shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

some fanart of the fic the man downstairs by @rum-and-shattered-dreams!! i love this au and fic sm its one of my all time favs, and this scene is one of my favourite parts (:

#reblogging here too! #the man downstairs au #the man downstairs #the man downstairs fic

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - September 1, 2023

Thank you so much to everyone who has been waiting patiently for any news on this and to everyone who is new to it and has been liking, leaving kudos, and posting comments! It's greatly appreciated and I'm looking forward to replying to the comments soon!

This story is still very much on my mind and I do want to finish it as soon as I'm able. Things have been mostly good lately especially because there are kittens involved. If I'm being honest, I haven't even been overly "busy." In fact, it's been purposely less busy because I've been trying to respect my spoon levels and rest when needed, even if it's a frustratingly large amount of attempting to rest and an annoyingly small amount of getting things done. But it's good to better understand just how far I was overextending myself for most of my life and that, no, I wasn't just being lazy or faking being tired to get out of doing things - I was legitimately exhausted. (The fact that I wanted to be able to do the things and felt bad if I couldn't should have been the first clue but, you know...)

Anyway, it's so far been a positive thing because I've gone from not having the energy to care about anything to feeling slightly capable of not only caring but being able to do things again thanks to giving myself some slack and a mindful rest/productivity balance as well as setting some boundaries both with the outside world and with myself.

I'm hoping that will translate into working on this fic again soon. I'll post more updates as things progress.

Thanks again to everyone!

#the man downstairs au #the man downstairs status report #the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - March 25, 2023

I’ve set this on hiatus for now but still plan to get back to it both for those who are interested in seeing where it goes and because it will bother me that it’s unfinished. (Also still planning to get back to Heroism is Subjective someday for the same reasons).

As mentioned in a previous post, it’s been a bad few months depression-wise and I’m working with my doctors to try to get it figured out. There’s nothing particularly bad or dangerous going on at the moment, though (just the sort of emotional aftermath of a bunch of stuff from last year - probably a lot of big stuff I don’t really know how to express or feel so everything has shut down instead). In fact, there are a lot of things I feel fortunate for right now even through the overall apathetic blah. Just going to keep trying to take the next step that seems like it’s in a useful direction and hope for the best.

Thanks everyone for reading along and for being patient with updates! I just need to regain the ability to feel things to actually get into a good place to write again.

Virtual hugs to you all!

#the man downstairs status report #the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs au #the man downstairs #mo’s writing and such #mo’s ramblings and such

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - February 2, 2023

An outline for chapter 79 exists. I am slowly poking at it but it’s difficult to write these days. 2022 was a rough year in a way that doesn’t feel like it until I really think about it and then it’s an “oh” moment as to why I “got nothing done” and failed to meet any goals and am constantly exhausted.*(more under the cut)

So I’m just trying to rest a bit now and get some stuff done around the house, maybe try to reach some of the smaller goals, at least. That and this fic is So Much now that it’s a challenge to keep track of everything and tie it all together. 

Apologies for inconsistencies and mistakes. I am trying to search for them and correct them (like I did correct one in chapter 78 recently where Stan had left the basement door open even though it was previously established that no one would do that because it might let Bill in.) 

But yeah, with my crap memory, even if I’ve made specific notes about something, I have to double check because I don’t trust myself and even then, I’m probably still misremembering things that were already written. 

Anyway, I’m not actually sure when the next chapter will be ready but just wanted to mention that it is in the works. Thanks so much to everyone who is following along or who is new to this fic. Virtual hugs to you all and I hope this year brings good things to you <3

Keep reading

#the man downstairs status report #the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs au #the man downstairs

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

Chapter 78 - Family

Update - December 23, 2022

Overall synopsis (for anyone who is newly interested):

A Gravity Falls AU idea where, in 1982, Stan threw a rope to Ford as he was being pulled into the portal. He let go of his journal in favor of grabbing the rope and it was lost to Bill’s dimension. Stan had saved him and for that, he was grateful. They talked and forgave each other for the past and all seemed well for as much as a day. That was when Bill’s ruthless anger became apparent and he took full advantage of his deal with Ford. Thirty years later, the demon is still punishing them for their refusal to rebuild the portal.

Chapter Summary:

None of the Pines are perfect but they value that they’re family and want to put in the effort to stay that way.

