Writing Patterns (Tag Game)

Rules: list the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there’s a pattern!

Thanks for the tags @tennessoui and @underacalicosky! All of these fics are on AO3 and Obikin because that's all I write :D

Shit, Obi-Wan thought, staring at Anakin’s (sculpted, broad-shouldered, muscular, really rather perfect) back as they laid beside each other in Obi-Wan’s (miniscule) bunk. (Incident at Isla Nublar)

Outwardly, Obi-Wan was entirely calm and collected. (Coming Home)

“Oh, Obi-Wan, excellent,” Satine said into the phone, sounding, as she always did, a little breathless. (And In Case You Didn't Hear)

Anakin managed to wait until he was securely locked in his quarters before throwing a tantrum, but it was a close thing. (Out of Sync)

The sun was shining, the dogs were barking, and at least one child was already crying. (Down by the Seaside)

Anakin Skywalker was in trouble.(An Unlikely Duo)

There are no windows on Tatooine. (Stained Glass)

“…so then we had to leave, because it’s” – Anakin made quotation marks in the air with the first two fingers on both his hands, one bare and one gloved – “‘against the Jedi Code to marry your former Master’, apparently.” (Galactic House Hunters)

“Anakin!” Obi-Wan hissed over his commlink as he jogged down the hall. (An Uncivil War)

Padmé was trying to befriend the new guy, she really was, but Anakin Skywalker was making it extremely difficult. (Some Technical Difficulties)

I love in medias res, is my deeply unsurprising takeaway here. And rarely take the time to describe any niggling details like when or where things are happening. That's why we write fanfiction, right? To avoid having to set any scenes? (I kid.) (Not really.)

No pressure tags: @renlyslittlerose and @tideswept and anyone else who wants to play!

10:04 AM EST December 18, 2023:

Led Zeppelin - "Down By The Seaside" From the album Physical Graffiti (February 24, 1975)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Studio Doubles

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Down by the Seaside is such a Paul McCartney song. It would go so well on a Wings album.

I've also finally realised that the song that the bit at the beginning of the guitar solo in Ten Years Gone that has always reminded me of is the intro to Band on the Run.

mostly i am trying to live as much like the Librarian from Book of Hours as possible. without, you know. quitting my job and moving to a ruined mansion full of occult texts in a seaside Welsh village.

🫀

thinking about steve getting kinda, sorta. jealous. that billy’s been with other guys while he, himself, has no experience in that area.

maybe it’s as they’re hanging out in steve’s room, a couple months or so into them fooling around and. they’re just lying there, on the bed. steve staring at that mark on his ceiling from when he threw a baseball in fourth grade only for it to come right back down and give tommy h a black eye and billy, well.

billy’s just talking. telling steve all about his- past endeavours. about those guys under the boardwalk and his friend who kissed him and stuck a hand down his pants when they broke into some dilapidated house to smoke shitty weed and that other guy who really knew what to do with his fingers if you know what i mean, stevie and.

steve can’t stand it anymore ‘cause. it sucks to think someone’s made billy feel better then he has, than he knows how to, so. he just-

“show me.”

it’s too sudden. too loud. even over the mixtape billy gave steve a week ago with the excuse that steve needs better taste.

and billy just sits there, eyes bugging out as a tinny guitar riff bleeds into the quiet of the room ‘cause. “what?”

and steve flushes a little. shrugs. “show me. teach me or whatever.”

“how to-”

“how to make you-” steve pushes his hair back. tries to make his voice sound a little less desperate. “i wanna make you feel good.”

and billy’s feeling kinda awkward himself so. he grins at steve. leers. drags his eyes up ‘n down. “man. i gotta put more effort in here. i mean, if you didn’t already know i was feeling g-”

but steve’s not having it.

“i wanna make you feel good. better than-” a pause. “those other guys.”

“you-” billy’s eyebrows shoot up. expression somewhere between incredulous and cat-who-got-the-cream. “you’re jealous.”

“jealous. ha.”

“you are.”

“i’m competitive.” steve levels him with a stare. nods once like that’s gonna make his point stick.

“uh huh.”

“it’s totally different.”

“right.” billy grins, unable to help himself. “so.”

