#longfic preliminaries
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I have to cut 10 fics, so I’m doing two polls of 10 for the 20 lowest word count fics, and progressing the 5 most voted for fics of each poll onto the tournament. All word counts are accurate as of submission to the tournament.
Link to the other poll
*Full name: Amnesia and Deleted Scenes: The Art of Selective Editing in Film and Memory
Propaganda and links below the cut.
1) Dear Advice Guy - All For The Game
No propaganda
2) first step (series) - Persona 5
GAHHH This series is just. So good. The bulk of it is in the first book, but the second one is a nice little aftermath. Despite the content warnings and stuff, it's like... really wholesome? I had a lot of fun reading it. It's very relatable. I've never seen a better fic. It's paced well and the palace seems like it'd come straight out of persona itself. I can plausibly see it in the game! Extremely well written. And it covers both Akechi and the protags traumas and issues... so good.
3) Devil’s Horns - LEGO Ninjago
Good (angst)
4) dog at the door - 3rd life SMP and Hermitcraft
Of all the fics I’ve read, it’s one of the ones that feels closest to a novel. It’s an exploration of grief, forgiveness, and friendships. It uses symbolism masterfully. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve reread it.
5) Amnesia and Deleted Scenes: The Art of Selective Editing in Film and Memory - Community
No propaganda
6) What the Cat Dragged In - Marvel and Miraculous Ladybug crossover
The best crossover I've ever read. The best Miraculous Ladybug fic I've ever read. Maybe even the best Marvel fic I've ever read. This fic seamlessly combines the two canons to really make them feel like one world, and it has top notch character writing and pacing too.
7) there are many downsides to being a marine biologist - 3rd life, Last Life SMP, and Hermitcraft
fis
8) Oh, Hey There, Mister Blue - MCU: Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor
The Guardians of the Galaxy and Loki. Need I say more
9) Solving Counting Sheep - Evolution SMP
Exploration of personhood and humanity. Main character uses it/it's and this is proof that it is an individual. Made me cry as a trans person.
10) A Complete Kingdom - Supernatural
CHANGED MY LIFE FR. creepy and tragic and surreal and beautifully written. near single-handedly changed what i like to read AND what i like to write
#longfic polls#longfic preliminaries#all for the game#persona 5#persona series#lego ninjago#3rd life smp#hermitcraft#community nbc#marvel#miraculous ladybug#last life smp#guardians of the galaxy#thor#evolution smp#supernatural#spn#fanfiction#ao3
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Hey, kinda basic question, but what inspired you to write tlg? Was there a specific moment in canon that inspired you? Did you crave more chelldos content and chose to contribute to the fandom yourself? Have you always wanted to write a certain type of story or shipping dynamic and chelldos seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally get started?
I'm so curious because I really love your fic and it's always interesting to know how it all started and to learn more about the author's relationship with their own story.
Sorry if the wording of my ask seems weird, I'm not a native English speaker, but I'd be happy to talk to you about our lord and savior, chelldos christ
Not too basic at all, I'm happy to answer that!
One fun thing about Discord's easily-accessible and searchable message history is that I can pinpoint the precise conversation where I had the idea for the fic. I was talking to some other chelldos folks in 2018 about the concept of a cloned Chell, mainly how, if that happened, what would GLaDOS do to keep herself from getting bored? She's already gone through the most exciting stuff when it comes to Chell fighting back and destroying GLaDOS the first time. So what kind of stuff could be done that would be interesting to her but not dangeous? Would the variables between these clones gets more intense, more wild as she tried to get results an experiences that she hadn't had before? Then I fell face-first into the idea of GLaDOS messing with her in some psychological manner instead, if she could lull Chell into a false sense of security, but I wondered if she could ever be so "patient and willing to play the long game" and a lightbulb went off in my brain somewhere. After more of that discussion, that month I sketched out a super basic outline of a fic, and then went 'that's kinda messed up' and then set it down for like 6 months.
