#and literally like 6 almost finished fics in my drafts that have been sitting there for like a year o_O | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

safyresky · 8 months

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Sorry for the late hour but here are some questions! For the ask thing!

I could've literally asked for all the questions to be answered but here's just a few. Please and thank u

54 / 40 (for no reason at all 🤫)/ 39 / 16

I am a cretura of the night, Andie! No worries about the late hour EVER lol ;)

40. If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Oh I like this one! Let me think! Hmm! You know what's fun? Bullet points! And readmores which I will do. uh. now

Cold front hugs! Specifically the mindscape one in Chapter 6, and the pair of them leaning on one another on the way out of the pond @ the Springs in Chapter 23 of CS! Which yes, isn't a hug, but is a cute Cold Front moment

Winter grabbing Blaise's lapels in Chapter 11 while he has a whole ass crisis >:)

The fucking. (breaks window) Blinter: were those our kids? Jack: SCATTER scene lmaooooooo (from Chapter 22 of CS)

The twins doing one of these (see photo below) on the backyard deck stairs before asking Summer to play fire tag with them

^like that, but like. on all fours. with Fino squashing Fiera lmao

Honestly there's so many scenes I'd love to get fanart of/draw/EXPERIENCE but those are the ones that pop into the head IMMEDIATELY! And that's just CS, AH!. The family photo from Jacqueline Dies pt2 would ALSO be a lovely fanart to see! I actually did a shit doodle of it last week just for funsies:

My god it's so LONG. Sorry about that! anyway!

54. What’s your favourite part about the fanfiction writing process? Shoving an OC or two or five into the story and see how it goes >:). that and uploading a draft and reading it through one last time. That's exciting! I love that part! It's time consuming but I LOVE IT. It's like. THE ANTICIPATION

39. Share a snippet from a WIP

I should like. Assign these wips to numbers and start rolling dice about it. Um. OKAY! From smile shot wip "Believing is Seeing"

“Is it Grapes of Wrath?” “Yes! It actually was! Nice guess, Dite.” Dite and Xander lay on his dream cloud, just behind the chimney of Danielle’s house. Jacqueline snoozed still, curled up on Dite’s thigh. The goddess had lain back; her arms were behind her head as she gazed up at the sky, watching the clouds drift by. On the other side of the cloud, Xander lay on his back as well, one leg dangling, the other one bent at the knee as he read a book. “Alright, I got one. Two exes meet up again after a few years; shenanigans ensue, they still both have it bad for each other. Best slow burn I have ever read.” “Persuasion?” “Awh, you got it on the first go!” Xander laughed. “It’s supposed to be a misleading summary, Dite.” “I just really love Persuasion. It’s one of my favourite books! When Wentworth writes that letter? I just. Ugh,” Dite finished with a happy sigh. “It’s good.” There was a grumble between the two Legates; Dite perked up, sitting up gently. “Hi sleepy head,” she said with a grin. Jacqueline sat up, scrunching up her nose. “That was not four hours.” “Almost twelve, actually,” Xander said. “Dream sand may have had a hand in it.” Jacqueline scratched her neck and stretched her shoulders, shaking her freshly thawed hair off her face. “I didn’t melt all over you, did I?” “You did, but I don’t mind! It was just a little damp, no biggie.” “What’s the status?” “Quiet day,” Xander said, flipping his page. “They’ve stayed in for the most part. Left for errands a while ago, not back yet. Danielle’s still feeling hopeful, though.” “And she’s been meaning to text Charlie all day!” Dite said, chipper. “Can we get closer?” Jacqueline asked. “Why’d we move from the window?” “She ran to it right when she woke up and we were almost caught,” Xander said, flipping another page. “You snore.” “The fuck I do.” “You do,” Dite said. “But it’s cute snores! Like um, like every third breath is a snore.” “A honk sho or a mimimi?” “A weird cross between both.” Jacqueline looked thoughtful, then shrugged. “I can vibe with that. Side note, love that we can swear right now. Feels good, feels wholesome,” she said, hopping off of the cloud and onto the roof. “What are you doing?” Xander asked, putting down his book. “Getting closer! This one’s her room?” Xander nodded. “Quiet, though!” “I thought nobody was home?” “Her sister is.” “Alright, I can be quiet,” Jacqueline said, and, with a little hop, disappeared into thin air. “What is she doing?” Xander asked, trying to find her magical aura. Dite peered over the cloud with Xander. She surveyed the roof, then swatted Xander gently. “Right there, look; fast moving trail of frost headed down the drain pipe. She’s being sneaky,” Dite said with a grin. Xander chuckled. “Nice.” In the distance, car doors slammed and chatter met their ears. Danielle and her Mom had gotten back from their errands and were chatting up a storm. “Things are picking up again!” Dite said with an excited squeal. “We’re almost there, Xander!”

The summary of this one: Charlie tells Danielle about what his Dad REALLY does. Trouble in paradise has Dite on ALERT; determined, she hatches a lil plot and drags Jacqueline and Xander along for the ride. It's been fun to write! This trio of Legates is my fave lmao. They get into situations, and it's tripled when Charlie hangs with them!

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

Honestly? Too many! If I had to count, excluding wips, it'd be uh....eight, I think 🤔🤔🤔

My favourite one right now is Diteline Valentine's Day featuring Diteline kiddos! Dite's working and Jacqueline gets the day off. There is a cuddle puddle after Dite leaves for work. The kids ask Jacquie about what Diteline used to do on VDays before kids. Jacquie tells them all about their romance and such and says that every day is VDay with the four of them for her! They decide they wanna do something nice for their moms despite Jacquie's reassurance. Shenanigans ensue!!! Robyn wears a blanket cloak! Eira/Bianca didn't sleep! Joy has been awake for hours bc Valentine's Day! It's a recipe for disaster!

thanks for sending these in 🥰🥰🥰

#dani answers #alpharra #long post #crystal springs #cs snips and wips #dani doodles #really really drafty doodles lmao #my god i have so many art ideas and talent the size of my pinkie lmao #BUT WE WILL GET THERE! HELL YEAH!#Thanks again andie!#ask box shenanigans

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idleglowingpixels · 10 days

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It's 12am and I'm sitting here debating which fanfic WIP I should work on again q-q

The two Monster High AU ones could honestly be released interchangeably so I could work on either or (I mean, Trapped In The Rain happens after BOTH of these fics in the timeline so it's not like I'm hyperspecific about chronological releases). Though the Clawdeen POV fic takes place a few months before the start of freshman year and the Frankie POV fic starts even further back, but is mainly based on their first week's experiences being in a public high school for the first time, the beginning acts almost like a prologue. Also debating whether or not it should be written in 1st person to emulate Frankie's narrations throughout the G1 films (Also kinda reminds me of Cady's narrations in Mean Girls 2003, it fits the "fish out of water" trope so well).

But the PPG fic is JUST A SMIDGE AWAY FROM THE BEST FREAKING PART FOR ME TO WRITE IN THIS PARTICULAR BATCH as if Chapters 8, 9 and 10 weren't already absolute BANGERS to work on and have at least one scene that made me go "THAT'S THE ONE DUDE I AM COOKING" y'all are not ready cause I'm sure not lol. And I literally have like 2 1/2 chapters left to write before getting to my editing drafts, and I've been dying to share what I've got and finally update the fic after...I don't even wanna know how many months. :'D Definitely over 6 at this point, I am SO SORRY.

The last thing is a super secret 4th thing (and no it's not the potential Miraculous rewrite, that's debatable on whether I'm making it as of right now but we'll see cause I still have enough ideas and interest for it, just wanna get through this long-term WIP first). I'm probably not gonna share it on the blog or my AO3 but that's only because it's a different kind of WIP (also different fandom than any of my previous works) and idk I'll just keep it at that. But I've been working on it 5+ years (even earlier than the first XXY drafts back in 2019) and my LORD do I want to just complete the mfkin first draft that I'm only like 50 scenes away from finishing bhngvfdcfgvbdcx ugh

Also I've been drawing a lot more lately so expect some MH and/or PPG art whenever I complete more than a sketch lol. I LOVED making my little title cover thing for Trapped In The Rain back in October (the perfect excuse to let my shipping brainrot go feral) & sharing my AU version of Stitched In Style Frankie art (which btw idk if I ever mentioned it but my cousin is the GOAT and bought her doll for me as a Christmas gift!!! She's hanging out in-box with my G3 dolls). Having art to go alongside chapter updates for XXY and oneshot uploads for my MH AU is something I have a lot of fun making and it's something I would like to be consistent with moving forward. I will also probably make art covers for Chs. 1-7 of XXY too because I had felt like doing it at the time of uploads but just got too busy with life stuff. Last year was awful for me besides these fics and my blog. :') Also istg I need to make that Instagram account for my art that I share here! Maybe someday, if I do I'll let y'all know.

#linposts #writing #fanfic writing #writer rambles #The WIP indecisiveness is at it again #help it's too late at night for me to be up but here I am

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cowboyhorsegirl · 2 years

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10, 13, 22, 28, 29, and 77 for the ask game beloved 💖

Thank you for the writing asks beloved! <3

10. Do you work on multiple wips or stick to one fic at a time?

I like to lie to myself and pretend I'm totally working on multiple WIPs at a time while not doing that at all actually. Unless you count Pondering, in which case i'm working on 14 fics simultaneously for 20 hours a day everyday.

13. Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what have you been listening to recently?

Yes I do!! It's funny, I go through phases sometimes where I really... don't listen to a lot of music or have the inclination to, and I had been in one of those slumps since about the beginning of the pandemic till maybe this past winter when I discovered* Glass Animals' latest album Dreamland. Nowadays, I've found that I've actually been really enjoying not only listening to music but also seeking out new music (which usually i have to be in a specific Mood for lol) because everything I listen to I try to relate back to stevetony lmfao.

So lately I've been building up a general stevetony playlist and an 1872 one, and I've been listening to my 1872 playlist A LOT recently. My hope is to keep going until I've got stevetony playlists that fit the mood of multiple major universes (616, ults, mcu) so we'll see how that project goes!

*can it really be called discovering their album when said album had been out for almost 1.5 years at that point jfkdslafjdk

22. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

With very, very few exceptions (none of which I've posted so far), I come up with titles approximately 5 minutes before posting. Once the fic is done, I hop on over to my fave fountain pen store Vanness1938 and I scroll through the inks in the color category I think fits the vibe of that fic and I try to pick a name I think sounds neat and snazzy and makes sense (to me at least lol) for a title.

It always feels a bit like a scavenger hunt, finding a name that I think will work, but I love fountain pens and i love ink and i love my writing so it's a fun little activity. :) Admittedly, I kind took the easy route with my latest fic Blue Black, but in my defense i was thinking of this specific ink when i named it (as opposed to the 15 other identically named blue black inks lmfao).

28. What area of writing do you want to improve in?

All of them. Longer fics, dialogue, writing other characters, plot development. If it's not present in my writing now it's something i want to improve upon. :)

Something in particular I want to work on is writing even when there's not like a brilliant lightning bolt of inspiration. I'd like to be able to give myself the permission to make shitty first drafts, which is definitely not something I practice enough yet.

29. What’s something about your writing that you’re proud of?

I guess that I'm doing it at all lol? The last time I was really into fandom about 6-7ish years ago, I literally didn't think I had the clearance to write and I just hindered my creativity for like. no reason at all other than self-doubt. I'm enjoying myself a lot now though and it's just super cool to see my work posted publicly online where others can enjoy it! <3

Though I'm pretty proud with everything I've written, even the stuff I haven't/won't post for whatever reason, I will say I think I'm really, really proud with the way I characterized Steve in Paradise Blue in 1872. It was the first fic I've posted that I didn't finish in one sitting, and I think it's the strongest for that exact reason. I really struggled with it at times, and there was a moment I wanted to just publish it and be done with it when i'd only finished up till about the first half because I couldn't really figure out where I wanted to go even though i knew it wasn't finished yet, but I'm glad I persevered and kept struggling with it because it's honestly my favorite piece of writing yet.

77. Why do you enjoy writing fanfiction?

Because i get to Contemplate my favorite guys ever!!! And it's a challenge, one that stretches me creatively, so it's a really great outlet for that energy.

