#novella part 3/16

[hallowed-nebulae]

crushing stones chapter 2 update: there are 14 total brackets now, but i have written four of the 14 brackets. we are making progress but we will likely end up with a very long chapter so. please be patient

#rambles #crushing stones verse #i swear to god this better not turn into another 30k chapter like tempests ch 16 did #30k isn't even a CHAPTER that's just an entire novella #why was my past self so stubborn that should've been split apart #split the chapter into 3 10k sections and make them chapters 16 17 and 18 #but no i thought ''eh it's 30k but it's still a singular chapter i'll just put it in parts one and two'' #anyways rambles aside i AM working on this just. it's taking a bit bc there's a Lot #i'll try to get out some chapters of wind writing in the interim since those don't take too too long to write

[slippinmickeys]

Twenty questions for fanfic writers

I was tagged by @agent-troi and @randomfoggytiger Thanks for the tag, guys!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

53

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

712,000 exactly, which is sort of creepy?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The X-Files mainly, though a million years ago I wrote two fics for JAG, and technically, I have a His Dark Materials fic (but it's an XF crossover)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Mesas of Deuteronilus Mensae

Prompt Drabble Collection

The Annapolis Grant

Three Part Harmony

A Companion Unobtrusive

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! Comments are the only payment fanfic writers get, and it's an incredibly valuable and underrated currency. Fanfiction as a community is one of the most generous you'll find, and I'm incredibly proud to be a part of this particular one.

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

Oh man, probably La Comtesse de Saint-Germain.

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

In this day and age I feel like we deal with enough shit, so I try to end most of my fics happily. I think A Gem-Like Flame probably has the most uplifting happy ending, but then, I'm a sports nerd.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't yet.

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

Um, probably pretty vanilla het MSR. No shame.

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

I've only written one, but it turned out really well, I thought. It's an X-Files/His Dark Materials novella-length crossover that takes place in Lyra's world, pre-Lyra, called Out of the Little Grove.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Anyone who steals my fic is going to catch these hands.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, a couple of years ago someone asked if they could translate one of my fics to Russian. It's out there somewhere.

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

I jumped in and helped @monikafilefan get Five Years and a Lifetime over the line for a fic exchange a couple of years ago. A fun, collaborative experience, that was like 85% Monika. It's a great fic, check it out if you haven't!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Mulder & Scully are my OTP. Always and forever.

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

I'd love to finish Madam Scully's Spiritual Services, Inc., it's an AU where Scully works for her sister's Psychic Boutique while prepping for med school. Scully ends up being actually psychic and she helps newly minted FBI agent Fox Mulder solve a series of murders. I have it almost completely plotted (except for the nitty-gritty hard stuff), but I don't think I'll ever get it done, sadly. It's just too big a story to tackle with where I am in my life. Though I never say never.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm decent at dialogue, have a pretty firm grasp on plotting, and, I hope characterization.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

My character work is probably my weak spot, which is why I have so much fun writing fanfic--the character work is already done, I just get to play around a world where everybody already knows the characters.

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

When I do it, I hope like hell that I'm doing it right. I think it's necessary for some stories and you just hope you're properly respecting a language you don't speak.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The X-Files, in the year of our lord nineteen hundred and ninety eight.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

It's a toss up between Proof of Life, an AU where CNN conflict reporter Dana Scully is kidnapped and imprisoned with fellow kidnap victim and photojournalist Fox Mulder, and they, you know, fall in love. And North of Zero, a post-col novel where Mulder and Scully get William back and have to save the world. The one I totally pantsed (made up as I went along), and it came together like alchemy. I love that story. If you don't like AU, you'd like Proof of Life. If you don't like post-colonization stories, you'd like North of Zero. I don't always like everything I've written after I'm done writing it (a writer's life), but I'm incredibly proud of both of those fics.

Tagging @monikafilefan because she's already tagged, and anyone else who wants to do this!

#fanfic asks #the x-files #the x-files fanfic #slippin mickeys

[bonefall]

did you have anything planned for snowtuft? or any of the other mentioned dark forest cats w/o a backstory that were kinda placed there (ie rushtooth, houndleap etc)

Until they get backstories of their own in main content and novellas and such, I am planning on peppering them into various points in time with different degrees of severity for their crimes.

Snowtuft I'm planning something pretty dark for; he killed kittens during the Crusade era. While on a raid in Chelford, he slaughtered a family and the only surviving kitten was stolen and brought back to ShadowClan.

He hadn't technically broken the code, as the Crusades were based on the very idea that outsiders don't get equal protection, but it was so horrible and so unforgivable that Snowtuft lived the rest of his life as a pariah. His Clanmates didn't want to look at him.

His cruelty made them really sit with what the Crusades meant, and what they were even trying to accomplish.

Snow lived and died in intense shame, and didn't even stick around for his trial. He marched himself through the Meadow of Young Stars and into the Place of No Stars. He's actually a generally petty, kind of meek gossip girl kind of dude.

Silly man with a past so intense it causes an awkward silence whenever it comes up

For Houndleap, I'm thinking he was early Skyfall Era. Not even part of SkyClan or its decline, he was just super involved in a halfclan romance. Several of them. Actually he was Appledusk x 3. He had six mates.

He got caught of course but honestly that was impressive. 16 kittens btw.

Rushtooth embarassed a leader after Ripplestar's Rot and generally disrespected a ton of the lesser commandments, enough to add up. He's just kind of a jerk and StarClan felt he wasn't worthy of Silverpelt.

Batear murdered the cat who killed his best friend. Hunted the guy down and shredded him in cold blood. That friend was Fenneldust, who wasn't going to just let Batsy go to hell without her.

Shredtail lost a mate and kits to a hog, and in his quest for revenge, used a clanmate as live bait. If he hadn't gone Captain Ahab on the boar that took his family, he would have been fondly remembered a pioneering a ton of hog-hunting techniques ThunderClan still uses.

#I want the DF to have a decent mix of cats #Some of them really don't deserve to be there where others really needed like... Holy Community Service #Better bones au #Named DF warriors are invaluable I wish there were still random authorial statements just naming random background warriors #Im getting so much mileage out of Bat and Fennel

[myrskytuuli]

Having a very interesting throwback to my teenage years.

Yle areena some weeks ago published a shockumentary (Hästhelvetet i Ypäjä: finnish and swedish subs available, I think) about the trade school I went for three years between 2010-2013. I was 16 when I went in, 19 when I graduated.

It is strangely cathratic to actualy see the discourse some of us tried to start back then 10 years ago finally get a wider audience. It is also weird to see a shockumentary about somethign that you yourself were intimately part of.

The quick recap is that Ypäjä is functionally a boarding school for teenagers who want to work with horses as a career. The documentary claims that out of all secondary schools in Finland, it has the highest rates of bullying, abuse and mental health problems. Apparently, only 20% of ypäjä students feel that the faculty treats all students equally (and this isn't only about being a minority, though it doesn't help, there is a long and convoluted lore about the ypäjä internal hierarchy that I won't drop on you here) while the average in other Finnish secondary schools is 60%. Meanwhile the amount of students who claim to have experienced bullying is 3 times as high as in any other Finnish secondary school.

The weird part of it is that yes. I know all of that being true, I remember. I remember the jokes about how our school was a funnel for the closed ward in the mental hospital next city, and the several stories about different and dramatic suicide attempts (expect that one that might have been murder, if you know you know) and how I once had to testify to the police in a bullying case that got out of hand to the point of one person trying to frame the other for a crime, and of course the few instances of physical fistfights, and the rumours about getting ahead on studies by sleeping with a teacher, and the matter of the fact knowledge that you could get ahead on studies by getting into the right inner circles and well- there was a lot of lore. I'm not even counting the arson, because that was just genuinely funny.

