#How long ago did I publish the (technically) first part?

[fictionalcharacters-mybeloved]

(Be) Satisfied, Danny.

Danny didn't have a good life, he didn't notice it until he grew up, of course, but he noticed it.

He noticed when Tucker's parents did remember his birthday (while his parents were still in the basement, creating the most important thing in their lives).

He noticed it when it was Jazz who healed his wounds when his bullies were especially cruel (and his parents were still in the basement).

He noticed it when he spent hours lost in one of the most dangerous cities in America and the only one who cared (and noticed his disappearance) was Jazz.

And so many more things, Danny noticed all the time that his life was not good, but he had good things.

He had Jazz, space, Tucker, Sam and, at a time that is now a bittersweet and painful memory, he met Bruce.

He knew that talking to and trusting strangers was bad (after Bruce told him so and Jazz repeated it to him), but it was easy to trust Bruce.

He was someone nice who listened to him prattle on for hours about the stars, planets, Nasa and space in general, listened to him with such attention and interest that he just kept talking until somehow they got to his hotel and Bruce left him with Jazz.

Of course, little Danny wasn't about to let his wonderful audience disappear from his. Life so soon after they met, and after quite a bit of insisting (and some crying), they stayed in contact.

Danny kept growing up, of course, and Phantom happened, because he thought meeting Bruce meant life would get better from there, but no, he only had momentary peace.

Bruce noticed his change in behavior (unlike his parents), Bruce who had a life of his own and several children he obviously loved more than anything (not that Danny is jealous of that, not at all), but he noticed the change in Danny.

"I don't even know why I can't-I just-" Danny doesn't finish speaking, she couldn't, not yet. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me." His voice was tearful and shaky.

There is silence on the other end of the call for a few seconds, until Bruce's voice is heard. "You want to talk to me about constellations?" He asks quietly, non-judgmental, non-pushy.

And of course, Danny talks to him for hours about the stars, the shapes of the constellations, their names and their stories, forgetting for brief, wonderful hours everything else, just like when he was ten, and just like at that time, Bruce listened to him as if it was completely new information, as if he didn't already know all that.

Bruce was like... not a father, but like a male figure in his life whom he valued very much.

Danny was not blind, he knew Bruce was not perfect, even if they could only communicate by phone, they had had little disagreements here and there, but they did not walk away, because Bruce listened to him and did not immediately dismiss his words, because he wanted to improve, because Bruce was trying for Danny, and wasn't that a wonderful thought?

Of course, when he was finally planning to tell Bruce about Phantom is when it all goes to shit.

Losing everyone you love and having to run and hide from a freak so you don't turn into a bloodthirsty monster was, to say the least, fucking horrible.

Danny remembers the pain, the feeling of choking, the lump in his throat that wouldn't let him speak, the disbelief, the agonizing need to just disappear, Danny just wanted to close his eyes and die like his family and friends and-

And then his phone rang.

Bruce always had to show up when Danny was lost, right?

He doesn't even remember what he told him on the call or how he spoke in the first place, only that after four years he had Bruce in front of him, talking and promising that he would help him, that he would take care of everything, that he wasn't alone, not anymore.

Of course living in Gotham was quite an adjustment, the moving process made him cry several times, lately he would cry over anything and it was horrible, however, lately he also had Bruce there with him.

They still talked on the phone quite a bit, but now Bruce could also visit him, hug him, comfort him on a particularly difficult day.

Sometimes Bruce would talk to him about what it was like when he lost his parents, about when he lost one of his sons, sometimes they would both end up crying, but they were together and it eased the pain a little.

Speaking in a soft, gentle voice, Bruce would say that the pain would become more tolerable and that one day it would stop tarnishing the good memories, that someday he could put the pictures back on the shelves, that eating would no longer be horrible because eating meat would no longer feel like betrayal and eating vegetarian food wouldn't hurt, that someday he could open a tech magazine and play video games without feeling like he'd never enjoy anything again, that someday he could stop seeing his sister in every redheaded girl he saw on the streets, and that while that was happening, Bruce would be there for him.

And although the pain remained horrible, it became bearable.

There were good days and bad days, but he enjoyed when Bruce could visit.

Danny knew Bruce kept it from his sons more for what he didn't say than what he did say, but he understood and actually preferred it that way, because when Bruce came to the apartment they could both pretend to be father and son (not that they called each other that), without irreparable mistakes or painful loss, at least on particularly good days.

Danny also felt that he was special, that someone preferred him, that plain, boring Danny Fenton was special (even if he wasn't).

Life, for the first time, wasn't bad, it wasn't good either, the pain sometimes wanted to consume him completely some days, he still cried most nights but also... he felt accompanied, loved.

Obviously he felt loved before, his sister, his friends, he knew they loved him, but with Bruce he also felt understood.

He felt (and knew) that Bruce saw him, that he saw the little, idiotic, pathetic, troubled Danny Fenton and decided he was worth it, that when he found out about 'Phantom' he only talked about helping him hide it and, when some time passed, about how smart and talented he was in learning to handle his powers without guidance, that Danny was special because of who he was even before Phantom, powers were nothing without brain, that Phantom was what he was because of the guy behind it.

In turn, Danny saw (and understood) Bruce, the man was always overly worried about those he loves, every little thing, and he was smart, he worried and his treacherous brain wouldn't leave him alone (and that was painfully similar to Jazz).

How could he ask him not to worry when he already found a thousand ways for everything to go wrong and for him to be the one to ruin it?

How could he judge him now that he also knew how much it hurt to lose the ones you love?

So they would talk, it wasn't always easy because Danny was used to not being given so much attention and Bruce could be too controlling, but... well, talking helped a lot, because because they listened to each other, apologizing was easy after talking.

They almost always ended up watching B movies and judging them after they made up, or watching documentaries, because watching them with Bruce was interesting, he always had things to add, interesting fun facts that Bruce enjoyed saying and Danny enjoyed listening to.

Bruce was trying so hard and always seemed to feel it wasn't enough, that Danny couldn't help but resent his sons (the real ones) a little.

Danny knew they were not bad, Bruce always spoke of them with love and so, so much pride, it was always Bruce who was to blame for everything, the bad guy, the villain of the situation...

To Bruce his sons deserved a better father, but if anyone asked Danny, Bruce deserved a better family.

Say no to this, Bruce.