#this is so late i'm so sorry gabi <3 #thank you for the asks you are a gem!#imperialstark #signed sealed delivered #i'm in a talkative mood tonight so send asks if you'd like <3

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sunfloweradore · 3 years

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i’m leaving this blog

hi! this post is a bit long but at the end you’ll find prompts and requests that you are free to use if you’re a writing blog :).

hi there!! if you’re reading this, i hope you’re doing well and staying safe. i just wanted to say that i’m leaving this blog and i’m not sure if i’ll ever come back. the years i’ve spent being a harrie have been great and it’s been a crazy amount of time! pretty much since the x factor! however, for a long time it’s also felt like i’ve been forcing myself to be a fan of harry’s. i’ve put so much energy into being a fan of his that it hasn’t been fun for me in a while and neither has writing fanfiction, which is what this blog is mainly for. it’s felt very difficult to sit down and write a fantasy about somebody who i might not even like anymore and in hindsight it seems a little dumb, but i did stress over writing all the time. this isn’t really about anybody i’ve interacted with on tumblr because you’re all lovely but sometimes it feels as though harries don’t treat him like he’s a human being and instead like he’s a god. me, included. even though i know we joke about harry being the only man we’d let degrade us or destroy our lives or whatever, he is still a person at the end of the day! it took me a very long time to realize that and thinking of him as otherworldly or completely perfect was my way of thinking for a while and i think it was pretty damaging. the fact that so many people would literally die for him is sad because unfortunately, none of us are going to be on his “level”, so to speak. we don’t know him personally and chances are we aren’t ever going to. ahhhh please don’t be mad at me for saying this, it’s just something i’ve realized i need to change about myself and i think it’s something we should all consider about everyone we are fans of.

anyway, the time and energy i’ve spent on something so ridiculous is exponential and i really feel like it’s time to put it in the past. i’m dedicating this year to self-growth and part of that is learning how to be my own person. feeling like i have to be interested in something or someone in order to be normal has been a common theme in my life and harry has been that someone for as long as i can remember. this isn’t his fault of course but i’m getting older and i don’t want to think of this time in my life as the era that i was obsessed with harry styles. instead, i want to form memories and real life experiences instead of using fanfiction as a way to cope with all of the things that i can’t handle in my life. it worked for a while but at this point i’ve been reading it and writing it for so long that it feels like i’m living inside my head, like i’ve become dependent on it (obviously this is very bad lolol). so, long story short, i will be leaving this blog because it just isn’t good for me anymore. thank you to everyone who has requested things for me to write and anyone who has interacted with my writing. sorry i couldn’t get through them :(. i’d also like to thank everyone i met through this blog because you’re all such amazing people and you deserve the world. i will leave my writing up but the sentiment still applies- i’ve worked very hard on everything i’ve written so please don’t repost any of it without crediting me, thank you.

below are requests i couldn’t get to and prompts(?)/works that i never got to finish. feel free to use them if you want and tag me in them bc i’d love to see how you write them :)

1. paperboy harry!

i think the direction i wanted this to go in was kind of like a 40′s au? or just a long long time ago. not sure why i had this started seeing as i already have harry as a paperboy in a story of mine but go off ig

2. vampire harry!

i had a specific plot i wanted where harry was in a car wreck because of a vampire who ended up biting him in like an alleyway. reader saves him and is a vampire herself! she nurses him back to health n teaches him how to be a vamp with various shenanigans along the way

3. hospital au?

this one i’m not too sure about but if you’ve seen the red band society you’d sort of know the direction i was going with this. there’s kind of an in-between for people in the hospital who are fighting death or going into surgery and in that in-between is a boy who has been in a coma for a long time. i pictured this as being angsty and for harry to be the boy who guides people in certain directions but he ends up falling for the reader while she’s there

4. ghost au!

self explanatory but i pictured harry as the ghost who kind of just wants a friend lol

5. tea au?

this would probably be pretty short, i just thought it was cute! reader has different kinds of tea all the time and it’s a surprise each time he kisses her

6. strawberry farm au?

reader has a strawberry farm LMAO maybe harry buys them from her or it’s another vampire au, who knows!

7. threesome

most likely has been done b4 but a threesome w 2 guys and the reader where the guy is inside harry while he is inside the reader

8. chocolate by the 1975

a fic based on that song! it would probably be from harry’s pov

9. space au?

hmm i think i probably saw something that inspired this but all it says is “harry sends letters to space” so i’m assuming it’s an au where he just decided to send letters to space out of boredom or something and mayhaps alien reader finds one?

10. assassin au!

harry is an assassin and in my draft it’s super vague? and almost seems like he’s stalking the reader? it could go in any direction really but i’m assuming the reader is dating him and doesn’t know he’s an assassin

11. chapstick

very similar to the tea one! just w the reader wearing diff chapsticks all the time

12. shower

this is inspired by something i read on wattpad a long time ago and i’ve tried finding it but i think it might’ve been deleted. the reader flicks da bean all the time in the shower and is really loud about it, harry is distracted and confronts her

13. dang ANOTHER threesome

but this time harry is on a date with a girl and they’re at a bar- the girl is looking around, sees the reader and thinks she’s gorg and they end up having a threesome

14. photography au!

harry is a photographer who somehow ends up taking pictures of the reader. in my draft the reader asks him to delete the ones that are ugly but he keeps them all hehe

15. scrapbook au

similar to the last one, harry takes pictures of the reader a lot but it’s not bc he’s a photographer, he just thinks she’s pretty n wants to scrapbook. twist is that he has TWO scrapbooks- one of innocent pics and one that’s lustier (consensual ofc)

16. habits of my heart by jaymes young

self explanatory, angsty

17. roommate au?

this is for some reason also an assassin au? but they’re roommates and reader doesn’t know what he does. they’re bffs, mutual pining

18. don’t forget about me by clove

wow another song fic, big surprise

19. puppyy

harry gets a puppy who hates him :( but the puppy loves the reader!

20. mall au

lol this one is kind of dumb idk why i thought of it but harry is one of those kiosk people at the mall who sells perfume! dunno!

21. condoms

reader works at gas station, harry buys huge condoms

22. poetry

either person reads erotic poetry while touching the other

23. magic au

one of them makes a love potion, kind of dark? like making the other fall in love with them idk it could be an accident though

24. private chef

the reader is a private chef! that’s all i’ve got!

25. message board

this is inspired by..... the sims lmaooo you can pin messages to the message board in your apartment building and i thought it’d be cute if the reader and harry lived in the same building and he leaves notes on the board and she doesn’t know they’re for her! she always thinks they’re cute though

26. raisin theory

inspired by new girl! specifically a comment i saw in like a compilation? video of new girl on yt

i thought it’d be cute for harry to be that person

#tbh i haven't been reading ff either so if any of these have been done already i didn't know #anywhooo ily #hopefully this year will be good for everybody #harry styles imagines #harry styles writing #and of course the reader doesn't have to be female or in 3rd person #but yeah idk how many people are even gonna see this but my masterlist isn't linked anymore #if you search for masterlist on my blog it will come up #okay bye!!

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christinaroseandrews · 3 years

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Marketing Matters - Strategy - Fanfiction

Strategy - Fanfiction

So this is a bit of a taboo subject in the publishing world, but I’m going to be upfront with you all.

We write fanfiction.

There, I said it.

Writing fanfic is also a viable marketing strategy for authors who are choosing to go the self-publishing route and not always for the reasons that immediately spring to mind. In addition, the skills, fanbase, and tricks learned while writing fanfic can also apply to traditional publishing. However, I’m going to give you one caveat right up front: many big name publishers don’t like authors who write fic. Or at least they say they don’t. It’s becoming more common, but most publishers and agents want authors to be focusing on original fic not fanfic. Several smaller presses don’t care as much, so long as your author persona and your fic persona are very separate and you don’t rub it in their faces. But the big name publishers may require you to pull your fanworks. So that’s something to keep in mind.

So now it’s time to break it down.

About Us and What we’ve done:

We’re probably best known as fanfic writers in the Hunger Games fandom, where we have a few well regarded fics. We’ve also dipped our toes into other fandoms including the MCU, Harry Potter, DBZ, and more drive-by one-shots in various fandoms than you can shake a stick at.

We also both were/are a part of the Sims 2 writing community and had a few well known stories there as well. ^__^ We may or may not have met in this fandom. LOL

Both of us have been part of these fandoms for years and were active members in them. Lark started in fanfic back in 1994/5 as a beta reader (which she then parlayed that experience into becoming an editor that summer). While Rose discovered fic in college in 2002. In these fandom communities, we met people that we now call friends in real life as well as mentors, betas, advisers, and cheerleaders. We learned skills that apply both to fic and to original writing. And, most importantly, we learned how to listen to our audience.

Let me stress that again: we learned to listen to our audience.

When we transitioned, we hit up the people we met in these fandoms to help us with various aspects of publishing life (either paying or trading favors for work done) and we’ve also given status updates about our original writing, along with links to our author tumblr in the authors’ notes of our fics. Nothing that will violate the terms of Ao3′s Terms of use - but links to our professional website/social media.

While we write fanfic less, we still dip our fingers in now and again.

Cost:

Time.

Straight up time.

The cost of writing fic is time, energy, and creativity. Time spent writing fic is time NOT spent writing original works that can be published. Time that is not spent editing or plotting or doing other sweat equity types of marketing. Which is why some authors refuse to write fic once they turn professional and it is completely understandable. Fanfic authors don’t get paid for their work and for some, getting paid is a big deal. Especially when most of your income comes from writing.

It’s a cost we willingly pay sometimes, but if a fanfic author you know also writes original works for publications. It does mean that updates may be slower and there is often less motivation to keep publishing stories -- especially if the stories don’t get much in the way of response/feedback.

It’s about return on investment.

Return on Investment:

I’m going to do this a little differently since sometimes the return isn’t monetary. This is also likely to sound really clinical and analytical; that’s because I’m trying to be objective and I may be going too far the other way. We write fanfic because we love it, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t give back to us too.

Monetary (Language of Flowers only):

Units sold: 20

Mailing list subscribers: 6

Social media followers: Twitter - 15, Tumblr - 60, Facebook - 8

Not Monetary but Cost Saving

Editors - 9

Cover Designers - 3

Mailing List Trades - 3

Skills Learned:

Editing (Line, Content, Story Doctoring -- Yes, all of these)

Proofreading (not the same as editing)

Creating Characters

Keeping Characters in Character

Plotting

Engaging an audience

Finishing what you start

How to handle ConCrit

How to handle Trolls

How to write to an audience

How to prevent plot holes

As you can see, the biggest return on investment of the time is in the skills section. Fanfiction is not to be taken lightly.

And as for me, Lark, I literally parlayed my experience working in fandom to actual paying jobs as an editor. I honed my skills as an editor on fanfic which I then turned around and used to get a job editing professionally. I did that multiple times for a bunch of different publishers/clients. I got my start in fanfic.

As an editor, one of the biggest problems I see with developing authors is a “sameness” in voice. AKA all of the characters sound the same. If you want to see this in traditionally published book action, then look at Laurel K. Hamilton... Her Merry Gentry and Anita Blake heroines sound almost exactly the same. (Which not coincidentally, sounds like how she speaks in real life.)

With fanfiction, you can’t do that. You’ll get called out for being OOC. So you have to learn to adapt your voice. (Or only write characters that sound like you but that gets boring after a while.)

So in my actual job as an editor, one I get paid to do, I legitimately tell my clients to pick a character from a show they like and use them as a template for a character they’re having trouble giving a good character voice to. And unsurprisingly, it works. It’s a good trick and it subconsciously teaches your brain how to create different characters/voices.

They other HUGE takeaway from the skills is in regards to concrit and being able to take it. If you want to publish for a living and not just half-ass it, you have to develop a thick-ish skin. And fanfiction can help with that. I straight up learned to deal with harsh reviews from writing fanfiction. But more importantly, I learned how to listen to what the person was telling me and then become a better author because of it.

In fanfiction, unlike in the publishing world, the reviews are meant for the authors... not potential readers. If someone really hates your work, or worse, is apathetic to it. They just won’t comment. They’ll hit the backspace and you’ll never hear anything. Most comments, especially critical ones, are from people who legitimately like the story that you’re telling but have a problem with part of it. The comment may be harsh, it may even be mean. But it tells you something and it gives you an idea where you may be turning off readers. People aren’t always good at phrasing criticism constructively. We’re not really trained how to do that. But when someone tells you why something isn’t working for them or why they didn’t like something, listen. You don’t have to agree -- we certainly haven’t -- but listening and thinking critically about the feedback will help.

