#I plan to have at least one more chapter done before the end of february

[hayffiebird]

Taste of Strawberries, chap. 35

Hayffie Post-Mockingjay Multi-chapter, Rated M SUMMARY: Four years have passed since the end of the war when Effie returns in to Haymitch’s life once again. An old friendship is renewed. Will it lead to something more? Meanwhile Panem has entered a new era. The rebellion’s over, the borders are open but in the shadows, anger and mistrust are smoldering. Something that will affect Haymitch and Effie’s life in a way they never saw coming. Chapter 35 Stolen moments “I’m home!” Effie thrilled and dropped the duffel bag on the hallway carpet. “Wait until you see what Sae got us!” Snow dripped off her muffler as she unwound it. The house was heaven after the vicious chill outside. Struggling with the buttons of her coat, she blew some life into her hands. Even with mittens on her fingers turned stiff as fish sticks right out of the freezer. “I ran into Hazelle on the way home,” she prattled on, carrying the bag through the house. “She said we’re welcome over for coffee on Saturday. That gives us more than enough time to practice baking those peanut butter cookies I told you about. Peeta got me this amazing recipe! Oh, and I arranged a play date for the twins and Sae’s youngest grandson next week. It will be fab…” Her voice trailed off. Through the walls came a sound she hadn’t heard in ages. No, not for many years now. Is that Haymitch? Couldn’t be anybody else. She followed the sound into the living room. Appeared just in time for the twins to join in. They sat on the floor. All three of them. Haymitch with his back to her, cross-legged on the carpet. Amy and Ian sat before him, supported by a sea of pillows. All around them were pieces of paper, torn apart. Haymitch just took a fresh one and ripped it in two. The children giggled like mad and they weren’t the only ones. With a big smile on her face, Effie leaned into the doorframe, watching. Before the twins were born she’d only ever heard Haymitch laugh like that, laugh until tears rolled down his face, when he got drunk with Chaff during the Games.

Unaware of her presence, Haymitch took another piece of paper and Amy and Ian squealed with giggles until they fought for air when he ripped it apart, letting it sail through the air. He repeated the game over and over and joined in their amusement with that big belly-laugh of his that she loved and got to hear so infrequently. “Oh, man,” Haymitch got out in between chuckles and wiped the tears with the back of his hand. “You guys are the best!” Watching Haymitch with his children these past few months had revealed a whole new side of him that Effie had never seen before. She used to believe that the Games killed the man Haymitch could have become but maybe a part of that happier, more relaxed side of him had always been there, deep down. Never dead, just dormant. Like tulip bulbs embedded in the earth, waiting for spring. It was a precious, precious thing she was fortunate enough to witness. Those tender new leaves, new blossoms that Amy and Ian brought out in him. Haymitch Abernathy’s capacity to love was enormous. Greater than anyone she’d ever known. She always suspected it of course, especially after Katniss and Peeta were thrust upon him. But ever since Haymitch became a dad she got daily reminders in a dozen different ways of just how big his heart actually was. He’d fallen head over heels in love with the twins. No question about it. “Knock, knock,” she said with her fist against the wood. Haymitch turned his head. “Oh, hey Effs. Come on in.” Smiling, she pushed herself off of the doorframe. “Hello, my loves.” She dropped a kiss to first Amy’s, then Ian’s head. “Having a good time with dada?” “Yeah, we’re havin’ a blast,” said Haymitch. “You could’ve saved a fortune in toys, Eff. I tell ya. Our tots are the most easily entertained kids in all of Panem. Here, have a go!” “Alright,” said Effie and accepted the paper. She ripped it swiftly in two and the twins gave a toothless giggle. She handed the pieces back to Haymitch. “I’m not even upset that it’s my most expensive letter paper you’re tearing to shreds.” Haymitch ripped the twos into fours, chuckling when they chuckled. “Huh? What?” he asked. “Nothing.” She joined them on the floor with the duffel bag on her lap. Ian had gotten his hands on a slip of paper and Effie retrieved it by second nature before he stuffed it in his mouth. The paper was still big enough to be ripped in half and she handed it to Haymitch, who didn’t disappoint. She treasured these moments. Even with the lack of sleep, the past couple of months were some of the happiest days of her life. Especially since their return to District 12. In times like this she could almost, almost believe there would be no more bad spells. Believe that Haymitch lead a sober life now. For his children. But sitting right next to him, there was no denying the fierce shakes in Haymitch’s hands, the redness of his eyes, his clammy forehead. It both warmed and pinched her heart that he managed to find happiness like this, even though he struggled more than ever before. Haymitch never used the word “alcoholic” about himself but he wasn’t a dumb man. You didn’t hallucinate during withdrawals, shaking and screaming at terrible things only you could see unless you were in serious trouble. Maybe, possibly there’d been a time when she believed he could find a way to drink responsibly. That with her help and the help of Katniss and Peeta, Sae, Hazelle – all the people who cared about him – he’d manage to keep it under control. But at the end of the day she knew it was all wishful thinking. Haymitch was an addict. The Games, losing his family and the hell he went through watching those tributes die year after year after year had driven him to drink when there was no other way out. And even though this new phase in his life had brought some unexpected happiness, she knew that a family who loved him and cherished him and needed him to be whole wouldn’t magically make him so. Deep down even Haymitch must know that the kind of help he needed couldn’t be given by anyone in this room. A grace period. That’s what these past few months were, really. And she could only wonder: How long this time? “Here,” she said and placed the duffel bag on Haymitch’s lap, brushing away those depressive thoughts. “I have a surprise for you.” Haymitch unzipped and peeked inside, upended it and the twins watched in wonderment as baby socks and baby mittens fell out followed by rompers and onesies and bodysuits, playsuits and all other suits you could think of. “Cute, aren’t they?” Effie smiled. ”Courtesy from Sae and her family. And these,” she added and picked up two snug-fitting, one-colored jammies from the pile, “are my favorites! Forest green and robin’s egg blue. Oh! Don’t you just love it? Sae told me they once belonged to the most adorable little boy you ever saw.” ”Who?” Effie chuckled. ”Why, you of course!” ”You kiddin’?” He reached out and brushed one of the tiny sleeves between his thumb and forefinger. Effie held the green pajamas up against his chest, head tilted to one side. “Can you imagine you were once so little you fit into this?” She let him have it and fitted Amy a gray beanie that the girl immediately pulled off and bit into. With her attention elsewhere, Haymitch’s gaze dropped to the baby jammies in his hands. He hadn’t laid eyes on them in ages. It was wrinkly and threadbare, being put to good use over the years. But he saw no reason why Amy and Ian couldn’t wear them if Effie really wanted them to. He ran his fingers through the fabric; sensed Ma in every stitch. Effie might think of the clothes as his but they weren’t, not really. Amadeus wore them last, before he outgrew them too and they passed on to Sae’s ever-growing family. “I cannot believe they’re already six months old,” Effie said and brought him back to the present. She watched Amy and Ian explore the pile of hand-me-downs and there was an odd air of loss in her voice. “In just a couple of weeks they won’t even need these pillows. They’ll learn how to crawl, how to walk, talk. One blink and it’s over.” “Yeah,” Haymitch said. “Time does go by.” Effie folded the blue pajamas and dropped it in the duffel bag. “I’ve been thinking.” “You don’t say?” “What do you think about making them godparents?” “Who?” “Katniss and Peeta, silly.” “Aren’t they already?” “No, we never asked them officially.” “Oh. Well… they would make great babysitters whenever we feel like getting the hell out of dodge.” “Language,” said Effie but even she was suppressing a smile. “By the way, Haymitch. About Sunday dinner. Wouldn’t it be nice if we invited them over for a change?” “Now, Effs. Remember our rule. We only cook for people we don’t care if we poison.” xXx “Bit further to the right. Lil’ more. Lil’ more. There you go!” “Haymitch,” said Effie, torn between amusement and annoyance. “I have built snow lanterns before.” She scooped up another handful and packed it into a firm snowball that she placed in the one existing hole in her creation. Since Peeta and Posy’s first one, years ago, the big snow lantern in front of Haymitch’s house had become something of a Victor’s Village tradition. “Did you bring the matches?” “Left pocket,” Haymitch said, leaned back against a frosty tree. Amy moved sleepily against his chest, snuggled up next to her brother. The stretchy wrap was a gift from June and Annabel, during the dinner party. Effie got one too but Haymitch hardly ever gave her the chance to use it. “Well, Effie carried them for nine months,” Peeta joked. “It’s only fair that Haymitch takes his turn now.” And he did enjoy keeping them close. At least then he knew where they were. Course, he had another reason – a secret reason – for using the stretchy wrap for all it was worth, even for short moments like building a snow lantern. The very first night after Effie and the twins moved in, he got out the biggest bags he could find and paid a visit to every single one of his stashes around the house. Clinking with bottles he then headed out and hid it in the one place he was certain Effie wouldn’t go to. The goose pen. And he wasn’t just keeping it out of her sight. True, it would be many months before the twins had the run of the place – a place that was baby-proofed, but just thinking about finding them playing with a bottle made him sick to his stomach. To say he was sober as a judge these days would be a big, fat lie but he was definitely close. As good as, really. All thanks to Amy and Ian. That’s where the stretchy wrap came in. Whenever he had a hard time and the goose pen looked more and more inviting he came up with some excuse to wear it. Hell, as of now the four of them had already visited ever single inch of District 12, including the slag heap and the neighboring woods. Because a secret sip or two when everyone else was asleep was one thing. Another altogether drinking while his kids were strapped to his chest. He couldn’t do it. He’d hang himself from the nearest beam before he let that happen. Effie put the match out and rose, admiring her soft-glowing snow lantern. She caressed the twins’ apple-red cheeks and slipped her hand through the crock of Haymitch’s elbow. “Let’s go visit uncle Peeta at the bakery,” she smiled. “I’m sure aunt Katniss will join us when she comes back from the woods.” xXx A full moon shone off of the ice crystals in Effie’s creation. The night and the cold had blown the candle out. Haymitch felt inside his pocket and sure enough, the matches were still there. Crouched in the snow it took him three efforts to light a flame. He stuck it through the opening but only managed to brush his wrist against the side. “Damn it,” he muttered when parts of the snow lantern collapsed in on itself. He put the match out and fumbled with the snowballs to try and fix it, only making the rest of Effie’s hard work cave in. Our life in a nutshell, he thought minutes later when he stepped inside the goose pen. A life where Effie tried to build things up, only for him to tear it all down again. “Hey, how you doin’?” he said and slumped into the hay of the secluded, free zone he now shared with the geese. Breathing in the scent of fresh straw, bird feathers and manure he dug inside the hay until he came up with a dusty bottle of the finest white liquor in town. “I’m having just this one, alright,” he told the geese. “Don’t let me go for a second.” The birds watched with round, expressionless eyes as he twisted the top, feathers ghostly pale in the moonlight. “Oh, don’t judge me. This is the first cold one I’ve had in like 50 years. Or… tepid, really,” he added after a sip. One sip that became two, that became three and four and five. He belched and wiped his mouth with his shirt sleeve, throat so raw he felt just about ready to spit blood. Arms rested against his knees he rolled the content of the flask in slow, pondering circles. “You guys are livin’ the dream,” he said. “All you ever do is eat and shit and fuck around. No real responsibilities. No fear of losing anything. ‘cept for the eggs I take away and give to people,” he added after a moment’s pause. “Wish I’d been born a goose.” He tipped the bottle up. Finished almost all before he spoke again. ”You wanna know somethin’?” He pointed the bottle toward the dust-speckled window. “Over it that house is the best damn thing that ever happened to me. It’s true. A gorgeous, kind-hearted woman who really cares for me. The sweetest couple o’ kids a man could ever ask for. Three people who somehow manage to make life almost livable. And some time very soon yours truly will have to tell those three to pack up and leave so that when I obliterate everything they won’t get hurt. The best thing I’ve got!” The geese watched, silently in the dark. Even if they could speak, what would they say? Haymitch eyed the bottle in his hand. Watched the moonlight glint off of the clear glass like some precious jewel; imagined the lovely crash when he tossed it into the wall. Instead he drank it dry. Turned it upside down so as not to waste a single drop. When there was nothing left but cold, hard, dirty glass he just let the bottle slip from his hand with a soft thud. It sounded like defeat. Author’s note: I’m having too much fun writing Haymitch opening up to a couple of birds when he has like 5+ people in his life that he could confide in instead. The scene with the twins and Haymitch playing around with paper was inspired by a youtube video I saw which included a father, his baby son and a rejection letter. Hope you liked it! Leave a review and tell me what you thought!

