Almost done my novel research, I just need to get to the terror and the (justified) trial and execution of Marie Antoinette and Louis le incompetent <- I’m not saying his number he doesn’t deserve that.

Ah yes, the French revolution the most divisive event in history, my beloved.

Also... Robespierre was a saint compared to feudalism, monarchy and what Louis (and every French monarch before him) was doing to Haiti.

Marie Antoinette’s execution (from a French Revolution pamphlet).

Marie Antoinette on the way to her execution (Francois Fleming 1887).

WIP Tag game ✍️

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have wips. (You can make your own post or reblog this one!) I have deemed that this isn’t just for writing either. Sketch titles? Comics? DnD campaigns? If you have an unfinished project, it counts!!  

~~~

Tagged by @insomniac-silco-maniac Thanks J!

So I only have a few active WIPs, only one I've actually been posting, a couple that are planned/have tidbits written, and then several that were started and abandoned (they will never see the light of day). Don't have actual titles for any other than the active one and an abandoned one, so this will be boring, but here you go...

Submit

Sevika x brothel!femreader

Vampire!Sevika x liaison!femreader

Silco x femreader x Sevika

Silco x Engineer!femreader

Young!Silco x femreader

Heimerdinger? Barely knew her!

Please don't ask about #7...

No pressure tagging...

@sevikasleftpussyflap and @master-sass-blast

Fic Writer Tag Game

How many works do you have on AO3? 263

What’s your total AO3 word count? 4,901,188

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they? including the fandoms on FFnet, that haven't yet been moved over to ao3, that'd be a total of 37. separating the larger fandoms (marvel, dcu) into their individual parts: Thor; Arrow; Smallville; The Vampire Diaries; Glee; Captain America; Supernatural; Teen Wolf; Iron Man; Life with Derek; Firefly; Friday Night Lights; X-Men; Fantastic Four; Harry Potter; Sons of Anarchy; Girl Meets World; Batman; Daredevil; From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series; Transformers; Lost Girl; Game of Thrones; Banshee; High School Musical; The OC; One Tree Hill; CSI: New York; Degrassi; Gossip Girl; NCIS; The Unusuals; Criminal Minds; iCarly; Secret Life of the American Teenager; Twilight; and The Listener

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. and I wonder (if everything could ever feel this real forever) - darcy/bucky - Steve tells him that Darcy's harmless. Bucky imagines, on paper, Darcy is harmless. HYDRA wouldn't give her a second glance. But he does. He can barely keep his eyes off her. He's not sure he wants to. | Kudos: 5576

2. I Climbed The Tree To See The World (When The Gusts Came Around To Blow Me Down, I Held On As Tightly As You Held On To Me) - darcy centric | darcy/steve - The path to self-discovery, including becoming Coulson's assistant-slash-liaison-slash-bff, Captain America's lady love, and rating fourth on the SHIELD BAMF scale, was like the yellow brick road; it was chaos and confusion around every bend. | Kudos: 3973

3. Take a little piece of my heart (and keep it for yourself) - oliver/felicity - A collection of Olicity prompts on Tumblr posted here for easier access/reading. | Kudos: 3498

4. You put your arms around me (and I'm home) - darcy/bucky - A collection of Darcy/Bucky oneshots, drabbles, and prompt fills. | Kudos: 3293

5. you (anchor me back down) - darcy/bucky - "I'll be right back." Famous last words. | Kudos: 2747

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? not all of them. i do try to keep up on them, especially on longer stories when there's been significant wait times in between chapters, or when a reader is asking a question or is unclear on something. and especially when someone writes a really indepth comment/review, i like to respond to those and talk about motivations and character growth.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I've written a number of fics that either had suicide or major character death, so i'm not sure if one outranks the other in terms of most angsty... hmm... i remember "be still and know that I'm with you (be still and know that I am here)" and "light a match, burn the world to ash (I will watch it die, and hold your hand as I fly)" both got some pretty intense reactions when they were posted. And "It's Your Song That Sets Me Free (I Sing It While I Feel I Can't Go On)" was basically just angst from beginning to end. buuuuut, i think i'll say "so you think you can tell (heaven from hell" was, only because there's a build up of everything going so right, only to pivot at the end, so it feels very bittersweet.