This can be seen in our first novel, The Language of Flowers, which started out its life as a fanfic. The story pissed several readers off. And we realized as we were writing it that we needed to explain something and we weren’t doing a good job of doing so. So the scene that every single one of our readers loved was born of that concrit. Our story is better and reached the top 100 in its categories on Amazon because of the feedback we got as fanfic authors.

Seriously, writing fanfic has gotten us to where we are today.

Takeaways:

My biggest take away is that writing fanfic is a great skills builder and audience builder.

Pros:

Skills. Oh so many skills. But the biggest is that you will be writing and no writing is ever wasted. It’s practice. Like an artist has to sketch or a musician practice. You’re honing and toning your writing muscles. And fanfic is absolutely valid for doing that.

Cons:

Time. Straight up Time.

Rating:

It’s been so long since I’ve done one of these that I don’t remember. But honestly, the rating varies. You get out of fanfic what you put in and what you’re willing to take from it.

(Note: This has been sitting in our drafts for about 4 years. I finally finished it up because I was bored and waiting to go to a doctor and didn’t feel like doing nothing.)

If you like our marketing posts, please consider supporting us here!

#marketing matters #fanfiction #writing advice #on writing #writing #long post #oh gods #this has been in our drafts forever #we love fanfic #we love fandom #fanfic is a gift #to both the reader and the author #don't disrespect the genre #queue me up

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dcbbw · 4 years

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Six Sentence Sunday 6-7-2020

Thanks for the tag, @ao719!

I’m trying to get all my ducks in a row and focus on finishing a ton of half-finished WIPs, while jotting down ideas for future fics.

I’m a motley crew this week, for real. Everything is still in draft, and subject to changes.

From 8 Minutes (Leo/Liam):

Leo knocked on their adjoining door before entering Liam’s room. He heard the radio and looked at it curiously.

“What’s that?”

“The Revolution will not be Televised. The artist is Gil Scot-Heron. It’s what known now as spoken word. First recorded in 1970 as a response to When the Revolution Comes by the Last Poets.”

Liam grabbed some clothing and stepped into the bathroom to dress. When he entered the main room, Leo was at the window, looking down at the protestors in the street below. Liam joined him.

The brothers, one with white skin, the other with black skin, both with blue eyes stared in silence.

The street was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of people. The King couldn’t see where the crowd began nor where they ended. A sea of bodies filled the street east to west, north to south. Signs were held up: Black Lives Matter, Prosecute the Police, Say Their Names.

Chants of no justice, no peace and I can’t breathe filled the air.

Liam pressed his hand flat against the window, a lump in his throat. Leo reached his hand out; Liam grasped it.

“The revolution won’t be televised, Liam,” Leo said in a choked voice.

“But the evolution will be,” Liam responded softly.

My Three Sons (future Riam):

The royal family sat around the dinner table; Riley had prepared spaghetti, always a family favorite now that every member had teeth and knew how to use their opposable thumbs. She had paired the pasta with salads for her and Liam, and string beans for their sons.

Liam looked around the table; it was unusually silent. Normally, the boys would be chattering away, arguing, bumping elbows and screaming for their parents. Instead, BB, the youngest, sat in his booster seat actually eating his food instead of playing with it. He seemed to have difficulty getting the spaghetti onto his fork. Liam reached over to help him, but BB shrugged away from Liam, refusing his father’s help.

The twins, Fric and Frac, sat side by side. Frac was eating, trying to engage his brother in conversation about his day out with their dad. Fric ignored him, sighing heavily whenever Frac spoke. The younger twin swung his legs under the table while pushing his food around on his plate.

Riley noticed.

“You aren’t hungry, sweetie? Do you feel sick?”

“No,” Fric mumbled as his fork continued to scrape noodles and tomato sauce.

Liam and Riley met eyes, before the King carefully placed his fork on his plate. He sat up a little straighter and cleared his throat.

“Do we need to have a family discussion?”

Frac looked at his father with confused eyes. Family discussions typically meant someone was in trouble. “No.”

Fric looked at Liam sullenly. “You only wanna talk to FRAC!”

Riley’s eyes grew big at the outburst. “Fric! You do not talk to your father that way! If something is bothering you, find your words and your inside voice. Or I’ll find them for you.”

“Daddy only loves Frac! Because he’s the hair! He doesn’t like me and BB because we aren’t hairs! And I don’t wanna be here anymore!”

Coronation (Dralivia):

My cheeks feel tight from dried tears as I watch streetlamps speed past the tinted windows of the limousine. The expressway is nearly empty, so my driver is able to drive a bit faster than the speed limit allows. I’m not surprised we practically have the road to ourselves; the Prince became King tonight and presented Cordonia with a Queen. Those who weren’t invited are watching via electronic devices, living the noble life vicariously.

Commoners think nobles are perfect people with perfect lives.

Hah!

The note I received earlier is crumpled in my hand; I don’t need to re-read it. I have it memorized. I just don’t know what to do with it, I don’t know what to do about it.

Yet.

My stomach growls and I frown in embarrassment even though I’m alone in the backseat area. I didn’t eat before I left Lythikos; I was supposed to have dinner at the Coronation Ball. Instead I was forced out, for sins I didn’t commit.

I remember Hilda, the manor’s cook, made mutton stew for dinner. My mother’s recipe.

But I’m already feeling slightly faint from lack of food. Lunch was a long time ago. I look over at the miniature refrigerator in the center of the rear console. I see a package of cracked wheat crackers and a bottle of wine sitting atop the appliance. I look inside the refrigerator and see a package of Brie cheese. I don’t see a knife, but I don’t worry about that. I have my dagger.

Before I can open my purse to retrieve the weapon, my phone buzzes. Curious, I pick it up, and tap the notification; photos of the American suitor, half naked with Tariq fill the screen.

Well, this is an interesting development.

Not-the-Nanny Interviews (Riam):

“Love, are you positive you’re okay? You didn’t eat much at breakfast, and your Braxton-Hicks have been far more frequent the past two days. Internet research says …”

“BE QUIET! I’m fine!” Riley yelled angrily. “Do you honestly think I would let anything happen to my babies?” She demanded.

Liam sat in the chair next to his wife’s, his gaze fixed on her profile. “You can scream all you want; I want to know what’s wrong!”

“I’ve been carrying 500 pounds of baby for almost a YEAR! THAT’S what’s wrong! Where the hell is lunch?”

Her blouse fluttered slightly as her stomach rolled. Liam placed his hand on her belly. “Lunch is coming, love. I admit, I was a bit indecisive, so there are plenty of options.”

He leaned over to kiss Riley’s cheek. He saw her eyes shut briefly as a smile flitted across her face. “Do you wish to start reviewing the applicants’ resumes while we wait?”

“In a minute. I want to know why Drake left Cordonia to go to college in America.”

Liam looked confused. “He wanted an education. I always assumed he chose America because he has family there.”

Riley turned her head to look at her husband as she drummed her fingertips on the desk. “Are you sure it isn’t because you two had a secret affair?”

Liam’s head fell back in exasperation. “NO! We are not, nor have ever been, some soap opera storyline! You’re watching too much television.”

Riley shrugged. “I’m just saying … two guys on the cusp of manhood, spending lots of time together …”

“I cannot believe you are questioning my sexuality! I think I prove to you ALL THE TIME who stirs my libido!”

“Two pumps and a grunt aren’t proving anything!”

Liam’s eyes widened; his mouth fell open. A knock on the door stopped him from responding. Gladys entered with the lunch cart; there was smile on her face, but her eyes bounced between the royal couple knowingly.

“Is everything good, Your Majesties?”

Liam let out a frustrated breath. “Fine, Gladys. Riley has been watching a little too much of her favorite soap opera.”

Gladys gave a small nod as she set dishes and utensils on the desk. “The Queen does love Affairs.”

“It’s the best!” Riley exclaimed, watching the food being placed before her: chili, roasted sweet potatoes, crunchy kale, flank steak, porkchops with salted plums, cheesy risotto, and chicken salad.

Her eyes narrowed at the selection. She looked at Liam in disbelief. “You ordered all this?”

Liam nodded eagerly. “It all looks delicious! Gladys, a thousand thank yous to you and Cook for this.”

He reached for the platter of pork chops; Riley snatched it from him.

“YOU are living pretty high on MY hog, Liam!” She waved the porkchops in front of his face. “Literally!” She began picking around plums to pluck meat from the platter.

Gladys poured them glasses of lemonade.

“I can always eat elsewhere, my Queen,” Liam said as he put slices of steak on his plate.

Riley shoved the pork chops at him. “Take your plums with you!”

What are you working on @bebepac @sirbeepsalot @jovialyouthmusic @katedrakeohd @boneandfur @glaimtruelovealways @sashatrr

#six sentence sunday #kinda long post #dcbbw writes #WIPs are coming

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eerythingisshaka · 5 years

Text

Quit Playin

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II x Reader

Word Count: 3.5K

Warnings: Smut that makes you go huh?

This is my submission to @sonofnjobu WIP Fic Fest. It’s been sitting in my drafts for a little over a minute and I just hope it comes across as entertaining for you! Its setup is Yahya having the game from his Black Mirror episode and the things that occur because of it.

"It's not like that, i swear!" Yahya exclaims with a laugh he tries but cannot mask..

"Then what is it like!” You screech at him, wiping your face of the stray tear you hate. You aren’t gonna cry about this shit, you swear. But stress makes you teary regardless. “Cuz it seems like you don’t wanna be bothered with a damn thing about me!”

Yahya stares at you for a beat, leaning against the countertop in his relaxed olive green collared shirt tucked into his dark khaki slacks. With his little TWA, he looks like a vintage ad for Fridgaire appliances, square in the middle of a Sears Roebuck catalogue.

“I don’t NOT want you…” He says slowly with too much emphasis on the ‘not’. This revs you up more.

“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean? You out here doing shoots and shit all day everyday, no you’re back it’s like you on a whole other planet! Is it Nicole Beharie? Cuz I don’t blame you, I would even go after that but fucking tell me!”

Yahya purses his lips together, silently cupping his hands in front of them. He stands up straight and meanders over to you, kissing the top of your forehead.

Your palms smack his biceps, pushing him back off of you. “You not about to distract me, I’m serious!”

Yahya scoffs, rubbing his tender arms. “I see, ok! What else are you planning on doing to me to get my attention?”

You let out an exasperated yell. “Oh, nigga if you only knew what the fuck was going on in my head, you wouldn’t be tempting me.”

Yayha claps his hands twice, firmly planting his feet where he stands and bends over so his torso is almost parallel to the ground, facing you with his arms behind his back.

“Go ahead.”

You put your hands on your hips, pacing the floor. “Don’t fuck with me right now.”

“You have my full and undivided attention. And a face free for you to smack, and you talking yourself down? That’s disappointing, I gotta say.”

“But to what extent do I gotta go to get you here? How long have I asked you for this time? And now I’m angry, so this time is fucking worthless to me. I wanna chill with you, see shit, do new shit, not sit and the house and argue over you and your video games! Fucking hate whoever let you take that from the set.”

Yahya straightens up again, giving his lower back a little rub. “You wanna play me?”

You turn on him quicker than a blink. “You know I don’t give a damn about video games! If I wanted to play a game, I’d say ‘Yah, lemme play real quick. They got 2 player?’ But I haven’t! You know why? Cuz they dumb, repetitive and too complicated for me to find time learning worth it!”

Yayha walks down to the living room, like you haven’t said anything, toward the TV cabinet. “Oh, I see the problem.”

Walking over to the plush sectional, you plop down feeling imminent defeat. “You’re not listening to me at all, I can’t understand you.”

Yahya pulls out a small box, closing the cabinet and turning on the TV. “You just have to see me play, one time.”

He sits next to you, pulling out two clear dots from their container. “Here.”

He holds one in each of his hands out in front of him, eyes wide in expectation of you. If he was wearing black glasses and a trench coat, you’d think he was practicing for a Matrix reboot. You stare from his long hands to him, and back again, feeling yourself begin to soften. Maybe you could try bonding his way, just this one time.