#hayffie #haymitch x effie #hayffie twins #the hunger games #fanfiction #post-mockingjay #district 12 #I plan to have at least one more chapter done before the end of february #getting to some real angsty stuff very soon!

[totaldramafan-lauri]

Make Use Of Me (chapter 1, preview)

Dec. 7 EDIT: ONCE MORE, WITH BRAVERY THIS TIME. No more chickening out. You can read this thing FOR REAL now. Sorry for being weird, and now....sorry if this wasn't worth it. XD

O-OK...here goes....

First thing's first: I am not expecting a lotta people to read this. I'm not asking people to read this. At this point, I'm making this mostly as a passion project, and if anyone enjoys it, it'll be a really cool bonus. My writing style isn't gonna be for everyone, and the characters I write aren't the most....popular characters in the CRK X Reader community, and I imagine this isn't really something a lotta fans'll be demanding more of.

This is LONG. This one chapter is 56 pages long. I am a VERY wordy writer,

So......why'm I posting this preview? Well....partially as an interest gauge for people who WOULD wanna read it, but...mostly as a motivator. As something to remind myself of whenever I get lazy. After all....I can't quit after I made the first chapter public, right? By doing that, I put myself out there...And, hey, I even tagged it, so, if by the off chance, someone did read it, I'm basically promising them more eventually.....

But, again, I'm not forcing anyone to read this.

Not only is it long, but.....This first chapter is probably my least-favorite thing I've ever written. By posting this chapter by itself, I'm testing to see if it does its job of making people wanna read the rest, cuz....right now, I'm not so sure how well it succeeds at that.....

This is the boring part of the story. It's a bunch of setup, and me jumping through hoop after hoop after hoop to just get everything started. I know setup is important and all, but....I'm already a very wordy writer, so....oof....There is some interesting stuff that happens, but it takes a while to get there.

I-I....kinda hate it, actually. The only reason I didn't scrap it is that I didn't realize I hated it until I was about halfway through it and the "good part" hadn't started yet. And I still spent a month writing the thing, so....I finished it.

I'm tagging this...as an experiment. If you wanna read this, go ahead. W-well, read my tags first, THEN go ahead. XD

All I can really say in this chapter's defense is that....I do try my best to salvage it. It's just setup, but I TRIED to make it interesting. And everything that seems like it didn't go anywhere, will later. This isn't the whole story, it's just the beginning of what's gonna be a BIG story. Anything that seems weird in this chapter, gets explored in the other chapters. This does set up a bunch of stuff that becomes important later (The friend character shows up later, the Colosseum becomes relevant later). This chapter is boring, but I tried not to make any of it pointless.

For the future: I'm aiming for five chapters. Chapters 2 and 3 will be a series of smaller vignettes that take place over the course of a few years, chapter 4 will be the climax, and chapter 5 will be something of an epilogue. After that, there will be two endings to choose from (which will make sense when we get there).

This probably won't be my favorite thing I've ever written, but it will be the most ambitious thing I've ever, and probably will ever, write. I haven't written something like this before, and it's all to flesh out this story and make it believable.

Right now, I.....I want to finish this. I'll probably still be writing this in February at the rate I'm going, but...at this point, I've put too much into it to give up on it. However, I'm STILL not completely ruling out the idea of my motivation dying before then. It COULD happen. So, what I'm planning to do is...setting a short-term goal of finishing chapter 3. After I do that, I'll post the first three chapters on AO3 together, and work on the rest. That way, even if I don't finish it, I'll at least have it over half done, and chapter 3 will end on a somewhat high note.

So, yyyyeah....Not a lotta people will read this preview. Overly wordy writing style + boring setup part of story + 56 pages long + assumed lack of interest for X Readers of this character (At least, I haven't SEEN many simps for her, m-maybe I'm wrong, I might be, I-I haven't checked any tags cuz I've been nervous, b-but it doesn't make my writing any better. In that case, this is my first time writing her so I'm trying super hard to do her justice >//////<)

I-if you wanna read this, and see if this first chapter does a good job of making you wanna read the better chapters, then...Go ahead.....