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written? i loooooove crossovers. i find writing in the marvel fandom makes things quite easy, but also smallville. as long as i can find a common thread, i enjoy finding a way to overlap two shows. i'll say the hardest one to write was "ruby red slippers (unavailable in her size)." I'm not sure why, but i found writing each personality together just felt strange. i liked the idea behind the story, but i definitely remember feeling like i was really forcing myself to keep going, like something just didn't fit right.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? oh, definitely. you cannot please everyone, it's impossible. for the most part, hate comes and i either argue back, take the criticism for what it's worth, or just ignore it when it's baseless. i think the hate that bothered me the most was a homophobic PM someone sent me re: "you know I will adore you ('til eternity)," on FFnet. i actually went and searched it up. they've since blocked me so i can't read our whole thread back and forth. but i did put part of it on tumblr so i could rant on it a bit, so you can see that here.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? ha. yes. depending on the story, it can be really detailed or really flowery. it depends on the ship, the plot, and how graphic i feel like being. i've definitely become more comfortable over the years with my writing. that said, i think everybody likes something different. i once had a reviewer tell me a sex scene was too much, just too intense. it was a stefan/caroline story and to be fair, that entire oneshot was just them fucking, lol, but it is what it is. to each their own.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Multiple times.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! for the record, i am always happy to have my stories translated and shared. i just like having a link sent to me and to be credited.

What’s your all time favorite ship? i have a list of OTPs, because interests change and as shows come and go, my love for a ship can be shelved for a while before it pops back up at random. currently, i can't get enough of buck/eddie from 9-1-1. and, historically, chloe/oliver (smallville) and felicity/oliver (arrow) have been two of my top OTPs. but i think i'd have to go with bonnie/damon. they had all the potential and the show dropped the ball by not exploring it. at the same time, that's kind of a blessing, because i don't trust those writers to properly explore what they had without eventually destroying it for the likes of de/ena. it means a treasure trove for writing where it could have gone and all the what if's.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will? the intention is always to finish. but given how i feel about allison mack and how that impacts my feelings re: chloe sullivan, pretty much anything with her as a main character is not something i see myself returning to.

What are your writing strengths? What are your writing weaknesses? i'm putting these together because my strength is my weakness. i love to write. when i get an idea, i go all in and i will skip eating and sleeping to just write write write. but i also eventually hit a wall and i get so many ideas that i hyperfocus on one until the steam is gone and then i hyperfocus on the next one to maintain that need to keep writing, accidentally leaving the last story in the dust for entirely too long. i also have clinical depression that comes and goes, which hasn't been super great mixed with covid and isolation, so more often recently, i find myself overly exhausted and despite wanting to write, can rarely get motivated to do so. so, pre-covid, wrote so much i left entirely too many stories dangling. during covid, i've just been reading and struggling to get myself focused enough to do what i love.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? i appreciate the authenticity when possible, but i've recently been reading more about how native speakers of other languages feel when a) their language is butchered by google translate, or b) it's just not genuine in terms of how bilingual speakers act or speak.

What was the first fandom you’ve written for? it was smallville, but i remember adopting it out to someone else because i wasn't going to finish it. so if you look at my ffnet, the first fandom i wrote for appears to be x-men: the movie, but i remember writing a chloe/oliver story prior to that.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written? i have a lot. i mean, on ffnet, i have 576 stories, many of which were transferred over to ao3, with a lot of oneshots and drabbles getting joined together into collections. so there's a ton to pick from that span a 14-ish year timeline.

"you know I will adore you ('til eternity)" and "let me break (the walls that surround me)" hold a special place in my heart.

honestly, each story is important in its own way. there are bits and pieces of each that i love. every time i write something new it feels like my favorite. my best. and then a new idea comes along. there are scenes i've written that i loved more than the whole of what they became. lines that stand out that are almost too good to be a part of the larger picture.

one of my all time favorite passages i've written was bonnie's thoughts on damon and herself in 'if you love me (let me go)":

He is far from perfect. He is a novel of red, corrective ink. He is frayed pages and torn binding. His life, his choices, his mistakes leave lasting effects on everyone he meets.

She is a lifeboat with a hole in it. An anchor that drowns in the sea while everyone else remains steady above. She is both the calm and the storm, and while she screams that she will not be tamed, she cries. Bittersweet tears that go unnoticed and uncared about.

there are other stories, other pieces of dialogue, that i've been proud of. that make me laugh when i re-read them. that make me cry. and i love them. there are others that make me wilt and cringe and regret. it's a process. love and pride and growth, all bound together.

