#I've got the chapters all outlined and I think there should be 18 chapters total including prologue and epilogue

[bi-the-wei]

A Stay of Execution

Prologue

Wei Wuxian had always thought that it should rain on the day he died. That the sky might see fit to open up and weep for him seemed the very least it could do. Instead the small breath of wind that trickled through the narrow slit in the stone that functioned as his only window brought with it the scent of warmth and sunlight. He imagined he could almost hear a bird chirping somewhere, trilling a merry tune. Honestly, it was almost insulting. Though, he supposed, if the sun had deigned to come and watch his final moments... Perhaps he truly was as rotten as they all said.

Either way, there was no longer a soul alive who would weep for him now.

In the end, he hadn't fought being captured. He'd gone rather quietly. In fact, he still hadn't said a single word. Not to anyone. He hadn't spoken as they stripped him down to brand his skin . He hadn't spoken when they'd sheered off his hair, sawing at fistfuls of dark locks with a dull blade that ripped more than it cut. Or when they bound his hands . When they spilled his meager rations on the floor. When they taunted him. Insulted him. Beat him. He didn't speak when they closed the door to the dank cupboard that would be his last home. When they told him that he would be executed for his crimes. Not a word. Not a sound.

Wei Wuxian stumbled a bit as he was dragged out of his cell. It had been months since he'd been able to fully extend his legs and torso at the same time, the chain that bound his arms to the floor too short for him to stand at his full height, and the room too narrow to extend them while sitting. The three guards assigned to take him to whatever fate awaited him laughed and tried to make him stumble again, spitting at his face when he didn't.

"This is more than you deserve," one of them grumbled bitterly. His voice was like a fuse and flint stone, clicking on hard consonants and hissing his S's. "A quick, clean death is more than you were willing to give." "I guess no one else is twisted enough to do what you did though," sneered the second guard. This one almost sounded like a whine, thin and nasally and pinched. "No one else could be as monstrous as you."

The third guard said nothing, but his boots still fell heavily on the stone floor. His grip on Wei Wuxian's arm was the most painful. ' That'll bruise by tomorrow' , Wei Wuxian thought dully. ' Well, it would have anyway .' As they began to climb up a narrow staircase, the cloth they had kept over his eyes slipped just enough that he could almost make out the color of his drab, rough robes, as well as the sinister design that adorned them. His foot caught on a rough stone, but he didn't stumble again.

~*~

In the end the guards had to half-drag Wei Wuxian for the final length of their journey. After months of abuse and disuse, his legs just couldn't carry him the entire way. They trembled to bear his weight, and it was a challenge just to keep them moving one in front of the other.

In the end this was fortunate, because if he had been in charge of supporting himself alone he may have collapsed the moment his face hit true sunlight.

The gentle warmth of the sun felt like a scalding brand on his cold skin. The light was blinding even through the cloth over his eyes. His first breath of fresh, clean air after months and months of smelling nothing but wet, rotten dirt and stone made him so dizzy he nearly retched. And the noise- oh the noise- so much noise.

He took in every overwhelming sensation with careful attention, cherishing the pain it brought him. It was as if knowing that his final breath was drawing near, he thought he could take in the rest of his natural life all at once if he tried hard enough. It was okay that it hurt. He welcomed the burn.

The wind scraped against his skin, his chopped hair, now grown back nearly past his shoulders, making his neck itch - a neck that he was lucky to still have.

All this in only a moment before he was pushed forward again - up uneven stairs and onto some sort of platform. The heavy chains that still bound his raw wrists were grabbed and yanked so violently he had no choice but to fall hard to his knees. When he tried to catch himself with his shackled limbs, the chain was wrenched again. He only just managed to keep his face from smashing against the ground and received a hard kick in reward, causing him to fall backwards instead. All his breath left him and he couldn't help but curl in on himself, coughing and rasping to get it back.

In the end it was the third guard who graciously helped him back up onto his knees. With a helpful hand grasping him by the hair, he was pulled unceremoniously upwards. With just as much care, his blindfold was ripped away. He cried out at last, flinching as the unfiltered light from the sun assaulted him again. He heard screams as he blinked out in the vague direction of a crowd. A crowd that shrank back away from him, terrified of him even now. Even in the state he was in.