But even when I do remember what a high stress enviroment it was, there is still a deeply ingrained part of me that internalised the most important rule of Ypäjä, which was that only weaklings quit. If you cannot survive the three years, it's because you were weak and worthless. And even watching these former students who did quit half-way through, and find themselves more sane schools to go in, my frist knee-jerk reaction is a sneer. Even when I know and have fully accpeted that my early 20s were really bad because I was untangling the Ypäjä-trauma and that my life would have probbaly been better if I had gone to a different school.

hmmm, I started writing this post thinking I was going to give a short perspective, but now I realise that to even give the very surface level lore of that place would require a novella lenght introduction, and then I was going to talk about my fascination with fantasy boarding school stories as someone who has went to the closest aproximation in real life, and just ramble in general about how weird it is to still feel so fond and have such memories of beauty and whimsy about a place that I would never reccomend to anyone to go.

But. This is getting too long. And the lore drop would truly be too long.

(My favourite part of the documentary is the headmistress confidentally stating that Ypäjä doesn't have a bullying problem, some students just feel like they are being bullied. I would laugh, but I remember that that was the advice I was also given back in the day. To stop being such a pussy who feels so many negative feelings.)

#personal nonsense

[soulisticreads]

Currently Reading:

1. Angels’ Blood 2. Archangel’s Kiss 3. Archangel’s Consort 4. Archangel’s Blade 5. Archangel���s Storm

6. Archangel’s Legion 7. Archangel’s Shadows 8. Archangel’s Enigma 9. Archangel’s Heart 10. Archangel’s Viper 11. Archangel’s Prophecy 12. Archangel’s War 13. Archangel’s Sun 14. Archangel’s Light 15. Archangel’s Resurrection 16. Archangel’s Lineage

All the novellas were written to to stand alone, so you can pick them up at any stage. However, if you’d like to read the series in strict chronological order, check out the list on this page.

Collected Novellas All four Guild Hunter novellas to date now available in a single volume, Angels’ Flight.

Individual Novellas

1. Angels’ Pawn (this is available as an e-book on its own, and as part of Angels’ Flight) 2. “Angels’ Judgment” in Angels’ Flight (this was originally part of the Must Love Hellhounds anthology) 3. “Angel’s Wolf” in Angels’ Flight (this was originally part of the Angels of Darkness anthology) 4. “Angels’ Dance” in Angels’ Flight

#The Guild Hunter Series #Nalini Singh #BookTalk #Booktube #Book Tube #Fantasy Romance Books #goodreads #Romance #Paranormal #Fantasy #Urban Fantasy #Paranormal Romance #Angels #Vampires

[rootingfordorks]

thanks for the tag, @beckstraordinary and @probablynottola !!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Seven

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

42,769 (novella range, maybe? also, most of that is The Year of the Crush)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, just Ted Lasso!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Year of the Crush

On an Island in the Sun

Never Look Back and Say / Could Have Been Me

Not a Friend Zone (shout-out to my Rebecca/Keeley shippers!)

Hearth & Home

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to. The last handful of months have been stressful and I haven't been responding much. Or posting much. :(

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

I haven't published any fics with an angsty ending. Angst in the middle, with a happy ending, is my preferred formula for comfort reads/writes. And fanfic is about comfort for me right now.

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

I haven't finished the Year of the Crush yet, but its ending is going to be very happy. Though they're all happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope! The TL fandom is the best.

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

Yes. So far I've posted one m/m smut fic, but I will add f/f to that repertoire in the next six months. (And post more m/m that I've written. And there's a possibility of a threesome.)

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

Nope.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not so's I know about it. (BTW, this is me giving blanket permission to translate my fics on here or AO3 as long as you credit me by linking to AO3. I'd love to see it if you do!)

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

Nope!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I'm bi and have ADHD, so I don't like to make decisions and have a poor memory. I'm into Ted/Trent in a way I haven't been into a pairing in years. My favorite canon ship of all time is Eleanor/Chidi from The Good Place. (And I was into Drarry for such a long time it would win if this was by minutes or words read, but I don't fuck with jkr anymore even in fandom.)

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

I plotted out a Ted Lasso mystery AU, and wrote about a scene of it, and probably won't do anything else with it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty good at writing dialogue. I know I can capture growing fondness through a character's narration (or close 3rd person).

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I don't describe places or people's appearances enough. And I'm not sure how much to bring those elements in throughout a piece of writing. (My imagination is only semi-visual, and I think conversationally in words; this is a big part of 16 and 17.)

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

Haven't done it. Well, I have a faint memory of there being a notebook somewhere with a character speaking Italian... Mostly, I think it has to make sense for that character to know and be speaking the language. I'd do it in the right context.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Wrote for - Harry Potter (see above; this writing will never see the Internet)

Published/shared - Ted Lasso

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Not a Friend Zone - Keeley musters up her courage, gets serious, and tells Rebecca she fancies her.

tagging: @trentcrimminallybeautiful ... @calicomarie11 ... @tinylilemrys ... and anyone else who wants to! (I've been at a conference and have no idea who's done this already.)

#tag game #questions

[lizziestudieshistory]

Ten Most Read Authors

I was tagged by the lovely @dauen! Thank you!

What are your ten most most read authors? And how many books have you read by them? Also tag someone who you would like to do this!

Instructions: scroll to the bottom of your goodreads shelves and most read authors is listed underneath.

Note: my Goodreads is woefully neglected and hasn't accurately represented what I've read for years. As such, I've had to look back through YEARS of journals and my bookshelves, so this might be a bit incorrect due to human error.

Terry Pratchett (36)

Pratchett is the author I expected, I've ALMOST finished Discworld (I'm saving the rest for miserable days) and Pratchett almost warrants his own bookcase never mind shelf!

William Shakespeare (26)

Much like Pratchett I'm not surprised. This includes a lot of the plays, plus the sonnets, The Phoenix and the Turtle, Rape of Lucrece, and A Lover's Complaint. I need to restart my monthly reading of Shakespeare but I fell off because the next one on my list was Merry Wives of Windsor and I LOATHE Falstaff with every fiber of my being...

Brandon Sanderson (19 or 21 depending if you count Wheel of Time)

I'm half in disbelief and half not surprised in the slightest. The worst part of this is that I don't really like Sanderson outside of Stormlight! I NEED to sort out my priorities!

Gail Carriger (18)

I'm surprised I've read so many but Carriger is a FANTASTIC comfort read/fluffy fun author.

Robin Hobb (16)

Another given as I've read the entire Realm of the Elderling, including the novella, except Assassin's Fate because I hated Fitz and the Fool. Still bitter about the last trilogy.

Robert Jordan (14 or 11, depends if you count the Jordan & Sanderson)

I have no explanation for how I finished Wheel of Time but I did and that almost guaranteed Jordan a place on this list.

J.R.R. Tolkien/Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien (14)

If we counted rereads I think Tolkien would win by a mile 😅 however, this counts the 5 main works, the 3 great tales, unfinished tales, and a handful of his other works.

Euripides (11 plays and a lot of fragments)

I'm in shock however I did read A LOT of Euripides for an ancient Greek module in my 3rd year at undergrad.

Rick Riordan (11)

Percy Jackson as a teenager 🤷‍♀️

George R.R. Martin (7 or 9)

This slot could've been filled by SO MANY authors, particularly classic authors, I've read 7 books by... Austen, Dickens, Trollope, Wilde, etc. However, I chose Martin because of how many times I've reread his books and we can technically split A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms into 3 novellas to say I've read 9 books instead of 7.

This was very interesting! And surprising how this list compares to my top 10 authors. There's not THAT much cross over! Some of that is because those authors just haven't written as much but for others it's just my own reading habits.

I'm tagging @oneardentstudybuddy, @dooareyastudy, and anyone else who feels like doing this.