Notes:

~Happy Holidays and New Year and such! Hope everyone is hanging in there! ~Warnings: This is a fairly light chapter with some fluff and comfort but there’s also some self-depreciation from a depression spiral, a vague mention of past drug use, and some anxiety/panic/emotional reactions to traumatic memories ~I made some minor edits to the last chapter - just reworded a few things that felt awkward when I looked over it again. ~Fixed a timeline continuity error in chapter 75 that incorrectly placed the events of the last few chapters in the morning. This is all happening in the evening/overnight after the Pines Family therapy appointment. Sorry for the confusion!

AO3 link

#nighttime reblog #delete later

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

Chapter 78 - Family

Update - December 23, 2022

Overall synopsis (for anyone who is newly interested):

A Gravity Falls AU idea where, in 1982, Stan threw a rope to Ford as he was being pulled into the portal. He let go of his journal in favor of grabbing the rope and it was lost to Bill’s dimension. Stan had saved him and for that, he was grateful. They talked and forgave each other for the past and all seemed well for as much as a day. That was when Bill’s ruthless anger became apparent and he took full advantage of his deal with Ford. Thirty years later, the demon is still punishing them for their refusal to rebuild the portal.

Chapter Summary:

None of the Pines are perfect but they value that they’re family and want to put in the effort to stay that way.

Notes:

~Happy Holidays and New Year and such! Hope everyone is hanging in there! ~Warnings: This is a fairly light chapter with some fluff and comfort but there’s also some self-depreciation from a depression spiral, a vague mention of past drug use, and some anxiety/panic/emotional reactions to traumatic memories ~I made some minor edits to the last chapter - just reworded a few things that felt awkward when I looked over it again. ~Fixed a timeline continuity error in chapter 75 that incorrectly placed the events of the last few chapters in the morning. This is all happening in the evening/overnight after the Pines Family therapy appointment. Sorry for the confusion!

AO3 link

#the man downstairs au #the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs #mo's writing and such

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - December 17, 2022

Chapter 78 is close to being done. I still need to clean up the last two scenes/ending and I’d like to look over the whole thing again before posting. I’m hoping to post sometime tomorrow but also have a lot to do tomorrow so it may be a weird chapter that will be posted during the week. I’d like to get it done before Christmas weekend so *fingers crossed*

Hope everyone is doing alright/hanging in there!

#the man downstairs au #the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs status report #the man downstairs

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - December 8, 2022

Ha ha ha well, the outline for the next chapter is finally put together. This one has been difficult because I had notes for it all over the place. There were duplicate ideas written/conceptualized in different ways and contradictory ones and ones that no longer applied and ones that made the timeline/order of events hard to figure out.

Add on top of that the ADHD med shortage. I was trying to stretch them to be at least semi-functional for the survival parts of life which left little brain battery for sorting this out. (And whoa the RSD sure crept back in even with taking half doses or taking a whole one every other day. Holy crap that might actually be the most debilitating part for me.)

So, in theory, I need to draft, revise, then edit chapter 78 and it will be ready. It definitely won’t be ready this weekend but if things go alright, maybe next weekend? Hopefully?

On another note, I mentioned trying to end this with 100 chapters and I’m still not sure how that’s going to go. I have notes and loose outlines put together for the rest and it’s looking like it’ll run for about 93 - 95 chapters but some of those might be longer or shorter than expected once I start digging into the ideas there. 

As for what’s coming, a lot of minor things will be resolved in upcoming chapters while the main conflict of Bill vs. Everyone builds up to some major events. Hope everyone enjoys where this goes from here because canon has basically been shot out of a cannon at this point aside from a mention of Northwest Mansion Mystery that will help lead up to those major events.

Thanks to everyone who has supported this in any way! Your comments, bookmarks, and kudos are the fuel that this run on!  

#the man downstairs #the man downstairs au #the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs status report

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

Chapter 77 - Restoring Clarity (Part 2)

Update - November 12, 2022

Overall synopsis (for anyone who is newly interested):

A Gravity Falls AU idea where, in 1982, Stan threw a rope to Ford as he was being pulled into the portal. He let go of his journal in favor of grabbing the rope and it was lost to Bill’s dimension. Stan had saved him and for that, he was grateful. They talked and forgave each other for the past and all seemed well for as much as a day. That was when Bill’s ruthless anger became apparent and he took full advantage of his deal with Ford. Thirty years later, the demon is still punishing them for their refusal to rebuild the portal.

Chapter Summary:

The Pines, Dr. Braum, and Lottie gain an understanding of exactly how much damage Bill caused in multiple places and everyone works toward healing whatever they can.