"Have no fear!" called a familiar, booming voice next to him. "We took great care before bringing him here before you today. See the symbols on his robes! He has been bound and sealed. I have cut him off from his heretical magic. I have stopped his murderous ambitions and denied him the joys of his evil. His eyes can do you no more harm. He is contained and you are safe at last!" It was then that Wei Wuxian realized that some of the bright, flashing gold that blinded him was not just from the sun, but rather the illustrious gaudy robes of a tall man standing beside him. Of course, after what he had done to his son, it would only make sense for his long over-due sentence to be overseen by the great Jin Guangshan himself. Even Wei Wuxian had to admit that was only fair, even if it meant he had to listen to the man postulate his own magnificence and blather on and on and on.

In all honesty, he'd really rather they just get on with it. The showmanship seemed a bit redundant.

"This man. This devil. This Demon of Yiling. You all know of him. He haunts our children's stories; a tale of caution to those who seek power!" he expounded. Wei Wuxian stifled a scoff. "He who started as a servant, who used a terrible war to greedily climb rank and assert his will over the lives of innocents. A parasite who manipulated the very life force of the world to do his bidding so that he may claw his way into society. So that he may fool us into believing in his consequence. This evil creature who corrupted the dead with his black magics! Who stole the life energy of my only son! I bring him now before you so that you may know his crimes."

The silent guard gripped him again, yanking him up forcefully by the hair once more and bringing him closer to the crowd, where all could see him in his shame. His neck strained with the effort of supporting a body his legs still could not hold. "See him now, his hair shorn in his shame. His honor cast aside with it. See him now and judge him guilty!

I lay before you the record of his evil. Hear me now and know them."

Jin Guangshan preened under the attention he had commanded. He basked in the silent anticipation of his next words, pausing to let them sink in further before listing the numerous crimes in question.

Really the true list wasn't THAT long. Yes it was true that Wei Wuxian had found a new form of magic - one that manipulated life force instead of spirit. But he hadn't used any of the life force of another living human. He drew a firm line in the sand that he swore he would never cross. He could steal only the life forces of plants and trees. The last breath of a fallen soldier. Himself.

And he kept that code. He hadn't stolen life directly... not until... Until he'd been face to face with true evil - with Wen Ruohan himself.  It was heady watching the light leave his eyes. Here was a man who used his wealth of spiritual power, cultivated with such care, who had hoped to use that power to obtain true immortality - who had thought that it gave him the right to force his will upon the world.   To watch as all that power came to nothing, as all that power was not enough to stop Wei Wuxian from draining his life away. The surge of power that rushed through his meridians - the full life force of a living human... It would have overtaken a lesser man. Heady and instantly addictive. But he'd pushed through it. Pushed it back out and dispersed it into the air. What use did he have for such power? The war was done. He'd saved them all. He'd done it. They were free and now he could finally pursue his own desires. His own freedom. His own life. His own...

He had broken his code, yes, but surely this end justified those means? As long as he never did it again, it would mean that at his core he was still a good man. He wouldn't have said it felt good, but he could at least live with himself. He had fought harder than any other soldier. Protected more than any other soldier. He had won countless battles and finally, finally ended this pointless war.

Wei Wuxian and Wen Ruohan had fallen to the floor in tandem. It wasn't until he'd woken a week later and noticed how people flinched when they saw him, how they skirted away when they could avoid him entirely, that he realized he'd had an audience to his horrors. And even then, none of that could be called a criminal, despite the tale being twisted now. No, nothing he'd done in the war could be truly held against him... But what happened after...

"Unsatisfied with the killing, no longer able to slake his thirst for violence with a war, this monster sought out his next victims! The poor innocents, guilty only of a shared name, were hunted down like sport! He took their very souls simply to sate his own blood lust!   "And when my Zixuan, my precious son... When he tried to stop this senseless slaughter - to try to reason with this deranged creature - to show him mercy and compassion! When he tried to put an end to the blood and death, this demon stole his soul as well! And now my grandson grows without a father. My daughter in law without a husband. My wife without a son." Again he paused, letting sympathy and anger stew in the crowd's hearts. "See now as we give him more than he would have given them; a trial! He may have decided to bring about his own twisted justice, but see now that we shall not! A demon he may be, but let none say that we judge him unjustly!   "Speak, demon! And tell us of your guilt!"

