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the-lunar-library · 2 months ago

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Writerly Questionnaire

Questionnaire by @davycoquette

This is a very in-depth questionnaire for writers, suitable for original fiction writers, fanfic writers, and people who aren't writing but who are messing around with OCs. It's a lot of fun and I'm glad I stumbled over it.

Original post here.

About You

When did you start writing?

Very, very young. I would write and draw picture books about horses. Occasionally I finished them. The first chapter “book” I completed was called Starlight's Fury and heavily based on The Silver Stallion and similar wild horse stories. It was also only 3100 words. Short chapters, big writing, and lots of illustrations.

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

Sometimes. I have no interest in writing romance novels from the 1960s, but if I can find them cheap secondhand, I will snatch them up. I'm trying to think if there's themes I seek out without wanting to write them myself, and I sort of have the opposite... I tend to avoid stories centered on love triangles, but in my original fiction, I keep writing relationships that, if they aren't exactly triangles, veer awfully close. Eider-Diarca-Yew, Charmian-Jimson-Rigmor, Akantha-Alexandros-Genesius, and, yes, another one for the fourth book. In my own mind, I can declare these aren't love-triangly love triangles, but possibly I am kidding myself.

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer?) you want to emulate, or one to whom you're often compared?

I wrote last week about how Tanith Lee greatly affected my voice was I was developing it in the mid-2000s. The combination of her conversational tone and unexpected imagery really struck me, and I still find myself looking back to her and thinking how she would approach certain narrative moments.

I once heard a professor say that Emily Dickinson's writing style “scared him” because it was so spare and direct, and, my golly, I would love to be able to do that, and it's something I keep in mind when heading into heavier subjects. (I don't always want to scare the reader, but I often want that direct impact.)

Recently, my mother read The Alice Network by Kate Quinn and said its style reminded her of mine. But I don't think there's anyone I've been often compared to.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.)

I love the idea of writing in a cozy coffee shop, but the truth is that I would probably be too distracted. I tend to write in my bedroom, cross-legged on the floor. When I was younger, I mostly wrote longhand and would snatch whatever writing time I could, during free periods, in cars, that sort of thing; I would take my writing notebook to school and on trips.

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

The muse, she does not come when she's called. She likes music though. A lot of the time, any music will do, just to create a sense of shut-in-ness and a barrier from the world. If I'm writing something emotional, then I might go for really emotional music. (I wrote the last chapter of The Stars Are Fire with “Weight of the World” on repeat.)

But I don't rely on my muse if I can help it. When I was younger I did, and my (original) first drafts spanned years, and en route I often ran out of interest and momentum and they languished unfinished. So now, when life allows it, I try to set time aside (a 30 minute block, say), and that's for writing (includes editing) and you just have to sit and write, sorry, but yes, you may take breaks between paragraphs. This allows me to write much more quickly, and the idea that I won't be working on this first draft for years affords me a light at the end of the tunnel. I don't expect it to always work, but right now, it works enough.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

Yeah, somewhat. Relatives' homes, different areas where they lived (the differences in scenery, animals, overall moods), and then where I grew up, traces of it have shown up in my writing. As for people, that's a tricky thing to cop to, basing characters on people you know. I don't have any characters that are one-to-one analogues of people I know. When it comes to antagonists (dangerous territory), I try to draw more on my own negative traits and bend or exaggerate them rather than settle scores writing someone I know as a villain.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

Ones that I've noticed include guilt, a sense of being cursed, conflict between once-friends, untrustworthy romantic interests, large snakes, learning how to break free/express anger in a useful way. They're not surprising. Not that I'm an edgelord or something, but these are things I'm interested in, these are things that I think make for really powerful stories.

I could also sweepingly say DEATH, because that is something I return to, though I think more in fanfiction than in original fiction. Lost Savior, Elysion, Death and Ker, The Stars Are Fire, parts of The Muse Trilogy, definitely parts of the unposted Fate stuff – they all focus on mortality and what it means for you (the person dying) and how you cope with it (the person surviving).

I'm sure there are themes that would surprise me, but that's the sort of thing a reader figures out before the writer does.

Your Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, past WIP, never used, etc.)

I'm the author, and I'm irresponsible, and I'm saying Alexandros, the trickster prophet from To the Ravens. He's not my favorite in that I think he's particularly admirable. You could definitely pick a better role model. But I love writing him. He's creative, intuitive, over the top, very fun in how he talks and how he acts. He can be warm and reassuring and heroic. He's beautiful and eloquent and he can cut right to the heart of the person he's talking to. But he's always operating from an angle, coming up on your side. He spins explanations quickly, he lies with a smile, and he never looks back. He's exhausting, but so fun to write.

Which of your characters do you think you'd be friends with in real life?

I feel sorry for Diarca, and he's shut up in a mirror, he could use a friend. I would also love to be friends with Wuxle, just an absolutely steady presence, someone who will watch your back when you're in danger while undramatically pointing out you're maybe not making the best decisions. I could see myself befriending Akantha and Karyai and probably even Kokkonas, though we might bicker a lot.

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

It's probably too easy to just list off antagonists, particularly the ones who head into Actual Villain territory. Among the “good” or more neutral characters, I think I'd find both Charmian and Yew sometimes frustrating in real life. But then, their bad decisions are part of why their stories happen. I don't think I'd actually dislike them, but there might sometimes be words exchanged.

Tell me about the process of coming up with one, all, or any of your characters.

I don't have any one method. With Eider, I set out to make her very appealing – I designed her to be extremely beautiful for that fairy tale factor, and I wanted her to be very brave and earnest in the hopes the reader would really get behind her. So there were a lot of deliberate choices made in her creation. Similarly, Arsen was intentionally written to evoke gothic romantic hero tropes, hopefully to examine them in an interesting way. Other characters come along in a more as-you-go sort of way. I've talked about how Jimson was originally a more villainous character, and I'm not sure what exactly changed him – the needs of the story versus how I felt while writing the character – but he definitely circumvented my plans. Akantha was originally a defiant trickster character, but researching the lives of Greek women in antiquity ended up being more interesting to me, so I wrote her well within those confines, defying them in a more slowly building way.

Right now, I'm brainstorming a possible ghost character, but at this stage I don't have much set in stone – some world-building ideas for where the ghost comes from, some tropes I might use for their personality. I think part of this process is going to involve reading different ghost stories from different sources and seeing if that shakes any interesting ideas loose. From there, I might just start listing possible tropes, origins, arcs, regardless of whether they're good, and see what connections form. Or maybe I'll work on a different character from that project and the arc of that character could end up shaping the ghost's arc secondarily. It's still early enough that things could head in so many directions; the ghost doesn't even have a name yet.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

Many! There's the stuff I mentioned above, like Yew, Charmian, and Akantha all considering themselves cursed in some respect. I see some similarities between Jimson and Alexandros, these charmers who have some pragmatism behind their smiles. Mabry and Yew are also somewhat similar, bold, irreverent, even having some similarity in their designs with their long sleek hair and big dark eyes. Charmian and Akantha both deal negatively with arranged marriages. These characters aren't identical, but they share some themes and ideas I've been turning over and exploring from book to book.

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc.)

I'm able to draw them, and that's another way I refine their characters. (Though in many cases, I don't draw them until after the project is finished.) Even so, it's not perfect. I can draw a figure with the necessary traits, but it doesn't necessarily capture the character. I still feel like I haven't ever properly drawn Arsen, and though I've gotten closer with Diarca, he's still elusive. Still not entirely pleased with any pictures I've done of Genesius – I don't think I've quite gotten his maturity, maybe. Real people do sometimes influence the characters' designs; I'd been watching lots of Poldark ahead of writing The Price and Prey of Magic, and my goodness, Aidan Turner and his deep sultry voice definitely passed some DNA on to Arsen.

I realize though that's not quite the question. How do I see them in my mind, as real people or drawings? I think it's closer to real people, but real people whose faces are still sometimes a bit blurry and uncertain to me.

Your Writing

What's your reason for writing?

I've always done it, and I've always been considered good at it (for my age group, when that was still applicable). As with a lot of writers, there's a sense in which writing's difficult and I drag my feet, but simultaneously I can say that I love it, I get an emotional and even a physical sense of well-being from it. It makes me feel accomplished, it organizes my thoughts. Being able to write, especially original projects, often feels like it's a sign of my mental health being good. When my mental health isn't as good, writing fanfiction allows for a lot of comfort and fun, emotional release, and interacting with other fans. (Which is not to say I only write fanfiction when things are going wrong in my life – don't worry about that! But for years I felt like I couldn't write original stuff anymore and fanfic gave me a way to keep writing.)

In a more exterior way, there's a quote from the Matilda movie that I can only paraphrase, but which has always stood out to me: That writers send their books out like ships to bring messages to people. I'm not claiming to have very deep material, but I think about how much enjoyment other writers' books (and fics) have given me, and I would love to pass that on as a writer.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

All comments made in good faith, even criticism, are generous gifts. But the comments that really stand out tend to be specific – lines people liked, twists that surprised them, theories they have. One comment I remember from years and years ago was an anon on Fanfiction.net who noticed I updated a certain fic the same day every week, and that made them look forward to that day all week. Another reviewer said that years after first reading it, they still quoted one of my fics. Learning that is so touching and I'm feeling all fuzzy writing about it now.

As for criticism, I've definitely gotten it, and while I don't always agree with it, I think I can tell when the reader's put thought and honesty into their feedback. So even if I don't make the changes they suggest, the feedback is still valuable. Other times, the critic's been exactly right, and even if the feedback comes too late for me to change a project, I can still keep it in mind as I write new things.

In general though, comments in and of themselves are motivating. You might know people are reading a fic, you might see the hit number going up, but not hearing what people think about it is discouraging.

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc.)

It's that Matilda quote again. I really, really want you to enjoy my writing, whether it's original or a fic. I want you to read it and remember it years later, and it gives you a warm nostalgic feeling, taking you back to that time in your life. When it comes to characters and world-building, I hope people find them intriguing and worth studying for their own writing, and I hope the themes and my takes on them resonate with people. But the real thing, the crucial thing, is that I hope you like my writing and remember it.

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

It's hard not to think of an answer that doesn't come from someone else. It's also easier to focus on shortcomings. Part of the problem is that quality is subjective, so something I really like about my writing could be just the thing a given reader hates.

I think I'm capable of some good poetic language. For some people, it might shade too purple; other people might say it doesn't go purple enough. Some would say that if I like a line, I should make like Faulkner and kill it, but I don't subscribe to that motto. If you let all your darlings live, will you let some awful cringey lines survive? Yeah, probably. But experience will make you better able to hear what sounds awkward and what doesn't, and, honestly, better that your writing be awkward and memorable than serviceable and anonymous.

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others?

People note my descriptions, my dialogue, especially funny one-liners. Readers have also liked (or at least been affected by) my emotional endings, particularly in fanfic. On reflection, my fics' endings tend to be received pretty well.

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question.)

It's tiresome to harp on, but I do see a lot of flaws in my writing. I often feel my plotting is weak and I can fumble when it comes to internal rule-/world-building.

On the positive side, right now, at this point in my life (the last 7 – 5 years or so) I'm very happy that my writing's been happening, projects emerging quickly, projects getting finished. I can't know if that will last, but I'm grateful for it as it's happening.

As for the writing itself, looking at it separately from me, my feelings are complicated. Like many (most? all?) writers, I'm writing the stories I want to read, so that's fun. On the other hand, they're written by me, so I can see backstage, as it were, see all the scaffolding and compare the story to an ideal non-existent version of it in my head. So that harshes the fun.