A few days ago Bruce had a fight with his sons, now he doesn't even remember why, it was probably something stupid that escalated and he didn't know how to stop it, it was probably his fault.

He was alone at the mansion, Damian was at Dick's house, Jason was ignoring him more than usual and Tim was on a case where he didn't want help, not from him at least, even Duke was away, it wasn't a good week for Bruce.

He grabbed a phone he had hidden and only took out before going to sleep alone in his room, hesitated for a few seconds and sent a message to the only number added.

His "thing" with the boy, Danny Fenton, had started four years ago, the boy was lost and Bruce found him when he coincidentally went for a walk as a civilian.

Danny was so charmed by Bruce (for some reason) that he gave him his hotel room number to keep talking about the universe, and later his home number.

Danny was a good, funny and witty kid, a very smart too, with parents who didn't deserve him because they didn't notice their son's brilliance.

Danny was a good boy with a not-so-good life, a strong, independent boy who wasn't always positive but didn't always let himself fall apart.

That's why when Danny answered his message with a call with him crying and asking for help, he could only go to his rescue without looking back, barely remembering to tell Alfred of his departure.

When he arrived he found only tragedy.

His family and friends had died, an explosion at an unfortunate time, Danny had no one in the world besides his godfather and Bruce, and he didn't want to fall into Vlad's clutches, so he was desperate.

He also told him about Phantom, and Bruce could only hug him and promise him that no one was going to find him.

The first thing that came to his mind was to take him to his mansion, Danny was like his son, it was the most logical action... except that Danny still looked up to him and trusted him a lot, and wasn't that a scary thought?

Bringing Danny to the mansion would involve many things, Danny would meet his children, which might make Danny see him differently, goodbye to his admiration and affection, goodbye to spending time "together" watching bad movies to criticize them, goodbye to quiet conversations and asking for advice, goodbye to trust.

Bringing Danny to the mansion would mean having him physically close but keeping him away in every other possible way.

"Danny doesn't want anyone else to know about Phantom." Bruce repeated to himself as he took Danny to a small, hidden apartment in Gotham, a cozy little place where Vlad wouldn't find Danny (and neither would Bruce's family).

[alpaca-clouds]

Wait! So, nobody knows there are Pirates of the Caribbean books?

So, a week ago I learned that... really nobody bloody knows about those books? Really?

I knew that Disney really had not done their part in advertising those books, only to then be very surprised to learn that the books did not sell. Like, duh, Disney, in a pre-tiktok world, you cannot just assume that people will find out about those books you publish, if you do not tell anyone about it. Unbelievable, isn't it?

But yeah, indeed. There are a couple of pirates of the Caribbean books. Now mind you, most of those books - or rather: all but one - are "young reader" books, so they are not particularly challenging in terms of language, or story. They have been released under Disney Press and mostly have been marketed through Scholastic back in the day. (As such, it will not surprise you to learn: None of these books ever was translated into any non-English language.)

Only one book I would actually call GOOD. The one that was not targeted at kids. However, I will say: I had fun with all of the books back in the day. They were fun books, that often did immitate the voice of the characters rather well, and gave some nice interesting background to the universe as a whole. So... Let me talk about the books a bit.

The Jack Sparrow Series

The Jack Sparrow series is the longest series among the Pirates of the Caribbean books, that basically go into Jack's life as a teenager. Long story short: Growing up as Teague's son, he kinda rebels against his father a lot. Thus, he runs away as a young teen and finds his own pirate crew. Most notably among them of course a certain Bootstraps Bill.

There are a couple of other characters in this. We see for example the young Annamaria, and some other background characters from the movie as crewmates. We also see his first meeting with both Norrington and Gibbs in those books.

Additionally these books (again, this is a fairly long series) go a lot furhter into the Nahua gods and how they cursed Cortez, as Cortez's ghost is a recurring villain in those books. And yes, this quite clearly says: Jack knew the gold was cursed. He knew from the beginning, but it is one of those common themes: Nobody ever listens to good old Jack.

It should be noted: These are books for fairly young readers. Meaning: The prose is fairly simple as it is aimed at a very young reading level. Meaning, too, that the books are fairly short. For the books of this series I usually needed about two to three hours per book to read it from beginning to end. I would guess most of these books are about 30-40k in length.

Now, compared to the other books, these apparently did not sell that bad. I would argue that this mainly is because even if the kids who found those books at Scholastic did not need to be very invested in the franchise to read those books. They were fairly nice child friendly Pirate adventures.

The books are named:

The Coming Storm

The Siren Song

The Pirates Chase

The Sword of Cortez

The Age of Bronze

Silver

City of Gold

The Timekeeper

Dance of the Hours

Sins of the Father

Poseidon's Peak

Bold New Horizons

The Tale of Billy Turner and other Stories (anthology of the side characters of the series and what they do after the end of the series.)

Now, the books are technically out of print by now. Though I think these are fairly available in libraries still - and go for fair prizes on used book portals. So these are probably the easiest books from this list to get.

The Price of Freedom

Now, chronologically the next books that came out for Pirates of the Caribbean, is also the one actual adult novel. The Price of Freedom. If you wonder where you know the name of the author from: A.C. Crispin is fairly known for her writing of extended universe material. Most notably she has written the Spock series for Star Trek and the Han Solo trilogy for the Star Wars books, though I guess those are among the "Legends" now.

This is actually written as a proper novel - and a long novel at this. The book has more than 600 pages.

This story starts out with Jack Sparrow having joined the EITC. Having worked for them for a couple of years now, he is by now the First Mate on the ship The Wicked Wench. When the ship gets attacked by pirates, the current Captain suffers a heart attack and dies, making Jack finish the trading route on his own. Eventually he makes port in Africa, where the current overseer of the EITC hears of this: Cuttler Beckett. He invites Jack to his mansion, realizing the two of them have much in common. Most notably, they both believe in the magical things out at sea - and that there is indeed a magical island somewhere out there.

Now, Cuttler Beckett has two slaves working on his estate, that he suspects of stemming from that island, and he has a plan: If Jack saved those slaves, they might be willing to tell Jack about that magical place - and if Beckett then is able to find the island, he could not only proof his family, that he is not insane, but also gain the Lord title, he has been trying to get for so many years.

As I said: This book is actually really good. Like, sure, some things in it have not aged perfectly, I generally have to say it still aged fairly well. Most notably for a book that came out in 2011 is that the main relationship in this book is a polyamorous relationship between Jack and two non-white women.

