Very late to the fic writer asks, but if you're so inclined:

E: What character do you identify with most?  Is there a certain fic of yours that captures these qualities particularly well?

M: What’s the weirdest AU scenario you’ve ever come up with?  Did it turn into a story?

Y: What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you’ve written vs. the popularity of your stories?  Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?

don't worry i was 100% ready to do anything to avoid cleaning the house, your timing is impeccable!

E: What character do you identify with most? Is there a certain fic of yours that captures these qualities particularly well?

this was surprisingly difficult to answer! because i'm a little bit all of them and none of them. my goal is always to write someone so correctly - i.e. in character - that they're as distinctly themselves in fic as they were in the og. a character's trauma and foibles belong to them and i don't like inserting mine into their story. that said, to write someone well i have to get to the heart of them, which means understanding why they care about the things they care about, which means finding our points of common ground and expanding from there.

but since i have to actually answer this question:

if you were to swap me into one of my fics 'lost in austen' style and tell me to thrive, i'd have no trouble tapping in for elizabeth in strawberry swing. (yes yes everyone wants to be elizabeth bennet - i do NOT consider myself to be austen's elizabeth, but my elizabeth was born and raised in the american midwest. we approach and receive life the same way)

if we can consider them a fic duet (which i sometimes do), hero in reprise is the best of me and john in after the storm is the worst of me.

M: What's the weirdest AU scenario you've ever come up with? Did it turn into a story?

mad max: fury road as a practical magic au - i made it work but i sometimes look at this one and wonder what possessed me and when i'll delete it.

Y: What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you've written vs. the popularity of your stories? Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?

it's a mixed bag. i've written things i've loved and they have been well-loved (singling out bang bang ♡). there are a few that get a disproportionate amount of praise to how much effort i put into writing them, which embarrasses me. a multichp fic that becomes popular makes me put more effort into something i might otherwise phone in, which makes me a better writer, so i appreciate the positive pressure.

i think the bulk of my subscribers are from popular fandoms so i really have to temper my expectations wrt engagement when i post something for a barely-there fandom; it can be frustrating to know i have the audience but not their attention. but this has forced me to evaluate my writing based on its own merit, not by the work stats. and sometimes the results are surprising - hero/don john didn't exist on ao3 when i started posting reprise and now it's a whole community. so that's gratifying.

i don't love that some of my most popular fics are from a franchise i dislike, but that's my own fault.

personal satisfaction is always a moving target when it comes to fic because i feel like - it's fanfiction. this is not my great american novel. i've written fic i'm very proud of but i don't actually have anything to prove here. true satisfaction involves my real name embossed on the spine.

Been thinking about them lately.

The Fickle Girl, Life Magazine, March 2, 1922. by Herbert Paus

In my neverending quest to keep Pampérigouste from achieving her dreams, I have launched a formal investigation into her last escape, which I had no explanations for at the time.

I figured it out! At the far far end of her pasture, near the road, a few fence posts have become more or less horizontal (the ground is quite wet / muddy there so they've never been very stable, especially with Pirlouit using them to scratch his forehead)—so instead of a high jump + long jump combo to get to the road, Pampe just had to clear the long jump over the ditch. Which is still impressive.

I also suspect that she chose to escape from this place near the road on a snowy morning as a deliberate strategy, knowing the snow plough would erase any traces of her jump, thus preventing me from discovering where the weak spot in the fence was. Well done.

You need 2 people to fix these fence posts so in the meantime I decided to kill two birds with one stone: cut all the broom and thorny bushes in this corner of the pasture and use them to form a discouraging barrier. I set to work earlier this week, and here's the same place as above, mid-process:

When I texted my mum to tell her about my new thorn-based anti-Pampe plan of action, she said "Like the Maasai who make fences with thorny acacia branches to keep out lions!" and it made me feel even more confident. I mean, I have neither acacia nor Maasai fencing techniques but my thorny shrubs are pretty aggressive, they pricked my fingers even through my thick work gloves—which felt satisfying in an anticipatory way. Excellent! prick Pampe's nose exactly like this. How could a llama not be deterred by a fence material that deters apex predators?

Vexingly enough, she seemed quite supportive of my efforts. At one point she breathed some warm air against my shoulder in a gentle, patronising way.