But the concept was still in the back of my mind, and I kept thinking about what I could potentially offer that I hadn't seen in other chelldos fics. One thing that came to mind is that, for at least the chelldos fics I had read, Chell returning to Aperture tended to end up being not a big deal, and/or GLaDOS and Chell repaired their relationship easily, or that repair happened off-screen and the fic took place in an established-relationship setting. Which, there is nothing wrong with that! I enjoyed them! And not everyone needs to write a long involved longfic before being allowed to write something fluffy, you know? But what I was thinking about was how hard things might be for both of them, the kinds of trauma they had been through, both on their own and at the hands of one another. Trying to build a foundation of trust between them would be very difficult, much less one where they could start to heal, much less one where they could start to develop feelings for one another. It would require a ton of work, especially since I couldn't ever see Chell returning to Aperture unless her hand was completely forced. Chell doesn't want to be there, and GLaDOS doesn't want her to be there, either. It would take a lot of work on the writing end to write that sort of progression in a way that wasn't rushed and that made sense too.
But I was still working on my other portal longfic at the time, so I decided that I would try to write this SHORT, 50-60k longfic as novel writing practice, something with short chapters that I could write for fun and without too much pressure in between the chapters for my other longfic (lol). Obviously the story developed out a lot more than my preliminary outlines, ha ha, but I'm glad for it.
One thing I do wish though is that I could have written it without an android form, because I love regular GLaDOS just as she is and think that if Chell was going to develop feelings, that she should be able to do it for regular GLaDOS. But unfortunately I couldn't get around it because some major plot points hinge upon GLaDOS getting locked out of her mainframe. Still feel like I'm taking the coward's approach though. It is what it is.
Anyway now it's 2023 and I am 120k into my 60k fic, which will probably end up at like 150k or so, not sure. I have wordcount projections but we'll see how I compare.
Thank you for asking!
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3, 4, 17 for the fic writer asks! <3
Thank you ❤️❤️❤️
If you want to play, pick your fic writing question(s) from this list!
I already answered 3 here, but as for the rest:
4. a story idea you haven’t written yet
I guess it depends on what you define "written" as? Like if written means "finished work" then there's the captive/different first meeting AU I was working on before my current WIP that should count. The preliminary work I did on that was the first time I ever thought a longfic was possible, and I want to circle back around to it eventually because I think I've got a fun twist on the captive trope in mind.
Another idea that fits the description above is a fic of a fic, the incredible In Favor With Their Stars. I've got a couple paragraphs of prose and in line with the way the original story is written, some command lines written as well. The idea for it is existentially devastating though so I'm not sure I'll ever be able to write it. I was lucky enough to get to talk to mxmollusca about it and they approved/encouraged me to keep going so idk, someday.
If you mean something I haven't done work on, well, I guess the closest thing I have to that is something I was thinking about when the season 2 teaser first dropped. It was going to be shortish piece in the vein of "let's just get it out of our system" smut where Ed spent the whole time desperately trying to capture it all in his memory, to the point where he wouldn't really be experiencing it at all. The more we learned about the season, the less viable the idea seemed so I eventually scrapped it.
17. talk about your writing and editing process
Well. Talking about the latter is going to be much more concrete than the former, so let's get that out of the way first.
As someone with not one, but two creative writing degrees, I can tell you that actual CWR classes are incredibly hit or miss. My experience was such a mixed bag, including how much better most of the teachers I had in undergrad were than in grad school. It was one of those undergrad teachers who gave me the one piece of writing advice that I've never, ever abandoned: during the revision process (emphasis on "vision"), instead of tweaking an existing document, try rewriting the new draft in a brand new doc.
Maybe it's not something everyone needs to do, but it's something I very much have to do. I do it every time, without fail, and my writing is the better for it. Once I actually start it's hardly a hardship for me, although that probably varies person to person. The quality of every aspect of my writing grew by leaps and bounds once I started doing it. It forces me to truly look at my work in a way I can never really see it otherwise.
As for the writing process itself? That's a lot fuzzier. In some ways, I'm still figuring out what that means for me now that I'm exclusively writing fic. Because my relationship with the experience of writing has fundamentally changed, I guess it makes sense that the way I do it might too.
That's doubly true now that I work from home on a schedule that's not exactly 9-5. I don't have a set time to sit down and do it, nor a daily word quota. Some days I write nothing. Some days I write 50 words. Some days I write 5000. The days I write nothing are usually days I never got around to opening whatever my working document is, because once it's open I'll usually have something to say. I'm sure if I worked more consistently I could work faster, but that would come at the expense of sustainability. In order for writing to be sustainable for me right now, it can't not reward me for it somehow. I have to be enjoying myself or I'll grow to resent it.