(It should be noted: It is fairly clear in the books that Jack is mixed race and at the very least quarter-Black. Think of that what you will. This is not really white-washing of a character, given that indeed the authors of the screenplay wrote him as white - but books then gave his mother African ancestry.)

Sadly, nobody fucking knows that this book exists, because Disney has not marketed this back when it came out AT ALL. This book's release was so underadvertized (even though it released basically at the same time as the 4th movie), that several book logistics companies had not stocked this at all. So, obviously this book did not sell at all, and never got a second print, making it expensive as fuck. However, you can borrow it in several libraries still.

Due to the bad sales and the fact that Crispin was diagnosed with cancer not long after the book came out and died of it, we sadly never got a sequel to this book, which means that we also do not know how the story of certain characters end.

The Legends of the Breathren Court

Rob Kidd, who wrote the young Jack Sparrow books, was also hired to write another series of books that were once more aimed at young readers.

The plot is basically like this: Jack had gotten himself a curse - which is bad. But there are even worse news: He needs the help of the other pirate lords to safe himself. The only good news: He has the Pearl now, the fastest ship in the Caribbean, thanks due some minor magical upgrades. But it is not going to be easy to convince the other pirate lords to help him.

Now, I should say: This series sold by far the worst. I would argue the main issue is, that these are kids books, but take place when Jack is in his 30s. While the Jack Sparrow books could be easily understood by kids, who had nearly no idea about the plot of the movies, you do need to understand the movies for this series rather well. So yeah. The book series was cancelled halfway through, though Robb Kidd did those fans of the series a solid, by convincing Disney to allow him to at least provide the last few books as epubs on his website. :)

Still, the series was cut down due to the cancellation. So the ending is a bit... chaotic.

The series is made up of the following books:

The Caribbean

Rising in the East

The Turning Tide

Wild Waters

Day of the Shadow

These books are usually available easily online. Not to buy, but, you know... Through other means.

Some thoughts in the end

I am honestly kinda sad, that the entire thing with those books never went anywhere. Disney did want at some point to get an extended Universe going for Pirates of the Caribbean, with more lore and everything. Back in the day there was also a game in development, that was supposed to be a AAA single player experience - but basically they cancelled it pretty much last minute. :/ And it is kinda sad.

I do think that this franchise could have been very interesting - if Disney did not rely too much on Jack Sparrow as a character. Now outside of Depp being a misogynist pig who needs, but refuses therapy, I do think that generally speaking the franchise would have been stronger, if they did not construct everything around this one character. Because fun fact: We do not have a whole lot of seafaring fantasy stuff out there and the worldbuilding in those books is really super interesting.

Some part of me wants to write a sequel to Price of Freedom - but I doubt that anyone is ever gonna read that, based that nobody knows the book xD

[unreleasedwrites]

I LOVED the gitae fic it was so good😔🙏 We need part two where Maybe he feels pity for us and takes us out to eat or smth, you do the magic im bad at writing lmao 🤧

Thank uuu♡♡♡♡

A Planned Coincidence (pt. 1) (pt. 2)

“Where’s the fun in spoiling it? How about I show you instead?”

summary: You’ve been stuck in the same warehouse you woke up in about three weeks ago, and no matter what plan you would make to escape— it’s no use and you’d only get in trouble. One of the times you did try with Gitae around, he had to clean up after you and the topic of your friends came up and so you begged to meet them. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned and you ended up ignoring Gitae for days. Eventually, he decided he’d take you out in hopes you’d finally speak to him.

character(s) included: Gitae Kim x fem!reader

cw: swearing, implied kidnapping, very toxic, same warnings as my first gitae fic (part 1) , yandere gitae, mentions of blood, death, kissing, suggestive, nicknames, cartel mentions, this is FICTIONAL, abuse, mentions of drugs, guns, his axe, implied cannibalism, a bunch of crimes so beware dark and possibly disturbing content

unwrapped on: Tuesday Morning, April 30 2024

wrapped up on: Friday Evening, May 03 2024

published on: Friday Evening, May 03 2024

“You tired of playin’ these stupid fucking games yet, doll?” Gitae said in an agitated tone, as he held your bruised hand and covered it in bandages. Afterwards, he planted a light kiss on top.

You remained dead silent and only looked towards the ground of the warehouse you were trapped in. You accidentally injured yourself in another one of your escape attempts, so here Gitae was, taking "care" of you once again with some condescending mockery.

“Well? Now you’re gonna go and play the quiet game with me, huh?” He said with a slightly more irritated expression on his face.

“Look at me when i’m speaking to you.” He said and he grabbed your chin to meet eye to eye with him, and you could tell he looked angry. He tightened his grip on your already bruised hand, causing you to yelp in pain from how much pressure was applied.

“Gitae.. I-I—, I was wondering if yo—” You were trying to speak when a few rounds of open fire suddenly interrupted you. You flinched and a visibly frightened expression was evident on your face. Gitae saw this and took you into his arms to face him, while on his lap so that he could straddle you and stroke your hair.

“Sorry about the noise, little girl. Just part of my men’s duties, I’ll let them know to keep it down though,” he said in a less irritated tone.

“Back to where we left at earlier.. Why do you keep tryna fucking escape?” He said in a slightly more raised tone.

“To leave..? Isn’t the answer to that question already kind of already a given?” You replied.

“Leave?” He scoffed, “and just where exactly would a little girl like you go? If I can recall, the friends you came to Mexico have gone missing.. And technically, you’re now known as a missing person, just like your four other friends.”

“Gitae, I hate to have to ask but— Did you have anything to do with those disappearances by chance? You’re speaking as though you know all about it and from what I’ve seen in the past few days..”

He cut you off and laughed, “did I? I thought that was already a given from when I took you here, was it not?”

“I think I get it now, I’m next.. Aren’t I?” You replied.

“What? When the hell did I ever hint something even close to that? I was talking about your little friends, they’re alive, but let me just tell you now that they won’t be for very long if you keep continuing this bullshit of trying to leave me.”

“They’re alive—? Where are they?! Can I please, pleaseee see them, pretty pleaseee??” You begged with your usual pouty face.

“It’s hard to say no when you say it like that,” he said as he held your cheeks together with his hand, “if you’re good for the rest of the day, I might consider it. How’s that for a deal, doll?”