#tag game #tagged #most read authors #books #reading #bookblr

[sophia-sol]

Recs round-up for the month of March, 2024! This month below the cut we have:

1 Nirvana in Fire fanwork

2 TGCF fanworks

3 CQL/MDZS fanworks

5 SVSSS fanworks

1 academic article on the gendering of trans voices

2 short stories

1 novella

1 Nirvana in Fire fanwork:

Go Forward Slowly, by burnt_oranges

a post-canon jingyan/mei changsu nif fic in which jingyan discovers that mcs survived after all…and never let jingyan know.

jingyan is uh. not handling it well, the loneliness and responsibility of being emperor. and this only makes it worse!

anyway it's a venue for lots of real good angst, and I definitely cried at one point!

I also really appreciate the use it makes of various secondary characters who are also important figures in jingyan's life

many feels. I love these characters. there IS a happy ending.

31k words in length

2 TGCF fanworks:

Never Look Away, by dkwilliams

hualian fanvid of the TGCF donghua set to Vienna Teng's "Never Look Away"

ahhhhh it's just very feelings!!!!

audio is song-only

youtube video includes lyric captions

3:16 in length

Ten Feet Behind, by thetrickisnotminding

tgcf quanyin canon divergence au where quan yizhen finds the coffin containing the guoshi fangxin

a fun look at a different way for xie lian and hua cheng to meet again, and for quan yizhen and yin yu to meet again!

9k words in length

3 CQL/MDZS fanworks:

in the tall weeds, by cordial

sangyao fic set during the qinghe era of jgy’s life

a look at trans man meng yao and his experience of his gender, and nie huaisang experimenting with transfemininity

a beautiful look at the complexities of identity, the precarity of position, and the connection between jgy and nhs

1k words in length

A Good Fit, by nirejseki

canon divergence fic where young Meng Yao goes to the Lan Sect to learn cultivation as a guest, instead of trying to be accepted into Jin

I had a lot of fun with the route this fix-it took!

and I enjoyed that it included friendship between Meng Yao and Su She <3

5k words in length

Practical Mythology, by metisket

a fun cute look at a cql wangxian time travel fixit au, where wwx is the alarming immortal who fixed the burial mounds and will grant wishes to deserving people, and lwj meets him for the first time at 8 years old and decides he'll marry him

I enjoyed the look at how this au has changed things for all sorts of different people across the cultivation world, and the ways in which wwx both is indeed extremely powerful and also is someone who still has his blind spots and emotional vulnerabilities

lots of different povs throughout the fic which is fun too!

17k words in length

5 SVSSS fanworks:

Oversharing is Caring, by Prudabaga

bingqiu fic where during the trial in jinlan city, sqq is given a truth serum that comes with a side of lowered inhibitions

nobody is prepared for the kinds of truths sqq wants to share (thoughtful and detailed list of who's hottest)

or, tbh, for the truths that come out by the wayside

funny and cute

4k words in length

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This, Prudabaga

another bingqiu fic about the jinlan city encounter going differently, this time because lbh has visited sqq's dreams

and sqq has a Totally Very Straight Of Himself tendency to have sexy dreams about lbh

hard for lbh to believe that sqq wants nothing to do with him after that! (he's still very confused tho)

love this for them

26k words in length

right from the start, I gave you my heart, by nex_et_nox

sqq is hit by an obedience curse! uh oh, it's time for the mission to jinlan city!

fun sqq & sqh interaction, and sqq's first meeting with lbh post-abyss going very differently than in svsss

sqq absolutely out here making his own life harder on a regular basis

lots of fun with this trope!

11k words in length

cleanse your life of me, by ambrorussa

svsss au where sy transmigrates into yqy instead of sqq

the fic is in two parts: first, from sy!yqy's pov as he tries to change events within the parameters the system allows him, and then the second from og!sqq's pov follows where the first part left off, with sqq trying to deal with the fact that yqy is so different now from the one he remembers.

the two parts are different in tone and both excellent, both really fitting the kind of character and person the pov character is, and what it is they want the most. I loved it!

endgame ships: liushen & qijiu

11k words in length

Scenario: Fix-It Fic, by lettered

bingqiu fic where due to System shenanigans sqq travels back in time to when he first encountered lbh in jinlan city post-abyss

sqq does his best to make things go differently this time, within the parameters of the genre "h/c fic" which the system tells him he is now in

I'm just! so delighted by so much about this fic!

and I love how the fic plays metatextually with its own fourth wall in ways I haven't really seen much in svsss fic before!

fic is a WIP; as of my initial rec on mastodon there are 14k words; satisfying to read as is

1 academic article:

"Transgender voices: Insights on identity, embodiment, and the gender of the voice" (2018, Language and Linguistics Compass)

this free-to-read academic article is an overview of the features of a voice that lead people to read that voice as a particular gender

it pushes back against the traditional view of male vs female voices, of pitch being the main deciding factor in gendering voices, and of a voice's gender being immutable

it's a pretty accessible read, IMO!

16 pages in length; 12 pages if you discount the list of references

2 short stories:

The Three Thousand, Four Hundred Twenty-Third Law of Robotics, by Adam-Troy Castro

really more of a prose poem than a standard short story

about the experience of being a robot given unfair orders under unbreakable laws

a satisfying read and I loved the structure

2k words in length

Afflictions of the New Age, by Katherine Ewell

A sci-fi short story about an elderly woman hundreds of years old, making use of every life extending treatment she can, but her grasp on time and on memory is no longer good

Focuses on her relationship with her family, with her home aide, with her fear of death, with her experience of the confusion of past and present

Evocative melancholy wistful tone, really effective!

At the end of the story I'm left with many questions, but in a good way

4k words in length

1 novella:

On the English Approach to the Study of History, by E. Saxey

huh, in the end I'm not entirely convinced I LIKE this novella but it's odd and compelling and interesting for sure

about the academic study of history in a context where a very specific subset of people have access to a very specific subset of historical figures to ask them directly about what they remember

asking questions about who's an insider vs an outsider in academic study, about the values of different approaches to history

ultimately I think it turned too much into a story about the fantastical elements in the narrative and didn't engage as deeply with the themes as I thought it would at the beginning

but it's still a very interesting and well done story and I'm glad I read it!

22k words in length

#sophpost #recs #rec #fic rec #monthly recs

[literary-illuminati]

Books I Read In June

24. The Chosen and the Beautiful, by Nghi Vo

Really, I should have read this one last year when it was getting all the buzz – it actually really mostly lived up to it!

But then, I’m the weirdo who actually enjoyed The Great Gatsby in the first place. If you didn’t at least kind of enjoy all the references and narrative fuckery with the source text. It’s, well, it’s not quite fanfic imo (at least, no more than Ten Things I Hate About You is. Which I mean if you want to argue the point you’d probably win, but), and if you come into it blind you’re going to miss like a third of what’s going on.

The whole urban fantasy aesthetic doesn’t really add much beyond, like, aesthetics and vibes and making the incredibly obvious metaphor wholly and completely literal re: Gatsby’s selling his soul. But, like, the book has so much fun with all the magical ‘20s decadence and literally occulted speakeasies and gay bars and similar.

25. Capital Without Borders, by Brooke Harrington

On a fundamental level the basic conceit of ‘anthropologist spends years learning the customs and folkways of a privacy obsessed community who feel reviled by the wider world – the private wealth managers of the ultrawealthy’ is just, like, incredibly funny to me.

But despite being incredibly dry and very, like, academic, this was actually shockingly readable. Actually pretty interesting, too.

I mean, in a ‘filled with despair and loathing’ sort of way, but still. Interesting sort of dialectic where the officials who actually serve the various world powers’ state apparatuses absolutely loathe the whole deal with tax havens and matryoshka dolls of trusts and charitable foundations and everything else, but despite ostensibly having basically unlimited coercive force at their fingertips they’re more or less helpless to do anything about it. Always fascinating to get a look at the people who the world works on behalf of.

And I admit I sort of have an aesthetic fascination with the sort of elite professional who ends up being a de facto social worker and relationship councilor for the much MORE elite family they work for.