Wei Wuxian's hair was tugged again, drawing the crowd's focus back to his gaunt form. His eyes, finally adjusting to the harsh daylight, searched through the mass of people. He wasn't sure what he was looking for. Sympathy? Familiarity? Sadness? Of course there would be none - he was guilty and had no intention of denying it.

"Did you or did you not create black magics, evil and heretical, and use this power to slaughter thousands?" "I did," Wei Wuxian said. His voice, rasping with dehydration and disuse, did not waver.

"Did you or did you not hunt down remnant factions of the Wens, men and women that should have been brought to trial, only to cut them down instead?

"I did."

"Did you or did you not, when my son tried to stop the violence, to plead with you to stop the fighting and lay down your wicked ways, steal away his precious life?!"

"I did."

"He admits it! You hear now from his very mouth - the plea of guilt! You hear now the sins against his soul! The evils of his actions!" There was no silence now. The roiling anger of the mob before him was like the agitated buzzing of a hundred angry wasps.

"For this crime, I would have his head!" Jin Guangshan bellowed. Wei Wuxian was once again forced to move. This time he was half dragged to a solid block of wood. Stained red and jagged from use, he was pulled forward until its sharp splinters dug into his neck. A mirror was angled carefully so that he could see the executioner take his position behind him. Ah, so that's why they let him keep his eyes.

"Tell me now, would any of you here speak against this judgment? Tell me now if anyone would speak against this justice? I stand before you in grief and anger and ask you now will anyone claim this man?"

Wei Wuxian had never known true silence before this moment. It was as if the world itself had decided to hold its breath. He watched as the executioner grasped his axe. He watched his muscles tense to pick it up. He watched as--

“I will speak for him."

The silence was cracked by a cold, even voice. Wei Wuxian tore his eyes away from the reflection of that sharp blade and searched desperately for who had spoken.

Lan Wangji.

His voice had been firm and matter of fact. His golden eyes hadn’t even flickered in Wei Wuxian's direction. The maddening silence took on an almost desperate tone now, all eyes passing between the two men.

He spoke again.

“I will offer my hand to save him from this sentence.”

Lan Wangji finally looked at him then, his expression as unreadable as it had always been. He seemed to be waiting for something

“Wh-What?” he wheezed. He didn't understand what was happening. This couldn't be real. Maybe this was just a delusion he'd conjured to comfort himself before the ax finally fell.  Maybe it had already fallen.

"Lan Wangji, you speak for this man?"

"I do."

"Despite his crimes, which he himself admitted before your very eyes, you would spare him?" "I would."

"You would tie yourself to this monster?"

"Yes."

The crowd was anything but silent now. Cries of shock and outrage poured from every direction. The righteous Lan Wangji was sparing the Demon of Yiling? The man who knew only justice and virtue, the hero of the war, would take that evil man into his home? Marry him?

Somehow, through the clamorous noise, Jin Guangshan made himself heard once more. He spoke through gritted teeth, as if each word came at a great cost.

"Wei Wuxian, Demon of Yiling. This man has offered himself to you. Would you accept his hand? Or do you accept my ax?"

The pressure holding him against the block was released, letting him sit up to consider which fate he preferred: to bind himself in a loveless marriage, or to regain what little honor he had left in death. How kind.

Lan Wangji stood straight and firm and unyielding before him. Wei Wuxian had loved him for so long - since they were children. He had always dreamed of being wed to this man... But not like this.

Lan Wangji thought he owed Wei Wuxian a life debt. That's why he was doing this. Out of duty. Moral obligation. Not love. Wei Wuxian would be truly cruel indeed to accept this. To force Lan Wangji into a marriage with a man he couldn't stand....