We were engaged in psychological warfare all afternoon—every time I stepped away from my vegetal fence, feeling like it was now good enough, Pampe would immediately come to inspect it, cheerful and impatient, which sapped my confidence so I would go and add a few more shrubs. (Note that I sort of plaited the first / biggest shrubs with the pre-existing fence so they don't go flying on the road, and so Pampe can't just push them aside.)

On the right: Poldine, looking for little fresh leaves to eat amidst the chaos. On the left: Pampérigouste, thinking.

(At this point the barrier was only 20% thorns, and 80% broom—the fact that she waded through it without a care and didn't prick her belly made me go and add more thorny shrubs, and pack them more densely)

It's kind of fun watching Pampe think, honestly. Can I jump over this? Do I have enough visibility? Can I eat my way to freedom (again)? But these shrubs are disgusting. Am I above exploiting my daughter's lack of culinary discernment to achieve my goals? Maybe I should go back to my calculations re: probability of wild boar destruction. I may have pincushions for hands after handling prickly bushes for two hours but I'm helping stimulate my llama's intellect and creativity and that's so important.

I tried to alternate broom and thorny branches so that the non-thorny broom became tangled up with thorns and brambles to form an impenetrable and incomprehensible wall. I will call it this method the salmagundi-fence.

Poldine is in awe of my vegetal installation.

Can I just say, compared to Pampérigouste who constantly has a devilish glint in her eye, Pampelune's face exudes wholesome politeness and moral goodness. It's still hard to believe they're mother and daughter.

I went home once my fence started looking like Maleficent's forest of thorns and Pampe had long stopped trying to wade through it, but I still felt antsy and ended up coming back one hour later to have my apéritif with the llamas so I could keep an eye on Pampe until nightfall.

... where is Pampe?

Oh. Here. No worries!

Still staring at the road. Still thinking.

...

With all that said, please admire my beautifully delirious Forest of Thorns-fence and let me know what you think.

Oh my gosh please can you share the blank pictures of Borachio from the don John text posts? He’s my absolute favourite and it’s so hard to find good pictures of him!! 🫶

anon, i'm delighted to do this and thank you for the reminder that every character is someone's favorite. here's 10 of the best caps i could find of your guy.

don john + text posts [3]

don john + text posts [2]

don john + text posts [1]

Hero & Don John - too sweet

I heard this song and had to create a video for this pairing. I edited this in a day.

♡

it's my 10 year ao3 anniversary! (plus a day or two but)

ten years ago (WILD) i posted my very first fic. i wrote it in a whirlwind. it's short, just over 2k words. at the time i was spinning on countless unfinished WIPs that weren't going anywhere. finishing one was a triumph and posting it changed my life.

xoxo to everyone who has come along with me over the past decade and given me a reason to share my stories. i am a better writer thanks to your enthusiasm and feedback, and i appreciate you with all my heart! ♡♡

hello lovely :) for the fanfic ask game: A, G [there’s a science to walking through windows without you], L, and W! hope youre having an excellent Saturday <3

thanks friend and back atcha!! it's been a nice chill day over here - finally got the sleep i've been needing for four weeks, the sun is shining, i cleaned up the place, there's a window open in every room :) and after this i'll pick up ballad of songbirds etc - i just got to the start of the games.

A: Of the fanfic you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

probably reprise - i still remember the excitement of starting it and feeling out what it might be. i loved being in hero's head, i enjoyed refashioning canon into something new but recognizable, the language came together the way i wanted it to, and it's the happy ending i would choose for them over any other.

G: If you wrote a sequel to [there's a science], what would it be about?

very little conflict - i think the main source of conflict between them in the og is that they're always trying to tell each other the truth but never say it in a way that the other hears correctly. so now they're on the same page, and he finally has her and he's not stupid enough to jeopardize it with his pomp and circumstance. it would probably begin with both of them in a bit of shock - they didn't see this coming and are completely rerouting from where they thought they were going, and they have to figure out how to be together - but they're ridiculously happy. they fall in love quickly and intensely and without much fanfare - they're not shouting it from the rooftops but anyone who looks at them can see it. they figure out how to do life together. eliza gets a job and it's not a good fit. higgins wants a career change but is uncertain about leaving a tenured position. they don't always know how to help each other get what they want. they say the wrong things. they work hard, together, to learn how to communicate. one night he gives her a ring. they consider eloping but decide to have a huge party instead, and it's joy-packed. she drags him to new restaurants and he grumbles about unknown foods but always ends up liking them. they learn together how to cook and get so into it that they start reading cookbooks in bed. they get a dog. they have a miscarriage - they grieve differently, he isolates himself, she buries herself in her work. they move to the opposite side of the country. pickering gets cancer - it's bad, takes him fast - they grieve together this time. it's about two selfish people learning that love is selfless and discovering the joy of giving and receiving that love, and about the importance of keeping themselves vulnerable when they want to close up and hide, and figuring out how to consistently give themselves to each other while still being able to grow and change individually.

