#Somewhere in the middle stage between the two. a wip.... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

blossomwritesthings · 1 year

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𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝? 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. | 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬

pairing: minho x fem!reader (afab)

genre: veterinarian!minho (this includes a few of the skz members working in his clinic). client!reader. hurt/comfort. angst. fluff. smut - MDNI, 18+ only. reader pov. strangers to lovers au. slowburn romance. lots of pining.

content & warnings: explicit & strong language. very thematic elements. minho is reader's vet. reader's childhood cat suddenly gets diagnosed with cancer, and she has to make a big decision about what to do. this fanfic includes heavy topics like: pet euthanasia, extreme loss/grief, depression, the problems with pet healthcare, and more. there will be some humor/fluff placed throughout, and also smut somewhere along the way. :))

word count: 7.1k

summary: dr. lee minho is known throughout your area as the city's hottest veterinarian, and he's also the very man that's been taking good care of your two cats for the past three years. but one day, you're thrown down a dark path of heartache when the cat that you've grown up with - nyx - is diagnosed with an acute form of bone cancer. burdened with the hardest decision of your entire life, you come at a crossroads of what to do. and throughout it all, minho is the single most person who continually stays by your side.

a/n: i decided to split this fic up into like, 3-4 separate chapters, since i felt like having 20.k+ words for a single 'long oneshot' was kindaa excessive lmao 😂 anyways, i'm excited for the future of this little series and what it's gonna look like exploring the relationship between minho and y/n~ 😉 also, for anyone that noticed, YES- i changed my entire tumblr theme after like, 4 months of having it be rainbow haha, so you might not recognize me on your dash with my new look. but yeah, this is the 'new me' for the next few months... i was feeling super inspired to do a muted levanter theme, since it's one of my fav albums/songs from skz haha so here we are!! ☺️

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ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ʀᴇᴘᴏsᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ sɪᴛᴇs (ᴛʜɪs ɪɴᴄʟᴜᴅᴇs ᴛʀᴀɴsʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴs). ©ʙʟᴏssᴏᴍᴡʀɪᴛᴇsᴛʜɪɴɢs ⤐ ᴀʟʟ ʀɪɢʜᴛs ʀᴇsᴇʀᴠᴇᴅ

The clinic was incredibly busy as you stepped through the front doors. Looking around the medium-sized waiting room, you noticed how almost every single seat was taken up by a patient. Because apparently, the hot place to be on a Thursday morning was Starry Skies Veterinary Clinic.

You clutched on a little tighter to the carrier at your side, which held your cat Nyx just inside the bassinet. She was an American Shorthair, with a coat as black as midnight and big, ocean-blue eyes. Your parents had gifted you Nyx as a surprise for your sixth birthday, since you had been begging them for a cat all year long. And instantly, the two of you were inseparable. Nyx had been with you for almost every stage of your life - including grade/middle school, high school, and all of university. She was so incredibly affectionate towards everyone, but especially you. She loved curling up alongside you after you’d spent a long, hard day at work and would just cuddle into your skin for hours.

Nyx was your stability in everything - she was one of your only friends, even when you were surrounded by other adults your same age at work. And at the ripe age of twenty-four, you couldn’t imagine what your life would be like if she ever left your side.

But, you weren’t naive, or stupid.

And you knew that at some point, Nyx would have to move on from your world and onto a better, and brighter future.

Which is why you decided to adopt a female Bengal cat after you graduated from university. Taffy had a brilliant orange-and-brown coat with light green eyes. And because she was so much younger than Nyx, she had a lot more energy. But even still, the two cats got along quite well, despite their huge age gap. Taffy was the troublemaker out of the two and liked to get into mischief with all kinds of things.

You took great pride in both of them and the relationship that you had with your two kitties, which is why you regularly took them to the local veterinarian clinic for routine checkups. Usually, you visited every six months, just to make sure that Taffy and Nyx were in perfect health.

And it’s not like you were complaining about the visits to Starry Skies Veterinary Clinic. It was a beautiful and spacious place, with a friendly bunch of staff and an even better doctor.

Doctor Lee Minho had been the continual talk of the town since he had moved into the area three years before, and soon after he set up his practice - which was just a short walk from your quaint apartment - you started going to him for your cat’s regular check-ups. Dr. Lee was incredibly professional with all of his clients, and he had a true knack for animals… but especially, cats. That’s what he prided himself on - knowing the ins and outs of the feisty little beings... since he had three of his own. Some even said that he was a cat himself since he had similar mannerisms to the felines.

It also helped that he was insanely handsome.

Like, drop-dead gorgeous.

You weren’t a fool - you noticed how, every time you visited the clinic, most of the clients were women. And almost every time that you sat in the waiting room, you’d overhear women talking amongst themselves… about how they had dressed up for the occasion, and how Dr. Lee was way too cute for his good.

For the most part, all of the comments passed over your head.

After all, he was just a veterinarian. He wasn’t anything special…

He just took amazing care of the animals that visited his clinic.

And he seemed to adore your two cats.

And-

Perhaps he was kind of, sort of, attractive.

If a woman liked the silent, brooding, brown-haired types of guys- then yeah, he was fucking really hot.

But, you always tried to push those thoughts out of your mind each time they started to bubble up to the forefront of your mind. You didn’t want to ruin the professional doctor-client relationship that the two of you had been cultivating for over three years. He was an amazing veterinarian with a lot of skill and expertise, and you had a feeling that you taking advantage of your closeness with him, by forcing yourself onto him, would just turn him away.

After all, he was always professional and polite with you. Even if he seemed to give you a lot of smiles and laughs each time you had an appointment at the clinic. And even if he seemed overly affectionate with Nyx and Taffy. He was just doing his job, as that’s what was to be expected from a doctor like him.

And besides, a guy like him would never go for you. For starters, you had just recently found out that he was five years older than you, landing him at the mature age of twenty-nine. And older guys of that many years never went for you - never stooped that low. Plus, he was a successful doctor and a businessman with his clinic. Whereas you were a struggling woman who was fighting to make ends meet at her low-ranking corporate job. You sat in a small cubicle all day, typing away at a bright computer screen, and Dr. Lee sat in front of patients and animals, actually making a difference in others’ lives.

There was also the fact that you were borderline poor- since your job barely paid anything compared to the way that the economy was so expensive. You struggled to pay your bills monthly and lived from paycheck to paycheck. Meanwhile, Dr. Lee rolled up to the clinic in his dark-blue sports car and was always donned in all different kinds of designer dress shirts and slacks.

So, yeah, he’d never fall for you. Not in a million years.

“Y/N! Good to see you again!” You heard a bright voice call out to you, bringing you out of your daydreams of expensive cars and fancy clothes.

Your eyes flitted up to the person sitting behind the front check-in desk of the clinic. Chan, one of the two receptionists of the place, was looking up at you with a soft smile adorning his face.

“Oh- hi, Chan… I’m here for Nyx’s check-up.” You mimicked his smile, motioning with a tilt of your head to the carrier where Nyx was situated in.

You were on a first-name basis with the entire staff line of the clinic, as you had been visiting it for so many years. Everyone at the clinic was extremely nice, and all of the staff were Dr. Lee’s friends. Soon after you first visited the clinic, he told you about the story of how he had recruited some of his best friends to open the shop with him, and how the rest was history. Even still, you called everyone by their first name except for Dr. Lee - since you decided to keep it professional with him and always address him by his official title well into the beginning of your appointments at the clinic.

“Sure thing,” Chan began, tearing his gaze away from you and typing away at his computer. “I see here that Jisung jotted down your concerns for this visit’s file. Has anything changed since you called in a month ago?”

You moved your focus onto the carrier at your side, where you saw Nyx resting peacefully just inside it. She had long since gotten used to the clinic and was normally very calm whenever you visited the place. “Yeah, she’s been sleepier than usual, and like- she doesn’t want to eat the food that I’ve been giving her, even though I’ve changed the brand two times already.”

Chan’s eyes darted up to you, studying your face silently before they flitted over to the carrier that you had placed atop the counter at your side. “Okay, I’ll add all of that to the notes so that the doctor can take a look,” you noticed how his lips were pressed together in a grim line- like he didn’t like what you had just told him. “You can take a seat, and Yongbok will call you back when they’re ready for you guys.”

“Thanks, Chan,” you said, offering him a tiny, weak smile before you headed off to find one of the only available seats left in the waiting room. As soon as you got situated, you gingerly took Nyx out of her crate. She was warm and downy in your hands and purred quietly at the feel of you pressing her furry body against your chest. “It’s gonna be okay, girl, you’ll be alright…” You whispered to her, mouth nuzzling into her silky coat as you placed a gentle kiss against her head.

After you placed Nyx back in her crate, you spent the waiting time studying the people around you. Once again, it was mainly women’s faces that your eyes met as you scanned over the entire room. And there were all different types of pets everywhere, from dogs to cats to birds.

“Oh, and apparently, Jungmi’s friend saw him out on the streets late at night last week… like, all alone and stuff.” You heard the woman say beside you. She was sitting close to another woman, and their heads were bent at an angle as they gossiped together. “Some girl came out of this one cafe and was hanging all over him, but it didn't seem like he knew her that well.”

The other woman snorted lowly, “Well that bitch doesn’t matter, because I’m going to be sure to seduce him this time around. I mean, c’mon- who can resist this shirt?” At her insinuation, you realized that they were talking about Dr. Lee.

Even still, you felt the urge to peek over to your side and look at her attire, and when you did, you swallowed down the dryness in your throat. Because holy fuck- she looked like she was about to go to the club. Her shirt had a scoop neckline and was so low, more than half of her tits were hanging out of the loose fabric. It was tight and stretched over her bosom in an alluring kind of way, leaving little to the imagination.

Meanwhile, you were dressed in one of your old, baggy hoodies and a pair of loose-fitting denim jeans. Even though it was the beginning of spring, it was still quite chilly out early in the morning. And besides, you weren’t planning on going anywhere else after you visited the clinic, since you had taken the rest of the day off from work, so there was no use in dressing up. Not like you had any nice, sexy clothes like that to begin with, though.

In all actuality, you really couldn’t afford to take a day off of work. But, you felt like it was needed after the long week that you had had. After the long year you had had.

Suddenly feeling self-conscious while you sat next to Aphrodite herself, your fingers scrambled to yank down the arms of your hoodie as best as you could, trying to let the fabric swallow you up in your seat.

Just then, your name was called over the hustle and bustle of the waiting room, and you peered up to see a smiling Yongbok standing in the doorway that lead to the rest of the clinic - where the examining rooms were.

In a hurry, you scrambled to pick up your tote bag and hoisted Nyx in her carrier with one arm, following right behind the young vet tech as he lead you through the back rooms of the clinic. The hallway was buzzing with movement, as the other Tech’s, Seungmin and Hyunjin, helped vet assistant Changbin calm down a barking German Shepherd so that they could usher him onto a weighing station that was positioned in a corner of the hallway. Dr. Lee was nowhere to be found… yet.

