#but I would also have a 'whole story' doc that I would copy and paste each chapter into once I finished it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

karalianne · 2 months

Text

NaNoWriMo Fire

I have been posting comments on NaNoWriMo's Facebook page, to the most recent three posts there (copied and pasted). My latest one has apparently been blocked or something, so I'm going to start sharing here. Please do share this far and wide.

If you don't know what the NaNoWriMo fire is, I have two resources for you:

Reddit Post (took two to post the whole story)

Google Docs summary (being actively updated as things continue to burn)

So below the fold I'm pasting the comments I put on Facebook, in order. Enjoy!

March 5, 20204

It's becoming increasingly obvious that the goal here is to shutter NaNoWriMo as an organization. I wish you guys would just DO IT ALREADY instead of pretending you're trying to do right by the community. That ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS ABOMINATION of a new ML agreement is reprehensible. I hope NOBODY signs it, because it is BLATANTLY trying to put ALL BLAME for anything that goes wrong directly on the ML's. Which is ludicrous. On top of that, if people have concerns about the agreement they are automatically being removed as ML. That's not good faith. It's not transparency. I've been trying to believe the best but obviously that was really silly of me and I apologize for believing that everyone is capable of actually doing better.

March 7, 2024

The Board Update is laughable and reinforces the impression I offered in my previous comment. Basically, nobody on the Board right now was even there when all this stuff happened. NaNoWriMo the organization is not actually listening to the feedback from the community; supposedly there have been focus groups but none of the people I'm in contact with (which is a lot of people who have all been very heavily involved with the organization over the years) ever got an invitation. I am just one person, and I am aware that I am not owed anything. However, this entire thing continues to be mismanaged, and I do not for one second believe that the organization is heading in the right direction.

Again, I suggest you just shut things down completely like you're obviously planning. All the noises about trying to do the right thing, followed by this alarming lack of actually doing the right thing and incredibly tone-deaf approach, are not helping the situation. Support for the organization is dwindling, and I am not surprised. That's what happens when you ignore and/or woefully mismanage your response to concerns.

March 9, 2024

Well, I'm back for another round of "I thought I told you not to do this kind of thing." Again, I know I'm just a person and nobody has to listen to me, but I know plenty of people who agree with me.

First, regarding the FAQ for MLs, there are contradictions and missing words. I try not to criticize that sort of thing too much (in spite of being a trained proofreader) but this is supposed to be a writing organization, and you people at HQ are supposed to be writers. Do better.

Second, it has come to my attention that both the Terms & Conditions and the Codes of Conduct have been updated with no notification. That is ridiculous and unethical, not to mention poor business practice. Literally every organization I am connected to sends an e-mail to let me know when there are changes upcoming, and often those changes are outlined so I know what to expect. And then I have the option to leave if I don't agree with those changes.

If you did send a notification e-mail prior to these changes being implemented, well, hey, we already knew the e-mail system was borked so whatever. But it looks like literally NOBODY got a notification of the upcoming changes, which indicates that there was no attempt to follow best practices.

It is clear to me, and to many other people in the community, that nobody at HQ actually knows how to manage a non-profit. I'm also pretty sure you don't understand ethics or best practices. You're trying to get ahead of bad things that ALREADY HAPPENED, and if you're actually consulting a lawyer about all of these things before you do them, they are giving you horrible advice. You also needed a PR team back in like November (maybe even October).

There's a weird attitude that I've seen all over the place, that people who are being vocal about this disaster are being mean or trying to destroy NaNoWriMo or something like that. I want to be crystal clear here: People who are being vocal are speaking up on behalf of people who needed a voice. People were being abused and others decided to help them get out of that situation. When the expected solution (reporting to HQ) did not result in appropriate actions, they moved to make the situation public. (That's when I found out and got involved.)

When we were discussing problems and asking questions on the forums in November, we were trying to be productive. We were looking for answers, making suggestions, explaining what was wrong (because as we talked we learned that there was far more than just the Mod X situation that was wrong), offering our assistance... and we got shut down.

Now I'm also hearing that there has been a focus group. Who was in that focus group? How did you get the participants? Nobody I know was contacted to be on that focus group. Are you actually LISTENING to the participants? Are the people you're recruiting all folks who've made it clear they're mad at those of us who are using our voices to call out abuses of power, poor organization and business practices, and unethical behaviour? I don't care if I'm not approached to be a part of a focus group, but making sure you involve an assortment of viewpoints would be beneficial.

I am just incredibly disappointed in how everything has gone and is going. The yacht has sailed. It's time to accept that and move on.

March 12, 2024 (the one that isn't showing up)

Every time I turn around, it seems, there's something new to facepalm over. It is becoming increasingly clear that HQ is on the defensive. You need someone on staff, like, six months ago, who is actually capable of professional communication. Right now, we're receiving passive-aggressive whinges about how many e-mails there are and how you're giving up vacations in order to reply to them. At least some of the foolish "answers" on the FAQ (which again, why is that on Zendesk? That makes no sense.) have been removed. The thing is, nevermind Pepperidge Farm, the Internet remembers. EVERYTHING.

It is not professional to tell your subordinates (whether staff or volunteers) that you're giving up personal time in order to deal with a mess that is your responsibility to deal with. It is not professional to complain about having to do a job you agreed to take on.

It is not ethical to try and get anti-union verbage into an agreement for volunteers. It is not ethical to try and get volunteers to take on all liability for events they organize on your behalf.

It is incredibly rude to treat adults as if they are misbehaving children. Especially not when they are bringing you legitimate concerns and criticisms about how your organization is handling a serious situation.

And yes, a lot of this one is specifically about Kilby, because WTF? How have you been on multiple boards and not learned how to do all of this stuff properly? You were absolutely NOT the right person for the job, and it's laughable that you think you were.

#nanowrimo #nanowrimo fire #ethics #professionalism

36 notes · View notes

covencupid · 1 year

Text

I Want You (or The Cabin Story)

Fair warning, I wrote this on discord and then copy pasted it onto docs, so if there are some inconsistencies I apologize, but maybe I just like to keep ya on your toes.

BIG THANKS to @mamamemequeen because I pretty much wrote this in the DMs oopsi.

Danny's had his eye on you. He's been finding himself enjoying the times he interacts with you a little too much. He's got to get you out of his system. A little house call. Once that's done it'll be easier for him to go for the kill. Right?

Pairing: Danny Johnson X Fem!Reader. Use of gendered language.

TW/CW: The usual (stalking, manipulation, threats of violence, actual violence) gore, descriptions of torture, corpses, and murder. Psychological horror, child murder (imma need you to hold your judgement on this one, it's not what you think, but it's also not good), hallucinations, descriptions of visual hallucinations.

Tags will be updated as needed, but to be honest I kinda forgot what I put in this.

I will be posting as much as I can in one go, but it's long, so I might have to upload in parts. Yeah, I'm definitely posting it in parts. This is chapter one.

Word Count is 15k+, this was supposed to be a one-shot about y'all fuckin at the drive-in, I don't know how it happened.

Oh one last thing, there is kinda a prequel/backstory part I haven't finished about Danny and "prom". Whatever you think it is, it's probably not gonna be like that.

Sorry one last last thing that I'm seeing now reformatting this from discord to the docs to here is that I kinda wrote Danny and Reader's POV back and forth but a little inconsistent. I will try to make the changes in POV a little clearer with spacing, but I apologize for any confusion!

Your Place // The Cabin // The Woods

~I Want You~

~Chapter One - Your Place~

Danny waited for the perfect night. A storm was coming. The whole neighborhood was snuggled up tight in their big warm beds and you? You were painting your nails while a gorey Japanese B-Movie played on the small tv in your bedroom. You had no idea you were being stalked, hunted like a deer in the forest.

Danny had to stop and take a look at you first, before he went in. He saw you, legs bent to give you a place to rest your hands while you painted them. God, your legs. He watched the light of the film dance off your legs, following the glow that reached your thighs. How it faded as it dipped to the little peek of your ass from the bottom of your shorts where you sat. He swallowed harder than he meant to. He’d have to readjust himself before he continued inside.

Danny waltzed into your home from the back patio door. Unlocked? Baby there’s a killer on the loose. He stepped into the dark entry way, noting how little the sound from your room carried. That would be useful. He eased into your hallway hearing the lovely lilt of your laughter as he neared your door. The sound made him salivate. He plucked a delicate metal frame of a vintage botanical illustration and let it fall to the floor as he swiftly crossed past your door to the opposite end of the hallway. In a second you were out and making your way for the pesky little frame.

“God you little shit!” you scolded the picture. You had complained to your friend about the framed piece you had been gifted that had a nasty little habit of slipping off it’s nail. Always a bit too heavy. Danny breezed into your room while you degraded the drawing of little flowers. Too easy. You’re just letting me right in, huh?

“And you better keep it down out there!” you called out to the frame as you shut your door on the way back. When your head whipped back to your bed your heart jumped to your throat and fell back down to your gut. A howling ghost stared back at you, reclined in your bed, your nail polish in hand.

“H-how did y-you-” you struggled to find your words and he, seemingly mercifully, cut you off.

“Get in? You let me in, sweetheart. Thanks by the way, really saved me time.” You could feel his smug smile radiating from underneath his mask. Dread chilled your veins. You were frozen by the door. As much as Danny enjoyed the doe-eyed look of fear you were giving him, you were too far for his liking. He pat the bed beside him. “Come on, don’t be shy.”

For a moment it felt like you lost all ability to move. You lifted your right foot to take a step forward but your leg unexpectedly shook. Before you could process your involuntary movement you heard a laugh from the hooded figure lounging in your bed. “How can I have your legs shaking when I haven’t even touched you?”

Heat spread across your cheeks, breaking through the ice in your veins. Indignation rising in your chest.

“You- You’re a murderer! Showing up here in my bed, I’m gonna be scared! It has nothing to do with- I am not-” The words flowed out from your mouth faster than you could string them together cohesively. The sound of his rippling laughter cut you off. You wanted to slap him and wipe off the smug look you knew he was wearing. He crossed his arms

“Hey! Do I look like a threat to you? I’m just hanging out here. Lookin for a manicure, and maybe a better movie.”

You scoffed. “I can see your knife holster from here, not exactly “hanging out” gear. And for the record Blossom of Blood is a cult classic, not that you would know anything about it.”

Danny leaned forward. “First of all, how do you know I’m not just happy to see you? Second, no. You’re thinking of Bloody Blossom, what you’ve got is the cheap knock off made ten years later. Get your facts straight before trying to get all snobby with me.”

You mouth gaped open and closed like a fish. The nerve of this psycho to break into your home and lecture you about your movie choices.