L: Which of your fanfics was the most emotionally challenging to write?

after the storm was like a constant state of soul excoriation. we only have each other was my take on elsa's uncontrolled emotions, and the resolution to the major conflict drew from personal experience, so needless to say writing it was a rollercoaster.

W: What is your favorite pairing to write? Favorite pairing to read?

when actually writing: eliza/higgins are probably the most fun to hang with. for both: i'm pretty much always here for snark/sunshine, whoever that may be. severus/hermione is one of my go-tos d/t the trope and it's popular enough that there's usually always something new to read. my WIP folder is positively bursting with villain/sweetheart AUs, mostly in the form of hero/john ♡

oooh how about U or X for the fic writer’s meme, please

U: Is there a pairing you would like to write, but haven't tried yet.

i don't know if it counts exactly but there's a lois/clark piece i started writing years ago and love with all my heart and have never been able to make much progress on. there are quite a few fairy tales i've always wanted to give an AU spin to - bluebeard and king thrushbeard particularly, but inspiration is fickle.

X: How would you categorize your fanfic reading? Are you a voracious reader? Do you carefully pick and choose? Something in between?

i consistently fall into the trap of getting into bed and thinking i'll just read a little bit of fic :) to wind down the day :) and then get sucked into a 85k-er and am still there fighting sleep at 2 AM. sometimes i read fic multiple nights in a row but i'll go weeks without opening ao3 too, especially if i'm in a irl book reading mood. the ideal fic is an 7-15k romance with substance, no archive warnings apply, opposites attract, credible conflict without melodrama or schmaltz, solid HEA. i'm always on the hunt but i feel like i've exhausted the ao3 stores where these sorts of fics are concerned and all that's left is the fluff and weird stuff. currently accepting recommendations!!!

Lamaisinpierrefrey

Fanfic Writer Ask Meme

A: Of the fanfic you’ve written, which is your favorite and why? B:  What was the first fandom you read fic in?  Which was the first you wrote fic for? C:  How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]? D: What’s the most personal fanfic you’ve written? E: What character do you identify with most?  Is there a certain fic of yours that captures these qualities particularly well? F: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with [insert fic]? G: If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about? H: How would you describe your writing style? I: How many fandoms have you written in?  Do you have a favorite? J:  What’s your favorite fanfic trope?  Have you written it? K:  Do you have a guilty pleasures in fic (reading or writing)? L:  Which of your fanfics was the most emotionally challenging to write? M: What’s the weirdest AU scenario you’ve ever come up with?  Did it turn into a story? N: Any fic ideas brewing that you’d care to share? O: What are your thoughts on people writing fanfic of your fanfic? P:  Where did you find the most inspiration for your story < insert title >? Q: Do you like getting prompts from your readers? R: Which writers (fanfic or otherwise) do you consider the biggest influence on you and your writing? S: How do you feel about fan art inspired by your writing? T: Any fanfic tropes you can’t stand? U: Is there a pairing you would like to write, but haven’t tried yet. V: Are there certain comments you’ve received on your stories that have stuck with you? W: What is your favorite pairing to write?  Favorite pairing to read? X: How would you categorize your fanfic reading?  Are you a voracious reader?  Do you carefully pick and choose?  Something in between? Y: What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you’ve written vs. the popularity of your stories?  Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?   Z: Is there a story you’ve written that doesn’t seem to get much love?

Beauty and the Beast (2014) dir. Christophe Gans

Live Crawley Reaction™

Downton Abbey: A New Era dir. Simon Curtis

Drawing in mspaint? Cool, impressive,  But whenever I see that, I think about the person who makes their art in power point  Every time I see them it boggles me

(their account)