“Deal!” You exclaimed and he tapped his cheek with his finger a few times while saying, “but first~?”

You then tried to give him a kiss on the cheek but he swiftly turned his head so that your lips would land on his instead, and it worked. Despite your situation, you turned into a blushing hot mess and Gitae simply laughed at your reaction, thinking “how cute.”

A little fast forward into that same day, the sun was finally setting, so you may finally get to see your friends again. You waited patiently in the warehouse, sat on top of some boxes, reading the books Gitae gave you to pass time while he was out doing who knows what.

Some kind of bell or alarm started to ring and from what you’ve been observing in the past three weeks, that alarm means that it’s around 8 or 9 in the evening, where most of Gitae’s “men” go out to do unspeakable acts that you’ve witnessed at some point.

Usually, This was around the time you’d try escaping the warehouse because everyone was way too busy to watch over you and most of the men there have left the warehouse, getting on some sketchy vehicles with all sorts of equipment, weaponry, and drugs. The remaining people were either asleep or high in the clouds.

But when you start to see the men leave, you’d usually start to see the second batch of men arrive with Gitae. You’ve noticed a pattern where half of the men go out with Gitae during the day and the rest of the men go out during the night and what similarity both batches shared was that they all came back bloody, smelling really odd, and sometimes Gitae would bring you what he calls a souvenir,— human flesh from one of his victims. Anytime Gitae would do that, you just ignored him for the next hour or two, depending on just how much his patience is willing to endure from you being a so called “brat.”

But, it was around 8 in the evening when the bell had rang, and now it’s past midnight. Yet you haven’t seen or heard from Gitae at all.

Reluctantly, you finally resorted to asking the men around to which they only replied with stuff like, “just give him another half hour and he’ll be here. He’s probably just ran into some trouble with a gang fight or somethin like that.”

One of the men was nice enough to give you some paper that you used to make little bookmarks for the various books you had.

Gitae usually takes you to sleep with him in one of the compartments of the warehouse that led to a bedroom, but since he wasn’t here and you had no idea on how to get in there, you fell asleep on the floor beside some boxes.

You woke up the next morning when you overheard a bunch of men who sounded like they were arguing. And weirdly enough, you were on the bed in the hidden compartment of the warehouse, with Gitae fast asleep beside you. His breathing was steady and he looked tired so you decided to just look around and take mental notes of what the room looked like. It was very different from the rest of the warehouse and was pretty cozy. Gitae’s usual leather jacket was hung on a chair nearby and you noticed some of his belongings on the table. One of which, was a gun. It had you thinking if you wanted to risk your entire life, jumping off the bed to get the gun which was on his side of the room, and shoot him blank.

But that was stupid, what about all the men outside? Gitae told you he isn’t a fan of silencers on his personal guns. They’ll definitely rush over thinking that you in fact, did something— because they all know that Gitae wouldn’t dare hurt you to such a foul extent.

So, you scratched that thought and looked at the door, where does that lead? You thought to yourself. Before you could even continue thinking as you were sat up on the bed, you heard Gitae suddenly start speaking in a raspy morning voice, “what are you up to, little girl? Shouldn’t you still be asleep in my arms?” You turned over to see Gitae, with messy morning hair, not in his usual state of a few loose strands with his hair slicked back.

“Nothing, I was jus-” You stopped for a moment when you saw Gitae sit up and reach for his gun, “doll, could you riddle me this,” he said.

You nodded in response and he spoke as he loaded his gun, “did you try to escape in any form and at any time yesterday?”

He looked you dead in the eye while readjusting compartments of his gun, you lost focus and started to stare at his hands fiddling around with the gun to which he suddenly snapped his fingers, “my eyes are up here, what did I tell you yesterday?” His eyes narrowed and you responded with, “to always look you in the eye when you speak..?”

“Correct. Now, answer.” He slowly finished prepping his gun.

“I didn’t, you could ask the men out there for proof of that.” You said.

“I already did, they told me you were finding me last night? Is that true, my pretty doll?” He said as he caressed your face.

“Well, you were taking much longer than expected to arrive.. A-and you did tell me that if I was good for the rest of the day, I’d get to meet my friends..” You said hesitantly.

“Right.. About those little friends of yours,” he spoke as he placed the gun on the table and your eyes widened, “what about them..?”

“Hoho, do you wanna find out for yourself?” He said with a smirk on his face.

“Gitae.. What do you mean..?”

“Where’s the fun in spoiling it? How about I show you instead?”

“Fine then,” you replied.

Gitae stood up from the bed and so did you, it was still about 4 in the morning so it was cold outside of the bedroom, which is why Gitae put his leather jacket on you since you weren’t wearing much.

He unlocked the door with some sort of key that he took from a high shelf you couldn’t reach for yourself. Before he even swung the door open after unlocking it, he took a blindfold and placed it on you first, something that typically happens whenever you guys were going to leave the bedroom. From there he just carries you to the main open area of the warehouse to which he then takes the blindfold off once you’ve arrived around the usual boxes you stay at.

“So.. Where are they??” You asked visibly confused, tilting your head to the side as you looked up at Gitae.

“Silly girl, they aren’t here.. They’re at some other location we’ll be driving to,” he replied as he looked at one of the men who usually drove you and Gitae around. To which that man immediately left, starting up one of the cars that were outside.

“Awh, but it’s so early.. It doesn’t even look like it’s 5 in the morning, why would you suggest we go now..?” You pouted as you looked at Gitae, because of how sleepy you were he had to hold you with one of his hands to keep you from falling.

“Don’t worry, sleeping beauty— It’s a few hours to get to where they’re at, so you could just sleep on me in the meantime.” He replied as he carrier you once again and took you to the car.

He positioned you on his lap to face him and you settled your head in the crook of his neck, slowly drifting away. He gave you kisses on the top of your head and stroked your hair while you gently caressed his shoulders. You fell asleep easily and stayed in the same position.

Eventually, the car parked at some hidden area which appeared to be in a secluded part of a forest. You were still asleep when you guys arrived so Gitae started pressing kisses all over you. You started feeling ticklish from all of it and woke up.

Not even sure how you guys got here because you didn’t see a road to drive on but you didn’t question it.

“Good morning doll~ We’ve arrived, would you like to finally meet your little friends?” Gitae asked you, who was still sleepy and had woken up from a good dream, still not processing anything.