“Hey” The aforementioned psycho snapped at you. Patting the bed next to him more aggressively. You inched your way closer to him. You felt uneasy looking down at him the moment you reached the bed. He sat comfortably nestled in your plush pillows, using a stuffed animal to prop up his arm. You wanted to beat him over the head with it. It would likely be your final act on this earth, but you felt you would feel at peace. “Sit.” There was no space for argument in his tone. Not exactly a command, but still decidedly firm. You sat where he told you to and began to look intently at your hands, gripping each other tight. From your periphery you could see the black mass of his form lean in to loom over you. You felt him delicately take your chin between his thumb and forefinger with his gloved hand. The skin on your arms pricked up with goosebumps. He’s turning your head to look at him as he’s telling you in a sing-song tone “look at me”.

You stare, wide eyes welling up with tears you wanted to keep hidden, into the black holes of his mask. You wish to look so far into them to reach the eyes you felt boring into you. As your eyes remained locked on him, he plucked your hand from your own grip to place the bottle of nail polish in your palm.

“Go on.” he said as he reclined back into your bed, crossing his feet as he extended a gloved hand out at you.

“Uh- you want me to-?” you looked between the bottle of polish and the masked man before you.

“I said I’m here for a manicure, sweets. Come on and make it nice or ya know…” he wiggled the hunting knife in your face. You gasped and grabbed his other hand in an instant. He chuckled as you held his large gloved hand with your comparatively small one. You held the polish right next to it. Does he want me to take off his glove? Paint the fingers? No, right?

Sensing your conflict, he wiggled his fingers in your face. “You can take it off.” He teased.

You put the polish down beside you as you worked the glove off his hand. You placed it on your lap. You felt hot, feeling his eyes rake over you as you gently held his hand, surprisingly warm. The tips of your fingers lightly grazed over his and felt the callouses there. You felt flushed. A killer walks into your room at night… and he tells you to paint his nails? He’s insane. You laid his hand on your lap as you picked the bottle of black nail polish back up and twisted the top off. You held the bottle between your thighs and picked his hand back up slightly. Your hands shook slightly as the applicator neared his nail bed. When you finally laid the first coat down you felt like you could breathe a sigh of relief.

Danny, feeling your unsteady breath reach the top of his hand, blurted out “Don’t fuck up!” quick enough to make your heart jump.

“Fuck! Don’t do that, that’s gonna make me fuck up!” You gripped his hand a little tighter. The feeling of your soft, warm hands on his sent a wave of heat course through him. He chuckled. As you were about to paint the next nail he quickly pulled his hand back and held it in front of you. A small sound of annoyance got caught in your throat. He reached his hand back out to you but pulled it back when you reached for it. You were getting flustered. The way your brows knotted together as the speckles of blush played on your cheeks was just delightful. It was so easy to work you up. He extended his hand out to you again. You stared at him for a second before going to reach back out for him. You looked between his hand and himself in rapid fire succession until you went to get his hand. In an instant he went to whip back his hand but you slammed your free palm into his and gripped his hand firmly until his fingers softly folded over yours. His fingertips rested on the back of your hand. A soft, self satisfied smile danced on your lips as you plucked the applicator back up to paint the next nail. Danny felt the grip you maintained on him. Firm, warm, tender. As you painted the rest of his nails, his thumb slowly ran along the side of your hand, down to graze your wrist. You just needed his thumb, but it continued it’s slow glide along your skin. What were you feeling? Annoyance for sure, he wants something done and won’t even stop moving to let you do it. But the way his thumb caressed the stretch of skin he was able to reach, you felt a flutter in your belly. Stop, what are you even thinking. His hunting knife is dangerously close to his free hand. But should you tell him to stop? Should you try painting it as it teases the delicate flesh of your wrist? Should you tell him he has to stop, so you can paint his nail. And then? Let him continue? Let him run the freshly painted hand up your arm, up to your neck, down to your- Stop. Just. Stop, what are you thinking? This is a monster, in your bed, in your grasp. Think like you want to make it out alive.

Danny can see the muscles of your throat straining as his thumb stroked up and down. It was getting harder to just have you there sitting in front of him. He was beginning to need to close the distance between you. He noted how intently your eyes watched his thumb dance over your skin. You looked entranced, he wanted to see that pretty face up close. Danny thought about his options. The pros and cons flittered about his head but the most overwhelming image was of you, those pretty legs straddling him as his freshly painted hand gripped the creamy flesh of your thigh. Feeling your palm turn clammy, his grip on your hand turned into a vice as he pulled you down to him with a force that wrenched a yelp from your lips. That was nice. He thought. Oh the sounds you could make for him. His other hand went to grip your waist. Your left leg sat between his as the sudden movement had jerked you haphazardly over him.

“What the fuck?” you managed out as you tried to pull yourself up from the place on his chest where your head landed. He smelled like leather and oak. Something else too, slightly sweet mixed with something metallic. Your free hand helped you gain some leverage on the bed. His hand on your waist went down to pat the side of your thigh.

“Move this over, straddle me.” the words made you blush, this time obvious and bright.

You sat uneasily on his lap, scared to put your full weight on him. Modesty? How cute. Danny mused as he grabbed you by your hips and forced you to sit on him. A little gasp escaped you from the force. Danny was drinking you up. The incredulous look on your face, the way your hands fell to his chest for stability. Fuck. Restraint was going to prove much more difficult.

You felt frozen in place. What the fuck. What in the actual ever loving fuck? The screams coming from the movie on your left made it feel all the more surreal. They were pitched up and down and underscored by a synth that harmonized with the wails. Normally this would be your favorite part to point out to the people who you would (force to) watch this with. Usually met with strained smiles and equally strained eyebrows raised to the hairline. You forgave the expression on account of the dizzying fifteen minute chase scene that preceded it. You acquiesced that it was "a bit much" for the casual viewer, but damn was it beautifully shot. God, you wanted to feel normal again. Movies, and painting your nails, your nails. Not the nails of some psycho freak that is making himself comfortable on your bed. He got mud on your sheets. You wanted to reach your hands just a bit forward, just enough to reach his neck and strangle him. But his chest felt broad, sturdy, and his grip felt strong. You didn't like your odds in that fights. He didn't feel threatening though, hunting knife aside. He felt like a boyfriend trying to turn a movie date frisky. God, what are you even thinking. Be normal for the love of everything good.

You defaulted to your brand of normalcy. "The screams in this scene were pitched up and down according to their tone. If you pay attention you can hear that they added a synth to subtly harmonize with the screaming." The words just tumbled out of your mouth thoughtlessly. You weren't even looking at him. Your eyes were locked on the screen glowing bright with scenes of carnage.

For all of the cruelties Danny had doled out, this was true torture. With the glow of the television illuminating her, she looked absolutely divine astride him. He wanted to see those pretty lips part and recite his name like a prayer, instead he heard her mumble out a little fun fact about the movie he was currently ignoring. He wanted to see those lips move again, closer this time. Danny grabbed at her wrists and pulled her down to be inches away from the mask that hid his cheeky grin. Her forearms were resting on his chest, her hands gripped in fists under his chin. "Tell me again, about your movie."

No, no, no. This is not normal, we are actively walking far, far away from normal. Fuck, he's got my hands restrained. His grip is so strong. The angle he had brought you down to made you arch your hips down. Is that? Oh. You felt him. You wanted to ignore it, to ignore him. The masked killer that was terrorizing your town, a man reacting to you atop him. Your body reacting to being on top of him. What are we doing here? What are you even thinking right now. This is not the time for biological responses, he's a killer! He's not a regular guy.

He pat your thigh at your lack of response. "Hello? Movie? Synths and screams?" You felt his fingers flutter at your hip. You tried to collect yourself.

"Right they- uh the director had them mix in synths kind of like a vocoder to play ben-" a sudden movement jolted you out of your train of thought. He had rolled his hips up as he lifted his legs up. The movement, deliberate and drawn out, elicited a yelp in response from you. With the way it had pressed against your most sensitive spot, the squeak you let out had been dangerously close to a moan. A fact that Danny noted instantly.

"Just trying to get comfortable, sorry go on." he acknowledged as he adjusted his grip on your wrists with his left hand while giving your hip a reassuring pat with the other.

Danny's game with his little pet was having an unexpected effect on him. He had anticipated getting a bit worked up with you. A little edging, if you will. Just playing with his food, nothing serious. But the more Danny played this game, the more he felt he didn't want it to end. Looking at her struggling to form words, he wanted to watch her forget the entire English language underneath him. He let his right hand meander back up to her waist, the glove that remained encompassing the last of his strength of will to not flip her onto her back and fuck her right there. No, no, Danny. Let her talk, or at least try to.

What were you talking about? Right, the fucking movie. "The...movie vi- the cinematographer on this... he only made car commercials before this." You felt him chuckle. A rumble you felt pass through your own chest, down to your belly, down further.

"That's not what we were talking about." You could hear his smile through the mask. You were stumped. You felt trapped in his gaze. Your mind felt like it was turning to mush by the second. "The synths? The vocoder...?"

Right, fuck. What was I thinking? You wanted to disappear. You wanted to this all to be some sort of nightmare. Or wet dream. You felt your legs turn to jelly.

"The vocoder, yeah. It was added in underneath the actor's lines because he wanted to make the dialogue sound like it was coming from hell." Your hips ached to move ever so slightly, to tease him back. Getting comfortable, my ass. Nothing about this felt innocent, of course it wasn't. He broke into your home and made you straddle him. What exactly did you think this was going to be?

Focus on her words, Danny. What's she saying? She could be speaking in tongues by now for all he cared. All that mattered was the way he felt her belly press down on him as she breathed and how her legs had splayed further to accommodate him. Danny didn't exactly have an end goal for this night, but when he felt her hips rock a bit her fate was sealed in stone. This night would end, but their game wouldn't. Besides he still had another hand she needed to paint. He met the movement of her hips by using the hand at his waist to help prop both of them up. The hand that held her wrists now supporting her back. The space between them smaller than ever before. He could almost taste her. He had to. He used the thumb of his gloved hand to hike up his mask up to reveal his jaw. Without a second thought, he held the back of her head and pulled her into an all consuming kiss.

You had thought you made a mistake, trying to match him. You went to far, goaded the bull. Now he was going to kill you. When he hoisted the both of you up you thought he was about to deal his killing blow, maybe slash your throat as you sat upright. The strike never came. Instead, he stopped your heart another way. It had barely registered in your mind that you were actually seeing his lips, seeing a part of his face, before they came crashing down on you. He had taken advantage of the way your mouth gaped open in shock when he had lifted you up to let his tongue explore the inside of your mouth. It was far more pleasant than death. He was kissing you like he wanted to devour you whole but had to restrain himself. It would be easier to just let him, and just sit there numbly in his hands. But the way his tongue darted in your mouth you felt compelled to chase after him. Your tongue met his with an equal measure of primal instinct. You wanted to familiarize yourself with the taste of his mouth.