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How long do you plan on making your Cruel Intentions series?
Thank you so much for the question! As I have it outlined, there are going to be at least 3 more upcoming longfics. CI: Lacrimosa is the prequel/foundation longfic to both IA1 and Cruel Intentions as a whole.
The next projected fic is simply called Cruel Intentions, followed by CI: Contingencies, and CI: Through a Glass Darkly. I don't know yet if there will be a fourth - but this will be a series (I just don't know how many longfics/books total), I knew that ages ago - because I am still in the process of taking up outlining Darkly at the moment but CI (1) and Contingencies are fully outlined.
I also already have 20k words between some preliminary stuff that I might turn into three chapters for CI bk 1 of ages ago (like 2011ish) writing once I'm done with Lacrimosa, and Lacrimosa is inching closer with each update to being completed so eeee that means I can dive right into CI! :D
Anyway thank you so much for the question and the interest! Lacrimosa's backstory climax chapter should be dropping 8/31! :)
One last note, my Cruel Intentions series will be posted on both fanfiction.net and ao3 for its entire duration! Expect chapter drops to be on ff.net first though becos I consider ff.net my home base and ao3 as a place to cross-post and archive my fics.
#ask#vampireocean#Ice Age feels#CI musings#also I would so appreciate any reviews/comments on ffn or ao3 if you would :)#asks like these are super cool and encouraging but I dearly love hearing from my readers in a review/comment I LOVE THEM!! <3#also btw the next CI books after L are gonna be very hugely angsty/whumpy ... lots of hurt/comfort and conflict!!#so yay hehe :>
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upon pale dawns, prologue: “ardent for some desperate glory” (PREVIEW)
A brief peek at what I’ve been drafting for my next longfic, set during ARR.
More under the cut.
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Castrum Abania, 9th Sun, Second Astral Moon, Year 5 of the Seventh Umbral Era
The room was cold and the silence sterile, broken only by the sounds of a dry ticking from the digital wall chronometer and the soft and regular sighs of a sleeping man.
The quiet itself was no surprise. Research and development floors were always kept clear of unnecessary chatter in favor of the sound and rhythm of industry, small gears turning amidst the well-oiled machine of imperial conquest. Standard procedure, that- particularly when the work that took place away from prying eyes was exacting and often hazardous. But the relative dark and the ambient cycling of the console's processor had for several bells now been interspersed only with the low rumble of the central air unit and the rhythmic rattle of footsteps without the corridors, and Nero tol Scaeva had at this point been awake for most of the past thirty hours.
Thus when the chiming began, it went unheeded at first.
He had finally fallen asleep waiting for one of his processes to run and lay half-sprawled over the metal surface of the table: limbs immobile and lashes fluttering against cheekbones as he drowsed at the empty work station he’d appropriated upon his arrival in the lower levels. The small timer long ago affixed to his personal aetherometer had been set in this instance to ring without cessation, to ensure he would waken.
After a few minutes had lapsed the sound began to send him off-course from his dreaming state by ilms, a rudderless ship caught in deep currents. His transition from sleeping to wakefulness felt incredibly reluctant: heavy and sluggish.
Nero blinked slowly, once, then twice, attempting to reorient himself.
The noise was aggravating an incipient headache. He righted his posture and smacked the damned thing until the room was silent once again before reaching for the cold mug he had left on a borrowed coaster. Sipping at its contents with a distasteful grimace - whoever had brewed the coffee, they had added too much water and the result was something weak and listless and far too bitter - he turned his attention towards the old Allagan testing module and its compiling readout. It appeared to be reaching the end of its cycle.
So he thought, until the activity scrolling across the screen flickered in place, pulsing like a heartbeat. Nero swore under his breath when a brief error message superimposed itself over the readout in black-bordered white- one he’d seen with far too many of these devices recently.
[Unable to read file. The current application will be terminated.]
His annoyed sigh escaped in a hiss between his teeth.