You simply nodded and clung onto Gitae’s shirtless body because you were too tired to even try getting up and walking.

Gitae carried you with ease and walked towards what appeared to be a pretty run down building, but what it specifically looked like was a blur to you because of how out of it you still were at the time.

An awful stench was evident from the exact moment you were in the building. A loud screech coming from a girl was heard all throughout the large building, echoing amongst the floors. The voice sounded a little too familiar, almost as if it were one of your friends producing a vile screech, a desperate scream for urgent help. The echo suddenly came to a stop without repeating the rest of the noise. Gitae tried to assure you that was someone else but it was no use, you were in an environment you’ve never been in before, hearing all sorts of things. You were terrified and started to both panic and cry, while you were still in Gitae’s arms. He started to get irritated with how your current state was, he even threatened to hit you if you didn’t stop screaming and crying, trying to get away from him. You ran off into some other part of the large building, hiding from him. At first, he was annoyed but decided to play your little game of hide and seek. But, couldn’t find you and so he started to punch different walls, some of which collapsed in an attempt to find you easier and to get you out.

He couldn’t take it anymore and pulled out his axe, he said that you had exactly 5 seconds to reveal yourself or this wouldn’t end well.

“This is a stupid fucking game, Y/N. 5,” he started his countdown, “4,” and you knew better than to disobey, so hesitantly “3,” you started to leave your hiding spot to reveal yourself, “2,” before he could even reach 1, you were on your knees behind him, sobbing.

“Gi-Gitae, please..” You sniffled, “I already have gotten a good idea of what you did with them, so please.. I don’t need to see it for myself.”

He scoffed, “after you just ran and hid from me? Yeah, I don’t fucking think so.” He grabbed you by your hair harshly and dragged you to the basement floor. And that’s where you saw another nightmare right in front of you, from the scene of the group of men who attacked you, to your own closest friends, all dead.

Except one of them, she was your closest friend in the entire group and she was completely unharmed. But had to closely witness all that was done to the other girls. She was tied up with chains and from what you know, her voice was the noise you heard earlier.

Which had you wondering, why did her screaming suddenly stop? But instead of focusing on that, you looked over to Gitae who has never looked so angry before. His grip on your hair was only becoming tighter as you tried pleading with him.

You were terrified to know that in any second, Gitae could literally crush your skull with his bare hands if he wanted to, but he didn’t. Gitae suddenly let go of the grasp he had on your hair and looked down on you, “I’m letting you know in advance that what happens next is thanks to you being such a brat.” He then struck his axe at your friend, multiple agonizing times while the one man that was there forced you to watch, holding you at gunpoint and purposely turning your head in the direction of both Gitae and your friend.

Gitae looked back at you after he struck your friend with his axe so many times that she’s no longer recognizable, you were a sobbing, pitiful, and distressed mess. You were screaming at him, begging him to stop, all the while trying to break free from the man’s harsh grip on you but it was no use and you couldn’t do anything at all.

I won’t go into too many details but it was extremely gruesome and gut wrenching. By the time Gitae finally decided he was finished, he threw the axe at your direction, purposely missing by just an inch to slightly scar your neck (since you were moving around a lot, it just barely scraped the side of your neck).

You yelped, Gitae then took a part of her flesh, and bit it— but unlike the last time, he ate this entirely and licked his fingers clean. He then spoke out “clean this place up, (insert name of man who was holding you).” To which the guy nodded and finally let go of you, you fell immediately to the ground and continued sobbing, you were twitching at this point from how terrified you were.

Gitae then looked over to you, he’s seen you upset but he’s never seen you this upset before. He looked back at the girl he had just mauled and at the other girls that were laying dead on the floor. That’s weird, he was starting to feel— bad for you?

Gitae spoke with someone on the phone and after, he carried you to the car. You never stopped sobbing and you were trembling as Gitae had you on his lap, facing his blood scattered face and body. He was trying his best to comfort you but you were ignoring him. Eventually, the car started to move and you knew this was gonna be a long ride, but you just kept on sniffing while your head was nestled in between the crook of his neck. He took the hint that you really weren’t gonna talk to him at all, so he stroked your hair with his unstained hand while you silently sobbed, clinging onto him so tightly that it left marks on his body. He also bandaged up the tiny scar you got coming from his axe.

A few days had passed and you still hadn’t spoken to Gitae no matter how many times he tried or how much he threatened you.

He was fed up, but he had an idea that might just work. He decided he’d take you out for dinner at one of the places that had gambling addicts so no staff would care. He hadn’t told you all about his plan yet but he had some guy book a reservation and he went out to buy you a little gift. You didn’t know of any of this because you couldn’t understand Spanish so you were just reading books in the corner.

He went out to buy you some clothes that he was badly hoping you’d like. He bought you more sleepwear and a cute outfit that you could wear on your little date with him. He bought some more things you mentioned you like, like some more books he knows nothing about.

He arrived back at the warehouse at around 5:30 in the evening and asked you to come with him, he blindfolded you and brought you to a bathroom. It was much nicer than the usual bathroom and you were assuming that this was another compartment of the warehouse.

He told you to shower, and you nodded in response. But, he was just standing at the doorway, staring at you. So you just stood there.

“Well?” He rose a brow, “I thought you wanted a shower, what are you doing just standing there?”

You gulped and finally spoke for the first time in days, “d-do you really.. have to watch..?”

He looked you up and down, “either I watch or join you, take your pick.” You remained silent, you didn’t want either of that.

He scoffed and put the blindfold on you once again, you could hear him fiddling with his belt and clothes rustling. After, he started to undress you as well, disposing of your clothes in the trash.

He turned on the running water in the bathtub and while it filled, he was doing some things but you couldn’t see so you had no idea. He took you into his arms and the next thing you felt was pure water, you haven’t showered in a while so this was a bliss. He took your blindfold off and to your surprise, you were on top of him in the bathtub. He gently sunk you into the water, and laid you on his figure, showering your hair with water.

He then applied different products on your hair and massaged your scalp. after he finished washing your hair and body, he started fondling around with your body.

“Your skin is so soft, doll,” he said as he played with your boobs. You lightly moaned from what he was doing and he smirked, “you like that, don’t you?” You subconsciously bucked your hips in response which caused him to twitch down there. You could feel his dick on you and he started aggressively kissing you. Things escalated and you ended up having to take a second bath.