Notes:

~Part 2 of the 2 part chapter ~Warnings: Pretty much the same as last chapter ~I got to post the poster I made for @gf10yearslaterzine​! It’s here if anyone wants to see. Check out their tumblr for more awesome creations! ~Sort of funny but, at this point, I was thinking it would be amusing to end this at 100 chapters but I’m not actually sure if there’s that much of it left. There might be, given how many chapters I thought would be 1 but ended up being multiples. Right now the estimate is around 91-93. So I guess we’ll see how it goes? The ending I have planned took the top 3 votes from the poll into consideration but isn’t exactly sticking to any one of the options. I needed some direction and inspiration to figure things out and am grateful to everyone who voted and commented and to everyone who has joined in on reading since then! (Which ones were the top 3? Guess we’ll find out!)

AO3 link

#the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs au #the man downstairs

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

Chapter 76 - Restoring Clarity (Part 1)

Update - October 15, 2022

Overall synopsis (for anyone who is newly interested):

A Gravity Falls AU idea where, in 1982, Stan threw a rope to Ford as he was being pulled into the portal. He let go of his journal in favor of grabbing the rope and it was lost to Bill’s dimension. Stan had saved him and for that, he was grateful. They talked and forgave each other for the past and all seemed well for as much as a day. That was when Bill’s ruthless anger became apparent and he took full advantage of his deal with Ford. Thirty years later, the demon is still punishing them for their refusal to rebuild the portal.

Chapter Summary:

The Pines cope with the aftermath of their first therapy appointment, Dr. Braum and Lottie try to help Ford but he inadvertently helps them remember something important, Dipper and Mabel find a way to discover what has Ford so distressed, and Stan realizes he actually is good at being comforting.  

Notes:

~Yeah… Another chapter that got too long and became two but the title covers the theme of both so… Part 1 and part 2 it is. ~Warnings: Begins with one character seeing another in a negative light due to current circumstances but there is more to it that will resolve in time. Discussion of untreated depression and suicidal ideation and how it can affect other family members, continues with Ford’s breakdown from the end of the last chapter, sedation of a patient who is a danger to himself, and there’s one more warning I’ll put in the end notes on AO3 because it’s potentially spoilery. ~OH! The Patented, Ma-Approved Method of Soothing a Stan Twin to Sleep is pretty relevant to this chapter (but it’s just additional story and not necessary to understand this). ~Sorry this took so long, things have been busy in both good ways and stressful ones that turned out okay, one of which was evacuating from a hurricane by the same name as a character in this (awkward).

AO3 Link

#the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs au #the man downstairs

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - October 8, 2022

Chapter 76 is close to being done but I don’t see it being ready to post tonight. I’m going to keep working at it and aim for posting tomorrow night. 

As I was working on it this week, I encountered a trouble spot and had to go back and reread a bunch of stuff to clear it up so it took longer than anticipated. But I’m beyond that part now and moving forward quickly. 

Thanks for your patience, everyone! Hope you have a great rest of the weekend!

#yeah writing didn’t work out today #evening reblog

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - October 8, 2022

Chapter 76 is close to being done but I don’t see it being ready to post tonight. I’m going to keep working at it and aim for posting tomorrow night. 

As I was working on it this week, I encountered a trouble spot and had to go back and reread a bunch of stuff to clear it up so it took longer than anticipated. But I’m beyond that part now and moving forward quickly. 

Thanks for your patience, everyone! Hope you have a great rest of the weekend!

#the man downstairs status report #the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs #the man downstairs au

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - October 1, 2022

TL;DR - Hopefully the next chapter will be up next Saturday. 

My area got super lucky with the hurricane and didn’t get any damage. I feel horrible for everyone to the south who got hit hard with not much warning. For days it was predicted to head north then at the last minute, nope. Good luck getting your shutters up and evacuating in less than a day while you’re probably already getting wind and rain and road closures! I am so sorry to you all. If anyone out there is saying anything about how they should have been ready and evacuated, you have no idea what it’s like to suddenly have it change course and come right at you. You can’t look at where the center is. Sometimes these places are already getting pelted with strong bands before it makes the turn toward them and it’s already dangerous to leave your home. (Downed power lines in pooling water, puddles that look shallow but your car will float away in them, alligators and no I am not kidding they will randomly show up in standing/flood water along with their water moccasin friends, downed trees you can’t see until you’ve pretty much crashed into them, random tornadoes, etc.)

Anyway, my dad and I did evacuate for a few days just in case because it was aimed right at us for a bit (as in, I zoomed in on the map and the center track took it a few feet away from our house) and I put up the shutters and did all of the prep. I found a hotel that let us bring our cats and learned that Moo apparently like traveling (and seems like she wants to do it again) but Meow very much does not.