Damn this girl. Danny wanted her to fight him on this. Not for the sake of having her struggle, though there was a measure of thrill in that. He wanted an excuse to be annoyed with her. To want to be done with her. Instead she paid him back in kind, her hands resting on his chest inching up to his shoulders. This night was supposed to make it easier for him to kill her off later. Get his rocks off a bit without leaving evidence to find later. Instead that raw, needy feeling that built up inside him when he saw her only continued to grow. This hunger would not be sated, could not be. It would only continue to fester the more he was apart from her. The only way to keep it under control would be to keep her within arms reach. No distance to make the heart grow fonder, only tight, close proximity to make the crushing feeling turn suffocating. Then he would be tired of her, then he could be rid of her. But for now he had to get her out of here, back somewhere he could really stretch his legs. It almost pained him to break from a kiss so decadent. She wore a dreamy, almost dumbstruck expression, with a flushed face and plush, swollen pink lips to match. He wanted to drink her up.

"After all that you're gonna think I'm a real dick for this, but you'll learn to forgive me." Her drowsy expression gave way to a look of confusion. A silent question answered by an equally wordless blow to the side of her head. Light's out. "Sorry, doll. Gotta move the sleepover to my place."

#ghostface x you #ghostface x reader #dbd ghostface x reader #ghostface dbd #danny johnson x y/n #danny johnson smut #danny johnson x reader #danny johnson #danny jed olsen johnson #dbd ghostface #dead by daylight #Spotify

263 notes · View notes

arcielee · 1 year

Text

Interview With a Writer

Here is part 3 of my Interview With a Writer series. You can go to this post to review the other amazing authors I have spoken with ♥ Just a BTS of some of the talented minds on Tumblr and ao3.

Name: inthedayswhenlandswerefew

Story: North to the Future

Paring: modern Aegon Targaryen x Reader

Rating/Warning: Sexual themes, substance abuse, acts of violence, and there is a serial killer, so murder.

So when did you start writing? I can remember working on pieces of stories as far back as elementary school, but I never thought of myself as wanting to be a writer. Then in 2010, when I was 15, I got my first vivid, all-consuming, lightning bolt of an idea. It took over my life in the best possible way and I wrote a novel over 9 months.

Now, to be clear, the novel was very bad. But you have to read a lot and write a lot before you start getting good at it, and that experience was absolutely transformative for me.

I had a lot of chaotic life situations and a bit of a crisis of confidence, and I wrote only sporadically during college and for several years afterwards. Then in 2018, I saw Bohemian Rhapsody and it became my only personality trait for a while.

As I was reblogging a million gifsets on Tumblr, I stumbled across fanfiction for the first time, and I was like…wait…other people make up self-insert stories every time they get obsessed with a movie/show too?! It was so exciting, I finally felt like I had an outlet to put my ideas and characters out into the world. I’ve been writing pretty consistently since February 2019, and I would consider that the point when I really became a writer.

I think it is safe to say every writer has that first, all-consuming novel. Does it still exist? Oh yeah, it definitely still exists! I have a Word Doc, and also a paper copy that I had printed and bound at Staples back in the day. It’s a dystopian story about a man who has to pretend to be a true believer in an oppressive regime in order to rise to the top and change it from within, but by the end of the journey he’s become sort of genuinely evil. I keep the paper copy in a box under my bed. Poor quality notwithstanding, it has a lot of sentimental value.

Okay, where did the plot for North to the Future come from? What inspired the story? Towards the end of writing my Aemond fic—Have You No Idea That You’re In Deep?—I started feeling this fascination with Aegon as a character, and I could kind of sense that there was a story about him ready to be excavated from wherever ideas wait to be discovered.

I kept picturing him in an unassuming little bar filled with Christmas lights as snow fell outside: sad, drunk, wearing all black. But I didn’t have a story yet, just a vision. And the songs I kept hearing when I thought about this tortured modern Aegon were 90s songs: Everlong, A Long December, Drive.

Then one day out of nowhere, the plot showed up.

The first real idea I get for a story is always the very end, and I saw Aegon and the protagonist barreling down the Pacific Coast Highway in a red convertible. I knew that Aegon was sober and going back home to face some terrible past, and that the girl he loved was experiencing California for the first time, and that they were both finally free of demons they’d been running from their whole lives. Once I knew the ending, the rest of the details started falling into place, and within a few days I had an outline and chapter list.

Explain your interpretation of Aegon. What drives him? Why is he the way he is in NttF? Aegon is a talented and intuitive person, but he’s clearly not suited for running a venture capital empire or corporate work in general. So his earliest, most formative memories are of his parents (and grandfather) being disappointed in him. He experienced abuse, both emotional and physical, and developed extremely harmful coping mechanisms that at a certain point he no longer knew how to function without. He was suicidal in part because of his self-loathing and the futility of his situation, but also because the only time he received even vague compassion from his parents was after he had swallowed a bottle of pills or stabbed himself with four of his mother’s EpiPens.

Of course what Aegon overlooked was that he did have people back in Miami who cared about and wanted to help him, although they were too young to effectively communicate it: Aemond, Helaena, and Daeron.

After the accident that claimed Aemond’s eye and three innocent lives, Aegon can’t cope with reminders of what he’s done because he’s fundamentally not someone who ever wants to hurt others. He directs his destructiveness inwards, not outwards, and even when striking out in self-defense he runs away as soon as the opportunity presents itself. That’s the real difference between Aegon and Jesse. When Dadtini talks about Jesse, he mentions bruises and kicked down doors. That’s not Aegon. Jesse gives bruises, Aegon gets them.

Was there anything in specific that inspired your Reader portrayal? I didn’t consciously have anyone in mind when I was writing Appletini, but most of my Readers tend to be snarky, studious, and guarded (yet reluctantly hopeful), so that’s probably my own personality bleeding into the characters! I envisioned someone who was well-intentioned and ostensibly responsible, yet under the surface struggling in a way that she felt she couldn’t share with anybody else. I think most people have felt like that at some point in their lives, so it’s just a matter of being able to take the essence of that feeling and shape it to fit with the story’s narrative. Honestly, the most difficult part of writing Appletini was her relationship with her extremely supportive and functional parents, as that’s not something I have much experience with. I was really relieved when people connected with Momtini and Dadtini as characters because I wasn’t sure if I was doing them justice. In what ways do you feel your Reader compliments Aegon? The defining characteristic of the Aegon/Appletini relationship is that she wants him to become the best version of himself, and truly believes that he has the capacity to if he’ll work for it. She knows he’s brilliant, she knows he’s a genuinely good person under all of his issues and mistakes, she knows he’s fine af, and she knows she loves him. But none of that is enough if he’s not sober.

Someone like Heather or Joyce wouldn’t see value in Aegon, and someone like Kimmie wouldn’t push him to change. The story is in the war that Appletini fights to prove that Aegon can and should conquer his demons. Similarly, Aegon wants Appletini to break free of her suffocating obligations in Juneau, and it causes him genuine pain to see her not living the life she wants. They really want the best for each other, even in their worst moments.

Was there another character (OC or canon) in your story you enjoyed portraying? (And why?) Firstly, I really enjoyed writing Kimmie because she’s a twist on the trope of the attractive, overtly-sexual, not terribly intellectual girl always getting killed in horror movies. Kimmie is the “hot friend” and she loves to party, but she’s also deeply loyal and affectionate, and she notices certain things that other people don’t. I wanted the readers to underestimate her, and then hate her, and then come back to realizing that she wasn’t a villain after all. She could use a better sense of boundaries, but she’s a good person. I feel like by the end of NTTF, it’s clear why Heather, Joyce, and Appletini are friends with Kimmie despite all her…peculiarities.

Secondly, Trent was a super fun character to write, because he’s unnerving without being completely unrealistic. He reminds me of a lot of the frat boys I went to college with…superficially pleasant yet entitled, less malicious than willfully ignorant about anything that doesn’t fit with what he wants in life. He’s a product of the “boys will be boys” era that he grew up in, especially with Alaska being more old-fashioned than the rest of the country, so the 1990s there feel like the 1960s or 70s in some ways. Also, I can’t lie, I loved all the dumb horse boi jokes.

Finally, I absolutely adored Aemond as a character and I was just as impatient as the readers were for him to finally show up in Chapter 11. He’s so stoic and fierce, but he has a tremendous amount of love for Aegon and this blind faith in his ability to change for the better. Aemond’s personality is a lot like Appletini’s, which is why they end up having this tacit respect for each other. I think they end up as close friends eventually, probably even closer than Aemond and Aegon.

Was there an OC character that reflects the author? Out of all the NTTF characters, I am definitely the most like Heather! I’m that friend who is snarky and judgmental on the surface, but also ferociously protective…which can be tough when you’re watching your friends make questionable decisions, like our poor beloved Heather was forced to throughout the series. I know she was thrilled to see that everyone ended up happy. That’s all we really want, us Heathers of the world.

You mentioned your retirement from fan fiction, so what is next? What’s next is writing a novel, which I am super excited about! I’ve had the plot figured out for a few years now and have written bits and pieces of it already, but now I’m determined to dive in without any creative detours and get it written, hopefully within a year.

I do have some trepidation about the project—What if the idea isn’t good? What if I can’t do it justice? What if I can’t keep to a schedule now that I don’t have an amazingly wonderful audience expecting weekly updates?—but I’ve come to realize that if I never try to be a “real” writer, I’m going to regret it my whole life. I’m trying to be logical about it and tell myself that even if my first book isn’t perfect, I can always write others, so it’s not like my whole future is contingent upon this one project. I’ve had the idea for so long that the characters feel real to me, and I just want to tell their story well.

#interview with a writer #iwaw3 #bts #of their brilliant writing #i hope you all enjoy #♥#aegon targaryen fanfic #aegon targaryen x reader #aegon ii fanfic #aegon ii x you #biiiiiiitch

57 notes · View notes

juuls · 2 years

Text

Humans Are Weird Compilation

HEY FOLKS! I finally did it! (Yes, with permission.)

So until Tumblr made changes to their browser interface, I was having a heck of a lot of trouble with how to get all 100,000+ words of this thread into a cohesive whole, at least easily. For once, Tumblr staff pulled through with an 'upgrade' that actually helped, though there is one issue that cropped up.

While the Notes section is from oldest to newest (I placed this section at the top), the next section of 'comment only' reblogs has no such filter for ascending or descending order.

So yeah, all the fun reblog stuff and additions have to be read from the bottom of the document and up, bottom to top.

Since Google Docs decided there were way too many words to function properly, I'll be hosting a Word Document file in my Google Drive, which I'll link to (you can view it even if you don't have Word). I will be editing out extraneous comments that literally have nothing to add (i.e. "I FOUND IT!") and then maybe eventually I'll start another document where I paste everything by hand in the proper old to new order. And try to add in new comments when I can. (This will take forever, honestly.)

This is a b*tch of a project, honestly, so I'm happy enough with how it turned out, even if it's not perfect. It isn't in the same format like you would read one of this thread's reblog chain, but I feel like the gist is there, and really there are just so many reblog chains it's insane.