Some notes:

-This is still not the final draft. It's finalized enough for me to share, but I'm still not considering it finished. Even tho I'm working on chapter 3 right now, I STILL go back and edit this, even very recently. So, chances are, even if the story is finalized, small details and sentences are still subject to change. I know for a fact that there are still SOME placeholder bits in here that will change after I get some stuff cleared up. Recently, I even considered chopping off an entire section to make it shorter. I decided not to, but hey, it could still happen. I don't wanna waste anyone's time. The first chapter of a story, even if it's boring, is still very important, and I wanna make sure it's the best version of itself.

(A-and yes, this means that I've finished chapter 2 as well. The reason I'm not sharing it is that, unlike chapter 1, it was finished VERY recently, so I might still need to give myself time to edit it. From what I have, tho, I do like it a LOT more than chapter 1. There are some parts of chapter 2 that I'm legit proud of.)

-Even tho this first chapter is completely clean, I-I should mention that....this fic is for adults. The full version, at least. Chapters 3 and 4 are gonna contain some light N/S/F/W moments (the "fade to black" variety, so nothing explicit) and there'll be other slightly racey comments here and there. Just a heads-up. I'm gonna be uncomfy with minors reading this.

Th-that's all? I-I think that's all.......O-OK, so......h-here goes..... E-enjoy....

#fics by lauri #fanfic preview #WARNING: UNFINISHED #THIS IS JUST THE FIRST CHAPTER #......AND ITS STILL A LONG READ #cookie run x reader #crk x reader #golden cheese cookie x reader #gender neutral reader #also contains a gender neutral 'friend' character you can do what you want with #basically i got inspired by that part in her bio that mentions how... #....shes always looking to add more loyal subjects #and it made me imagine the story of an outsider who gradually integrates into the kingdom and earns her approval #so its an underdog story basically #and there a LOT that the reader gets put through #reader is shy and socially awkward but can also be a bit more sarcastic than the other reader characters ive written #im aiming for a BIT more comedy than usual since its my first crk fic that doesnt take place in the humorless dark cacao kingdom XD #but yeah reader is a ball of anxiety #they get panic attacks later on #pre canon #VERY VERY VERY pre canon #takes place DECADES before canon #before um....the lost city became lost #its not virtual #no errors no avatars #just a technologically advanced city #power imbalance and god complex stuff all over the place cuz fghdhgfhdhfgh im weak for that part of her #also contains some themes of verbal abuse (from nameless characters toward reader) #and like i said it has some adult moments later on #contains a lot of time skips

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 2.6.2024

I managed to write exactly 4000 words of what I am currently calling Chapter ?10?, which is to say, "the last chapter," however many end up getting squeezed in before it. It's coming along pretty well, and I think the stuff I had planned in the outline is going to fill out the space of one chapter pretty nicely. I had been worried that I was going to write all of this up and it was going to be, like...3000 words total, and I was going to have to come up with some more stuff, but that doesn't seem to be the case. (phew!)

It's a little bit ambitious, but I've set "Finish Chapter ?10?" as my goal for this week. On this project, I have been aiming for 4k words/week, and it's probably going to be more like 5 or 6k, but we'll see!

It's kinda crazy, actually, because I can remember back in October, estimating out the size of what I thought this fanfic was gonna be and saying to myself, "If I can write 4000 words/week, I can finish it around March", which felt like both so many words and so far away, but somehow, it's February, and it's already longer than I thought it would be (finished) and I'm still trying to grind out 4k/wk and it still feels so far away, except that it's still looking like it might be done sometime in the vicinity of March and that's next month. This is definitely the hardest fanfic I have ever written (every fanfic is the new hardest fanfic I have ever written). 0% inspiration, just scraping every one of these words out of the dirt with my fingernails. Astonishingly enough, it's still kinda good. At least, I think it's kinda good. We'll see.

I used most of my daily drawing time this week to work on a combined Kuchiki Sibs birthday drawing. I was feeling pretty good about it until I showed it to my kid and she was like, "Mom, can I give you some constructive criticism?" and then I shriveled up and died, but I don't care, I still like it.

Okay okay okay okay I'm doing this update early today, so I can jump back in and start clocking words for next week, let's gooooooooo

#writing update #art update

[hotcheetohatredwastaken]

7 & 10 or perish

7. Share a line/paragraph/snippet that you were especially proud of.

Okay so I love this chapter just for the fact that everything I've been setting up for 200,000+ words culminates in here (but this section I've chosen also should reveal nothing heu heu heu). Also @needfantasticstories complemented the wording of one of the sentences, and I seeing my work through another's eyes really makes me appreciate it? If you know what I'm saying? But yeah, I wrote this during the poetry section of my AP Literature class in high school, if you couldn't tell by my gratuitous use of alliteration, semicolons, and parallel sentence structure.

[Have I posted this before? I hope I haven't DX I am very proud of it. If I have let me know and I'll try to find something else]

Wild stepped into the ornate church. High stone ceilings flew overhead, lined with stained glass windows—depictions of their Golden Goddess—that sent shattered slivers of light dancing along the cold stone floor. Rows upon rows of lowly stone pews stood in ordered procession on either side of the walkway, stretching all the way to the raised platform at the front of the cathedral. A great statue, so unlike the one that he knew, loomed over it all. The Hylia he knew had hair of flowering vine, and robes of majestic moss; this one's every strand was spun of gold, this one's every fold formed of ivory. His Hylia’s face was of cracked calcite, worn down and rounded out over years of exposure to the elements; this one’s was of sharp, shining porcelain. Little gray wings he’d only ever seen tucked to her sides, like those of a Rito fledgling, were now golden and stretched out in their full glory. She did not lower her head over clasped hands in constant thought of her people, as said by her now-extinct priests; instead, her gaze was cast victoriously outwards, her hand thrust forwards like that of a sovereign, conquering queen. White rose petals drifted and fluttered gently down to lay scattered across the stone pews. They trailed after Wild, swirling around his ankles with every step, as he walked forwards in a dreamlike state to the foot of the statue. It only grew larger, more imposing, as he approached, and himself so much smaller.

10. What are your writing goals for the upcoming year?

Okay okay okay okay. Just because you asked, I'm going to end up having to write out my entire planned chapter by chapter schedule and pin it to the top of my blog, aren't I?

But for a summary, basically--right now I'm trying to finish up my Noble's Warning chapters, which will get me to through February and some of March, so that I can participate in FebWhump without juggling two projects. The Differences chapters, which are pretty much done besides a few select bits that actually need to be written, should carry me all the way to Spring Break and through. During Spring Break (cuz I'm a cringe college student) I will try to finalize enough to make it close to the Heal Chapters, which should free me up until finals are over in May/June-ish.

Summer is when things get real. That's when I'll evaluate how much of Arc 2 I have done and how much time I think I need to finish it. If I'm ahead of schedule, I'll make sure I've hit all the finishing touches for Arc 1 and start releasing chapters twice a week. If not, I'll give myself more time with the once a week updates. Plus, I want to take a break between Arc 1 and 2 just to let ya'll squirm, so that gives me at least a month, I think, depending how hard ya'll cry at me to continue. There's also a whole timeline thing there of whether I want to do flashbacks of a section or if I just wanna say F it we ball, but that's beside the point.

If I do once a week releases, I already have enough planned content for Arc 1 + the occasional Prologue pieces to get me through the entire year and then some. So yeah, that's the plan for the year :D

#cheetoanswers #cheetowrites #linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu #should I be tagging this LU? #It does contain writing for LU #oh well #bdor #blooddropsonroses #thanks for the ask

[manonamora-if]

March Check-In

Lol. We definitely were not back on track here. We tried and SUPER FAILED at going back to the schedule.

Will March be better? Let's find out together...

Onto the usual index:

Recap of last month’s progress

IF Events in the Next Month

Plan for the next month

Still long post under the break. If you want a mini version, head over to itch.io!

February Progress

Welp... there wasn't much of a list in the January Check-in, since it was the retrospective, which included the yearly plan. Still, I did make a mini one on itch. Put together we'd get:

Play more IF and maybe review. ✅

Finish the coding of Harcourt Ch5 ❌ and editing of Ch6 ❌

Fix one of the semi-completed games: ❌

Complete the Vamp/Smoochie jam entry✅

Heyyyy 50/50. Passable grade!