“so.”

steve sits up. on his knees. leans forward, one hand on the bed beside billy’s waist and the other inching its way up beneath the hem of those shorts steve has a love hate relationship with.

“teach me.”

and it’s billy’s turn to flush. freckles fading beneath pink as steve’s index finger rubs circles just south of his hip. let’s out a stuttering breath that ends in yea’okay as he reaches up to pull off his tank. teeth making little indents in his bottom lip as steve stares.

and steve’s a good student, right? well. maybe not in class but. with billy laid out all pretty under him, touching. talking, well. steve’s pretty sure he could get himself an A+ on listening and attentiveness alone.

The secret port at dawn

@ caleb_smithy

been hoffmanblogging for days now but don't think i've forgotten about peter strahm. don't think that for a second! i'm not a strahm kinnie for nothing. issue is i don't even know where to begin with him. what do you even say about special agent peter strahm, uncle sam's best boy? what do you say about the man who rocks up to the gruesome crime scene of a brutalized cop, and when everyone looks away from the gore, his eyes only linger on the mangled flesh till the sight imprints itself into his memory? what do you say about the man with a golden band about his finger, the heaviest thing he's ever carried, yet who never speaks a word of his wife, not her name nor a passing reference? what do you say about the man who has, by appearances, always been aware of his very loose handle on the anger that he tirelessly lugs around, heavy on his shoulders, thick in place of blood in his veins, always surging first to his fists—and then to his throat, squeezing and choking like a phantom hand? what do you say about the man who is more a bloodhound than a man, who catches the scent of blood in the water and doesn't—can't—stop pursuing? (for better or for worse, never losing sight or scent of the trail yet never lifting his nose far enough off the ground to see the vultures circling him overhead, eager to be fed if the creature tracking him in turn becomes hungry enough soon.) (it will.) what do you say about the man that calls it bringing criminals to justice and doesn't know it's the thrill of the chase he's after, hooked on adrenaline and hankering for a fix wherever he can find one? i guess you could say that he didn't think he'd cry, at the end of all things. he's an agent, of course he's thought about dying, don't be ridiculous. only, he'd figured he'd be going out in a blaze of glory, giving his last hurrah, laying his life down for something meaningful. always meaningful. and that never involved crying or even screaming, and yet—and yet look at him now. the walls are closing in—literally—and he's crying like he's never cried before, and what grips at him is not anger but terror, terror in its purest form, such as he's never felt in his life. i guess you could say that he's pacing the increasingly smaller room like an agitated, paranoid animal, that very bloodhound at a pound, the bloodhound at a kill shelter. i guess you could say he doesn't want to die, but he doesn't want to climb in there with hoffman still—even now, knowing what comes later, he doesn't want to. it leaves him in a sort of limbo. in picking between life and death, he can't make a decision. the decision is made for him, of course, but that's beside the point. i guess you could also say he's never imagined that anything could be more painful than a bullet tearing through flesh and viscera, though that was a belief conceived before the bone in his forearm (ulna, he remembers its name) comes out through the thin skin of his inner wrist—and for a second, just a second, he thinks he might be lucky enough and bleed out. there's a lot of blood. it splatters against glass. hoffman's looking up at him, and still he can't puzzle out the expression on his face and in his eyes. but it doesn't matter. peter realizes he will not bleed out fast enough. he has never been that lucky

fuck it even more baby hedgehogs

/sonic and amy at ages 10 and 6 respectively

20 Question Fic Writer Tag

Hell yeah I'll play. Thanks @palfriendpatine66 :D

How many works do you have on ao3?

AO3 says ten, but one of those is a series continuation of another one, so I count it as nine...although tomorrow that will go up by one, after the reveals for the Ghost Window challenge go out.

2.) What's your ao3 word count? 

Oh god. 690,376. I honestly think I was happier not knowing that fact about myself.

3.) What fandoms do you write for? 

I don't multitask well. I can write Star Wars fics or I can write Star Wars fics. I haven't even ventured outside the Clone Wars era yet.

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

Some Technical Difficulties - big gap - Solsbury Hill - An Uncivil War - medium-sized gap - An Unlikely Duo - another gap-ish - Down by the Seaside.