“Doll~, I forgot to mention it because you riled me up so much earlier that I lost the chance to— butt, we’re going out tonight and I bought you some clothes.” Gitae said as he took out some unfamiliar clothes from the shelf and started to dress you while he was still in a towel.

After you were fully dressed, he smiled at you and commented, “you look adorable, just like a doll.”

Afterwards, he got dressed and was finally wearing something other than just jeans. He was wearing black pants and a formal shirt. You thought he looked handsome in his outfit so you commented, “you look handsome, Gitae,” you giggled. He chuckled and planted light kisses on the top of your head.

You guys then went out and arrived at some nice and flashy building. It was weird at first, you couldn’t possibly fathom why he would do this. Either way, you just went it.

“Well?” Gitae suddenly spoke as you were sat across from him, in a nice restaurant.

“Thank you,” you replied as you looked around the secluded spot you guys were sat at.

Gitae sighed, “still not happy?” He frowned.

You simply looked at him, pouting. To which he pouted back at you mockingly.

The food eventually arrived and Gitae wanted you to try some of his rare practically live ass steak, so he fed you some of it with his fork. You made a dissatisfied face and he laughed at your reaction. He loves the way you react to absolutely anything, he finds it adorably irresistible.

“Thank you,” you said as you were about halfway done with your meal.

“I don’t care for words, you silly little girl. How about you just show me your appreciation after dinner?” He said with a smirk.

You didn’t take the hint and so you asked, “how?”

He laughed at your response, “I’ll give you a better idea once we’re in the car, and once were back in bed, you continue wherever we left off in the car.” Your eyes narrowed until you finally understood what he meant to which you looked at him with a pout while you were chewing your food.

“What kinds of food do you like?” Gitae suddenly asked as he looked at your food then at you.

You shrugged, “I’m not really picky, but I do have my preferences and dislikes.. For instance, that steak you’re eating or any sort of steak.”

He looked at his food, “it’s delicious, how could you not like it?”

“We have wayyyy different diets, I’ve seen you eat raw meats of all sorts you bastard.”

“Awh, how am I bastard?” He pouted, but deep inside he was amused and enjoying this.

“Because of your question about food! I suddenly had a flashback about my friend, whom you took a bite of!” You said, somewhat sarcastically because you know how moody Gitae is and you didn’t want him to get angry at you again.

He just laughed, “I remember that, she tasted alright too, I should’ve had seconds.” You rolled your eyes and he was only more amused and said, “but because of your whining and puffy eyes, I had no choice but to leave as soon as I finished the job. Such a pity.”

“Hey, would it kill you to have some remorse?” You said as you picked up some meat with your fork and lifted it up to his mouth.

“I don’t really like this, but it seems like something you’d like.” You said as he was chewing what you just gave him. He would never admit it, but you feeding him made him feel something.

“It tastes good, I thought you said you weren’t a picky eater?”

“I’m not,” you said as you grabbed more of that meat on your fork and fed a bunch of it to him. He was genuinely so happy inside and his amusement turned into butterflies because for once, you weren’t scared of him and he for some reason, cared about that pretty badly.

Your guys’ dinner date went on like normal, exchanging words and actually getting to know each other.

Eventually you felt the need to use the restroom so you mustered up the courage to ask permission to go.

“Gitae,” he turned his gaze over to you and mumbled in response.

“Could I use the women’s room, please?”

Gitae looked around, “I’m trusting you don’t need me to make sure that no stupid attempts of leaving will happen?” He asked sternly.

“Yes, I promise.”

“Fine then, go ahead but don’t take too long.” You nodded in response and excused yourself from the table.

And just as you said, you did go to the women’s room. And just as you promised, you came back right after. While you were making your way back to the table, you saw that Gitae was approached by two guys who he seemed to have known from somewhere.

You got back to the table and the two men that Gitae was talking to looked over to you. They looked to have been working in the casino area of the building.

One of them turned back to Gitae and said, “I see now why a guy like you is brought to a place like this. I’m guessing she’s your girlfriend, right?” You all looked at Gitae who replied with a smile, “yes, she is.”

“Damn, you’re one lucky guy. She’s gorgeous from top to bottom!” One of the guys exclaimed as he placed his hand on your shoulder, rubbing it intensely. Gitae stared at his hand then at him.

How dare he lay his hand on something I own? He’ll pay for even daring to look at what clearly isn’t his. Gitae thought to himself.

“Well, we’ve gotta get going now.. But you two enjoy your night, especially the pretty lady over here,” one of the guys said as he stroked your hair and then proceeded to walk away.

You turned over to Gitae who looked like his veins were popping out of his skull and his aura seemed to have changed. He then looked back at you and smiled, “don’t mind them, I’ll make sure to deal with them some other time. But not tonight, tonight’s supposed to be our night.” He tried to keep his composure.

“Right.. Who were they anyway? And must they be so touchy..?”

“They’re friends with some of the people I know, but they won’t be for long.” He said as he took the final bite of his food and placed his fork down.

It’s safe to say that those two were never seen again, and the police didn’t even open an investigation about the disappearances when it happened. Soon, the news about those two guys went cold and if anything, any trace or information of them was wiped out entirely.

notes: I did more than the request and added way more before the actual dinner date because im gonna be busy in the next few weeks so idk when I can post again, and because i have a bunch of Gitae requests, I thought I might as well and this is long asf, also i’ve got another gitae fic in progress 😭😭

- With or without proper credits, please don't try to steal or claim any of my works as your own

I genuinely appreciate opinions, feedback, likes, and reblogs

Once again, I hope this isn't too bad for a request, and l'Il be doing more characters in lookism so feel free to request!!

[cultivating-wildflowers]

Books of 2025 - April

Another quiet month wherein I said I would focus on reading instead of Other Things and then proceeded to not do that. The distraction got so bad that I had a run there where I was technically in the middle of six or seven books and not making much headway on any of them.

I did enjoy the books I ended up reading (even if I haven't finished some of them yet)! Unfortunately I'm in one of those moods where I'm Noticing Themes in, like, everything, which really slows down the process.

(I sent excerpts from several books to my sister, who had just finished beta-reading my manuscript, and her response was, "Oh wow. Ouch. How are you surviving this book??" and later just a lot of crying emojis. Girl, your guess is as good as mine.)