I've passed the very funny number of 420 reviews on the IFDB recently, mainly working my way through the French games (since there are very few reviews and French IF peeps are neat people). There are 300+ games left on that side, it will take me a while to get there but I'm making progress (almost done with 2023!). If my pace continues... I might be able to reach 2nd place in the ranking before my 1 year anniversary of reviewing games (mid-may). Also somewhat related, I've been trying to rate more games on itch too :)

I said I would finish the coding of Harcourt... and then didn't. But MelS was more productive than me, and he finished the first draft of Chapter 6 earlier than planned... which I haven't finished commenting on either... So :/

I also didn't fix any semi-completed games. So there.

But I managed to make it for the Queer Vampire Jam and the Smoochie Jam with Teatime with a Vampire ! A 20k-long trippy game with a hot vampire and a weird show...

AND AND I finally fixed my website and my itch.io profile. It has a cool feature on the front page. And we did a little AMA a few weeks ago!

Honestly, I thought I would have been done with Teatime two weeks before it actually was completed. So that threw a wrench in the rest. And probably having to moderate a few events at once...

And the extra day clearly didn't help.

EDIT: I TOTES FORGOT, but I updated DOL-OS for an extra QOL screen at the start.

What’s happening in March?

There's always something happening in the IF world. I don't think I ever find all that happens anyway... but. Here's the ones I know!

Today is the last day to submit a Spring Thing intent! (ranked)

he Queer Vampire Game Jam ends in about three weeks. Got a vampire/human story with a LGBT+ cast? Then this is the event for you! (unranked) Also they are doing a fundraising/matching donation with submissions!

The SeedComp! (Sprouting) extended the deadline for a few more days! See @seedcomp-if for more info ;) (ranked)

Concours de Fiction Interactive Francophone 2024 se termine Lundi! Viendez faire des histoires en français!! <3 (ranked, duh)

The next @neointeractives mini-jam will all be about bringing back old jams... Check out the Revival Jam !

The Text Adventure Literacy Jam 2024 just started! It will be looking for "parser for beginners" entries until May!

Note: @neointeractives will have jams all year long. One a month/or so. And the next Planting Round of @seedcomp-if will start as soon as the results are dropped.

The PLANtm for March

Busy plan once again. Here are the thing I'm hoping to do or finish this month:

Complete my French Comp entry. The deadline is in 3 days. Will I make it? Probably. Will it be good? Probably be not because I've been writing it only in the past two weeks. You can expect some "love" letters though...

Complete my SpringThing entry. It will be all about fixing typos and potential bug. The code will be ready next week anyway. Maybe slap some cool-er animations.

Play more games! Consider this done. There's the Smoochie Jam, the SeedComp! and the FrenchComp right there...

Finish the Code Ch5 of Harcourt and edit Ch6. At least one round of edits would be good. So I can put MelS to work again.

Finish fixing The Roads Not Taken. I'm so sorry babe. I'm not avoiding you I swear. I actually haven't bee on the computer with your files this month...

LET'S DO THIS! WE CAN DO IT!

~

The 2024 To-Do List:

I have done nothing here. So here's the list again for nothing.

The hopefully maybe easy to handle To-Do:

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (giving up on the translation)

fixing the interface of LPM and the popups + check animal interactions

figure out the One-Button JavaScrip/jQuery issue...

edit the loading screens of the completed tiny games to include the program/format logo at least.

The 'Need a Bunch of Content to update but it's planned!' To-Do:

Update my website (bunch new title - also I don't think the logo clicky thing work...) + redo my itch page

Finish TTATEH (MelS dependent - this year should be it - for real)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (half-way mark by this summer - manif)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (main path at least)

Update CRWL (it's been almost two years... I'm getting ashamed)

The Unlikely But it Would be Dope To-Do

Finish The Dinner as it was planned (and translate)

Finish In the Blink of an Eye as it was planned (and retranslate)

Finish The Rye in the Dark City

Fixing TTTT (at least fixing, maybe try adding some storylets)

And finally The 'It's impossible, but one can wish' TO-DO:

Remaster SPS IH (if I managed to start this after completing the rest... I'm going to eat a whole sheet cake).

Start the IFComp project (2025? Might end up being a ST?)

#dev log #progress #interactive fiction #check-in

[kamiversee]

OKKK SOOO I read the new chapter about two times now. First one was a for funsies then the 2nd was to figure out more shit😭 soooo with my last comment. I feel like I'm not too far from the idea. Again with Geto, at the end it turns out he planned this. Or at least the conversation topic. But another thing that I noticed was, how, in the beginning, Geto didn't really see how we had a connection with Choso until everything clicked to him. Yet he still decided to taunt the living shit outta us. Which in turn, caused the outcome of the chapter. And you can't really say that Geto showed up at the Cafe on purpose because he was surprised to see us too. Another thing, which showed up a few times in the chapter. Was the word "yesterday" idk I feel like it probably doesn't have anything to do with the fic, or the chapter. But it was repeated multiple times. The ending is a big cliffhanger too😭 another thing was with Sukuna, we learn that of course, he treats women really shitty, and I was wondering why he was so sweet with us? I remember he how he gained a small bit of respect for us, but that was abt it. Also, maybe Sukuna does have something to do with this. One thing that I keep thinking about was when after we slept with him, he went to his phone and was messaging someone, or checking his phone. Idk. But a little while after, we get money from Gojo. So maybe he messaged Gojo about it? Bc how else could Gojo have known? HELP I WROTE SO MUCH. BYE LMAOOA I LOVE THIS THOUGH. IT MAKES ME THINK. KEEP UP WITH THE WORK💕💕

Insert Kami yap session:

1. Okay so the date of what took place in the fic is early February on a Monday! Ik sometimes it’s hard to keep track of but yeah, in their university I kinda explained before tht their winter break was roughly two months and a half so they wouldn’t return back to school until mid febuary!

You mentioning the use of the word yesterday just made me wanna clear tht up for some reason😭 Yesterday in her case would be a Sunday and as the story goes, nothing important happened on that day so she just kept using it to emphasize that what was done was quite some time ago and not recent!!

2. Also, Geto was going to be there regardless because he’s the friend Yuki was there to meet ^.^

3. Next, Gojo has once mentioned that Sukuna would like the reader because she’s cute so it’s honestly okay for one to assume that there are certain women Sukuna favors more than others.

Not only that, even when Sukuna and the reader meet, although he danced with her, it was mentioned how she was always intimidated by him & for a woman such as herself, if u notice, intimidation in this fic is always the first emotion felt before fear ^.^

4. While yes Gojo sent money not too long after Sukuna sent some kinda message, it’s also said that Gojo knew she was supposed to be with Sukuna that day & he could’ve simply assumed she did what was needed to be done!

5. TYSM FOR THE LONG MESSAGE I LOVE THEM SMM <3

#kamiversee!answers

[bairdcrevan]

Writing Update January 2023

Your prodigal transformers fanfic writer is back at it lol or at least trying to be! I’ve got a lot of plans coming up and I’m using these periodic posts to keep myself accountable and let you know what I’m working on.

First is EarthSpark SoundStar:

Not Starved but Famished on Ao3 (EarthSpark Soundwave/Starscream)

Wrote this before the second half of Season 1, so I think some things will end up being wrong- but it was fun to write and think about. Soundwave and Starscream have a conversation after not seeing each other for some time.

Coming to you soon is Febuwhump: lol get excited, these babies hurt-

The long awaited next installment of:

Pacifcation Link on Ao3 Starscream/Shockwave and Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp

Chapter 42 is getting uploaded on Friday 1/27, even if it kills me.

Edit: I DID IT: Chapter 42 up and ready for you

It’s been almost written for more than six months, but a combination of health crap related to BITLET made writing awful. I don’t know how I got my big bang fic done, honestly when every square inch of my body was going through intense, incessant itching.

Had a great conversation with some friends about Paci and the direction I was always heading, but they helped me with some specifics that had been bothering me. I’m trying to overwrite chapters so that I can do weekly updates again- and you all deserve the closure. I have these presents I wrapped a while ago in the fic and it’s time to open them.