I'll make a new, separate post stating this same thing, as well as reblog onto one of the thread's chains, and I hope you enjoy this and all the wonderful creativity of all involved. This has become a favourite reading topic of mine. <3

So for now, current to July 4th, 2022, here is the link to the ridiculously huge document I spent like 12 hours on, and it's still not perfect. It's on Google Drive but it's a very large file and Drive doesn't react well to large files -- I will work on separating things into different files to help with that.)

Humans Are Weird: A Compilation by @arcticfoxbear & The Cool People of Tumblr, patched together by @juuls

I'm also including a direct link to the (again, for now, single -- I'm getting on that ASAP) document on my Dropbox, as well as a link to the folder it's in because I like to compile some of r/HFY (Humanity F*ck Yeah)'s stories into easily readable format. I add those every so often.

Humans Are Weird (.docx version) on Dropbox. (It'll possibly say 'something went wrong' but if you go up to the top and open it in 'Word For Web' it worked pretty easily for me.)

Humans Are Weird .doc version.

r/HFY folder on Dropbox.

Humans Are Weird .pdf version. I've been told this is the quickest, easiest version to open, thank you!

Do enjoy!!!! And consider reblogging (with or without additions!) the original post found here: HUMANS ARE WEIRD. Because it's awesome.

Oh and here's a link to my Mediafire hosting of the .docx file while we're at it! Just in case. As well as the .pdf version of the file.

>~<

Again! I will be dividing this into smaller sections, as well as trying to put things in oldest to newest order. Be patient, please, but hopefully some of these options work for you! If not I can try emailing you a copy. :)

#humans are weird #arcticfoxbear #humans are space orcs #humans are awesome #humans are space oddities #humans are space australians #earth is space australia #hfy #compilation #collaboration #collab fic #writing collab

280 notes · View notes

my-brothers-corrupted · 4 months

Text

so this is a good time to announce the news: not only was @lehhoh7822 nice enough to compile that continuation, they also spent HOURS AND HOURS compiling.... the whole of Chapter Five!! I am still trying to wrap my head around it!! it seriously takes so long to copy and paste and format everything, and it's very tedious. this was an enormous act of love for the story and I'm so grateful. It will take me a little while just to take the time to move everything from google docs over here, but I'll get it done when I'm home from my vacation.

it's true that I didn't want to compile Chapter Five because it would take so much time and patience. but I think I also didn't want to take that time because I wasn't always sure Chapter Five was that good. yes, it gave them a hard-earned happy ending and fulfilled everything it needed to fulfill. but I had a hard time letting go of the story. there are parts that might not be great - but I never went back to look at them. I didn't want to because I didn't have faith in them. I was in such a dark place writing that final chapter and I felt that the story was sometimes too angry and other times too soft.

but Leh told me how much the story meant to them, and now I feel like it doesn't matter if it has imperfections. this story is a wild animal we all love, and that's all it needs to be. the boys got what they needed, and so did we. and I never have to wonder if it would be worth posting it as a compilation, because if it meant something to even one person (and I know it means something to others, too), then it's worth having

so yes! Chapter Five coming in fic format soon!! please show some love to Leh when it does. and thank you for reading!

9 notes · View notes

threeletterslife · 9 months

Note

Hii! It's me again. I was curious how you came up with this? Was the whole series your idea or someone elses, or mabye where you found your inspo and such. And when you started writing it, did you come up with all the plots and stories yourself and did you have doubts on it? OH and also how did you come up with all these characters and fantasy like places and stories and names?You're welcome to answer or just ignore tho. Whatever is nice for you! 💓

wellllll this is quite a long story, so buckle up!

i consistently write a journal documenting my journey with lod, so i will be copy-pasting excerpts here. i am planning to post the entire journal once lod is finished (right now, it is 37+ pages, but it'll definitely be much longer lol. not sure if people would even read the full thing, though.) FYI: below the keeping reading line, words in red omits spoilers (aka the chapers i haven't posted yet) and words in green are commentary (since i wrote this journal a couple years ago)

tl;dr: i was bored in quarantine and had a lot of motivation, so i came up with lod. the entire series was my idea, but i found inspiration from other fantasy/magic series. i did have doubts when it came to plotting, but i had a couple of friends who proofread. coming up with everything was definitely a process—i explain it in detail below:

1. HOW IT ALL STARTED

November 1st, 2020, Sunday was the day I created the first LOD-related Google Doc. I remember for the longest time, I wanted to write an ultra-long series. I had no idea what this series would consist of—the only thing I did know is that I wanted it to be a slow burn. Of course, I began dabbling with the idea of the internet’s most beloved trope: enemies to lovers. I realized that I don’t exactly have much of an interest in developing a story based on modern-day happenings. If this series was going to be long, I wanted to go all-in—that is, I wanted to play around with some extensive world-building. Though I admit I have some experience in world-building, I say this with a grain of salt because I’ve never actually expanded upon my new universes. (Most of my world-building work has been through the Society Series, which included seven stories that ranged from 2k-29k words. And 2k-29k words are barely anything compared to the long series I wanted to write.) So I took on this challenge of creating an entirely new world with new nations and cultures and people.

Except I didn’t know where to start. I think I found it the easiest to figure out who I wanted to write. I definitely wanted to write a somewhat angsty relationship (definitely something on the lines of enemies to lovers). So I knew my main characters had to have a lot of spunk to them. I still wasn’t so sure about the setting, until I realized how interesting it would be to write a story about a war. I’ve never quite done that before. I accepted the challenge. And with this setting in mind, I began to piece together my characters. I typed out a quick: general!yg (26) and general!yn (23) into the Google Doc. It was actually smooth sailing from there.

1.1 Castings, Genres and Plotting

I created two nations: Solaria and Darlae and then split them up as the elemental magic group and traditional “wand” magic group. I wasn’t so sure how to build upon the magic, though. I decided to leave that problem up for the future me. Meanwhile, I assigned Yoongi the role of the cynical, cold yet somehow gentle Solarian General. Of course, to add some *spice*, I cast our OC as the kindhearted, passionate Darlaean General. I took a lot of inspiration from Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Harry Potter franchise but ultimately decided that I’d create my very own system of magic (somewhere along the line). I did know that the Solarians would control the elements and the Darlaeans would use what I later called their birthstones to do their own form of magic. But other than that, I literally let alone the magic. I figured I’d begin to create the magical guidelines when I felt more comfortable with the other parts of the story.

From November 1st to the 7th 2020, I plotted every day. But these were very general plot points—mostly to map out where the story would go. I came up with an introduction that I felt was a good hook, and from there, I focused a lot on moving the plot along. It’s a little problematic considering I didn’t exactly flesh out my characters yet, but I thought it would be better to just word vomit than stay stagnant. I realized I could tweak the plot a little (or a lot) after I got my ideas out. So then, I made the whole storyline of OC’s lost memory, Yoongi being suspicious of her, her feeling a little lost in Solaria, then her assimilating and gaining Yoongi’s undevoted trust. The plot was very much centered around her and the Solarian General. I remember being stuck at a particular plot point, however. It was after the fact that OC went into battle and got “captured” by the Darlaeans. I knew she’d meet her past lover (Jungkook) and it’d be a whole angst parade. But there were a few complications that are plot spoilers of the latter half of the second act, plus acts III and IV, so I will not share them for now. Just know that it wasn't until January 2nd to 14th of 2021 that I finally configured the ending of LOD

1.2 Creating the Title

I also came up with the title on January 10th. I had some possible choices too: Forgotten Memories, Lost Memories, The Legends of Two Kingdoms, Legends of Magic, Legends of Darlaria. At first, I really wanted to incorporate the motif of memory in the title. [Reasons are redacted.] But then I started brainstorming some ideas and realized putting ‘memory’ in the title sounds cheap/an attempt to sound overly deep. I didn’t like it. So I realized I could branch off and talk about the nations. The Legends of Two Kingdoms gave me Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities vibes and I was not there for that. Legends of Magic sounded straight-up stupid. But then came Legends of Darlaria. It clicked. I was so happy with that and it stuck like glue.

1.3 Fleshing the Plot Out

1.3.1 Creating the Acts

January 12th, 8:38 AM, I copy-pasted my plot doc into a new doc specifically for chapter divisions. By 8:46 AM, I had created three acts. Act I is OC’s time spent in Solaria. Act II encompasses the entirety of OC’s stay in Darlae. Act III is the ending. I didn’t flesh out any of the chapters/parts. In fact, I spent the next several days splitting my story into parts. And by January 26th, I had all 65 parts basically fleshed out (plus the epilogue). It ended up being 57 pages, 33 more than my original 24.

January 16th, I first came up with the idea of having four acts instead of my original three. I felt like if I stayed with three acts, act II would be unnecessarily long. [Redacted discussions about acts III and IV].

1.3.2 Major Creations and Edits

From then on, I worked on my chapter divisions doc sporadically. I skipped the whole month of February. Then, I only worked on it twice around the end of March. I remember this was because I was losing a lot of motivation for Legends of Darlaria. I had completed a lot in a pretty short amount of time: creating a title, creating functioning characters, creating a 65-page plotline, etc. It was safe to say that I was (a) getting tired of it (b) realizing my ideas weren’t so great as I had originally thought they were. It also might have had a lot to do with college decisions and online school burnout. I remember I was just tired all the time—even though I was getting more than enough rest. Legends of Darlaria felt so… bland. Every arc I had, I felt like it had been done before, and there was nothing really special about my characters either. In fact, I started to worry that they were really, really starting to look like Mary Sues (especially the OC).

But I got ahold of myself and began working again, picking up momentum. I entered the chapter division document (my main doc) on April 19th, ready to get back on track. I remember, I felt kind of lost, then. I wasn’t sure if I should add any more details to the plot or whether I should even take parts of the plot out. I felt like to change one little detail, I had to change a billion other things. So in the month of April, I remember obsessively reading over the document and editing every little piece of dialogue, sentence, plot point. I even built upon my characters. On April 19-22, I gave them zodiac signs, IQs and their place of birth. Zodiac signs were easy. For OC, her stubborn nature and willingness to stay grounded made her a Taurus, which is perfect considering that she has an April birthday (in order to have the diamond birthstone). I didn’t plan for that to happen, but it did happen to work out. Yoongi’s an obvious Aries; head on his shoulders, also stubborn and pretty tough (redacted information). I always imagined Jungkook as a Virgo (which he is in real life). On April 20th, I created the five sectors of Solaria—literally on a whim. Each element would get its own sector and there would be a heterogeneous capital sector. Coming up with the names for that was so fun. I basically looked up “names that mean [insert element]” and created my own variations from what I found on the internet. Needless to say, the names did not disappoint. (I’m usually shit at coming up with fantastical names, so this was an improvement on my part.) This was how I was able to figure out that Yoongi’s birthplace is Aithne; OC and Jungkook are both from Darlae, a huge kingdom with no separate cities/sectors [that obviously got changed later LOL]. Figuring out their IQs was a roller coaster ride [even though honestly it shouldn't even have been a huge deal since IQ doesn't define intelligence whatsoever]. In the beginning, I gave OC the highest IQ of 133. Jungkook had the lowest of 127 and Yoongi had a 131. But I thought about those numbers for a long, long time. (The funny thing is, IQ is not even remotely important to the story, so I have no idea why I was fretting so much about it.) But two days later on April 24th, I edited the IQs. Jungkook now had the highest of 131. Yoongi had the lowest of 127, and OC had 130. I remember realizing that I didn’t want the nations’ militant leaders to be too above average; that’s not how usually the military works. But I did want their IQs to be a little higher than average, too—because let’s face it—these characters do some smart shit in the story. But I ended up bumping Yoongi down the IQ ladder (for reasons that are purely intuitive; I can’t explain them with words). Jungkook went up (because I realized he’s one of my most intelligent characters), and OC is just right behind him.