“I haven’t seen you in a while,” Yongbok started, as he motioned to an examining room just off to the right side for you to walk in. You took a seat in the chair that was positioned next to the desk - where the doctor always sat. “Since Hyunjin is almost always the one who first greets you.” The younger man with light blonde hair and big, expressive eyes sighed in an exaggerated kind of way, which forced a quiet giggle out of you.

“He’s a good tech though… Taffy especially likes him, I think.” You started, your mind already trailing off to what your younger cat might be doing while being left home alone in your apartment. No doubt tearing into the bag of chips that you had accidentally left atop the kitchen counter.

“Mhm- how is she, by the way? I feel like you haven’t brought her in in a while,” Yongbok said, as he slipped on a pair of blue latex gloves. You dragged your eyes away from his form and instead concentrated on unzipping the carrier in your arms, slowly drawing out a lethargic Nyx.

“Taffy is good, just being her usual rambunctious self,” you laughed softly, shaking your head as the affection for your other cat took over your thoughts. “She’s definitely very different from my Nyx here, that’s for sure…”

Yongok wheeled his chair over to you then, gently taking your old cat from your hands and hoisting her up onto the examination table that was nearby. “I saw in the files that she’s been having problems with eating?” He started, voice growing serious as he began his study of your cat.

You nodded slowly, swallowing over the nervous lump that had begun to form in your throat as soon as he placed Nyx on the paper-lined table. You felt your heart beating wildly against your ribcage, and you watched in silence as Yongbok turned Nyx around to thoroughly examine her. “Yeah, and she hasn’t been wanting to play with Taffy either, even though she used to love to.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“About… four months now?”

Yongbok turned to you then, leveling you with a deep frown, “And you’re only bringing her in now?” His tone wasn’t accusatory, but was more on the perplexed side of things, as all of the staff at Starry Skies Veterinary Clinic knew how much you loved your cats and how you adored taking care of them.

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat, hating the way that he seemed to question why you hadn’t taken care of Nyx’s symptoms earlier. “I-I didn’t have the money for this appointment until just recently, so that’s why I'm only bringing her in now.”

Your gaze snagged on Yongbok’s face, and the way that it instantly melted at your confession... brows furrowing and mouth pressing into a velvety line. The entire clinic must’ve known about your financial situation by now - about how you could barely afford food for yourself, let alone the bills from the clinic - since more oftentimes than not, you’d ask for a grace period from paying for the visits.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. I wasn’t trying to insinuate that you’re in the wrong here,” he began, but his slight frown only seemed to deepen as he spoke the words, “It’s just that- these symptoms shouldn’t be ignored for that long.”

At that, your heart started beating frantically inside your chest. Your focus landed on Nyx, who was now resting atop the table, with her eyes closed peacefully. “W-What? What do you mean by that? Is something wrong-”

Yongbok reached over then, giving your shoulder a delicate pat. “I can’t confirm anything myself, but I’m going to take Nyx back to the X-Ray rooms to examine her better. Then, I’ll give the data to Dr. Lee and he can examine the diagnosis.” He gingerly scooped up Nyx into his arms, pressing her against his chest.

“O-Okay, but-” You began, but were soon cut off by the way that Yongbok gave you a slight, reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry about it, Y/N. I’m sure Nyx is just fine.” Is the last thing he said, before he was quickly filing out of the room with your cat in his hold, leaving you all alone.

And as soon as he shut the door closed, you were a nervous wreck. Your knees bounced up and down, hands turning clammy and breath falling out in shaky gasps as your mind raced a mile a minute with countless thoughts.

Would Nyx be okay?

Was she sick?

What was so wrong with her?

The wait time to see the doctor usually wasn’t that long, but this time - this time, it felt different.

It felt like each minute stretched out before you in an endless cycle, sending you down a deep and deeper spiral of anguish as you tried to wrack your brain around the entire situation.

When finally, there was a gentle knock on the door.

You had been holding your head in either of your hands, but upon hearing footsteps against the linoleum floors, you peered up to see Dr. Lee closing the door behind him. He was dressed in his usual garb - dress slacks, a simple white button-down, and his white doctor's coat.

Dr. Lee was silent, as he wheeled his chair over to you. And only then did you notice that Nyx was missing. That he wasn’t carrying her in his arms- like he usually did when he brought her back from the closed examination room.

And you knew the moment that he sat down, that something was wrong.

Because usually, when his eyes caught yours as he walked through the examining room’s door, his entire face would light up with one of those brilliant smiles that women gushed over. Usually, he’d be the first one to crack a stupid joke - whether it was something lame about the weather outside, or about the crazy animal that he just had an encounter with before seeing you.

But this time?

No, this time it was very different.

His proud shoulders were slumped low, cheekbones dark with shadows, and plump, red lips pressed together in a firm line.

He clenched and unclenched his jaw once,

twice,

three times.

Then, and only then, did his eyes meet yours.

And they said all you needed to know.

Just by the way that his dark, chestnut-brown pupils danced with a myriad of emotions; apprehension, fear, compassion, but most of all… sadness.

“What is it?”

The words flowed from your lips before you even knew what you were asking, and almost immediately, you were sitting up a little straighter in your chair.

Spine going rigid, fists growing tight at your sides.

Something swam, cool and deep, inside of you.

Chilling you to the bone, with tense unease.

In the depths of your mind, you felt the pinprick of ominous heartache prodding at the fleshy part of your soul.

The part that was weak and emotional and so very tender all of the time.

“I’m so sorry.”

Was the first thing Dr. Lee said.

You already felt the tears flowing, unbidden and unchecked, warming your suddenly freezing cheeks, at the sound of ‘sorry’ leaving his mouth. Because he had never said such a thing to you before. And you never, ever, wanted to hear it come from him again.

“What’s wrong?” You prodded again, limbs growing a little shaky in your anxiety. Breath hitching in your chest agonizingly, you could physically feel your heart pushing against your ribs.

Aching,

Burning,

Already seeping with hurt, even though you didn’t quite know what was wrong just yet.

Dr. Lee ran a rough hand up and down his face, sighing into his palm, shaking his head once. Then, his fingers were running through his black locks, tugging at the roots just a tiny bit.

Almost like, this crushed him just as much as it was about to pain you.

“It’s about Nyx.”

Swallowing over the huge lump forming in your throat proved very difficult at that moment, but somehow - by some miracle - you did it.

Your tongue felt heavy inside of your mouth- like it was made of hard metal.

For a few beats, you couldn’t manage to form the right words, but when you did, you already felt the stability seeping out of you. Like you were a hot air balloon that had been poked with a sharp needle, with the scalding air and sanity flooding from you in a single breath.

“I’m sorry, Miss. Y/N, I-”

“Just fucking say it, Dr. Lee!” You suddenly exclaimed, voice straining from your quiet sobs. The fat tears rolled down either of your cheeks, leaving angry wet trails in their wake.

He was silent after that, gaze running up and down the length of you slowly. Like you were one of his animals that he assessed daily - like he was testing out your strength and resolve.

Then, his eyes snapped back up to meet yours, and they melted into two puddles of grief.

“It seems as though Nyx is suffering from an acute form of bone cancer.”

And just like, your heart completely stopped.

Each breath you took felt garbled and all wrong.

Your shaky legs and arms wobbled all around you.

The floor crumbled underneath your feet,

Breaking, cracking, shattering irrevocably.

And in that moment, you wished for nothing more but for it to open up completely, and swallow you whole.

Please,

Oh, fuck, please-

Just swallow me already.

Because anything,

Anything,

Would be better than this newfound hell.

“No- no, you’re lying.” You said in a low, gravelly voice. You were clutching onto the arms of your chair, holding on for dear life. Like if you squeezed hard enough, you would be able to wake up and all of this would just fade away into a bad dream.

“Miss. Y/N, I’m so sorry but-” Dr. Lee started in a calm tone, but his face read everything but calm - as his brows wrinkled with concern and his brown eyes were alight with a certain kind of sadness.

“This is a bad dream, it has to be a bad dream,” you cut him off, violently shaking your head from side to side in your disbelief. If you just pinched yourself, maybe then you’d wake up from such a hell. So that’s exactly what you did.

Grabbing one of your arms, you frantically pinched at the skin there.

Again,

And again,

And again.

The tears blurred your vision so much that it was hard to see what was in front of you - hard to notice the angry red mark that started to bloom out across your flesh at your abuse.

Just then, two warm hands took hold of either of yours, fingers sliding between fingers, calloused palms squeezing your own.

The dark-haired figure was kneeling in front of you then, still holding onto your hands. Your heart felt like it was breaking over and over just beneath your ribcage. With each breath that you took, a new piece of it shattered off to swim in the blood flowing through your veins.

“Those symptoms that Nyx has been having are all signs of an acute form of bone cancer, Miss. Y/N. And, they will get worse,” the man said, his low, familiar voice running across your ears and nudging at a tender, warm spot deep inside of you.

“B-But she’ll get better, right? You can heal her, right, doctor?” You asked, throat straining from all of the tears. Through your hazy vision, you clutched a little harder at his hands.

There was a pause of silence on his end after that, which only made you feel worse.

When he finally spoke again, it felt like your world merely crumbled further and further. “Yongbok told me about your… situation, and why you didn’t bring her in earlier. But, because of the wait time, the cancer has developed into an acute case. The only options for helping her at this stage are- amputation and chemotherapy.”

It felt like someone took a bucket of ice-cold water and doused your entire form as soon as his words registered in your mind.

Because if you hadn’t waited so long to get it checked out,

If you hadn’t put it off because you didn’t have the money,

If you didn’t have such a low-paying, shitty job,

Then Nyx never would’ve gotten the cancer in the first place.

Instinctually, you ripped your hands out of Dr. Lee’s grasp. It was the first time you had ever had physical contact with him - and the feeling left you feeling both sick to your stomach and also sent anxious butterflies to erupt throughout your system.

“Oh fuck- it’s my fault,” you said in an incredulous tone, fingers digging into your scalp and tearing at your roots there. “If I hadn’t waited so long, she never would’ve gotten this and she wouldn’t be-”

You felt a heavy hand land atop one of your shoulders, nimble fingers pressing into your skin just slightly. Enough to help ground you back to reality. “I know it’s difficult right now, but I promise it’s going to be okay. You just have to take a few deep breaths and-”

“Where is she?” You asked in a low voice, having the sudden urge to hold your baby in your arms. Maybe, if she just felt you, she’d be healed… “Where is my Nyx, Dr. Lee?”

But you didn’t even wait for him to reply, as you tore away from his hold and hurried to the door, grabbing Nyx’s carrier on the way out. Faintly, you registered Dr. Lee calling out to you from behind, but you paid no mind to it and instead ran through the hallway just outside of the examination room.

“Nyx!” You called out, tone turning desperate. You raced down the hallway, sneakers hitting the concrete at your feet. “Nyx!” The tears clouded your vision, so it was hard to see where you going. But even still, you glimpsed Hyunjin coming out from a room in the back of the clinic, with a black mass of fur laying in his arms.