This fic is going on three years old (holy shit lmfao). Let’s get this baby to the finish line.

Another fic that needs to hit the finish line:

Link to Exchanging Fire on Ao3 Starscream/Skyfire, Starscream/Jetfire, Starscream/Starscream/Skyfire (and other permutations lol)

Target Fic finish date: February 2023

This one is fun because of IDW Shattered Glass’s comics renewing everyone’s love for SG. I’m excited for the final swell here too and we are close to the finale, so we just have to write what I have planned. This is another one approaching 3 years old, omfg.

And I will SERIOUSLY reconsider ever writing a “meet your doppleganger” fanfic when they share the same name again. It has been HARD lol

And the last one that is majorly on the docket:

Link to Queen on the Throne on Ao3 Starscream/Optimus

Target next chapter: February 2023

This one I am excited to write for you because of what happens next- and it is always on my mind. Recent IRL experiences definitely will color some of the next chapters and give you some LOVELY angst you get to consume lol. This one is quickly crawling up through my ranks of top fics- outpacing a lot of what I had already finished. So again, happy to update it and reach the next steps for you, because the reception has been so nice.

I think that’s enough lol and I will likely break ALL of this- but I like setting high goals for myself lol

#fanfic update #my fics #bairdfic #tf fanfic #starscream #skystar #soundstar #starop #shockstar

[orchidyoonkook]

Fanfic end of the year asks:

15, 17, & 23.

And thank you for bringing me Yoongi this year - be he under a willows tree or in a Valentino suit, he was breaking me down and healing me up. 💕

VIOLET 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹. My love. My darling. My Moot. My bestie. My friend. How I adore you so ♥️♥️♥️

Thank you for asking 🫂

15. Something you learned this year

Apparently I can write smut. Which was both incredibly relieving and also terrifying at the same time?

Or even the fact that people like my writing. Prior to posting fics, only high school English teachers had read my writing. So I’d never really gotten a response on it before. Didn’t know if it was any good. Didn’t really give it a worth while shot. All my friends were writers so I just assumed I was the odd one out.

But then I got tumblr.

And posted a fic just to see if it was worth continuing.

And learned that maybe I can write a little bit.

And that if I keep going. Maybe I can write a lot one day.

17. Fics you’ll continue next year

I’m gunna use this as a planned fics and continued fics question to keep track for myself cuz I will forget 😂😂

So!

I currently have two requests (literally how wild is that!!???) in my inbox that I have to brainstorm. One for JK and one for the UTWT couple.

I will also hopefully be much more active in updating TWWWBAATTA. (Ideally I get at least 6-8 chapters out this year)

As well as a collab that’s been in the works since maybe August?? It’s currently on hold due to life on both ends, but I love love LOVE the concept and the plot and everything about it so I’m excited to dig into that! It will also probably be my first darker work, so I’m stoked for that too! Trying out a new genre.

I have an (undisclosed member) fic in my head right now that I’m plotting out. (I’ve talked about it with you but I wanna keep it under wraps until I at least have a rough draft). It’s a winter themed fic so ideally I’ll have it out by at the latest, February. But if it’s later in the year, it’s later in the year.

And lastly, for planned works that is, I’m toying with the idea of potentially expanding the TDWV universe due to the wonderful reception of the world it takes place in.

23. Fics you wanted to write, but didn’t

The previously mentioned collab fic. I wanted to have at least one chapter of it out by the end of 2023. But then I got a new job and moved within a month of each other, and went from working one shift a week, to full time, and then the holidays happened and I ran out of free time.

My New Years Resolution this year was to try and write more/ create more. And I would really like to stick to that if I can. But with quality over quantity.

And then the undisclosed member fic, also previously mentioned. I’d hoped to have it done over my winter break from work. But timing and plans said no!

———

You’re so so so welcome my dear. I don’t even have the words to begin to describe what your support has meant and done for me. And I can only hope I’ve been able to do a fraction of the same for you.

I hope I can bring you more Yoongi’s and maybe a Joon or two in the future too♥️

#wow this got long fast #my never ending problem of never being able to shut up has struck again! #I’m pretty sure you don’t mind tho #asks #Violet ♥️ #Violetsiren90 #ms.mailbox📬 #ask games with yoon #Yoon on writing

[t-lane-writes]

2024

What do I expect of this year? What do I want to write?

For starters, I decided to give up on two WIPs that I will likely not write, at least not soon. The Ribbon was supposed to be a companion piece to Ananke (both could be around 40k stories, so together they'd make the length of a whole novel), but since Ananke has been shortened, The Ribbon is not necessary. And on its own it doesn't have enough pull for me to finish it.

Untitled Sentira project is... well, the name itself is enough to tell you my feelings about it. I still think the worldbuilding for this story, or rather the one that existed before, is spectacular. I'm not giving up on the Sentira world, but maybe I'll do something completely different with it? The novel idea, the characters I tried to design for it, the plot -- they just didn't really click, so. This particular story will not happen, at least not in the form of a novel.

Hmm... I should update my pinned post... Later.

Now, what will I write?

I'm changing the ending of Ananke. The second half, ten chapters, require a lot of changes and I want to do it, like, now. First half of January, then mabe final re-read right away, or maybe some pro editor? IDEK. Or a re-read in February. And then I want to send it to three sci-fi magazines and see if they bite.

I started to edit The Specters, but now that I'm back at work I don't think I'll be able to work on two things simultanously, so I'm putting it on the backburner until I'm done with Ananke, and then I'll probably continue second draft until the end of February.

I've been having feels about Crystal Spring Valley lately -- it means I miss Priya and Tenney and the gang. I might take March and April to look at this story and maybe get through that Turning Point finally. I don't hope to finish it, but, as usual, make as much progress as I can.

May could be a good moment to work on the spreadsheet and maybe even pre-draft of The Duke and the B Brothers -- so that I could tackle the first draft during NaNoWriMo. Ha! Yes.

Then I should return to Black Wings and its second draft for June and July (or perhaps even longer), and that would more-or-less conclude my current WIPs.

August, September and October would remain "to be decided". I also have Mars Idea in very early stages of development, so I might give it a month here or there. And then do some more work on either on the most advanced WIPs, meaning Crystal Spring, Specters or Black Wings.

November would be the first draft of The Duke, of course, and then December... Maybe rest after NaNo, lol, or finish The Duke, because 50k will likely not be enough.

So that's that. That's the plan. :)

#tes talks about writing #year in preview #inventory of stories #crystal spring valley #the specters #black wings #ananke #duke and the b brothers #the mars idea

[rriavian]

ooooo this ask game has a lot of good ones. How about:

🐌 What is one of your smallest writing goals?

👾 Do you have any "bad" writing habits you want to break?

💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

🐌 What is one of your smallest writing goals?

My aim is to finish a few smaller projects in the first six months of this year. I’ve got some prompts in my inbox that I’m finishing fics for (all smaller stories) and I'd like to keep to a goal of regularly filling prompts this year.

I’ve also got another Corintheus ficlet I want to finish, and Cursed is a shorter piece. So a rough goal is the get those two out for February and then do the rest in whatever time they need :)

 👾 Do you have any "bad" writing habits you want to break?

I think my bad habits are the other sides of my good habits, if that makes sense? The billions of ideas I’m always having can mean that unless I catch that wave when it happens, it feels like I’ve not done anything with that thought and just stalled instead. My own brain can quickly swamp me, and that can make me then struggle to finish. So I’m trying to pace myself better and be less stressed about ‘right now immediately’.

I also tend to write a little chaotically. Prose out of order, leaving rough sentences/ideas as place holders, but this doesn’t always work for longer projects. It can leave some tricky bits to clean up at the end. I can dip back in and be like aha! I know exactly what this needs, but it can also trip me up and stall me.

I’ve got a relatively flexible style, I’ve taken some different approaches in different fandoms and/or fics. Though Baiting the Trap and its specific tone/style was very much something I’d already practised in another series. Just not as explicit and not quite as poetic (the Corinthian’s POV naturally seems to be very lyrical, though not in the same way as Dream's). 

To keep flexibility I like to shake things up and do something completely new to keep myself from losing an edge and getting lazy. Not that I think I am a lazy writer, but I have ways to make sure I’m taking the same care and thought every time. Prompts from other people really help with this as I love considering new angles and tropes.