1.3.3 Art & the Quest of Smut

No one asked for this, so I will be omitting this excerpt LOL.

1.3.4 An Obscene Number of Things to Fix

April 27th, I fleshed out the five sectors of Solaria, creating their relative sizes and different ecological biomes. (I literally remember researching the different biomes during my math class—it was a nice bio review!) I also realized I needed to take the initiative on my still ever-so-present dilemma that Legends of Darlaria felt bland. I was ruminating about the reason it could come off as bland for months. But I finally got somewhat of an answer. It was definitely because there was too much focus on the main characters; the side characters didn’t get the time of day! I also thought that the main characters’ flaws were not well-portrayed enough in the plot. So, I came up with a list called ‘THINGS TO FIX.’ It consisted of 10 bullet points: (1) yn’s not good with kids, (2) [HUGE FUCKING SPOILER], (3) [another spoiler LOL], (4) the ending drags on too much, (5) [semi-spoiler but omitting just in case], (6) sprinkle in stuff about sectors, (7) [more spoilers bruh], (8) add seokjin to the flashbacks, (9) add more female OCs, (10) figure out dates/times

(1) OC gets to meet children in chapter 5 where she voyages to the capital with her General. But I realized, it doesn’t make much sense for OC to be a kid-person. Even when she was young, she was mature for her age, and she had to grow up quickly due to the death of her mother [changed this to her parents' neglect instead]. She never got a chance to be a child. So it would make sense for her to be awkward around children. She doesn’t know how to treat those mini-adults!

(2) Nope

(3) Also nope

(4) Semi-spoiling the ending, so will take out just in case

(5) Also a semi-spoiler...

(6) I just created the different sectors, so I realized that now has to be integrated into the story.

(7) Oops also a spoiler

(8) Seokjin is a character we barely see in the whole story, which sucks because his character has so much potential. Even though I didn’t write it down anywhere, I always internalized that Seokjin is a misunderstood character. (Kind of like Jungkook.) He has a lot of potential and is a highly disciplined individual, but doesn’t quite understand how to interact with others. I think he’s a very “rigid” character. He likes to follow the rules. He likes to obey orders. I think a pivotal point in his character is when [REDACTED]. But since Seokjin is such an interesting character, I want to put him in the flashback scenes. He must have played some role!

(9) I knew for a while that Legends of Darlaria would not take in place of a patriarchy. Men and women are literally equal. So it was just sad to see more male characters than females. But that may have something to do with the fact that this is a BTS fanfiction and I kind of promised myself to include all seven men. So, of course, there is an imbalance. My concern, however, was coming up with female characters who could be seamlessly integrated into the plot.

(10) I realized while writing this longass series (which I had no idea would be in several months), I would also have to write descriptions of the setting. But the setting also includes the weather. How am I supposed to write about the setting if I don’t even know what season the chapter is taking place? This last bullet point perhaps stressed me out the most. (For some reason.)

1.3.5 Fixing and Creating New Characters

I worked on LOD basically for the rest of April—almost every day. I was really big on weaving the to-fix points into my plot. I remember I made 81 edits in one day trying to sprinkle in bits of the sector stuff. I also changed a lot of the dialogue and the choices the characters made for them to stay true to their character. At the beginning of May, I focused a lot on rounding out my main characters and fleshing out the world-building. I created a money system, which, I have no idea why I made (but whatever. I guess it made my world feel a little more real to me). I added three things to my to-fix list: (1) add more bits of confident yoongi, (2) add more yoongi character flaws (his willingness to surrender/give up), (3) add more yn character flaws (too trusting, overthinks, workaholic). I still felt like my main characters were Mary Sues (except Jungkook LOL). So I realized to make the audience sympathize with them and root for them, I had to make them seem more human by giving them notable flaws.

I took a break for a couple of weeks and got back on track in the middle of May. On May 18th, the Lieutenant of the Solarian Army Kang Doyun was born. I didn’t really know much about her other than the fact that she speaks her mind and is a generally likable character. The same day I created her, I also decided that ultimately, she has to die. Originally, I planned it so that OC and Doyun do not know each other too well. That would make it easier for OC to take Doyun’s place as the Lieutenant when she dies. In hindsight, I realize that is definitely not how the military works—even in a fictional nation. But we’re going to let my past self be in blissful ignorance. [Which is why I changed it later so OC never becomes the Solarian Lieutenant General LOL.]

May 19th, Hana was born. She was created for the sole purpose of tripping up OC because she’s so similar to Hajin. Immediately, I knew I had to design her as a very likable character. In fact, I added to my to-fix list: make ALL characters more likable/complex. By the end of May, my original 24-page document became 71 pages.

I worked on the document for three days in mid-June. Mostly, I was working hard to polish up the plotline; my goal was to slowly get rid of all the bullet points from my to-fix list. I worked on the document for one day in July—mainly to add to some important plot points. I think at that point, I thought I was basically done fleshing out the story.

Anyways, the rest of this journal is me doing a breakdown of each chapter I've written in LOD, which can get quite tedious, so I won't include that. Hopefully, this gives you a better background of how my idea came to be and knowledge of some of my pre-writing processes!

I began writing LOD after I settled into my college dorm, and three years later, I'm in my apartment still writing. I will most likely finish and wrap up this story when I soon after I graduate and begin working full-time

#ask #yoongijoon07 #lod #sorry this was so long but i hope i answered your question!!#i can't believe how many spoilers i had to take out LOL #it's cuz shit RLLY GOES DOWN in the latter half of act II LOL #and i honestly doubt anyone can predict what act III's gonna be about #tbh i don't even think act IV is all that predictable #the most predictable thing in this entire story (i'm hoping) is the fact that OC is Darlaean lol #since most of you figured it out anyways

9 notes · View notes

tallulah477 · 4 months

Note

Hi tallie!

I have a few questions-

So I'm thinking of writing a Lyle wainfleet x miles quaritch x oc multiple chapter story-

So the little plot i have is after the sea dragon sinks and miles and lyle make it out alive, they make it to land, meet my oc, and she teaches them the na'vi ways and everything-

So do you have any tips on making a good mauti chaptered work?

Also any tips on a three way sex scene?

I hope this isn't to much to ask for!😅

Thank you! 💕

Roomie, I'm sooooo here for this story already OMG

Also, you could never ask for too much - I'm always here to help and my DMs are always open too 🧡 I just hope my essay of a response isn't too much LMAO

I honestly can't say I have that much experience writing multi chaptered works so idk how helpful I can really be, but usually for my works I try not to go in blind because I can write myself into a corner like that. Sometimes, I can have a vague idea and it drives itself. But most of the time I need to have an outline to follow, even if I end up deviating from it eventually. And I would def suggest an outline for a multi chapter fic.

But my brain is so messy and so are my outlines lmao so idk if you're an organized person or not, but your outline totally doesn't have to be if you don't want it to be. I would say, whatever you can think of in that moment, write it down. Literally whatever pops into your head - whether it's a scene, a specific detail you wanna remember to mention, a line of dialogue, an entire conversation. Sometimes I end up writing whole ass scenes in my outline and then just copy and paste it into the doc and edit it 😂

I would suggest outlining what you want to happen in each part, specifically how you want it to start and where you want each chapter to end so you know exactly where you're trying to get to with each chapter. Are we ending on a cliffhanger, or a point of relief after a tense scene? It also helps with not rushing through/dragging the fic too much, I think.

If you don't mind me getting specific with your idea, I'd love to see how messed up Lyle and Miles are after the battle on the sea dragon. Their entire team just died (again) and they barely made it out with their lives themselves. I'm not 100% sure about Lyle cause we don't really get too close him during the movies, but I know Miles is going to have some raging emotions to get through because Spider chose the Sullys over him and left him there alone (if you decide to keep it canon like that). So I think that would be really fun to explore.

Then you can introduce your OC and go through whatever tension there's going to be between the recoms and her/her clan cause I doubt either one is going to trust each other right away so there might be some (or a lot) of hostility. Either way, it would be really fun to see how their feelings and emotions evolve on both sides, but especially for Lyle and Miles as they switch from their human marine conditioning to learning and appreciating the Na'vi way of life. It would def be a different learning experience from what we see in the first movie with Jake because even though Jake was also human/marine, he was wayyyyy more open to everything Na'vi than the recoms.

That's just my thoughts anyway - obviously everything is up to you! Honestly, you have a fantastic plot and there's so many directions you can go with this, so this is a great concept for a multi chapter fic.

TLDR: Outlines and details are your best friend 😂

For threesomes, I really try to keep the focus fairly equal between everyone. It's a little jarring sometimes when a character is completely forgotten about and then all of a sudden is there again, so try to go back and forth as best as you can to make sure no one is left out. So if you're OC is riding Lyle and thinking about how big his cock is inside of her, make sure she also feels Miles biting her shoulder from behind or pulling her head back to kiss her just so he's not just standing there like🧍‍♂️

Don't be afraid to use names either. Best to overuse than for your readers to get lost with who is who, imo.

Although eventually OC may be too overwhelmed and lost in sensations and might not know who's hand is who's and who's cock is pressing where but she doesn't care cause she needs to cum right now

Depending on how you wanna do your threesome too depends on how you set everything up cause they can be more like a train where one person mainly fucks OC while the other is just the helper and then vice versa, or you can do double penetration where they both have their own hole at the same time (or the same hole if you're feeling a little crazy lol)

This is so long, I'm so sorry LMAO

#𝑻𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑻𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒔 ♡#𝑻𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒆'𝒔 𝑴𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔 ✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿#𝑰𝒏𝒃𝒐𝒙 ⤷✉

4 notes · View notes

darlingpoppet · 2 months

Note

i love wtdf so much!! how is the writing process and how far out have you planned the chapters?