I've written before that when it comes to my fanfic, I'm able to go back after posting and reread it and enjoy it a lot. But rereading my published stuff doesn't offer much relaxation – I'm too caught up in things I can no longer change. I still feel that way with The Price and Prey of Magic and The Escape of Lady Aigle, but with To the Ravens, I have been able to go back and reread it, at least some sections. And while I still see small things I question and wish I could go back and alter, I do enjoy rereading it. I don't know if I've turned some corner or if there's just something special for me about To the Ravens.

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

If I'm looking at this literally, I think I would be too depressed to write. But looking at it theoretically, at the broader question – or maybe just hoping that my initial depressed paralysis would be temporary – yes, I think I would write even if I didn't expect anyone to read. I have writing projects that I never plan on sharing. I have a diary I don't ever want anyone who knows me to read. My favorite fanfic has never been posted, and I'm still torn on whether it ever will be. Like I said above, writing makes me feel good. So if I'm the last human, I think writing would help. And I think I'd want to document things, just in case someone ever did come along.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

I don't know if anyone can write with such selfish purity, if they're intending to share their work. (Again, see my favorite fic, just for me, utterly self-indulgent. But even there, I didn't write it without ever considering what other people would think of it. The barrier of outside criticism was lower, but it was still there.)

So yeah, I think about the audience, in terms of making my ideas clear, or trying to make sure I'm not unwittingly offensive or insensitive, and then, yes, what they might enjoy. On the other hand, I'm very much writing the stories I want to write. My fanfic is mostly for niche JRPGs from the 2000s, 2010s, not exactly white-hot fandoms; even within those fandoms, I don't think I'm writing the subjects or characters that will get the most hits. As for the original stuff, if I was going for mass appeal, all three novels would be markedly different. I don't think I would've written a book about a second-century snake cult on the moon.

But I think there's a subtler answer. There's “readers” as in generic, mainstream readers. And then there's people who read my stuff. These are people I do and don't know, and if they like some of my writing, I'd like to think they'd enjoy more of it. I wouldn't want someone to read one of my fics/books and be majorly disappointed by another. At the same time, you can't expect to hit the target for every reader every time; that's unreasonable.

This answer is just getting more garbled. Yes, I do both. I have no idea what the percentages are, but I think generally it's always best to be true to yourself in writing, even if it might alienate some readers. Again, better to alienate and make an impression than to be palatable and easily forgotten.

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #indieauthor #writer questionnaire #meta #the price and prey of magic #the escape of lady aigle #to the ravens #don't even want to know how many typos there are

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subbe93 · 1 year ago

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It Has Always Been You, Chapter 1

A/N: Finally, here we are! Here is the start for @starmia ‘s request! I tried to reread and publish this around Easter, but I couldn’t make it, so I decided that as soon as I’m free from school and start my summer holiday, I’m going to do it. And here we are!

Though this time I’m working differently with this fic. Usually, I have drafted the whole story before I have started to reread and publish chapters. I like to do that because this way I make sure that any of my long fics wouldn’t be left unfinished, and I also can promise when the next chapter comes out. But to be honest, I started to feel like I have promised to work on this fic so long and still hadn’t had a chance to start publishing. So I promised myself that as soon as I start my summer holiday, I finished this first chapter and publish it. But the thing is when I’m writing this (it’s Friday, 16.6.), I have nothing written for chapter two. Yeah, you read right: I have nothing for chapter 2, not even a word ^^’ But I start to work on it, and I promise to publish the next chapters as soon as I got them ready! And I’m really sorry about that because I can’t even guess when I got the next chapter ready ^^’

But back to the fic! The request was that Shinichi and Ran tried to date in uni but it didn’t work so they decided to be friends, Shinichi went away and years later after he comes back he is engaged but he realizes that he is still in love with Ran.

So here is a start, I hope you like it ^^

Chapter 1: Back in Tokyo

Shinichi didn’t remember how beautiful Tokyo was. Or maybe he hadn’t appreciated it back then when it was part of his everyday life scenario. But now, after five years in America…

Probably it would have been many years more before he would have even planned to make a visit to Japan if he wouldn’t have got a call from Nakamichi. After catching up, he told him that they were planning a class reunion with their group from high school. So, of course, Kudo Shinichi needs to be there too!

To be honest, part of him wasn’t a big fan of an idea, but people around him started to be excited about it. His mother started almost immediately planning the flight to Tokyo. And when Shinichi tried to get help from his fiancee to find any good excuse not to go, she had just looked as excited as his mother and told him that they really, really need to make that trip!

Well, he could understand why Julia was so eager to make a visit to Japan. That light-haired woman had lived all her life in America and hadn’t traveled anywhere. She had dreamed about traveling around the world and seeing so many different places, but because of school and everything, her dreams hadn’t come true - at least not yet. So it was only understandable that when Shinichi’s parents promised to pay for her tickets to Tokyo and back and also a hotel room - even though Shinichi had said they don’t have to! - she was so eager to go. Well, Shinichi was pretty sure that Julia would have come even though his mother wouldn’t have promised to pay anything.

But yeah. After that, he hadn’t had any chance to say no anymore.

But maybe deep done, he was happy that others were eager to make this trip. Because after stepping on Japan’s land, he felt at home. It was weird, because he had a home in America, but Japan had still a special place in his heart. He had grown up in here, learned much from here… And truthfully, he really missed his old friends. After high school, they went their different ways and didn’t see each other as often as before. He can admit that he hadn’t been very good at keeping in touch with them, but then again, they haven’t with him.

So walking those streets and seeing those familiar places - though some of them had gotten little different looks during the years - brought back so many good memories. All those adventures he had as a child, his first day at kindergarten, his first day at school, all those soccer games he played with his friends, he remembered all cases…

With all those fond memories, he realized how much he had missed it all. Though some things had changed, including his childhood home, which made him feel a little bit sad. But his parents had sold it after Shinichi was sure that he would like to stay in America, so it was only understandable that there were new owners who wanted to make that house look like theirs.

And here he was, being emotional.

“It’s so beautiful”, he heard Julia say as they walked to the park. She looked around dreamily, but that’s how she had walked after yesterday when they had landed. Everything she saw was awesome and beautiful. She had even forgotten her urge to learn Japanese as soon as she had gotten off the plane. Some of the greetings she knew and she knew how to thank, but since she had been too busy to look around while his parents had taken care of everything else, she had lost all possibilities to learn more. But Shinichi hadn’t mind, and to be honest, he was sure that it would be more exciting for her to concentrate to see everything around her instead of trying to learn a new language. At least she could do it when they would be back in America, but views? Well, of course, she could always check pictures from the internet, but to be honest, it wouldn’t be the same as experiencing them now, right here.

“Right?” Yukiko answered excitedly. “So much different than New York.”

“So much”, Julia laughed happily, and from the corner of his eyes, he noticed how she turned to look at him. “You’re so lucky that you got to live both of them.”

That’s what his classmates had said when his parents moved to America. First, they had thought that Shinichi had been a fool because he hadn’t moved with them, and later they had claimed how lucky Shinichi was, to have an easy way to make a visit to America. But he hadn’t seen anything interesting in it. Besides, it just meant packing and all if he had wanted to visit his parents, which he had considered just troublesome.

“I don’t think it’s really anything special”, he said finally and looked at Julia, but those amber-colored eyes were looking around, trying to see everything. “If you want to live or visit somewhere, you just have to do it, right?”

Yet she turned to look at him, giving him that certain smile while rolling her eyes. “It’s not that easy for everyone, you know?”

“But you can always work for it”, he answered.

She shook her head. “You don’t understand, do you?”

He shrugged. “It seems I don’t” he admitted.

Julia laughed and nudged him with her weight. “Don’t ever chance, okay?”

He grinned in answer.

“Alright, lovebirds”, he heard Yukiko say, making Shinichi look at his mother. “Should we grab something to eat? I’m starting to feel hungry.”

“Oh, yes!” Julia answered, as energetic as always. She took a few run steps to walk beside Yukiko, looking at her excitedly, wrapping her arms around Yukiko’s arm. “What do you recommend? I want something new! Actually, Shinichi mentioned…”

Shinichi shook his head mostly himself before following those two and his father. Yet, those cute, pink Sakura flowers stole his attention and his eyes went back to them. He had to admit that he hadn’t remembered how beautiful they were. And they brought back memories that he had kind of forgotten. Well, not necessarily forgotten, but dealt with them and moved forward, leaving them behind when there hasn’t been anything to remind him of them.

And those memories, they were still dear to him. Painful, but dear. But he still pushed them a little further, because now wasn’t a time for them. Right now, he needed to…

“Shinichi?”

And he stopped right there.

That voice…

His name, with that voice, was enough to make him forget everything else around him. For a moment he thought that his mind is doing tricks, because what were the odds to hear that voice just when those memories were coming back to him, but when he turned around, he saw her. That long, dark-haired woman standing there, those orchid-colored eyes looking like there were tears and lips… Those lips turned slowly into that smile. Into that certain smile that had always made his heart race in his chest.

The same smile he had fallen in love with in the first place.

She looked almost the same as five years ago, yet maybe… more like a woman.

“Ran.” It was the only word that came out of his mouth, and for him, it sounded more like a whisper, but seeing how her smile widened even more, he knew it had been much more. Or maybe she had just read it from his lips?

She let out a laugh and ran towards him. Shinichi smiled while opening his arms, taking only a few steps toward her before she jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He laughed with her, closing her into his embrace as he had done so many times years ago. He felt how she pressed against him, and he smelled that same, familiar scent that had always made him a little bit nervous, and yet, when he closed his eyes, he wanted to drown in it. That scent and warmth were so comfortable and caring, making him feel like… home.

And all those memories that he had pushed away, came back to him. He remembered that little girl, tears in her eyes when she had made him a Sakura badge. He remembered all the adventures they had had as a child and how afterward Ran’s mother had scolded them about it. He remembered years in elementary school, he remembered all events from the teen years, all the things they have laughed at, many places where they have visited, many crime scenes that he had wanted to keep her away, many tears she had shed… He remembered every time when she had grabbed his arm, he remembered every time they had held each other’s hands, remembered every kiss…

He remembered the night when he had decided to follow those men in black. He remembered how they had made him take the name Edogawa Conan, and he remembered all the lies he had to tell Ran to keep her safe. He remembered her disappointed and betrayed look when he had finally taken down the Organisation and became back to Kudo Shinichi without fearing to lose her or anyone else close to him. He remembered how after some time they had decided to date again and… and…

“I can’t trust you, Shinichi. Not like… before.”

Without realizing it, he tightened his grip around her.

“It’s been years”, he said finally and opened his eyes, ripping himself out of those memories. Even though he still held them as important and dear memories, everything was connected to everything he had done wrong. He hadn’t lost only the love of his life for that stupid mistake, but he had also lost his closest and dearest friend too. And even though he had made peace with it, learned to live with it, he had to admit that it hurt. Knowing that he had hurt the one he cared about the most…

The fact that she never could trust him as before. The fact that there were always hints of doubt.

Scars that he made, but what he couldn’t heal.

But that all was in the past. He couldn’t chance it. And even though getting over her was painful, seeing her now, looking healthy and fine, he was happy. That had been all he had wished for, that she would be safe and sound, and happy.

“It really had”, he heard her say and sniff while her grip tightened. “Where have you been, Shinichi? I have been so worried…”

It made him let out a soft laugh.

You have still been worried?

“God, Ran, how many times do I have to tell you that you don’t have to worry about me”, he said, feeling somehow nostalgic. Finally, he made her move a little farther so that he could see her face, examined them, and…

She was still beautiful. She looked exactly the same woman that he had loved, the same woman that he had left behind.

The same woman that moved on, while he couldn’t.

He observed how Ran opened her mouth, like planning to say something, but then she shut her mouth, looking down with a sad smile. And even though Shinichi couldn’t know for sure, he got some kind of feeling that he knew what she would have wanted to say.

“You haven’t called.”