You cried out in relief at the sight of her, and in an instant, you were running forward and scooping her up and into your grasp. Pressing your face into her warm body, you cuddled her close.

“Y/N-” Hyunjin began, sympathy heavy in his tone. You felt his eyes travel across your face as you looked down at your sickly cat, with fat tears falling down your cheeks and a rapidly-beating heart.

“Let’s go home, my sweet girl…” You whispered so that only Nyx could hear you. And you couldn’t help but notice how light she felt in your arms - she hadn’t had much of an appetite in the last few months, and it pained you so much to know that you hadn’t realized it until it was too late.

Then you were turning away from Hyunjin, not even giving him any attention, as you rushed through the hallway and pressed onwards to the front desk area. Faintly, you could hear people calling out your name from somewhere in the back of the clinic.

But you couldn’t concentrate on any of that. All you could think of was your beautiful cat, who was peacefully sleeping in your arms. “Just a little bit longer, Nyx, we’re almost home…”

The rest of the week passed by in a blur of heartache and tears, as you battled with yourself and your mind to try and come to terms with what was happening.

With what you were going to lose.

It was hard to focus on anything else besides the impending doom that seemed to be right on your doorstep. You were slacking off at your work, which caused your boss to ream you out the next Monday morning. But you couldn’t help it - every time you tried to think about anything else besides Nyx, and losing her, the stormy feelings just came back tenfold.

You had found yourself holed up in your office’s bathroom stalls on more than one occasion already, and by the time it hit a week since you had visited the clinic, it felt like all of the tears had been completely drained from your body.

Every time you looked at her, you wanted to cry. You wanted to, but your body just wouldn't let you. So instead, you took to staying up late into the night and researching remedies to alleviate the pain of cancer - because truly, you hadn’t gotten a solid five hours of sleep since the diagnosis.

After two weeks, you had tried all of the solutions that you could find online - that ranged from implementing natural, whole foods into Nyx’s diet to rubbing lavender oil all over her limbs to try and soothe the pain from standing. Seeing her slowly start to deteriorate in front of your very eyes was possibly the worst part about it all - and how she’d whine and cry while walking around the house. Even Taffy could sense that something was wrong when her friend no longer had the energy to play with her anymore.

Throughout all of it, you avoided the phone calls. And they could be from only one ID - since you didn’t have any friends or family members who cared enough about you to call three times a day. Starry Skies Veterinary Clinic called you without fail, and they were adamant about getting in contact. No doubt Chan was on the other line the whole time, trying to talk some sense into you.

But you just couldn’t do it - couldn’t bring yourself to walk through those doors and face the dark road ahead that most-assuredly lead to death. Because you had already extensively researched the therapy for treating Nyx’s kind of cancer, and it was looking quite bleak. The procedures were so fucking expensive, it baffled you how anyone in their right mind could be able to afford such things.

Everything changed though, when on one Saturday night, you arrived home late from running errands and found Nyx sprawled out on your living room’s small, rickety couch. You scurried over to her side and shook her awake. But she wouldn’t open her eyes. And it seemed like she was hardly breathing. You called out to her again and again, startling Taffy of your presence.

When finally, Nyx awoke. After much pleading and crying, she opened her eyes lazily and stretched.

And so it was decided right then and there, that you’d go into the clinic that night.

You couldn’t afford to put it off any longer, and frankly, you had the feeling that Nyx couldn’t either. It was getting close to eight o’clock in the evening, and the clinic closed its doors for the weekend right at eight, so you made quick haste out of your dingy hell-hole-of-an-apartment.

When you arrived at Starry Skies Veterinary Clinic, the entire place was dark. You peeked through the windows and noticed the empty waiting room. “No, no- no…” You muttered to yourself, checking the time on your phone and reading that it was a little past eight.

You quickly looked around the street, noticing how most of the shops were already closed up for the weekend. Feeling the panic rising inside of you, you began to furiously knock on the glass door of the clinic. If someone was back there, maybe you could get ahold of Dr. Lee and-

“Miss. Y/N?” You heard a friendly, faint voice say from somewhere to your side. Turning around to the sound of it, you came face-to-face with Dr. Lee himself. He had his doctor’s coat off and was dressed in his usual work clothes of slacks and a dress shirt. “What are you-”

You pressed your hands against your chest, trying to calm your heart that was painfully beating against your ribcage. “Dr. Lee- please, it’s… it’s Nyx.”

His brown eyes flashed across the length of your form, the fading sunset coloring his skin in an orange and pink kind of glow. “Come inside, it’s too cold out to be standing around like this.” He said, already moving to unlock the front door of the clinic. After all, it was early spring and the nights tended to grow on the cooler side of things once the sun dipped below the horizon.

“Okay, thanks,” you whispered, following behind him as the two of you shifted through the clinic. Dr. Lee made his way over to a cluster of chairs in the corner of the waiting room.

“Please, sit.” He pointed to the nearest chair and waited for you to get situated before taking the seat just beside you. “So, tell me what’s going on.”

And suddenly, you realized the gravity of the situation. You realized that it was just the two of you - Dr. Lee and you - sitting inside the clinic, alone. There weren’t any other clients around, there wasn’t Chan or Jeongin, or Yongbok. And all at once, it felt rather… intimate.

You squirmed in your seat, your shaking hands beginning to play with the worn hemline of your oversized hoodie. Taking a deep breath, you gathered up all of your courage and leveled your gaze on the nearby front desk that was placed in the center of the large waiting room. “Well, I-I got home today from running some errands, and I found Nyx lying on my couch. But it didn’t seem like she was napping like she normally does… and she, she wouldn’t wake up. I kept trying and trying and-” Your words came out all rushed and garbled, as the tears began to crest over your eyes and you felt your cheeks heating with the flush of emotion.

“Hey- hey, it’s okay… don’t push yourself, yeah?” Dr. Lee’s smooth voice did something to the broken part inside of you - caused something to stir and yet settle at the same time. “That must’ve been a very scary experience for you, so it’s understandable that you would be shaken up about it.”

And just like that, the guilt piled on even higher.

Because Dr. Lee had always been incredibly nice to you and your cats. He had always been there for you guys, through the ups and downs of life, and you felt so horrible for ignoring the clinic’s calls. Because you knew that the team at Starry Skies Veterinary Clinic only wanted the very best for you and your cats… and especially, Dr. Lee.

“I’m so sorry for ignoring the clinic’s calls,” you suddenly blurted out, feeling the blush rise and pool in your ears at the feeling of Dr. Lee’s gaze landing on you - assessing your nervous state. Your thumbs continued to fiddle with the fabric at your waist, pulling and pulling. “I-I just didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t want to face the issue. But, I now realize how stupid that was- how stupid I’ve been about this whole thing-”

“Don’t ever say that again, Y/N. You’re not stupid, and Nyx having cancer isn’t your fault. This was something that was inevitable and nothing you could do was going to stop it.” Dr. Lee cut through your words. You tried to comprehend what he was saying, but instead, your brain was only repeating the same phrase over and over again.

Y/N,

Y/N-

Y/N.

He had used your name, without putting ‘miss’ before it. He had never done such a thing in the past. He had always kept things professional and addressed you by your proper title - just like you had done for him.

But all at once, you realized that perhaps you didn’t mind it at all. And perhaps, his dropping the honorifics wasn’t so bad.

“Still, I’m sorry for not answering the calls,” you said, shaking your head slowly in defeat. You were desperately trying to battle the furious blush that was slinking up your neck at the way that he had said your name. It sounded so perfect and beautiful on his tongue, like-

“I was the one making all of those calls, and I can assure you that I didn’t take your silence to heart. I understand what you’re going through right now because I’ve experienced something similar in the past with one of my passed cats.”

At that, your eyes tore away from the front desk and landed on Dr. Lee. Your gazes locked, and inside his chestnut-brown eyes, you found so many different emotions there… compassion and gentleness. There was a certain kind of faded light there, as you stared at him.

“I… I didn’t know. I just assumed that it was Chan or Jisung…”

Dr. Lee shrugged his proud shoulders nonchalantly, like him calling you three times a day to try and work out a treatment plan for Nyx wasn’t that big of a deal.

When in actuality,

No one in your entire life had ever tried so frantically to get ahold of you.

And the fact that it was him- behind the phone, waiting for you to pick up, hearing your voicemail click on every time the dial failed… just made you feel even worse.

“But that’s all in the past now, so don’t worry about it anymore,” Dr. Lee began, waving a hand in the air to seemingly try and clear your thoughts away. You watched in silence, then, as his hand slid away from his lap and hovered over yours. In a single beat, his fingers were threading through yours, palm against palm. And his hand was so incredibly warm and familiar. “Now, let’s instead focus on Nyx’s treatment, yeah? The sooner we can give her the help she needs, the better.”

For a few seconds, the thoughts of your dying childhood best friend had vanished from your mind and were instead replaced with the feeling of Dr. Lee’s hand holding yours and the way that his tongue formed your name, and the way he smelled - sitting so close to you - of warm chamomile and sweet cookies.

Immediately, at the mention of Nyx, you felt the tears prick at the corners of your eyes once more. “I-I don’t have the money.”

Silence filled the space around the two of you after that, and you felt Dr. Lee’s gaze studying your form, as you squeezed your eyes shut in embarrassment. “You mean for her treatment?”

“Y-Yeah… I, I don’t make that much. I can barely afford her and Taffy’s regular bills as it is. But, having to pay for the cancer treatment on top of everything else? I-I just don’t think I can manage that.”

You felt Dr. Lee shift in his seat beside you, making your eyes spring open as you watched the pained expression cast over his entire face. It darkened his cheekbones, shooting a look of pity through his eyes.

“The treatment is really expensive, I’m afraid.”

The hiccups started then, as the tears traced down your cheeks faster. Your entire body shook with the cries, “This is why I didn’t want to come here again… I didn’t want to hear the news that nothing else could be done except- except that.”

It was like the fucking jumbo-sized elephant in the room…

The fact that- the only other solution to Nyx’s cancer would be to put her down.

To euthanize her.

Gone, forever.

Just like that.

And even though you weren’t naïve enough to think that your cat would live forever, saying goodbye to her in such a way just felt downright… cruel, after everything that the two of you had been through together. But... what other choice did you have? It's not like anyone else was going to pay for the expensive treatment, and your insurance sure as hell didn't cover pet fees. And on top of all that, you couldn't expect Dr. Lee to drop his prices exponentially just for your specific case. That'd just be downright cruel to his other customers that paid the exact amount.

“I’m afraid you’re right,” Dr. Lee’s words cut through your stormy thoughts. A sharp pain coursed through your broken heart, as you were forced to come to terms with the problem at hand. “If you can’t afford the treatment, then the only other alternative is… euthanasia.”