Staying there for the storm would have been fun if it didn’t start raining down the inside of the windows halfway through XD. It was a nice place for a pretty cheap price but just took some damage from the wind and rain pelting it on that side for more than 24 hours. We did lose power in the early morning about ¾ of the way through the storm but were able to head back home that afternoon and had power there. Now everything is cleaned up and the shutters are down and the housework that got shunted off of the schedule due to hurricane is done. 

Now to get back to focusing on dad’s health. Basically, he got lucky that some other symptoms landed him in the hospital and they found a seriously large aneurysm and were able to repair it before it burst. He had another incident after that with another shorter hospital stay and now we’re trying to put all of the pieces together to figure out exactly what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

And among all of this, a few friends moved in with me for a while which has been fun and helpful in a lot of ways for everyone involved but I have wanted to spend some time with them too because i barely got to see them for a long time because life and distance and all that. I’ve known one of them for 23 years now and we’ve pretty much at least messaged each other at least once a day for most of that time. It’s been great getting to talk in person again and cook together and stuff like we used to during convention costume prep back in the day.

But yeah, that all took time so I didn’t really get to work on the next chapter, though I did get in a few hours on it today. Now I’m hoping, fingers crossed, if things can stay okay for the next week, I should be able to have it up by next Saturday. 

Hope everyone is well and thanks so much for sticking with me during the unexpected hiatus! 

(Also, ha. Maybe I’m not always making the right decisions and maybe I make mistakes but I’ve been handling this all like a fucking boss so there’s that.)

#the man downstairs status report #the man downstairs #the man downstairs au #the man downstairs fic

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - September 24, 2022

Welp, things were busy in a good way, then they got busy in a bad way (that turned out okay for now but is still taking a lot of time and energy to hopefully keep them that way), and now they’re busy in a “there might be a major hurricane here in a few days” way. 

I guess we’ll see where it actually does go because it’s too far out to accurately say yet. But in the meantime, there’s the “just in case” general prep and planning.

So yeah, still no new chapter. I honestly haven’t been able to focus on it lately even when I do get a bit of time. Just not enough spoons. But I am still excited to get back to it when I can. Thanks to everyone who’s been reading along for your patience! I hope you’re all doing well and have a nice rest of the weekend!

#evening reblog #delete later

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - September 24, 2022

Welp, things were busy in a good way, then they got busy in a bad way (that turned out okay for now but is still taking a lot of time and energy to hopefully keep them that way), and now they’re busy in a “there might be a major hurricane here in a few days” way. 

I guess we’ll see where it actually does go because it’s too far out to accurately say yet. But in the meantime, there’s the “just in case” general prep and planning.

So yeah, still no new chapter. I honestly haven’t been able to focus on it lately even when I do get a bit of time. Just not enough spoons. But I am still excited to get back to it when I can. Thanks to everyone who’s been reading along for your patience! I hope you’re all doing well and have a nice rest of the weekend!

#the man downstairs #the man downstairs au #the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs status report

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Update - September 11, 2022

Things have been busy but in a good way. I’m still poking at chapter 76 when I can and hoping to have it up either next Saturday or the week after. It’s another chapter that hits pretty close to home with some of its emotional content so it takes a lot to write it but, again, it’s helpful to work through some of this stuff this way.

Hope everyone has a good week!

#the man downstairs status report #the man downstairs fic #the man downstairs au #the man downstairs

[shattereddreams-gravityfallsfics]

The Man Downstairs Status Report - August 27, 2022

I am working on the next chapter. It’s outlined and some dialogue and prose exists. I’m excited to finish and share it because this one is more on the imaginative/creative/positive adventure side of things!  

But I have also been pretty busy with a lot of things lately. My dad was in the hospital for nearly a week and had a major surgery. He’s home now and it’s actually extremely lucky that we caught this when we did. I just hope he’ll recover alright. It was a lot for him. 

Also on the exciting side of things is that some friends will be staying with me for a few months so I’ve been busy getting things ready around the house so they’ll have space and so someone other than me can find where things are. XD It’ll be nice to have more people around to eat what I cook and to cook their food so I can try it. And, of course, to have the company. Especially if they can stay for the holidays. It’ll be great to have more good reasons than “because I feel like it” to decorate and bake and stuff. 

Anyway, wishing everyone the best. Stay tuned for more hopefully in the next week or two! (Probably two because next week is likely to be super busy).

#evening reblog