WIP GAME! Thanks for the tag @writebackatya

Rules: in a new post name "all" of the files in your WIP folder no matter how non-descriptive or ridiculous, let people send an ask with the title that intrigues then the most then post a small snippet and tell us about it!

Adding a small extra rule to this: if the WIP in question has explicit parts, it has an (E) after it.

The Robot Uprising (The IV)

Blackjacks and Mounties (E)

Getting Rough on the Planet Moon (E)

Della/Magica (E)

Duck Avengers, Assemble! Chapter 4(ish)

The Duckburg Boom

Duck Avengers, Assemble! Chapter 2

The Many Dimensions of Della Duck

Ensnared Gold (E)

Lustrous Gold (E)

A Trip to the Racetrack (E)

The Race Tracks!

Accordion Sounds

Camping, Start!

A Moonlight Meeting (E)

Duck Avengers, Assemble! Chapter 5ish

Duck Avengers, Assemble! Chapter 7(ish)

Della/Selene First Time (E)

A Trip to the Farm

Through the Looking Glass (E)

Xadhoom and the Duck Avenger(s)

Xadhoom and the Duck Avenger(s), Chapter 2

Xadhoom and the Duck Avenger(s), Chapter 3

Huey and Webby Talking

Scrooge/Goldie Pregnancy (E)

Olivia/Yunan Whiptail Ritual (E)

De Spell Family Reunion, Chapters 2-5, and also 8-ish

Threat Assessment Chapter 3 (Unfinished)

Never Have I Ever (E-ish)

A Clashing of Universes (Rough Draft)

Paper Airplane, Della Fighting with Girlfriends

Sasha’s Fight

Camilla’s Durance

Wanderhome

Time Flies Chapter 9

This is all stuff that me and my lovely, beautiful, absolutely wonderful co-author @imjustusingthistolikeartists have written together, so if you have any questions about any of them, direct them to either or both of us!

Tagging: @hueberryshortcake, @foxymc, @dellyduck, @ninja-librarian if any of you also wish to play and haven't been tagged yet

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @hilarychuff

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

honestly, I'm sometimes embarrassed by how much I've written in the 3 1/2 years since I started posting. Currently 66

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,350,298. yikes.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

at this point, Jonsa. we do not talk about The Prior Fandom

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

a fairytale ending (by a WIDE margin)

the mating game

take me out

moth's wings

ever fallen in love (on national TV)

(shocker, it's all my romcoms lmao. also, let's not talk about how the top 4 are all fake dating fics. I can't help myself)

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

I try to. I used to do it on all fics, but as discussed above, I'm a wordy bitch and at points responding to all comments on, for example, one shot event fics that I would post back-to-back got overwhelming. So I allowed myself to stop responding to comments on one shots. Recently I had quite the mental health dip and didn't respond to any for a while, but I think I'm back.

Part of the reason I like fandom is the sense of community. I started responding to comments on my first fic because I hadn't resurrected my tumblr from the grave yet, so it was the only way to interact with the fandom. Then I continued to because I appreciated the comments, even if they were simple and I had nothing else to say except thank you. I still try to on chaptered fics because, let's face it, without comments and without community, I wouldn't be posting my stories.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

probably my WWI one-shot

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I try to write at least *hopeful* endings for all my fics. I don't know if I can quantify "happiest", because I think that's different for everyone.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

of course. I feel like it's a rite of passage on ao3 to get some shitty hate comments

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

*through clenched teeth* I sure do

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I'm not really a fan of crossovers tbh

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that I'm aware of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

not that I'm aware of

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope! I don't think I could tbh. I'm sort of a control freak and I even have problems letting people pre-read things, I have no idea why. I think the only people I've let pre-read anything are @hilarychuff (who is my brainstorm buddy) and @greenhikingboots (who is the reason the last chapter of the ghost inside made any coherent sense)

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I mean, Jonsa. I honestly don't ship that often

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

sigh. white knuckles.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm very fast at it lmao. Like, seriously. I type very fast. I'm also somehow really good at starting a fic off with only an inciting incident, no other real plans, and somehow coming up with a full plot/ending that I'm satisfied with, while posting it as I develop the story

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

outlines. smut.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I can barely handle English my guy

19. First fandom you wrote for?

hmmm that depends on what the criteria is. First fandom I wrote for was Sailor Moon, I just never posted it anywhere. Harry Potter was technically the first fandom I posted for, but it was one chapter and I never continued it and I genuinely can't even remember what it was called, all I remember is Harry melted Voldemort with a bucket of soapy water like in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

The first fandom I was actually active in and wrote more than just a chapter was... A secret. I'm actually a little embarrassed about it and my fics are still floating around out there and some of them make me cringe sooooo hard. I don't think I've ever admitted to it here on tumblr dot com and I don't think I will now

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

help me out of the shape I'm in

I'm always so anxious about tagging people and leaving people out and making them feel bad, but I'll try to do it anyway. @greenhikingboots @sibyldisobedience @thewolvescalledmehome @esther-dot @periwinkle39 @eruherdiriel and anyone else who wants to do this! (also, no pressure to anyone I did tag lol)

20 Questions for Writers

Thank you so much for the tag @darknightfrombeyond! ❤️

How many works do you have on AO3?

Eight

What is your total AO3 word count?

2,477,347 (Holy shit balls)

What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, I write for Extraction and John Wick. Those are posted here and on Ao3. But I do have fics that are still considered 'open' on Mibba and ff.net under different pen names. CSI, CSI:NY, and RPF (NHL and MLB)

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Best Part of Me, Never Gonna Be Alone, I Found, Sanctuary, Lost and Found

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try my best too! My regulars I'll talk to through messaging and newcomers I'll just respond on AO3

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

I wouldn't consider any of their ending angsty, but I Found had the potential to be. That is the first story in my main series and my original plan was to kill off my OC at the end of the fic. Just a 'one and done'. But then people started really enjoying the main canon character and her together and I ended up changing my mind. Honestly, sometimes I regret not going with my original plan.

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

I'm going to go with Best Part of Me

Do you get hate on your fic?

Not on my fics, but hate send by anons to OTHER people, blogs made to shit talk my stuff. Oh yeah, it's been wild.

Do you write smut?

Absolutely

Do you write crossovers?

I do! I am working on an Extraction/John Wick crossover now

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Way too many times. Fics and characters. My OC has been poached by repeat offenders, even.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

Have you ever co-written a fic?

No. That's just not my thing.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

I actually don't have one. I've been in a handful of fandoms and never really liked any canon ships. I guess I'll go with my own couple. Tyler Rake (canon) and Esme Rake (OFC)

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

Definitely a CSI:NY fic. Together We Fall.

What are your writing strengths?

Keeping the main canon character in character and not writing him OOC. I'm very anal about how he's portrayed. He's my precious baby boy. He deserves to be treated right lol. Descriptions I think I'm pretty good at.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue and action scenes. SMDH.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've done it a couple of times over the years. Most recently, I included some Bengali that I had someone check over for me before I posted the chapter.

First fandom you wrote for?

CSI

Favorite fic you've ever written?

I love them all pretty equally, but I guess I'll give it to Lost and Found. The current fic.

Tagging: @munstysmind @themaradwrites @thebejeweledwatercat @asirensrage

20 fic questions

i was tagged by @mutxnts thank you ash!!

1. how many works do you have on Ao3?

21, ayyy, one less than ash!!

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

189,718. this does not surprise me.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

ace attorney and very rarely ff7 and the last of us.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

late night (257 kudos), tasting (121 kudos), finality (114 kudos), alive (91 kudos), distance (88 kudos) all of these are ace attorney, three of them are part of a series lol.

if we want to include my art that i've posted to ao3, holding would actually be in second place, with 218 kudos.

theoretically another fic should be in the top five instead but i left it out because i just don't like it and don't plan to update it again/will prob remove it at some point (it was my first in the fandom, was trying to do a case fic before realizing i am bad at them).

5. do you respond to comments?

i try to always respond but sometimes i just don't know what to say! that being said i am always open to chatting about my fics. please. please talk to me oh my god i want to talk about ace attorney.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

oughhhh....... i guess no one told me it would be beautiful? it's one of my shortest fics and part of just a short series of a post-apocalypse au. it's not exactly the angstiest ending, i have another series in mind for that, but the whole fic has an undertone of angst, and series will too. i just write it in spurts when i feel the need to write something that isn't one of my WIPs.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i think most of my fics end on a sort of higher note! my fics have strong undertones of angst but with lighter endings, but i think the winner would go to status :) because it's the happy ending to the long angsty series! and also it just makes me happy, i feel like i really stuck the landing, we get to see the boys laugh over the most absurd situation and it makes me laugh too.