You found yourself clutching onto his hand desperately, squeezing his fingers to death between yours, as you peered up at him through glassy eyes. “P-Please… just… just tell me you’ll do it. Because I-I don’t think I can handle it if-” Your voice seized in your chest at the thought of some stranger doing such a thing to your precious Nyx. It was already going to be extremely hard for you, but the thought of some other vet doing it just ripped your heart in two even more.

“We offer ethical euthanasia here, so, of course, I’ll do it,” Dr. Lee clutched a little harder on your hand, and the way that his warm, slender digits felt against yours did something to calm a rattling part inside of you. “Do you feel my hand? It is there, Y/N. And it will continue to be there throughout this entire process.”

The breath caught in your throat, forming a large lump there, as your eyes widened his way. Because there it was again, him calling you by your first name… with no ‘miss’ in front of it.

“T-Thank you… so much. I seriously don’t know what I’d do right now if it wasn’t for you and this wonderful clinic and all of the amazing staff here…” Your voice trailed off, as you felt the warmth of a flush creeping up into your cheeks.

“Yeah, well, that’s what we’re here for… to give as much support as we can to our clients.” Dr. Lee’s tone came out soft and quiet, it ghosted over the shell of your ear like an angel’s sweet whisper.

“I like it.”

You heard Dr. Lee take in a sharp breath at your disjointed words, but before he could ask the meaning behind them, you were talking again.

“You calling me by my first name, I mean… I like it, a lot, Dr. Lee.” Your eyes found him in the dim lighting of the room, and for a split second, you could’ve sworn that you saw… something flash deep in those chestnut-brown pupils.

But then all at once, it vanished, and he was giving you an easy smile, pearly white teeth on display. And pink, rosebud lips tugging up- wait, why were you thinking about his mouth?

“Me too,” he said in that delicate way of his, just as he squeezed your palm once more, “I really like it… Y/N.”

To be continued...

taglist: want to be added onto my taglist so that you always get notified when i post a new work? well then, comment below on this post/reblog it, and indicate your interest in my taglist and i'll add you... or, you can simply send me a msg and request to be added that way~

©ʙʟᴏssᴏᴍᴡʀɪᴛᴇsᴛʜɪɴɢs⤐ ᴀʟʟ ʀɪɢʜᴛs ʀᴇsᴇʀᴠᴇᴅ

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new-berry · 1 year

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I’ll put the ask game stuff in one, with a side of WIP but you can skip if not your deal :)

Reading: The address book,

Fun fact, I mostly read non fiction (and kids books uggg so many fucking dinosaurs). Bonus I-am-a-wanker fun fact, I read poetry almost every day because poetry’s important and I hate about 70 percent of them. Poetry is subjective! Etc etc. I also argue with the news. I judge myself.

Watching: nothing! Going through a stage of not watching TV. We have four streaming services.

Fixated on: why I keep booking things for when I should be in my Jim-jams time. Winter festival, World Cup, star gazing trip (this is a belated birthday present for a family member) and finding somewhere to see the stars for Matariki. I have to keep my filthy atheist thoughts to myself when we have to offer food to the stars. It’s the start of the New Year (sort of? Let’s not get into the reintroduction of indigenous culture that may be… May we live in interesting times. )

Tall or short? So short!

Fat or thin? BMI says I’m just over the line for overweight. I don’t know, middle?

Single or in a relationship? In a relationship.

Student or worker: worker, do not recommend.

Fave colour: pink. All the fucking pink. Aggressively pink.

Fave flower: the one I don’t have to grow

Fave food: chocolate. I will not lie.

WIP

England under 21’s Morgan gibbs-white, Anthony Gordon, Taylor Harwood-Bellis (so far, still judging myself)

“What the fuck?” Taylor glares at the two players in front of him who…do not spring apart like he thought they would.

Taylor frowns and says a bit louder “the fuck are you doing?” Anthony lifts his hand off Morgan’s thigh and gives him the finger. Morgan is sitting on the side of the pool Anthony’s head between his legs. He leans back on his hands slightly and pants out “piss off Tay, you’re spoiling the mood.”

Enzo/ Julian sort of prequel to enzo/ Joao? Might make it one long fic?

“Enzo, Enzo my man.” De Paul with his eyes crinkled up at the corners, smile stretching all the way across his face.

He’s steering you to the side, the grounds oven baked.

“You rooming with Julián?” His voice is casual, too causal you feel the hair on the back of you neck rise. Your skin prickles.

Ben / Martin I do not recall writing this? I recall talking about writing this.

Ben has to know he’s there. Would have heard the front door slam. Would have heard Martin walk down the hallway.

He’s not even posed just having another glass and how much fucking water is he going to drink? Jesus Christ. Martin walks up behind him kicking his shoes off, taking his t-shirt off, all of them landing someone to the side. Slides right into the space behind Ben, grinding into him wrapping his arms around Ben’s waist.

He’s a little sticky with sun screen, the weird mix of coco butter and science that makes Martin feel like he can smell chlorine or the beach.

#tag games #WIP

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porcupine-girl · 1 year

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WIP Cleanup Progress

After being interrupted by my mom coming to visit, I am diving back into the WIP cleanup. I'm in the diagnosis stage of @bettsfic's WIP cleanup process.

Of the 21 WIPs on my list, I managed to reduce most of them to three main problems (ie, why they are WIPs and not finished):

Sex scene - Either I got to a sex scene and my brain came to a halt, or I intended there to be more sex than there is, or the sex scene just needs to be finished. This may surprise people who like my smut but it is the absolute HARDEST thing for me to write - other than casefic, but that's why I mostly don't write casefic. 7/21 fics are in this category. The ones where I just need to finish up a sex scene are probably easy ones to finish, and some others I can cut or reduce the sex scenes.

Grew a plot - These are fics that got too big for their britches. Well, that describes nearly everything I write, but these are ones that either a) once I realized how much more there was to write I got intimidated and disheartened and lost motivation or b) I have just been working on little by little forever because they are so freaking long. 9/21 are in this category; which get finished likely depends on how much I have left on each one, but for some that might be in terms of total words left to write while others are percentages (my longest WIP has probably 25k left but that's only about 15% of its total length so it feels more like I can just push through it than one that needs the same amount but is only half done). I might split this into two categories, in fact, for the "got intimidated" vs "working on slowly but steadily" fics, since they likely have different solutions. A quick look says I have 4 slow but steady and 5 intimidated fics, although there are couple that are somewhere in between. I might consider it a win to convert an "intimidated" fic to a "SBS" by making it something I feel like I actually can keep working on over time instead of feeling overwhelmed every time I look at it.

IDK - Either there are parts where I legit don't know what happens next, or I think I knew once upon a time but didn't leave sufficient notes and I don't remember. Only 4 fics in this category.

Other - I have one fic that the main stumbling block is there is a chunk in the middle that I haven't settled on how to actually tell that part of the story, in terms of whose POV and how much detail to include. It’s not quite IDK because I know what happens, plot-wise.

Oh! If anyone is curious, the fandom breakdown of these 21 fics is 7 OMGCP, 6 SPN, 5 Untamed, 2 Pride & Prejudice, and one Dark Matter. I also have 3 unfinished Sherlock fics that I might consider adding to the pile but for now am just leaving in the “not finishing anytime soon” corner.

#writing #pg writes

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fridayyy-13th · 11 months

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WIP snippet game

woahhh tysm @ollieofthebeholder for tagging me with the words star, hope, green, watch, and thread!! now to scour my absolutely ridiculous number of TMA WIPs (most of which are really just notes, which narrows it down a little bit) to see what all i've got.

star: ohohoho right off the bat we've got one from my favorite WIP! it's a multichapter fic i've been calling Minutes to Midnight. it's still in its early stages, writing-wise (in actuality this thing has been in my brain for over a year...), but this bit occurs somewhere around the middle of the fic.

Martin glanced at Jon out of the corner of his eye. The other man had his head tipped back and tilted to the side, staring into the foggy night sky. What was he thinking, Martin wondered. Did he think if he stared hard enough he’d be able to see the stars? Jon huffed, and in one swift motion he pulled the ribbon of his mask undone, setting it gently in his lap and looking back up with a frown. “I wish the skies were clearer tonight,” he told Martin, “the view of the night sky from here is…honestly, one of my favorite things in the world.”

hope: this one actually shows up kinda a lot! but i picked an excerpt from a safehouse fic i'm working on, that's got a sequel w/MAG 160 canon divergence (and as a result, a lot of ow). this one, though, is a lot more like the stuff i've already written—that is to say, it's bittersweet. and also currently untitled.

Minutes later, bed passably-made and jackets dropped into a heap on the floor, the two shuffled under the heavy green blanket Jon had found. From there...Jon wasn't really sure what to do. Well, go to sleep, obviously. But before that. Martin lay on his own side of the bed, and Jon lay on theirs, hands inches apart in the space between them. And they wanted to reach out, more than anything, but something gave them pause. Hell, they'd been holding hands near-constantly since leaving the Lonely, but it...it felt more intimate, the thought of taking his hand here. Like if they did, it would be tantamount to telling him I'm hopelessly in love with you. The last thing they wanted was to cross a boundary.

green: ah yes, the WIP where i shamelessly project my aroflux-ness onto jon, lol. it's another safehouse fic!! i call it Friday I'm in Love, bc if there's one thing i hate that i love to do, it's steal song names/lyrics for titles. and also i just really like the song. yes most of the information in italics is cribbed from various wikipedia pages and is probably gonna be narrowed down at least a little bit in the final draft.

“Camellias are probably my favorite, I think,” said Martin. “They look a bit like roses? I don’t know if you know them.” At that moment, a slew of information forced its way into Jon’s mind. Camellia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae, and it is native to eastern and southern Asia. There are somewhere between 100 and 300 species, with disputes over the exact number, along with around 3,000 hybrids. In floriography, it generally means gratitude and perfection. Red camellias mean unpretending excellence, or “you’re a flame in my heart.” White camellias mean “you’re adorable,” or perfected loveliness. Pink camellias mean “longing for you.” They are evergreen shrubs that grow up to 7.62 meters tall, with simple, serrated, typically glossy leaves. They—Jon shook his head, stopping the flood of information. “Ah, um, I Know them now.” “Oh.” Jon rushed to say, “They’re- they’re nice, it’s just…” “Yeah, I- I know.” “Er, I like…gardenias,” said Jon, rather lamely.

watch: this here is part of a fix-it AU that essentially boils down to "hey. hey what if they were all friends before the Archives transfer. what then." this WIP in particular is specifically qpr!jonsasha, and the groundwork for that.

The next morning, there was a to-go coffee cup on her desk, with some packets of sugar and creamer right beside it. On the side of the cup was a yellow sticky note. Thank you again, for yesterday. Figured I'd pay you back; I hope this is sufficient. —Jon She smiled at him, as he was not-so-subtly glancing at her to watch her reaction. “Thanks, Jon.” He returned to his work with a poorly hidden smile. The sight of it filled her with warmth.

thread: eyyy we've got Spider Trauma™️ (and not-shown-here hurt/comfort). this one's really putting the "rough" in "rough draft" though, i decided to play around a bit with switching character perspectives as well as switching between 3rd- and 2nd-person POVs and verb tenses. but it is a oneshot! so hopefully it'll be done sooner rather than later.

