is going under a cut because it’s going to be super long.

1. Describe your comfort zone - a typical you-fic

I love to write angsty, hurt/comfort stories that are quiteintrospective and possibly a little existential.  

2. Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at,but really want to?

Someday, I’m definitely going to write a soulmate AU fic.  

3. Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a tenfoot pole?

I really hate sibling AUs. I’ve avoid reading them and I wouldn’t everwrite one.  

4. How many fic ideas are your nurturing right now?Care to share one of them?

Far, far too many. I will write them…. at some point…..

There’s one that I’ve been nurturing for a really long time.Essentially, it’s a Supernatural fic in which Sam dies with Jess in the fire atStanford. Not being one to let his prize horse go before he’s even entered thefield, however, Azazel returns him to life and guides him down the path tobecoming the boy king. 

Fast forward two years, Dean and Bobby put together a bunch of strange,demonic sounding deaths. People called Jake Talley, Ava Wilson, Scott Carey,etc. They go to investigate, and imagine their surprise when they find out it’sSam doing all the killings. 

5. Share one of your strengths

I’m generally pretty good at characterisation and worming my way intothe character’s thoughts and feelings. 

6. Share one of your weaknesses

I’m not great at motivating myself to write. There’s one of my fics thathasn’t been updated in months because I haven’t felt like sitting down andwriting. 

7. Share a snippet from one of your favouritepieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

There will never be enough time. 

Everyone alive thinks they have all the time in theworld to do everything they want, and so much more besides, and no one realisesuntil it’s their time that we’re all just trapped in hourglasses with the sandsof our lives slipping through our fingers. Death is a far off thing that comesfor everyone whether we like it or not, and when it does we will all wish formore time that we cannot have.

This is from my Harry Potter fic, every second you’re alive. I’m proud of it because I remember writing it and really liking what I had just produced, which is such a rare feeling for me.

(read the full fic here)

8. Share a snippet from one of your favouritedialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

“If the poor man wants to speak with you aloneyou ought to let him,” she scolded. 

“Come, Wilhelmina. Let’s leavethe men to it.” She started towards the door, but Alfred moved to stopher, embarrassed.

“Really, Duchess, that’s really not necessary.I’ll just-”

“Apparently it is necessary,” she cut in.“Didn’t your parents ever teach you manners?”

(read thefull fic here) This is from a Victoria fic and I like it becauseI felt like I could really hear the characters’ voices coming through after I’dwritten it. 

9. Which fic has been the hardest to write?

My Supernatural-Merlin crossover fic, Our Broken Souls. I haven’t updatedit in a while because it’s quite honestly exhausting to write because I have tokeep track of all the characters and make sure they’re all in character andit’s also my first real long fic so it’s been a challenge to write it whilstalso being in full-time education. 

10. Which fic has been the easiest to write?

Probably my Supernatural 13x01 coda, You Say Goodbye. I knew exactly where I wanted to gowith it and how I wanted to write it. 

11. Is writing your passion or just a fun hobby?

Both. I really, really love writing, but currently I am only able to indulgein it as a hobby. 

12. Is there an episode above all others thatinspires you just a little bit more?

Episode 13x12 of Supernatural really inspired me. Unfortunately, Ihaven’t been able to upload my coda to that episode yet, but I’ll get there. 

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve comeacross?

 To always get a second perspective on your work.  

14. What’s the worst writing advice you’ve comeacross?

This is just personal, but to keep writing even when you’re notmotivated or inspired. This advice probably works for loads of people, just notfor me. 

15. If you could choose one of your fics to befilmed, which one would it be?

Probably my Supernatural 13x07 coda, Little Boy Lost because I need more Sam angst/Sam worrying aboutJack in the show. 

16. If you could only write one pairing for therest of your life, which pairing would it be?

That’s a tough one, but probably Charlie Bradbury/Jo Harvelle 

17. Do you write your story from start to finish,or do you write the scenes out of order?

Depends on the fic. Generally I write from start to finish, but ifthere’s a particular scene that I know I want to happen, but I don’t know whereit’ll go, I’ll write it beforehand and then insert it in later. 

18. Do you use any tools, like worksheet oroutlines?

 No 

19. Stephen King one said that his muse is a manwho lives in the basement. Do you have a muse?

It probably sounds strange, but no, I don’t really have a muse. 

20. Describe your perfectwriting conditions.

Sitting on my bed, the Game of Thrones soundtrack playing quietly in thebackground. 

21. How many timesdo you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

Anywhere between 0 and 3 

22. Chose a passagefrom one of your earlier fics and edit it into your current writing style.

Oh man I hate looking at my earlier writing. This is an improvement of a2016 Sherlock fic entitled Lost (readit here)

JimMoriarty shot himself in the back of the head. His eyes stared blankly up atthe blue sky, his lips still quirked upwards into a triumphant grin. He hadwon. He had won, despite the halo of blood spreading across the concrete. 