26. Plague Birds, by Jason Sanford

I…thought this was a Hugo nominee? But apparently not? So, okay, zero idea how I ended up reading it.

Possibly my new top contender for ‘non-visual media which are still, spiritually, anime”. You know, post-post-apocalyptic setting of scattered villages watched over by benign village Ais and clans of dangerous hunters in the wilderness and wandering superpowered paladins who wear red leather and have bright red hair who are bonded to a super-powerful AI in their blood, and also the only character who isn’t at least kind of a furry is the apparently 16-year-old girl whose actually a myriad old alien spy.

Anyway! Decent romp, but honestly kind of fell apart in the third act, imo. Spent too long luxuriating in the (honestly very fun) worldbuilding, so all the actual plot and revelations had to be crammed together without having nay space to breath or feel natural.

Also the protagonist turns out to be, like, the most special child to ever exist Chosen-One-but-sci-fi, which I just generally despise.

Kinda a bit less than the sum of its parts, imo.

27. Across the Green Grass Fields, by Seanan Mcguire

Hugo novella nominee number 3!

This was fun! Not really much more than fun, but still – pleasantly tropey read, in a self-consciously fairytale-like sort of way.

I’m informed that it’s part of some wider setting/universe, but honestly you really couldn’t tell reading it.

Kind of amused at the apparent coincidence that this came out at (IIRC) basically the same time as a children’s tv show called Centaurworld, which I know absolutely nothing about except a friend stole the surprisingly terrifying villain to use in D&D.

Anyway, like, 3/5? The last thing I read by the author was Middlegame, and this is just honestly a pretty big let down by comparison. Doesn’t help that the general vibe kept me mentally comparing it with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making, either (not a flattering comparison for it).

28. A Master of Djinn, by P. Djèlí Clark

Hugo novel nominee number 4!

As a fan of pulpy weird alternate 20th centuries, this really was catnip to me. Buddy cop antics in a Djinn-haunted steampunk Cairo at the turn of the 20th century! A heroine who insists on wearing perfectly tailored English suits at all times despite living in early 20th century Cairo! A climax involving a giant robot and an evil wizard trying to restore the British Empire!

The vibes were sublime.

Beyond the amazing aesthetics there isn’t much to write home about, honestly – the setting is largely set dressing over a fairly conventional plot. Fun set dressing! The bit where the Brits and Americans are basically losing at imperialism because they went hard on the whole witch hunting things while everyone else went digging for local spirits to try allying with doesn’t necessarily make much sense, but is very funny to me.

29. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

And Hugo Novel Nominee Number 5!

So I think I mentioned but – I did not know this was by the The Martian guy until I started reading it, but oh my fuck can you tell.

The tone is very..specific. I found it pretty grating, honestly, but not nearly enough to outweigh all the things the book has going for it.

So, it’s hard sci fi. Like, ‘extended asides to explain the scientific processes and technological breakthroughs as they happen for the education of the reader, most of the acknowledgements section is thanking different scientists for their help making it accurate’ hard sci fi. Honestly it’s to the books credit that the writing is just kind of twee and self satisfied, and not soul-witheringly dry.

The decision to have the protagonist wake up with amnesia and then slowly fill out the backstory as he makes do on the spaceship orbiting Tau Ceti he woke up from a medically induced coma in next to two dead crew mates was frankly an incredibly good decision, because the earth chapters are a) clearly just an excuse/justification to get him to Tau Ceti and b) just incredibly boring.

But, like, I really cannot overemphasize how much I just adore first contact scenarios where both parties are awkwardly trying to understand each other and work out some sort of mutually intelligible way to get information across and solve some desperate problem together. The aliens were so lovingly amazingly weird, too – both the astrophage and whatever Rocky’s species are called.

I literally read it travelling halfway across the continent, so can confirm that it’s a great airport read.

If Hollywood isn’t a bunch of cowards they’ll spend $100 million to make this one a movie too.

30. The Past Is Red, by Catherynne Valente

Hugo novella nominee number 4! Getting close!

Valente’s pretty easily one of my favorite writers currently working, and this did absolutely nothing to change my mind about that. I mean, a bit heavy handed – the setting is quite literally the city-sized island of trash floating above the waves after the seas have risen and drowned the entire world – but still, it’s the sort of ever so slightly surreal magical realism I’m really very fond of.

The prose was just relentlessly sharp and occasionally mean spirited and really consistently great, imo. For whatever reason ‘hope that’s just greed, going by it’s maiden name’ has gotten thoroughly stuck in my head.

Tetley as a protagonist is just generally amazing and wonderfully tragic and interestingly broken, really.

Anyway, haven’t read Elder Race of A Spindle Splintered yet but really solidly my favorite of the hugo novellas I’ve read so far.  

#book review #monthly tally #The Past is Red #catherynne m. valente #project hail mary #andy weir #a master of djinn #p. djèlí clark #across the green grass fields #seanan mcguire #Plague Birds #Jason Sanford #Capital Without Borders #Brooke Harrington #the chosen and the beautiful #nghi vo #analysis/review

[fefairys]

11, 17, and 49 for the ask game!! :3

you didn't specify so im doing EVERYONE under the cut bc this is a lot. i got way too into the logistics of the first question sorry. this answer got so so fucking long holy shit. this is what happens when u let me talk about these guys

11. If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference?

now this is an interesting question cause not to give away the secrets but at least 4 of these bitches have powers that u cant just replicate and it would immediately be obvious to anyone who's close with them... i wonder if in the question, impersonation accounts for stuff like that? we also don't know what these impersonators know about the characters in question.. maybe you could ask fake!Psy something as simple as "do you like cats?" and they'd fuck up right there!

we have to assume that they know enough to impersonate them on a superficial level, mimicking their speech and mannerisms, and have at least a basic knowledge of their hobbies and interests and day-to-day life and likes and dislikes if they actually want to fool anyone, right? so lets assume that much, i suppose.

im kind of stuck on the powers thing. dunno how someone would just mimic that kind of thing, but i also dont want to just say out loud the parts of these characters that are supposed to be more like subtext? but if they're such a close copy that they even have their powers, then they must know everything about them, too, so that's TOO close of a copy for the purposes of this question.

alright im just gonna ignore all that and give you the answers i think are funniest.

if someone was impersonating psy, they'd simply use their powers to knock them out or something. lets also assume psy cant help for the rest of these because otherwise its just like "psy reads their mind and knows immediately"

for melody im imagining some shit like that scene from adventure time where finn asks pb to prove that she's real to recite what she wrote on his birthday card two(?) years ago, word for word, and shes like "finn how could i possibly remember that?" and he's like "🥺i remember......" that would be jett trying to figure out who's the real melody lmao ok but how would they actually discern this... lol ask about the lore of her Galaxy's Oath Online character :') there u go <3 (if u dont know what galaxys oath online is bc u havent read every single ask on the blog dont worry about it u will know next chapter)

for jett just give him super specific death note trivia. it can practically recite the entire series from memory and has read the manga and novellas like at least 5 times each if not more. u could literally be like "whats the first word Light says in episode 16 of death note?" and he wouldn't even have to think about it for that long he'd just know.

tate... well as of now i dont think any of his friends know him well enough for this to be honest with you (sad), but like, his sister could probably do it. ask him the name of the first boy he had a crush on because he was ANNOOOOOYYYING about that.

for guy, ask him what his plans are for the day. i think that would work. he has everything planned out down to like the fucking second so he can be fuckin everywhere at once.

probably shouldn't answer these for conner and rotom right now </3

17. What do they notice first in the mirror versus what most people first notice looking at them?

ok well first of all what do *i* notice when i look in the mirror hold on. ok i just checked. answer is my eyebrows. would not have known that just in general lmao so this is a tricky question bc i would never think about something like this

psy - they hate looking in the mirror and avoid it as much as possible. i cant imagine them focusing on any one feature, honestly. its like a blur to them. they dont want to see it at all. what do most people notice? hm. idk im thinking about the two times they've appeared in my dreams as a real person and what i first Noticed and it was their glasses im pretty sure. Defining Characteristic...