Jon was not doing well, all things considered. He'd shut himself up in his office, once again ardently wishing his door had a lock. Not for the reasons he used to; he'd long since grown past the days of shutting his friends out, figuratively and literally, and now was intensely grateful they'd decided he was worth keeping around despite...everything about how he'd acted when they all first transferred, really. No, right now he wanted privacy because— Old cardboard pages under your hands, sticking to your fingers and not letting you go, gossamer thread leading you closer and closer to the door where a monster awaits its next meal—

tags (no pressure!!): @three-magpies-in-a-trenchcoat @gentlemancrow @radical-dadical-rafael @dramaticdads with the words flower, space, read, blue, and sing!

#friday chats #friday's fics #tag game #now let's see if i can actually finish any of these anytime soon lmao #some of them are still in their planning stages so probably not but i've got plenty more works a lot closer to completion #but alas! also! school's about to start again. so. dunno how that'll affect how much i post #bc sometimes—rarely—i can whip fics up within 2-3 days ('here nowhere somewhere with you' was finished *really* quickly #ESPECIALLY given it was written during the school year)#and then you've got stuff like 'minutes to midnight' that has bounced around my brain for a long time and still needs a lot of work #but here's hoping. i really like a lot of these AUs and i look forward to sharing them :D

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sincerelylaurel · 2 years

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how to transition between scenes

@mywordsricochet on instagram

source: me <3

hello and welcome back! this was a post request, so i hope it’s helpful! transitioning between scenes is something i really struggled with as a young writer, although i think i eventually learned how to do them just by reading a lot and seeing good examples. to be honest i’m still not great at writing them (aka i forget they exist) but i hope my knowledge can be useful to you!

intermission

there’s nothing wrong with leaving a few blank lines and indicating a scene transition with three asterisks (unless you want to get into those fancy line things, i won’t stop you— they’re very fun)! although chapter breaks are an easy and common way to divide up scenes, you can’t make every chapter one scene and then skip to the next (yes i’m looking at you old wip i abandoned). nevertheless, chapter breaks are great for dividing up bigger scenes, especially if they’re told from a different pov. however if intermissions make you feel uncomfortable (they can sometimes come off as lazy) then it might be a good idea to learn how to do transition scenes.

transition methods

summaries of the time skipped is a common method for writing transition scenes, but you can also switch over by using something that connects the two scenes. for example if your character is relaxing under a tree on a sunny afternoon and you want to transition into a gloomy room in a haunted castle (idk bear with me):

“mellow sunlight danced in dappled patterns on the warm sand under my toes. as the sun sank lower in the sky, the golden remains of daylight stretched the shadows longer, until they swam before my eyes in inky ripples and morphed into the enveloping darkness of the armor room at midnight. the place reeked of danger, likely due to the rodents and ghosts that called this castle their home. candlelight chased shadows around the room in capricious movements to the beat of the eerie chanting that arose from somewhere below. the cold seeping into my bones felt like a a steel-bladed warning, making me long for the comfortable evening spent under the almond tree which suddenly seemed so far away.”

apologies for the strange scene transition i had to come up with just now but you get the point.

know what to include and what to cut

a common mistake in writing is overly describing every detail. remember when you were little and tried to keep a diary? and you described every single detail from your day until it bored you to death and you forever lost the motivation to start a diary ever again? yeah. that’s what happens when you include too much detail. it also doesn’t create the space you need to write good scene transitions. however, you don’t want to exclude or simply summarize something important. learn which scenes are important and which ones to cut!

set the stage asap

once you start a new scene, make sure to establish the speaker, location, and time right away. it’s a good idea to introduce the reader to the mood and tone of the scene right away too, although you’ll have to be more subtle with this. make sure the readers are aware of the emotions circulating the room so they don’t feel left out.

pacing

“arrive late, leave early”. you might have heard this writing advice somewhere, and i’m here to explain it. this goes for the entire novel as well as chapters as a whole, but it works for any chunk of narrative. “arrive” to the scene when things have already happened, the reader feels like they’re late to the party and are thrown into the scene in the middle of the climax. this hooks their interest and keeps them reading for more information, trying to get caught up and understand what’s going on. when you “leave” the scene, make sure there are loose ends, unfinished conversations, etc. basically, leave off every scene with a cliffhanger. it doesn’t have to be super dramatic all the time, especially since it’s unrealistic for your characters to be in that much trouble all the time. but make sure to leave the reader wanting for more.

flow

and finally, make sure it flows. you don’t want your novel to sound like it was chopped up into pieces and then put together without any adjustments. your writing doesn’t have to be completely seamless, but you know — blend a little bit. pull at the edges. smush some things together. yes i’m aware i sound like a lunatic but if you’ve ever done pottery you understand. keep the flow going throughout scene transitions — remember the word transition implies a somewhat smooth passing through. read it aloud if it helps. but remember you can always edit later! focus on cohesion in the next draft.

#writing #writeblr #writing inspiration #writers on tumblr #writing advice #writer #writing techniques #my writing #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #studyspo

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satashiiwrites · 2 years

Note

❤️💕💘🌻

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

Hm… well I have kinda two.

From The Marks We Leave On One Another (aka the Reyes will burn the galaxy to the ground to find Scott fic where Scott happens to have an identifying hidden tattoo)

The small smile on Scott’s lips was tired but he refused to let go of his grip on Reyes’ arm despite his legs being unable to support his own bodyweight. The thin cloth of the under armor that usually clung to his body instead hung slack, emphasizing how dangerously underweight Scott was as well as highlighting the frightful paleness of his skin that bloomed with bruises in various stages of healing—blue, purple, brown and almost black. His vida had not been well treated and it showed.

Murder rose again in Reyes mind. If he had the ability he’d resurrect the entire facility just to kill them a second time. They’d died too fast and hadn’t suffered enough for what they’d done to his tesoro.

And the opening from Cousin Harvey (not yet published, one shot (it betterdamnwellbe) Moon Knight/Suits crossover)

He’d thought they were past the days where he’d wake up and not know what had been happening. With the bleeding in of Marc’s and his life intersecting he’d kinda thought that they were done with this sorta thing yet somehow they’d ended up in jail in the middle of Nebraska of all places.

Nebraska.

He’d waited until they were left alone in their depressingly bare cell to face the reflective surface of the stainless steel to talk with Marc.

“Question—where’s Nebraska?” He asked his other half.

Marc had the decency to look at least a bit perturbed in the slightly grimy reflection. “It’s the middle of nowhere USA. Like almost dead center. Hundreds of miles from anywhere.”

Steven was silent for a few heartbeats, taking in the information. Marc respectfully let him have a moment or was otherwise also just as puzzled as he was. “Why’d you bring us here?” Steven finally asked.

“I didn’t.” Marc’s quiet admittance had Steven’s heart started racing in panic.

“What? What do you mean you don’t remember. I didn’t bring us here!”

Steven’s heart dropped from his chest to somewhere in his pelvis, twisting painfully in confusion but continuing it’s brisk gallop. “What?”

Marc bit his lower lip, stymied. “It wasn’t me. I thought it was you?”

“No. No I didn’t… why would I bring us here?”

💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Hm. Choose between my babies you say? Impossible. Insane.

Completed fics would be a tossup at the moment between Seguir (a mass effect speed run on what would have happened if Scott and Reyes knew each other BEFORE Andromeda) and I Wasn’t Looking Until I Found You (Buddie Sentinel/Guide AU of 2x01).

My wips…. Uh that’s harder to point to a favorite. I do really love The Outlaw and the Cartel Boss (Sentinel/guide Mayans MC Miguel/EZ complete AU) for world building but I also enjoy the absolute ridiculous amount of stuff I’m stuffing in the Death, Rebirth and the Jackal (Mreyder Mummy AU). Then there’s the worst crossover idea I’ve ever had in Cousin Harvey (Moon Knight/Suits AU) that is just pure crack. I don’t think I can pick just *one* as a favorite.

💘 Is it easier to write angst or fluff?

Oh angst for sure. My muse seems to enjoy emotional torture and whump—which is oddly enough not what I tend to read when I have time. Case in point, Family, Familia, ‘Ohana (NavySeal!Buck, Buddie, McDanno crossover) has a ton of angst going on and not much fluff.

That being said, I did give Reyes a pet eiroch mascot in An Andromeda Tale (my Epic MReyder retelling of MEA) so I do know how to sneak bits of fluff in.

🌻 How often do you read your own fics?

Short answer: when I’m writing a new chapter I sometimes have to go back and re-read the prior posted chapter so I read bits probably every day.

Long-er answer: if you’re speaking about my completed things or stuff i haven’t worked on in a while…. Maybe once a month? It depends on if I have time (precious little) or am in a mood for one of my holiday fics or a specific trope I’ve written. For instance, it’s currently Halloween weekend so I’ve re-read The Wolf Among Us (Buddie Werewolf AU) twice instead of working on my current holiday fic, Eddie Diaz Ain’t ‘Fraid of No Ghost—which is what I *should* be re-reading if anything. That being said, I don’t re-read fics that often. Maybe once a month could be overstating things but it depends on time of year, what I’m currently working on, and whatever my muse is chewing on.

Thanks for the ask @radio-chatter

Ask me more questions, I promise few lies

#fanfic writer ask #replies

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silvergrayandmauve · 2 years

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WIP Preview

Posting this for @kara-night-light. These are two excerpts from a fanfic I'm writing called Nights That Never End. It's a 5+1 things fic, and the premise is basically 5 times Kamilla woke up in the middle of the night because of Cisco (for various reasons). The full fic will have these in chronological order when it's finished, but I'm posting them out of order for now, because of reasons. Bear in mind that these are not the final drafts, so some changes could be made between now and when the fic is finished.

This first little snippet is pre-6x05 (Kiss Kiss Breach Breach) and it is about Cisco's first time sleepwalking under Echo's influence, which is the time we didn't see. The second snippet takes place the night of 6x04 (There Will Be Blood), but after all the events of that episode.

“Wait, you still have your shoes on!”

Cisco just gave her another, “Hmm?” in response.

“You need to take your shoes off,” Kamilla said more directly. “Do you need help getting them off?”

Cisco waved his hand limply. “I got it,” he mumbled, and proceeded to toe at the back of his left shoe. After a couple of tries, he managed to get his heel out, and he kicked the shoe the rest of the way off. Then he tried the same thing with his right shoe, but without the help of the grips from his other shoe, in his mostly-asleep state, his foot just kept slipping down the back and not making any progress. “It’s stuck,” he said after a moment, staring down at his shoe in confusion.

“Hang on,” Kamilla said, crouching down to help him, “I got you.”