Tagging: @absentlyabbie, @anonymous033, and anyone else who'd like to fill this all out, haha

Fanfic Ask Meme

A: How did you come up with the titles? The fics pick their own names and most are words with precisely selected definitions of the fic's theme. B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience? Aren't all works inspired by the writers' personal experiences? C: What character do you identify with most? I identify Rogue. I love Gambit. I ship Romy. D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with fics? Not really, but songs inspire me to write or make me think about Gambit and Rogue. I do have a playlist of go-to music to get me in the mindset of which Romy theme I'm writing (angst vs. sappy romance). E: If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about? The only sequel I have planned is for Devil's Poison. It was originally supposed to be a movie verse with the X-Men showing up at the end, but now they won't show up until the sequel. F: Care to share a favorite hurt/comfort fic? While I like angst, I don't really like hurt/comfort fics. I don't have a recommendation. G: Care to share a favorite crack fic? Ditto. Considering the amount of research I do, silly just doesn't fit with my style/preferences. H: How would you describe your style? Fiction based in science with some philosophical dilemmas and a healthy dose of (sometimes smutty) romance thrown in. I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)? Isn't all fanfiction guilty pleasure? J: Write or describe an alternative ending to a fic. I don't really have an alternate ending because I let the fics flow to their natural progression. However, I didn't know what Jean-Luc's reaction in Devil's Poison chapter 39 was going to be until I wrote it. The outline for that scene changed at least twice and then the final product was a third version that never even hit the outline. Basically, I wanted to answer the "what if" Jean-Luc hadn't forced Gambit into being the future Thieves Guild patriarch. That outline had him praising Gambit for maturing and finding out that family and love were more important than Guild politics. When it came down to it though, the "what if" ended up right back where 616 had it in the Gambit solos. Jean-Luc was pissed Gambit put anything other than the Guild first. K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with? Attraction is pretty angsty. I think I had to walk away from that one a few times before I could finish it. And I think I cried when writing Heartbreak. Most of the time I tone things down because I can be too angsty with some ideas and they aren't always received well by readers. While I write for myself, I do consider my more vocal followers for some scenes. The Atlantic City gentleman's club in Devil's Poison with Gambit and Vivienne is a really good example of something that was too angsty and didn't fly well. My implication and the readers' inference ended up being two different things. L: What’s the weirdest AU you’ve ever come up with? I haven't written it yet, but I've got a really good idea for a time travel piece. Also, Liaison was supposed to be all the typical romance AUs (pirates, historical, futuristic), but I had other ideas that have been more fun to pursue right now. M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share? I have a "stranded on an island" trope started (first chapter and outline complete), but trying to wrap up some of my other WIPs before posting another. N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you? I've thought about putting some up for adoption, but the ones I was willing to part with were well developed and I didn't want someone else putting their spin on my take. O: How do you begin a story: with the plot, or the characters? Plot, since my characters are always Gambit & Rogue. P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?) I plot the (loose) boundaries of the garden and plow the land, but let the plants, insects, weather, etc. do what it will. Q: Do you have any discarded storylines/projects? Yes. I had an

idea for fics that were inspired by songs but were *not* songfics. I got the first chapter written but wanted to put a trick ending on it and haven't quite figured out the mechanics of it yet. R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence? I was initially inspired to write fanfiction from Tamarai and @chellerbelles, and influenced by @ludi-ling and @jehilew. From professional writers, I'm somewhere between Michael Crichton and Abigail Reynolds. I was also highly inspired to write fics after finding @spasticatt's DeviantArt. S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist? A mysteriously handsome stranger stepping in a strong heroine's path and interrupting her goals in life. T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand? Body/gender swapping, science fantasy AUs in science fiction. I don't need no bloody vampire versions of the X-Men! U: A pairing you might like to write for, but haven’t tried yet. None. I write Gambit and Rogue and I will always only write Gambit and Rogue. V: A secondary (or underrated) character you want to see more of in fic? I miss some of the characters from X-Treme X-Men having a more central spotlight. Or the Thieves Guild/extended LeBeau family. W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones? General. When prompts are too specific 1) it leaves little wiggle room for interpretation and 2) tends to open the door to disappointment for anyone requesting the prompt. X: A character you enjoy making suffer. 😈 Magneto Y: A character you want to protect. 💔 Etienne Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? If it's Gambit or Rogue, I never read it. This is my safe and happy place and death, even temporary, is not allowed. One thing you can guarantee in my writing is a happily ever after. I did write Gambit's death in Unquenchable, but that was more of a capstone to The End to allow him to reunite with Rogue in the afterlife.