melody - definitely her smile she loves her lips and her smile she will smile at herself in the mirror all day. i think other people also notice her smile first if they're further away, but close up they probably notice her pink color contacts haha those are pretty striking

jett - when it looks in the mirror it immediately is checking the Hair to see if it needs touching up. very important. other people also definitely notice his hair first and foremost because i mean look at it.

tate - first, his eyes + mole (its a package deal) but he's p vain and can just stare at himself in the mirror forever, just his whole face, checkin himself out cuz hes soooo hot. other people notice the mole under his eye, its pretty striking. i was gonna say hair cuz its fucking ourple but like jett already got hair lets do something different. (dante wrote this one lol)

guy - he notices his eyes + eyebrows first. he got those big bushy eyebrows that stand out, and beautiful dark brown eyes..... other people usually notice his Arms first. (dante wrote this one as well 😎)

conner - his freckles he loves his freckles :) other people first notice how short he is because he's 5 feet tall hehe

rotom - lips or nose... other people probably notice faer fucking full facepaint xe always wears lol. more specifically the lips bc it wears black lipstick so that catches the eye

49. Would they eat something they find gross to be polite? psy - hell fucking no melody - she would at LEAST take a bite and if she hates it she'd politely be like "its just not for me ^.^;;" jett - no lol it'd be like "im autistic i cant eat this sorry" tate - depends on the person he'd be disappointing if he didn't like it... like in some cases he'd be like "that looks yuckydisgusting im not eating that" and in other cases he'd be like "mmm!! s-sooo good!*gags*" guy - same as melody. he'd probably give it more than one bite though just to make sure, like, maybe it'll be better on the second bite? maybe if i keep eating it it'll get good? he might eat like a quarter of it before giving up conner - absolutely. always. rotom - fuck no lol

#asks #usernameproxy #psy comic #answer meme #psy asks

[abronzeagegod]

I loved the entire novella! Especially the magic that you have built in this world? It’s keyboard smashing for me.

Is Lyta’s magic virtue based like Malthana from your other story? Also I gathered Aeth’s magic is more mathematical and precise in that sort of sense, but what exactly is it? Also, how does Lyta work in tech support considering her magic is more emotional based? Or does she rely on her other talents (i.e. coding, languages) to get the job done?

thank you so much! <3 <3 <3 i'm glad you enjoyed it!

yes both lyta and melthana have the same magic (it is is the same world after all!). the magic comes in two parts: something you feel and something you do. melthana has secrets and fear, which is a lot and i do plan on getting into her whole thing. lyta is vengeance and anger, which she really really doesn't like, but when you go through the whole ritual of building your font and getting your magic you don't have a whole lot of choices or input into what you get (unless you do something real bad). lyta doesn't like her magic because it makes her feel better and stronger by pissing people off and she doesn't want to be that person. she works hard to be a friendly and open person which is skills that really help her out in the field. she's more of the people person of the two of them, so she's a good person to send out into the field to talk to people or have as tech support on the phone for helping out the people in the field. she definitely could do something more in line with her magic but she tries to use it as little as possible. honestly though, lyta's best role is being the person on the phone when other techs call in for support, that's her biggest strength. not that she's bad at the technical aspects, she's just not on the A Team like aeth. there's plenty of other jobs that lyta could have that would be better suited for her talents and magic, like the Executioners as you see in chapter 16, but that's not who she wants to be.

aeth's magic is very precise and almost mathematical yes because their power is symbols and magic and... well... code. it's telling little bits of the universe to act along these very specific instructions to make things happen. it's very precise and you have to be very careful, and also be pretty good at the coding aspect of the job which is why aeth is very good at it, and why lyta is not. i've got to name this magic type and maybe flesh it out a little bit more. but that's why i do second drafts!

#eldritch tech support #bronze gets an ask #i hope i answered everything #the caffeine hasn't started working yet #thanks for reading and enjoying!!! #and thanks for all the reblogs too

[meltingchaos]

Find the word tag

I was tagged by @oliverferrie (go read his stuff !!) Gonna be using 'Alex's adventures in Wanderwen' for this one; a lil novella that's part of Puppet Club (a 1920s steampunk fantasy series I have in the works).

My words are: panic, defence, trust, and comforting

Only 5 uses of panic (surprisingly!):

They continued the rest of the journey in silence. Silence that was comfortable for Alex, but certainly not comfortable for Vincent. He still continued his nervous checks towards where Alex was sitting and would even sometimes occasionally whistle. Nonsense tunes. Little noticeable jingles from adverts and brands. Whatever was stuck in his head at the moment. It seemed like his internal playlist was on shuffle as he kept getting a new one on loop in there every few minutes. Alex didn't speak, but they enjoyed his panicked attempts to fill the void. They pursed their lips at times, compelled to join in with tunes they recognised; then they remembered they couldn't whistle, and quickly bit down on their lip to stop themself before they did something embarrassing.

Only 1 defence:

They repeated it over and over, under their tongue, slurred violent speech. The force as they limply shook Tommy made the loose bits and bobs in their pockets jangle, and the gun tucked into their suspenders glint. Tommy noticed it. He inhaled sharply. Wrapped in a sweet green ribbon, their revolver. A gift for self defence. The very gift that got them expelled. Hugo noticed it too and frantically pulled Alex off of Tommy; firm hands squeezing so tightly Alex felt like their bones could pop. Tommy slid down the wall.

3 instances of trust:

There was a sickly sense of pleading in his tone; he dropped his arms slightly, extending hands into a slight-shrug, an earnest pose of desperation. Underlining his words, his stance breathed ‘you know me, you trusted me, you still can trust me’.

I used comforting 4 times and comfort 16 times pahaha. That's more like it. Poor Alex. Funnily enough, two of the comforts are used in the excerpt I picked for 'panic' lol.

Alex awoke with a jolt. They’d fallen off the settee in Vincent’s office. They stayed wrapped in the blankets he'd given them and, although the remnants of the dream still choked them, that comfort grounded them.

Anyone who wants to read this its up for free on my toyhouse page ! <3 But be sure to read the warnings as it gets quite heavy.

Tagging @ekhoartworks ; if you wish to join in your words are fight, love, growl and overwhelm !

#i have exams rn so this was a nice to do during my break lol #i write too! Not just art here #find the word game #writerblr #amateur writer #oc tag game #high fantasy #ocs #tag game #tagging game #writers of tumblr #original fiction #original characters #non binary main character

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph! Thanks so much for your work, I really appreciate your contributions to fandom! I was wondering if you have a list of good non-AU long fics? I don't read AUs, but I love reading long (like >50k word) fics! It's okay if it diverges from canon, but I like fics that are set in the normal BBC Sherlock universe :) thanks again!

HEY NONNY! :D

Thank you kindly for your lovely words! I'm glad that you are enjoying your time here!!

I have LOTS of long AU and non-AU fics! Check out these lists here, and your post is starting another one :D. I mark all my AUs at the beginning of the info tags between the double pipes after the Chapter counts if there is one, so just check each listing for the AU listed... any without an AU are "canon" universe :)

Enjoy!!

NOVEL LENGTH FICS: 50 to 100K Pt 3.

See also:

Novella Length Fics: 20 to 25K (Oct 2020)

Novella Length Fics: 25 to 50K (Aug. 2019)

Novel Length Fics: 50 to 100K (Nov. 2018)

Novel Length Fics: 50 to 100K Pt 2 (May 2020)

Novel Length Fics: 100K+ w. (May 2019)

Novel Length Fics: 100K+ w. Pt 2 (Aug 2020)

Novel Length Fics: 100K+ w. Pt 3 [MFL’s] (Dec 2020)

Smut-Free Fics Over 50K (Aug 2019)

A Study Of Living With Sherlock Holmes by  AllesandraQuartermaine (T, 50,234 w., 22 Ch. || Post-ASiP/Pre-TAB, Domestics, Friendship, POV John) – Learn about what happened between John and Sherlock January 31st and March 22. From John's pov on how to survive and learn to live with one eccentric mad genius known as Sherlock Holmes. 