"I, Wei Wuxian, accept your hand, Lan Wangji. I will marry you."

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian #fanfic #Fantasy au #A Stay of Execution #asoe #I decided that I like posting the fic's chapters here as well as on Ao3 instead of just linking it. #I do HAVE the link to the fic on Ao3 though if anyone wants it. #Please tell me what you think #good or bad #I'm desperate for feedback #It sustains me #since it's harder for me to stay motivated for writing #but I do love this story #I've got the chapters all outlined and I think there should be 18 chapters total including prologue and epilogue #so wish me luck

[sourrind]

Thanks @celinou & @momochizoey for tagging me 🤍

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I've got 4 works total.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

73,030 words.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Seeing as how I only have 4 works, I'll just mention the fic with the most kudos - my Wenclair fic "At the End of One's Woe" with 760 kudos.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! I love it when writers respond to my comments (as inane as they are), so I thought I should do the same.

Not only that, but sometimes I'll reply to a comment when there's a new chapter of that work just to kind of nudge them to read it.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

"To Know Yourself."

It's a Chasefield fic and it's the first thing I started writing when I got back into the fanfic space. It's currently sitting at 6 chapters unfinished, but where I left it off is probably the angstiest thing I've explored publicly on my account.

32,000 words, and the poor girls don't even like each other yet.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Either the aforementioned Wenclair fic or my Chasefield smutfic "One and Then the Other." I mean, what's a happier ending then getting to bang the girl you like?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've not.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes!

I was very nervous to publish that first smutfic, but I wasn't a stranger to writing things of an explicit nature.

I used to ERP on Gaia ALL THE TIME when I was younger, but it definitely was a different thing to write stuff like that and know it would be going out for everyone to see.

But I had a blast writing it and I don't see myself straying away from smut anytime soon. The only thing I don't like is how I find it very difficult to write smut without tons of preamble beforehand, so that's kind of the one thing holding me back.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've ever written?

I've not.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've not, though I wouldn't be against it.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've not, just the casual headcanon talks with friends and mutuals.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

I love all the Life is Strange ships, but Chasefield holds a very special place in my heart for getting me back into fandom/fanfic as a whole.

Wenclair is also up there - it was very fun to write for an active/ongoing fandom and it was kind of crazy to see how different the response was in that.

For ships that I love, but haven't written for, I'm enamored with Ava/Beatrice from Warrior Nun and Kara/Lena from CW's Supergirl.

I do think a lot of that is that those characters and stories are closer to where I am in age/place in life, while Life is Strange/Wednesday occupies a place where I reminisce on highschool didn'ts and wish-I-would'ves.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

There's a part of me where I see myself never finishing "To Know Yourself." I had originally planned it to be this 30+ chapter thing that takes place over the entire school year, and though I do have an outline of that, it's a huge prospect - especially seeing as how I do have other stories outlined in the LiS world that are significantly shorter.

I do think about it and go back to it, but it's a reality that's possible for sure.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

It's cool if it works. It's all relative on the perspective of the story and whether we are supposed to know what's being said and stuff.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

My first fandom was Inu-yasha and I was writing Sesshomaru/Miroku slashfics on fanfiction.net.

So yeah. I'm old.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

"A Common Cold."

I wrote this fic for a mutual who was sick at the time and it was because of this that we became friends. She's actually one of the people that tagged me to do this, so here's to you Zoey!!

I'll tag @dmmeeble, @fazedlight, and @daisychainsandbowties for this, but if you're scrolling down, see this, and hankering to do this as well, go for it!

#tag game #get to know me #writing

[erisenyo]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @ofherlionheart, thank you!!

1. how many works do you have on Ao3? 36?! When did that happen...

2. what's your total Ao3 word count? 1,612,719, and now I'm eyeing the shibari fic and my written WIP where chapter 4 of 6 is going to be 60+ word document pages all on its own...