Brow wrinkled in thought, he stared at the screen and its bland error message for a few beats. Although Ultima’s original hardware was in surprisingly reasonable working order, several of the tomestones they had found in the same space had not proven to be nearly as resistant to the vagaries of time. Thus far only a handful had relinquished their secrets without issue. Not unexpected, given their age and the conditions in which they’d been found, but unfortunate all the same.
The tribunus laticlavius of the XIVth Imperial Legion was given to rather more direct methods of approach by nature. His patience, as a man of thirty-four winters with a good fifteen of them spent in the service of the imperial army, was very much a learned skill: one developed through years of trial and error and the innate understanding of those traits his chosen craft required.
Magitek was not ineffable. It was parts and pieces that fit together neatly like a puzzle in the absence of human error, mathematics and sequencing and carefully collected data. To guide and to create with these tools required a methodical mind and observant eye and a certain degree of acceptance that on occasion, one simply could not rush the desired results.
This was one such occasion. The end result, of course, would be worth the tedium- or so one could fondly hope.
He leaned forward and compressed the small button until the module had powered down and all that was left was the rumble of the air unit.
A gentle tug freed the small tomestone from its moorings and he held it aloft to study the detailing, periwinkle-blue eyes squinting and straining against the red-tinged light from the fluorescents. The small grooves caught the ambient lighting from the walls with each idle spin between his fingers; they seemed to mock him with each little shimmer, ancient secrets so painfully close to discovery that they lay mere ilms from his grasp.
Secrets which promised a long and tedious process if he wished to claim them.
...Well. He’d do it, of course he would.
This was but the least method at his disposal. He'd have to look into a few other options, something that might extract the data into some readable format that he could put to use. While the old datalogs were fascinating, he wasn't spending his time reading them for a history lesson. No, what he sought was a bulwark of preliminary information, a bare framework upon which he planned to build. Ideally, he'd end up with a dossier of sorts which he could use to catalogue the Weapon’s original abilities, and enough code to piece together a system that was more or less analogous to that of Allag. One powered by ceruleum, rather than aether.
What the solution perforce lacked in elegance, it should compensate with efficiency. Tangible results.
A functional Weapon.
If he could just-
A much lower-pitched sound than his desk alarum - this one a harsh, flat buzz - cut through the quiet of the lab. His first inclination was to ignore it in favor of his study, but a second followed quickly on its heels, and a third.
That, unfortunately, was a sound he could not ignore. With a barely suppressed yawn he toggled the small red switch next to the wall’s built-in communications device.
“Scaeva. Engineering," he said, keeping his tone clipped and curt- the voice of a man who would brook no trivial disturbances. "State your business.”
The response he received was a very audible swallow followed with a hoarsely uttered, “Lord tol Scaeva?”
“Speaking."
"My lord?"
He managed, only just, to suppress his impatience. "Speaking. As in 'with whom do I have the pleasure.' Name and rank."
“Oh. Terribly sorry, my lord. I, erm, Quintus pyr Blasio. Lord, uh. Tribunus. Sir.”
Seven hells. Not a name Nero recalled, though he rarely had reason to trouble himself over memorizing the personnel that manned every garrison between Ala Mhigo and the Velodyna fringes. Some poor bastard who had likely been the first man flagged down for runner duty by his direct report, no doubt.
Some poor bastard who was also either too dazzled or too shit-scared of speaking to the legion's top brass to string three words together. Just what he needed.
“...Go on,” he prompted when the man said nothing further.
“Lord Sc-”
“I daresay we’ve both established our identities at this juncture," impatience and lingering drowsiness rendered his response a sardonic drawl, for all its erstwhile civility. "The message, if you please.”
“Message, my lord?”
“Yes. The message. That is why you’ve called to interrupt my current litany of scheduled tasks, or so I would assume?”
“Ah... y-yes. Yes, my lord.” The speaker at the other end of the connection paused, and on its heels came the sound of a clearing throat. “Ah, Lord van Baelsar asked that I, er, that is, he requests your presence to discuss-”
“He wants me to attend a meeting,” Nero cut in. “When and where?”
“Half four, my lord. Ah- in Sector VI. The administrative complex south of the new hangar.”
Half four- it was five minutes past now. With the identification checks and elevators that gave him about ten minutes' leeway. A bit tight, but doable.