The same phrase he had heard so many times during his being Conan. And now that he thought about it, he could have called her more often back then. But at this point, it didn’t matter.

But while living in America? How in the world he should have known that Ran still wanted to be in touch with him? In the ens…

“You left without saying anything”, Ran said finally, getting him out of his thoughts. She raised her head, orchid-colored eyes meeting his. “I thought…. I thought something terrible happened to you.”

Like in Tropical Land, many years ago…

It surprised him a little bit. After their break-up, Ran was the one who was okay with it. While Shinichi himself tried to patch his broken heart, Ran had been the one who continued her life without a problem and started to go on dates with others.

She had been the one who moved on.

Shinichi had just been stuck in his sorrow, feeling jealous, angry, and sad when he had seen how Ran dated others. Of course, they had greeted each other, talked if being the same group, or met somewhere and had time, but to be honest, for Shinichi, it had looked like they couldn’t even patch their relationship back to the same level as it had been before their dating. And it hadn’t been a surprise, because she had lost her trust in him. She didn’t talk to him as before, they weren’t in touch as often…

For him, it had looked like she didn’t need him in her life anymore. That she hadn’t been interested anymore to know what he was doing, how he was doing. And maybe it was only understandable.

It had been the reason why he went to America. Well, honestly he hadn’t planned to stay there long, only enough to get his thoughts in order without seeing Ran or getting depressed to see her with others. It had been a trip that was meant to give him enough space to heal his wound. But then he got a chance to continue his studies in New York. And after some thinking, he had stayed.

So he hadn’t even thought that Ran would be interested to know what he was doing and whatnot, which had been the biggest reason why he hadn’t been in touch. And if she really had been that interested, she could have just asked. Even though he had changed his number, there were still ways to make contact. God, if Nakamichi had found his number, why Ran hadn’t had?

But he didn’t blame her. Almost six years ago, he had known that woman better than anyone else. And if she hadn’t changed, he was pretty sure that the only reason why Ran hadn’t been in touch with him, is because she hadn’t had enough courage to do so.

That’s Ran. Always overthinking even the simplest things. Or at least she had used to.

“To be fair, I didn’t know either that I would stay in America”, he answered finally. “I just planned a visit to my parents like a few weeks or something, but…” He chuckled. “Well, I got a chance to transfer my studies and continue in New York, so I stayed.”

In the end, you were the reason why I stayed in Japan in the first place…

“Oh”, Ran said and frowned. “You should have… I would… I…” Then she shut her mouth and looked away.

She genuinely looked melancholic, and it made Shinichi think that maybe…

“Shinichi? Who is she?”

Shinichi snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look beside him. Julia stood there, looking curiously at him, then Ran…

Oh, he had totally forgotten Julia and his parents!

“Oh”, Shinichi let out, dropping his arms around Ran and taking a step away from her. He wondered how bad it had looked in Julia’s eyes! He hadn’t thought, not at all… “Oh, she…” He stopped and reminded himself to use English again, so Julia could understand him. “She is Mouri Ran, my childhood friend, and… my ex-girlfriend.”

Julia's expression brightened. “Oh, so this is that Ran you had told me so much?” she asked and sounded excited - a little too excited if someone would ask Shinichi. He followed how she went closer to Ran and offered her hand. “My name is Julia Williams, Shinichi’s fiancee.”

Nothing happened. Shinichi turned to look at Ran, who just stared at Julia. Her smile had faded a little bit like there was something wrong. Shinichi frowned. But Ran had been good at English back then, why she…

“Julia, darling, not like that”, Shinichi heard his mother's voice, but he still couldn’t get his eyes away from Ran, who still stared at Julia with some weird expression. He tried to read it so he could do something to help, but… “In Japan, when we met a new person, we introduce ourselves, and after that, we bow a little”, he heard his mother explain, and finally Shinichi turned to look at them when Yukiko put her hand on Julia’s arm, making her lower it. “And it would be more polite to call her Mouri-san or Ran-san.”

“Oh!” Julia shouted out and turned to look at Yukiko confused. “But you always talk about Ran…”

“Because she is our dear family friend”, she explained gently before turning to Ran. Then Yukiko went to her and grab her into a tight hug, continuing in Japanese. “It has been years, Ran-chan! How have you been? You look as beautiful as always!”

“I’m fine, I’m fine”, Ran laughed and hugged Yukiko back, but Shinichi still could see that something was bothering her, even though she tried to hide it.

“Oh, come on, Ran-chan!”, Yukiko laughed and get away from her enough to face her. “You have to tell me more! What you have done during these years? Do you still live in Beika? Do you have a job? Fiancee? Children?”

“Mom!”

Well, it wasn’t like this should have been a surprise: His mother had always been curious, and when she opened her mouth, there could come out anything! But Shinichi couldn’t help but feel so embarrassed. Why did she need to bluntly ask everything that came to her mind? Wasn’t she the one who just a moment ago told Julia to be more polite?

If he would still be on good terms with Ran, this wouldn’t be so awkward, but now?

So when Yukiko turned to look at her, like she had done nothing wrong, Shinichi continued: “Don’t harass her like that! It’s not your concern…”

“Mou, Shin-chan!” Yukiko said. “But I want to know…”

Shinichi rolled his eyes. This wasn’t fine! “Maybe Ran tells you if she feels like it”, he answered.

“It’s okay, Shinichi”, Ran interrupted, taking his attention. He met her eyes and he knew that she meant it. She had always been kind, it seemed that she still was.

And she had been used to his mother’s curiosity, so that was probably the reason that she didn’t mind.

But honestly, the difference from the past was that he wasn’t as close to Ran as he used to be. And he didn’t want her to bother Ran too much.

But Ran smiled gently when turned back to look at Yukiko. “Yes, I still live in Beika and I’m working the closest kindergarten, and… I… I live alone.”

“Oh, but that sounds good”, Yukiko said, yet not as energetic as usual. “Though I’m sad that you are still single…”

“Mom, no”, Shinichi interrupted before she would have time start to pry anything more. Again Yukiko turned to look at him and opened her mouth.

“What about we continue our way to eat something?” Yusaku interrupted smoothly, making only then Shinichi remember that his father was also there. He glanced at him and saw how looked at Ran, smiling gently. “You can join us, if you want, Ran-chan. We offer.”

“Oh, that would be amazing!” Yukiko shouted out happily, hitting her hands together. “We offer and meanwhile you can tell us everything…”

“Mom…” Shinichi sighed. Why did his mother need to be like that?

“I’m grateful for the offer, but sadly, I need to be somewhere else soon”, Ran answered and raised her hand to glance at her wristwatch. And even though it made him happy that his mother wouldn’t have a chance to pry anything else, he still felt a little bit disappointed. It would have been nice to catch up with her, after all these years.

Well, maybe he would get that chance at the class reunion.

“Oh, that’s a shame”, Yukiko muttered. “But it can’t be helped…” Then she started to smile again. “Is it a date?”

Shinichi rolled his eyes.

“Ah, no”, Ran laughed. “I’m just seeing Sonoko.”

“Ah”, Shinichi let out, remembering that annoyed woman… “She’s still here?”

Ran laughed again. “Yes, she still lives here too”, she answered, looking at him with that big smile. “She would be so happy to hear that you’re ba-... in Tokyo. Do I tell your regards to her?”

“Please, don’t”, Shinichi answered and grinned. “Somehow my sanity has been so much better when she isn’t around.”

God, and now he missed Sonoko too. He had never guessed that there would be a day when he would have been ready to drop everything else just to see Suzuki Sonoko and hear her irritating voice. God, he would have liked to… But she probably didn’t want to see him. They haven’t been in touch either, not after his and Ran’s breakup. Shinichi was pretty sure that Sonoko was on Ran’s side and hated him for breaking Ran’s heart.

Well, he wanted to say that he was the one who got that broken heart, but it wouldn’t probably matter. He was the one who had done wrong. But maybe he would get a chance to see her at the class reunion and see how much she would hate him.

But he would never admit to anyone that he missed her. Not even for Ran.

Ran giggled. “Well, that would make her sad, just saying”, she said.

Shinichi shrugged. “I doubt that.”

Then there was a silence. Shinichi looked at Ran’s eyes before she dropped them on the ground, looking nervous. And even after years, even though he had been over her, and moved on, seeing that gesture made him feel a little sad. Somehow this moment only proved to him how much he had lost. It had never been this hard for them to say goodbyes.

“Well”, he started and moved his eyes to Julia, who was observing him. “I think we planned to go to eat?”

“Oh”, Ran let out, making Shinichi look back at her. “Oh, yeah, sorry for keeping you! And I believe Sonoko is waiting too…”

Shinichi nodded. He hated how awkward this was between them.

“It was so good to see you again, Ran-chan”, Yukiko said and gave a fast hug to Ran before moving away. “Maybe we should meet before we got back to New York?”

“It… sounds like a good idea”, Ran answered with that sweet smile.

“It was nice to meet you, Ran-san”, Julia interrupted in English. “And I’m sorry about earlier…”

“No, don’t worry about it, it’s okay”, Ran answered now, smiling apologetically. “I just… I just was surprised… Sorry about that!”

It seemed just to make Julia happy. “Don’t worry!” she answered. “And… I would also love to see you again! Shinichi’s friends are mine too!”

“Yeah”, Ran answered, but somehow it wasn’t as bright as the answer for Yukiko. “I would like that.”

Julia’s smile just widened.

“Okay, maybe we should continue”, Shinichi said because even though he hadn’t seen Ran in years, he still got some kind of feeling that she was a little bit uneasy. “I’m starting to be so hungry.” Then he looked at Ran and smiled. “See you at the class reunion, right?”

Ran smiled at him, but somehow it seemed sad. “Yeah, see you.”

Shinichi nodded before turning. He put his hand on Julia’s back to push her to move with him.

But even though meeting with Ran had gone well - much better than had thought, and honestly, he hadn’t even thought of chatting with Ran even in the class reunion -, something still bothered him. Why Ran had looked a little bit sad? If she hadn’t wanted to chat with him, she probably wouldn’t have stopped him. But he hadn’t blamed her for anything either, right? Or maybe she was just uneasy because it was their first meeting after five years and there were also others…

“You have to continue teaching me more Japanese, Shinichi”, Julia said, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked at her and saw how those amber-colored eyes looked at him. “I have forgotten the whole thing when we arrived yesterday, and I’m kind of sad that I couldn’t greet your childhood friend correctly!”

“I don’t think Ran minds about that”, he comforted her. “Besides, I thought you would like to concentrate more on views,” he said and nudged her a little bit. “In the end, you don’t see these every day, but making me teach Japanese to you can happen whenever you want to.”

She pouted. “I know, but…”

“Shinichi!”

Shinichi stopped and turned around. Ran was still standing where they had left her, still looking at him. But now she looked a little bit shy. There was a hint of insecurity in her.

“I… I wonder… Would you like to meet before the class reunion?” she asked before letting out a nervous laugh and looking away. “If you have time at some point? I…” Then she met his eyes again. “There are things I would… like to clear up between us. If… if you want give me a chance, of course.”

And even when she smiled, there was glimmering in her eyes. Like…

Like he could say no to her. Has he ever? Besides, that is what he would like to do. If it would mean that they could get back even part of the relationship that they had before the Tropical Land, he would do it. Even though they wouldn’t love each other as they had, she was still dear to him, and he would give pretty much if she would still be part of his life.

“Fine by me”, he answered finally. “If you have the same number as before, we can settle where and when, okay?”

Her smile widened a little bit. “Okay.”

Chapter 2

#ShinRan #It Has Always Been You #I don't know how to tag this!#Meeting after break-up #Getting back together #Shinichi/OC #Post-canon #Kudo Shinichi #Mouri Ran #Detective Conan #Fanfiction #Chapter 1

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celinamarniss · 11 months ago

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Year in Review

In 2023 I posted 4 fics at 58,153 words.