3. what fandoms do you write for? ATLA! Though I'm starting to eye The Radian Emperor too, if I can figure out the writing style

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

1. Love is in the Hair 2. These Things Written 3. These Things Known 4. These Things Unsaid (lol the middle of the series having the least kudos of the three, middle book syndrome strikes) 5. Lessons in Proper Asset Management

5. do you respond to comments? I do! I do my best to reply to all of them, I love hearing people's thoughts and chatting about the fic or the characters or canon. Though I am currently egregious behind after the holidays, doing my best to catch up...

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't know that I do angsty *endings* versus just highly emotional situations that end in (hopefully) satisfying ways? To Cleave These Roots We've Made is probably my angstiest run into an ending, and Of Tea and Turtle Ducks (and the Turtle Duck Guy) just had a very high-emotion end. I don't know, what do you guys think? I don't always have a good read on the tone of my own fics lol

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Ohhh this is tough, maybe To Be Named, To Be Known (To Be Loved) or (With Wonder and Care) Reach for Far-flung Dreams, in part because the endings are just a culmination of a lot of like warm feelings? Or Didn't Know What I Was Missing (But I Guess I Found It) because we were all so happy the three of them finally talked lol?

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not really, though Katara in Burning Bright has been fairly polarizing. It's not hate but it's also like...not happy haha

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Oh, do I ever! And...all the kinds (m/m, f/m/ poly, f/f incoming)? Full on, graphic, self-recognition-through-the-boner character-developing smut.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I don't!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? oh man I hope not. I don't even know how I'd find out, unless someone told me

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! Into Russian!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, though I got close with certain installments in the Zukki series with the way Ash helped me outline haha. I wouldn't be opposed to it, but it feels more like long-form roleplay when I imagine it.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? This is a hard question! Because there's stuff I read fic for and stuff I write and then stuff I've like, read and gently rotated in my head for the rest of my life. But to make it easy--Zukka haha

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I tend not to let myself have too many simultaneous WIPs, and I don't really break my rule about finishing a work before starting to post, so no, looking at the current set. There's ideas I'd like to write that I'm not sure I will, but nothing started.

16. What are your writing strengths? I'd say dialogue, characterization, and building narrative tension and momentum

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Fight scenes lol. I don't know why they're so much harder than smut scenes, they should be the same, except smut is like intensely close and intimate and full of sensation and emotions and fight scenes have to be go-go-go but still full of sensation and emotions just different ones haha

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I've never tried! It seems like it would be difficult, me knowing only the one (and Latin, that doesn't count haha) and so much of the fun of language being in the wordplay and clever turns of phrase and the world of difference between someone saying "father" or "dad"

19. First fandom you wrote for? ATLA! I wrote some original fiction back in the day, but fandom-wise ATLA is my first go

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? So cruel to make me choose! I am a little bit in love with everything I post. And I will cheat by saying either To Open Every Door to Night, To Meet Each Rising Sun or Just Let My Love Adorn You (You Gotta Know that I Adore You) right now, I'm so pleased with how they both came out, and they were so much fun to write. Both really came together so well from what I initially imagined.

tagging @queendollophead-ao3 @lizardlicks @ranilla-bean and anyone else who wants to play! I'd love to see your answers

#tag games #fic writing #if we take Burning Bright as one fic for Q4 then Part-Time Plumber and Oh the way your makeup stains are the next highest by kudos #Also asking me to pick a favorite is so cruel I love all my creations so much and for such different reasons

[nerves-nebula]

i dont usually do tag games but i liked this one, tagged by @alighted-willow

20 questions for writers

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

4 (technically 5 but i abandoned and privated one of them) on my main account and 9 on my smut account

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

37,751 on my main, around 47,000 on the porn account

3. What fandoms do you write for?

uhhhh dimension 20 (not really but it was my first posted fanfic) and tmnt. i write mainly about one other fandom on my smut account tho.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

well i've only got about 5 of them so i'll just put them in order

caracal carousel

show me already

time to think

a modest comparison

it's my turn on the Being Abusive

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

most of the time. i do it to encourage people to comment, because really really like comments. but if i get a comment i SUPER like i put off answering it because i wanna give it the time it deserves. ironically that means i have yet to respond to some of my favorite comments. oops.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

idk i think they're all pretty equally angsty. like a lot of them end with the implication that more abuse is going to happen after the story's been concluded, lol.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

definitely Show Me Already, it's the only one that doesn't end with someone feeling like garbage or implying some kind of abuse is about to happen. just an alien brain slug excited to make his boyfriend happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i dont think so? I think someone commented something rude once on one of my smut fics but im not great at telling tone so idk.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yup, the fucked up kinky kind that could get me harassed by ppl who's opinions i dont care about but who would prolly be really fucking annoying to deal with