You snatch one out his hands. “Gimme this shit. You stick em on your forehead or what?”

Yahya chuckles as you gets his pair out and puts them on. “You know I don’t have a damn dot on my forehead when I do this. Put it on the side of your face, in line with your eye kind of.”

Once you have the dot placed he takes his controller and pushes a few buttons to navigate to the Start screen.

“Now when I hit Start, we bout to be in the game for real.” Yahya looks over at you all wide eyed like he’s teaching a toddler how to hold their breath underwater.

“...nigga just push the damn button. I don’t get why you makin such a hu-”

You don’t get to finish you sentence before your mind begins to be sucked into a vortex that leaves you catatonic, body falling limply backward against the couch alongside of Yahya’s.

Before you know it, your eyes become accustomed to your surroundings. Looking around, you see many trees, vibrantly green and full of cherry blossoms blowing in the wind. The nearby waterfall fills your ears as your mind races to make sense of things.

“What th-”

“Hey! Whatchu think?!” A voice behind you yells. Your head whips around to see a woman in a blonde wig and an outfit that looked cute but avant garde enough to make you question your safety regarding their mental state.

You swallow hard. “I-I don’t know, I’m just tryna find my man.”

She huffs, working her hands in a circle creating a ball of energy before squatting in a fighting stance. “You’re the only man I see around here.”

You scoff. “I am NOT a man, girl, get your eyes corrected.” You go to do a hair flip for emphasis and find none on your shoulder. You feel the top of your head, expecting to find your wig gone, but you feel neither cap nor curl, only some bone straight short cut you have never had. When your hand shoots to your mouth in shock, the color makes you snatch it back again as it was not your shade of skin. Your hand looked meaty and was wrapped in tape. Your eyes travel to look down at your biceps, hulking and veiny. Strips of cloth hang of your broad shoulders and where titties once were, are now ample pectorals.

“Wh-what the fuck?? Who am I??”

The woman in front of you laughs. “You should see what you look like right now. Scared of your own body...when you should be scared of me.”

Without warning, she sails her energy orb at you, making you put your hands up without thinking. The force of her blow pushes you back making your feet slide against the rocky walkway you stand on. Your eyes slowly open as your heart pounds from the excitement.

The woman laughs, placing her hand on her hip in casual amazement. “Huh! I thought you didn’t pay attention when I played this game.”

You furrow your brow in confusion. “Wait…”

She nods, holding her arms out in a flourish. “Isn’t this cool!? We in the game baby! You see why I can’t stay out of it?”

She smiles widely, running towards you, quicker than humanly possible and takes your hand. “We can walk around and everything. Check this water out. It’s wet AND cold.” She dips down to wave her fingers in the nearby resevoir.

You still standby in amazement, slowly becoming accustomed to the situation. “Yahya?”

She looks back at you giving a nod that despite the racial and gendered differences, really reminded you of him. “It’s me baby. Come feel this water, ain’t it nice?”

You put your hands up. “No way. This is some Harry Potter/Neo bullshit that my Christian ass ain’t here for. Put me back in real life right now!”

Yahya’s character stands up, wiping their hands off on their costume before popping their knuckles. “What if this was my plan all along? Get you in here, and just...stay? Forever?”

You tighten your jaw, balling up your fists. “No way in hell would you do that.”

Yahya looks at you stone faced and still. “Well…”

“YAHYA!” You shout at him, losing every ounce of patience.

Finally they laugh, holding their stomach for emphasis. Another Yahya-ism. “I’m playing babe, you cute when you mad but it’s ridiculous as a dude. We not stuck here forever, I promise. You just gotta say the magic words and we out. Simple.”

You nod fiercely. “Ok, and? What are they?”

Biting their lip, Yahya says, “I’ll tell you...but you gotta fight me for it.”

“Pssh, boy come on and quit playing I’m ready to be done and here you go. I ain’t fighting.”

“You sure?” They shrug, walking towards you to poke your arm. “I mean, you could probably beat me easily. You a big strong dude. I’m the female here, so you got advantage.”

You swipe at them. “I’m not falling for that. You know how to play this game, that’s the problem!”

They reach out to ruffle up your hair. “You beat my ass mashing buttons before, just do that.”

You whip your head back, stepping away with your hands up defensively. “Aight, I’m sick of you pissing me off lately anyway. Come on with it, BITCH.”

The venom in your curse makes Yahya character smile as their hands swirl in a creating an energy orb. You run up on them, sailing through the air with a kick that travels their torso to their face, causing them to stumble.

You feel pretty good until you hear that damn laugh.

“Go off, baby! That was cute!” Yahya bites their lip, stomping the ground that loosens a rock in the pavement right under your feet, knocking you off balance. As you fall through the air, Yahya, sends fists and feet under your back 3, 4, 5, and 6 times until you fall down, clutching your back in pain.

“Fuck! What the hell you do all that for? I knew your bitch ass wouldn’t fight fair.” You curse as the pain begins to subside.

Yahya walks over shaking their head as the blonde hair falls on their face. “It doesn’t last, the pain. I could literally break all your shit, and never have to worry cuz it mends in like three seconds.” They hold their hand out to you to help you up. “You oughta feel fine now. I’ll leave you be if you done though, my bad.”

You sit up and take a deep breath. Just like he said, you feel brand new before you even exhale. You look up at them in their outfit: waist snatched, thighs strong and wrapped in elaborate garters, titties sitting high in their corset leather one piece.

“So now you kicking my ass, and you pick a character finer than me?”

They chuckle, squatting over you. “No way in hell do any fake shit come close to you baby. For all it’s worth, I’m glad I got you here to experience this with me. Complaining be damned.”

Having caught your breath, you feel this pull inside of you that brings your heart to a racing pace. A tug from within you never felt before but it made you ravenous for mischief. As you grabbed their hand, you in turn flipped into a somersault carrying them through the air onto the stone path beneath you both. Yahya gasps, having the wind knocked out of them but you don’t ease up. Before Yahya could get to standing, you straddle them using your newly acquired man weight to pin them down and send a fury of fists into their face. You feel like you’re watching a movie instead of experiencing it firsthand, but the comical pace of blows as Yahya’s character head bops back and forth like a speed bag made this whole experience worth it. That is until a pair of knees hit your back.

As you fly forward, you land face first and before their strong thighs come around your waist and an arm around your neck.

You feel your consciousness beginning to fade. “Yah….”

They breathe heavy in your ear. “Say Uncle.”

You raise your hand off the ground but it feels like a 100 lb weight. “I can’t-”

“Nah actually, say Daddy.” Even as a woman, his chuckle rang true, making you livid. You gather as much strength as you can muster to bring yourself to all fours, in a kind of parasitic piggyback ride. Their grip tightens as you move, but suddenly a force fills you. You grip the ground underneath you, clawing your nails into the stone as the energy boils.

“Come on, say-” Before Yahya could answer your back arches as a howl comes from deep within and your eyesight turns white. You hear a wretched thud behind you and use it to follow your prey. Yahya’s character sits limply against a boulder as you bound toward them lifting their head to make room for your hand against their throat. They feel weightless in your hand as you raise them up higher and higher as their feet hovers above the ground. Yahya’s character opens their eyes and you step closer to them, nose to nose as you grip their neck.

“How’s that feel now, Daddy?” You say, hearing yourself with a manly tone of voice sent shivers down your spine as you held control. Your muscles flex under your authoritative hold, arousing your interest at its highest point since you got in the game

Yahya’s hands grip your bicep as they wrap their legs around your waist tightly. “It feels...alright,” he chokes out with a small grin.

You snort as you study the face of his character: cheekbones riper than autumn apples, flush from the fight. They keep licking their lips and stroking your bicep before you notice the slow grind against your pelvis.

Yahya continues. “You wanna beat me up some more?”

Your grip weakens when a new sensation crops up between you two. It’s not like anything you’ve known before. Your mind kept getting distracted from the task at hand.

“Is the fight...over? Did you hit pause or- something?” You stutter as your hips move before your can think about it, making a gasp slip from your mouth. The soft warmth that rubbed against your groin was so tempting.

Your hand comes off their neck and rests against the rock you had Yahya’s character pinned against.

“It ain’t over until we say it is.” The character’s voice is raspier, breathy. You run your nose and lips across their clavicle. Their hand reaches for the sash keeping your pants up.

You wince as the fabric feels tighter in front. “I don’t feel so good. It’s like I’m cramping up or something.”

Yahya’s character bites their lip, shaking their head. “You ok, that’s just how it is for guys. Getting hard is fucking torture til you find something to do with it.”

As their hand reaches for it, you feel a sharp shock to your nerve endings, making you seize up and grip their thighs hard.

“Ohhh shit, why’d you do that?” You wail.

Their grip tightens as their hand runs the length of your shaft. “It’s ok, I swear it’s gonna feel nice.”

“It’s not that, I just...I don’t wanna wait no more.” You growl primitively as you find the garments between their legs and rip it apart, exposing herself to you.

“Fuck, babe, slow down!” Yahya’s character exclaims, grabbing onto your shoulder in surprise.

The whole lead up is a blur. You couldn’t think about what you were doing as a guy figure about to manhandle a woman who also happens to be your boyfriend because nothing would satisfy you more than diving into that pussy at that moment. You pull you character’s dick out with ease, lining up your head to their opening.

“Shit, Yahya. You better breathe bitch.” You scoff holding onto your member to ready yourself. Yahya’s characters breathing and moans in anticipation stoked your fire, making you way less patient for foreplay. Soon as you felt wetness, X marked the spot.

When you began to enter them, you swore your mind just went to another dimension besides the one you currently were in. You felt like you just flew into the center of a hot honey butter roll on Thanksgiving night while sopping up the leftover gravy. The warmth around you followed by the heartbeat of the pussy around your dick sent your knees to buckle.

“Fuuuck.” Yahya’s character exclaims as you push into them every inch you can must before hitting a barrier, making Yahya’s character tense up.

“It’s ok, go ahead.” He reassures you, kissing your neck and jaw while rubbing your back.

You needed no other encouragement as you pulled your hips back and began to swim. The sounds of you churning them out became your applause, goading you.

“You feel...like a fucking payday...a day early…” You gasp as your senses reach their peak. It felt so good, but you still didn’t feel peace. If anything, the more you stroked, the more erratic you became. You searched the rock for a grippable surface and when none was found you turned to their character instead. You wrapped your arms around their back, putting them into a bear hug as you bounced them off your thighs, gaining deeper access.

Yahya’s character is a blubbering mess, beggin you to go harder, deeper, faster, and that was a challenge you refused to back away from. You wanted them to feel you entirely, smacking their ass when they got too quiet, pulling their hair when they seemed too tired, picking up the pace when they were becoming too dominant. Nothing was going to keep you from waxing the whole level with their ass.

As any superhero, you began to grow weary. The ferocity that consumed you began to falter as a wave of pressure built in you, making you nervous.

“Yah, I’m feeling something different.” You moan as your stomach tightens up, feeling a throbbing pressure.

Character hair in disarray, Yahya pushes it back, speaking between gasps. “You about to cum, babe?”

You shake your head. “I don’t know, I don’t usually feel like this when I do.”

“It’s different as a guy....don’t fight it. That will hurt, promise you.”

You nod as you close your eyes, feeling them tighten around you even more.

“You feel so good in me baby, let me have all of you. I want it all baby, fill my pussy up baby.” Yahya kept giving you erotic Hallmark message to let you know just how they needed it. The pressure became overwhelming and like a lightning striking a tree, the roll of thunder barreling from your balls up your shaft and out left you stiff as a board. Your toes curled as you felt yourself being pumped dry as Yahya’s character squealed in satisfaction, hugging you tightly. You felt yourself move, but no more than a snail’s pace, out of fear you may fall over from weakness. Your sensitivity heightened you didn’t dare try to continue, opting to pull out once you felt yourself finish, putting Yahya’s character down before falling to your knees. Yahya’s character laid out right next to you, smiling joyfully.

“And THAT’s why I can’t get enough of this game. You experience shit you can’t in the real world. I never thought I’d get you to do that.”

You huff looking over at them. “That was so damn different...YOu never let me lead like that before...And you were so….vocal.”

They shrug. “I can’t help it when I’m like this. Female orgasms are damn drugs. My whole body lights up, and I don’t feel like vampire just took my soul after. Without a doubt good shit.”