A few moments later, the shoe was off, and Cisco stared down at his feet in tired wonder. “Huh. So that’s how you do that,” he said, before giving Kamilla an appreciative nod.

Kamilla tried not to laugh. She would have to tell Cisco about their little half-asleep adventure in the morning, if she could remember to.

Cisco fortunately was able to get into bed without Kamilla’s help, and once he was settled beneath the covers, he immediately flopped down against his pillow, his hair flying down over his face as a result.

“G’night, K’milla,” he said mostly to his pillow.

Kamilla just shook her head as she made her way around to her side of the bed. Sleepy Cisco really had no grace. At least he didn’t look like he would be getting up and trying to go anywhere now.

She yawned as she slid in next to him, giving in to the need for sleep now that her work here was done. “Goodnight, Cisco.” She reached out to push his hair out of his face, letting the back of her hand brush against his cheek as she did so.

Cisco sighed, relaxing even more at the touch, and slipping into a deeper stage of sleep—one that wouldn’t involve sleepwalking, hopefully.

Kamilla smiled, inching a little closer to him and letting her arm drape over him. “Sweet dreams.”

It wasn’t long after Kamilla had moved in with Cisco that she found herself stirring one night, awakened by a sound that had come from somewhere across the room. Curiosity or instinct had her rolling over to look for the cause of it before she even had time to register what she was doing, and when her eyes landed on the silhouetted figure just inside the window, she froze.

Cisco was sitting sideways on the couch with his legs folded up in front of him, his arms wrapped around his knees. His head was tilted forward, like he was looking down at something, and Kamilla could barely make out his face in the darkness, but even from her place on the bed, she could tell that something was wrong.

Pushing her covers back, she got up and slowly walked over to him, her concern growing by the moment. There was a lot that Kamilla was still learning about Cisco and what his daily routines entailed, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that sitting up alone in the dark and doing nothing was not a good sign.

As she drew nearer, his features came better into view, confirming her thoughts, and a soft gleam from the moonlight outside revealed that his eyes were full of tears.

“Cisco?” Kamilla said cautiously, her voice sounding too loud to her own ears in the late night stillness despite how softly she was speaking. “Are you okay?”

Cisco glanced up at her briefly, moving only his eyes, and then he looked back down again and shook his head.

The sight brought a pang to Kamilla’s chest, and she sat down across from him, pulling her legs up under her and resting her arm on the back of the couch.

“Hey,” she said gently. “What’s wrong? Is it the Reverse Flash again?”

It seemed an unlikely answer; most of the time Cisco was lighthearted and bubbly, and seemed virtually unaffected by all the darkness he had seen in the last six years. But Kamilla knew that the aftereffects of trauma came in waves, sometimes surfacing again because something had triggered it, and sometimes for no reason at all.

But Cisco shook his head again. “Barry,” he answered simply, his voice barely above a whisper.

A sinking feeling came over Kamilla as she was reminded of the news she had gotten at work earlier that day; Barry was the only person who could save the world from the upcoming Crisis, and in order to succeed, he had to die.

#The Flash #Kamilla Hwang #Cisco Ramon #Kamisco #s6 #fics by silver #or part of one anyway

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haitanirindo · 3 years

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zukka fics that live in my head rent free!

1. what did you bury before those hands pulled me from the earth (what were you digging) by draco_sollicitus status: complete (18k words) rating: mature pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: Sokka is immortal; it's been tested, he knows that he can't die. He's immortal, but he's not quite a god like his sister, Katara. He's immortal, but he's not quite powerful like his friends Aang and Toph. He's just sort of Sokka: good at fixing things, good at playing pranks, good at helping people. When a bet against Toph goes horribly wrong, and an attempt to save him goes even worse, Sokka finds himself the unwilling guest of the Lord of the Underworld. And, strangely enough, every story Sokka's heard about Lord Zuko seems to be ... completely wrong. (Also, he's really handsome. Why does he have to be handsome?)

mythology nerds come get y’all juice. a very good fic. 10/10

2. Where I Want to Be by through-the-stars-to-the-pavement status: WIP (83k words) rating: explicit pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: "'The fog was where I wanted to be.'" Everything is different. The pitch of his voice, his posture. The auditorium goes silent. No one can take their eyes off of him.… He's amazing. Zuko had to perfect the art of acting as a child to survive the horrors of his homelife. When he got older, it was only natural to take his talent to the stage for entertainment and escape. Enter Sokka, a craftsman and set designer with a giant heart who is haunted by plenty of ghosts of his own. A tale of trauma, disability, family, creativity, and love.

this is one of my all time favorite fics. it’s seriously so good and i think about it often

3. Teaching a Heart by @i-write-shakespeare-not-disney status: WIP (114k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: Sokka is asked to go to the Fire Nation to teach the crown prince how to sword fight. When he arrives, he's surprised to learn he has to pose as a companion before he can teach the stubborn prince because he rejects every teacher. Far from home and among new customs, Sokka struggles to gain the prince's trust and friendship despite the uncertainties of the customs and dynamics he sees. As he slowly finds answers to his questions, his bond with the prince grows until it becomes something far more ardent than friendship. Doomed as it may be with the prince's approaching wedding ceremony and coronation, Sokka and Zuko find themselves consumed by what they find in each other.

i have no words, i just love this fic and it makes me weep.

4. The Road Between Action and Inaction by @donvex status: complete (17k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: Sokka does a shitty k turn in the parking lot across from the bus station, pulls up to the curb where the boy is looking determinedly at his phone, and rolls down the passenger window. “Hey! Which way were you going?” He may die, but at least his conscience will be clear. The guy blinks at him. “Don’t.” Oh, he’s prickly. Or: the hitchhiker au, featuring Sokka and Zuko falling in love without even realizing it.

a classic. roadtrip fics own my ass.

5. purrfect for eachother by lesmiserablol status: complete (3k words) rating: general audiences pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: “Let me teach you how to be a cat person,” Zuko says. “Learning from the master himself,” Sokka grins. “Alright, this can’t be too hard. Show me what you got.” (because sometimes, it takes going to a cat café four times to realize you're in love with your best friend)

this whole series is adorable, reading it is self care

6. Ashes Inside When You Finish Your Song by @muncaster status: complete (47k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko, aang/katara, mai/ty lee summary: Sokka writes lyrics for his sister’s band. Zuko plays piano and is unnecessarily nice. Fellas, is it gay to write love songs about your friend and his golden eyes? (AKA, a modern band AU featuring The Gaang, crappy software equipment, homoerotic lyrics, and the realization that maybe, if you think about a guy every night before you sleep, you just might be in love with him.)

i think this is the longest one-shot i’ve ever read and it’s so worth it

7. a study in matchmaking by @verdanthoney status: complete (12k words) rating: general audiences pairing(s): sokka/zuko, aang/katara, bato/hakoda summary: Zuko and Sokka try to play matchmaker, but things don't go exactly as planned.

this fic makes me want to scream, in the best way. it’s so cute

8. A Predictable Story by mindbending status: complete (7k words) rating: general audiences pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: "On this night, you shall share a kiss with a great love of your life!” That lying, scummy Aunt Wu predicts a grand romance for Sokka. To disprove her "fortunetelling" once and for all, Sokka decides to spend the night with least romantic person he knows. Zuko.

again, i have no words. this fic is cute as hell

9. that’s murder, buddy by @bisexual-atla status: WIP (14k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: Throughout the streets, on quiet nights, it was rumored the screams of those missing could be heard. Some say the sounds were coming from underground. Where were the young girls? And what was happening to them? Was an evil spirit haunting Gaoling, or something more human? More sinister? My name is Zuko, and you’re tuning into another episode of ‘That’s Murder, Buddy’. Or: Sokka has no idea that his crush is the host of his favorite podcast. (But everyone else knows.)

i love the entire concept of this one, we love oblivious sokka

10. We’ll play hide and seek (to turn this around) by @crosspin status: complete (5k words) rating: general audiences pairing(s): sokka/zuko, bato/hakoda summary: Sokka gave him a sheepish smile. “It’s…well, you see, there’s this boy…” Hakoda sighed and set down the sports section. This was going to take a while. “He works at Barnes & Noble. At the big information desk in the middle. Every Saturday. And I really want to ask him for his number, but it’s super awkward because there’s always this other guy working the information desk at the same time. He’s old, like you. But I have a plan." Sokka’s eyes lit up deviously. “You come with me to Barnes & Noble today when they’re working and distract the old man. And while you have him distracted, I’ll swoop in and get the goods!” Sokka has a plan to ask out the cute boy at the bookstore. Hakoda is a begrudging participant until he meets the boy's beautiful older coworker.

this fic!! this fic! adorable, incredible, magnificent

11. feels like we only go backwards by @oldpotatoe status: WIP (88k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: [Time passes oddly. Between one second and the next, Sokka has the Fire Lord pinned to the wall with his hands around the bastard’s throat. Golden eyes (one gold eye, his mind whispers) widen in shock. “Sokka?” he chokes out. And then he smiles. What the fuck? “Sokka, I—” Sokka slams his head against the wall, once, twice, and the smile wipes off his face. Good. “What,” Sokka bites out, “have you done to my sister?”] Or: An injury leaves Sokka with amnesia. His last memory is of the failed invasion, of leaving his father behind in enemy territory on the Day of Black Sun. Of hopelessness. Rage. But then he wakes up, and the war is over. Suddenly, he must come to terms with the fact that years have passed, and that he's somehow the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador to the Fire Nation. He is also supposedly friends with banished-Prince-turned-Fire-Lord Zuko, of all people. Close friends. Yeah, nah.

if you’ve been following me for a while you know this fic fucks me up beyond belief

12. breakable heaven by @fruitysokka status: WIP (43k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: With his twenty-first birthday looming just around the corner, the Southern Water Tribe Elders have decided that Sokka, next in line to be Chief, needs to get married. Sokka does not want that, but he does need to get them off his back until he can figure his way out of it. What better way to do that than to pretend to date his best friend (and newly minted Ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe) Zuko? Seriously, this is a foolproof plan. Maybe one of Sokka's best. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.

this just in: sokka and zuko being oblivious makes me want to yell

this turned out a bit longer than i expected but it also doesn’t even cover all my favorites. i had to stop somewhere, or i’d be here forever. maybe i’ll make a part two someday.

anyway, enjoy!

#cas recs things #fic rec #atla #zukka #cas speaks #text #zukka fics #zukka nation

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privet-sosed · 3 years

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I'm sharing two character theories in this post, they're connected in a way.

Note: this is a subjective theory, based on both the books and the game.

Note 2: there always have been slight (or...”slight”) changes between books and game, both story and character wise. so, like HN2 Quentin being new in town, vs Norman not being new in town will be ignored for now. I tried to look at the base only, and the fact that it would be such a silly thing to put two journalists and two nightguards with the exact same details into your story.

While the main reason behind all of what's happening remains unknown[from the side of the creators], I'd still like to submit this idea somewhere.