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

nah

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

idk

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

not to my knowledge

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, that sounds stressful

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

thats like asking what my favorite song is like how da hell should i know they all serve different purposes.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

GOD. on my smut account i have an outline for a 2 chapter fic and i posted the first chapter and never the second one. it haunts me. idk if i WONT do it but it wont get done any time soon.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i can write ok and people like it :)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i dont know enough about writing as an art form to properly assess my weaknesses :(

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

too complex a question for this kind of game. if i were to do it i'd want to get the input of someone who like, actually speaks it or something. but idk. i'd try my best on my own, cuz im unlikely to find someone willing to do that kind of beta reading for me, and though i'd want to compensate them somehow i'm so fuckin broke.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Dimension 20 Starstruck Odyssey. i think it was the first fanfic i ever wrote and posted and i have no idea what drove me to it.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

hhhhhhhhhhh this really depends. I have a lot of fun writing about abuse and since that's what basically all of my fics are about in one way or another it's like. idk. i've re-read my smut ones more often than my non-smut ones tho so uh, maybe one of those.

#nnstuff #rambling #i love answering things about myself #i prolly wont do most tag games and if i do they'll be in a new post like this one but #i dont dislike being tagged. its like aw nice you remembered i exist lol #fanfic

[cr-noble-writes]

20 Fanfic Questions

thanks for the tag @mallaidhsomo!

How many works do you have on AO3?

124

2. What's your total AO3 words count?

675,033 (about 200k or so of these aren't actually mine because when you do a collaboration with several authors, it adds the total word count of the fic to everyone's word counts)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mass Effect mostly. Once in a blue moon Dragon Age. The majority of my posted fics are Supernatural.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Season Z Watching You Truth or Dare You Should See Me In A Crown Lock Me Up (These are all Supernatural)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I respond to every comment I get! There have for sure been times where its taken me months to do so, but I always do.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Here's the thing, "angstiest" is super subjective. I've got lots of fics with pretty angsty endings. There was a point at which people regularly called me a murderer because I had a habit of killing characters. However, I tend to find 'fate worse than death' much angstier than character death, so this one in which Dean burns off his soul to find Cas' grace to save him is it, I think: Whatever It Takes.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

You Should See Me In A Crown. I have a tendency to not do straight up happy endings. Like, trauma doesn't just go away, ya know. So my happy endings tend to be more melancholy/hopeful or what have you. This fic is absolutely an exception to that. Everyone gets what they want, the guy gets the guy. Basically I wrote this like an action movie haha

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've never gotten *hate* on a fic, but I have gotten comments that are rude and shitty in the way of commenters being demanding about what should happen in a fic or complaining that things weren't written the way they wanted them to be. My response to that usually something along the lines of "you fucking write it then."

9. Do you write smut. If so what kind?

Yeah! I very much enjoy writing smut. I think probably most of the smut I write is pretty vanilla, although I have definitely written some more intense kink by request and also because I like to challenge myself and learn new things. I do think my sweet spot when it comes to smut is leaning into the emotion involved. For most of my characters sex is less about the physical act of sex and more about trust and intimacy, so leaning into that works for me.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I have an unfinished Supernatural/Into the Badlands fic, and honestly I only ever wrote one chapter, but I had initially planned to do a chapter for every episode of Into the Badlands. I also have a half-outlined, partially written Supernatural/Dragon Age crossover in which Dean is a templar, Cas is an apostate, and Sam is a Grey Warden haha

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't think so

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Several! Its why my word count on AO3 is so high, actually lol