You put your stuff back in your pants in awe of what just happened. “And I never knew I could take over you like that. Like...I was you just now. And you were me.”

Yahya smirks. “Exit game,” disappearing.

You look around in a panic. “Uh, EXIT GAME!”

Your body lurches forward as you catch your breath, feeling Yahya rubbing you back.

“You alright? It’s over I promise.” He says with concern. “I didn’t mean to shake you up like that.”

You feel relief hearing his real voice turning to give him a big hug, almost knocking him backwards.

Yahya’s laughs muffle into your shoulder. “Damn baby. Some of the game ain’t left you.”

You lean back and peer into his face. “I don’t want that part to leave me just yet.”

Yahya blinks in amazement as he grips your waist. “That didn’t turn you off from me? With the characters and me being a girl in there and-”

You shake your head. “It just showed me how much I can do to you and how good you can make me feel in a way I could’ve never asked you to show me.”

He licks his lips nodding slowly. “No limits to that.”

You smile, fitting yourself over his lap. “So we can fall off a mountain while I fuck falling to the ground? Or fuck you thru a glass window and roll you over in the shards and-”

Yahya quirks an eyebrow up. “I’m returning that thing tomorrow!”

#yahya abdul mateen ii #fic #black mirror #its my first fic posting in four months. be kind lo #wip fic fest #shakafic

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softly-savage-mint-yoongi · 4 years

Text

Wow I’m feeling the love today seeing as @guardians-of-exo, @kyungseokie, and @j-pping all tagged me in this, love you ladies thank you! uwu

1. what is your ideal setting for focusing on your writing?

Usually in the morning, or those rare occasions of 10p-midnight-ish. Coffee, woodwick candles, piano music only. I can’t focus on writing if there is any sort of talking or singing. Lately it’s been a lot of writing on the go on my laptop, in the car between jobs or before/after a shift, or if I just want to get out of the house. I drive a jeep so I go sit in the woods as often as possible when the weather is nice with the back open. Nature is a great muse!

2. what is your favorite genre to write?

I would love to say it’s romance, but I think- if I could even call this a genre- it is the kind of descriptive writing about expressions. In pain or pleasure and the feelings of it. I most enjoy writing with the intent to evoke a strong emotional response, whether it is fluffy giddiness, painful heartache or overwhelming love.

3. do you prefer to write on paper, or digitally?

I usually start on paper or on my phone just for synopses and then go digital in two drafts. I storyboard strictly on paper, in a notebook dedicated to writing. Ask @guardians-of-exo, she knows I’ve done a lot of research on things for our collab au, and all of the information I have is handwritten in that book. :) This also goes for drawing maps and charts to go with my work or blueprints of prevalent spaces in fics so I can remember what is where and such to manifest that greater sense of physical space. The more detailed I can be on paper the better.

4. it’s the middle of the night and you suddenly wake up with an idea. what do you do?

Grab my phone, curse at the brightness I forgot to turn down before bed, and then type out my idea in an app I use specifically for things like this. When I have ideas at work too and I’m not at my desk it’s nice to be able to put it in my phone for reference later.

5. who is your favorite person to write about?

Y’all know it’s Junmyeon, right? I have told many of you when you’ve asked, but allotrope was all started because of how much depth I think Junmyeon has and I really wanted a chance to be able to explore some of those sides to him. I want to be able to say Chanyeol, because he is easy to write and love and have fun with and feel a lot of emotion for when he wears the essence of his soul on his sleeve so boisterously. Just, as is my style, I’m better at capturing the hidden moments of a person and I think I enjoy doing it just a little bit more.

6. do you like making your own characters, or do you usually write about real people?

So it actually took me over a year to take the next step and write about real, actual people. I felt like it was breaking some sort of respectful barrier and I had a lot of mixed feelings about it. Ultimately, I’m not writing anything about them with the intent to slander them in any way or harm them so I decided not to fight it. I only enjoy writing reader-inserts when I can be as absolutely obtuse with their looks and personality as possible. This has been quite the challenge in An Adventurer’s Guide to Romance in particular. Mie and I had a conversation about how difficult it is to write nine different reader-inserts for our boys. They need to feel vague so anyone can put themselves in those shoes, but they need to differ from the other 8 inserts because they show up in each other’s stories and I think writing the same personality nine times will get very old very fast.

7. have you ever written a book, or a story with more than 15 chapters (or 100k words)?

I’m not sure how good I feel about saying this because looking back it was literal trash, but I wrote 100k+ fics for Naruto back in the day so I’m used to writing long works. I think Moonchild will be over 100k when I’m done but I’m not sure. Allotrope will be close but not (sitting at 55k now), and the Chanyeol Dark Fic I have planned to write after Allotrope might be as well, I have no idea.

8. how often do you get ideas?

Hmmm, pretty much constantly? I definitely try to stick to the ones I think about the most or have the most world-building experience with. Thirst-trap ideas end up being shorter fics of course, but they’re no less fun or exciting to write! I quite enjoy dropping fics in less than a week since conception. The challenge is stressful but fun and rewarding when it’s out to the world and the excitement of fulfillment lingers! I also tend to stick with ones where I have a greater sense of emotional connection, or straight up fantasy au, LOL.

9. do you ever get an idea that you really like, but just can’t seem to finish?

I think this is what’s happening with Moonchild right now, haha! I haven’t written for it in almost a year, but the idea is still there and I’ve got paaaaggeessss of detail for it, plus the rest of the story is outlined. I just have to write and detail it! Too many other stories taking up my inspiration and motivation atm.

10. what is your least favorite plot?

I mean this in the nicest way- but plots for highschool aus (funny considering how fucking W E A K I am for college coffee shop aus) or fics where there are copious original characters. Y/N doesn’t need a posse to bitch about so-and-so. I think the only fics I’ve read where this was absolutely not a bother and made the stories better were Steph’s Sweeter Than Sweet (Sam, who became a prevalent character and was not over-done), and Sarah’s Welcome to the Exodus Mall series where she has done something similar to AAGTR- in that each member knows one another and their respective love interests do, too, so a few have names or aliases. I’m certain I’ve not read them all though so if you have any recommendations to sway me, send them my way! I don’t hate them, I just think they’re at the bottom of my sought-after tropes!

11. tag 5 or more people

I’m pretty positive I’m literally the last one to do this so I don’t want to tag anyone else because y’all have done it already lmao.

#tag games #raz rambles about writing #fanfiction

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sambergscott · 4 years

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10 Writer Questions

I was tagged by @b99peraltiago, thanks adele :)))

1. What’s your favorite genre to write?

fluff. 100%. pretty sure i've only ever written 2 or 3 angst-y things ever (the real world is so stressful idk why you’d want to consume media that’s equally stressful but maybe that’s just me)

2. Do you pull inspiration from real life, or do you pull things from other books/fanfiction you’ve read?

both! get a lot of inspo from throwaway lines on the show or other tv shows too like my fic where jake and amy find out they’re pregnant like jim and pam

3. Do you tend to write one-shots, short stories, or longer things?

one shots are my thing. i did write a 18 chapter angst-y case thing on my bones ff.net a couple of years ago but i much prefer writing missing scenes/shorter one shots that people can read quickly and easily (it’s what i prefer reading too, i almost never read fics with loads of chapter sorry)

4. Do you prefer to write description or dialogue?

dialogue a million times over. sometimes i wish i could just write the dialogue and draft somebody else in to write the in-between bits for me

5. Favorite fic/book of all time?

my favourite books are the shopaholic ones by sophie kinsella. she’s my favourite writer EVER. the only downside is that i find it hard to read other books now bc i never like any of them as much as like hers :/// (pls release another book sophie)

favourite fics: decaf ginger and lemon tea, holding back the flood by the lovely @johnny-and-dora, oh my love, it was a funny little thing, all the way home i'll be warm and (i'm not just saying this bc i like her but) literally everything @fourdrinkamy has ever written

(there are so so so many good fic writers on here and i love every single fluffy jake and amy one-shot, there’s too many to mention but they’re all in my fic rec tag)

6. Favorite trope?

friends/co-workers to lovers (applies every single couple i like oops)

7. Are you the kind of person to work on more than one WIP?

i might have a couple of ideas in my head but i can only write one thing at a time. normally in one sitting - if i leave a wip and come back to it, i usually lose all steam and end up scrapping it

8. How long have you been writing?

since i was a kid!! i used to write lots of little stories when i was really young & also came up with whole ass movie scripts to act out with my bratz dolls lmao. my school teacher used to laugh at me because whenever we had to write stories in school i'd always find a way to mention liverpool or steven gerrard #obsessed

9. Do you tend to write more in the morning, afternoon, or evening?

it’s mostly evenings tbh but whenever i get inspired i have to write then and there (if i can)

10. Do you prefer to post and update your WIP chapter by chapter or wait until it’s 100% complete before sharing it?

don’t really do multi-chaps but chapter by chapter. i might write a couple in one go (like with my missing scenes series that i've kind of forgotten to update in forever) but when I finish something i like to get feedback straight away

i feel like everyone’s been tagged in this already but if you haven’t and wanna do it, then go for it :))

#my writing #tag games

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clevercatchphrase · 4 years

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2019 year in review

So… The 2010’s are almost over. Huh. What a decade it’s been. Hard to comprehend how much has changed in 10 years. I can barely believe that I was in high school at the beginning of this decade, and now I’m a college graduate with 2 degrees who’s been working at the same job for the last 3 years. But trying to summarize the past 10 years in a single post is a good way to give myself an existential crisis, so let’s not do that! Instead, let’s just focus on 2019 because there has been more than enough shit that’s happened to me in this year to talk about.

PART 1 OF 2: 2019 AND 2020 GOALS AND RESOLUTIONS

Huh, looking back through my archives, I apparently didn’t make a tumblr post about my goals this year. I definitely had some, though. Lemme list ‘em off real quick, and then we’ll go through them point by point.

1) Pay off all my student loans 2) Finish some song comics 3) Make art for my Redbubble account 4) Finish the first rough draft/script of a game I wanted to make 5) Practice ASL 6) Sew some stuffed animals 7) Finish some fan fictions 8) Work on Ghost Switch 9) AMVs 10) Do some original writing 11) Make illustrations for my fan fictions

Okay, first off, the student loans. I was actually SO CLOSE to successfully completing this one bUT THEN MY CAR HAD TO BE A WHINEY PISS BABY AND HAVE ITS ALTERNATOR DIE ON ME WHILE I WAS ON THE HIGHWAY AND THEN A BLOW OUT THREE WEEKS LATER.

GOD, if I had to summarize this year in two words, for me it would be “Car troubles”. I swear I spent more on auto repair in the first third of this year than I ever have just freakin’ OWNING a car. All four of my tires had to be replaced, my alternator failed and my car literally just SHUT OFF while I was driving, and I was barely able to coast into a gas station. Both my front breaks and rear breaks were worn down the metal and I only learned this when my car was barely able to stop after I had to slam the petal down full force! I went in for an oil change, and they found some problems and then I didn’t get my car back for three days! I don’t even like owning a car! I hate driving! I hate my country’s refusal to provide universal, free public transportation! I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS!

Oh-kay… number 2. Finish some song comics. I didn’t finish any. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t work on them. I have made tiny progress, but that’s certainly better than no progress. One of these song comics I hope to be realizes is going to be a collab with one of my friends. It’ll be a long-time coming as it’s pretty low priority for the both of us, but if anyone else out there was disappointed with KH3’s ending, we’re gonna have ya’ covered… With SONG!

3. Make some redbubble art. I actually did this one! Not in the way I expected, but I added (technically) 3 new designs to my redbubble in the middle of the year. If you like butterflies and dragons, I got some product for you~!

Number 4, finish a script for a game I want to make. I… thought about this. I thought about this a lot, but I never put pen to paper, so… oops. It almost happened! I debated making this my main writing project for NaNoWriMo this year, but ended up having more inspiration for another story. Maybe next year? (god, I hope not. I don’t want to wait a full year just to write something)

Number 5, practice ASL. I just straight up didn’t do this and I only have myself to blame. Still keepin’ up that Danish Duolingo streak, though. 4 years going strong and not a day missed yet.