8. do you get hate on fics?

i've never gotten hate on a fic but shortly after i posted fic that met this description in the tags once, someone i follow made a post making fun of the idea that edgeworth would ever be a sexy dom. listen we are all playing in our own sandboxes.

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

we all know me, come on now. i write trans phoenix getting railed in all configurations smut. every e-rated fic has at least one creampie. we know this.

10. do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i don't, but i do have one in mind. i've been planning a severance ace attorney fic for a long time.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

no

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

no

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

kind of? tybalt wrote a fic in the universe of one of my series! which kind of counts? idk! but he didn't feel like posting it so i did lol (he's co-author on it). but i do RP a lot, just none is published yet. maybe some day.

14. what’s your all time favorite ship?

of all time??????? tifa/cloud/aerith probably

15. what’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

ohhh god maybe my vampire fic, wait for the morning. i'm trying. i'm trying for the homosexuals.

16. what are your writing strengths?

i think i'm best at writing dialogue honestly, that is what i love to write the most, especially arguments. otherwise in the Real World i am very good at writing passive-aggressive but still somehow polite and professional emails to get shit done.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

i have a lot of problems with just repetitive vocab.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i have a lot of feelings on this i can't exactly elucidate well. i only speak english fluently. i have a very beginner's knowledge in french. i'm also indigenous, but i don't speak the language of my people, which despite being one of the largest indigenous speech communities in the US, still only has around 2,000 native speakers.

so... i have a lot of feelings about language that take up a lot of space in my chest. but i just am kind of stuck writing in english. if i need to write dialogue in another language, i try to source from friends who speak the language first, then elsewhere on the internet if i don't know anyone directly who speaks it (e.g. asking in a public discord or reddit or somewhere), and use online translation tools as a last resort.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

theoretically it was accidentally tomb raider when i was in 3rd grade but i didn't know that's what i was doing at the time. intentionally, the first fic i ever wrote fanfic for was ff7.

20. favorite fic you’ve written?

i really and truly cannot choose here. it's like picking your favorite child. for the writing skills alone i have to pick wait for the morning (unfinished, i'm sorry). clarity is another one i think shows off some writing skills, idk, i just like it! for the characterization, something about decadence really floats my boat. and for the one that really earns its e-rating, it's tasting (especially chapter 3), my magnum opus of smut.

i am tagging.... who am i tagging. i hate tagging ppl bc i get sooooo anxious that ppl will be annoyed but i am going to tag @sandboxer @m-aximumjoy @samioli if you want to do it, and i have forgotten everyone else's tumblr urls in this exact moment it's like the men in black just memory-wiped me

20 questions

tagged by @gaeasun - thank you friend!

How many works do you have on AO3? 36

What’s your total AO3 word count? 880,000

What fandoms do you write for? currently just star wars – can def see myself writing more cobra kai if this next season fucks

What are your top five fics by kudos? put my guns in the ground (2,726) the long road back to good (1,182) enough enough (1,143) let the river in (1,096) sleep and where to find it (758) all rvb except river. nothing will ever top guns in terms of kudos, but river is creeping up there which makes me happy bc my writing has improved a LOT since writing all the others on this list and river is by far the strongest of these five

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? YES almost always, one because I want people to know I appreciate them even if I’m just saying thank you over and over, and two because I’ve met literally all of my closest fandom friends by us acting unhinged in each others’ comments

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? the long way down is pretty damn depressing all the way through. i wrote most of that fic with a blanket over my head (idk it made sense at the time, i was trying to Cope)

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? hmmm laughter lines was super fluffy, I love the happy “reveal” at the end of that one

Do you get hate on fics? idk if hate is really the right term, if i write something and put it out there people are free to say what they like about it but. yes lol (not SW to clarify, i mean it's absolutely possible that it's out there but i don't go looking)

Do you write smut? If so what kind? I have in the past, but not currently, and it’s not something I plan to do again but who knows

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? no, and I don’t usually read them either. not my thing

Have you ever had a fic stolen? I have had large chunks of my fics flat-out pasted into other fics before which like. come on. they took them down immediately though when i asked

Have you ever had a fic translated? never

Have you ever cowritten a fic before? YES!!! enough enough with my old friend egg <3. It was SO much fun. I have done this privately with others too and it is one of my favorite things. finding people you vibe with creatively is WONDERFUL

What’s your all-time favourite ship? still gotta give it to wash and tucker from rvb

What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I have a pretty in-depth FMAB WIP (not posted) covering that missing moment after baschool, that has a lot written – but I doubt that’ll ever actually be completed

What are your writing strengths? dialogue. I’ve had several comments saying that if I removed the dialogue tags, they’d still know who was talking and idk if there’s a better compliment than that honestly. also just...actually writing i guess? i have a rock-solid routine that usually allows me to get in 1000 words/6 days a week.

What are your writing weaknesses? like…an actual plot. my fics are really just 300 hurt comfort tropes in a trench coat and I’m fully aware of that

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I don’t speak another language, so the most I’ve done is use the English to Spanish translator for lopez-the-robot’s lines in some rvb fic. it was bad

First fandom you wrote for? lord of the rings! I still have the notebook I carried around everywhere in 8th grade. there’s literally a comment section in the back because I would pass that shit around to all my friends to read

Favorite fic you’ve ever written? okay this might be because it’s my most recent fic but I really love we are a woven strand, find the thread. I love all my OCs, I love the lore I built up for the CMOs, I love how I threaded it all together. It feels like the most original thing I’ve ever written

if you feel like it: @secretlystephaniebrown @comefeedtherainn @calamity-aims @usaonetwothree <3 <3

This is a bit of a dumb concern of mine. So i post bits of my wip sometimes, but i'm noticing the very unfortunate pattern of people interacting with just stuff i reblog and not the stuff i post. And like... i know it's not about the notes, i'm just sharing for fun, but idk if it's because people don't like my stuff or if they just don't see it or what but it's a little discouraging. I'm not even gonna lie, the thought, "what's the point of me posting if no one's reading it anyway?" has crossed my mind several times. Just not sure if i should continue posting my stuff or give up on that.

I don't think it's a dumb concern, and I understand it's discouraging. I also understand wanting people to interact with your stories, you're not wrong for wanting that. You ought to just remind yourself that lack of engagement doesn't mean your stories aren't interesting, or that they're bad. It can also be hard to gather traction online.

I don't want you to give up, but I want you to do what feels right. If you decide to ease off on posting online for a while, I hope you keep writing. ♡

// D

What Nisey said. Honestly, it took me like 5 blogs and hundreds of posts before I started getting noticed. Part of it is in how you tag things, part of it is in how you talk about your writing. Sad to say, the popularity of your posts isn't necessarily about the quality of them. Sometimes just making a silly meme that everyone relates to will bring attention to your blog or making an ask game everyone can enjoy.

That said, it shouldn't just be about the engagement. Of COURSE as a writer you want people to be reading your writing but at the end of the day, what matters is your own love of your writing. If not getting the engagement you want is taking away from your enjoyment of writing your story, maybe step back from posting them and come up with a posting plan.

Honestly, the running of your blog should be all about what YOU want out of it. If your goal for your blog is more engagement, maybe try looking at what bigger blogs did to get more engagement and figuring out how you can incorporate it into your own blog and ideas.

If your goal is to have your writing out there for the world to see, you're already doing it, even if people aren't necessarily seeing it.

But the OTHER thing I wanted to point out other than all of this is just because you're not getting notes on these things, it doesn't mean people aren't reading and loving the crap out of your works. A shocking amount of readers are shy to comment when they read or interact with things they read, so sometimes you'll have a ton of readers you don't realize you have until you do or say just the right thing to get the shy person out of their shell. For me, it's been when I've shut down my blogs or when I've been struggling with my depression and they came out of the shadows to sweetly encourage me. But what would bring them out of their shells really depends on the reader.

One fun way to get more engagement is to make an ask game based off of your WIP or characters. Ask questions that pertain to your OCs and use your OCs names instead of letters and numbers. Or use the names of the societies named in your WIP. Things like that. It can be a fun way for information to be subtly passed around writeblr without you having to infodump.