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

I have a lot of ships across a lot of media, but the one I always always always come back to is mShenko.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Oh god, I have a ton of abandoned WIPs from my Supernatural days that I'd love to finish but probably never will. I just can't bring myself to write Supernatural fic anymore.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Character voice and creating dynamic relationships between characters.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Consistency, especially in long fics. My writing style tends to change, sometimes pretty significantly, from one chapter to the next.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Hell yeah, I love multilingual characters, and I love putting foreign language dialogue in fic. If you're using a made up language, you can kind of do whatever you want. If you're using a real language, try to find a native speaker to help you with it so you don't accidentally end up writing something offensive or that you don't mean to.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Marvel

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Lust. I wrote this fic for the SPN Dark Fic bang in 2019 because I wanted to write murder husbands. It was honestly super fun to take a full loving, domestic dynamic between Michael and Crowley and juxtapose it with them also being incredibly brutal murderers.

no pressure tags: @imbiowaresbitch @nickelkeep @bleuzombie and @rotschopf-thedrow

#20 fanfic questions #tag games

[thusatlas]

#18 for the ask game 👀👀👀

Hallo Anon! Thank you for messaging!

Behind the Scene of Fic Writing ask game

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

Fuckening Spoilers for Chapter 16 - Dormiveglia

There is no outline for the Fuckening, only certain plot points that I know have to be reached. One of those was Pansy's death. I knew that her death would act as a catalyst for certain characters, and would also open up another avenue of the Fuckening world (spoilers for part 2... I think).

The problem however, was because I was lacking the aforementioned outline, there wasn't a specific part where Pansy had to die, which meant by the time I was heading into Chapter 14, I was having serious doubts as to whether I should kill her in the first place.

This led to a lot of discussions with family and friends, and one very heated, alcohol-fuelled debate, on the merits of killing characters. One of which being that killing characters had the effect of keeping the readers on edge, and keeping the sense of unease as they go through the story.

This led to the second problem: up until that point, Pansy had been a very minor character in the story thus far. In order to have Pansy's death mean something more than just being a catalyst to the characters, and actually have the desired effect on the reader, Pansy had to come to mean something to the readers.

When I started chapter 16, I still hadn't totally made up my mind about what I was going to do, but one thing I knew I had to achieve was to make the reader fall in love with her.

And so I started, and it was probably the most fun I've had writing in a long while. The tale just unfolded beautifully, so easily. Her personality came through as we went through her backstory, why she became the assassin she was; the reasons why she changed from the fashionista queen to the competent ice queen (who is secretly a massive softy for those she loves).

The other key thing that was needed for maximum effect, was sacrifice and injustice.

And nothing hurts more than sacrifice for a child.

A hero's tragedy - something that isn't often associated with Pansy in fanon.

By the time we got to the fight scene, where she's putting her own life on the line for the child, I wanted her to be a master of her craft. I wanted her to absolutely kick the bad guy's arses. After I'd spent so long making the reader fall in love with her, I wanted them to feel confident that she would survive. She was the main character of her scene, she was the hero. I wanted to build her higher and higher so that if I decided to kill her (which I still hadn't decided at that point) then it would be a long way to fall back down.

I think it's also good to note here that I wrote all of Pansy's scene to this song - Don't you forget about me

The final climax had Pansy and the boy making it to the exit. They'd won, they were just about to escape. This was the highest I could take the scene, the most I could push Pansy's heroics. I had to make the decision.

The deciding factor was something that happened in my own personal life. A few months before, I'd had a death in my family. And along with my thoughts on how grief affects people, one of the things that stood out to me the most about death was how deafening the silence is.

Which led to writing Pansy's death. Death itself isn't cruel. It's unforgiving, yes, but the cruelty of death is how it leaves living questions, how it offers no explanation and just takes. Which is why I didn't write out her death. I didn't describe it. I didn't give the reader the chance to have a cathartic release for her sacrifice. I took it from them, leaving the sentence unfinished when her life ends. It was cruel - the sharpest drop from the highest point in the climax. And it worked. Every violent reaction I have from a reader at Chapter 16 is so satisfying because it's exactly the outcome I set out to achieve, which is why this is the scene I'm proudest of.

#the fuckening #anon answered #ask game #Pansy