The Hollow Woman by ScopesMonkey (M, 51,335 w., 22 Ch. || Post-TRF, Major Character Death, Mystery, Romance, Friendship, Family, Angst, Crime, Reunion, First Kiss / Time, Nightmares, Doctor John, Jealous Sherlock, Jealous John, BAMF John, Angry John, Dub-Con, Rough Sex, Bottomlock, Possessive John, Villain Mary, Open Ending) – Forced to return to London sooner than expected, Sherlock falls into a case too close to home. Part 1 of the Hollowverse series

A Goose Quill Dipped in Venom by Polyphony (M, 52,748 w., 16 Ch. || Celebrity John AU || Alternate First Meeting, TV Host John, Supermodel Mary, Character Death, Mystery, Romance, Case Fic, First Kiss/Time, Meddling Mycroft, Drug Abuse, Doctor John, PDA, Deductions, POV Sherlock, Toplock, Sexual Tension, Angry/Rough Sex, Hopeful Ending, Asperger’s Sherlock) – Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective, is called in to a very ordinary although brutal murder. Something is badly out of tune with the whole scenario and Sherlock finds himself becoming more and more obsessed with the crime - and also with the victim.

Isosceles by SilentAuror (E, 56,609 w., 7 Ch. || Post-S4, POV John, Original Male Character / Sherlock Dates Another Man, Love Triangle, Jealous John, Virgin Sherlock, Sexual Coaching, Angst, Romance, Domesticity, Unrequited Feelings, Miscommunication, First Kiss/Time, For a Case, Friends With Benefits, Bottomlock, Love Confessions, Spooning) – After solving a case for a major celebrity, Sherlock gets himself asked out. When John asks, he discovers that Sherlock has no intention of going, at least not until John agrees to coach him through whatever he might need to know for his date...

You Might Just as Well Be Blind by ArwaMachine (E, 56,625 w., 12 Ch. || Fake Relationship, For a Case, Bed Sharing, Platonic Cuddling, Jealous Sherlock, Oblivious John, BAMF Hudders, Fluff and Angst, Frottage, Anal Sex, Happy Ending, Case Fic, Flirting, Pining John, POV John, Toplock, Possessive Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Infidelity) – When a serial killer starts targeting couples, Sherlock and John must do what they have to do in order to get to the bottom of things. Unfortunately, John already has a girlfriend. Surely pretending to be in a relationship with Sherlock won't pose any problems with his relationship, will it?

Lunar Landscapes by J_Baillier (M, 57,046 w., 21 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || S3/TAB Fix-It, Slow Burn Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Confessions, Drugs, Pain, Medical, Injury, Sherlock Whump, Mental Health Issues, Panic Attacks, Romance, Secrets, Tragedy, Trauma, BAMF John, Doctor!John, Drug Addict Sherlock, Injured Sherlock, Grieving John, Idiots In Love, Protective John, POV John Watson, PTSD Sherlock, Sherlock is a Mess, Medical Realism) – An accident forces John to face the fact that Sherlock's downward spiral had started long before his flight to exile even left the tarmac.

Gold Rush by ShirleyCarlton (E, 71,783 w., 17 Ch. || Post S3 / No Mary, Friends to Lovers, Mentions of Past Sexual Abuse, First Kiss, Case Fic, Slow Burn, Alternating POV, Switchlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Marriage Proposal, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Abduction, Anxious/Insecure Sherlock, Miscommunication, Emotional Lovemaking) – John has divorced Mary and pops round to 221B one evening to find Sherlock in the middle of a case. As Sherlock tries to find the identity of a young woman’s stalker, John realises he can no longer deny his feelings for Sherlock – which then, to their befuddlement, turn out to be mutual. Shy kisses and tentative embraces ensue. But will Sherlock be able to cast off a shadow from his past that he thinks might prevent John from wanting to stay?

Kintsukuroi by sussexbound (E, 91,823 w., 20 Ch. || S4 Compliant / Post-TLD, Grief / Mourning, PTSD, Internalized Homophobia, Therapy, Past Abuse, Alcohol Abuse, Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Depression, Anxiety, Bed Sharing, Love Confessions, Cuddling, Suicidal Ideation, Masturbation, Minor Character Death, Sexting, Frottage, Inexperienced Sherlock, Rimming / Anal / BJ’s, Emotional Turmoil, Finding Each Other) – “I love you.” Sherlock sees the words hit John with almost physical force. He reels back a little, jaw twitching and eyes filling. “I love you,” he repeats, a little softer, a little more gentle, as earnest as he possibly can. Because they’ve been teetering on the brink of this thing for years, and it had become painfully obvious over the last few months that they were at a tipping point. This had to happen. Now it has. Now they can see where they end up. The tears in John’s eyes spill over, and he wipes at them angrily. “Do you even know what that means?”  

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #long fics #50 to 100k #my fic recs #novel length fics

[grumpygreenwitch]

The Fairy and the Prince #1

So alright, this is going to be an experiment for me. I write. I like writing. I am terrible at prompts and I have no idea how writing commissions work. But. The story that starts here is too long for one post. It’s too short for a book. It’s a Novella, I think they’re called. It’s Fantasy. I wrote it because the trope of “fairy/mortal romance always ends in tragedy” irks the crap out of me. It shouldn’t take the radical destruction of a partner’s nature to get your Happily Ever After. It’s going to update every other week, like clockwork even! If I can figure out Queueing in Tumblr. I need that week in between because I’m also writing more about ser Lyrian, and that’s supposed to go in the in-between week once I have more of a buffer. In any case. The tags are #Linden the fairy, #Adam the prince, #Linden and Adam, #The Fairy and the Prince. I don’t know how many parts there are, I end chapters when the chapters end. It’s at a little over 20K words at this point and not quite finished yet. It’s also not edited, so be kind.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Parts 3 & 4 - Part 5 - Part 6, 7 & 8 - Part 9 & 10 - Part 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16 - Part 17, 18, & 19 - Part 20, 21 & 22 - Part 23, 24, 25 & 26 - Part 27, 28, 29 & 30 - Part 31, 32, 33 & 34 - Part 35, 36 & 37 - Part 38, 39, 40 & 41 - Part 42 & 43 - Part 44 & 45 - Part 46 & 47 - Part 48, 49, 50 & 51 - Part, 52, 53 & 54 - Part 55 & 56 - Part 57, 58, 59 & 60 - Part 61, 62, 63, 64 & 65 - Part 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71 & 72

Prince Adam met Linden while escaping his geography lessons.

Geography is one of those things everyone should know and no one wants to learn. The Queen Dowager had commanded that it be taught to the mob of prospective heirs to the throne that she'd gathered in the Royal palace, among with many other sciences and arts. Then again, the same august and childless lady had also commanded that they be taught the finer points of fencing, wrestling and knife-fighting, so everyone had a good, if resignedly terrified idea as to how she meant to solve the matter of succession without actually making a choice and angering a niece or nephew. However, these were also the same people who'd agreed to drop off their kids at the palace and under her supervision.

In any case, Adam had no more fondness for his geography studies than any other of the Princes at hand. He was fortunate, or unfortunate, enough that, the youngest of the candidates at nine years, by the time his geography lessons rolled around the teacher, a dour old priest of the Tree-Father, was either already asleep, or nearly there. All he had to do was read quietly, peeking up, until the man started snoring.

Which he'd done.