(Sherlockwondered if that was how he hadlooked when it had happened. If anyone deserved a halo, it was John Watson) 

(Butthen, Sherlock had seen enough car crash victims to know that wouldn’t be thencase) 

23. If you were to revise one ofyour older fics from start to finish, which would it be any why?

My veryfirst fic, Binding Love, a PJO fic from way back in 2014. That was written inthe days where I didn’t know how to structure my fic properly, and my writinghad improved in leaps and bounds since then.  

24. Have you ever deleted one ofyour published fics?

I have. Ideleted a Divergent fic because it didn’t get a response, and when I read itover I saw why. I also deleted two other fics because I was honestly justembarrassed about them. 

25. What do you look for in abeta?

Someonewith patience because I am the worst at keeping a good updating schedule, andsomeone who is good at spotting grammatical mistakes because my fics often havequite a few. 

26.  Do you beta yourself? If so, what kind ofbeta are you?

I dobeta. I tend to be quite clinical, going through it and making changes where Ispot errors, but I also like to interact with the writer so that I understandwhat they want to achieve and how I can help them, and so that they understandmy thought process and why I made the changes I did. 

27. How do you feel aboutcollaborations?

I’m partof one now! They can be stressful, but I’ve had a lot of fun with them. 

28. Share three of your favouritefic writers and why you love them so much.

TolkienGirl onff.net – She has written so many wonderful fics for a huge variety of fandomsand each one is literal perfection. I have never read a single story of hersthat I have not loved. 

elsaclack on ao3 – I have only recently started reading their fics but oh my god they areamazing. I finished reading one of them the other day and I was so disappointedthat I have got to the end because I was enjoying it so so much. 

Lenelle on ff.net – I amin love with their fic. Again, it’s all so good and they write some amazingSam-centric SPN fic, which is all I need in life. 

29. If you could write the sequel(or prequel) to any fic out there not writtenby yourself, which would you choose?

Probablya sequel to Lay Down YourArmour by rainbowflavouredfabulous on ao3. It was such a good fic and isvery deserving of a sequel. Whether I’d be able to do it justice, however, isanother matter. 

30. Do you acceptprompts?

Yeah, definitely! I can’t say how long I’ll take to write them, but Ilove receiving prompts. 

31. Do you takeliberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canoncompliant?

That is very dependent on the fic and on the canon. For example, when I’mwriting episode codas I generally stay true to canon, but I have taken someliberties if I dislike the canon. 

32. How do you feelabout smut?

I love to read it, but I’ve never written it. 

33. How do you feelabout crack?

Not really my thing. 

34. What are yourthoughts on non-con and dub-con?

I generally try to keep away from it. 

35. Would you everkill off a canon character?

I have and I do, although not so frequently now as I used to. 

36. Which is yourfavourite site to post fic?

I used to exclusively post on ff.net, but I quite like ao3 as well.

37. Talk about yourcurrent wips.

Currently I’m trying to write a coda to SPN 13x09 that’s been in theworks for a long time. I can’t quite figure out what I want to write, otherthan that it’s post-episode from Jack’s POV.  

Then there’s my crossover, OurBroken Souls. I really do enjoy writing this because I’ve always wanted towrite a Merlin-Supernatural crossover, but it takes time. I’m hopefully goingto update over Easter. 

38. Talk about areview that made your day.

All the reviews I get make my day if I’m being honest, but I receivedone on my fic To Ashes that made meso happy. I was really unsure about this fic, but the review was just so lovelyand really cheered me up. 

39. Do you ever getrude reviews and how do you deal with them?

Surprisingly, I very rarely get rude reviews. I got one near Christmasthat basically told me I shouldn’t write because it goes against God’s willetc. etc. It was a guest review so I just reported it. 

40. Write analternative ending to [insert fic title]

I wasn’t given a fic so I’ll choose one myself. This is an alternativeending to my Victoria fic, Achilles and Patroclus,in which Drummond doesn’t die. 

When the fifth day came, Alfred was sure he was going to lose Drummond.His face was grey, his breathing laboured, and Alfred didn’t know how a personcould recover from that. His eyes filled with tears as he left, certain hewould never enter this place again. 

In the end, it turned out he was right, if only in part. The palacereceived word two days later that Drummond was expected to make a fullrecovery, and had been moved to his own home to do so. Alfred barely managed tocontain himself at the news, and rushed off to Drummond’s house as soon as hewas able. 

When he arrived, a maid showed him up to the room, warning him not todistress Drummond too much. He assured her he would do nothing of the sort,then stepped inside, shutting the door quietly behind him. Drummond was pale,and his eyes were closed, but his head turned in Alfred’s direction as Alfredmade his way over to the bed. Alfred felt tears gather in his eyes again, buthe blinked them away, sitting down in a chair next to the bed and hesitantlytaking Drummond’s hand in his. 

Drummond’s mouth quirked up into a smile at the touch. “Alfred,” hebreathed, and that sound alone caused a warm feeling to spread in Alfred’schest. 

“Edward,” Alfred choked out, finally letting the tears fall. Hetightened his grip on Drummond’s hand as they sat in silence, thankful thatthis wonderful man hadn’t been stolen from him.