Number 6, sew some stuffed animals. Again, another one I just straight up didn’t do, but I have an excuse of trying to save money while my car crashed and burned in every other sense except literal this year. Hopefully 2020 will be different. I’ll definitely be able to pay off this last loan within the first half of 2020, and then I can start saving for whatever I want to buy.

Finish some fan fictions was number 7, and I did this! Well, I only finished, 1, but it was a story I’ve been working on for over 3 years, and it came out to over 200 THOUSAND words long, which is the longest thing I’ve ever written, and I’m quite proud of myself. Now that the big story is out of the way, and I’ve gotten into a good rhythm of working on Ghost Switch, maybe I can squeeze in some short writing sessions more frequently. (either that, or just wait for my car to break down again and then go on a writing spree in a pepboys. The lord and the fan fic discord know that’s solely why I finished my other fic this year)

Speaking of Ghost Switch, working on it was a goal this year too, and I did that! I kept it up all year and took a vacation in November and it was wonderful. While the major plot points have been in place since before I started drawing, I still need to script each arc beyond Snowdin, but hey, by the time we get there, it’ll be 2022 so I got time. (Note, don’t do this, kids. Script your stories and comics thoroughly before publishing. The road I’m on is paved with misery and pain and it will only end in tears unless I change lanes soon)

Number 9, amvs. Do people make AMVs anymore? Idk… the last one I made was... Jesus, 5 years ago? (it was a gravity falls/fall out boy crossover, if you were curious) I’ve been wanting to do 2 more for just as long, but in order for me to do that, I’d have to spend time re-watching the shows to find the footage, and then actually edit them together, and I just don’t…. feel like it. Maybe someday, but not any day soon.

10; do some original writing. I did this! For nanowrimo! I wrote the first draft of some original fiction I’ve been planning for a year or two now and it completely sucks! But it’s on paper now and I’m happy. Will I revise and edit it? Sure, but not for a while. I want to let it sit and forget about it and look at it with new eyes months from now so I can be sure I can make it better when time comes to rewrite.

11, make illustrations for my fan fics. Now that You Monster is done, I want to go back and add pictures to it. I didn’t do any this year, but I did keep a list of scenes I wanted to draw, so I have plenty of ideas to do as warm up sketches next year~ I kinda want to stream them~

So, that was 11 goals, and I successfully fulfilled 4 of them! That’s! Not a very good ratio… QmQ So, goals for 2020. Some I’m gonna keep from this year, some I��m gonna drop and some I’m gonna add. In short I would like to,

1) Finish paying off that last student loan 2) Put more stuff on my redbubble 3) Illustrate my own fan fics 4) Sew at least one stuffed animal 5) Make an enamel pin 6) Read one new book a month 7) Write one page a day/Complete at least one new fan fic 8) Learn Python or C# for the game I want to make 9) Finish fully scripting Ghost Switch 10) Boost my patreon

Most of these I think are pretty self-explanitory, but I’ll go into detail just a bit because I’m on a roll and typing my thoughts helps me feel less alone in the middle of the night when you’re super tired and you know you should probably go to sleep, but the toddler in you is throwing a tantrum and doesn’t wanna go to sleep just yet, but you can’t fight the progression of time either way.

Number 1- I should be able to reach this goal by the end of March. End of June at the absolute latest. Once that goal is met, my secret new year’s resolution will be unlocked as well!

Number 2- I want to put more art of my OCs on redbubble. These OCs are tied to the game I want to make. There’s already some art of them up there, but I want at least one piece for each character.

Number 3- Mostly for You Monster. Embrace the cardinal rule of fan fic and apply it to fan art. If you want to read about see art about certain ideas, scenarios, or what-ifs, you gotta make it yourself.

Number 4- I have 3 potential ideas to sew. One is definitely leagues easier than the other two and will probably be chosen if/when I have the time and materials.

Number 5- This year I got really, REALLY into the idea of making enamel pins. Unfortunately it’s a pretty big investment (like, $350 to make 100 pins you might not even sell). If this happens, it’ll probably be towards the end of the year, and if I get enough interest. I’m currently torn between making an original enamel pin and one based off Undertale. We’ll just have to see where this goes.

Number 6- Back in 2018 when I paid off one of my many student loans, I rewarded myself by spending over 200 dollars in used books. All these books had a theme; they were focused on dragons because I have a problem. I have not yet read a single one of these books I have bought, and I would like to fix that. I have, like, 20 unread dragon books, and even if I only read 12 out of 20, I would consider that an amazing accomplishment and money well spent.

Number 7- I currently have about 8 different WIPs I could work on. (well, I don’t know if I can even call them wips. More like, a general idea and a title written down.) I want to build good writing habits, and if I can write just 200 words a day, hell, even 200 words a week and just one of my 8 stories done, I would consider this goal met.

Number 8- I’m torn between making my game in unity or ren’py. I know jack shit about both. Ren’py is more user friendly, but unity will allow me more customization. (Lol, can you guess what kind of game I want to make yet?)

Number 9- I really just want the full story to be done and written incase anything goes horribly terribly wrong in my life and I find myself unable to continue making ghost switch in comic form. Then at least I can finish the story by other means, you know?

Number 10- It always surprises me every month when I get that patreon email saying I got paid. Sure, I don’t even make double digits on it, but it still awes me enough to know that people out there like my work enough to throw me a tip. I can’t thank my patrons enough for supporting me and I hope to one day be in such a good place I can update my comic/song comics/writing frequently enough without need for goals or milestones. But until that magical day arrives, money is always a great incentive for anything, I suppose. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ALRIGHT. PART 2 OF 2: SHIT THAT HAPPENED TO ME IN 2019

Cheesus crust what a year. This year started off great! Back in late January Kingdom Hearts 3 FINALLY released, and let me tell you a little story. Back in the summer of 2006 I was a 13 year old middle schooler with no way of making money other than by doing house hold chores at a rate of 25 cents a task. A few weeks ago, I had a sleep over at a friend’s house and they let me play this weird game called “Kingdom Hearts” and god, I was instantly hooked on it. That summer, I did over 800 chores, enough to earn myself 200$ and buy myself a playstation 2 (just in time for the ps3 to come out, gg me) The only games I had for the ps2 were KH1, 2, Re:CoM and Okami, and I beat them all… except Okami. Miffed that the PS3 wouldn’t allow for backwards compatibility, little 13-year-old me made a promise. I looked myself in the mirror and said “I will not buy the next playstation console until KH3 comes out, AND BOY that was probably a good choice for me to make with my level of gaming. I’m even less of a casual gamer than the average casual gamer, but I have been waiting 13 years for this piece of closure, and I even told my friends and family that “the day Kingdom Hearts 3 comes out is the day I will buy a playstation 4”. My dad apparently thought this was the funniest shit, because he literally took the day off from work that Friday to drive me on base to get the game and console (he thought it would be less crowded than a regular walmart, I suppose). I paid $400 on a ps4 pro while he bought me the game. Again, I have an impecible sense of timing seeing as the PS5 is now right on the horrizion, but just like before, I’m not buying a new console until the next KH game is released. See you in 2045, sony~. While I was at the gamestop on base, I also picked up Okami HD and The Last Guardian. For all of February and even early March, I took my time playing through KH3. And…! It was the best disappointment I’ve ever played. After a month away from gaming, I started The Last Guardian and finished it in a couple weeks. I love trico and would die for him, but trying to get 100% completion on that game is udder insanity. Okami, HD, however… again after a month break after finishing TLG, I started replaying Okami. I think I had only managed to get about halfway through the game before I just… stopped playing it on my ps2 version. I am currently SO CLOSE to getting a 100% on the ps4 version. In fact, I’ve beaten the game. I only (techinically) need 2 more trophies to be done; 1st, escape the water dragon without being eaten, 2nd, I need to beat that dumb stupid race with Kai, in order to get the last bead on my rosary, as well as the top dog trophy. I hate her so much. I hate this race so much. It’s awful and bad.

Flash forward to December! Earlier this month I was at Barnes and Noble, buying myself a planner for 2020. I exit the store and notice that there’s a gamestop across the street. For shits and giggles I go inside to look at their game selection, and I find KH 1.5 and 2.5. Now, my PS2 died a few years back (it just won’t read my discs anymore, I don’t know why) and I haven’t been able to replay any of my other kingdom hearts games since. If you had seen me the day I finished kingdom hearts 3, after the ending credits rolled, you would have heard me say “Man…. I wish I could play kingdom hearts 2 again”. AND NOW I CAN, ALONG WITH BBS which I had never even played yet, but knew the story of. I’ve restarted playing kh1, and I was so happy to hear that familiar music when I booted the game up for the first time. While at the game stop, I also picked up Rime and Tearaway, two games that had looked interesting to me. At the time of writing, I’ve finished Rime and am 25% done with tearaway. Rime was…. An interesting experience. I learned about it through Jacksepticeye’s channel a couple years back and thought the art style was enticing. For a super casual gamer like me, I found the puzzles just the right level of challenging and exploring was a blast! The music gave me VERY strong Princes Mononoke vibes, but the overall story left something to be desired. Overall I had fun, and enjoyed completing this game to 100%. Now for tearaway. Can I just say this game is super fucking adorable? I know the original was on the ps vita and the gameplay there was arguably more diverse and imaginative, but this game is just so fucking cute I don’t care?? ALSO, this game’s sound track is ABSOLUTELY incredible and I’ve only heard the first fourth of it! Listen to The Orchards, Pig Riding, and Gibbet Hill Pilgrimage for a taste of their wonderful beats and fantastic use of string and woodwinds! God, I’m so excited to get some more games in 2020. I’m proud to say I currently own more ps4 games than I ever did with my ps2 (and now the majority AREN’T Kingdom Hearts titles!), and I’m still hoping to play Journey, The Witness, and Abzu before everything becomes ps5.

What else happened to me this year. Oh, I went to a doctor for, like, the first time in seven years. I also had my blood drawn for the first time ever, and the nurse said the most disturbing thing to me while she did it. Now, whenever I get shots, I refuse to look. I did that here. So she thought it would be appropriate to say to me “Can you feel your blood leaving your body?” Lady… You can clearly see I am uncomfortable with what is happening here. Why, of all the things you could say, did you choose to say that. Unfortunately, while my doctor is nice, she keeps wanting to run tests on me, that I just cannot afford with my current salary, and my monthly insurance is about to go up to 200$ a month, so I’ve cancelled my next appointment with them, and don’t plan to go back until it’s absolutely necessary. Capitalism is fun, guys. Preventative healthcare is for wusses.

I started going to a chiropractor on a monthly basis. Story time- I don’t know when it started, but sometime late last November I began to notice that I had a headache that just... wasn’t... going away? And each day it was starting to get a little worse. It made it hard for me to find a comfortable position to sleep, it made it hard for me to be in bright areas or move fast. So I said to myself “Okay, if this headache persist through the month of december, then something is proooobably wrong and I should go see someone about it. And hoo-boy were thing wrong with me. By the time this January rolled around, I couldn’t even stay on my feet for more than a few hours without it physically hurting to just BREATHE. So I started going to this chain called The Joint (A+ name, I know). THey aksed me “How are you doing?” I said “I’m in pain” and they said “We can help fix that!”. I’ve only been to a chiropractor once before in my life a few years back after my freshmen year of college because I began to notice my hips weren’t able to support me? LIke, I would lie on my back, and I couldn’t push my hips up when my feet were flat on the floor. I also couldn’t climb anything steep, because my legs just couldn’t push me up if my knee had to bend more than 90 degrees when I lifted my leg up. (Turned out both my hips were apparently out of place). This time only one of my hips were out of place (which they fixed. they said one of my legs was an inch “longer” than the other because I had been leaning all my weight on one leg when I stand). But two of my ribs were apparently “Stuck” which was why it was hurting for me to just breathe, and one of my shoulders was missaligned too, causing one of my trap muscles to constantly be streched, which was pulling on my skull, and causing the headache. Anyway, after they popped all my bones back into place, I still felt terrible, but by god, that night was the first time in weeks I was able to sleep without a migrane. A chiropractor can’t magically heal your arthritis, or fibro, but I definately think they have merit to keeping your posture good and helping your body with things like circulation. 10 outa 10, would recomend. It’s all the fun of getting your neck snapped without the dying!