Tagging @chellerbelles, @dayenurose, @ginger375, @jehilew, @xevg if y'all wanna play along! (No pressure, but this was fun 😁)

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and i’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Doctor x Rose

RoseTen couple adventure

Little Prince

Caretaker AU

Jeopardy friendly Rose (answered here)

Rose wants 8 to deliver her baby (answered here)

Musical 12

12xRose and Alistair

2xRose mind robber

SoulMate AU (answered here)

song fic idea

8Rose science planet

Skin Fever

Hardly Used

Ray and Rose - besties

Rose Tyler UNIT Liaison 

Life on Earth

Sally Lockhart Crossover

Isis: The Egyptian Adventure (answered here)

Tentoo x Rose x Thirteen

The Sarah Tyler Adventures

ParallelRose - Journey’s Start

Perverted Eleven

A Crisis of Identity

Rose nearly dies

Nine x Rose mix up

Vampire AU (Nine x Rose)

And they were roommates

Nine x Rose - Duke AU (answered here)

Nine x Rose - Beast AU

Nine x Rose x Thirteen

Tennich

Hannah and Holly - identical twins

Walt Roller Derby

Crowley x Rose

The Cop and the Call Girl (answered here)

Miscellaneous 

Marwood x Hannah

Harry Potter - Drarry

Whatever happened to Draco Malfoy?

8th year - bonding curse

8th year - dating?

Save Scorpius

Azkaban release

Saved by the Bond

Thanks for the tag @lostinfic! 

I have so many WIPs and not enough people to tag. I don’t know who has even done this or not. No pressure: @gingerteaonthetardis @lotsofthinkythoughts @gallifrey1sburning @ialwayscomewhenyoucall @deardiary17 @lizann5869

Happy WBW!

🃏 - What in your world is so out there that it baffles everyone? An example from our world could be whales that are so huge we can't imagine it, or medical advances.

This is... difficult to answer cause the world of liaisons x vampires is just our world, but with vampires.

However, one thing that astonished me in doing my novella research was just how long the ancien regime kept their power, despite the failing nature of their system and the corruption of the monarchy.

Marie Antoinette famously said when the palace fell (paraphrasing), "You have to kill me before you take my crown (the monarchy) or my husband (the incompetent monarch)."

No words for Marie Antoinette of France, just yikes. I think she's fascinating but an awful person and was a mediocre royalist at best.

Call for Nano friends!

Thanks @sam-glade for reminding me.

I will finally start on the writing part of liaisons x vampires.

I am Meera • Desi Gothic Royal (Mina) on the nanowrimo website!

With a general goal of: higher word count than my source material.

Which is: 112,000+ and 448 pages, given my last novel was twice as long as it’s source material this shouldn’t be terribly difficult. For my sanity I shall start at: 116,000, and see if I need push further.

Writerblr Pumpkin Pitch event: Liaisons x Vampires

Set against the backdrop of Audrey, a vampire turned in 1780s memory, (told in flashback) and Isabella's "Elise" chaotic bisexual life as a call girl and journalist, with historical anecdotes from Audrey's half-sister, Camille, a regular Mary Wollstonecraft, they navigate the treacheries of upper late 18th century society, their own monsters and trauma and learn, perhaps, humanity is more akin to beasts than they think. They also learn along the way, that they're bound by more than their bisexuality and difficult pasts and presents. Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Connections or Dangerous Liaisons) with vampires.

Genre: speculative historical fiction/queer historical fiction/gothic horror/gothic romance.

Playlist.

More information.

Merry Nanowrimo!

Fun Fact About me: amateur historian and archivist!

WIP Title: liaisons x vampires.

Genre: historical gothic horror, bisexual, romance if you squint hard enough.

Audience: adult (Anne Rice fans).

Type: Stand alone.

Status: drafting ~ wip.

Pitch: Les Liaisons dangereuses (English: Dangerous connections or dangerous liaisons) meets Anne Rice, everyone’s bi and varying degrees of unreliable. A send up of capitalism, absolute power, patriarchy, abuse & more. See more.

Nano Goal: aspiring: 1,160. Generally: higher than my source material.

Playlist.

Music for writing.

Nano 2023 intro: liaisons x vampires

Les Liaisons dangereuses (English: Dangerous connections or dangerous liaisons) meets Anne Rice, everyone’s bi and varying degrees of unreliable. A send-up of capitalism, absolute power, patriarchy, abuse & more.

Genre: gothic historical horror but make it rococo and a send-up of capitalism and corruption and what the original novella was regarding the ancien regime in its day.

Characters:

Audrey, she/they, white-French, bisexual, primary (unreliable) narrator, a vampire.

Camille, she/her, white-French, bisexual, secondary (unreliable) narrator, a vampire.