In further not-great news, I've barely touched the mountain of books I actually planned to read this year. It's becoming the year of the series instead.

Total books: 3  |  New reads: 3   |  2025 TBR completed: 0 (0 DNF) / 2/18 total   |   Total books read this year: 23

March | May

#1 - The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan - 5/5 stars (audio)

I read the first book in the Memoirs of Lady Trent series a little over a year ago and, while I enjoyed it apart from that emotionally-gutting twist, it didn't really leave an impression. It was only at the urging of @distance-does-not-matter and a few others that I have picked up the next book.

As those other reviews suggested, the series does pick up after the first installment. While I loved Brennan's descriptive writing in A Natural History of Dragons, The Tropic of Serpents felt more cohesive as a narrative. I really enjoy the tone of an older Lady Trent relaying to us the adventures of her younger self. The world Brennan paints is so vivid and absolutely teeming with life. This might have been easier to read than to listen to, given the volume of new names to learn, but I was able to follow it just fine.

And now, bribed with promises of friendships and a new romance, I'm eager to pick up the next book.

More like this: Weirdly, it kept reminding me of Beryl Markham's "West with the Night"? (Which I also read a year ago.) Possibly it was the combination of the setting and the autobiographical style. But I'll be honest, I also thought of Tarzan (1999) more than once.

#2 - Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 1 by Kanehito Yamada with Annaliese Christman - 4/5 stars

Found this at a bookstore while exploring Ann Arbor with Kenzie; recalled one of my mutuals mentioning the show; picked it up to check it out.

I went in completely blind on this one. The art style is fun and I love the perspective of a practically-immortal character learning to connect with the people around her. Absolutely adorable and delightful. I don't know that I'll immediately jump into the rest of the series (thankfully it's not very long) but I would like to read it eventually.

#3 - Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan - 4/5 stars (audio)

Very much a no-thoughts-head-empty sort of reading experience for me, in the best possible way. (Minus the amputation scene. I had to stop in the middle of vacuuming to grab my phone and skip it. I made many distressed noises while I did so. I may have cried.) The pacing felt somewhat disjointed after The Tropic of Serpents; so much happened and then we got to the (rather sudden) conclusion and I felt somewhat out of breath.

Drawing hearts all over the entire cast. Extra pink and purple glitter hearts for Suhail.

Currently Reading:

Kristin Lavransdatter, Part One: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset, tr. Tiina Nunnally - Note that I finally made up my mind to break this up into three books, as the series was originally published and as it's listed on Wikipedia. I am ALMOST finished with the first one! It's quick work once I settle down and pay attention. I just have to figure out how to settle down and pay attention.

The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff - I had to put this one down for a bit because it is simply much too depressing for me right now.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol 3 by Beth Brower - Lord knows why this book of all books is taking me so long to get through, but here we are.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I posted my art from a zine early?

I (23nb) joined a zine for a semi obscure 2000s manga/anime as a page artist with two of my friends. I enjoy this media but I don't really consider myself in the fandom, I only joined because one of my aforementioned friends is a huge fan of it and the other friend is also a casual enjoyer and we thought it would be fun if we all did a zine together.

However.

Most zines have a timeline of around 9-10 months from beginning to publishing but this one's been in production for almost 2 years. I've been in a few zines and this one has the worst organization I've ever seen in any project. The timeline on the discord only covered the first 5 months and had no estimate for how long the production would be, but a year and a half for publishing is pretty unheard of. The only check-in for progress that I remember didn't even require sending in your piece, you just had to say if you were finished or not and only a handful of the 30ish people on the discord responded lmao. Both of my friends ghosted at this point and the Singular mod (there might be two mods. I can't really tell) didn't dm them to see if they still wanted to participate or anything. Since there is only one person doing everything me and a few others have asked if they need any help and every time the mod(s) say that they're fine. every month or two someone will ask how the production is going and the mod will answer, and then another month goes by and the cycle repeats. I think the zine has finally gone into its “preorder interest check” stage (so not the actual preorder) but judging by how long everything takes i estimate that it'll be another 2 months at least before it actually goes into preorder. Its also never been clear if this is a free zine or if the sales will be donated to charity or distributed among the contributors. Since there's Allegedly going to be a physical copy it's gotta at least use the sales money to pay for production and shipping costs, but I have no idea if I'll be compensated with a physical copy or any money, especially if I do the thing that I might be TA for.

So here's my actual question. WIBTA if I posted the art I made for the zine before the mod says it's ok to do so? A big part of zine etiquette is that you do not post the final piece until the zine is finished, and the repercussions for someone who does range from a mod dming them to take it down or being kicked out of the zine entirely or in the absolute worst case, called out and blacklisted in the fandom and zine circles (I don't think anything that serious will happen to me but I have anxiety so I'm always imagining the worst thing) Most of the people on Tumblr in this fandom are kind of annoying fandom mom millennial types so I don't really want to deal with any possible backlash from them lol. If I just posted my art on Instagram idk if any of them would see it, but they Definitely would if I posted on Tumblr since the zine originated on there and it's such a small tag. I'm also so frustrated with the experience I kind of want to write something cunty in the description about how it's a zine piece for a zine that probably will never come out but I know that's just being petty and would probably invite drama. Also since I drew this thing a year and a half ago it's a little busted looking so I might redraw parts of it, so posting it would still be kinda shitty but it would technically be a different piece from the original one I submitted to the zine.

What are these acronyms?

[faroreskiss]

Unnatural Coincidences / Part 1

Parts 1 2 3 4 Epilogue

You have been in Hyrule for a while now, and some things just cannot stay hidden anymore.

General Info & Warnings: -This will be a four part story for now, with the last part (3&4) being the most explicit. There is a potential to expand the non-explicit parts, if there is interest. -If you are under 18, please do not read this. You have been warned. -Italic words like this mean the words in "your language", as they are speaking Hylian with each other. -Feel free to comment, if you think instead of (Y/N) this story should be written from first or second person POV (or it should be an OC) Pairing: Zelda x Fem!Reader x Link

It was another one of those early mornings, (y/n) has been hiking the mountains with Link before work, taking the scenery in. They stopped by the lake, and looked at how the sun sparkled on top of the water. This was simply unreal.

That’s because it wasn’t. At least, not from her point of view.

Around 3 years ago, she has somehow ended up in post-calamity BotW world, with most of her knowledge from our own world intact. It wasn’t that long that she came across Link and Zelda, who are living together but are not together (though one could absolutely feel the vibes there). Everybody has their own room in that house.