🎠IKE = HG QUENTIN

Let's see the similarities between the two characters.

- He guards a park. While Ike's only wearing a shirt with a badge on it (in memoriam HGP era. Ike did have a coat in the locker.) Quentin in the game has the badge on his coat. Don't forget that both characters have boots, and I'm still more than sure, the book illustration (black and white one) was based on Quentin's ID image (made by Sharandula, for HG)

- Lanky, chubby, happy, easy going personality. he is elder than HN2 Quentin, I’ certain. Just around the age of Neighbor.

Ike is described to be like that in book 6 with a happy and rather optimistic, silly personality added. He was exactly aware of his surroundings, yet he chose to be like that. Quentin's character is extremely detailed in HG, and lets us know, the character is pretty similar. He wakes up in the middle of the park and wants to get back to sleep. He keeps closing the door on his finger. he becomes extremely happy as he rides his bike through a puddle. It's seemingly a miracle that he can stay alive. He'd lose his head somewhere, if it wasn't on his neck. I could go on.

- he knows too much. Quentin has a camera on his bicycle, and while it's a not known fact, it is actually there.

I think it's also for a reason, why both a humanoid bird and a man in funny hat and coat wants to take the guy with himself. Quentin (just like Ike) knows something, which they either want to find out, or keep in a secret.

- They named him Ike Quentin Cornelius Gershowitz, and while it's rather a hilarious additional information, we have to deal with it. In book 4&5, Aaron clearly sees Ike's wallet, with his name in it, but he only refers to him as Ike Gershowitz. No mention of his other 20 names. Please note that the books and the game are being made and finished at the same time, IF not one before another [in this case, I think the game was in early wip stage when the books were written. according to Carly, the writer, the HN books were written in: 2018(HN1), 2019(HG), 2020(HN2). ]. It's a very long process for both, with many possible changes. In book 4, Ike was clearly a man with 0 personality, then in book 6, he suddenly got HG Quentin - like personality and behavior. But it was too late.

HN2 alpha 1.5 menu screenshot ^

It's rather an interesting fun fact, the developers placed old Quentin into the build, where the new one debuted. They had no reason to put him to the menu, yet the man is there, halfway in the ground, probably showing they got rid of him and the new one is the new player character.

Quentin is officially referred by the devs as “Quentin old” and “Quentin_placeholder”

I'm actually glad, this time at least his model was modified, when the plot changed. (coughs beta 3 Nicky coughs)

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🎠NORMAN DARBY = HN2 QUENTIN

book 6 description of Norman Darby.

The case of Quentin seems to be the same once again, as Beta 3/ Final game Nicky.

Quentin's gone through a model edit, which probably happened for a reason, [yes, I’d never forgive if they still used the baby boy look for the journalist] and while many people say he's remained the exact same character, I actually kind of deny it. The case is the earlier mentioned Nicky's case, certain details (in the story) were modified and the character has become something new, while he seemingly stayed the same.

But we're not here because of the Quentins' personality and character issue. We're here, because Norman Darby (book character) is the exact same as HN2 Quentin, and that's one of the reasons, why I separated them.

Let's see again, what they have in common:

- Slender nose, hair unleashing everywhere (basically, the look is described to be the same) even the way the guy stands is the same.

- exact same outfit(glasses,pants,jacket,shoe, cap etc) it is the EXACT same again, based on the description. The only things which Aaron doesn't mention, are the moustache and the fruit shirt, but he can still have them, we won't know.

- he's barely taller than Aaron, so is Quentin, if we put them next to each other.

- Journalist. Both of them are investigative journalists. again, why would we have two journalists and two night guard men in the same story?

When Norman disappeared, he was around the age of HN2 Quentin, who's seemingly much younger than HG Q(let's call him "old" Quentin)

HN2 Quentin's allies and enemies are not known yet.

but once again, slight changes in the stories did happen. see Hide and seek, and the relationship between the kids of the Neighbor..

These are the hilariously similar things between the characters.

The question is: what's mayak's purpose [edit: IF it still is in the story] and how can all of that happen?

#Theory #Hello neighbor 2 #Hello guest #Ike Gershowitz #Quentin Gershowitz #Norman Darby

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writing-with-olive · 4 years

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A starting place for self-editing your novel

I wrote this in a reblog to one of @boy-who-can-fly‘s posts, but as I couldn’t add any tags to that that would make it findable to more than just my followers, I figured I’d make the same content in an original post because YAY TAGS!

Without further ado...

1) Take a break.

Some authors have suggested taking a break for six or so weeks, but I find anything longer than three makes me too distanced from my story, and I have to work a lot harder to get back into my protagonist’s head. During this break, don’t so much as look at your story. Instead, focus on something else. Maybe growing your author platform, planning or developing another wip, or researching the publishing industry if publishing is the end goal for your book (this goes for both traditional and self pub). The point of this is that without some distance, it’s going to be a lot harder to see larger developmental flaws.

(this is a very long post, so the rest of the steps are below the break)

2) The first read-through.

After your break has ended, and you’ve got to be a little stern with yourself not to extend it farther than what you set, or else you’ll never return to it, do a readthrough. This means either just reading it off you’re computer or kindle, or going to somewhere like staples and getting it printed and spiral bound (this costs money, but I found it helpful down the line). Two rules: 1) no editing. 2) look at the first rule. This read-through is going to help give you a general sense of what is and isn’t working in your book; the problems you notice here are likely going to be the biggest ones. (if you want, you can combine this step with step three, but I found it more helpful to keep them seperate)

3) Outline.

It doesn’t matter whether you outlined before, or whether you decided to pants it. By the time you get to editing, you need to have an outline that’s reflective of what you actually put on the page. Go through your story, chapter by chapter, and for each new scene write down

what is your character’s goal in this scene

what is standing in their way

what is the outcome of the scene.

This list should not go into depth; one short sentece per point, MAX. That being said, make sure to keep things specific, so “MC wants to convice X to go with them to Y.” is going to be a lot more useful to you later on than “MC tries to convince them to go.” This outline is going to help you objectively look at your story structure, as you can see a lot more of what’s happening at once, without being quite so overwhelmed by the sheer mass of the words you wrote. Yes, this step can be a bit tedious, but it is so, so worth it.

4) Sort out what you need to fix, aka start making a game plan for your edits.

Now that you’ve read through your wip at least once through, and probably twice, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you need to fix. The key here is that right now, you want to be fixing on the global edits - the things that span beyond just a single scene or chapter. The reason why is that you don’t want to be spending hours perfecting a scene that you’re just going to need to cut later because it doesn’t advance the plot.

In a new document or spreadsheet (whatever you think will work better for you, I liked using a google doc), write issues you see with:

Each of your main cast (regarding character development, motivations voice, etc)

Setting/s (consistancy, realism for your world)

General worldbuilding (consistancy, things poorly explained/set up)

Main plot (following a given plot structure, building tension, etc)

Each subplot (how it intertwines with the main plot, plot structure, building tension, etc)

Other major things you noticed during your readthroughs

These things tend to be larger scope, and generally are worth addressing first.

5) Picking your edit.

Look at the list of edits, and see which one is going to cause the most ripples through your story. This is going to be the first thing you look at to fix. If there are more than one edits that will all have major impacts on the story, think about which edit would make the other ones easier.

For example, in my wip, Project Toxin, my plot was, well, a trainwreck and a dumpster fire’s love child. But my characterization for my MC was also a wreck. Still, getting the overall plot more in order would make it easier for me to edit my MC, so I chose plot first.

6) Make a game plan for your edit.

Before diving in and ripping through your first draft, come up with a game plan. Brainstorm possible solutions to the edit you’ve chosen, and look at what ripples it would cause. You want to make sure that what route you take isn’t going to upset something major or crucial to your story. Most likely whatever solution you choose will cause some other upsets, so just make sure to think through what makes most sense for your story.

For example, when working on my story, I was fixing plot first. Figuring out my game plan meant looking at my scene list and moving things around/adding/cutting content until I had a plot that was much more satisfactory, and that was, in my mind, not a wreck.

Possible game plans for different types of edits:

1. Plot:

Look at your scene list. What helps to advance the plot? What is dragging the pacing. Are there any elements that you are adding or cutting in your overall story that need to be accounted for? With this in mind, cross out scenes that you want to cut, move scenes around that need to come in a different order, add scenes that need to be added, and mark scenes that need to be combined into one.

2. Characters:

For each of your characters, look at their character development. It’s going to be hard to make them come to life better on the page unless you’ve got a grasp of who they are, even if you didn’t plan them out originally. If you have not, consider listing in a spreadsheet or google doc what their backstory is, what their goals are, why they want those goals, and what a few of their strengths and weaknesses are. Also think about their voice: what words do they use more often? Sentence structures? What do they sound like when they’re talking? Stuff like that. If your character is inconsistant, pick one version of them that you want to follow (knowing that they will likely change over the course of the story), and look at what parts of them you will need to change to accomodate that.

3. Setting/Worldbuilding:

I’ve put these together here as they’re somewhat similar. For poorly explained aspects of worldbuilding, look at where you might add in little details so you can better set that foundation (this is not usually a global edit). If things are inconsistant, look at what makes the most sense for your story, and like what we talked about with characters, alter the rest to accomodate that.

7) Making edits.

This is where you really get to dig in and really move things around. Using the edit you’ve picked and the game plan you’ve developed, go through scene by scene and make the changes. I strongly recommend having a seperate doc from your rough draft to store your second draft in. Currently, my process is to have both open at the same time, and if a scene is already fine, I’ll just copy/paste it over. At least for me, however, it’s usually not, and I’ll either make tweaks to fix it up, or, more often at this early stage, I’ll rewrite it. As an added bonus, I also find that rewriting it makes my prose a lot stronger, since I’ve grown so much as a writer since I originally wrote the scene.

Since you know your story better, you may find other elements that you want to change are improving as you edit. If not though, don’t worry - they’ll get their own editing pass.

8) Repeat steps 5-7

You made a list of edits you needed to make back in step four. Now, follow steps 5-7 to make all of those edits and changes.

9) Repeat steps 2-8

Two steps telling you to repeat in a row? Yes. The deal now is that you want to make sure you’ve cleaned up any global edits before moving on to anything smaller. If you’ve been thourough thus far, this will be a very fast step. If not, think of this step as a safety net. There may have been ripples that you didn’t notice earlier on, and it’s a good thing you’re catching them now.

10) Chapter edits

At this point, we’ve cleaned up all the big edits. Now we’re going to look at each chapter. Within each chapter, there needs to be a mini-arc. A beginning, middle, and end. This is the time to really focus on that. Also focus on things like tightening up prose, combining or compressing paragraphs, making sure you’ve adequately set the scene, etc. If you’re over the word count limit regarding your genre, also focus on cutting a certain number of words from each chapter to put your story back within those limits.

11) The little things

This is about combing through your wip to find all of the little errors that have made their way through edits. Typos, weird or incorrect grammar, useless adverbs, things like that. At this point, everything is on a more superficial level.