Isabella “Elise”, she/her, white-American, bisexual, the journalist being told this story, an audience stand in, of a kind, but also her own character, a journalist and human call girl at the same time, based in the Castro of San Francisco.

Marquise de Merteuil, she/her, white-French, bisexual, an antagonist.

Vicomte de Valmont, he/him, white-French, bisexual, an antagonist.

Cécile Volanges, she/her, white-French, unknowing bisexual. The ingenue.

Madame de Tourvel, she/her, white-French, discreet bisexual. Valmont’s “object of desire.”

Chevalier Danceny, he/him, white-French, bisexual, a character of inherent ambiguity.

Emilie, she/her, Creole-French-black-biracial, bisexual. A foil character to Audrey and Camille.

Father Anselme, he/him, white-French, queer clergy and silent about it. Antagonist enabler.

Explanations: what is the ancien régime?

The Libertine novel

Vampirism as sexual allegory

Vampirism as capitalism

Inspirations & source material:

Les Liaisons dangereuses

Interview with the Vampire

The Vampire Lestat

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

Fun things!

Playlist Pinterest board

Dangerous Liaisons Daily Tag

My link of links

The Lovers you take are dangerous...

Working title: liaisons x vampires.

Genre: gothic historical horror but make it rococo and a send up of capitalism and corruption and what the og novella was regarding the Ancién Regime in its day.

POV: third person (unreliable) narrator(s), epistolary, and flashback.

Summary: Les Liaisons dangereuses (English: Dangerous connections or dangerous liaisons) meets Anne Rice, everyone’s bi and varying degrees of unreliable. A send up of capitalism, absolute power, patriarchy, abuse & more.

Pitch: Les Liaisons dangereuses (English: Dangerous connections or dangerous liaisons) by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos x IWTV 1976 x TVL by Anne Rice.

Playlist.

Excerpt: It was a bright sunny day that day in the summer. All the days thus far had been, despite the engulfing darkness of the night and the ocean fog rolling over the brightly colored houses. At least the hustle and bustle of the city kept the dark at bay and paid a fraction of her rent. Isabella could always anticipate the rent, or when a caller wanted her, or even when her editor wanted a piece. She didn’t foresee the vampires.

Writeblrgarden tea time! ☕️💋

Q: what historical or current event has/had a great impact on the story? A: The French Revolution aka the fall of the ancien régime/the reign of terror in 1794-1795. (Novella timeline 1779-1795).

Q: What are you most nervous for regarding NaNoWriMo? how do you overcome it? A: actually writing this novella cause I unjustly to myself... until recently had very low self-esteem. I overcome it by sitting down and committing to the work and doing it, I've done all the necessary prep work.

@writeblrgarden

Character intro: Chevalier Raphael Danceny 

Inspired by: Danceny in the source material. Keanu Reeves adaptation of the young somewhat blackguard and Chevalier.

Character summary: he/him, white-French, bisexual. A simultaneously naïve and roguish young Chevalier, who thinks, just not deeply enough. His money and previous lack of receiving consequences eventually ends poorly for him, the guillotine swings for him first.

Fun Fact: he is the only character in all of Dangerous Liaisons who never writes letters or records accounts of his actions, leaving Audrey (and Camille) to put pieces together through memory. Memory, is… well, a monster.

As genre commentary: I wanted a morally grey character who suffers a bad fate. He is ambiguous to everyone, even Audrey and Camille, if Merteuil and Valmont are the moral questions, Danceny’s character asks the reader to think on legacy and if such a thing is even tangible, or, if the record is always dictated by others long after you are gone.

Writeblr advent calendar 2023: WIP playlist...

@writeblrgarden

My playlist for my WIP: Liaisons x vampires!

I just think they’re neat.

Remember when humans were trying to do ‘equal opportunity enlightened death’ even to monarchs who we could’ve just gunpowder plotted <- and was 100% deserved?

Character intro: Isabella, better known by her pseudonym "Elise" or "Elisa"

Inspired by: Daniel Molloy (in Anne Rice’s 1976 ~ IWTV), Lana del Rey, and @elisaintime (Elisa Hansen and their persona and meta commentary). Maven of the eventide.

Character summary: she/her, white-American, bisexual. A journalist and call girl in present day San Francisco, specifically, the Castro, trying to make ends meet. She could always anticipate when the rent is due, she didn’t anticipate the vampires.

Fun Fact: by creation date, my newest character!

As genre commentary: there isn’t enough women in the gothic genre and it makes me mad. Also, like Audrey, I wanted a sex worker character who isn’t doomed by her actions or the fact she’s a sex worker.