Previous years:

2022: 4 fics at 45,096 words.

2021: 3 fics posted, 55,788 words.

2020: 7 or 10 fics posted, 125,738 words.

2019: 7 fics posted, 72,149 words.

2018: 7 fics posted, 87,752 words

2016: 9 fics posted, 51,643 words

2017: 9 fics posted, 115,336 words

2016: 9 fics posted, 51,653 words

In total, 49 fics posted to Ao3.

We Can't Keep Meeting Like This

34,355 words, gen, Din/Luke/Mara

The Din/Luke/Mara fic I told myself I wasn't going to write! As these things tend to do, it expanded into a much longer fic than I expected. The "five things (plus one)" structure helped to keep it from spiraling even further, but those individual chapters ended up being much longer than I expected and took much longer to write. At first, I serialized the first couple of chapters in smaller excerpts for WIP Weds on tumblr. It was fun to get a little feedback and the weekly deadline compelled me to write those chapters quickly. But when engagement dropped to basically nothing I stopped posting updates and waited to post each chapter to ao3 when it was done. My progress slowed down considerably, but the chapters got longer. I had fun, most of the time.

The Girl Who Traveled the Ways Between the Walls

4,938 words, gen, Animalis verse

Written for the 5k AU fic challenge. Luminous Creatures begins with Mara and Luke's daemons settling, and I regretted never writing a story with an unsettled daemon character. I wanted to write a fic with a fairy-tale vibe and I wanted to explore the weirdness of the Imperial Palace. The Palace becomes a fairy tale wood, and Mara sets off on a quest in which she encounters strange people who aid her or demand aid. Does she learn the right lesson in the end? Perhaps not.

Echo, Revenant, Targeter, Phoenix

15,431 words, gen, Winter Retrac character study

I wrote this one for the Star Wars Big Bang, an experience that ended up being so stressful that I dropped out. I still finished the fic on time and posted it. The fic attracted a modest number of readers (unsurprising given Winter has been basically forgotten these days), but their enthusiasm was very gratifying. I've always liked Winter and I wanted to give her a chance to shine.

However, while I love the worldbuilding and individual scenes and images in this fic, as a whole I don't think it's very gracefully written and I've never been very happy with it.

Cascade

3,429 words, mature, Luke/Mara

I wanted to include A Non-Zero-Sum Game in Vol II of my printed fic collection, but the series felt unfinished without the fourth and final story that I planned to write after Tether. So five years later, I finally wrote it. It was interesting to go back to those old fics and try to write a story that fit the series. I wanted to post it before the new year broke so that I could count it in the 2023 list, and I rushed to get it out. It could probably still use some work.

As the year went on, I failed to meet a lot of the arbitrary deadlines I set myself, and that made writing frustrating and unfulfilling. I don't want it to be like that! I want fic to be fun.

However, I have a lot of non-fandom projects coming up in 2024, and I'm going to have to shift my focus away from fic, at least a little bit.

GOALS FOR 2024

(almost exactly the same as the goals for 2023)

Triumvirate Finale! (explicit, very) The big finale of the Triumvirate series, in which the trio returns to Coruscant to face the Emperor. Doesn’t have a proper title yet. Progress so far: three chapters drafted, 15,410 words.

A Smuggler’s Guide to Joining the Rebellion (gen) The sequel to The Things You Find on Tatooine. Progress: the first chapter finished, 2,241 words.

Lando Calrissian and the Jewel of Andara (gen) The Lando and Mara heist romcom I’ve been promising forever. Progress: three chapters drafted, but in need of heavy revision, 6757 words.

Other fics on the backburner:

Courtship remix

Experiments

Daughter of the Rain and Snow

More daemon fic!

#year in review #writing #process #my stuff #my fic #all my gratitude to everyone who read my fic‚ commented‚ and cheered me along

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camgoloud · 5 months ago

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if this is rude feel free to ignore me but I got suuuper attached to your mha zombieland au, you mentioned that you had a little more written, so I was wondering if you could post the outline or something? Again, sorry if this annoys you in any way

hi!!! no worries, this isn’t rude at all! i’m really happy you’ve enjoyed reading what’s posted so far :) that fic was a favorite of mine to write. i put a LOT of myself and my heart into it and though it never got all that much attention i still think of it with a great deal of fondness (and more than a little guilt about leaving it unfinished…) despite having fallen pretty hard out of the fandom in the past few years.

i’m a little busy with irl stuff at the moment but would really love to go back in my google drive sometime soon and see exactly what’s in there that i can put up for you to read! if i remember correctly, a draft of most of the next chapter or two is actually written out already… maybe i’d be able to finish that and post sometime soon. i’ve been dealing with some pretty serious writer’s block for the past few months tbh and i think maybe coming back to resurrect a long-dormant passion project would be a great low-stakes way for me to get back into the habit (especially now that I know someone else is interested in living in that world with me 😊). and if all else fails/in addition, i can definitely clean up the outline and make that public somewhere!

really though thanks so much for sending this ask. it means a lot to me to know that someone else is still reading and finding meaning in what was in many ways my deeply personal covid diary even now. i’m really really happy and grateful for the opportunity/excuse to revisit this fic alongside you! again i’ve been a bit offline the last few days and probably will be for a little bit longer, but watch this space over the next couple of weeks and i’ll see what i can do for you :)

#my writing #answered asks #this is so sweet anon i love you <3

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ninhaoma-ya · 1 year ago

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1084 — The Attempted Murder Of A Celestial Dragon

Welp, look what I found in my drafts, if not an unfinished draft for a chapter analysis for 1084 ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

And then I deleted my careful write-up by mistake. Sigh.

Eh. Such is life. Here it is, before 1085!

Somewhere, someone is cackling manically, going “got your noooose…”

You are a devious woman, aren't you Jewerly Bonney, making others do your dirty work like that?

Karasu’s powers are really cool! Wonder about the sudden appearance of the crow – did he leave soot on Sabo’s black gloves? Can he appear wherever there's soot? Probably not, since we haven't seen anyone do that with logia powers before (is he even a logia, or a paramecia?)

A phantom room with a phantom hat, perhaps?

And why are you so thoughtful, Sabo-kun?

“It’s a little odd” - you JUST said to have kept tabs on them! And that you knew Sabo was trustworthy! Then you should know he’s a little cinnamon bun and completely honest and kind and all that! CONTINUITY, ODA. CONTINUITY.

But then we turn the page and go back ot the main story of Cobra and the Five Elder Stars.

I like how the Five Elders are barrier, keeping Cobra from the truth of the throne both physically and mentally. Such imposing figures, towering over a poor, wheelchair-bound, sickly old man like that.

Nice little recap of the Celestial Dragons for those of us (unlike me) who are mired in One Piece trivia. And what are you thinking about there, Curly Mustachioed Elder? You look mightily worried.

And what are you thinking about, Kizaru-accompanied Elder? What are those ellipses?

We finally have a name –and story– for the Nefertari royal who declined becoming a Celestial Dragon! I do wonder if the flower theme is intentional or Oda just picked a nice name to go with the structure of female Nefertari names?

And Lili’s silhouette looks a lot like Imu. Theories!

This is, however, an interesting exchange in another way. This solidifies that the ceremony to install the Empty Throne was just that: a ceremony. All practicalities had been agreed upon beforehand, since the new ruling families had been picked and it's obvious that queen Lili was supposed to return to Arabasta after partaking in the founding ceremony.

Aren't you in the possession of an imposing brain, king Cobra?

Although I don't know what you expect from 800-year old records, as Kizaru-adjacent Elder says. It's hard enough to find trustworthy records from last year, not to speak of a century, or several, ago.

I wonder where Imu keeps the den den mushi that’s transmuting from the throne room? One of the Five Elder's pocket?

As expected, Cobra does not buy it. But he has a back-up question for his audience! He will not leave empty-handed!

“Passed down from one gen to the next” – did you pass it down to Vivi and that’s why she’s in hiding now?

The Elders look a mixture of angry, worried, resigned and sad. Is it now that they realised that Cobra won't be leaving the room alive?

And another shift, now out into the open courtyard, where Kuma, Shirahoshi and other people are.

So that's the incident Garp was apologising for.

I don't like this, but Nameless Royal has a point there, reminding Fukaboshi of his duty.

…which, of course, Mjosgard hammers home. I really, really like Mjosgard!

First off, because he is so incensed by the behaviour of his fellow Celestial Dragon. That is not the way anyone should behave, the least those so-called Gods of the world. Mjosgard and Charlos are such neat foils to each other, actually. Mjosgard is what Charlos could have become, if he would have taken his first beating by Luffy to heart as Mjosgard did with Otohime's words.

Second off, because he is such a voice of reason when he reiterates the reason Luffy went to sea to become a pirate, why he doesn't want to be a hero and why he lives the way he does.

Because that IS the problem with being a (good)(supreme) ruler: YOU CAN'T THINK OF YOURSELF. Yes, you are furious that your baby sister, who's been locked in a tower for ten years, is hurting. And of course you want to do something about it (because you are the aforementioned good person/ruler). But you can't, because if you do, that'll incite an international political scandal which will hurt your subjects.

Also: “Look how they massacred my boy” – translator liberties or does Oda actually quote the Godfather?

And when we now know that Kuma is on his way to safety, we can turn our gaze back to the Five Elders, where tensions are running high…

Cobra had two goals: learning more about Lili and The Will of D. Looks like he'll achieve them both.

Sadly not his one wish of seeing his daughter wed before his death (ಥ ͜ʖಥ)

Speaking of the chapter, Igaram seems to have psychic powers: Morgans is a sort of monstrous bird, after all…

Interesting plot developments afoot.

I give the chapter three-layered call-backs and a sense of doom.

#one piece #ch 1084 #ch 823 #nin reads one piece #opspoilers #one piece spoilers

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greyias · 2 years ago

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Fic writers' end-of-year roundup: 2022 edition!

Tagged by @elveny -- thank you for the tag! Tagging @queen-scribbles, @keldae, @storyknitter, and anyone who wants to grab it!

I would say 2022 was a mixed year as far as productivity goes! I was actually actively writing most of the year (with pockets of "too tired" draining me every now and then), but a lot of it was on a longfic that I waited until I had finished the first draft to start posting. But I think it was successful overall, as I was able to

Words written (published or not, WIPs included!): I'm probably just going to count published, as I have been working on some WIPs in the background, but that requires more math and thinking than I have in me right now, so we'll go with a little over 43k published, although it's a bit higher with some WIPs and other behind the scenes stuff.

Smut scenes: None published this year

New things I tried: Chance Encounters, which was my big experiment in a different method outlining/prewriting for long form fic. It took me a long time to get it into finished form, but considering the massiveness of the fic and the fact that it's complete, I think is a success in itself.

Fic I spent the most time on: Without a doubt, Chance Encounters, my little 36k novella (that for some reason I thought would only be 10k 🤷‍♀️)

Fic I spent the least time on: I think this little ficlet, that was basically me bashing out a musing/headcanon in like maybe an afternoon.

Favourite thing I wrote: Once again, almost by default of taking up most of my year Chance Encounters, although I did have a lot of fun writing it. It's rather self-indulgent, and a fun, mostly lighthearted adventure. I think runner up is the Outlander!Theron fic I've picked back up on in the past week or so, considering I keep having to tell myself "No, you can't start posting yet. You haven't proofread anything beyond maybe the first chapter. You don't even have a title"

Favourite thing I read: @storyknitter's Medieval AU, which I have adored every little entry into. So much so, I slid into her DMs to see if she could get me a compiled version to load on my Kindle for a day at jury duty that got rescheduled for 2023. I wound up re-reading the whole thing in a couple of days.