Hi anon!! Aww thanks so much for your ask, you made my day! I’m really happy to hear you’re enjoying the story and also that you’re allowing me the opportunity to talk about the process :D

I’m normally kind of a pantser (or plantser?) when writing most of my oneshot fics—that is, at most I jot down only a vague concept that captures the vibe of what I want the story to be about, and then the rest of it comes together during the actual writing process.

Since WTDF is the very first time I’ve ever attempted a serialized longfic, I did not feel confident at all in my ability to completely go with the flow and find the story as I went along, especially with all the elements I’m attempting to juggle at once. In addition to the slowburn romance, I really wanted to include the sorts of tropes & techniques I love in stories, such as foreshadowing/chekov’s guns, unreliable narrators, uncovering a mystery, re-readability, stuff like that! (Chapter 1 especially is like, Foreshadowing: The Chapter and pretty much every detail about it has or is gonna become relevant in some shape or form later on lol!)

Admittedly idk how successful my execution will be so I don’t wanna oversell it too much, but if any of you out there enjoy looking for clues and theory crafting, fwiw that is absolutely something you can do with this fic ;D One of the reasons I was really excited about posting chapter 7 is because it was an opportunity to really start flexing those muscles and let a few planted things pay off… so if you liked that, there’s gonna be plenty more where that came from! ;3c

So anyway, all that to say I did a lot of planning for this story and in the broad strokes, I have the entire thing planned out all the way from start to finish. It’s not quite meticulous bullet points scene by scene though, that’s not my style—I’m still a bit of a plantser in that chapters & scenes are outlined at most with general vague summaries and maybe a few stated goals (there are some spots where I have to put stuff like “be sure to mention Thing A here which will be relevant to Scene B later on!”) and stuff keeps getting added and shuffled around (upcoming chapter 8 for example was a relatively late addition to the story and was split off from chapter 7 only a few months ago because I decided I really wanted to go whole hog with this particular episode lol.) I originally thought this story would be around 100k, which was already much longer than I envisioned, but now I’m certain that it’ll be at least twice that length, and I’m resigned now to the fact that this project is gonna continue be a big part of my life for at least the next year or two XD

That all said, I still wasn’t confident enough to start posting with just a roadmap, and I spent the last two NaNoWriMos in a row trying to lay down as much track ahead of the train as possible. As of right now, between published and unpublished bits over the span of the entire story, I think I have about half of the prose written.

On that note, my process for writing an individual chapter at this point seems to be: 1) write as much prose for the rough draft as I possibly can (or in other words, filling the box with as much sand as possible); then 2) I copy the individual scene documents on scrivener into a fresh single “second draft/editing” doc, where I 3) try to fashion it into something more refined, until I ???? and then 4) PROFIT/end up with the finished final draft.

This middle process takes A WHILE because I’m usually adding as much as prose as I’m taking away; and I’m often inspired to take more outline notes or skip ahead to write a bit of prose for something further down the line; I’m referencing my notes, referencing past & future chapters to make sure everything is staying consistent, doing new research; and I’m always trying really hard to be careful & particular about how I’m wording things… I often have several alternate wordings or sentences in every paragraph that I spend a long time swapping between and fussing over lol. And even then I often step away several times during the process to let the words marinate for a while. So if you’re wondering why it usually takes me about two months on average to complete a chapter, that’s why haha (even longer if god forbid I get blocked like I did with Chapter 4 oooughhhh). I’m sure many can relate! I still feel like I’m particularly slow though, and it’s only been getting harder as my story grows more intricate XD But I’m also having tons of fun with it!

I think the other thing that has helped me chill out a bit is keeping in mind that AO3 works are editable and so I can always just go back and fix stuff if, worst case scenario, I accidentally write myself into a corner or something like that haha. (Hopefully that won’t ever be necessary though!) I have already occasionally gone back to quietly tweak wordings or add a sentence or two that help keep the earlier published chapters consistent with the later ones (for example, I recently decided to stick with using the anachronistic term of “Greeks” rather than “Achaeans”, since it’s more consistent with Hadesgame naming conventions and ultimately this is a Hadesgame-verse fic.)

I think right now my biggest source of anxiety with this story is over how well I’m executing the pacing… whether or not I’m revealing things too soon/not soon enough, or whether or not the flashbacks are enhancing or undermining the momentum in the present story, especially the slowburn—it seems to me like the sort of thing where I can’t really anticipate at all how it’s gonna come across until I’m able to reread the complete story, haha. But I guess I also tell myself that I’m doing my best to order it in the most impactful way possible… and hopefully y’all are enjoying it too, so far :) I recently expressed this in an updated fic summary, but this story is now fully a three-in-one Hades fic: a canon divergence AU, a canon-compliant pre-canon story, and a mostly complete Iliad retelling with a Hadesverse spin… so the final word count is gonna reflect all that.

Thanks so much again for your ask! I’m delighted & eager to discuss my stories or Patrochilles or Hadesgame or the Iliad or anything else tangentially related to those topics any time, so my ask box is always open <3

#where the dead forget #emica chat

2 notes · View notes

amywritesthings · 5 months

Note

Hello! I love your writing style and I would love to know the whole process of how. Like how do you outline and do everything that comes with writing a chapter/story? The whole process basically, if it ain't too much trouble.

AHHH HELLO! It isn't trouble at all, sorry it took me a bit to get back to this. I really appreciate your kind words about my writing style. It's definitely the thing I'm most proud about as a skill, since I am also a writer in my day job!

My process is a little chaotic? I guess.

edit: this got long i'll put it under a read more, actually (w/a screenshot of my actual completed outline for a one shot!)

For new stories or new chapters, a scene that's usually mid-story will come to me out of nowhere, and I will build the story around that. I almost always exclusively write my work in bulletpoints before fleshing it out to actual (very short) paragraphs. I don't usually know the ending to fics that are beyond one shots. I tend to mold it as I understand my own characters and how they development way beyond my original concept, because I don't like pigeon-holing myself into one singular outcome.

Once I have the entire (or most of) the idea outlined, that's when I'll start going in between the bulletpoints and 'rough writing', which is literally just me pushing out anything I want. It doesn't have to make sense. It doesn't even have to sound good. My strength comes with editing after I see the structure written out before me, so my goal is to just get a general chapter/one shot done before I fine tune.

For long fics, I do this chapter by chapter. Sometimes I'll even jump to a chapter 3-5 ch from now and just blurt out a 600-word excerpt that comes to mind. Storytelling doesn't need to be linear, it just needs to be passionate and well-loved.

Then comes the real doozy, which is editing. That's when my real writing happens. I tend to be dialogue-heavy, so once I'm done my first round of edits... I read the entire thing out loud. I deepen my voice (ha) for all my guys I write. I even mumble my smut lines because if Din Djarin's dirty-talkin', I won't let that poor man sound like a moron in the sheets.

Then I format on AO3, copying & pasting to wordcounter.net as I make my last-minute edits so AO3 can't eat my stuff (bc that has happened before and oh it is pain) and post!

For funsies, I went back through my doc and found my entire holiday Nanami x Reader one shot outline for ya!

You can see that I kind of talk to myself through outlines (I'm my own best friend, yes I literally do this in all of my drafts of stories and they can get v unhinged) and I will also add dialogue that comes to mind while I'm outlining that I want to keep for the end story.

If you have any other questions, I don't mind chatting or if you wanna keep sending q's that is fine, too!

#questions.#anon response

4 notes · View notes

astroboots · 10 months

Note

Hiiiii I see that you and thirstworld collaborate a lot (and I love your work lmao 🤤). Can you explain how you two collaborate? Like, what your process is? Do you share a word doc, take turns writing chapters, something else? Thanks ❤️❤️

Hi nonny!!! Sorry it's taken a while to answer this. I wanted to take some proper time to answer this, since writing with @thirstworldproblemss is my favorite part of the writing process, and I was trying to pin down exactly how we make it work and the honest answer is:

utter chaos?

There is no real logic in all honesty, we do everything under the sun.

The collaboration comes in many forms.

Most of the time it's a side product of just how many hours, minutes and seconds of the day we spend talking to each other? This includes DM, Whatsapp, Discord, Tumblr messages (though that has taken the backburner since their messaging function is chaos and I rarely check it), sometimes we call each other when there's a long roadtrip. Sometimes we will be half awake insomniac and half conscious texting each other messages riddled with typos lyksalksdassisdis.

A lot of times before we write, be it a oneshot, a chapter or a headcanon that is never posted, it starts with one of us going:

"Hey you know what would be interesting? if ..." and off to the races we go. A lot of times one of us will throw a scenario of the character we're horny for at the hour, and throw a prompt at the other going: how do you think they'd react.

Our favourite thing is the 101 various AUs we have of every damn character. High School AU of Homecoming where the trio gets together (Frankie is an exchange student?) Royal Historical AU! where Santiago and Boa are betrothed and Frankie is a war captive? What about an angsty Frankie/Santi FWB in high school AU? etc etc etc

Sometimes one of us (most like TWP) will write a whole masterpiece of a fic from beginning to end in the DMs, and it's a matter of copying and pasting into the Gdocs. Sometimes one of us will start something and the other finish. Sometimes we play baton where one of us writes a paragraph then the other takes over.

For Red Flags. It was me holding TWP captive and hostage for over a year. (Much like what I'm doing with EYEM) talking her ear off, and both of us going over the chapter over and over planning in meticulous detail only to throw it out and write something completely different anyhow. (We must've rewritten chapter 6 four times from scratch until both of us were in absolute tears).

The main thing I'd say about our collaboration is that there is a lot of trust between us. Co-writing with someone requires a lot of vulnerability because writing can be something very personal, and if you do not feel close to the person it can throw up a lot of emotions you didn't expect.

We've also known each other for three years now, and talk a ridiculous amount. Often when we plan stories there will be at least a handful of times during the interaction of one night where we both suggest the exact same thing within seconds of each other and then we burst out laughing.

I trust TWP with everything I write, to the point where when she beta/edit, I do not review the changes, there's no tracked changes, because she has full editing permission on my stories, because I know she will be better at knowing what I wanted and intended to write better than I did.

I cannot stress this enough that while TWP might not be listed as a co-writer in everything I write (because she refuses to let me give her the credit she is due), she is an integral part of everything I write because I will consult her, brainstorm with her, she will suggest scenes, pacing, re-organise scenes that do not fit etc, before a story is posted. She is the unseen masterpupeteer of all my writing, and more importantly without her writing would not be as fun as it is for me, and I don't know if I would write as much or as often as I do without her.

Writing can sometimes be an incredibly lonely process and I have been lucky and fortunate enough to have a friend who never makes me feel lonely

I remember watching a John Mulaney and Bill Hader interview where they talked about stage fright and Bill Hader was talking about how to cope with anxiety, whenever he performed on SNL he only looked at John and was performing for John. if John laughed then he did his job. That's very much how I feel when I am writing and posting things here. When I write something TWP is my first and foremost audience I have in mind. So long as she laughs or is horny, then I know I've done my job.