You could add a little blurb at the end about your wip and tag "if you wanna know more about this world/wip/these characters, follow me at [blog]" at the end.

Hope this helps and you feel more of a fire in your belly. I'm sure you're doing much better than you feel. It's always easy to ignore the victories when they're not in the areas we wish they were 🥰

🤍 H

(Sorry for the long ranty reply. I've never given all this advice to anyone struggling with engagement before, but with how many asks we get about it, I figured it was about time to give some advice outside of "don't worry so much about engagement!")

@romancedeldiablo omg thanks for tagging me! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

113. Tho this count is a bit odd cause I write A LOT of tiny ficlets, and in my first fandom I posted most of them individually and in my current one a lot more of them are in a collection.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

281,571 (the 500 words ficlets sure adds up... Tho my longest fic is actually a translation of a chinese fic series, and I feared that added 40k to my count.)

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'm always a bit surprised that Deus Ex Machina is on there, cause I'm a bit embarrassed by that fic actually, it was one of my firsts. But I think the Good Omens fandom is very good with fic rec lists and that fic ended on one.

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Most of them, yeah. I respond to every comment on more recent fics cause I like to talk to other fans and make friends in my current fandom. For fics in my previous fandom I respond to longer ones or comments with inquiries. (Here's a reminder to myself and other readers that you're allowed to ask writers questions other than "do you plan to continue this", it's a great conversation starter.)

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hopeful ending is my bread and butter. Even my darkfics have hopeful endings cause that's how much of a sap I am.

But What is love? for Sk8 Adam really wrecked me personally after writing it. It's about teenage Adam running away from home after getting his skateboard burnt and finding out he have to go overseas for university. Of course in the end of the fic he had to go home and he had to go to university. I couldn't make him not return to his abusive home and that really killed me a little...

I think the fic gives him a bit of comfort and emotional catharsis, but doesn't change the situation. And such is the inherent powerlessness of being a teenager.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Oh definitely Keep Your Friends Close. I gave a happy ending to WRH for god's sake. I really wanted to give everyone closure without compromising the morality of any of them OR changing their nature, ya know? I'm a happy ending fan.

7. Do you write crossovers?

I use to love those when I was a teen, but no, sadly.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

lol yeah, not for my fic but for the character the fic is about. And then I responded with "okay but why are you here? Read a different fic?" like honestly people have too much time to hate-read.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I think I've written one? I'm not very good at it. I left the sex scenes in Of Choice to potato for a reason (who is the better half of that collab, actually, I'm not even being humble here)

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

no

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

A few, yeah. Always to russian. The russian fans are ON IT.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Of Choice, with @romancedeldiablo

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

None they change every year. But 10051 and cherik are the roadmap.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Um... Of Choice. I had like... thoughts for the end. But I think potato can agree with me that we both ran out of steam for that one

15. What are your writing strengths?

minimalism (fitting more meanings per word)

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I don't know how to fucking plot.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I'm not going to do that. In the case where I know the other language well I'll translate it in the fic and leave a footnote. (I tried to keep most of the dialogues in Keep Your Friend Close was in Chinese in my brain first and then translated as I wrote, so they retain some Chinese flavour.)

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Yu Yu Hakusho... If you count parody crack fics written by 11 years olds. (When you get old enough you begun to realize that just because something is a parody doesn't make it funny.)

Magi, when I actually knew how to write.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

I know I've written eiritsu but I wanna write more eiritsu. But they're so hard to write. (I kinda wanna write keichi and nagiiba cause I like the ships so much but when I think of it, not really. Akira-sensei fed me so well.)

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Keep Your Friend Close is my baby. I got to air out some of my complex feelings about cultural revolution and modern day china, and I gave everyone mandatory happy endings.

For those of my enstars mutuals who happen to be into mdzs, it's a reincarnation fic where characters seems to meet their enemies first. So Wei Ying, Meng Yao, Xue Yang, and Nie Huaisang met in elementary school and make a pack to survive together in case they meet other people who have a grudge against them from their past life. Oh and they're forced to help Wei Ying search for Lan Zhan. It's set between early 2000s China (like, when I was last there lol) to present time. It's a fun time.

I'll be tagging... Heh. @squidcandy you're up. Also @stierhai. I've never grilled you about this before.

I'm gonna go ahead and assume that your wip tag game post (from *checks notes* November 27th? god help me) isn't necessarily current any more, but take this ask as an invitation to talk about/post a little snip of anything that still is a wip if you happen to feel like it!

gfkjlds I wasn't expecting things to have changed that much bc I have a terrible habit of going 'omg I want to write that' [dumping a few notes in a draft] 'wait I want to write something else'. I'm not a wip abandoner in the sense of never finishing anything, bc I'm still putting out the same amount of fic, & once I've actually started writing I tend not to abandon stuff, but I do leave a trail of ignored ideas in my wake ajhfklsdg.

but!! I have actually posted three things from that list since I posted it (tell me you love me, come back and haunt me (which became litany for a reunion), the one about jamie patching ben up, and the one which was a first sentence of zoe being woken up) & am working on a fourth for next fortnight (the post-phantom piper one). so!! call that progress ig

you know what I'm going to talk about the one I had down as [two in 6b on a mission in 1745 where he bumps into jamie;. apparently I am so so so addicted to rotating post-war games fics. they're spilling out of my pockets. & honestly we might have talked about this one??

the idea was two being sent on some sort of mission in 6b that takes him to the highlands, and quite coincidentally bumping into jamie. and jamie recognises him, and figures out that something must be up, but he's not had enough of his memories bleed through to trust two, so he starts following him around more out of suspicion than anything. two's trying to complete his mission and get out of there as soon as possible because he REALLY doesn't want the pain and guilt of hanging around with jamie when he doesn't remember him at all. but obviously they end up having to work together, neither of them can really help it :'))

the way I've planned it out doesn't. exactly have a happy ending, to say the least. and I don't really want to spoil it here bc if I ever do write it, I think it'd be a gut punch. so just know that it may or may not be coming :^)

ALSO speaking of post-war games fics I do want to share this little plotting snippet from a different document (the one for the sequel to old ghost's waltz), bc I am so insane about it but haven't actually plucked up the courage to start writing this fic yet. so hey, here's a glimpse of the way I plan my fics ig!!

[mairead] sits down and says she might feel better if she knew more about what had happened; she asks kirsty to tell her about the doctor, and then asks if jamie is in love with him, with the air of already knowing the answer is yes; kirsty is hesitant to throw jamie under the bus by saying yes outright, so she asks 'how did ye know?'; mairead says that soon after jamie came back from the war, she had given him her wedding ring, saying he would have more use for it than her, and that jamie had seemed very emotional about it and had said he would give it to the person he loved; she looks kirsty dead in the eye and says 'and I've never seen you wear it'; kirsty just nods, and then says mairead seems very calm about it; mairead scoffs and says it wasn't entirely unexpected; she pauses, then lets out a shaky laugh and says 'the fact that he's a faery man was a surprise, though'

like god I NEED to write mairead and kirsty having a very emotionally charged and stilted conversation about jamie having left them behind. I've been chewing over this one for ages now

actually this made me realise that I only have one more section left to plot out for this fic and then I'll be out of excuses for not writing it aghfsdld.

WIP Master List

I've been in a rut with my writing recently, so I thought making this list might help me remember what I'm excited to work on, and I figured some of y'all might enjoy too! Perhaps I'll come back and update.....

Stuff that's already posted and I want to finish:

I Know A Friend - Chloe/Dawn, Ash/Gary/Goh, May/Drew. Posted Ch. 1 during JN. Chloe and her now-evolved Eevee have decided to pursue contests, but Chloe is questioning whether contests are truly her passion. Dawn comes up with an abstract plan to help her decide!

but if our paths never cross (i'll never live to match the beauty again) - Ash/Goh. Follows their individual journeys immediately after JN136. They've parted ways, but... have they really?

Goh Wants In - Ash/Gary/Misty and Ash/Gary/Goh. Takes place during JN. Goh meets the perfect guy, only to find out that he's taken... by two people, actually. Is there room for one more?

Serena/May/Drew Origins - what it says in the (working) title. Honestly don't think I'm planning to *finish* this one so much as I hope to just add little scenes and headcanons as I think of them!