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

Yep. I like it when authors reply to me when I leave a comment, so I try to pay it forward. Also sometimes we get into fun little side chats.

6.) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

At the moment, not one single damn one of them. They have angst in them, but none of them end on angst. However as of about twenty-four hours from now, my answer will be, Ghost Window AU.

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

Literally all of them. I'm happy to read angst, but when it comes to writing I am firmly in the happy endings camp.

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

I had some people tell me they were dropping out of Solsbury Hill because it wasn't getting to the Obikin fast enough, but I wouldn't call that hate. So, no.

(Side note, though: you don't have to tell authors that. Just delete your subscription quietly.)

But, I am also very ready to delete any and all negative comments. This is my fun side project; good vibes only.

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

...pretty vanilla kind, honestly. Again, I read much more adventurously than I write. (Although, as recently as two years ago I would have said I don't write smut at all, so hit me up two years from now and maybe I'll be writing hardcore d/s, I don't know.)

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

By the strict definition, no. If you're talking 'dump Star Wars characters into settings of other movies', then hell yeah, that's kind of my jam right now. Down by the Seaside is Obikin Overboard. Next year I'm planning to publish Obikin Jurassic Park, Obikin Parent Trap, and Obikin Princess Diaries II. And I have a couple more on my to-do list.

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Is this a thing I need to worry about?? Shit.

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

@kittonafoxgirl did a podfic of Some Technical Difficulties and it is still like one of the top five most rad things that has ever happened to me; does that count?

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No but @fulcrum843 are currently mulling something over...

I do get a lot of help with my writing though. @piecesofeden11 basically wrote all the DnD stuff in An Unlikely Duo. I talk stuff out on Tumblr with folks all the time before I actually sit down to write it (or during, lol).

14.) What's your all time favorite ship?

I have no plans to write anything other than Obikin, and there's so much new good fic that it takes up most of my reading time as well.

15.) What's a WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I wouldn't call it a WIP because there are no words on a page but I love the *idea* of a fic based on Jenn Barkley from Parks & Rec but have no idea what direction to take it and may never get to it. (If anyone wants to take this idea and run with it please do; it is very much up for grabs!)

16.) What are your writing strengths?

This is a weird thing to answer about myself but I hope I write with a sense of movement, propulsion, even a little suspense - as a reader I love to feel that I have to turn the page, I have to see what comes next, I don't want to put this fic/book down - and I try to work towards that goal in my own writing.

17.) What are your writing weaknesses?

Getting bogged down in details. It drives me crazy in movies when characters have these huge mansions but seemingly never go to work and somehow this has translated into me being incapable of just writing a smutty one-shot or whatever because what is everyone's job and how much is their mortgage payment and do they get paid on Fridays or Mondays and how many bedrooms does that apartment have.

18.) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

See answer above about over-complicating things: I came up with this whole system for An Uncivil War for whether I'm writing out the dialogue in a language other than Basic (I feel like we really only have enough information for me to be able to do this in Huttese and Mando'a, and even then only short conversations in certain subjects), or simply noting that a character is saying something in another language ("he said in Ryl" or whatever), or mixing Basic and a word/words in another language within the same sentence. It was important to me to capture that multilingualism, but it's also a lot of work, ngl.

19.) First fandom you wrote for?

Technically Johnlock but I never finished/published anything.

20.) Favorite fic you've ever written?

I love all my babies equally, she lied.

It's the Can't Stop the Suns series, which is An Uncivil War, Pick Up the Pieces (more than halfway completed), and Sometimes Fate Steps In (loosely outlined). Sometimes I'll just look over my notes and get giddy about how much good stuff I'm packing in there and how much *more* good stuff I haven't even gotten to yet. I'm throwing the kitchen sink of stuff I love at it. Even if the final version doesn't quite live up to the vision I see in my head (it rarely does), as long as I get close I'll be happy.

I tag @piecesofeden11, @underacalicosky, @fulcrum843, and, as usual, anyone else who feels up for it!

10:48 AM EDT October 23, 2023:

Led Zeppelin - "Down By The Seaside" From the album Physical Graffiti (February 24, 1975)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Swan Songs

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internet find

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Seaside fun for the whole family including the weird magic uncle.

phone calls my detested

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