For a moment the only sound he heard was nervous, ragged breathing and the flat drumming of his right hand’s fingertips upon the metal surface while he mentally rearranged the next hour he’d dedicated to other tasks. It was an annoyance but the summons still amounted to an order, and hardly one he could countermand, secret project or not. “Understood," he said. "Inform the legatus that I will be along presently."
"I will, Lord tol Scaeva. I-"
"In future, do make some bare attempt at brevity when delivering messages, tessarius- for your own sake.”
Another gulp. “Of course, my lord. I’ll pass alo--”
Before the man could waste more time stammering out another response, the tribunus laticlavius flipped the switch and cut the connection. The line went dead with a static click.
#upon pale dawns#i swear i'm still alive and writing#no beta we just die#nero tol scaeva#a realm reborn retelling#frost's rough drafts
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CROOKED BIG BANG CHALLENGE RULES, TIMELINES, AND FAQ
Hi all! Welcome to the Crooked Big Bang! We’re very glad to have you!
The basics: Join us for a celebration of longfic and fanart! Starting on May 22nd, writers will pledge to write a fic of at least 20K words. Never written 20K before? No worries! You’ll have all summer to write and we will create a community to help and cheer each other on. Not a writer? We’re here for you too! In August, artists will get the chance to bring these longfic to life!
After reading the rules, please sign up HERE for authors and HERE for artists. Head over HERE for our Discord server. The AO3 collection with full rules is HERE.
TIMELINE:
Author Sign-Ups: May 22-June 5
Artist Sign-Ups: May 22-August 6
1st Check-In: June 14
5k Check-In Day: July 12
50% Draft Due Date: July 31
Artist Claims: August 3-6
Final Check-In: August 30
Final Drafts Due: Sept 18
Posting Begins: September 21
RULES FOR WRITERS
Sign-Ups: Please sign-up HERE by June 5th. If you plan on writing more than one fic, please submit a form for each fic you’re planning on writing.
Check-Ins: Writers will check-in on the Discord server. The purpose is just to make sure everyone is on track and to see if anyone needs help with beta-ing or idea bouncing. Brief outline below, but more details forthcoming!
June 14: Writers will provide pairings and a preliminary summary.
July 12: Writers should have written at least 5K and the mods will inquire about beta and cheerleading needs.
July 31: 50% completed drafts/outlines are due ahead of artist claims.
August 30: Final check-in to make sure that writers and artists are on track for posting!
Posting: Shortly before posting begins, we will assign posting dates in the discord based on availability of both the artist and author to post. Please lock your work to the archive.
A note on word count: We’re absolutely confident that each and every one of you could complete a 50K+ fic this summer. While the word minimum for the challenge is 20K, we’d encourage authors, especially those who’ve written fics of similar length before, to challenge yourselves to meet a higher goal. 50K? 75? 100? Shoot for the stars, and we’ll cheer each other on along the way.
RULES FOR ARTISTS
One of the unique aspects of a big bang challenge is the combination of fic and fanart. Artists are welcome to create art in any medium they choose, including but not limited to: mixes, videos, podfics, gifs, drawings, paintings, graphics, edits, comics, physical crafts. Art is impossible to quantify, but we do ask that artists put in a significant effort in recognition of the work that the writers are doing on the fics. Authors will be writing their fics all summer and will be expending significant time on the project. A good benchmark for artists is about 15-20 hours of work, including brainstorming and planning.
Mechanics:
Story summaries will be posted (with author names removed) approximately 48 hours before claiming opens. Claiming will happen in the discord server. Once summaries are posted, we will announce the time that claims will open. Claims will be first-come first-served. Once all works have been claimed once, double claiming is allowed.
After claims, we will send you the draft your author has submitted to us as well as their contact info. Please be in contact with your author throughout the process with any questions you have and any drafts you feel comfortable sharing. The author should send you their work as they complete it as well.
More details to come in separate post.
MISC RULES
Participants are more than welcome to participate as both writers and artists, though we ask that you do not claim your own fic for mixing/illustrating
Likewise participants can sign up for as many works/art pieces as they like, but please sign up for each fic you plan to submit separately.