Earlier this month I got together with two of my friends and we baked Christmas cookies. It was a lot of fun, as well as a great learning experience. A member of my family has a gluten allergy, so we used rice flour for most of the cookies. We learned this is a bad idea! The cookies will just fall apart! A few member’s in one of the friend’s family have nut allergies. Other friend and I knew this and were careful to avoid cookie recipes with nuts, bUT THEN COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT ALMOND MILK AND ALMOND EXTRACT COUNT AS NUT. IN FACT, ALMOND EXTRACT IS PURE CONCENTRATED NUT JUICE AND WE FELT SO BAD FOR ALMOST ACCIDENTALLY POISONING THE FAMILY.

Earlier this year me and these same friends took a field trip to Hobby Lobby and just dicked around the store for a couple of hours. It was super fun, 11 outa 10, would recommend, a great date idea for your artsy S.O.

Back in May I went to a wedding for the first time in my life. (well, not true, but the first one I could remember) we left at 5am, drove 5 hours to get there, hung out at a zoo and spent the night in a la quinta before the wedding day. I slept on the bathroom floor because my mom was snoring too loud in the main room and keeping me awake, and the rest of the day was just spent me trying to keep myself together because I was pissed off and tired.

Other than all of that, nothing really major happened to me this year. I guess one more thing I’ve tried to do this year is started the process of breaking certain internet addictions so I can use my free time for more personal projects. Seriously, I found myself watching way too much youtube and following blogs that didn’t even make me happy. I had a personal intervention with myself where I sat down and asked myself, “why do you watch these videos and youtubers? Why do you follow these blogs? Do you really enjoy their content? Do you really care? If you stopped watching/following them, would you even notice?” After critically thinking it over, I’ve found myself unfollowing several channels and blogs and suddenly I feel so much happier. I thought I would miss it, but I realized I didn’t really care if I saw their content or not. I wasn’t missing much. And now I feel like I have more time to draw, read and write. If you think you spend too much time consuming and not enough time creating, I suggest you try and de-clutter your internet habits as well. It’s done wonders to un-fuck my headspace.

And… well, that about sums up my year. How are your holidays going? Anything fun, exciting, dramatic happen to you this year? I hope your new year is warm and safe! Good night, everybody!

#new year's resolutions #year in review #long post #(seriiously this think is like 3k words)

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mala-sadas · 4 years

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writing tag game

Tagged by @motherkarizma! Thank you, lovely ♥

fandoms:

I’ve been writing Pokémon Special/Adventures fic for a while, but I recently started writing MCU fic as well!

tropes:

as in which ones I’ve written frequently? school kid shenanigans, found family bonding, Dad!Green, canon compliant stuff, light/fluffy romance, lots of friendship fics, and uh...I wrote an amnesia fic once? I don’t write a lot of tropey stuff tbfh

number of fics:

I have 28 published fics on Ao3, as well as a handful of drabbles and AU prologues that never made it up there. Maybe someday.

fic I spent the most time on:

Unsurprisingly, it’s The Phantom of the Musical! It took me about a year to finish the first draft, and due to a combination of less free time, a slow beta, and lack of motivation, it took over a year to edit and post it after that.

fic I spent the least time on:

I’m gonna have to say Comfy for this one. Some of my earlier, shorter fics might’ve taken less time because a) they’re shorter and b) I wasn’t as meticulous with editing, but I don’t remember exactly how much time I spent writing them, and I also had to spend time coming up with a basic idea for the plot. Comfy, though? The idea just popped into my head as I was falling asleep and I got up and started writing it almost immediately. 3 hours writing, 1 hour editing, and it was posted the same day I came up with the idea.

longest fic:

Also The Phantom of The Musical - it’s 91k words long, and 112k if you include The Musical Archives, which is a collection of side stories and deleted scenes from the main fic (that by itself is my second longest fic).

shortest fic:

A New Family, at only 693 words - but to be fair, it’s basically just a prologue to my Oak Family series.

most hits/kudos/comment threads/bookmarks:

Okay, so my first (and longest) MCU fic, First Impression, wins in all of these categories except one. So in the interest of not being repetitive, I’ll share the second or third highest-ranking fic in each category.

hits:

Comfy - 1,606 hits, the highest for a one-shot and second highest overall. It’s also second highest in kudos and bookmarks. why do you guys like this one so much I literally wrote it in three hours please

kudos:

Baking Grace - 60 kudos, the highest among my Pokéspe fics. It’s 6 chapters of CommonerShipping fluff, and honestly I still think it’s one of my best works.

comment threads:

The Phantom of the Musical - 42 comment threads across 30 chapters. I gotta give a shout-out to @cap-cavern for leaving a comment on every chapter of this fic, I appreciate every single one of them ♥

bookmarks:

Weather or Not (You’ll Be There) - 14 bookmarks. I don’t have much to say about it, it’s just a fun little Irondad one-shot.

total word count:

221,448! And no one but me will want to read all of them.

fic you want to rewrite/expand on:

I don’t think there’s anything that I really want to rewrite or expand, but I do want to write more in the Oak Family series.

share a bit of a WIP or a story idea you’re planning on:

Well since I’ve been thinking so much about First Impression lately, here’s an excerpt from an upcoming chapter of that:

As Scott made to open the driver’s door, Tony began to feel the anger draining out of him, leaving a wave of fatigue in its wake. Sitting down suddenly sounded so appealing. He pushed Scott away from the door, towards the rear of the car. “Nuh-uh. Front seat’s mine. I have seniority.”

Scott glared at Tony. “Does that really matter right now?”

“It always matters,” Tony replied, pulling the driver’s door open.

Wisely, Scott decided that the matter wasn’t worth having another argument over, though he kept glaring at Tony even after he sat down in the front seat. He had a little more difficulty getting his door open than Tony did; whatever energy blast that got the car into this condition probably jammed the door. After a few sharp yanks on the handle, Scott finally succeeded in opening the rear door. He looked into the backseat and swore.

“Shit. There’s a kid in here!”

tagging:

@friendlyneighborhoodsecretary @reachingforaspark @saieras @vexx-ation @cap-cavern @mythgirlimagines

#storm's stuff #it was a dark and stormy write #tag game #fanfic #i got way too distracted by those statistics questions whoops

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hollenka99 · 5 years

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The Amount of Work Writing Takes

Alright, I’ve been thinking about how much time I spend writing. Because I spend a crazy amount of time writing or looking stuff up for my fics. I am usually a slow typer so it might not seem it but I do.

I write all my stories on Quotev, it is pretty reliable and I can keep my WIPs there indefinitely. It isn’t perfect obviously (for instance, unlike AO3, you can’t put books in a series) but for actually working on WIPs etc it’s great for me. I signed up for my account on April 20th 2014. It has been (coincidentally) 2014 days since then as of October 25th 2019.

Well, seeing as I write a lot, what if I worked for 12 hours a day every day since then?

2014 x 12 = 24,168

For context, 24,168 hours is 1007 days exactly. Three years is 1095 days. Say I started working on my writing at midnight on January 1st 2000 and didn’t stop for a second until I’d completed the 1007 days. That means I would finally be able to stop once midnight struck on October 3rd 2002.

But that is a gross overestimation. I haven’t worked for 12 hours for over 2000 consecutive days. I’ve had work shifts, school, exams to revise for, holidays, so on and so forth. There are also days where I just don’t write at all for a variety of reasons. So what if I only wrote for an hour a day?

2014 hours is two hours short of being a full 84 days. Even at 1h/day, I would still be spending approximately 2 months 3 weeks worth of writing. That’s still a lot.

So how about we find a middle ground. Let’s say... 6 hours.

2014 x 6 = 12,084

That is 503 days and 12 hours. Using the ‘NYD 2000 to DD/MM/YYYY’ analogy, that would mean I stopped writing at noon on May 17th 2001.

5 hours = 10,070 (419d 14h or 2pm February 22nd 2001)

7 hours = 14,098 (587d 10h or 10am August 9th 2001)

Look, I could go on but my point still stands. I’ve been writing for over 5 years now. At first it was One Direction (yeah, yeah, I know. I was 14/15 and it was the early to mid 2010s. Sue me), then I got into Supernatural in 2016 and wrote some stuff for that. Now, as of roughly summer last year, I’ve been writing Jacksepticeye-related fics.

I honestly started looking into the numbers out of curiosity. It goes without saying that I’ll never know the true value. But look at the numbers above. Over 10,000 hours??? Over a year’s worth of time spent at my keyboard typing and researching??? Like, holy shit, that is absolutely insane!

And that’s just me, messing around with ideas and wanting to share them with other members of my fandom/community since I was 14. Other writers have been doing this for longer or have better work ethics so their numbers will be even higher.

I didn’t intend for this to become a ‘show fan creators more love’ type of post and I don’t really want it to be because they kinda feel like they’re pressuring you and almost shaming you for not interacting more.

I understand, life can be busy or you have things that take priority. I’m as much a consumer as I am a creator. At the start of this year, there was a whole bunch of ‘reblog more’ discourse. I saw it and thought ‘Okay, yeah, they’re right actually. I’m going to use 2019 to improve on the amount of stuff I reblog’. Only... I seem to have taken it too far. I reblogged over 70 Schneep art week posts this summer and I had over 100 JJ art week posts in my likes before I whittled them down into the slightly more manageable ~75 posts that are sitting in my drafts.

I put way too much pressure on myself to reblog and leave nice tags while I do so. I’ve felt more pressure to do so after someone mentioned it in an appreciation shoutout. Leaving all those tags takes time. There is literally not enough hours in a day/week/month to reblog all the stuff I want and also write more of my own content. It’s stupid how much guilt I build up because of it. It is nowhere near healthy.

Yet even now, my brain is yelling at me because every second I spend on this post is a second I’m wasting due to it not being dedicated to writing the three large fics and two smaller fics I want to have finished by Halloween. You know, that holiday that is SIX DAYS AWAY. I nearly had a panic attack yesterday because someone I follow posted an excited reminder that JJ’s birthday was a week away. I spent the past couple days relaxing while my head screeched that I should stop and work on the fics.

And if I’m going to waste time not writing, I’d better spend that time writing the tags for the 75 odd JJ posts in my drafts.

In short, trying to do 1001 things is not healthy. Nor is telling yourself you should not be taking a breather from all the optional things you want to do. Those three larger fics can wait. I’ll be disappointed to not being able to finally finish them, sure, but they’re too much for me to handle at the moment. Those smaller fics are way more manageable in terms of completing them by next Thursday. Especially seeing as they’re been half done for months anyway.

So all I’m going to say is this:

If you’re doing all you can to show creators your love for their works, then great, fantastic, thank you so much. You are appreciated beyond belief by that creator. Keep up the good work (to a sensible degree).

If not, that’s okay. Maybe go into your likes if you have the time over the weekend and reblog a post or two of fan art/fanfic. It’s been said countless times before but your reblog could lead to that post getting a much larger chance of being spread by multiple people. You don’t need to go on binges or be a frequent face in the notes to be appreciated by creators.

TL;DR Creators spend countless hours working their butts off to make their art, fics, edits, etc. Please do what you can as a consumer to show your appreciation for creators and their works but don’t pressure yourself to go over your limit. As much as we like reblogs, comments and the like, we don’t want it to be at expense of your wellbeing. We’ll try to do the same.

#my writing #writersofjack #writing #creators love interaction #and they do work hard #but that doesn't mean you should sacrifice your mental health to do that #jacksepticeye #seeing as that is the community I write for now

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avelera · 5 years

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Hey i love the prisoners dilemma and i was just wondering what your writing process is ( as someone who stuggles to get words on the page)

*falls in a heap* right now anon I’m so behind on TPD that I don’t even know what my process is but first of all, thank you for your kind words.

OK! But I actually love questions like this so I’m gonna give it a shot (I’m actually very excited, thank you for sending this!)

1) Get an idea. Think the idea is going to be short. It’s not short. I am roundly mocked for my hubris.

ex 1. the seed idea for “The Only Way Out is Down” was that I wanted to combine Newt’s recovery with Dante’s Inferno (got it literally in the parking lot after seeing Uprising and to this day I don’t know what was up with my brain that day). I figured that would be done in 20k. I wasn’t even through the third circle of Hell (out of 9) in 20k.

ex 2.the seed idea for “How to Accidentally Become a Jaeger Pilot in 10 Easy Steps” was a thought I had while jogging of how funny it would be if Newt and Hermann actually had to do the stick sparring and accidentally became an incredibly effective Jaeger pilot duo, to Hermann’s euphoria and Newt’s everlasting shame.

ex 3. the idea for “Prisoners’ Dilemma” was basically “what if Newt wasn’t alone for the 10 years of his possession? What if Hermann was there, both as our audience surrogate to observe the situation but also as a potential source of salvation? what if it was really messed up but also really cute and domestic?”