He'd only meant to slip out onto the balcony and sit on the ornate stone railing. But the day was lovely and still young, and he'd realized that one of the gutters ended not too far from the balcony, the spout carved like a horse's head. He'd leapt lightly onto it and charged into many a battle on his moss-painted steed before a nearby cornice had caught his eye. From there he'd climbed several fashionable false arches, like a great explorer over vast mountain ranges. Then he'd leapt and caught an old arrow-slit by his fingertips, and climbed further up, until he could tip-toe along a gutter made slick by decades of rain-feed moss.

By then he was nearly six stories off the ground.

He stalled after having raced along a lip of brick, mortar and stone barely wider than his fine leather slippers, which he'd already thrown off at some point between mountain-exploring and harpy-fighting (there had been three particularly angry swallows with nests under another balcony). The gutter there ended in a fish-head spout, and there the palace itself turned in a sharp corner, rather than a round tower curve.

Adam glowered at the lack of further road in impotent anger. After a few minutes, however, anger grew boring with no one there to look upon it, and he put his mind to more practical concerns. He was a clever young man, forced by circumstance to become even cleverer, struggling to leave childhood behind just to survive the deadly competition he found himself in. He was a lovely child, a little on the slim side, with his father's curly black hair and his mother's (and grand-aunt's) narrow, firm features, black brows and deep blue eyes, pale skin quickly growing pink because no one could keep him out of the summer sun for long.

A decorative ledge above him caught his eye. It was a mirror of the one he was standing on. On his tiptoes, he couldn't reach it, his fingers just shy of the goal. If he leapt, though...

He glanced over his shoulder. Far below he could just see the tops of the trees, swaying in the afternoon breeze like fretful nannies. Beyond them were the muddy grounds of the expanding Royal Gardens, and beyond that was the dark green smudge of the Hunting Woods. But there was no one to tell him no, and so he leapt.

He caught the ledge, and almost immediately his right hand slipped. The ledge was, he realized belatedly, much larger than he'd expected, and at a slant, meant to shed water off from whatever might lie beyond it. Years of rain had left it as slippery as the gutters.

He tried to find the ledge below his feet, but he was just high enough that his questing toes couldn't reach it. He tried to grip the ledge once again, but couldn't find a place that wouldn't spit out his fingers. His left hand was slipping, and for the first time it occurred to prince Adam that he might have been a mite unwise in his choice of entertainment for the afternoon. Grunting with effort he tried to lift himself up one-handed onto the ledge.

His left hand slipped.

Adam was weightless for a single, fragile moment, the tiny space between his heart beating and his breath catching.

Then he realized there was a small, strong hand gripping his left wrist, and looked up into the face of the most extraordinary creature he would ever meet in his life.

The stranger laughed, a merry and carefree sound, the ringing of cheerful bells. "You're not very good at this, are you?"

They were wearing mismatched clothing, pants too big and tied with twine around the waist, folded many times over at the leg, shirt worn so thin the sun shining at the edge of the roof behind them showed skinny arms and a slender, graceful neck. Their hair was white and fine, tipped in dark gold, a halo around a fine-boned, acorn-brown face. But their eyes...

Their eyes were shattered glass.

Adam blinked, enthralled. They were brown and green, blue and hazel; it was as if someone had taken chapel windows and made them into eyes, glorious and random and full of lights. He fought to grip the ledge with his right hand, and finally found a spot willing to meet him halfway. "It's my first time climbing this high up!" he protested.

The stranger, brown and lithe and mismatched in every way, laughed again, glad and guileless, and helped Adam scrabble onto the ledge.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" the Prince asked.

The stranger jerked back in surprise, blinked pointedly, and then squinted at Adam. "Nothing. What's wrong with yours?" they challenged.

"Nothing," Adam replied, flopping onto the ledge, which was far larger than he'd expected, the slate and stone of it sun-warm. "Other than they're boring, I suppose." He rolled over, trying to catch his breath. The blue sky above him vanished behind that white-haired face, far too close to his. "Gah!"

"What's boring about them?" the stranger demanded. "I think they're lovely. Like a bluebird's feathers." They reached out to try and pry at Adam's eyes, and the prince swatted that hand aside.

"What are you doing? It's rude to touch people without their permission!"

Fine white brows went up. "Should I have asked permission to catch you when you slipped?"

"That's different," Adam sat up, and his new acquaintance, kneeling by him, leaned back on the heels of their bare, muddy feet. "Of course you don't ask someone if you can save their life, you just do it. But when it's not important, you should always ask. It's good manners." The young prince flopped back down again. "Thank you for catching me."

"You're welcome," the stranger seemed to be mulling on Adam's words, and once again that fine-boned, brown face filled his field of view. "I don't think you're boring. I liked how you fought the swallow-harpies."

"Have you been watching me all this time?!" Adam burst up to a sitting position again.

"Yes," his savior admitted blithely. "It was much more exciting than me just climbing to catch the sun."

"Catch the sun?"

"Yes, see?" The stranger reached into a pocket of their oversized pants and pulled out something that gleamed too brightly for Adam to really see, something warm and golden like fat drops of honey held in the cup of that muddy, small hand. "It's not a lot."

"It's more than I could ever get," Adam replied, intrigued. "I didn't even know you could catch the sun like that."

"Well, it is tricky," they admitted, a delicate fluster on the brown and high cheeks revealing faint green freckles as they pocketed the sun drops again.

"What do you even do with it?" Adam asked curiously, examining his feet and finding them incredibly filthy; for some reason this pleased him immensely.

"I bring them into the woods, where the normal sun doesn't reach."

"Oh, that would be so helpful to everything there!" Adam exclaimed, and his companion flushed even deeper, all unnoticed. By the time the young prince turned to face them, they were sitting cross-legged next to the boy. "By the way, I'm prince Adam Lestrelle. But it's fine to just call me Adam." He offered his hand, trying to make the gesture very grand and grown-up.

"Oh, Adam's a good name. Better than Prince, anyways, there's too many Princes here, it'd get confusing really quickly. I think you might be the only Adam."

"I am," he admitted. "I'm also the youngest. And you?"

"Ugh." The stranger took Adam's hand; their grip was strong, dry, warm, like wood softly polished by age and use, and warmed by summer daylight. "Me too. I hate it. There's nothing good about being the youngest." They licked their lips in thought, and then nodded, seeming to have come to a decision. "You can call me Linden."

"Like the tree?"

"Yes."

Adam considered. "It suits you." He leaned closer a bit and sniffed, making Linden look at him curiously. "You smell like them, too."

Linden shoved him. "Of course I do!" They sprung up to their feet, and offered a hand. "Come on, then. Palace won't climb itself!"

There was a challenging, welcoming grin on Linden's face, as bright as the white of their hair. Adam grinned back, took their hand, and let them help him to his feet.

#the fairy and the prince #linden the fairy #adam the prince #original writing #linden and adam

[atelierlens]

Lens Atelier 19: Preview

It was the year 9 X X, 18 months after I joined Puller Office.

“GOOOOOOD MORNING, DISTRICT 16!!!! The time currently reads 8:00 AM, with a fair temperature of 22 degrees! It’s going to be a BEAUTIFUL day today with mostly-sunny skies and a cool breeze through to tonight at 9:00 PM, after which we’re expecting rain showers from about 9 PM - 3 AM. Be sure to keep your pets inside and safe by then!”

The speaker awkwardly cleared their throat, as if they had misspoken.

“Of course, this is a Nest channel, so our listeners from the Backstreets are already taking precautionary measures for that! This is aimed at our Nest listeners specifically. Now– for our scheduled programming on this fine morning, we have these next segments…” 

“Ahhhh… Who woulda known today was gonna be so nice?”

The personable Fixer propped his feet up on the coffee table.

“Today feels like a laundry day. Y’know, like when you go to the laundromat and sit on one of them wax seats, watching whatever soap operas or novellas on the TV while waiting for your clothes to finish drying?”