Stuff that's sitting in my drafts:

Turning Over A New Leaf - Ash/Gary. Canon-compliant with the Battle Frontier arc. Max is 10 and has just begun challenging Kanto's gyms when the group runs into a familiar face from Pallet Town. Turns out that Leaf is retrying the Gym challenge herself! (For palletshipping week)

Professor Oak Summer Camp - Gary POV. Working title. Three years before their journeys start, Gary attends camp with friends Ash and Leaf and meets Serena, Goh & Chloe. But Goh starts to get on his nerves, and why the heck is he Ash's best friend all of a sudden?! (For palletshipping week)

I'm Just Glad You're Here / Back To You - Dawn/Zoey. Undecided title. Takes place soon after the DP Grand Festival, where Dawn competes in Hoenn with rivals old and new and keeps in touch with Zoey all the while.

Maybe The Real Tinder Match Is The Friends We Made Along The Way - Gary/Tracey. Gary makes a Tinder account; Tracey and Professor Oak are mildly unimpressed but help anyway. Shenanigans ensue.

Thanks, Mom - Misty/Ash/Gary. The three are at Ash's for dinner and Misty accidentally calls Delia mom. Delia doesn't mind, but the slip-up reminds Misty of her less-than-ideal childhood. Ash and Gary do their best to help her through it.

You think our moms are gay for each other? - Delia/Caroline, May/Dawn, Ash/Drew. Working title. May realizes that her mom is totally crushing on Delia, so Dawn calls Ash and Drew so they can set them up on a date. Max is not invited lolol

Post-Divorce Clarity - Delia/Caroline. Caroline recently got divorced and is depressed about it, and Delia visits often to make sure she's alright.

Toph Beifong: Viridian Gym Leader - Pokémon & Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover. Takes place right after the Silver Conference, and at the beginning of ATLA Season 2. Ash, Misty and Brock are vacationing in Viridian and see that the Gym has been shoddily rebuilt. Meanwhile, Gary is exploring Mt. Silver when he meets two lost travelers who can (checks notes) use Flamethrower?!??

Pokémon/ATLA sequel fic - in which out of curiosity/idiocy, Ash follows Toph back home and has no choice but to befriend the Gaang. Meanwhile, Goh and Iris have wound up in Fire Nation territory and need to work together to escape!

Jouch - Ash/Drew. The real jants sequel (and not whatever tf I shared with new jersey while i was high lolol). Ash and Drew's old couch is falling apart, and Ash decides to repair it by sewing his old jants into the holes. Drew turns to the contest gang for help.... and it probably just turns into them psychoanalyzing Drew lolol

Remy we need to cook - Breaking Bad & Ratatouille crossover crackfic in which Jesse Pinkman becomes best friends with a talking rat!

No draft yet, just vibes:

The real Chloe & Eevee arc - Oneshots of episodes I wish had happened. Chloe meets Gary/Umbreon while accompanying Ash and Goh to dig for Hisuian remains. Horace has an Espeon, and they talk about their friendships with Goh and having a connection to a special Pokémon. She tries battles through meeting Nessa/Vaporeon, Volkner/Jolteon and Flint/Flareon. And the Serena episode also features May/Glaceon and Zoey/Leafeon!

Cheerleader fic - Gary POV, canon-compliant starting in OS. Was chatting with some friends and we hc that the cheerleaders are like cool (lesbian) aunt figures to Gary and I thought it'd be fun to actually, y'know, turn them into characters and explore their dynamic! (Potentially also for palletshipping week - I could see them helping Gary figure out his sexuality and his crush on Ash)

This shigesatogou concept where Gary is determined to meet Lugia and Ho-oh

Cilan & Burgundy fic in which Burgundy challenges Cilan to a battle with her newly-caught Purrloin. She realizes that he's scared of the Pokémon, so she begs for an evaluation with the sole purpose of gloating in his face when he can't do it >:)

Get To Know My OC

I saw this game going around, and I thought I'd join the fun! A few posts had an open tag, so here I am! I'm going to leave this an open tag for any of my followers as well (or anyone who sees this)

Choosing just one character is so hard... I think for now, I'll go with one of my favorites, Matthias Winterborne. He's not currently in any WIP, just an extra (DnD) character for now.

I sit in the local alehouse waiting for our new party member. He's supposedly very closed off, so I plan on asking loose questions today. Hopefully he takes them well. I look around for the person that was described to me: a young adult half-elf, tan skin, very short white hair, somewhat short for his race. And sure enough, he comes through the doors. I flag him down and we sit at one of the corner tables. I notice he's wearing a very nice looking pendant necklace. It's circular, with a crescent moon on the left and little snowflakes dotted around the rest.

"So, ready to start?" I ask.

He leans back in his seat, crosses his arms, and shrugs. "I don't see why not."

1. Are you named after anyone?

He scoffs. "First name, no. Not that I'm aware of. Last name, well, surely you've heard of my father: the great Elduin Winterborne, the Stellara's finest ranger." He makes a dramatic gesture with his hand as he says this. "My mother decided to give me his last name even though they were never married." "So why keep the name?" "To tarnish it," he says with a grin. I decide not to press further.

2. When was the last time you cried?

He furrows his brow a little. "Why is this pertinent information?" "It's not. Just looking for some honesty." "...Can I obstain?" "Yes you can." "Good."

3. Do you have kids?

"Nope. I don't have that sort of attachment, if that's what you're wondering."

4. Do you use sarcasm?

He smirks and tilts his head. "What's that?" I begin to wonder why my friend recommended this guy...

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

"Honestly, either wealth or if they're safe to interact with." Ah, that explains it. Well, let's hope he's good at what he does.

6. What's your eye color?

He rolls his eyes. "I thought this was going to be a lot more serious." "I wanted to ease any tensions first. To let you know we're not out for secrets or anything. We don't care about that sort of stuff as long as we know we can trust you." "...But out of all questions.." "Okay fine, here. How about this?" (Note: they're a very light blue)

7. Scary stories (movies) or happy endings?

He thinks for a moment. "I don't mind a good ghost story every once in a while. Don't really care for sappy stuff, but if it's interesting, I'll hear the tale out. I'm much more interested in legends and myths more than anything."

8. Any special talents?

He grins again. "Now we're talking. I consider myself quite skilled at twisting words, bending rules, that sort of thing. I've also become quite good at making escapes when needed." "Duly noted."

9. Where were you born?

"Just a skimpy little village on the outskirts of the high elven kingdom. Surprisingly mostly comprised of humans, and the occasional goblin. They're nice enough people if you can believe it."

10. What are your hobbies?

"Eh, gambling mostly. I do enjoy dancing every now and then." "So keep you away from our money, good to know." "I'll have you know I'm very good at it." "So says your wanted posters in the next town over." "...Next question."

11. Have you any pets?

"I wish. I'd like a dog or a fox of some sort."

12. What sports do you play/have played?

"I like to take on a round or two of fencing. I prefer saber over the other two."

13. How tall are you?

He takes a somewhat sharp inhale. "Now you're just being insulting." I take a grin now. "It's just a simple question." "...Don't see why it's important." "Honesty." He sighs and rolls his eyes. "...5' 8".."

14. Favorite subject in school?

"Well I didn't go to an actual school, I was taught those sort of things by my mother and the other villagers. I can't really remember what I liked most... Perhaps reading literature."

15. Dream job?

"...Not really sure. I never liked actual work. I didn't mind wood working, I suppose." "Well, I appreciate you being cooperative. It was a pleasure to get to know you. I hope we'll work well in the coming months." "Months?? That's how long this is going to take?" "Hopefully not, but you never know." He lets out a sigh. "Well, as long as I'm getting paid what I'm due."

This was quite fun! Anyone who want to join in is welcome to. These were the exact questions I saw everyone else doing, but you're welcome to change them to get more out of your characters. I may do more of these for other OCs (or even another for Matt using your questions!)

Howdy love 37, 40, 27 and 28 (and if youre eyeballing one and someone hasnt prompted you yet, do that)

oh my GOD BLUE I DIDN'T SEE THIS BEFORE i am ashamed i am melting into the floor i am so sorry ily please forgive me

27. How do you feel about collaborations? I love reading them, but I've rarely broached actually actively writing them. I think the closest I've gotten is with dear Mags with our BishBrat posts.

28. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

I mean you're on that list, Blue. Obvs. You brilliant lovely prolific maverick.

