griseldabanks

[griseldabanks]

Naomi Mills

#captain america #whole shards #take me in #meet my ocs

[griseldabanks]

Kenneth Gates

#rather than fan-favorite i hope he becomes a fan UNfavorite #captain america #whole shards #take me in #kenneth gates #meet my ocs

[griseldabanks]

Would you do 6, 15, and 18 for the fanfic writer ask game, please?

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time?

Hmm...all the time? Not really, though I do periodically go back through and reread old favorites. The one I have perhaps read the most is an FMA fic, Tempest by bookwrm389.

15. How do you come up with titles for your fics/chapters?

Most often, I draw on songs for inspiration. I find a song that fits the story, then glean a titley-sounding phrase from it. If that fails...all bets are off ^^' I do prefer to title my chapters, but sometimes that leads to rather boring titles like "Ominous Implications."

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

Most of the lines I'm proudest of don't sound that great out of context. But I was just thinking about this one yesterday, so I'll go with this one from my fic Make Me Whole: "Winter was at his side, and winter was all around him, and he had never tasted air so sweet and fresh." (Winter being the name of a character.)

Fanfic Writer Asks

#ask and you shall receive #general-illyrin #ask games

[griseldabanks]

Me getting a new fic idea:

#mood

[griseldabanks]

my advice for making art again after years of not making art when making art is intrinsic to who you are and also you feel like you Can't Do It Anymore

you have to find the door in your brain where the little guy lives who likes to make stuff and is insane. and then you have to open the door and let him out

at that point I typically listen to some music for five or six hours while the little man in my brain does insane things and then I come back and clean up and take care of human things. and he goes back into. the door

#writing advice #need to stash this away for my next burn-out

[griseldabanks]

I’m Bored and Anxious So I Slapped Together a List of Fan Fic Writer Asks

1. Share a song that makes you think of [fic title] 2. Do you read/reread your own fics? 3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written? 4. How many WIPs do you have right now? 5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write? 6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time? 7. How many ideas for fics do you have right now? 8. What project(s) are you currently working on? 9. Do you write every day? If you wrote today, share a sentence of what you’ve written! 10. Is there a fic that got a different response than you were expecting? 11. Do you have specific playlists for writing fics? 12. Do you have a playlist for your current WIP(s)? Share it! 13. How much planning do you do before writing? 14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which fan fic would you pick? 15. How do you come up with titles for your fics/chapters? 16. At what point in the process do you come up with titles? 17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic? 18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic? 19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs. 20. What’s a favorite title for a fic you’ve written? 21. Have you ever deleted an entire scene after spending hours laboring over it? If so, why? 22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing? 23. How do you choose where to end a chapter (if you have multi-chapter works)? 24. Share a moodboard for (one of) your current WIP(s). 25. Have you ever upset yourself with your own writing? 26. Is there something you’ve written that you would never want your family to see? 27. Is there a fic you were nervous to post/share? Why? 28. Have you ever tagged a fic “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat”? 29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.) 30. Ask anything!

#ask games #can't remember if i've done this one before but might as well send it around just in case

[griseldabanks]

Write fanfiction guiltlessly. Do it not only because it’s good practice, not only because you don’t feel like putting your energy into original stuff, but because you do feel like putting your energy into fandom. Write fanfics of epic proportions or tiny one-shots; write fluff or angst or cliches or tropes; publish the roughest version or keep the twelfth draft for only yourself. Do it without feeling bad. You owe no one anything; the act of creation is a gift in and of itself, and it doesn’t matter if you’re creating fanfic or original stories or whatever else you want. All that matters is you enjoy it, because why else would you do it at the end of the day?

Write fanfiction guiltlessly.

#writing encouragement

[griseldabanks]

Advice I gave someone today was: 'do it stupid.'

She wants to learn photography. Do it stupid. Take a million photos. Don't think about why they're not good. Enjoy the process of taking photos.

Pick out tge ones you like the most and figure out why you like them. Is it because the subject is centered? Is it because you caught them doing something cool? Is it because the light made cool shadows?

Do it stupid. If you try to do it smart, youll get stuck. If you think too much you'll never get to doing. Do it stupid.

#writing advice #related to my constant refrain of 'write the stupid version first'

[griseldabanks]

Maggie Kim

#whoa i almost got bingo! #but the thing is...she doesn't even appear on-screen so she's not exactly hard to write ^^' #i guess that also means we don't know for SURE that she's good-looking...but i just know she is #captain america #whole shards #take me in #maggie kim #meet my ocs

[griseldabanks]

Hey, can you update the Let Me Count the Ways list of which ones are taken? Thanks! 😘

Lol, I feel like I've just been pulled by the ear into the other room to be disciplined XD

The prompt list has now been updated!