#💌 ask

11 notes · View notes

a-swiss-and-a-spaniard · 6 months

Text

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for thinking of me @yoellglia ! I had fun reading your answers and even more so trying to answer myself :)

1. How many works do you have on A03?

Jeez, should I consider both of my accounts? Let's do it, why not.

I have 12 fics in total. 7 for Tennis RPF and 5 for the DC Universe.

2. What's your total A03 word count?

37,211 words combined. Ngl, I thought it would be less than that as there are only two multi-chaptered fics and the rest are one-shots. Hopefully, I'll add some more words in the upcoming months :)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, I only write Tennis RPF. I've been toying with a few ideas for the Good Omens fandom, but I haven't opened a new doc yet. And I used to write for the DC Universe, but I haven't done that in ages.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

(I’m gonna keep this Tennis RPF only bc this blog is tennis themed)

Waking in the Night Light: Fedal share their first kiss in a parking lot.

A New Target: Fedal have sex in the locker room.

Moonlight in Paris: Rafa goes to Roger's hotel room.

Strawberry & Dulce de Leche: Roger and Rafa get ice cream.

Somewhere or Other: Fedal phone call.

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

Yes yes yes! At least I try to. Although more often than not I get the notification, reply in my head, then forget to actually write back, and I'm too embarrassed to answer if more than a week has gone by… so apologies for that. That doesn't mean I don’t appreciate every single comment I have ever gotten, they always make my day in fact.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Mmh… perhaps Moonlight in Paris. It's not angst per se but it does have an overall sense of uncertainty.

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

Strawberry & Dulce de Leche, definitely. Rafa's joy at the possibility of Roger going to his birthday party is everything.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, thankfully. I’m glad I haven't unlocked that side of fandom yet.

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

I do, but I consider myself a newbie at it (smut writers, pls teach me your ways).

Generally speaking, I prefer it when smut has a little plot. It doesn't have to be anything complicated or serious, I just need a bit of a story behind what's happening for it to feel more organic. I also like it when the focus is on the emotional aspect of it, though descriptive can be nice as well. And I don't mind wordy smut as longs as it doesn't mess with the flow.

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

Nope, and I'm not a big fan of those tbh

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Story time! Yes 💀 Although it wasn't the whole thing, just a fragment. The fic in question was None but the Lonely Heart for the DCEU. And I only found out bc a lovely person left a comment on my fic, letting me know what had happened and the link to the other fic. I checked and the writer had indeed literally copied and pasted one of my scenes, they'd just changed the names of the characters. So I reached out to the AO3 team and they took care of everything.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

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

No. Stef and I had an idea for a Fedal fic, but who knows if we'll ever get to actually write it lol

14. What's your all time favourite ship?

I don't think I have one, really. I would say my main ones/the ones I keep coming back to are Fedal (Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal) and Superbat (Superman/Batman). Though right now I've been reading almost exclusively Ineffable Husbands (Aziraphale/Crowley), so it mostly depends on my hyperfixation at the time

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

Oof, that might be a Superbat (long) fic set post BvS, where resurrected Clark has lost his powers (and the sun seems to actually make him sick now), so Bruce helps him to get back on his feet and of course they fall in love in the process. I have the whole thing outlined, sheets of dialogues and a couple of scenes already fleshed out, but I took a break from the fandom bc it was draining me out. Idk, maybe one day I'll get back to it. I mean, never say never and all that, but it's looking highly improbable right now

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at setting the tone of scenes, be it fluffy, angsty, whatever.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I tend to write in long, long sentences. Seriously, you should see my drafts, sometimes a whole paragraph can be a single sentence. I don't know if it's due to my Spanish hard-wired brain or what, but I’m working on breaking things up a bit more.

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

I love it! But you need to make sure readers will still get the message through context, so I think it's best to stick to single words and/or common phrases. Unless, of course, you want to leave your character (and thus your readers) feeling confused.

I do it often when I’m writing Rafa and it's part of the reason I love writing him so much.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

DC Universe

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Tough question… can I say an unpublished one? I have this sort of introspection/character study of Domi, his struggles coming back on tour after the wrist injury and dealing with all the ups and downs. There's not a story to it per se, like I'm not trying to get him from A to B. It's just a dive into his mind, where it gets kinda dark real quick, and it's unlike what I usually go for in tennis fics (fluff), so I've been enjoying the challenge of getting out of my comfort zone there

#fic writing #tag game #about me

2 notes · View notes

cerealmonster15 · 6 months

Text

Actually fuck it whatveer I’m In A State I’m gonna post this Leona/cater + third years drama idea I had too. It’s not a fic but I was very much outlining something I probably could write with this much intensity. Copy pasted from my docs and only edited autocorrect typos (this was also over a year ago):

Uhhh drama soap operas are all I know and the only context I can picture Leona and cater together in , bc the concept is very weird and ridiculous lol. So the backstory is that at some point leona and vil dated briefly and broke up (divorced lol) and it’s currently their third year blah blah whatever. Cater has a crush on vil, everyone knows it, same as every au lol.

Uhhh cater and Leona don’t really interact too much but sometimes cross paths just cuz cay helps riddle and trey with dorm things and Leona’s a dorm leader I guess, technically, lol. Also they’re on their dorms spelldrive teams apparently so hmmmmmm

I think some almost bonding would be Vargas pairing Leona and caycay up for flying drills and Leona doesn’t really give a shit and cay doesn’t like getting sweaty, but he’s also gotta give a real attempt bc he already got in trouble that one time he used his clones to cheat at running lol. And cay is canonically good at flying and well balanced so I think he does the drills smoothly and kinda shows off bc he’s cater lol. Maybe eggs on Leona with some competitive jabbing to get him to move lol. Leona says cay has some decent broom moves, whatever , class ends who cares.

Fast forward to whenever, I like the idea of doofy teens having to take formal dance lessons for no reason other than fanfic purposes I could use Halloween 2 bc characters actually danced together in that one in their card stories , but that was like voluntarily and I do not think Leona would dance with anyone voluntarily (I don’t know if he did. I don’t think I read his card story lol).

So anyway. Something something formal event something something boys gotta take dance classes in school.

Cay and Leona are paired up.

Cater is surprised Leona already knows the steps smoothly and is a good lead! Leonas like 😒 I’m literally a prince , obviously I had to learn stuffy things like this growing up 🙄

And caters like how the hell am I supposed to know what princes do in their spare time lol

They dance together that whole week bc they r partners , there’s mild banter, at some point caycay is staring longingly at vil and Leona’s like “u have predictable and bad taste” and caters like “what!!! Idk what u mean!!! 😳” but then is like “wait but u dated vil. Does that mean U have bad taste like me lol” and Leona’s like 😒 not anymore.

I think they’d keep that like, light banter while dancing til the last day and then like. Tbh. I don’t think they’d date I think they’d just hook up once or twice and like be really awkward about it after. So now the drama is caycays got a crush on vil and then vaguely hooked up with his ex and now there’s just tension all around. Does vil know? Idk but rook probably does. No one has to tell him he just figures it out himself bc he is rook and he is all knowing and also very perceptive. Does he tell vil? I dunno but I think he’s in love with vil and wants to also have a teenager one night stand with vil’s ex lol. It’s messy!!!

I was gonna say maybe trey and Jade can get together on the side since they were who I originally wanted to doodle 😒 but also I feel like this drama means no one can be at peace for long.

Wait no I remembered more vague lore. I hunk vil does find out Leona and cay had a thing briefly, and he’s like , grouchy and petty about it in this au lol. The real vil would probably just move on and not care but this is soap opera drama. Also vil almost poisoned someone in canon so I think I am allowed to bend things as much as I want. Anyway vil finds out and is like I see how it is. And he asks cater on a date 😱

Caycays like omg ya. But also it’s awkward now bc he was with Leona and now he’s with vil and they’re divorced and he’s caught up in it all. Maybe he’s all angsty like wtf are they both just using me to make each other mad. I’m goin 2 go complain and cry 2 my bestie trey !!!

Ok im tired now idk what happens after that 😴

#cereal writes #sure. whatever #‘they’re originally who I wanted to doodle’ wtf was the context here. what was I.#was I drawing something. that turned into cater and Leona and got me thinking about all this?….#anyway god. this is something g I forgot I had a lot of thoughts about lol. I wish I didn’t feel so stuck with ideas now #bc tbis siff was just flowing so rapidly through me constantly #this shit* whatever typos #god this does have he nature of another multi part story and like I would NOT know where the end was going #I think I wrote this on my notes app whe. I was in bed #and then copied it to Google docs and sent to my friend lol

3 notes · View notes

myrrhmaidwrites · 8 months

Text

Sunstruck Writing Wrap-Up

I think I’m going to start posting writing wrap ups here for my own benefit. Writing about writing is supposed to make you better at it, or something.

This fic was not only my longest ever, but it also ended up spanning 12 google docs, 6 Word files, 8 pages in Notion, and 100+ DMs. If you think my writing process could use some improved organization, well, you’re right.

Originally, Sunstruck was about Trevor writing the book. He had finished it, and the book was in some ways a love letter to Jamie, and a lot of their conversations revolved around what was in the book. (Have you read The Next Next One? Yeah.)

Anyway, that didn’t end up happening. Somewhere along the way I switched the story to Jamie’s POV and moved away from the book idea. I just couldn’t get it to fit. I don’t think I’ll write a sequel to this, but if I did, it would be Trevor POV and it would be about the book.

Now I’m going to talk a little about the writing process for this fic.

16k words isn’t that many for a lot of people. For me, it’s the longest thing I’ve ever written, and I think that deserves some note. Woo! May there be longer fics to come. Also I genuinely have no idea how people write novels, haha. Practice, I suppose.

Shortly before I started this fic, I did some reading about various approaches to the editing process. The method I ended up using, which worked well for me, was to basically just get some words down for the first draft (“shitty first draft), and then rewrite the whole draft based on that. This worked well for me because I was able to get the pure words down pretty well via writing sprints and typing on my phone in bed before I went to sleep.

Then came the rewriting. I took one scene, slapped it in a column on Notion, and used it as a guide to write a new version of that scene. No copy+paste allowed, but I could rewrite the original words if I did want to keep them. I almost never kept them exactly. The second version of scenes were almost always better than the first.

During this period is when the story feels most like a confusing mess that I have to muddle through. I have scenes missing that I don’t know I need, I have to rearrange things and delete things and realize that something I wrote won’t work anymore because I changed something earlier. I’m constantly re-outlining, adding notes to scenes, writing new bits and deleting them, etc.

To give you an idea of some of the things I changed in this stage, in an earlier version of the fic, Jamie said something really heartfelt for Trevor’s video and they cut most of it out for the public video. Trevor only sees it after the Ducks staff send him the full video, and their reunion/get together scene happens at home the day after the ceremony.