Cowriting is absolutely allowed, though we’d encourage writing partners to aim for a word count goal of at least 40K. Cowriters only need to submit one sign up form.
AU/Crossover fics are allowed and encouraged! The only content requirement is that your fic feature Crooked Media characters front and center.
Sequels and/or works currently in progress are allowed as long as they haven’t been posted elsewhere. We encourage you to add at least 20K of new words to any existing WIP during the challenge period.
COMMUNITY GUIDELINES
This is a community built on mutual respect. Assume that people are operating in good faith. Be tolerant of diversity of backgrounds, ideas, kinks, and opinions. No harassment will be tolerated. We reserve the right to ask anyone who violates the community guidelines to leave the Discord or the challenge.
FAQ
What the fuck is a big bang challenge?
A Big Bang is a challenge where writers and artists collaborate to create immersive works. Writers will write a longfic (traditionally as long as 50k, for our challenge the minimum is 20k) and then artists will choose a fic to create art for. For more information, please see our infographic on what a Big Bang and why it’s important for both writers and fandoms HERE.
I’ve never [written fic/written 20K/done art for a fic before]. Should I sign up anyways?
Absolutely! You won’t be the only one who’s new at this or nervous about their project. We’ll all be collaborating and cheering each other on on the discord all summer. If you want more one on one help, we’ll help you find a beta who’s willing to talk through every detail with you.
Is there a guarantee I will receive art/a mix/a podfic for my story?
Unfortunately not. We'll do our best to find an artist for every fic, but the number of fics that will receive art depends entirely on the number of artists to sign up. To increase the odds of your fic receiving art, please share links to the community and encourage artists to sign up.
Can I opt out of receiving art/a mix/a podfic for my story?
You may, but only before summaries are posted for claiming. If this is your choice, you'll make it clear when submitting your draft.
Who posts the mix(es) and art piece(s) created for each fic?
The artist/mixer/podficcer will post their creation on their AO3/tumblr/wherever they're choosing to host their work. Artists and authors will need to coordinate linking their art and fic together.
What if I have to drop out for [insert reason here]?
We’re very sorry to hear that but we understand that life happens! Please contact us ASAP and we’ll work it out.
My question isn't answered here. How do I contact you IMMEDIATELY??
Please contact us on the Discord HERE! You can also send a tumblr ask or email us at [email protected]
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NaNoWriMo 2019 Post-Mortem
Words Written: 80,931
Highest Word Count Day: 11/03/19 -- 7,224 words.
Lowest Word Count Day: 11/19/19, 189 words (life/work stress, sigh).
Projects: Vam Lin (original novel, for which the vast majority of those words were written); A Lesson in Drowning (DA2 longfic); various WTNC bits for the sandbox I’ve created with @kindervenom��.
Thoughts
Wow. First off, this is a personal-best year for me; I’ve passed 60K for the past few years I’ve done NaNo, but this was definitely the year I pushed myself most.
I went into Vam Lin with an extensive (for me) outline, which was a huge change from how I usually operate: most of the time, I know the beginning and ending of a piece, as well as a few magical cookie moments I want to hit along the way. This year, I plotted out the entire arc of the book, along with breaking it into three acts, which were then broadly plotted as well. Before NaNo got started, I spent a night writing up a timeline for Vam Lin and making worldbuilding and character notes.
All of this prep, along with having the idea of this story in my head for months, meant I was already extremely familiar with the world before I got started.
I also set a preliminary word-count limit on each chapter, aiming for 2,000 words per chapter, both to give myself some leeway when I went back to edit and expand, and to give myself the illusion of momentum (nothing like seeing finished chapters piling up to make you feel like you’re succeeding!).
And then:
I planned to write the book in Rowan’s first-person POV;
but I realize the first night it should be in third-person;
then I wrote the first eleven chapters --
-- only to realize the pacing was a mess, Jian was almost completely absent from those chapters, and that the story was missing a lot of personality with the third-person narration.
SO. I restarted the novel on 11/11, after aking a few nights to replot and bring Jian into the story in the first chapter so that the Rowan/Jian relationship took center stage. I also expanded my word count goal for each chapter to 3,500 words in this draft.