Writing goals for next year: Finish the Outlander!Theron fic, and finally exorcise that beast from my mind. I've also got some other long, lingering WIPs that I'd like to try and tackle. I'm having enough fun with this pre-writing/writing I'm doing on the Outlander!Theron fic, that I'm hoping I can bottle that energy up and use it on some of my other unfinished babies. I also really want to write more in the Chancesverse, because I love that little AU so much. Also, I want to try to find a way to write more consistently, which is more driven by my energy levels. I also have this crazy urge to try and write on some original stuff, but we'll see where that lands. If I can get a good enough handle on fic progress, maybe I can bottle a genie and spread that magic to something I can get published.

#fic writer's round-up 2022 #writing roundup 2022 #grey's writing tag #*pats chance encounters on the head*#it's not necessarily the most popular fic #(partially because it's kind of niche -- and also long)#but i still wub it

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lorekeepersstory · 2 years ago

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Lorekeepers Act One: The Sound of Static

CHAPTER ONE: White Noise

Lore had been lying in bed for the past twelve hours.

Not all of that time had been spent sleeping, mind you. A solid two of those hours had been spent staring at the ceiling. It was really quite riveting, and an excellent use of said time.

Bleary-eyed, Lore turned over onto his side, as that was really all he had energy for at the moment. Through his impaired vision, he took a survey of his surroundings, making sure all his senses were intact.

He could see his bedside table, his round glasses and a case of breath mints resting on top of it, with a digital alarm clock flashing the time.

11:27 AM.

Hm. He must have overslept.

He peered out of the nearby window from his bedside, squinting as the sunlight shone through the curtains, simply staring at the autumn leaves of the familiar tree in his front yard.

The leaves rustled. A pleasant breeze blew through the branches. The birds chirped.

The mechanical whir of his ceiling fan had persisted through the night.

Somewhere, someone was using a leaf blower.

It was at this point, when his observations reached a profound, crushing mundanity, that Lore conceded that there was no point in staying in bed. He was supposed to hang out with Summer today, after all, and he really didn’t have any excuses for flaking on her. She didn’t find his bedroom ceiling nearly as interesting as he did.

Through blurry eyes, Lore’s hand scrabbled uselessly for his glasses, eventually finding them and putting them on, bringing his bedroom into sudden clarity. Rolling lazily out of bed, Lore changed from his well-worn pajamas to his usual outfit. Black jeans, blue hoodie, and yellow scarf, all hanging off of his lanky frame. Same as always. He popped a mint into his mouth to somewhat stave off the bitter post-sleep taste and ran his fingers through his shaggy hair, at least slightly tidying his tragic bedhead. He peered at his reflection in the mirror affixed on his bedroom door.

...Good enough.

It really wasn’t good enough, Lore thought. He looked ratty and unkempt, and the dark bags under his eyes did little to hide the fact that he hadn’t slept a normal night's sleep in months, but what little he had already done to fix himself was as much as he had motivation for, so it would have to do.

This was fine.

Everything was great.

He looked over his shoulder toward his alarm clock.

12:03 PM.

That was… not great, actually.

Lore knew that Summer was probably expecting him to meet her far earlier than this. She was probably really pissed off at him right now. As his breaths began to quicken, stress running through his veins, the sound of radio static reverberating through his mind, Lore began to formulate his next move as he paced around his room. Well, the first thing he would have to do is leave his house. Yes. Then apologize to Summer, of course. How would he do that?

Hey, dude, sorry about holding you up like that…

No, he couldn’t be that casual, that would make it seem insincere…

I’m really, really sorry, I promise I won’t ever let it happen again, please don’t hate me-

Woah, woah, woah, that’s coming on a bit too strong.

Even in this half panicked state, Lore wasn’t stupid enough to really believe, deep down, that Summer would hold a grudge over this. His mind just tended to get away from him sometimes. Most of the time. Lore closed his eyes, slowing his pace, trying to calm down. This is fine. This may not be ideal, but it isn’t the end of the world. Everything is going to be okay-

He stubbed his toe.

Repressing the urge to swear as loud as he could, Lore stumbled backward in pain and landed flat on his backside with a pathetic thud. As he sat up, grumbling, his eyes locked with the culprit for his injury. One of the many journals scattered across the floor of his bedroom, each filled with chicken scratch, half-baked prose, and unfinished stories. This particular notebook was a remnant of a long since abandoned draft for a novel. An inexperienced writer’s first incoherent, muddled attempt at escapist fantasy. Derivative trash. Lore unceremoniously tossed it aside and got to his feet.

Now all he needed to do was go outside.

Easy.

...Easy.

Standing in front of his bedroom door, hand hovering over the knob, wasn’t going to get him outside. Lore knew that. But something stopped him from moving, and for the life of him, he didn’t know what. It had always been like this. Summer being out there in the real world, making life happen, as he stood still, letting life happen to him, watching as the world turned without him. The winds of change grew stronger, day after day, and he stayed standing there like a stone statue, refusing to move.

...Waxing philosophical wasn’t going to get him outside, either.

Eventually he was just going to have to do it.

Lore swallowed, trying his hardest not to think, as he turned the knob and opened his door. Good. That was one step out of the way, now all he needed to do was deal with the rest. Just one step after the other. Left. Right. Left.

The pit that had been settling in his stomach became just a little bit smaller, a little bit lighter for every step down the stairs.

Left. Right. Left.

One.

Two.

Three.

Eventually, finally, he reached the bottom, and in an effort to expedite the process, he took a few longer strides to reach the front door. Using the rest of his strength, he opened the door, stepped through it, and closed it behind him.

The sound of his own sigh of relief echoed through his ears. The leaves of the nearby tree rustled. A pleasant breeze blew through the branches. The birds chirped. Somewhere, someone was using a leaf blower. It all felt… Lore couldn’t exactly put words to the feeling. It felt like nothing, and everything, at the exact same time. The world felt like it should be peaceful to anyone else, but the all too familiar sound of static in his mind would not go away.

Now was not the time to reflect on any of these feelings, however. What Lore needed to do now was to see Summer and, as payback for sleeping through half the day, go along with whatever bullshit plan she’s cooked up, for once. It was the least he could do. The last thing he wanted to do was to keep her waiting.

“Well, you sure kept me waiting, didn’t you?”

Suddenly, the whole world seemed to shine brighter.

She was leaning against his mailbox, arms crossed, posture relaxed. All dark clothes and bold symbols, spiked bracelets and a black leather jacket, offset by a vibrant purple scarf and a shock of poofy red hair. Her smirk was playful, but bright enough to outshine the sun. A familiar warmth filled Lore’s chest, and he grinned, rolling his eyes at her jab as thoughts of apology vanished from his mind.

“Hey, I had to get my beauty rest," Lore quipped. "Lord knows I need it to keep up with you.”

She laughed.

#oc #original writing #original fiction #act one #chapter one #i know i promised pictures #but i just wanted to get something out #soon #i swear

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nightmarearian · 4 months ago

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oshgdbunfemiefgg here we go. Tumblr isn't working with me for the first draft so I'm doing this again :,) I think I'll have to split this into two reblogs if tumblr keeps being messy tho.

(o-|-o)

Wriolette:

Oh my gods. (Blind) Wriothesley who is just. Unable to conceive, accept, or process the idea that someone is able to love him.

This is a wonderful fuckin fever dream.

The author does a have a few more wriolette fics so you can check those out ig.

It is unfinished right now, unfortunately.

Modern/Internet AU! Wrio & Neuv are already married w/ kids. This feels way longer than just 10 chapters. I love it.

Retired Househusband Wrio + Law professor Neuv with a lot of cameos from other characters of course! There’s also semi-background Zhongchi.

Unfinished.

Whoo. This is a heavy one.

Wriothesley going thru it and having to process & heal his childhood trauma,

so with that tw/cw with the child trafficking, assault/non-con/rape, grooming, etc. The actual explicit scenes are skippable, with non-explicit summaries at the end of the chapter.

Unfinished.

On a side note I’ve read some purely Wriothesley centric fics, if you’re interested in that. cataline's are just as, if not, heavier on the topics and the story is w/ his experiences as an inmate, though, so heed the tags.

Simple(r) soulmate red-string AU where Wrio doesn’t have a string. Cute with some angst.

Unfinished.

completed oneshot. It’s good 😀👍

Uncompleted but I do believe is updating weekly or biweekly! I think it’s weekly, every Thursday?

Directly after the Flood and is during the cleanup efforts and all that. Neuv & Wrio get stuck in a Remurian Domain and are trying to find a way out, to simply it. Verrrry good :)

Dragons! Dragon loreeeee. Tbh lotta smut too; Starts off (and mainly keeps) focus with Wriolette but eventually has a.... "B-plot", per say, with Zhongchi and even more eventually with Venti/Dvalin.

Unfinished. very nice tho.

Roleswap Wriolette! Chief Justice & Iudex Wriothesley and Lord Incognito & Duke of Meropide Neuvilette :)

Unfinished.

uhhhhhhh that's most of my wriolette bookmarks. you could also probably check out any tags or authors from there ig but to be fair I have been scrolling on the Wriothelsey/Neuvilette tag with only a few exclusionary-filters (121 pages to go through teehee)

also I have read. So much more before getting an account. They're lost the depths of my shitty memory :sob:

(o | o)

anyway, onto Zhongchi!

Oh. Oh my fucking god.

cyanide narwhal.

This.

Fully completed, 62 chapters with most if not all chapters being several thousands words.

And the author is an artist too, so they have their own art-refs linked in the fic.

This is… part isekai? Is it isekai if it’s just time travel to a past timeline? Not treated like omg it’s the game though, if you get what i mean???

Admittedly this is quite Childe-focused, so if that’s not your jam ig you can just not read it BUT OH MY FUCKING GOD

This was written around 2.x Genshin, so the lore isn’t canon but AGAIN. OHHHH MY STARS.

This is wonderful. Amazing.

Similarly, the author also has two more, fully competed, wonderful Zhongchi fics; One's a modern + zombie apocalypse AU with Zhongli & Childe falling in love on their trip from Liyue to Snezhnaya's bunkers while taking care of toddler-babies Ganyu & Xiao. The other one is a soulmate mark AU that's really more focused on both of their self-worth issues. Not linking them cause Tumblr is being a bitch rn.

Oomph; ‘nother heavy one. Tartaglia is not okay. Alluded/mentions of rape/assault; Zhongli isn’t an asshole in this. Read at your own discretion, really + Heed the tags.

I think the author also has a lotta Genshin fics and consequently a lotta common Genshin ships, like Zhongchi & wriolette? I haven't checked them out cause there is a lot but yeah.

...and yeah there's going to be a part 2 for a few more cause Tumblrs being annoying. welp.

Please share fic recs for the ships i tagged, it’s for research purposes (i need something to read at 1 am)

#wriolette #neuvithesley #wriothesley #neuvilette #childe tartaglia ajax #tartaglia #childe #all of his names lmao #ajax genshin #zhongli #chili #zhongchi #uhhhhh i think that's it #uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh #fic recs #fanfic recs

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scarletsaphire · 1 year ago

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✨🎀🎈💞💥🎙️💌💌💌

No those three at the end aren't a mistake, I know you have lots of WIPs and I wanna hear about them (insert activethreat emote)

✨-What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit):

Hmm. I'd say Ten Lives (The One Worth Living) but I think I might be biased and just want to talk about my Johnny, Kitty, and Shadow ideas more. I like them a Very Normal Amount I prommy.

🎀-give yourself a compliment about your own writing

There's a post that I've seen plenty times before that I think about all the time that goes something along the lines of "I'm having creative ideas above my skill level!" or something like that, for when you have a great idea but just don't know how to execute it the way you want. I legitimately feel where I am at a point where that isn't an issue for me with my writing? I think most ideas I can execute within the general sphere of what I want them to be; I might not always like them, and they might not always be what I consider "good," but they are comparable to the original idea.