Also @massivecolorspygiant. Mags is an absolute darling and her fics make me wanna nom everyone she writes for. I don't think she means to write them so biteably but...She does.

Also also @charnelhouse. The variety? ? The molten hot smut? ? The angst? ? The feels? ? Iconic.

I'm adding a cut here for 37 and 40 'cause the answers are gonna be....Long

37. Talk about your current wips.

Oh......Hoookay.

Well there's Kinktober, which has been a wild ride. I'm doing my best not to repeat characters so I'm writing for 31 different characters. I'm still shuffling things about in my spreadsheet.

The main fics I'm posting right now are If You Can't Take the Heat, You Spin Me Right Round, and To Have Loved and Lost, all for characters that honestly did not pull me in right away (except for George Russell, lord above) and then I could not get them out of my head.

The fics/wips that I'm working on actively that aren't posted are mainly:

Original fiction (3 books that I'm just fucking around with to be honest)

A Tangerine x Reader x Raymond Smith fic that has yet to be named (but is beta-named The Mark of a Gentleman)

An Oberyn x Reader x Ellaria fic called Hollow

That Yeehaw Motherfucker (I SWEAR I'M WORKING ON IT BLUE I have four chapters written so far)

A Kendall Roy x Reader fic called Ken-Doll and the Ugly Fuckling

A Marcus Pike mini-series called Stress Relief

I've got a few other mult-chaptered works and stories in my oneshots folder that are getting shuffled around, you know. Poked in on now and again.

40. Write an alternative ending to [insert fic title] (or just the summary of one).

Oh christ I've really had to think about this one

OH you know what

I ended I Could Be Your Sometimes with Andy Barber and the Reader breaking up for good.

To be totally honest, I had a sequel planned where Andy comes back into her life during the events of Defending Jacob, but some people were so fricking rude with me about the story that I just scrapped it. I still think about writing it sometimes, but I don't know if I wanna incite that...Again. Like I totally feel/get the idea that we write for ourselves and we choose to share it, but the scant attention that fic got made me uncomfortable. Like a lot of people were like 'so when are you gonna fix it', 'when's the next part being posted' after I explicitly said that I wouldn't be writing it anymore and I...Did not like that.

Maybe how to stick to finishing your wip? Setting up fic goals? I have a tendency to abandon my wips for stupid reasons, start something new and so on and I hate it.

Mmmhh, I think this one is hard to answer, cause I really am not usually the type of person who even starts a job, let alone finishes it. Many of my irl friends would point to me as the person they know who procrastinates the hardest on basically anything.

But I think I've worked out why, I personally, stick with writing fic and usually don't abandon anything and write it within a relatively short amount of time.

I have a philosophy degree.

And though I loved studying philosophy, writing fucking essays and term papers was just genuinely the hardest mental work I've ever needed to do. Cause, yeah, sure you can research shit and bring together a lot of existing theories and ideas. But, anon, I tell you, I was actually quite good and suddenly had some ambition about a thing when I was at college (after spending all of my high school years coasting on the privilege of being okay smart and having highly educated parents), which meant I couldn't just phone it in, or didn't even just want to do a decent job, I wanted to write something good.

And fuck that was hard. I spent months tinkering with a paper, having found a subject I found interesting and trying to work out what my angle is, what my unique contribution could be. That basically meant staring at a flickering curser for hours and hours and hours and "thinking" (read panicking).

But somehow I managed to get a decent degree, said thanks no thanks to the offer of doing a phd and got the hell out of college to go do other stuff for a while and then finally trained in a very solid job that allows me to do relatively challanging work with cool people, but I never really have to produce anything or come up with major ideas on my own and that suits me just fine.

However, I accidently stumbled on writing fic as a thing that I enjoy creating/producing, and because we all basically know how a narrative works, most of the points beats along the way are easily set (I don't usually deliberately lift those whole-sale from a different narrative, except for my pride and prejudice and sense and sensibility inspired aus) but I don't kid myself into believing that my fic is in anyway particularly original.

So yeah, I just know which beats I want to hit and then I write what needs to happen to get there. Occasionally that's just pretty straight forward, not too flashy that I can't actually commit to it, but just well enough that, at least that's how it seems to me, the story flows and my "style" or "voice" kind of fades into the background. And then occasionally I come up with something that really makes me quite happy and I personally find rather artistic (like in the fic I posted yesterday, there was a bit that made me feel things). And then it's a bit more challanging but effectively as satisfying as painting by numbers.

So it doesn't scare me to have a story that I "need" to finish, cause I know I can and I know I will. I also have spent years and decades finding cool fics that got abandonned halfway through and hoping for years that they might get updated, so, maybe a little bit of guilt is also spurring me along.

Oh, and honestly, find yourself someone to commit to. Tell someone about your wips (unless of course this puts uncomfortable amounts of pressure on you) and then finish it for them. I talk to @pepperf about most of the stories I plan (unless I want them to be a surprise for her as well), even though she's much nicer than me and doesn't bully me into continue writing and if I abandonned somehting would never say anything. And I made a wip post that I feel I've committed to, because some of them are prompts and just generally I fear I could disappoint some anonymous reader of mine.

I guess, mostly if you want a tip, don't put yourself under too much pressure, but put yourself under a little pressure. Find yourself a hype person, or be your own hype person and feel excited about your stories.

I am, as some anon shokedly realised a few months back, probably a decade or so older than the majority of the people who frequent this website (I've been here for twelve years, I have squatter's rights) so through a mixture of always having a mildly inflated ego and age, I think I have a decent amount of confidence. And I have confidence in my stories. Yeah, I can easily tell how they compare to better writers, but I also think they are perfectly adequate and entertaining and they're the sort of thing I would want to read.

So, yeah, put a little bit but not too much pressure on yourself, and indulge yourself. It's supposed to be a hobby.

(oh, also, I only ever start writing when I'm relatively sure I've actually got enough of an idea to finish it. Everything else is not an abandonned wip, it's a wonderful day dream <3)

Here's a couple more for the writing ask game! : 12, 25, 32

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

Okay FIRST OF ALL I think it's rude that I can't wish for more wishes, we all know I love loopholes. SECOND OF ALL this was really fun to think about, so here we go:

I'd wish for the ability to perfectly retain any and all information about my WIPs until I've written it down, at which point it can be stored with regular memories. How often have you had a great idea just as you're falling asleep, or in the shower, or just busy and don't have time to write it down, but by the time you actually can, it's left your head? Not a problem anymore

I'd wish that I can always think of the word I need. Not only does it stop annoying mid-flow thesaurus checks or ages of combing the internet because I know what I mean but I can't find it - but there are other applications too! Creating a fantasy language? No need for a translation document, I can just type out whatever shit I need and it'll be right. Get wrecked genie, two for the price of one and I didn't cheat so my WIPs are safe

And finally, I'd wish that I have the motivation to write whenever I have the time, so that all of my writing sessions will actually be productive (maybe I'd link this motivation to like. A specific word or something? Idk, I don't trust this genie not to mess with me here)

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

Okay so I know what I said in the last post, and I do over-plan, but also I try to include a lot of the random details because I much prefer reading and writing character driven stories, so like, the little details are usually relevant to something. Having said that, sometimes it's just a very short throwaway kinda relevance, or it's an extension of an actual plot point that doesn't come out until later. Although I do know some random stuff like, one OC constantly fidgets with her necklace without realising, and another one always wears a hoodie and messes with the zip because she likes the sound it makes. Sorry I feel like this wasn't as interesting as it could have been lmao

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc. that you return to time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

Okay I physically cannot pick just one, but know that there are also so many more that I could have said here (including but not limited to: all of the works I mentioned in the last post that I am deliberately not allowing myself to repeat). Because I've picked so many examples and you asked a former English student for analysis, I'm going to put them all under the cut and honestly I had so much fun thinking about this and writing out the analysis that I don't even mind if no one reads it lmao

Mentions of death and suicide (in relation to the fictional characters in the texts I'm talking about)

Poems

This Be The Verse, by Philip Larkin

They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. [...] Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself.