The end result of that was an immediate shift in both the energy of the story, and in my engagement with the story. Rowan burst into life, sarcastic and wry and kind (and very reckless), and with Jian and her cohort of fellow mage-soldiers to bounce off of, every scene was fun to write. For example:
I tear my eyes from my plate to meet his. He's smiling close-lipped, eyes gleaming. Delighted by the game, delighted by —
"Rowan," says Matthias, loftily, "isn't allowed to play. She cheats."
I wheel on him, my fork poised and ready for the attack. "I do not! Just because I have a better sense of smell than you doesn't mean I'm cheating, you wretched excuse for —"
Across the table, Mel starts chanting Fight! Fight! Fight! as Matthias laughs and I jab my fork at his arm. Holly buries her face in her hands, clearly despairing over the loser humans conspiring to humiliate her in public. And Jian — Jian starts laughing, a startled sound, like it's taken him by surprise as much as the rest of us.
I stop trying to skewer Matthias. As one, we all turn to look at Jian, along with a few people at other tables nearby, and stare while he tries to get his laughter under control. It's more of a giggle now, hummingbird-quick, no less endearing for the very visible fangs.
"Sorry," he says, a moment later. "Sorry, it's just — is this your first response to everything, Rowan? To start stabbing?"
I have a feeling the question isn't rhetorical, but I let the rest of my cohort answer for me with a chorus of Yes and You have no idea and She's our stabby girl and we love her. Jian's eyes hold mine, still gleaming.
"Wonderful," he says, like he means it.
I ended up with eleven completed chapters for Vam Lin, which I adore, and that form the first part of the story. I’m sure that will grow after I finish the book, but I’m about as content as I can be with a first draft.
Since I got to the end of chapter eleven on 11/28, I decided to leave Vam Lin at that stopping point, and to switch my attention to ALID. It’s a major shift, mentally and emotionally, to go from the very plotty, action-filled loud world of Vam Lin, back to ALID, where everything is careening toward a very dark, claustrophobic conclusion. I ended up not getting a ton of words written, but I replotted sections of this last arc, and feel pretty good about moving forward.
So what’s next? Finishing ALID by the end of the year, and then turning my focus back to Vam Lin while I polish ALID for posting, and Slow Grows the Coral (a Patreon reward novelette) for inclusion in a little monster-lover anthology I’m working on. I’m also planning to submit something for a wlw fantasy anthology, so the next couple months are pretty busy!
My goal is to have Vam Lin done, and given a first editing pass, by the end of March 2020. At that point, I’ll be looking for alpha readers who hear “post-apocalyptic supernatural romance Tam Lin retelling, with vampires” and say “yes, please!”.
Overall, this was a very successful month. I wrote every day, I did morning pages every day, and I love what I started. Now it’s a matter of clearing the deck, as far as fic is concerned, because the more I write original fiction, the more I want to focus on that.
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Hi, Lise! Do you know some good fanfics about Natasha and Yelena Belova? Friends, enemies, lovers, anything will do. Or even just about Yelena? Thank you!
I actually have not read!! Nearly enough of these. And there are certainly at least a fair number tagged as such on AO3. Most of them are comicsverse, so heads up on that, and none of them are really based on current MCU stuff (they’re all older and speculative). Narrowing it by excluding a few things, I went spelunking, and found some things I liked.
Doing a very quick-and-dirty recs list, because I’m tired and have too much of a backlog of these already.
Trapdoor by Snickfic
wouldn’t you love me if by tristesses
I Wish I Could Buy Back the Woman You Stole by waketosleep
The Grand Tour by breathedout
only dostoevsky could kill off a pair like us by stitchingatthecircuitboard
There’s also some longfic I haven’t read yet that looks promising, mostly by Eustacia Vye whose Natasha (and writing) I know I like - those including Certainties and Doubts and A Game of You; then there’s The Pinocchio Illusion by ShannonXL which quality I cannot vouch for but is epic length, post-Civil War, and certainly looks interesting.
This is a very preliminary search, though - I’m sure there are others I’m missing, particularly since my excluded tags included Steve/Bucky. Now if only I had finished my Natasha/Yelena fic...
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k, q, z
K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?