🎈-describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change?

It tends to change based on the type of thing I'm writing. And how much sleep I get. I like a lot of shorter sentences, followed by one long rambling one for most kinds of prose, since most of my prose is an ooo ouch my bones type of prose. It does change all the time though, so that might be different in a few months. It certainly wasn't what I preferred until like, August.

💞-what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

hm. augh. mm. thats a toughy! I'm going to say worldbuilding, because I often find myself more interested in the worldbuilding that the Actual Story I'm Trying To Write (its why a 30k first draft of a novel is fitting, completely unfinished, in my google drive. The current guys suck. I want the old ones. But the old ones only work as history for the new guys. Its sad.)

💥-find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

I'm ngl I completely thought it was gun safe but First Concert! It's a pretty short one, but it does what I sought out to accomplish; combine Dora and Ember's interests in a way that illustrates their differences but also shows that they're much more similar than you'd think.

🎙️-which one of your fics would you like someone to make a pod-fic of?

I have literally never put thought into that ever. If I had to choose, probably All In The Name Of Love or Strength of the Past And Weights of The Present, mostly because they're my favorites.

Welcome to WIP hell! See, you'd think that it would be a problem, having two of my WIPS be EI so I can't talk about them, and one being one you know so much about already. You might think that would hinder me somehow, in being able to tell you about them. YOU'D THINK!!

💌- share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Chapter 2 Of Cover Blown: I love pitch pearl man, I really do, and with what I'm planning for this one I think it is going to be about as good as my pitch pearl can get (Dreamwalker excluded dw). I love putting guys in situations, especially when those situations involve bad injuries and babbled confessions.

Speaking of Dreamwalker, I'll add this here too, because while you might know a lot, I always have more. I love how I'm writing the ghosts, just across the board. They are all pieces of shit in the Funniest Way, especially since Danny is a whole ass child right now. You're scheming about a nine year old babes, calm down. He hasn't even lost all his baby teeth yet.

As for the last one, I'm going to put it under a read more. TW for bugs and Danny rotting, but its ok he's fine with it.

Bug Boi (title to be changed later) has been shelved indefinitely for. Many reasons! I have. So much to write. Bug Boi is, for those who do not know. Where I put as many bugs into the boy as possible. He loses organ privileges and instead becomes the landlord for a hoard of different bugs. He loves them, and they love him, and when they die (as bugs often do) they give him their little bug souls as a thank you so he because More Bug.

Anyway, I recently learned about the scorpion fly, who looks like this:

It is so cool, and has recently (idk how recently) been seen in forensic entomology, meaning that I can put these fuckers into Danny's eye sockets or esophagus or wherever else and be. Not technically wrong!! I have no idea if Bug Boi will ever be taken off of my list of to be written, but if nothing else it gives for me a place to put bugs.

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you-did-well-moon · 4 years ago

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Werewolf!Yunho meeting his mate

Type: Werewolf au, angst, fluff

Pairing: Werewolf!Yunho x HumanFemale!reader

Word count: 2,994

A/n: I know this took a long time, trust me, it felt like a long time for me too. With how I view Yunho, I expected this to be happier than it is. I was having a hard time while writing this, and it reflected on the story. Anyways please enjoy and stay safe!

TW: toxic relationship, financial struggle, deadlines, stressed reader, emotional and verbal pain, toxic masculinity, if I missed anything please tell me.

You sat at the foot of your bed, still not made, staring at the mirror resting against your dull colored wall with lifeless blank eyes. Your posture slouched as you finished tying the laces of your running shoes huffing and letting your arms flop to the ground. Looking at the mirror, you tried smiling, but it was meak and disappeared as soon as it appeared.

You hadn’t smiled a real smile in so long, you forgot what it felt like. To smile. To be happy. The forgotten emotion was one you took for granted when it was easy to to bask in the warmth of it. Now it's just cold. Cold and empty.

You looked away from the mirror with a tight feeling coiling in the base of your chest not being able to bear looking at the stranger staring back at you any longer. Your gaze fell to the laptop, abandoned, due to frustration on your desk in the forgotten corner of the room. The thought of unfinished drafts and incomplete sentences shook violently in your mind. Disappointment in yourself pooling in your gut remembering your editor’s words.

“If you can’t give us at least a first draft by the end of the month, we’ll have to unfortunately let you and your novel go.”

How pathetic was it that you couldn’t even come up with a simple sentence. A description, dialogue, a metaphor. Nothing. Anytime you sat yourself in front of the desk, your mind went blank. The cursor blinking at the top of the page mocked you with the possibility of millions of words. Not one ever made its way onto the page.

The end of the month was in two weeks.

You felt tears of hopelessness stinging the corner of your eyes, and you abruptly stood up grabbing your wireless earbuds, phone, and bag. Making your way into the kitchen you grabbed the water in the fridge and placed it inside your back, nothing but a numb feeling alienating you from reality and its broken expectations. You heard the front door of your little apartment open and slam close shaking the thin walls of the building.

Your heart lurched as you winced immediately feeling like you were walking on eggshells. You were usually quick enough to leave before he got home from work, but you had been a tad bit late this one time. You gripped the strap of your bag tightly hoping for it to ground you through whatever vile words came from the one person you should have been able to trust with your ugliest feelings.

Trying to walk past your boyfriend, eyes trained on the chipped wood of the front door did no good when he kissed his teeth and huffed as soon as he caught sight of you.

“You’re never home when I get home from work, and the one time you are here, you run away not even saying hi to me? Not even a “hey honey how was work today” or maybe a “hi love what would you like for dinner?” and never a “you’ve worked hard would you like a massage?” It's the same shit every day. You treat me like nothing when I'm the reason you even have a roof over your head woman.”

You kept your mouth the whole time he rambled on trying to ignore the clear stench of beer being able to reach you even with all the distance separating you, and the feeling of disgust mixed with desperation pooling at the bottom of your gut at yourself for not speaking up for yourself. Opening your mouth instead of letting your voice be taken from you. A long time ago, you would always say you would rather die than be without your voice. In a sense, you had died a long time ago.

Around three months after you had started dating. That had been two years ago.

Your English degree really did you no good. Not having enough time to be an intern in college really screwed you over when no job would take a bright eyed girl with the same passion in her heart for writing as a Karen’s passion for business that wasn’t hers, but with no experience. Even if the apartment was under your name, you’d probably be kicked out in weeks time.

You hated all of it. Everything that made up both the small and big parts of your life, you hated it. You hated his greasy hair and beady eyes, the nasty rough stubble covering the lower part of his face as a result of his laziness. You hated the hesitation in leaving him because of the fear of the stack of bills piling up next to the fridge. You hated the editors who couldn’t find it in some part of their greedy selves to extend your deadline. You hated the empty drafts sitting in your laptop collecting what could only be dead dreams and despair. You hated the cold emptiness that was always present in the confines of your chest.

You recoiled at the way he said “woman” the same way someone would talk about a bug. Small and insignificant. Patronizing and confident in the worst way. You set your mouth in a tight line not even being able to look at him. Shifting your feet, you crossed your arms and looked up to the sky as if calling out to some unknown being to get you out of this pathetic corner you were trapped in. You cursed under your breath looking at the dying flowers on the coffee table with distaste as they wilted towards you mocking you.

“What was that?” His voice got rougher with the menacing edge of fanned masculinity and control. Something that could put you in a dangerous place in a very fast amount of time. You looked at him with dull eyes poking your cheek with your tongue as a cold feeling settled in your gut.

Your hands fell limply to your side and you chuckled humorlessly.

“Fuck you”.

Those two words were enough to set him off as you slowly blinked and looked at the ground feeling your heart falter when he abruptly got up. You tried to stand your ground, but the surge of confidence was quickly withering away with fear taking its place.

Ethan was bigger than you. Even if he wasn’t that much taller than you, there was a noticeable difference in his frame and yours. Weirdly enough, you didn’t regret your curse at him. The words still burned brilliantly on the tip of your tongue.

It was bittersweet of course. His nose flared, and his eyes bulged as he took large strides over to you knocking the coffee table over on his path to you.

“What did you say to me you-” his words were said through gritted teeth, brash and loud in the silent apartment.

Maybe he was bigger and stronger than you, but you were faster.

You inhaled sharply reacting fast as your hand reached behind you, turning the knob and slipping around it slamming the door close. Your bag bumped against your back while you bolted to the door with the word “stairs” painted in big bold letters across it. You were already at the door when you heard your apartment door open and Ethan angrily called your name. Threatening to break your laptop if you didn’t go back right this instant.

You couldn’t help but snicker at the weak attempt. It’s not like there were much but empty pages anyways.

A heavy feeling soon settled on your chest as you went down the stairs. Your apartment was on the 4th floor, and the stairs weren’t the most taken care of, but it’s not like you had much of a choice anyways. It seemed these days you were always wanting to run away from something.

Your heart felt a little lighter when the warm rays of sun met your skin and the fresh air outside flooded your senses. Your walk to the park went as usual. Cars racing to get where they needed to, people chattered about everything and nothing, and your thoughts wandered to a world far away from this one.

A world that wasn’t as dark as this one. At the same time your mind became your executioner, it became your safe place. The sick contrast making a nasty feeling flood your chest.

You arrived at the park with a small smile. The normalcy of the day bringing a little comfort to your still racing heart. Kids ran around, laughter ringing in the air around them as their parents watched on benches gossiping among themselves. People raced fast either by foot, bicycle, or skateboard, a visible sheen on their necks. You looked for the kind old man who always looked after your bag while you ran.

He owned a music store a few blocks away, and he always sat on the bench closest to the pond with his cute corgi and habitually feeding the ducks peas and lettuce leaves when finished with a certain chapter of his book. You walked up to him with a small smile as he looked up and took the sight of you in with fatherly worry.

“You look a little pale kid, everything alright?”

You did your best to liven up and gave your best customer service smile which the older man immediately saw through.

“Of course Mr.Jung. Why wouldn’t it be? I’m just a little tired from the editors. They’re on my back more than usual”, you laughed nervously as he hummed in understanding.

“I hope that boy of yours isn’t giving you any problems. Hey kid, have you ever heard of the term “break up?” he looked so serious you had to compose your shocked face.

You waved your hands rapidly “I promise Mr.Jung everything is fine there is...I...oh my” you took a shaky breath as he simply shrugged his shoulders and pet his smaller companion who was having a very serious stare down with a duck.

You wiped your sweaty palms on your yoga pants while you looked around at the tacky named paths trying to decide which one to run today.

“The Pupper Runner path looks particularly nice today,” he suggested. You looked at the path pursing your lips in thought. The path wasn’t one you ran frequently. Since it was one of the wider and flatter paths, there were more people such as families or people walking their dogs. You also didn’t like having run-ins with the cyclists who were grouchier around this time of day for some odd reason.

After contemplating it, you shrugged and decided why not. Getting run over by a ticking time bomb on wheels wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen today. With a small smile sent in Mr.Jungs way, you checked your shoe laces before starting out with a light jog making your way down the specific path.

There was nothing really different about today’s run than others. Just having to dodge the wheel demons and kids happily running ahead of their worried mothers. You were grateful for the distraction. It kept you from straying too far into your head. It was just you running. Running like you always did these days, your shoes slapping on the concrete path and Got7 blaring in your ears.

The heat of the sun shone on your skin, but oddly you still felt cold. It was always cold these days. A light breeze fresh to your burning skin as desperate eyes caught yours, and you were once again bought out of your stupor.

A small boy was kneeled down fingers clutching his untied shoelaces not far from his dad who was trying to calm a crying baby. You didn’t really have a strong adoration for kids, but his panicked pinched face compelled you to come to a slow stop in front of him. Your chest heaved as you bent down to his level sitting on your heels and wrapped your arms around your legs.