When something is hard/new I think we go more carefully, and are forced to be more novel, and I really really like improving my skills by doing that. It’s helped me write some of my favourite work.

💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

There are two secret Corintheus fics I wrote alongside those for Corintheus week that need a last edit before posting but I’m being very quiet about what they are :) should be a nice surprise! I’m also very proud of my Corintheus ‘divorce au’ that I still need do some work on before I post. I think the one I’m most excited about is probably role reversal au because when finished it’s going to be the longest fic I’ve yet posted that’s not split into a series. It'll also be the longest fic I’ve written in years.

It’s quite ambitious, and will probably have a sequel. I’ve planned the second arc out because I had to split the original fic in two. There’s lots of threads as well as other relationship dynamics and subplots. It’s about Dream and the Corinthian of course, but also very much about how they interact with other characters. Death shows up quite a lot, but I would say that Lucienne and Gault are the other really major characters in the fic.

I’m also branching out into other parings/writing some more gen fics. And, as an honourable mention, what was intended as the last two parts of Baiting the Trap have both been written for over a year and every single day I just want to share where it’s going. Unfortunately there’s at least two more in the middle, which I’m also excited about, but when I get to it I’m going to feel so relieved. 

Oh! And the Corintheus seduction au! Goodness I’m excited about everything aren’t I? Though I guess that sums me up! Thank you so much for your questions I hope you enjoyed my answers :)

#new year writer goals ask game #rria answers #let me know if you're interested in more info #as I've mentioned quite a few fics here

[rickie-the-storyteller]

WIP Title Meme Tag

Thank you very much to @rbbess110 for tagging me to do this! I've never done this one before.

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 most intriguing title, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPs. (this part is optional tho)

The thing is... all my writing files are all over the place lol. That being said, I have some good titles that hopefully you guys will like a lot! I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys ask about my work.

Most of my file names are chapter titles.

Steph's Crew: The Misfit Manifesto

Exam Week

The End (of February Mocks)

Life with B

Nothing but the Truth

A Million Lives (and all of them suck)

Suspended

Life Without B

Why I Could Never Be a Rebel

Detention

The Aftermath

Bret 2.0

Half Term

Ben's Leaving Party

It's Too Late to Apologise

Climbing Uphill (slowly but surely)

Figuring Life Out (it sucks, but it's necessary)

Times Are Changing

Moving On

Alice's Sitcom-esque Family

I Have a Crush on You

Where Are You, Ben?

How to Get Back on Track

Movie Night's with El

I Miss My Man

Is This What Love Is?

Boyfriend

Anything Could Happen (almost)

Honeymoon

Library Sessions

An Unexpected (and Unwanted) Visitor from the Past

Drunk, Lonely, Miserable Losers

We Don't Talk Much Anymore... and It Sucks

A Night to Remember

A Night I'll Probably Never Forget

Where's Steph?

Leaving on a Jet Plane

The Beginning (of our final exams)

Epilogue (Stephanie's letters to her friends)

There. That's all the chapters in order (at least, I hope it's in order... idk tho). Something about this story that's really fun is that each of these chapters is in the perspective of a different character! Originally, it was just in Steph's POV (it was supposed to be her journal). I'm still very much in the process of editing this one, so some of these could still change in future (some of these chapter titles are way too long imo).

Steph's Crew: Unreported Violent Crimes

This is the sequel to the first book! I've only started it a couple of months ago... so there aren't quite as many this time. It's not quite finished yet, but I'm definitely going to add more chapters to this later!

The News Report

So, Some Guy Died Last Night...

Pillow Talk

The History of Stephanie and Ben

To Take Matters into One's Own Hands

Visiting an Old Friend

Stephanie's Upbringing

I've Never Had a Best Friend

The Story of Em and Jack

This is a story that I'm posting on Wattpad! I've already posted chapter 1, but I've got all these other chapters in the works as well:

Jemily

Flashback #1 (Elementary School)

Friends

Summertime

Meeting Mom

Jen's Party

Flashback #2 (Freshman Year)

"You broke me."

Back to School

"I think I loved you."

The Best Friend Zone

Flashback #3 (The First Breakup)

Square One

Thinking about the Future

Homecoming

Together

Be Good

"Let's NOT fight about this."

Fast-forward (College)

Another story that I'm planning to post on Wattpad is my Five Seconds Flat series... but I'm not going to post any of my file names/chapter names here, because it's literally based off of the Lizzy McAlpine album of the same name lol. All the chapters are titles from the album. Here's a link to it in case you want to see it, though (the album is awesome, btw. Hope you guys enjoy it!!):

AU

(I'm posting this series here in September! So you guys will get to see this very soon... I'm super excited! There are 10 chapters this time - this story has an ensemble cast of characters, and each chapter has a new focus character. There isn't a single "main character" - though some characters appear more than others)

1: “Starting Point" (focus character = Zephyr)

2: “Meet Cute” (focus character = Eurydice)

3: "Just This Once…" (focus character = Caius)

4: "Junebug" (focus character = Juniper)

5: "New Friends" (focus character = Cassius)

6: "Don’t Be a B-word" (focus character = Avalon)

7: "Say it with Chest" (focus character = Isadora)

8: "Things Shouldn’t Be Like This" (focus character = Adara)

9: "Hey, Brother" (focus character = Xander)

10: "Shut Up, Marcy!" (focus character = Marcelline)

Imma tag these people to do this next: @fayeiswriting, @kirsten-is-writing, @e-s-willswriting, @jay-avian, @clairelsonao3, @sarahlizziewrites, @mjparkerwriting, @silverslipstream, @winterandwords, @exquisitecrow, @elizaellwrites, @writingalterras, @thecreakywriter, @sam-glade, @hollyannewrites, @ryns-ramblings, @autumnalwalker, @toribookworm22, @blind-the-winds, @falesiacats, @j-1173, @gummybugg, @jessicawestonauthor, @thelavenderwriter, @jay-avian, @mysticstarlightduck

#rickie-the-storyteller #writerblr #tag game #wip title game #Spotify

[claudiajcregg]

s5pAU (a folder with many “Chapter XX” inside) for the WIP ask meme?

Welp, I forgot I hadn't answered these! Apologies! (These are from this WIP ask meme.)

s5pAU is my short way of referring to “S5 Pregnancy AU,” and it's… what it says on the tin! Sort of. Basically, the entire ridiculous concept is “what if CJ got pregnant at the end of S4?” (Around Zoey's kidnapping, in this case.) It's 11 chapters so far, with only a bit of 12 written… And it was my main WIP for the better part of 2023, even if I took months here and there.

(I had written a lot of unneccesary backstory that I've tried my best to summarize into the important parts. It's still long, sorry. It's just been the WIP, for most of 2023. It's sitting at over 76k words already!)

I have a note on my phone with a list of most ideas I kept having while rewatching the show last year. This one was part of it, and it jumped at me for how ridiculous it is. I recall having a mental image of a scene that was too OOC, but could work, around late February? Early March? It's definitely not a realistic idea, but there was something about some of her moments in S5 that I felt would be interesting (and not that different) to explore under new circumstances.

Before I started writing it properly in June, I did a few outlines (two detailed ones, in March and April), with the idea of having 1-2 chapters per semester, maybe some interludes here and there. I also started a playlist with ✨ vibes ✨, but though I thought a lot about it… I wasn't really writing it. Until I just needed to get so much stuff out of my head.

If I had to say, I think it is following the outline, but also not… Because I am being far more detailed than I intended to be, the show's actual timeline is a mess (not that the one I tried to create is better, but at least I know what month it is), and some story beats happened differently, hopefully still organically.

Anyway. This is boring. It still doesn't have a proper title, not that I'd change the folder's name (not really); it's not done (haven't written anything new since November, and it goes for everything); I could see this becoming some sort of series/universe by the nature of it.

Snippet! The part I always feel most self-conscious about. (Can't remember if this is the snippet I posted on the server, forever ago.)

“What’s up, Daniel? I was about to… Can’t it wait?” “It could,” he conceded with a dejected expression. One that told her this was hard to broach. “I didn’t even notice the time.” C.J. didn’t move, awaiting whatever it was that he was going to say. “And well?” She moved a stray strand of hair from her eyes. She couldn’t wait until her hair finally grew out, that was for sure. “You planning to stand there all night?” “I have to go, C.J. I have to go back to my post.” Whatever retort she had thought up for the first part died on her lips when she heard the second part. Her heart sank, and she chided herself. The second she had believed this day to be ordinary had been her first mistake: once you perceived anything as ordinary, you should know the universe would make it so it was anything but.