#ask and you shall receive #a2on1break

[griseldabanks]

34 for Al and Hawkeye, please?

Let Me Count the Ways ask game

Prompt: "I'll keep you safe."

Maybe they shouldn't have stopped for burgers and shakes. It was pouring rain out there, and the temperature was dropping fast. Might turn into freezing rain before too long.

But Five Guys was their tradition. Riza drove Al to speech therapy, and as long as he didn't drag his feet or have a bad attitude about it, they would stop for a late lunch on their way home. They even had a little ritual they ran through each time, just for fun. “Hmm, where should we go for lunch?” Riza would ask, pretending to think. Then Al would hold up one hand, grinning along with the joke, and Riza would say, “Five Guys?” as if she never would have thought of it on her own. Then they would both laugh like it was the best joke they'd ever heard.

The only time Riza got to hear her foster son's voice was when he laughed. It was worth it.

“Got your scarf and gloves?” Riza asked, opening her umbrella before putting one hand on the door.

Woolen blue fingers wrapped around her arm. She glanced down and saw Al huddling close to her as if for warmth, eyeing the door with trepidation. Riza tugged the hood of his blue coat over his head, then wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “Don't worry, Al,” she murmured. “I'll keep you safe. Let's just run, and it'll be over in five seconds, okay?”

Slowly, Al nodded.

It was more of a huddling jog than a run, and it took more than five seconds because Riza had to juggle both the umbrella and the key fob, but they both made it into the car relatively dry. With a relieved sigh, Riza tossed the sopping umbrella to the floor on the passenger side and turned on the car, cranking up the heat all the way. She swiped her damp bangs out of her face and checked on Al in the rearview mirror. He was buckled in and shivering hard, hugging himself and rocking slightly. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to be instantly transported home. How she wished she could spare him the drive.

Riza decided the best thing would be to get home as fast as possible, so she didn't say anything more to him, just started the windshield wipers and eased back out of their parking space. “These wipers are useless in the rain,” she muttered, squinting through the smeared windshield and turning on the defroster. She needed to text Roy and see if he could pick up some replacements on the way home.

As she headed for the highway, Riza mentally ran through her to-do list. Once they got home, she needed to call the phone company to see if the issue with the bills had gotten sorted out. She should peek into the boys' bathroom and make sure they'd cleaned it like they were supposed to, and then she needed to clean her and Roy's bathroom. By then it would probably be time to start on supper, and oh, was today a karate day and had Roy said he could drive the boys or—

The loud blare of a horn startled Riza out of her thoughts. A semi, slipping out of control from the left. Moving on pure instinct, Riza slammed her foot on the gas and aimed for the shoulder. The semi slipped and slid on its way, and they jostled and bumped over the muddy grass. Riza managed to stop before the ground fell away into the ditch. Hands shaking, she pulled the parking brake and turned on the hazard lights before letting out a long, slow breath of relief.

She looked over her shoulder to find Al hunched over in his seat, his gloved hands clawing at his face as he drew in shaky, shuddering breaths. “Al? Are you okay?” No, that was a stupid question. “Are you hurt?” she amended. “Alphonse!”

The twelve-year-old boy peeked over his hands at her, but she could tell that he didn't see her. It was like he was looking through her, to another rainy day in another car with another woman sitting behind the wheel as a truck came out of nowhere....

“Al....” Riza unfastened her seatbelt and clambered over the center console, squeezing between the front seats to get to the back. It was difficult and inelegant, but she managed. Better than opening the door and letting in all that cold wind and rain.

As she settled into the seat next to Al, she listened to his frantic, choked breaths that came faster and faster with every passing minute. He wasn't looking at her, just staring fixedly at the driver's seat. Occasionally, his eyes slid over to the front passenger seat as well.

Riza's heart clenched tightly as she imagined what he must be seeing. Trisha Elric, forehead resting on the steering wheel, blood trickling down the side of her face, her vacant eyes staring into nothing. Ed, trapped under the twisted metal, blood spreading up his left leg. Still breathing, but so shallow, so erratic, eyes closed. No response to Al's screams. The last words Al had ever spoken, a desperate plea for his family to not leave him alone.

She hadn't been there. She'd only read reports from after the fact, and talked to Mrs. Rockbell and the boys' therapists. And yet, she could see it all as clearly as if she'd lived it herself. She could almost hear those screams.

“Mom...Mom...Mom....”

Wait. That voice, ragged and faint, wasn't just in her imagination. Tears sprang to her eyes as she heard that one word whispered in wheezing gasps muffled behind blue gloves.