Technically I first heard this (or, the last stanza of it, at any rate) quoted in The End by Lemony Snicket, but I also studied the full poem when I did my A-Levels, and honestly the whole thing is absolutely incredible. It's such a beautiful poem, and I do think about the entire thing all the time (I have it memorised) but specifically the first two lines and the final stanza have always been my favourite. Something about the acknowledgment of how you can still be fucked up by your parents even if they didn't mean it really, really got to me (I wonder why haha), and the final stanza has such a bleak outlook on everything but... it also really resonated with me, especially at the time I first read the full poem. And even though I don't think like that anymore, and I now have a much more neutral or even positive outlook on humanity and human nature, this poem still holds such a crucial place in my heart, and I do think about it all the time

Ozymandias, by Percy Bysshe Shelley

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Another one I have memorised - what initially started as GCSE work really stuck with me lmao. Again, the full poem gets me just as much, but this passage specifically... oh my god. As someone who has a genuine Issue in my head about being remembered after I’m gone, this poem really got to me. The fact that Ozymandias spent so much time and effort into ensuring he was remembered, and he got his wish... on a technicality. The idea that I can't control how I'm remembered, only what I do, and if I spend too long focusing on my legacy, then that's all that people will know about me... yeah, this poem got me fucked up

Novel

The End, Chapter Thirteen, by Lemony Snicket

“You're the one who made us orphans in the first place,” he [Klaus] said, uttering out loud for the first time a secret all three Baudelaires had kept in their hearts for almost as long as they could remember. Olaf closed his eyes for a moment, grimacing in pain, and then stared slowly at each of the three children in turn. “Is that what you think?” he said finally. “We know it,” Sunny said. “You don't know anything,” Count Olaf said. “You three children are the same as when I first laid eyes on you. You think you can triumph in this world with nothing more than a keen mind, a pile of books, and the occasional gourmet meal.” He poured one last gulp of cordial into his poisoned mouth before throwing the seashell into the sand. “You're just like your parents,” he said, and from the shore the children heard Kit Snicket moan. “You have to help Kit,” Violet said. “The baby is arriving.” “Kit?” Count Olaf asked, and in one swift gesture he grabbed an apple from the stockpot and took a savage bite. He chewed, wincing in pain, and the Baudelaires listened as his wheezing settled and the poisonous fungus was diluted by their parents' invention. He took another bite, and another, and then, with a horrible groan, the villain rose to his feet, and the children saw that his chest was soaked with blood. “You're hurt,” Klaus said. “I've been hurt before,”

Alright I know I don't shut up about asoue but here me out, okay? Similarly to the last post (because even though I'm not letting myself repeat passages, I can still repeat themes) I read this when I was like seven or eight, and it was, once again, one of the first times grey-morality was introduced to me. But, where Witches Abroad taught me that sometimes heroes don't want to be heroes and that villains might not think they're villains, The End taught me that even if a villain knows and embraces the fact they're a villain... that doesn't mean they're evil. Now, as an adult, I actively reject the 'Good Vs Evil' dichotomy, but as a kid, basically everything you're exposed to has the heroes always be Morally Correct while the villains are Entirely Evil (hell, even most media aimed at adults struggles with the concept of villains being terrible people while still being allowed to have redeeming qualities). And then I read this passage. I mean, the whole entire scene still makes me fucking sob, but I come back to this passage in particular over and over and over again. Because Olaf was fucking dying. He's tired, and he's been stabbed, and poisoned, and he was going to let himself die right then and there. He doesn't even deny the accusation that he killed the Baudelaire parents - what would be the point, when we all know that villains lie? No one would ever believe him - but that question in response is heartbreaking. He looks at these children that he's tormented for months on end, and just asks them, simply, if that's what they think. Like he can't quite believe they'd think so little of him. As if, suddenly, he's realising how they see him, how they've always seen him. Realising that, to them, he really is just a cartoon villain. And that death would have been sad enough. That death would have still stuck in my head, and I would still probably be talking about it now, if he'd died on the very next line. But he doesn't. He hears Kit's name and launches himself at the antidote, and the kids and the reader finally realise that he's bleeding out but he doesn't care. All he cares about it Kit, saving Kit, helping Kit, and it's so jarring. He's spent thirteen books not caring about anyone but himself, leaving even his own henchpeople in the dust when it suits him, but suddenly he's not only helping someone else, but disregarding his own wellbeing to help someone that's shown to be directly opposed to him. He helps someone that we, as a first time reader, assume to be his enemy, and he's so panicked at the thought that she's in danger, and so soft when he helps her. He's still the same man he's always been - but we now know that that man isn't evil, and he never was. He's cruel, and greedy, and selfish, and he cares. He loves someone else enough to die for her. He's hurt, but it doesn't matter to him as long as Kit's safe. He's been hurt before

Fanfic

Now, most of the time with fanfic what sticks in my head is a particular scene, or theme, or even just the feeling evoked by the entire work. Having said that, there are some notable exceptions to this rule (and, again, I’m only choosing two and not letting myself repeat any of the works I talked about in the last post) so I would like to draw attention to:

This Ficlet by @beatricebidelaire

Ernest sits down next to him. “When she [Violet] frowns,” he says in a low voice. “It’s almost as if I'm looking at him.” [Bertrand] Frank doesn’t turn his head. “I thought he always smiled when he’s talking to you.” “You say that as if those are the only times I ever looked at him,” Ernest replies.

Oh,,, the love in that sentence. I can't stop thinking about it. The fact that we can tell it was reciprocated - Ernest looked at Bertrand even when he didn't notice, but whenever Bertrand looked at him he was smiling, and everyone else saw it. OH I feel so many things. This is love, you know? That's what I want, and I love how gentle this quote is. How softly it's presented. Like a fact and a confession all at once

And then there's this fic by @jeromesqualor

And then, all of a sudden, he [Jacques] feels like he’s been hit by a freight train. The laughter stops, and he feels nothing but a strange, pleasant warmth, all over. This is the moment where he realises that he doesn’t want her [Esmé] to ever leave. This is the moment where he realises he’s completely, inconceivably, very inconveniently, fucked. [...] When he’s [Jacques] no longer able to sit straight, when he slumps against the bricks and his head lolls forward to press his forehead into the bars, he distantly hears her sharp, broken intake of breath. “It’s alright, Jacques,” she [Esmé] whispers, cutting through the haze, choked with tears. “It’s alright.”

I found this (predictably) by combing through the Esmé tag, and though it was for a ship I'd never really considered before, it is absolutely one that now consumes my thoughts. These two passages specifically, though, for very different reasons. The first one is such a soft, genuine way to present love and it's beautiful. A freight train that leaves him feeling a pleasant warmth. The fact that he isn't even necessarily happy about it, but the feeling is there all the same. It wasn't a choice, but it isn't bad, either. It's just... I don't know, that's love. Uncontrollable, unpredictable, sudden and slow all at once. And then there's the second section - ohhhhhh man. Because it's so clear that she loves him back - you can see it. But she had to do it - she had to poison him. And she knew he would die and it would be her fault, and it would have been so easy to present her as someone who doesn't care, but that's not true. She did what she thought had to be done, but the second she sees the result she breaks down. It's so out of character, but in a perfectly in-character way - it's something that feels so real, so right, but also something no one would ever expect from Esmé, and I think about it literally all the time

Etc. Plays

I know that usually plays aren't read, but I studied both of these and I've (tragically) never gotten the chance to see either of them performed (though I have seen a film adaptation of Streetcar, but I still read it first) so I'm saying they count

A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams

BLANCHE [holding tight to the DOCTOR's arm]: Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

Oh my god. Oh my god. This play, this whole entire play, is a masterpiece. But studying it in my class was much less fun than it should have been, because I was one of the only people in that room that liked Blanche, and I stand by that to this day. She is a beautifully written character. She's flawed, and selfish, and materialistic, and so, so fragile that she's already broken before the play has even begun. And it breaks my heart to see it. But this line. This line hurts. Because the Doctor she's clinging to so desperately is taking her away to an asylum. That's how her story ends. It's the last line she says before she leaves, and it's almost the end of the play. And after she's gone, almost everyone goes back to exactly how they were before she'd arrived, like she'd never even existed. And she's been hurt so many times - we learn about her past, and how she's been treated, and see how she's treated during the play. People - and especially men - are not kind to Blanche. And yet, after crying on the floor, being pinned to the ground while screaming and making "inhuman cries", she sees this man. This stranger. And, as an audience, we know what he's here to do. After this line they leave, arm-in-arm. And she's trusting him, she's relying on him to protect her. And he won't. We know he won't - but she doesn’t. She truly believes it. Over and over, she believes she'll be protected. Even after everything that she's seen, and done, and everything that's been done to her... Still, she depends on the kindness of strangers

Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen (translated by Michael Meyer)

TESMAN [runs to the doorway]: Hedda dear, please! Don't play dance music tonight! Think of Auntie Rena. And Eilert. HEDDA [puts her head through the curtains]: And Auntie Juju. And all the rest of them. From now on I'll be quiet. [She closes the curtains behind her]

This is another play I studied at A-Level (Drama, this time, instead of English), and while this isn't the last time Hedda talks, it is the last time we see her alive. And ever since I first read it, it's been bouncing around in my head. It's the understated way she disappears - and only a few lines later, she cuts herself off with a gunshot to her own head. It's the way everyone around her misunderstands her so thoroughly - her own husband thinks that mentioning the dead will get her on side, and no one thinks it odd that she brings up a woman she's repeatedly made it clear that she dislikes. As a reader or a member of the audience, you can see that she's realising there's no way out of her life - she can't divorce her husband, she might even be pregnant with his child. And she tells them that she’s going to end it - I'm sure, to her, she was making her intentions perfectly clear. "From now on I'll be quiet." It's so sad, and soft - especially when said by such an unpredictable character. And then her death is the culmination of everything she's been feeling throughout the play - the longing for beauty, because to her it is beautiful. And I think part of the reason it sticks with me so much is because I was the only one to see her that way in my class. Not everyone hated her (though a lot of them did), but no one else was sympathetic to her. I'm not saying she was a good person, but I did empathise, especially in a room of people all arguing that she deserved her fate

I apologise for the sheer amount I talked about all of those. And if you did read all of this rambling, thank you! I appreciate it, even if it might not have been particularly coherent

hi hi taku my love!! <3 this is the k polycule ask plus i remembered that i’ve been writing a bajiharu fic and i also wanna talk about that hehe. actually i’ll talk abt that first bc the k polycule is all happy and the bajiharu fic.... not so much. and you deserve healing :)

btw btw beware this is long. really long. i copied this message into a wordcounter and it’s 1.5k without the paragraph you’re reading rn... whoopsies. i insaned a little on my ramble. do tell me if i should shorten it bc it’s too long, and take all the time you need to reply afhjfdgjjgdfh

so okay the bajiharu (baji x sanzu just in case that’s not clear for some reason) wip is currently sitting at 15k and. wtf man 15k ?? i wrote that ?? damn. anyways idk how many of my posts abt it you’ve read but it’s p much a giant character/relationship study of the two. basically bajiharu across the years and timelines. canon compliant too, which sadly means that baji is dead most of the time but oh well. it is VERY angsty (i mean baji is dead that’s where the angst is starting already... and i mean sanzu’s canon life) and uh. i keep describing sanzu dying in nearly every future timeline but i’m having a ton of fun :D also it’s gonna be angst with a happy ending when i’m finished and probably around 30k words. a 30k one-shot. i don’t think i can even chapter it.... welp. accidents happen. yk this was supposed to be a maximum of 5k of bajiharu in the og shin timeline (the one in which he lives and mikey has the accident and ends up dying and stuff) and the final timeline but. uhh. uhm. yeah honestly idk what i did but my brain wouldn’t let go of them so here we are lol

i would summarise the plot of the fic but there hardly is one ?? like it’s just random excerpts from their lives. i mean some of them are like 3k long too and def have plots in and of itself but there’s no greater plot to be summarised 😭

tho what i can say is that they actually are somewhat together in the og timeline and they are.. happily together. they are NOT happy in fact they are miserable but they love each other in a tender way yk. but but they WILL be happy in the final timeline. and happily together too!! i just need them to be happy pls okay thanks. in between baji is dead so not many feelings on his part (😭😭) but sanzu is a miserable wet cat. also i have the most tragic death planned for him in the bonten timeline bc i am a ‘‘weird on-off-ish romance-ish but they don't wanna admit it's that even though it very obviously is and there is so much emotional (and sexual) tension and my god how can they live like this’’ bonten rinzu truther. wowie. and wouldn’t it be really fun if rindou accidentally shot sanzu on a mission gone heavily wrong that ends in sanzu dying in his arms? yeah <3

also!! akashi siblings!! i very much plan on writing abt them too in some timelines. specifically i think i’ll have sanzu move in with senju in the manila timeline before mikey kills him off (i am so excited to write this you don’t know istg) and i’ll have him move back in with takeomi in that one timeline in which izana takes over and naoto & takemichi end up dying in the future bc i hc that senju was shot dead in the past and sanzu has nowhere else to go after mikey’s death (bc he’s actually dead in that future...) so yeah. akashi siblings <3

also in case you wonder what my current 15k cover so far (i’m forcing myself to write chronologically for once bc i really wanna finish this and i’ve got a lot of scenes i’m excited to write i can use to push through the others), it’s the og timeline, the timeline in which draken gets killed by kiyomasa, one of the two following timelines in which draken survives and ends up on death row (i decided to cut one of them bc imo they’re too similar to write abt again), and some past stuff happening before that. which. is not a lot. just now realising how unmuch that is actually wtf it feels like sm more- okay anyways i plan on writing about the bad toman timeline with takemichi as executive, the manila future, bonten future, the future timeline after that with izana, and naoto & takemichi dying, possibly some tenjiku timeskip stuff, and then ofc the final timeline. (i. i gotta say i hope those 30k aren’t lowballing it by like 10k bc if you consider that i’ve written for three timelines plus some inbetween bits and i’m planning for another five whole timelines with inbetween stuff-- ayayay bajiharu is gonna be the death of me)

uhm this is already mUCH longer than planned help buuuut some k polycule stuff bc i love them and they love each other and they are happy. okay so ik you read my posts abt them so i’ll just start with them in their mid/late thirties, finally settled down somewhere they feel safe and they actually like :3 cough cough switzerland mayhaps ? cough cough. yk it can’t be japan anyways... and switzerland is far away...... and i know it well....

okay. they adopt a cat. or maybe two. probably two actually. two cats for them bc they’d like some company other than themselves and kazutora loves cats anyways. i believe that koko is actually more of a dog person bc inupi, but he’s the type of guy to go ‘‘ofc YOU GUYS can get a cat. it’s gonna be YOUR cat. YOU will have to take care of it. i won’t (unless absolutely neccessary.)’’ and then a month or smth after they get a cat kazutora & kakucho are away for a weekend for.. work or smth idk and when they get home koko & the cat are sleeping on the couch while he’s hugging the cat close to his chest, and there’s cat toys all over the floor bc he spent hours playing with the cat. he will still refuse to admit how much he loves the cat but he continues to play and snuggle with it whenever his bfs (husbands? i feel like they’d wear matching wedding rings and call each other husbands even if they legally aren’t bc poly marriage is forbidden) aren’t there to see. also this is really random but kakucho is the small spoon, kokonoi the middle spoon, and kazutora the big spoon. or two of them just sleep hugging the third person.

kazutora would work at a pet shop again i think. maybe he’d even study medicine to become a vet assistant? tbh i’ve always seen him doing that more than chifuyu or baji (tho i love vet student baji too <3). struggling with giving the other two jobs bc after bonten i don’t think kakucho would still want to work with kids (tho i def see him doing some kind of charity work in his free time) and kokonoi... he can’t sponsor anyone like this nor could he do finances for anyone, and he would never ever work at a bank. he’d still like a high paying job/smth at least loosly related to money tho. maybe like some sort of secretary for someone in finances? idk. very open to ideas for these two bc well i am stuck lol.