“Ooooh? Didn’t take you for the kind of person to reminisce on things that have NEVER happened to you, Kuzuki~”

The playful Fixer sitting across from Kuzuki teased him.

“Untrue!” 

“Exactly!”

She giggled as she pushed back at Kuzuki.

“Grrrr….” 

“Now, Helena, don’t tease him too hard. He might actually just go out to do laundry right now just to prove you wrong.”

Mr. Blakeney butted in to join Helena in bullying Kuzuki.

“...Man, whose side are you on?”

“Hahah. I unfortunately don’t fight losing battles.” 

Kuzuki groaned.

“Whatever! Point is– it’s really nice today!” 

“You’re definitely right about that~! I could just go out and take a nice walk through the markets. Right, Sal?” 

Helena turned to me, who by that point was listening to the radio on the other side of the lounge room and vaguely listening in to Helena and Kuzuki’s banter. 

“Oh, well, uh… I guess? It feels like most other days, though.”

A dull response. It’s not that I wasn’t interested in taking part in my superiors’ conversation– I was just caught so off-guard that I couldn’t really add anything meaningful to it.

“Mmmm, not good!”

Helena shook her head at me. 

“Huh?”

“You can’t just say something depressing like that and expect me to let it slide. Listen: me, you, after work. Let’s go shopping!”

“Wh—“

“Of course, Fiore’s invited too~ I want today to feel different from other days for you. C’mon! I can even give all sorts of advice. Dating, fashion, self-care, Fixer stuff~”

“Wh-what even…?”

I didn’t really know how to respond. I wasn’t even sure if Helena was being serious about this…

“Yo, what about me?! Kinda rude to go out and have fun without me, y’know!”

Kuzuki butted in, clearly feeling left out.

“Hm? Oh, sure, I guess you’re invited too. You’re gonna pay for our food though, Kuzuki~”

“Whaaat?!” 

“That’s the rules~ You want in, pay part of the expenses.” 

“Hrghmmmmm…” 

Kuzuki grumbled before hanging his head in resignation.

“Morning, everyone!” 

Fiore greeted everyone with a grin while carrying a bag of sweet breads.

“Morning, Fiore. You came in at the perfect time.”

Mr. Blakeney side-eyed Helena and Kuzuki.

“Huh? Hold on, what’re you two going on about now?”

Fiore inquired with a raised brow. She was used to intervening whenever Helena and Kuzuki were at each other’s throats.

But this time she was too late– Kuzuki had already been defeated by Helena.

“Ah, good morning Fiore~! We were just talking about going out shopping after work with Salieri here.”

“Oh?”

She set the bag of bread on Mr. Blakeney’s desk.

“What’s the occasion?”

“Just a spontaneous decision! I want Salieri to go outside and have fun without any sort of work obligations! You’re invited to come along, naturally.”

Fiore turned to look at me, clearly confused by my involvement in any of Helena’s antics.

“Err…” 

Unfortunately, the most I could reply with was an awkward smile followed by a shrug.

“Well, I won’t ask. But, hmm…”

She rested her hand on her chin pensively. For a moment, her expression deepened into a frown, but then it returned to her natural, confident look.

“I’ll have to pass this time. You go on ahead though, Sal.”

“Huh? But… why aren’t you going?”

“I’m not gonna be home ‘till the evening.”

“Did something come up…?”

“Mmm, sort of. It’s nothing super serious though, so don’t worry!”

“...”

I couldn’t help but frown. Ever since I became a Fixer, I tried my best to start becoming less dependent on Fiore.

It felt like the longer I relied on her, the more of a burden I ended up becoming. Both financial and emotional. So I didn’t want to press this any further out of fear that I’d come off as needy, but… 

Something felt off about Fiore today. Really off.

“Cheer up, dude! If I pay for food, then I’m also dragging y’all along to the arcade! It’s her that’s gonna be missing out on the fun.” 

“A-ah…” 

Kuzuki, who just moments ago was sulking, ruffled my hair. It’s something he and Mr. Blakeney did often, so I was sort of used to it…

“The arcade?”

Helena raised her eyebrow.

“Yeah. What, not into games at all?”

“Quite the opposite, actually~ Not only am I one of the most fashionable gals in District 16’s Backstreets, I’m also one of the best arcade gamers.”

“Hah! You’re bluffing. I’m the best gamer in all the City, period. You’re no match for my sick puck drifting!”

Helena smirked just as Kuzuki uttered those words.

“I’m not so sure about that. Everyone I’ve met who says that always end up being the most predictable, since they’re so focused on beating the puck until it slides into the goal that they don’t realize the score ratio is doubled against them~”

The two Fixers, once again, started their back-and-forth. Fiore let out a low exhale at the sight.

#fanfic #project moon

[iloveyou-writers]

Hi hannah! I saw that you mentioned you don't plot your writing all the time, which sounded refreshing to me. Personally I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with a plot line/events in order and stuff like that, and in generally plotting. When I write I write because a scene just comes to me but this makes me be able to write only short things. I want to write a long story or hell, even a novel. But the plotting part ruins it for me. So I was wondering how you handle not plotting all the time and if you had any advice for me in that matter

Thank you for your time <3

Hey Nonnie!

Aww thank you for the followup question on one of my answers. It's nice to get these; it shows your answers made an impact :)

Okay, so my biggest thing is I don't like to start my stories until I have at least a GENERAL idea of what I want. I don't plot, but one of my big stories was about "a grim reaper who appears as a small girl." Or I had another one I started because I wanted to make one about my favorite mythical creatures (sirens). I've actually started 2 novellas about them (about 30k ish words each) and one of them is a trilogy.

I also won't start writing a WIP until I have a title, but that's only because it helps me talk about it, which helps me get revved up for writing it.

I won't plot per se, but I will write down my ideas as they come to me, so I don't forget. It helps make a story longer when you remember all of your ideas for it.

I also will run my ideas by my close friends and see how they like them. Having friends that are excited about my ideas helps me stay excited and continue them.

I have one story called The Fantastical World of Dreams. It's to part 16 now and is finally getting to a plot. With that one, the whole idea was "a person is having dreams about a fantasy world, which turns out to be real." That's it and then I started writing. Well, at about part 8 to 10ish (somewhere in there), I finally got an idea for a plot, so the first several parts were just about the idea - the character whose POV it was in having these dreams and discovering the world they were seeing was real and just seeing all these different creatures. Any time I'd have an idea for another creature, I'd turn it into a snapshot (a part). I believe about 9 or 10 of those 15 are about the creatures while the remaining parts were about their life when they were awake (and writing about it because they're an author).

Basically, I write as things come to me, just like you said. But sometimes the ideas you come to you are meant to be short stories while sometimes they can be extended into longer ones.

Hell, I had one idea (actually, I had 2) that started off as shorter stories and extended into longer ones. You're probably not familiar with my old writing but I had a series about a demon with social anxiety and that's turned into a full-blown novel, which I've finished the first draft of and am rewriting for the 3rd time.

The other idea was the one I mentioned above about the reaper, and that one started off as little snapshots of her best friend, who's a woman she hired basically to kill people for her (I'm not gonna go into the whole thing) killing people. And that one turned into a novel about their friendship, how they met, and their story as friends.

Basically, the point of the last part is to say sometimes a short story can inspire a longer one. Sometimes you'll write something as a short story but then realize it can turn into a novel. I recommend writing a bunch of story ideas, trying all different sorts of things. Maybe you think you'd be able to write this topic as a novel, but it turns out that one inspires a novel out of you more. So I recommend exploring topics and seeing what inspires more out of you!

Anyway, I'm several minutes late leaving for work, so I gotta end here (this turned out way longer than I expected anyway). I hope you have a great day and good luck with your novel! Please feel free to update me on how this all works out for you and if you need more advice, we're here! :)

Happy writing, my nonnie little friendo!

🤍 H

#anonymous #writing advice #writing tips #writing novels as a pantser #writing help #asks