At another point, I really wanted to have that long distance/breakup/dark night of the soul moment that would require a big gesture from Jamie (flying across the country for Trevor or similar). In the end, I couldn’t get it to work, so we have the condensed crisis that starts during the sex scene. I’m not mad about that change, but I do sometimes wonder if I could have made that scene hit harder if the separation/downturn had been worse.

Anyway, after getting through this horrible muddled mess, there’s a third re-writing, where I have the scenes mostly in order and I go through and rewrite everything from beginning to end for a third time. This time around, there’s a lot more that stays the same. What’s nice about the earlier stages is that when I write something I don’t like so much, I don’t have to worry about it at the moment because there’s an incredibly low chance it’ll make it to the final fic.

After the third rewriting is when I like to loop in my beta reader. I usually try to have a couple of specific questions for them as they read. I think technically this is called alpha reading (and beta reading is just for spelling/grammar), but if I’m honest, I need this kind of help more.

Then I go about incorporating changes from my beta reader, which usually involves a major overhaul of 1-2 scenes, almost always the finale and another scene in the second half of the fic.

After that, I go through and re-read the fic in order and look for places where I need to make major additions. This typically includes descriptions of emotions or settings and additions to dialogue where characters get to the point of what they’re trying to say far more quickly than is realistic.

Finally, in the last couple of days before posting, I look at sentence structure and word choice. I tend to use the same sentence structures over and over in my writing as well as certain words. In this phase, I try to mix it up as much more and make the sentences and words sound interesting.

In the “adding” and “sentence structure” phases of this fic, I added about 5k words. Yep, the fic was only about 11.5k words before this. That means the fic my beta reader read, while kind of close to the finished version, is also hugely different from the fic up on ao3. It’s kind of crazy to think about.

Finally, I do one last read for typos, and the fic goes up.

There’s one thing about this fic experience (and others I’ve had) that I haven’t really gotten to talk about yet, though.

This fic was part of a big bang, and as a part of that, I worked with a hard deadline, and I also had an artist relying on me to be finished so we could post at the same time. Last year, I participated in an exchange that had a similar type of deadline.

Both times, I’ve had horrible insomnia for ~3 weeks leading up to the deadline. We’re talking 3+ weeks of not sleeping, sleeping extremely poorly, or not sleeping without pills. (And I’m talking sedatives here, not melatonin. God, I wish melatonin did something useful for me.)

It didn’t matter that I could have pushed the deadline back. It didn’t matter that I could have just dropped out. It didn’t matter that I was actually quite on top of this fic and not particularly concerned about finishing on time. My brain was not interested in sleeping.

Luckily, I got through it. Most of this week after posting the fic I slept just fine. But it does make me think about whether doing something like this is useful for me, or sustainable in the long run. I really love the community aspect of writing fic. I doubt that without doing a bigbang that my fics would have art made for them. I doubt I would have produced such a long fic so quickly without a deadline.

Maybe these are just things that I need to accept about myself. If I don’t want to cause myself weeks of insomnia (and I don’t because it fucking sucks), maybe I need to just accept that. Really what I need to do is probably talk to my therapist about this, but it’s hard.

Does this happen to anyone else? Just me? Okay.

To end this on a less depressing note, one final observation I want to mention is that after I choose one fic to concentrate on, my ideas for other fics tend to slow down, and then once that idea is close to wrapping, they tend to speed up again. Now I’m stuck in the middle of 4-5 fic ideas and I want to write all of them. Of course I don’t have the time, and I’m sure I’ll end up concentrating on just one or two eventually. But for now I have like five different gdocs that I want to keep open at all times. It makes me wish I didn’t have a job so I could just write. (Plus my two anons that I owe fics to…oops!)

If you read this far, thank you. Sometimes it’s nice to hear whispers in the void when you know you should expect silence.

#retirement fic #writing wrap up #posting this at 11:30 on a saturday so it can vanish into the ether

3 notes · View notes

masterjedilenawrites · 1 year

Note

Hi! so I have some questions based on operating a blog (i’m new and i have no clue what to do… sorry)

what would you recommend putting on a pinned post? how do you put links of other posts (like stories/hcs/etc) onto another post like for a master list? when you start a post for hcs/oneshots do you do it in drafts or on another app and copy and paste it? i’m sorry if this is a lot to ask :,)

Also! i love your blog sm! your writing is so good!!

Hello there! No apologies necessary! Happy to answer any and all questions about this sort of thing 🙂

I'll answer your questions in reverse order. So, starting with drafting posts... I personally have always used Word or Pages when I write (and I was cool with using Google Docs in college as well). And honestly, I would recommend others do the same, mainly to avoid issues with Tumblr drafts not always saving properly. There is no worse feeling than losing all your hard work and not being able to recover it! Tumblr's post editor is just, not the greatest, to put it politely. It's glitchy, difficult to format certain things, and way too easy to mess something up or accidentally delete it altogether. For peace of mind, draft your stuff in a more reliable app and then copy over when you're ready to actually post.

Links... The one thing I'll say in Tumblr's defense is it does have a fairly easy way to link to other posts.* You don't need to know html or coding or anything. I'll explain as a step-by-step:

Copy the url of the post you want to link to. Best way is to click the three dots in the top right corner of the post and then "Copy Link." You can do this part on mobile or a web browser.

Create or edit the post you want to contain the link. Highlight the words you want (ex: Read here!) and a little bar of options will pop up (below the color options on mobile, above the highlighted words on the web). Click the symbol that looks like a chain, then paste the url you previously copied into the designated area. That's it!

For a post with multiple links (like a masterlist), you need to do it on a web browser. Keep the post you're creating up on one browser tab, and then open additional tabs to grab the links to your other posts for copying.

And then one note of caution (because even though it's easy, it's not perfect lol): If you edit a post with links it in, like changing the wording or moving things around, the links will sometimes "break." So I usually open two tabs, one with the post in its original format, and one where I'm editing it, and I can grab from the original if I accidentally mess it up.

*These instructions are for adding links in a post. If you want to set up links in your blog's bio/description section (like in mine), then you do need to use some basic html codes. I referenced this post when I set mine up.

And then finally, pinned posts... this is really up to you. Personally, I think you can't go wrong with some kind of a masterlist, or a "welcome" type post that includes a link to a masterlist. As a reader, whenever I find a new writer I like, I want to be able to see their bibliography, to see a list of all the other stories and things they've created. It helps me get to know them, their style, their fandom preferences, etc. And if I ever lose it or want to go back to it later, it's easy enough to just pull up their blog without having to scroll or search their whole posting history.

But it really depends on what you want visitors to your blog (and yourself!) to see first. Is there an issue/take/sentiment you're especially passionate about? Pin it. Are you running some kind of a game or focusing your writing on a particular prompt list? Pin it. Is there one story you are really proud of? Pin it. And the best part, you can change your mind and pin something else later. I currently have pinned an "I'm back!" post after I went MIA for a bit last year, because idk, I figured that was important for people to see. But I'm probably going to change it back to my masterlist now that it's been a while and I miss seeing that dumb meme I edited for it 😂

I hope I answered your questions and explained everything well! Again, happy to answer anything along these lines! I know starting out can be overwhelming, but a lot of it becomes second nature the more you play around and take note of what other blogs are doing. Then your focus can be on just having fun with your writing!

#also...welcome anon!#good luck on your blog!#writing #blogging #tumblring #advice #drafts #links #posts #pins

5 notes · View notes

emjiroki · 1 year

Note

I love your theme by the way and the header is so cute KJSDNgjer also I copied and pasted the whole list then erased some lmaooo so you have a bit to answer but I hope you don't mind <3

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

💞 Who's your comfort character?

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

🤯 What's a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

🤭 Do you have a favorite tag to use when posting your works?

🥰 How do you feel about reader interaction? Are you open to receiving questions about your fics?

I definitely don't mind!!! (Thank you for the compliment on my theme btw! I just LOVE valentines day and all it's pretty colors 🥰)

I'll put this under a cut so it doesn't get too long 💕

😅- well honestly I deleted my cringest story about a year ago and it is now archived somewhere deep in my Google docs. It was a Hawks x Reader x Endeavor fic that was three parts. The title was cringe and the whole thing just wasn't planned out very well

🦅- I try my best to outline! Trying to have some organization helps me keep things in line but most of the time the characters and scenes have a mind of their own, I'm just along for the ride.

🤗- advice I would give would be don't limit yourself! Write whatever you want and don't put yourself in a box. Writing something you enjoy truly is key to having a successful story because you put your all into it. And it's not all numbers, just because something you wrote and posted didn't get a lot of likes does not mean it wasn't good! Don't be discouraged!

💞- oh wow I have so many lol Shoto, Mikey, Enji, AngelDevil and Aki and lots and lots more. (Um also Simon "Ghost" Riley from COD but I don't talk about him that often)

😍- Favorite Character to write is probably Enji. I got labeled as a top Enji writer pretty quickly (and unexpectedly) and he's just fallen into the muse category. I feel alot of freedom writing his character and hopefully don't make him to ooc lol

🤲- Hmmmmm well I guess I could.... Knight Enji WIP it is

Enji had a direct view of the door to the chapel from where he stood posted to the King's left beside the window, and he thinks he might have been the first to see you in the doorway. It was suddenly very hot underneath his heavy armor and he was thankful that he didn’t need to wear the helmet because he might have fainted. Was that his heart hammering behind his eyes, through his fingers tips, and toes? He was sure he died and somehow made it to heaven, broke down the pearly gate, and clawed his way through the clouds to get a glimpse of the angels as you walked through the held-open doors and seemed to suck the air from the room. The closer you got to the alter the more dry his mouth grew, the more his big hands shook, the more his stomach knotted. The stained glass of the church windows glimmered against your skin. Red, Blue, Green, He traced your features in every color, etching your beauty into his memory as a keepsake forever. He would crave it into his flesh if he could, down to the bone so after he’s dead and gone even the worms would know his devotion.

🤯- Genre I struggle with is any sort of mystery. I really don't know why I can't think of good plot twists to save my life. I usually have to talk out my plots with my husband

💔- an old Levi fic I wrote that I never released and is still archived in my docs. It's bittersweet and I just love him so much it hurts (also Oni's Heart pt 3 after readers been taken and Enji is depressed for a bit. Sad.)

🤭- em writes ✍️ is my go to tag for my fics so I can organize and em talks 👄 is my most often used I think

🥰- I LOVE reader interaction!!!! It makes me so happy! And YES PLEASE ASK ME THINGS! I'm always open to questions! And love discussing characters and plots and stuff! MY INBOX IS ALWAYS OPEN 💕

#ask games ‼️#ATTENTION KNIGHT ENJI LOVERS THERE IS A WIP SNIPPET UNDER THE CUT #knight enji todoroki #enji todoroki #thank you for the questions!!!#em talks 👄

6 notes · View notes