Oh God I had a full answer written out about how I mostly have bittersweet ideas, not really anything straightforward angst, but uh I just remembered the prequel I have planned for my Mando Finn AU. I don’t want to go into detail since it’s still in the preliminary stages, but it’ll be dealing with Din post-giving up Grogu, how he finds Finn, and how they first run into Luke, and....... ouch.
Q: How do you feel about collaborations?
Ma’am.
I’m overall tentative but if I think someone and I vibe alright and we have a similar enough vision for a character/ship/what have you, I’m open to considering it.
Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?
I have written exactly one major character death for my Damerey longfic (I have another tagged on AO3 but that’s because it’s Buffy between s5 and s6, so it doesn’t super count), and it was exactly what that fic needed, but I rarely develop fic concepts where a character death would even occur to me. I also pretty much steer clear from reading it, unless everything about the story really compels me and/or it’s a writer I really trust.
send me some letters!
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Finished the preliminary outline for my Zelloyd longfic. It’s 5600 words. That’s longer than some finished fics...
Edit: almost 5800 now.
#i have it planned to be 9 chapters long based on places it would make sense for chapters to end#but i may break it down more depending on how much i end up writing for each chapter
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I have to cut 10 fics, so I’m doing two polls of 10 for the 20 lowest word count fics, and progressing the 5 most voted for fics of each poll onto the tournament. All word counts are accurate as of submission to the tournament.
Link to the other poll
Propaganda and links below the cut
1) Coppernaughts (series) - The LEGO Movie
it's sooo good just read it <3
2) Knight-Errant - Star Wars
He figured out a while ago happiness isn't a watermark or a beat; happiness happens in the middle of other things, a moment of perfect clarity in all the other shit. There's something romantic about the idea of being so lost or so damaged happiness is totally out of reach, but Arthur's never had the capacity for that level of melodrama.
No propaganda
3) This, You Protect - Captain America and the Winter Soldier
No propaganda
4) Minimum Height Requirement - Batman
The best Good Dad!Batman I've found. It loops all his kids into one cohesive narrative that incorporates their arcs and major story beats without Bruce being the uncaring jerk people tend to write him as in the comics nowadays.
5) Presque Vu - Inception
He figured out a while ago happiness isn't a watermark or a beat; happiness happens in the middle of other things, a moment of perfect clarity in all the other shit. There's something romantic about the idea of being so lost or so damaged happiness is totally out of reach, but Arthur's never had the capacity for that level of melodrama.
6) TALE OF A MARTYR IN XII PARTS - All For The Game
No propaganda
7) Mad Rat Twist - Mad Rat Dead and The World Ends With You
honestly i'm mostly submitting this one because it's one of the few things in my bookmarks on AO3 and a close friend wrote it. also it involves two relatively small fandoms and there have been people who only know about one reading it and wanting to check out the other one from both sides and i'm so proud of my friend!
but ugh! Mad Rat and Heart! i love them! they're zucchinis your honor! i need to read this one again it's been a while
8) ffucc - Final Fantasy XV
No propaganda
9) Our Freedom In My Sight - Shameless
This fic does a really good job of digging into canon trauma that canon just didn't bother to really address. The main characters did end up getting their happy ending in canon but when this was written, it looked very, very much like they weren't going to so this fic became canon for me (I say like I actually watched the show). It created justice and closure for characters that very much looked like they weren't going to get any. (As always, mind the tags. It deals with some very dark topics. There are definitely some triggers in this one. Actual triggers, not just squicks. Anyone that knows Shameless knows how bad Mickey and Mandy's childhood was. That's what we're dealing with.).
10) Standard Deviations - Yuri!!! on Ice
it's the BEST time travel fic i've read! it starts with just viktor and yurio, but throughout the story yuuri, mila, and more all come back and cause enough shenanigans to give yakov a heart attack lmao
it's v lighthearted and makes me laugh more than almost anything else has tbh
(tldr if u don't go here: love interest & angry son go back in time and are eventually joined by the rest of their figure skating pals. they cause enough chaos that their coach faints countless times)
#longfic polls#longfic preliminaries#the lego movie#star wars#captain america and the winter soldier#batman#inception#all for the game#mad rat dead#the world ends with you#final fantasy 15#final fantasy xv#shameless#yuri on ice
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