i think they’d mostly just try to take it slow and enjoy their more peaceful lives now (well kazutora’s life was pretty peaceful before too.. but kokonoi & kakucho) without having to worry about illegal and dangerous and whatnot else stuff. they deserve it okay they all had to go through too many things 😭

also more random stuff about them. kokonoi is banned from the kitchen not because he’s a safety hazard or because he burned down the kitchen once or smth but because he keeps wanting to cook overly expensive gourmet foods, and while they do taste good they are way too expensive and take way too much. plus he HATES having other people in the kitchen with him (he straight up locks them out) and refuses to leave the kitchen while he’s cooking even if he has to wait two hours for something to slowly simmer on low heat so essentially he AND the kitchen are gone for half a day if he wants to make dinner. he doesn’t really mind the kitchen ban though so it works. i think kakucho enjoys cooking the most, but he and kazutora both cook a lot. and sometimes kokonoi forces himself to wake up extra early on weekends (like. 6am. and then he’s done at 7am. and the other two wake up at 9am when early, more like 10am to 11am bc weekend and kokonoi has to wait with his beautifully prepared breakfast for hours) to make pancakes for them all <3

uhh that’s everything in my brain rn i think. i hope. and this is already a fucking essay so whoopsies. anyways that was it, i very much hope you enjoyed my long ass rambles <3 fr fr i missed writing these rambles for you,, but aa i can do that again!! :D

hello elys my love <333 but allg!! i actually read this whole thing a few days after u sent it initially but ive been rlly drained these past like 3 weeks so i hadnt been able to get to it :(( apologies again my love

no cuz fr 15k crazy!!!!! good job!!! no cuz like that lil description of ur rinzu is actually so real.... (this is making me miss my tokyorev hyperfixation so bad ngl) but ur bajiharu fic sounds so good!! the idea and concept of it is so well thought of i applaud u so muchhh

NO CUZ FR WRITING ABT THINGS UR FAMILIAR WITH >> its like u know it so fuckin well which means u can go into rlly good amounts of detail like !!!!!!!!!! ok so first paragraph is so :333 koko being a softie for the cat is so sweettttt omg

i think the jobs u chose for them are good !! suits them all very well but yes agreed they most definitely deserve it <33

ofc its kokonoi doing that, but u cant blame him fr hez just being a good husband </3333

it was fun having this in my inbox again !!! i miss doing these too and i hope the late reply doesnt discourage u <333

5, 12, 27, and 35 pls ^u^

5. What’s the fic you’re most proud of?

If we're going by which fic I'd be proud to show someone right now, I'd have to go with Bees aren't good friends, just because it's the first fic I've posted in years and my writing is a lot better than my older fics. But if we're going with the first fic i was ever really proud of and am honestly still a little bit proud of, I'd go with my Maria Reynolds-Hamilton series. I hear you juding me for the Hamilton fic and fair enough, but this was the first actual series I ever wrote, and though I abandoned it, I still got two and a half stories in before that happened, which was insane for younger me, i usually never got more than a chapter into a fic before abandoning it. So yeah, I'm not really that proud of the writing in it, but I am proud of younger me for sticking with it longer than she usually did.

12. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about.

Ohhhh I like this one. Ok so the one I'm most excited about and am currently working on I can't talk about yet, but I can talk about my other ones, so I currently have 3 fic ideas on the back burner atm.

One is my Watcher!mumbo fic which i think i've talked about before but i really can't remember, so basically the premise is while Mumbo has grian’s soul, the watchers come to collect grian for reasons I will eventually come up with, but he's off world so they end up taking Mumbo instead on accident and boatem has to team up to go rescue him and get him back. I'd probably end up writing it from boatem's pov with little flashes of Mumbo's pov in between, and i'm actually really excited to start working on it and planning it out but that might be a while.

Another one is courtesy of the mdbb server, we were talking about empires!pearl in there and somehow ended up with goddess of life Pearl being best friends with goddess of death Mumza, and my idea for it is moon's big happens, all the hermits except for pearl die and she's stuck in the void on her own, trying to get in contact with Mumza to get the hermits back. It's gonna be a oneshot, and I'm planning a happy ending but we'll see

And the last one really doesn't have anything planned for it yet, it's from my build a fic over on twitter and what was chosen was a Mumbo, Scar, and Grian royalty au with found family and platonic soulmates. I'm still working on coming up with a plot for that, though it's at the bottom of my priority list atm lol

27. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received?

I haven't received too many comments on my fics so far, but the ones that do stick out to me are the ones where someone says I've written a character well or that I've written a trope well. I get kinda in my head about my writing and think it's terrible sometimes so it's nice to have that reassurance I can look at when that happens

35. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

unironically i think the best part of the fic making process is bouncing around ideas with people. like literally, all of my fic ideas so far have been developed with other people, just talking about it and throwing words at each other and hoping something sticks. even if they don't become fics (bike Watcher my beloved), it's still really fun and honestly can be kind of helpful. Some of the people i've developed my ideas with have asked things i never would have thought of, or said something that unlocked a little part of my brain that makes me go Aha! and suddenly i have a whole new plot line or motivation for my character. this is more of a gushing thing than i thought it would be lol

fic writer ask thing

hi! i'm here to talk co-writing! my writing buddy and i actually still haven't started our wip yet bc... neither of us have had many spoons for writing. we've kind of figured that it would be cute to do a epistolary-type adventure where we write mostly in journal entries. we've each chosen two characters to follow through the plot we've concocted.

so anyway! i tried to find your posts on cowriting bc i KNOW i've read them before and i couldn't. but how did you guys figure out what worked in terms of both writing the same wip at the same time?

<3, june

You can find all of the posts I've made about it at #cowriting. Granted, there's not a whole lot there yet, and most of the questions I've received about it so far have been pretty similar. That being said, I'm definitely planning on adding more at some point!

In terms of figuring out what worked and what didn't work, I think it's honestly just a matter of throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. You don't actually know what will work and what won't work for you and your partner until you actually try it.

And when something works, I think you'll know. It's when something clicks, when the writing begins to flow really naturally, when you start to get really excited about the actually writing part, when you take a moment to pause and say 'wow, I think this is working'. And if it really is working for the both of you, your partner will agree! They'll feel it too.

For me and my partner, the transition into figuring out what worked for us was pretty natural. We met on a play-by-post roleplaying forum and we'd already written together in some sort of capacity for years by the point we made our partnership official. We've experimented a lot with how we write since then (and we continue to experiment to this day!), but for us, we've found that sticking with the 'roleplay' style of co-writing is what works best for us. We value character interaction above everything else, so us bouncing off each other's characters and having them interact back-and-forth is where we shine and what we love to do.

But of course, there's other ways to co-write too! My partner and I don't share characters generally — I write for the characters that I created, and I never write for my partner's — but some people do share characters. Some people just write a section of the story and pass it onto the other person in a round robin-eseque fashion. Some people might sit down together and figure out how to write every single sentence together. One technique that my partner and I tried a few was making a very detailed bullet point outline where we wrote everything that happened, and wrote everything that our individual characters said and did, then one person wrote it out in one narrative.

My best advice in figuring out what works for you is experiment and communicate! Talk about what co-writing means to you and your partner, and have a conversation about what seems to make the most sense. What do you think co-writing is? What comes to mind when you think about co-writing? What makes sense in terms of the division of labor? What are your strengths as a writer? What are your weaknesses? How do you two incorporate your strengths and cover for each other's weaknesses? What's your writing style, and what's their writing style? Are you a pantser/plantser/plotter? How are you going to plan what happens? Are you more of a descriptive writer, or are you more of an action writer? There are a lot of things at play when you do collaborations with another writer. You don't necessarily have to talk about everything or even figure out everything at the start. Some of these things, you discover as you go through your co-writing relationship and journey. But you do need to pay attention to everything that's happening and discuss it as you go.

And then experiment. Try a technique, and be very communicative while you do it. Does it feel right? Does it feel awkward? What's working? What's not working? What are you struggling with? What part did you like the most? What didn't you like? How would you make it better? It's so incredibly important to be open and honest during this. If you're being too nice and you're saying something seems great when it's not, you're never going to find the real system that works for the both of you.

I actually think that an epistolary format is a fantastic choice for a first-time co-writing project. And I'd even argue that the epistolary project that I did with my partner was the magical moment where we really clicked, and made the leap from roleplayers to co-writers. The way we did it was writing letters back and forth as our characters. Obviously you don't have to do it in a roleplay-style like we did, but I do think that epistolary formats are a really good way to dip your toes into the water, because there's less pressure to maintain solid narrative and prose. It gives you the interaction and the experience of co-writing with someone without actually having to worry about scenes, you know? I've found that it's a lot less frustrating way to figure out how to vibe together.

So talk to each other a lot! If this co-writing thing is going to work, you two are most likely going to become very close. Talk about everything that excites you about this project, and brainstorm ways to tackle it. And then try it. If it doesn't work, move onto the next! But once you find something that is really extremely fun, stick with it. When both of you are having fun with something, it'll be obvious in not just yourselves, but also your writing. And that's the magical method that works for the two of you.

Remember, all advice is subjective! So don’t take this too seriously. This is just one person’s opinion.

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