“Hey bud, you need some help there?”

The kid made a distraught sound as he nodded his face shaking his hair out of his eyes. He looked dumb founded as he stared at his shoe laces in search of answers they would never give.

“Mama said to make a bunny, but this looks more like my aunt Carol’s dog” he sadly told you.

You snorted reaching out gently to tie his laces with a double knot.

With a grin you looked up at him ruffling his hair and giving him a thumbs up which he happily returned with a toothy smile.

“It’s alright kid, you’ll eventually get it. Just keep trying yeah? Don’t settle or you might catch yourself tripping next time you go on a walk. You’ll get hurt. Wouldn’t want that would we”, you said, lips still stretched kindly upwards, but something in your words struck stingingly deep in your chest.

As the kid nodded happily with a carefree laugh you were about to get up when you heard the air being split and a strained voice yelling “watch out!!”.

You looked up, panicked, only to see a frisbee racing right in your direction with alarming speed. With the goal of protecting the small child, you quickly turned your body. Your shoes making a rough sound against the concrete as a startled light cry left the younger boy’s mouth.

With your hands ready, you easily caught the frisbee gasping at the shock of the situation. You quickly shook it off as you gripped the frisbee turning back to the child who profusely thanked you, his small hands shaking as they clutched onto the hem of your shirt.

You simply smiled reassuringly tapping his shoe and ushering him back to his father who has begun to successfully calm the fussing baby down.

With shaking knees you tried to get up only to wince and slightly waver at the sharp sting that hit your ankle area. You clenched your jaw feeling more than annoyed at the current situation in hand.

You stood up grumbling under your breath as a tall figure jogged over to you. While he made his way toward you, your narrowed eyes met his wide, apologetic ones.

You felt the world shift around you as a calming warmth shot through your body melding with the confusion and panic pooling in your gut, and his eyes widened impossibly as he stumbled managing to stabilize himself right in time in front of you. His figure standing just inches away from you as his hands trembled, and his lips slightly parted.

You got a slight whiff of cologne and mint, but more than anything, the weird feeling in your gut was making a way for the dreadful panic clouding around your heart.

You felt warm.

After feelings of feeling nothing but the hollow cold licking at your veins, there was a nice warmth settling in your chest.

You were scared of it.

With a heavy chest you slightly inched back left somewhat immobile due to the aching pain in your ankle. “What the hell?”, you immediately set off on questioning him leading him to shake his head frantically at you.

“I’m so sorry, i really am.” He put his hand on his chest as if trying to prove his sincerity to you, but you breathlessly took a step back stunned by the intense feelings taking over your heart and mind.

You tried shaking it off, but the warmth lingered.

You weren’t sure you wanted it to go away.

“There’s kids here”, you were so distracted by all the emotions circling your mind you couldn’t possibly put any effort into arguing with the young man. His lips parted to make way for his lips as he nodded his head in understanding. “I know, I'll be more careful next time. I promise.”

Somehow, you knew he was being truthful. You went to say something, possibly something dangerous, but you shook your head and waved your hand.

You tried taking a step but lightly hissed at the sharp pain that shot from your ankle up your leg. The man instantly dove forward steadying you with a heavy hand between your shoulder blades, and the other hovering in worry near your collarbone.

With wide eyes you looked at him as he realized his un-asked for touch and immediately went to back away.

He couldn’t.

Your hand was clutching the cloth of his shirt near his shoulder blades. Hands slowly uncurling, you smiled awkwardly, but he kept his hand where it was. At his touch, the warmth licking the insides of your body became all the more distracting.

“Um, I don’t think you can go all the way back home like this”, he cleared his throat looking at you shily under his bangs. Flustered, you smiled at the ground before looking back up and timidly asking “I can't. Mind helping me out?”.

At your question he let out a beaming grin nodding eagerly. He went to stand in front of you, and he crouched down looking at you over his shoulder with soft brown eyes. You did a small jump, and were caught by his hands slightly gripping under your thighs.

He gave a low chuckle that somehow was felt from where your chest was pressed up against his shoulder blades. “So...what’s your name?”. You let a light giggle escape, “Y/n, yours?”. You saw his jaw move with the syllables of your name whispering it to himself.

“Yunho”, you smiled also sounding out the name on your own mouth. You gave a shuddering exhale, and you laid your head on his shoulder letting yourself really rest for what seemed like the first time in forever.

That night you walked right past Ethan who was quick to begin yelling at you, and you tucked yourself under the safety of your blankets feeling the warmth still encasing your heart, so comforting and alive.

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faejilly · 2 years ago

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TESTING OUT THE QUOTE REPLY THINGY? Very long after the post that inspired said replies, but what-the-fuck-ever:

@theladyw replied to your post “I have 314 things in my q it is dumb how happy...”:

🥧! I have turned into a failure of a nerd, I didn’t even notice that, I’m just still thrilled I can go over 300 now, after getting into some very bad drafting habits from getting stuck at 299 a few too many times 🤣

@oranges8hands replied to your post “so staff is working on POLLS which will be great...”:

#6 could be fun but true vote is mermay fic (assuming this is referring to the malec fic - or even better the follow-up to the AU mermay fic cause that thing lives in my head rent free) or sh wip - like another chapter of "if broken hearts were whole" or if you were still doing a sequel to "with an if in its soul".

I mean. IN THEORY ALL THOSE THINGS WILL HAPPEN SOME DAY?

I don’t usually actually totally abandon the WIPs. I have only done so twice in a dozen years? That’s not bad odds, tbqh. Now, has it been longer than usual without managing forward progress on quite so many of them? Perhaps....

*sighs forever*

@jadesabre301 replied to your post “so staff is working on POLLS which will be great...”:

considering I just wrote a nearly 6K summary of a fic I'm not going to write, I'm a big fan of the not!fic collection idea. But also you should probably work on the thing where snippets are due soon.

Not!Fic is fun! (I have like 10k of journal entries for Ella Shepard that aren’t fic but are good background references, yk?)

& I did not do the thing, and continue to be snippet-less past the deadline. No art for jilly. (But a belated thank you for the pragmatic advice? 😅😅😅😅)

@leahazel replied to your post “so staff is working on POLLS which will be great...”:

I should do a poll like this but for all the unfinished scenes in one WIP.

On the one hand, YES! otoh, my polls have not actually been helping me do anything lately, so uh? YMMV?!?! *snerk*

@servantofclio replied to your post “so staff is working on POLLS which will be great...”:

I admit Downworld for Dummies sounds hilarious to me

I mean. I find it hilarious, that’s why I started writing it? But then it needed more effort and I went *thbbbbbbbt* because my brain is mushy.

@thedivinemissema replied to your post “so staff is working on POLLS which will be great...”:

4 sounds good to me!

WELL IT SOUNDS GOOD TO ME TOO BUT I KEEP NOT WRITING IT?

I should yell about it on a 7kpp server or something, see if that helps me get back into it 🤞🤞🤞 (I just realized I don’t think we share any discord servers, wtf? How did that happen? Or not happen. Also I have too many that I never check in on, I should do some pruning.)

#oranges8hands #theladyw #leahazel #servantofclio #thedivinemissema #jadesabre301 #jilly replies #maybe?

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letswritesomenovels · 4 years ago

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My Revision Plan

I’ve been posting a lot about finishing a first draft of something new. So I thought it might be helpful if I also included my plans about what to do next.

Step One: Preserve the Draft

I work in Scrivener, so my first step is to compile, save, and preserve my draft. For me, this means I’m:

Capturing a snapshot of the current version of my chapters in Scrivener, so I can keep editing the main ‘manuscript’ files without losing access to the current version.

Exporting and saving the entire manuscript as “[TITLE] - First Draft - July 2020″ so that as I finish further revisions, I’ll always know which version this one is.

Emailing the draft to myself, saving it in iCloud, and printing it. Whatever it takes to ensure its safe keeping. This way, no matter what happens--if my computer falls into a pool and is destroyed--my entire first draft of this book will be safe somewhere.

This way, I can revise and edit and generally make a mess of things again without having to worry that anything I do going forward is going to affect the contents or completeness of my first draft.

Step Two: Second Sketches

I don’t want to dive into the editing process just yet, so before doing a serious re-read or re-plotting my entire book, I’m going to set about re-sketching my settings and characters.

In my first drafts, I treated my settings and characters as flexible. When I realized something about them wasn’t working, I changed that thing and kept going. Events changed locations, buildings changed distance from one another, Three of my characters had abrupt job changes in chapter ten, when I realized I could remove an extraneous plot and weave their storylines into a more central plot by doing so. Somewhere immediately after I tell the reader my protagonist has glasses, I forgot to ever mention them again.

This means my initial character and setting sketches are all--well, not useless, but not quite useful anymore either. Now that I’ve figured out where and what things and people need to be in order to make the story work, I’m writing down new “character/setting rules” to guide me through my first revision. I want to make them consistent.

For settings, this means I’m going to go through and decide on:

A “map” of the locations of the story and figure out exactly where things are in relation to one another

The layouts of individual settings

What specific places look, smell, and sound like

The “rules” of the world

For characters, this means I’m going to go through and decide on their:

physical characteristics

personality and backstory

relationships both with other characters and the world around them

character arcs: their wants, their fears, their internal conflicts, and how they’re supposed to be growing and changing throughout the novel

And if I decide my protagonist does wear glasses, I’m going to make sure she’s wearing them throughout the entire story.

Step Three: Read

Writing Advice

In the next few weeks, I’m going to read and reread books and blogs on writing. I am going to soak it all up. I’m going to learn or remind myself about what makes a story good. Refine my knowledge of writing craft. These are the ideas that are going to help me make my revised draft better than my first one.

Fun books!

I’m also going to read for fun, especially the books I was avoiding because they were in a similar genre/category to the one I was drafting. I want to know how good the “competition” is, and also see those “writing rules” I’ve been reading about in writing advice books/blogs in action.

The First Draft

Finally, I’m going to crack open my own book.

This is the hardest part of a revision: critically reading what I’ve written so I can prepare to tear it to pieces and rebuild it.

Oof.

For this, I recommend changing the font, either printing it out or putting it on an e-reader, settling down in your favorite spot to read, and reading it in one go. I’m probably going to print mine out and put it in a binder. This will help me see it with the eye of a reader/editor instead of an author, and hopefully help me put some emotional distance between me and the work I’ve done.

I’m going to keep a notebook nearby and take notes about things that are working, things that aren’t working, ideas for changes, and other stray observations (like words I’m using too often, or where I’m repeating myself, or abandoned plot points, etc.).

Step Four: Re-Outline

This step itself has many steps.

Step One: Identify the core idea of the story. In clear terms, write out in one or two sentences what this story is about, English-major style. ie. “This story is about a girl finding the courage to pursue the life she wants, not the one her parents have planned for her. Her struggles are reflected back on her when she encounters the ghost of a princess who cares so much what history thinks of her, she’s letting its opinion turn her into a literal monster.”

Step Two: Outline the events in the story as it currently exists.

Step Three: Evaluate how well it conveys the core idea, and how the current structure works. Identify:

the purpose of various scenes (ie. inciting incident)

Extraneous scenes/plots/characters

Plot points that should be in the story but are missing

Key moments of character arcs

Events that support the core idea

Events that either don’t support or work in opposition to the core idea

Step Four: Rebuild the outline so that the story has a strong structure that supports the core idea.

Step Five: Share

I know I’m going to struggle with figuring out exactly how to rebuild my story, so I’m going to share both my first draft and my unfinished plan with my writing friends. I’m going to ask them for their ideas and advice. With their feedback, I’m going to solidify my plan for my new outline, hopefully a bit more confident that it’s the right one.

I know not all people have a group of writing buddies they can easily do this with. If you don’t have a critique group, don’t sweat it. It helps and it’s worth an attempt to try to find one, but it’s not a vital step.