She could have listened to that voice for hours, but Al was shaking so hard she actually thought she could feel the car rocking slightly. So Riza scooted a little closer, saying as gently as she could, “Al? Can you listen to me, sweetie? I need you to breathe with me.”

His eyes latched onto hers, and for the first time since they'd swerved off the road, he actually seemed to see her.

“That's right,” Riza said, reaching for his hands. “Just like we always do, okay?”

He let her take his hands in hers and pull them away from his face. Riza led him in a deep breathing exercise, and found that her own heart rate eased as well. The adrenaline from their near miss was beginning to wear off, leaving her feeling exhausted and limp. She almost wished she'd brought Hayate with them after all. They both could have used the soothing comfort of his soft fur and warm, wet tongue.

“We're okay,” she whispered, reassuring herself as much as Al. “You're safe now. We're both safe.”

Just like every time thunder and lightning put Ed on edge and sent Al skittering into their bedroom to crawl under the covers. Roy would get up to make everyone hot chocolate, Ed would crank up his music so they could hear it faintly through his headphones, and Al would curl up like one of his cats against her side, and they would all cram into the king-sized bed to wait out the storm.

“Mom,” Al croaked again, his voice rough from disuse. “Mom....”

Tears spilled over his cheeks, and Riza reached over to gently brush them away. “I know, honey, I know.” Hot tears stung her own eyes. “I'm so sorry.”

“Mom....” Al raised one gloved hand and placed it on her cheek. He was looking at her so intently, so earnestly, like there was so much he wanted to say, but he was stuck on that one word, choking on the sobs that shook him head to foot. He put his other hand on her other cheek, as if to hold her in place. “Mom....”

A thought occurred to her, as sudden and shocking as the semi that had nearly hit them: He's calling me Mom.

Tears blurred her eyes till she couldn't even see him. “I'm here,” she whispered.

He flung his arms around her, squeezing so hard it took her breath away. She hugged him back, held him tight, squeezed her eyes shut against the tears. She rocked them back and forth, patting him on the back.

Riza had always known motherhood would be strange for her, who had never known the gentle touch of a mother. When she and Roy had first talked about starting a family, she had been plagued with doubts about whether she would be able to manage it. A thousand times, she'd tried to imagine herself rocking a baby to sleep, kissing the skinned knees and bumped foreheads of a toddler or two...and she'd always drawn a blank, since she'd never had that herself. What if she could never get the hang of it? She was a soldier, not a mother.

And yet, sitting in this car on the side of the road, holding a twelve-year-old boy sobbing his heart out...it didn't matter that she hadn't given birth to him. It didn't matter that they'd only known each other for a little over a year. It didn't matter that they'd never once had a normal conversation.

This was her son. She loved him so much she thought her chest might split open with the force of it. And judging from the way Al kept sobbing that name over and over again, clutching at her like his life depended on it...he felt the same.

#ask and you shall receive #valiantarcher #ask games #let me count the ways #full metal alchemist #fullmetal alchemist #fma #riza hawkeye #alphonse elric #modern day real world au #i've fallen in love with this au and am dying to write more in it <3

[griseldabanks]

The devastating difference between how much time it takes to write something vs how fast people read it lol

#writing encouragement #that i may very well need as i will soon be posting a fic that's taken me seven years to write

[griseldabanks]

Tommy

#captain america #whole shards #take me in #tommy #meet my ocs

[griseldabanks]

#writer problems

[griseldabanks]

Vince Davison

#the 'very good-looking' is less about his physical appearance and more that i think he has a nice voice #and a great laugh #captain america #whole shards #take me in #vince davison #meet my ocs

[griseldabanks]

“It's like...like I'm a piece of paper.” He scowled down at his scars, scribbled across his arm as if by an angry child. “A piece of paper?” Dr. Robbins prompted. “Yeah. It starts out smooth and perfect. Full of potential. But then once you crumple it up....” He clenched his fist, watching the way the scars shifted from the motion. “No matter how hard you try to smooth it out again, it's never going to be perfect like it was before. Or if you write on it, it's never going to look the same again. Even if you write in pencil and you erase it...you can still tell. And no matter what anyone does...there's no erasing this.” He raised his arm to display his scars.

This week’s word is…

✨ MOTION ✨

Find the word in any WIP and share the sentence containing it. Reply, reblog, stick it in the tags, tag us in a new post, or keep it private. All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome.

#word game wednesday #captain america #whole shards #take me in #bucky barnes #william robbins

[griseldabanks]

William Robbins

#honestly one of the best ocs i've ever created #he was somehow almost effortless to write even though the subject matter of his conversations required SO much research #curious to see if anyone can figure out the significance of his name without any context :P #captain america #whole shards #take me in #william robbins