Beta Readers

Given that this has gotten quite long, I’m not going to go in depth about beta readers here, but around step 10/11, you’re going to start recruiting beta readers (you’re going to want to try and have multiple rounds of somewhere around 10 betas each, which is why having a good author platform is useful: recruiting is easier). Between each round, you’re going to look at their feedback and make the necessary edits. After several rounds of beta readers, you’re going to look it over a few more times, and then if you’re going the traditional publishing route, you’re going to query agents. If you’re going the self-pub route you’re going to look to hire a professional editor. If you’re not looking to publish, this may be the end of the line.

Good luck editing!

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delacyrose224 · 3 years

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Content Tag Game

Tagged by @hyungieyoongi!

1. What fandoms have you written for (but do not currently)?

Once upon a time in middle school and high school, I wrote Harry Potter, Teen Titans and Nightmare Before Christmas fanfic...

2. What fandoms are you currently writing for?

BTS and TXT in the works!

3. How long have you been writing?

Since I was little! My family used to own a typewriter, and I would write on that for fun, and then I started fanfic. I recently got back into writing, which has been great for my creative side and my mental health overall.

4. On which platforms do you post your stories?

Tumblr.

5. What is your favorite genre to write?

Angsty fluff for sure!

6. Are you a pantser or a planner?

Depends on what I'm writing tbh. Shorter one shots I'm usually a pantser, but I was definitely a planner for my recent Hogwarts story. And apparently the follow up Hogwarts story I'm creating.

7. One shot or multi-chapter?

Usually one shot, but then Chameleon Boy turned into a monster...

8. What is the perfect chapter length in your opinion?

Somewhere between 5-7K.

9. What is your longest published story? Is it complete?

Chameleon Boy is a whopping 24.3K, and is now complete!

10. Which story did you enjoy working on the most?

Probably Chameleon Boy (I really fell in love with that version of Jin while writing), but also A Sky Full of Stars (thanks for the influence @hyungieyoongi...who knew I needed to write a dad fic?)

11. Favorite request you've have written and why (if any?)

I've never had one, but open to them!

12. Are there reoccurring themes in your stories?

Um, does Jin count as a theme? Haha...In actuality, the only theme really is they're all loosely based on songs.

13. Current number of wips?

Two...one that's actually got some things written, and a nameless Beomgyu Hogwarts fic in the ideas stage. Whoops.

14. Three things you have noticed about your own writing?

(1) I get really wrapped up in plot, which is why my brain doesn't quite work in drabbles...but I don't mind it, because I can think of plot quickly when I hear a song that could work for a fic.

(2) As I've written more, I've gotten better at writing in general, but also my characterizations. I think I've gotten Jin nailed down pretty well, as well as Yoongi and Jungkook to a degree. I just need to tackle Joon and Jimin...they scare me.

(3) I have weird amounts of backstory I could tell you for characters in my stories, or how they would react in certain situations (this goes for members and OCs).

15. A quote you like from a published story

Goodbye, I will never be over Gryffindor!Jin:

“I think you’re just as brave as I am, you just have to let your heart be courageous when it wants to be,” he smiles, interlocking your fingers once again. “Plus I’m a Gryffindor, remember?”

16. A quote from an unpublished story

“I can think of better distractions.” Jin murmurs under his breath, hoping you don’t hear, but to no avail.

“Such as?”

Such as kissing your cherry painted lips, for starters.

17. Space for you to say something to your readers

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING MY THINGS!! Truly, you could be doing so many other things with your time. I have met some of the coolest people through this platform, and I'm very thankful for that as well. :goes off to my emo corner:

#about me #tag game

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seijch · 4 years

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BY DAY, you attend classes and sling drinks at the campus cafe. By night, you’re known as the Harbinger, an individual with the Gift of shadow and darkness. Your two jobs have never had any reason to collide…not until the appearance of a fellow Gifted by the name of Ace, anyway.

[ read luck of the draw here !! ]

this is an extra post for me to infodump on all the worldbuilding details i never got to fit into my already obnoxiously large fic 🕺🏻🕺🏻 its holding my brain hostage so maybe posting this will help!!!

please read luck of the draw before clicking the readmore !! there are spoilers abound (and you probably won’t understand much of what i’m saying if you haven’t read the fic LMAO)

ABOUT THE CONCEPT

the very core of luck of the draw isn’t actually unique to kenji or to haikyuu in general; in fact, it was originally a part of a superhero!skz series i was planning to write but never got around to. the foundation of this fic -- kenji’s power and the idea of them being opposing forces that slowly draw together -- was originally given to stray kids’ hyunjin. i never went past the Thinking Stage with it, so it was fairly easy to hand the concept over to futakuchi when i moved fandoms.

the dynamic of this fic in general was inspired pretty heavily by miraculous ladybug’s “love square,” but i ... obviously wasn’t going to write all four sides of it so i stuck to the civilian identities (the reader and kenji) and the alteregos (harbinger and ace). in the kpop version of this wip, the reader and hyunjin were coworkers, but in moving from one fandom to another and reworking it for futakuchi, i decided to make them friends instead. they’re not particularly close (they’re definitely comfortable but not close Emotionally) to start with, but there’s potential for something to start!

ABOUT THE WORLD

in this universe, the city is ruled by two major factions that control much of the economy: seijoh, who controls the entertainment/tourism industries and has its fingers in most of the smaller businesses around the city (such as johzenji and dateko) and nekoma, who is partnered with the equally large fukurodani to control shipment of all kinds as well as the food industry (among others). nekoma has allies within the local government, and seijoh all but controls the law enforcement.

karasuno, on the other hand, works entirely from the underground to overhaul the way things are run in the city; it’s a bit .... corrupt as of right now, and they seek to change that.

at the top are typically individuals blessed with special powers known as gifts. these gifts can be as mundane as the ability to make flowers bloom wherever you walk or as powerful as being able to alter the flow of time. there exist a series of regulations (and a shit ton of paperwork) that come about whenever an individual happens to manifest a gift.

however, the city’s gifted demographic is incorrectly represented; a chunk of the gifted population are instead drawn to the allure of making money by doing illicit deeds for companies like seijoh or nekoma. these individuals’ gifts are never properly documented due to the traceability it lends itself to, should a job go wrong.

the government is supposedly in talks to enact stricter laws on the gifted, despite them making up a comparatively small percentage of the population. the head of the department of gifted individuals, ushijima wakatoshi, is a particularly overwhelming force in support of better regulation of his fellow gifted.

ABOUT THE CHARACTERS

in the first draft of luck of the draw, the sequence of events and relationship dynamics were MUCH different. in the final draft, you see the alteregos being drawn to each other first before you see the civilians come together.

in that first draft, it was originally centered on the civilians getting together despite kinda-sorta being attracted to each other’s alterego? as a result, the kiss scene between the alteregos was still there but it was DRASTICALLY different. the whole idea of it and imo moral ambiguitity (kenji and the reader never went official with their relationship in the first draft) didn’t sit right with me at all; it felt a little like i was using cheating as a plot device which ??? no.

to make the long story short, the execution of that (tbh poorly developed) idea was.......less than stellar.

so i took a look at the chronology and basically upended the entire midsection to make the concept something that was less awful morally? that’s what i hope happened, anyway LJSKDFLSD

in the first draft, the reader (as harbinger) was also much less competent than they are in the final draft as a result of having been affiliated with karasuno for a shorter time. in truth, the harbinger’s origin story didn’t surface until i was in the middle of writing the second draft!

when it comes to the other characters:

oikawa doesn’t have a gift, which is rather rare for someone with their thumb sitting so heavily on the city’s pulse point

iwaizumi’s gift is entirely up to interpretation! him and oikawa making formal appearances in the story was something that only came up towards the end of draft two, so i didn’t have the space (word count wise) to really give either much thought

kyotani came into his gift without any control over it, and is only given amnesty because he was found hiding by iwaizumi

i really really wanted to talk about kyotani in this fic but ultimately it wasnt revolving around him + i once again didn’t have space to even tease an encounter with him (so in the fic proper he’s mostly there as a cameo + to scare you as you read into a potential action scene)

aone and kenji actually come from the same company that happened to come under seijoh’s control, so they’re more comfortable with each other than anyone else!

hinata has the gift of manipulation as long as you’re making eye contact with him; unfortunately, if he wills it, it’s rather hard to break eye contact once you’ve made it -- aone made the mistake of glancing at him during the takeover at seijoh hq, leading to his hold on harbinger loosening

kageyama obviously has the gift of ice/hail/snow manipulation to a rather strong extent, considering he can create it where there is none and lower the temperature of the air around him (the reader cannot create their own darkness, only manipulate what is around them)

he also has some beef with oikawa (or is it the other way around?) that involves him formerly working under seijoh -- not one of their many smaller companies, but seijoh itself (much like iwaizumi and after kageyama leaves, kyotani)

in terms of who’s been with karasuno the longest of the introduced cast, it’s tsukishima/three-eyes > hinata = kageyama > reader (but not by much)

MISCELLANEOUS

following the takeover of seijoh, tsukishima finds himself at wit’s end much more often LMAO

there are a good amount of deleted scenes and scenes that were only added in at the very last second!

among the deleted scenes is a scene where the civilians are at the park -- in the first draft, it happened in the middle, but in the second it was towards the end. it got taken out because come the end of the second draft, i realized it no longer fit ...

in terms of completion status, it probably ?? took a little over a month from this to go from Thinking Stage to the 14.2k monstrosity you see now? there were a couple of weeks early on where i did nothing on my ipad and laptop except outline and write, respectively

i definitely got burned out halfway through (which is abt the time i posted the xc2 au .. i NEEDED to work on smth else)

the idea of the clock tower wasn’t present at all in the first draft!! i only really came up with it in the second draft because i’d rather have them meet somewhere consistent and identifiable rather than some nondescript building

the running joke (?) of them getting drinks together wasn’t present until the third and final draft -- originally the scene where ace asks “do you remember our last conversation?” had a different beginning

in fact, a lot of the scenes that are a bit more...emotionally charged (see: every scene after ace’s unmasking as well as the movie night scene where the civilians struggle to define what their relationship has become) had to be overhauled dramatically

ummm i love kenji thats it! none of this would be possible if i didnt have the strongest mf brainrot for him so ... ! theres that LMAO

(theres probably more im forgetting to say ........ if any of you want to pick my brain regarding the chronology or the characters or why i had them say something or do something send me an ask! this post tbh is almost entirely for me but i didnt put this much thought into a fic that long to NOT share it with everyone else)

#futakuchi x reader #haikyuu scenario #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu x reader #futakuchi kenji #i shouldnt have typed this out #i feel like writing a spinoff #i cant tell if itd be another kenji fic or explore kyotani or even kageyama tbh #this universe is literally holding me at gunpoint omg luck of the draw took so much from me but i still want to write fic in the same settin

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