#mihrsuri #asks #wip title tag game #I'm so sorry this is so long

[captainkurosolaire]

Update / Valentiones

Just wanna throw-down some appreciation and update on some stuff still plan on tackling this year. Although early this still implies for Valentiones. “Love ye all, have a terrific hearty day.  Should you feel cast aside, leave that t’ me to debunk it. Cause I’ll polish and give you a reason to rewrite that by finding you, picking you up, dusting it off. – You’re f*cking valuable, every single passing Sun t’ Moon, not even I can determinate it, no scale could justifiably do it. Don’t let any foul scallywags tell you otherwise. I’ll handle em’ You focus on shining eruptive, dazzle chaotically! I see you and I am thanking you fer existing, otherwise, I’d be out of business as a pirate, what’s the point of being one if I can’t discover my treasures cross these bland planes?” - CKS

Achieved a decent-chunk of chapters already with my goal this year to be like 60, think I'm almost at 20 this early-in. More than I expected. Thanks for all the energy and power, from low to high. Still got probably 800-1000 chapters I need to realistically create, I get why One-Piece how it is. Once you get real passion for your art, there's an overabundance of stories to further write. xD I most certainly will be around chipping at pieces. In my case, I've always continued for the company that's been on this crazy voyage with me, for always welcoming or being there after long-breaks to RP partners who's integrated or pre-established stuff with me to join in. To my Best Friend/Roomie for always shooting inspiring ideas, always been able to easily click from being nerds who made so many D&D and Tabletop sessions we went to make our own whole world-building and tabletop game. Was pretty dope, but now I'm taking all that same, rich-passion and throwing it to world-build here. I got all the people to credit, I started from here on the community with too that matured and nurtured my character who allowed a very vanilla starting character, to morph into something that I could eventually give deep respect to continue. There's ton's of people and fellows who came from Tumblr as well, that were either forced to give up, or brought down by anon's, all those who suddenly disappeared, couldn't because time-commitments, or became distant, I've kept ingrained in me and I stay ever vigilantly passion in their stead. I overflow like a flowing fountain and multiply for all their sake to continue onward, and the lurkers, all the people who came to me saying they got inspired to join this fandom, all that you've made a impact, difference on me, and make no mistake about it, you matter. I carry your spirit, energy all with everything I endeavor. It's meant a life-changing amount to me have a place to just unleash myself. No better way to say it but -- I LIVE for this shit. So even no matter how infested this site becomes, or when the p*rnbots take over and I have to somehow try to convince them to start up a brothel and least take up RP, I'll still wage on. I may and most definitely die alone at the end. But baby I didn't live like that one-bit or felt like that at-all, I've lived millions.--- Update --- I'm determined to be more regular about this stuff yearly, I've collected so It can get done. I literally think I'll be at this point writing for the next two FF MMO's at this point if I don't start now. For now though, got about two-chapters left in me to do hopefully before February ends. Then I'll probably take a mini-break. I'm thinking about having or seeing if people will send a single, -word- to me in my submission box, and create my own prompt's judged upon that way. Overall, I never-mind getting anything asked or submitted anytime either while, I'm throwing it out. But this way lets people get involved, and I can use my over abundance of characters and try to create-weave a story within the mood or perimeter I need to tell, but I don't have to follow my story-path. Words submitted can be just about anything. Either I can mention you when I do a post with your submission, or you can go on anon for it. Even if no one's down for that stuff, It's all chill. Cause I'm dedicated and determined to do this stuff regardless, whenever I'm around. xD I eventually will take the XIVWrite again too, but I want to do that after a lot of progression or absolutely, my last-rodeo, or its. I've got to establish a lot of Captain's Crewmates, NPCS, I'm even doing slow-burn and building up other antagonists, I got relics, cultures, isle world building, continue thinking of just a mountain of arcs. I really want to get to my sport-arc. After these next two-chapters or so, I'm going to start timeline jumping all over the place. When I'm energized. Anyways that's it, also If need a Valentione's I got ye my hearty, I take no issue in being a rebound. 😎💛

#Update #Valentiones #Big love t' ye all #Your hearts deserve to soar everyday

[angie-j-kay]

Snippet Sunday! What You Cast Out

After an ill-fated rescue landed a small family in their care, the party still has to find a way to protect Tracey from an eldritch abomination that's been sent after her. Don't worry. Billy has a plan.

Billy slid the bag of kibble and a plastic bowl into a canvas knapsack that seemed to be about a hundred years old. For all Gabe knew, it might actually have been that ancient. “My plan was to take Tracey somewhere safe in the morning,” he added. A jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread joined the kibble. “Well, to take all of you. It hasn't changed, but the Nashes are going to have to come with us.”

“A safehouse?” Gabe asked.

“Not exactly.” Billy's smile was almost as mischievous as Tracey's usually was. “Clean out what you don't need from your bags. We have to take the evidence stuff, but electronics won't do well there and I don't know how long you'll be gone. We'll have to do some hiking, too, so think about weight.”

“Can I at least shower first?” Tracey asked. “Covered in gasoline, you know?”

Billy's smile became a grin. “We all need one, but you can follow Nash. I'll run today's stuff through the laundry when we're all done so we can travel clean, too.”

Tracey didn't bother with a chair for herself. She dropped her backpack onto the sofa next to Pertwee and began bundling her clothes out of the red college bag.

“Your boots are in the pile.” Gabe gestured up at the counter as he pulled his computer out of his own pack. Tracey actually squealed a little bit at that. She almost scrambled over to the box. Pertwee's computer joined Gabe's on the end table, followed by a cell phone charger and a pair of earbuds.

“You are awesome.” Tracey hugged the boots to her chest a bit as soon as she found them, then hesitated. Her face fell a little and she held them out somewhat. “There's still blood on these, isn't there?” Gabe nodded a small apology.

“Iron filings too,” Billy added from the kitchen. Gabe thought that he looked as though he smelled something unpleasant. “Why don't you hold off on those, we'll rinse them off outside before we leave.”

------------------------------------------

What You Cast Out is a Midwestern Gothic fantasy novel written by me, through my small business: Squee Squared! I'll be publishing chapters in zine format, with chapter art, every two weeks on my Ko-Fi and Gumroad starting in March. My Patreon supporters will be able to start reading chapters at the beginning of February! If you like this snippet, I'd love it if you shared it so more folks could see it. And if you'd like to join my taglist, let me know! The current taglist: @wedgie-of-destiny, @nightacquainted, @storminmywake, @brokenandlonelysouls, @tattur, @theamazingchickenman, @solstice-muse-collective, @axl-ul, @tucsonhorse

#what you cast out #writeblr #writers of tumblr #artblr #artists of tumblr #memes #snippet sunday #midwestern gothic #fantasy #horror #romance

[rallamajoop]

Hi !! I've followed your fics across multiple fandoms, and I've always been really impressed by how quickly and consistently you're able to put out works. How are you able to write seemingly so quickly?! Do you use betas? Do you spend a lot of time planning, or are you more of a chapter by chapter writer? I'm always really fascinated by people's process. Thank you if you answer this, and have a good day!! :D

Well, thank you first of all ‒ it's always such an ego-boost to know anyone's following me across fandoms! But as for 'how I write so fast', I think 'seemingly' may be most of your answer. I do like to have some fic to post every week or so, but my consistency on that comes and goes. I've done okay so far this year, but only if you ignore the part where I posted nothing during the whole month of February, or in the entire last quarter of 2023 ‒ and there was a solid 6 month gap where I posted nothing back in 2022 as well.

Back before I hit my current stride in Witcher fandom a few years back, months or longer between fics was even more the norm for me. Productivity on the fic-writing front comes and goes in bursts for me for all sorts of reasons. But it's not unusual for several bits and pieces I've had not-quite-finished for months to end up getting posted close together though, even after I've been quiet for a while, which might help with the illusion I'm better at keeping up that schedule than is really accurate.