2) Each fic has a different process but generally, ideally, I write the first draft as quickly as I can all the way to the end, occasionally having alpha readers to offer encouragement if it’s a very long piece to get me through the slog and self doubt (I had SO MUCH self doubt about towoid, damn, I was convinced the story was self indulgent garbage pretty much the whole time). TPD that kinda broke down so it’s been slower going overall as I release chapters as they come. One reason I like to finish a story to the end before posting though is a) it gives more time to let the early chapters sit so I can edit them with fresh eyes and b) it allows me to “seed” things and set up foreshadowing for stuff I don’t get an idea for until I’ve written to the end. For example, the circle “Wrath” in TOWOID was re-written after I finished the first draft because I realized it needed tweaking to be brought in line with the overarching mystery of the story so the reader could actually *solve* it.

3) I get beta readers. I also read the chapters about 100 more times myself, before and after it’s posted. I’m still editing months even years later. I basically re-read a section every time someone comments on it, because their comment allows me to see the story with new eyes.

When it comes to defeating writers block, generally what I find is it’s a product of being too hard on oneself. Another reason to write the whole draft before posting is it allows me to not worry about the audience or let them in on the process until I’m certain myself about what I have to say, without fear of judgement or alteration for “fanservice”. Trying to change things to please fans is one of my biggest sources of writer’s block. There’s generally a reason I don’t do things a certain way. I also really need there to be conflict in a story or I get stalled out. If it’s just two people having a cup of tea agreeing on everything the other says, I don’t know how to direct the scene forward. Even just now while working on the next TPD chapter I realized I had stalled out because the characters agreed on something too early in the conversation and they needed to be in conflict for the conversation to progress to where it needed to go.

Tip: One thing that’s helpful for breaking writers block is doing 15 minute short prompt fics. Just having something rough but DONE is a good way to remember that one is a writer and one CAN complete things. It also helps make writing feel less momentous, like every word needs to be perfect, which is in my experience the source of almost all writers block.

I also try to incorporate lessons from the writing workshops I’ve begun attending. Lately I’ve been working on:

- Make sure everything has a cause and effect. Even just thoughts the characters are having need to be prompted by something external, they can’t just realize things out of the blue, something needs to prompt the thought, otherwise the audience can’t follow or predict the action and it makes them frustrated. I still agonize over what are probably invisible plot holes in TOWOID where I feel like I didn’t adequately set up certain aspects of the story. For example, I still feel as if I never properly came up with the cause of the dive into Newt’s memories taking the form of Dante’s Inferno, at least not to my satisfaction, because the true Doylist answer was, “Because the author felt like it.”

- For TPD I’ve been throwing myself into making sure information isn’t known to different characters before they actually share it. An astute reader may notice that by ch. 6 of TPD, Hermann *still* doesn’t know that Alice is the brain in the jar. Why would he know that? It’s a bonkers thought that would never occur to Hermann, Newt is too embarrassed to tell him and the Precursors never would. So at this point, though the audience has outside knowledge of who “Alice” is, Hermann still believes she’s a human accomplice, perhaps someone at Shao. Similarly, the Precursors and Newt have a copy of Hermann in their minds, but it’s a copy from the day of the Drift, so they don’t know Hermann’s thoughts for the past year or two, they don’t have an echo of the Hermann who has been in love with and cohabited with Newt for that time. So, their map of Hermann is incomplete thus they can’t always predict his actions and that drives them nuts. I could go on but that would be spoilers. Suffice to say, I’m doing my damndest to give each character distinct knowledge and a distinct mental map of how they operate, which can be a bit migraine inducing for the author at times lol.

- Describing facial expressions with specifics. This is a critique I got at my last workshop, that I was falling into the fanfic trap of describing things like, “Something indescribable happened to his face.” It’s not indescribable, damnit, describe it! You’re the author! We can only see the world as you show it because it’s all squiggles on a page! When you use that turn of phrase, you’re making the reader do your job of showing how things look AND you’re missing an opportunity to give your characters strong, unique visual details.

Anyway, I hoped this answered your questions somewhere in this mess!

#tpd reactions #maggie's writing progress #Anonymous

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mad-madam-m · 5 years

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So I'm just curious, how do you get yourself to write? And do you use prompts and if you do where do you get them? I meant to use NaNo to get me to write but it took 4 days into November for me to realize November started so I failed lol. I've been meaning to start this original thing and it's just not...working.

First of all, anon, you could start writing RIGHT NOW (yes, with 10 days left in the month) and you would not fail NaNo. You might not hit 50k (although I know people who have hit 50k in that amount of time, or less), but you won’t fail. NaNoWriMo isn’t about hitting 50,000 words so much as it is about putting a stake in the ground and saying, “Here. Today. I will start writing the project I’ve always wanted to.” And doing it. Doesn’t matter what that project is—original novel, short stories, fic, poetry, revising something, a series of blog posts—NaNo is about just. Fucking. Doing it. And you still have time to Do It.

To answer your questions:

Do you use prompts and if you do, where do you get them?

For original stories, particularly novels, I usually don’t. For fic, particularly short fic I’m writing for events, I do. Tumblr has a wealth of writing prompts that range from “here’s a situation” to “here’s a line of dialogue GO,” and I tend to reblog them under the tags “fic prompts” or “writing prompts.” Honestly, most of them would work for either original fic or fanfic, so if you are a writer who likes to work from prompts, go forth and enjoy!

How do you get yourself to write?

That’s kind of a big question, and uh, the answer to it got long. Very long. (I said once that if you give me half a chance, I’ll talk about writing all the live-long day, and this answer is no exception.)

Different things motivate me for different projects, and as with all writing-related advice, YMMV, but here’s a few things that really help for getting myself to write:

1) Develop your story.

The current original story I’m working on, for example, I have not really had to struggle to get myself to write at all because 1) I’m stupid excited about it and 2) I have developed the hell out of it.

I’ve talked before about outlining my stuff here, so I won’t go too much into it again; suffice it to say that I have done about the same amount of development on my current original story that I had on ADA by the time I started writing. I started around the very end of September developing my characters and spent a good chunk of October working on setting, worldbuilding, plot, and finally my notecards.

Shockingly, having some idea of what’s happening and where I’m going is making this story easier to write.

Right? Like WHO’D HAVE THOUGHT.

Because of that, I’ve been excited about writing my story, so getting myself to write on it has been (comparatively) a cakewalk.

That’s not to say any of the writing is good (oh God no) or that there aren’t parts that need fixing, or that I haven’t been stuck. But it’s been stuck like “how do I describe seeing a tree-covered mountain in the middle of fall from the POV of someone who has never seen something like this” rather than “I have no fucking clue what happens next uh…”

The stories I struggle the most with writing are the ones that I’ve worked the least on developing. The stories that have been the easiest to write have been the ones I’ve spent at least a month doing prep work on before I ever start drafting.

2) Love your story.

Being in love with a story makes it a lot easier to write, at least for me. Because here’s the thing, ideas are easy.

If you’re a creative person, you’re going to end up with a file of story ideas—maybe prompts you liked, dialogue that stuck with you, one of those “humans are space orcs” tumblr posts that’s just really clicking in your brain—that will be longer than you could conceivably write if you had a hundred lifetimes. That’s okay! That’s great. But it means a lot of them are never going to get past the idea stage.

For me, the stories that get finished—the ones that not only get started but actually make it through the first draft and then three rounds of editing and revisions—are the ideas that I’ve been percolating on for months, if not longer. They’ve been cooking in the back of my brain while I’ve been doing other things, sorting themselves out, and most importantly: they will not let me go.

Coming up with ideas is easy. Finding an idea that will last and sustain a story and my interest for at least a year, if not longer? That’s harder.

Y’all know how much I’ve been talking about Tiger & Bunny over the past year? We’re talking that level of obsession with a story that I want to write, whether it’s fic or original. Sometimes it takes months or years for all the puzzle pieces to come together. Sometimes the whole thing will congeal within a few weeks, or there will be one crucial piece of story that will just make EVERYTHING come together, I will literally shout “OH MY FUCKING GOD” and that’s it, I’m off to the races. (In this particular case, it wasn’t anything I’d done in the first two weeks of poking at steampunk-y ideas; it was the realization that I could put a circus on an airship. The whole story just went WHOOSH after that.)

BUT. But. Sometimes you don’t have that. These stories are great and I love them and they remind me why I love writing so much (and if you’re writing something that’s gonna be 90k+, like I have a tendency to do, you need to be in love with it, IMO), but sometimes you’re in situations where you just have to get it done. In those cases:

3) Resort to bribery.

I’ve been poking at the third part of Alpha & Emissary, oh, basically since I posted the second part. My problem is that my fandom focus has been, shall we say, split for the past year. *coughs delicately, shoves Tiger & Bunny fics under the bed*

But here’s the thing: I hate having a published WIP on AO3 (it’s why I don’t publish long!fics until they’re completely drafted and mostly edited). I hate—HATE—having an unfinished series on AO3.

So that’s the rub: I have an unfinished series that I want to finish because I hate that it’s not finished. I also have a new fandom that is wresting my attention and inspiration away from said series. What’s a girl to do?

A girl tells herself she can’t write any more Tiger & Bunny fic until she finishes this one WIP, that’s what she does.

And it’s motivated me to sit my ass down and work on that WIP, because goddammit, I have a “but there was only one bed” TaiBani fic that I would really like to have up by New Year’s.

Your bribery will be different. Maybe you get to watch 1 episode of your favorite show per every 1k you write, or you get to try a new knitting project when you finish this short story. Maybe you binge-watch an entire season of your favorite anime if you exceed your NaNo goal. Or you write 50 words and get a cookie. The point is, find what works for you to get it done.

4) Figure out a minimum daily goal and stick with it.

For me, this was 500 words a day. 500 words. That’s it. That’s one 30-minute word sprint for me. That��s something I can do without stressing myself out.

Because of this point and point 3, I wrote more than 7000 words on a story I’d been stuck on for the better part of a year before I had to stop to work on NaNo stuff. Another 7k, and I’ll probably have it finished.

Your minimum word count will almost certainly be different. Maybe it’s 300 words a day, maybe it’s 1000. Hell, maybe it’s 100 words. Again, find what works for you, what you can write regularly without stressing yourself out.

Another important thing: If I didn’t hit 500 words, I didn’t beat myself up about it. Maybe I wrote 350. Or 220. Or just 93. The point is, did I write? Yes? Then I did good. I got myself a sentence or a paragraph closer to finishing. And it all adds up.

(And hey, you don’t have to write every day. I do, or I try to, because that’s what works for me. If it stresses you out to do so, then find another way to make it work.)

5) Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.

This one’s hard because I can rarely keep a deadline that’s not set by an external source. If you tell me on December 20 that you need a story by December 22? Then on December 22, you’ll have a story, edited and ready to post. But when it comes to something I set for myself, the chances of a deadline working are 50/50.

That being said, it is something that helps me keep on track and even if I don’t finish something by a self-imposed deadline, it does get me writing.

6) Sprint with friends!

NaNo is really great for this because all your writer friends are coming out of the woodwork going I need to hit 5k by the end of today, will you sprint with me? Sometimes it just helps to have that kind of accountability. You all get together (I’ve used Discord, Google Hangouts, IRC, and Twitter DMs for this), set a timer, and write for 15 minutes or 20 minutes or 30 minutes. Then, when the time’s up, you post your word count, everybody congratulates everybody else, and then you take a break before doing the next one.

Sprints are the reason I’ve been able to make some pretty significant headway on my word counts, and few things get me writing like knowing I’m going to have to tell everybody in my group what my word count is in 30 minutes or less. >.>

Like I said earlier, YMMV on all of these. What works for me may work for you, or it might not. But if you aren’t sure, it’s worth giving it a shot.

Happy writing!

#Anonymous #M answers #long post #M talks writing #can I count this toward my NaNo count for the day or nah

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