Step Six: Revise

Finally, I’m going to go through my work chapter by chapter: editing scenes, trashing scenes, and writing new scenes entirely from scratch until I have a manuscript that’s hopefully much better than the first.

If I revise this book like I did my last one, I’ll probably polish the chapters as I move through them, so that when i’m done, some chapters will be on their twelfth drafts, some will be on their second, but overall it’ll be the best version of the story I’m currently able to write.

It’s a lot, and it seems like a very daunting process from my current standpoint, but finishing the first draft seemed daunting too, just a few weeks ago, and I got through that process. With time and effort, I’ll get through this one too.

#writing #revision #rewriting #editing #novel writing

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setsureadsshit · 4 years ago

Text

Lost At Sea: A List of WIP’s I am finally letting go of [ Part 5 ]

[ Part 1 ] [ Post 2 ] [ Post 3 ] [ Post 4 ]

*see posts 1-4*

I’ve had this sitting in my drafts for.....probably half a year now, it was a project I took up at the start of the Covid and then I, like the rest of the world, sort of lost interest in everything for a little while. And then I threw myself into projects I could do around the house and hanging out with my housemates and slowly mourning our lost year. So, here’s THE LIST. And uh. Yeah.

The Soldier In The House Of Birds by Bonnie131313

Summary: A young acolyte finds himself paired with a young soldier

Last Update: 2018

Fandom & Main Pairing: Person Of Interest ; Rinch

Personal Notes: I really wanted to like this fic, I really wanted to but just...something about the style of the writing just doesn’t grab me. But like, I KNOW it’s really good, I can tell it’s well thought out even if it’s not finished but I just can’t...get into it and I’m letting it go.

Sucker For The Classics by nisolex

Summary: Scott was such a bad friend. Stiles only agreed to go on this stupid "pack bonding" trip so he and Scott could spend some time togehter. And what does Scott do? He invites Allison: and he gives her Stiles' seat in the car. Now Stiles is stuck in the Camaro for a 6 hour car ride with Derek Hale. This is gonna be a long week.

**With the show coming to an end, I wanted to write a Sterek fic to take us back to the beginning. This is an ode to the classic Teen Wolf fanfics. It will feature tropes as old as time, and is set sometime around season 3. If nothing else, get ready for some nostalgia, angst, and eventual sexy times.

Last Update: 2018

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: Ah man, this fic is so good and tbh it leaves off at a moderately satisfying spot so still worth a read.

Where the lost get found by Ninjanervana

Summary: The Nogitsune took a lot of things from Stiles: Allison, his peace of mind, his consent, his sanity, even his Spark. Maybe it’s time for Stiles to start taking things back.

Last Update: 2019

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: I’d hold onto this - if all 7 chapters hadn’t all been posted at the same time and there hasn’t been so much as a peep since. Which is sad because it’s REALLY good but I have a harder time holding onto things that don’t have an update track record I can fall back on you know?

Can’t Hide From The Moonlight by Flarrow

Summary: The semi-unintended sequel to Might As Well Be the Sun, by reader request. One take, a potential telling of part of their married life together.

Last Update: 2016

Fandom & Main Pairing: The Flash ; Flarrow

Personal Notes: I just recently reblogged the first part of this series because I didn’t realize I hadn’t until I checked this, lol. The first one is really good, you should read it! A bummer this second part has kind fallen to the wayside but you know how it goes.

carpe diem by imadoki

Summary: The trials and tribulations that one Tsukishima Kei faces in the events leading up to spring graduation.(aka they're all third years and Tsukishima just wants to give Hinata his second gakuran button but there's a whole bunch of feelings in the way)

Last Update: 2015

Fandom & Main Pairing: Haikyuu!! ; Tsukihina

Personal Notes: I really love this idiot pairing. There...aren’t really any Hinata pairings I don’t like, he’s just so shippable, lmao. It’s a bummer that this one didn’t really get off the ground, it’s always so interesting seeing this pairing from Tsuki’s side of things.

Condo In The Woods by Strangeredlantern

Summary: Scott gets here in four weeks, hopefully bringing some supernatural answers with him. That leaves Stiles four weeks to figure out Isaac. Why he’s here in Bear Valley, why he’s a werewolf, and why his eyes changed from blue to gold and back again not fifteen hours ago over Camden Lahey’s dog tags.

Last Update: 2014

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Stisaac

Personal Notes: I HAVE HELD ONTO THIS FIC. FOR SO FUCKING LONG. IF YOU CAN’T TELL. I REALLY FUCKING LOVE IT, I HAVE HOPED AND HOPED AND HOPED FOR SO LONG AND I AM SO GUTTED TO FINALLY BE GIVING UP ON IT. I LOVED IT. I STILL LOVE IT. STRANGEREDLANTERN, IF YOU’RE OUT THERE, IF YOU SEE THIS, KNOW THAT THERE IS ONE PERSON ON THIS EARTH WHO LOVED YOUR STORY. WHO STILL LOVES YOUR STORY. WHO HOPES YOU’RE HAVING A GOOD LIFE AND STILL WRITING SOMEWHERE.

Dead To Rights by askanasshole

Summary: Stiles is picky when he chooses his jobs. Can't hurt anyone, can't end the world, can't end with him a different species or trapped in an alternate dimension. Can't be face to face. Simple. Easy. Necessary.

Of course his entire life goes to shit when he's forced into a face to face with a werewolf pack stupid enough to get their Second's heart stolen by a witch. Now if their Alpha would stop being so stupidly hot and he could get this job over with, that'd be great.

Last Update: 2015

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: I really enjoyed this, it was such a wildly different take on things, I was really interested to see where it was gonna go. Sad to be finally throwing in the towel on it.

Destiny Knows Best by TaliskerMortem

Summary: It was supposed to be just an ordinary one-night stand. A quick tumble in the sheets and then good-bye. Derek’s wolf however, had other plans.

OR: The one in which Derek and Stiles do the do and a certain part of Derek’s wolfish anatomy decides they should be bonded for life.

Last Update: 2018

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: Again, the start was pretty promising and it kinda leaves off in a satisfactory way even unfinished but I’m not interested in it enough to keep holding on it.

Dirty Dealing by lookslikenico, winglesswarrior

Summary: Stiles had a plan for his final summer before college. He was going to intern at the Sheriff's station, get ahead on the plans for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, his dad had some hazy idea of him having 'one last summer' as a lazy teenager. Now, he's stuck cooling his heels and feeling very out of place at some stuck up country club, where he feel he has more in common with the staff than the other members. Of course, that could be because the staff include his new 'how have we never met before' best friend Scott and the 'it should be physically impossible for someone to be that perfect' new crush, Derek. Who apparently hates him - but not enough that he won't swallow his pride and put up with Stiles' presence when he's needed to help get Erica out of trouble...

Last Update: 2016

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: I honestly don’t remember anything about this fic. So. Enter at your own risk.

#Person Of Interest #Rinch #harold finch x john reese #teen wolf #sterek #derek hale x stiles stilinski #haikyuu!!#tsukishima kei x hinata shouyou #tsukihina #the flash #arrow #flarrow #olivarry #stisaac #stiles stilinski x isaac layhe

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prolestariwrites · 3 years ago

Note

Are you still writing? I don't see you post as much stuff anymore.

I’m still here, alive and kicking and writing lol… I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to use this ask to give an update on me and what I’ve been doing.

The truth is, I write almost every single day. I have dozens of drafts and another dozen of nearly complete fics for different fandoms. I have some one shots that I never got around to publishing. I also have outlines for stories that I might or might not get around to doing. I have full fics that I’ve written in a discord server with my writing pals that are waiting for me to copy and paste into a document so I can edit and upload.

I’m going to go into my thoughts on these things, where I’m at, and what I’m working on under the cut. Maybe if you’re reading this you can help me piece it all together?

First I want to acknowledge that at least half of what I write, I do with my friend and writing partner @solynacea. We have novels of unpublished stuff that we’ve done just for fun that has never gotten published, and maybe never will. A lot of what I’ve written has been done with them, and many times we’re onto the next idea before editing and uploading and I think we’ve forgotten about half the stories we’ve written, lost into Google chat backlogs until one of us remembers something we can search to find it.

So if I’m doing all this writing, where is it? The truth I guess is that I’m still writing, but for a while I just haven’t been into publishing. And this isn’t going to be a sob story about not getting enough attention or credit, because I stopped looking at kudos and comments a long, long time ago. I like publishing my work because I like to know it’s somewhere where I can find it easily again. (My Google drive is a hot mess.) I like knowing that there is someone who read it and saved it to come back to again. If each of my fics has just that one person, I’m cool with it.

For me, writing is fun and publishing is work. I need to edit, I need to find visuals, I need to think of a title and write a summary and actually remember to update with new chapters. I need to be ready for other people to read it. So I’ve adapted this habit of writing without expecting to publish, and it’s helped me flourish.

But it’s also made me pretty inept at getting anything to the point where it can go on AO3. There is an expectation when publishing that things should be a bit polished. I’ve never been one to just throw whatever up unless I knew it would be finished, because I get the sense that people hate unfinished work. Am I wrong?

If you are asking about NnT, anon, I think we can agree that it’s unfortunately a bit dead. I do have one story to finish, The Dark Fate. I also have some outlines done, a bunch of completed or nearly (like just need one more chapter written) fics, some that were started and left halfway through.

But in general I feel like I’ve told the bulk of the stories I had for NnT. I don’t have much more left. Which really kind of sucks because it was the perfect place for a content creator. There were enough characters that you could interpret in a lot of ways, plenty of lore left undiscovered to flesh out, just fantasy enough to not get caught up in real-world locations or rules, but also not so big you get lost. Yet NnT is over and I’m not feeling the sequel. There’s just no inspiration.

I’m writing for a BNHA zine which is fun, and Kacchako is still one of my fave ships of all time. I have a story I’ve started about them that I can’t seem to get any gas on. The space though feels too big. I enjoy more of what other people do than what I can make myself. I do still want to write this fic though.

As for DMC, it was a nice place to hang my hat for a while, but I’m feeling like I’ve run out of things for it too. I wrote the things I wanted to say about Dante, Vergil, and Nero. I have a couple more chapters to do on The Wish and started writing a steampunk AU, but once those are done I’ll probably close the book, at least for a while. Writing in this fandom wasn’t at all what I expected coming from NnT, and the culture shock sort of zapped the inspiration for me, even though I’ve had a great time and met some great people. I also ended up liking the reboot more than the main games and finding anyone else in the same boat is like a needle in a haystack.

So what’s next? I’m on the hunt for inspiration. I’ve been catching up on Resident Evil and started writing for it. I’ve been editing an original work (supposed to be anyway, haha) and writing more original work with solynacea. I’ve tried my hand at the Witcher and looked into getting into other fandoms but nothing is striking my inspiration. Tried writing threads for a bit but it’s not my style. There are tons of things that I love, but it’s a whole other ballgame to have your own stories to tell outside of the original, and that’s what I’m waiting on.

I hope if you’ve read this far you can see that it’s not a lack of motivation or interest, just inspiration. I'm an author in need of a new home, so to speak. I’m not in a writing rut, and there are thousands and thousands of words unpublished that I’ve written over the past year since my publishing slowed down. I hope that RE can give me that push, and if it doesn’t, I’ll look for something else. Any ideas, anon?

In the meantime, I wonder, do you guys want rough or partially-finished stories though? Let me know. I can publish if you guys know what you’re getting into by reading it lol. And I don’t mind comments when people ask if I’ll ever finish xyz fic or asks like these that are about what I’m up to, so hit me up any time.

#personal #thanks for the ask!#and thanks for reading #maybe since there are people still out there I'll take some requests?#hmmmm #please feel free to add anything #free to comment or reblog if you agree or disagree

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