Even when I am actually managing to keep that weekly schedule, a lot of what I post is short (2K or less), and gets lumped together into anthology-fics like Spare Parts, Viscera or The Beast of Castle Heisenberg (and other stories) (which also saves on the minor hassle of thinking up proper titles for them all). Coming up with short concepts like that is something I've always enjoyed doing (going all the way back to my time in xxxHolic fandom over a decade ago). Occasionally, I'll come back later and expand them into something longer (another habit that started way back in Holic fandom, actually), but posting them as shorts means that at least I've posted something, even if the longer version never happens. Whenever a fic works as shorter chapters, I'll post it that way ‒ it's just easier to edit in smaller chunks (and I can't really overstate how big of a motivator positive feedback is for me, if it does go down well with people).

Obviously, not everything I post lends itself to being broken down ‒ smut particularly tends to require much longer scenes, but stories like that have often been in progress for months before they actually get posted. At 15K in a single chapter, Quarantine stands out as the longest thing I've posted in years that I couldn't find any way to break down into shorter pieces ‒ and I'd been working on that one on-and-off since around, oh, August last year? Having multiple different things in progress at once works for me, because if I'm not in the mood to work on one, maybe I'm more in the mood to work on another. I'll often bash out rough drafts of various parts of a few different ideas in one spell if I'm in a good mood to just sit down and write, then come back to finish and polish them later. A lot of my ideas build themselves around dialogue ‒ having a good sense of the characters' voices is really central to how I think about writing for them ‒ so a lot of scenes might start as just dialogue, and then I'll come back and flesh out the rest later.

Planning… really depends on the length of the fic? Sometimes you need to know exactly where a story is going just to figure out how to start it, other times you don't realise half of what's really going on in a scene until you're in the middle of actually writing it down. For example, I currently have about three more (very rough) chapters of Follow Me Home sitting in a word document, which is as much of that story as I had planned out in real detail ‒ the rest consists of scattered scenes I know I'm aiming for later on. But in the process of writing them, I realised more or less exactly what needs to happen in chapter 4, so that's encouraging ‒ we'll see where it goes from there.

For years now, I've done most of my writing on laptops ‒ before that, first drafts were mostly scribbled down by hand in notebooks. I own a desktop computer too, but that gets used for so much else (work, gaming, watching videos, etc etc) that I find it's useful to have a separate platform that's 'for' writing, that's portable, something I can curl up with in a beanbag with, and (crucially) presents less distractions. A notebook or a low-spec laptop (my current one is a tiny tablet computer) is also something I can get out on the bus on the way to work or in a cafe while waiting for a meal. I wouldn't say I do most of my writing out of the home like that, but it's definitely a long-established habit.

It does help that I've been writing long enough to be reasonably confident with the general process of sitting down to make a story happen. I'm reasonably lucky just having the time and energy to dedicate to all this fannish nonsense, and to have an enthusiastic beta-reader/BFF who's always encouraging about my work ‒ she's seriously a huge help (and probably too kind with her critiques, if anything). It has taken many years of doing this to get to the point where I can do something like (for a recent example) realise there's a week or two left before the a challenge deadline and go, "oh, sure, I can bash out a few thousand words worth of smut in that time to fill a treat for that prompt I liked." But as a rule, a posting rate of maybe a couple thousand words a week, not every week, isn't that much of an output (it's probably a lot more if you count all the fannish meta I churn out too, but I mostly don't think about that too much). But writing means a lot to me, even if it's mostly fannish nonsense that makes no money, so it's something I'll make time for.

If I've got any advice that might be useful to someone else, it's to suggest that getting yourself to write something is usually better than sitting on something you're blocked on, even if that does mean perpetually getting distracted by the shiny new idea instead of staying bogged down on the huge WIP you promised yourself you'd finish (and maybe you will come back to that WIP later, fresher for having given your brain a change of scene ‒ or maybe not, that's not the end of the world either). Short fic is fine, more words do not automatically make a story better, and unfinished WIPs are just a fact of fandom (or even original writing). Part of the joy of fanfic is that you can jump straight to the novel bits, trusting your readers already know who these people are and how the base story goes (seriously, the number of fics out there that spend chapter after chapter just retelling canon in prose form boggles my brain).

But like all writing advice, if that doesn't sound like it'd be useful advice to you, it probably isn't ‒ what works for people can be terribly individual. No-one's obligated to aim for a couple of thousand words per week (let alone per day, to hit NaNoWriMo or Stephen King levels of productivity) if they're just writing as a hobby.

And I hope you're having a good day too. *g*

#asks #writing #fic #questionable writing advice

[marstheprinzess]

march language goals (+ february review) 💚

hello everyone & happy new month! ♡

i did get some slightly more active revision done this month, which i'm happy about. my plans of travelling/moving to nigeria before the summer have also changed till after summer, which i was quite bummed about. i wasn't really surprised tho but i will see it as a blessing in disguise, nonetheless. i did plan on spending this summer in europe anyway, so maybe it will make more sense in the end.

my current languages:

french (A2)

dutch (A1)

edo

lets review my february language goals ♡:

maintain a 30 days duolingo & busuu streak (83 days duolingo / 51 days busuu, so completed)

watch 5 easyfrench & easydutch YouTube videos (i watched 3 easydutch videos and i think 1 easyfrench videos, but i'm honestly not sure about that one. i have been watching other youtube videos in both languages, specifically football and equestrian related but i will talk about it more in my resource list post)

watch the remaining episodes of s1 represent (netflix) (completed)

watch the remaining episodes of s1 misfit: die serie (netflix) (completed)

start watching another french series (netflix) e.g. ‘the circle: france’ (i did start watching peppa pig (netflix) with english subtitles, so completed)

start watching another dutch series (netflix) e.g. ‘die goldene stunde’ (i started to watch peppa pig (disney+) also in dutch but with no subtitles, so also completed)

work through the lessons 1 - 5 in ‘The Complete French Self-Study Guide’ (eBook) (not completed, but i got to lesson 3, so i will finish it off in march)

start to watch ‘Learn French in 5 Days # Day 1’ up until ‘Le verb s’appeler (32:27)’ (YouTube) (not completed)

create a language learning plan for edo (completed)

watch the 9 edo videos save in the watch later playlist (youtube) and take notes (i have added a lot more videos now but i have defo watched at least 9 videos, so completed as well)

watch 1 edo movie (not completed, YET but i have added it to my watch later list on youtube)

listen to all episodes of ‘Let’s Edo’lize it: An Edo Language Podcast’ (spotify) (completed, and i'm also thinking about joining her course this summer but lets see)

listen to all episodes of ‘The Great Benin Empire’ (spotify) (i only listened to 1 out of 5 episodes, so not completed YET)

start the side blog (yh no, not completed. i'm thinking of starting the side blog around april/may time, not sure yet)

and i know i have been saying i will post my resources list but i don't seem to get around it. i honestly haven't been on social media much for the last few weeks, which i will talk about in another post. but i will post my resource list at some point.

here are my march language goals ♡:

maintain a 30 days duolingo & busuu streak

completed the march challenge on duolingo

watch 5 easyfrench & easydutch youtube videos

watch at least 3 episodes of french peppa pig (netflix)

watch at least 3 episodes of dutch peppa pig (disney+)

complete lessons 1 - 5 in ‘The Complete French Self-Study Guide’ with notes taking (eBook)

start to watch ‘Learn French in 5 Days # Day 1’ up until ‘Le verb s’appeler (32:27)’ (youtube)

write down all dutch vocabularies up to the numbers on digital dialects (website)

work through ‘Niederländisch Wort für Wort’ to and incl. chapter ‘Dieses & Jenes’

watch the all alphabet & numbers related videos saved in the watch later playlist (youtube) in edo and take notes

watch at least 1 edo movie

listen to all episodes of ‘The Great Benin Empire’ (spotify)

go through the alphabet & numbers in 'Ebe Edo' (book) and take notes

that's it for now,

thanks for reading & best wishes,

mars the prinzess xx

⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡

*none of the pictures i used are my own, unless stated otherwise. i got them from pinterest ♡

#language learning #langblr #languages #langblog #learning dutch #learning french #student #studyspo #study motivation #studyblr #study with me #study aesthetic #pink academia #pink blog #personal blog #personal development #self care #education #self love #habit tracking #dream girl #hobbies #becoming that girl #text from mars ♡