It is another story for another time, but those three are quite close now. She is now working together with Zelda & Purah, researching the history of Hyrule all the way back to Creation, publishing papers together and recording the knowledge. Link is technically still a knight, though the castle’s renovations are not quite there yet after the fight with Ganon.

“Heh, never seen a lake before? You seem quite amazed.”

Link didn’t speak that much unprompted, but when he did it always had a flavor. She chuckled, she absolutely had a crush on him but thought it was unfair. She had a crush on a fictional character, who absolutely had feelings for Zelda. It probably didn’t count, no? Not like she can’t enjoy a bit of harmless flirting every now and then either way.

“It just looks so beautiful, I’m also kind of tired after a 10 km hike up here. Not everybody has your stamina wheels and strong… bottom muscles, Mr. Hero.” she made a gesture, but did not stare, at his ass.

He did not register it at first.

“My bottom wha-… You creep!” he laughed.

Link and Zelda got used to the way she was talking. When they first met, they didn’t even understand a word she said, literally. She didn’t speak any Hylian, them being who they are (and Zelda also having scientific curiosity), they taught her Hylian, and with a little bit of help from the Great Fairies, enhanced her learning abilities to speed up the process. It was quite obvious for them that she had an idea about the world they live in, and more.

They know that (y/n) is from another ‘dimension’ (not that hard to believe for them I suppose, with all the magic and science simply existing together in this realm). They were the ones who found her in the Temple of Time, but the part that she knows them from a video game series, has not been discussed… yet. She wasn’t actively trying to hide it either though. So there was still trust between them.

She is thinking of breaking it to them at some point. There hasn’t been a big quest of “sending her back”, though she is sure Zelda has her own agenda, and Link is probably in on it. Good thing about them, they don’t pry if they feel like they are making you uncomfortable. They probably also do feel that you are hiding something from them, though.

“Aaaah, I’m just SO looking forward to this evening though!” she said while getting up and stretching.

“Wine and Lon Lon cheese at the cottage? Of course.” Link also got up and started filling his water pouch. “And having Purah create a game on the Slate. Can’t wait to try it!*”

Oh how cute he was trying to pronounce unfamiliar words.

“That, and how you and Zelda are going to act with each other after some booze gets into your system.”

(Y/N) giggled and Link was kind of red on top of his pointy ears. There must have been something off however, as what she said made Link stop for a second and looked seriously at her face, as if she… looked hurt.

“Something on my face?”

“(y/n)…”

“It’s OK, Link. I’m not blind. I can see how you look at her.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Nothing is that complicated, silly. If I were on the top of the Central Hyrule Tower, I could still see it from there without the scope. Still don’t get why you don’t tell her. So I’m hoping some wine would help. Or should I tell her?”

Meanwhile she started walking back down the path. The path was extremely steep.

“No!” he snapped and held her arm firmly to stop her. She has NEVER seen him snap before. Nobody did. He was the embodiment of self control. 

She was quite startled, so while yanking her arm off from Link’s grasp, she ended up tripping backwards on the slope. Link ended up catching her right on time to protect her head, but they rolled up a little bit down on the path, till they hit a tree to stop them. Thank Farore.

Now Link was on top of her, staring right into her eyes, intensely. It was… uncomfortably close. His knee was actually kind of between her thighs. If only it moved a bit more up... Oh Hylia, she was supposed to think of survival, but all she could think of was how the current situation could be something completely different right now.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“N-no I don’t think so. Are you…”

“I’m fine.”

They were both already breathing heavily from the fall. (Y/n) more so, she didn’t have the personal fitness level he had. Why did it feel as if they were getting even closer? Was this breathing certainly from all the rolling?

“Hey…” she spoke softly.

“Sorry, I kind of snapped.” He was still not moving from where he was, and the stare was still not broken. She knew she was supposed to say something, move or wiggle around. She felt so selfish. Link and Zelda belonged together. She shouldn’t get in between them. What if it affects the future of Hyrule or something? But again, not like there is a rule that they end up together anyway…

“It’s OK, Link. But what’s going on?”

“You mean that I am dense, but so are you.” he seemed serious. Oh Goddesses, why was he still on top of her?

“What?”

“You are right. I do have feelings for Zelda.”

It felt like a bucket of cold water trickling down from her head to her heart. She knew this, but it was never said out loud. Maybe a part of her did want to have something with him. But this, this felt like even that bridge was burned. Pandora’s box was opened. Her eyes started to water.

“News flash.”

“What?”

“Nothing, some dirt got into my eyes..” she broke the stare and looked at the side.

“(y/n), look at me.” he moved her head gently back to the center. She wasn’t able to speak. She didn’t know what to say. How can she ever explain it to him?

“Don’t.” (y/n) somehow managed to weakly get it out from her mouth. He stopped. The stare didn’t. He was staring into her soul. Trying to get some words out. Could it be that he…?

“But (y/n), I also…” he started. This, this was getting unbearable. For both of them it seemed. Still, she didn’t let him finish the sentence. So what, not like ZeLink was ever totally canon anyway? This is Legend of Zelda, everybody has their interpretation, right? But.. He was so close, his eyes were piercing through her (e/c) ones. Her hair was touching the grass, his leg between hers felt even closer to her center. She could swear, maybe it touched a little bit. She noticed his face was also red. No, it must be wind and cold. She was getting lost in her thoughts. She was going to take the gamble that Link was trying to say something good. At least, she could at least experience this in her life here. This selfish moment, she wanted for herself.

“Ah, fuck it!”

She pulled him into a kiss. Link did not even flinch at first.

...and then he started kissing her back.

She put her hands in his head, gently moving her fingers through his hair. His leg finally, albeit involuntarily, moved up, his knee brushing right between her legs. A silent yet soft moan escaped her. She could feel his smirk through the kiss. She took advantage and rolled him on his back, ending on top of him, using one of her hands on the tree behind them for balance at first. He pulled her in close once again and started kissing her neck and coming back to her lips. His hands were slowly circling her back. Still keeping it safe, what a gentleman. A gentleman with a bulge directly growing under her very lady-like parts. For her to feel.

This was also the wake-up call for her. She broke the kiss and looked at him. They were both panting. She finally crossed her legs to get off of him and quickly got up. They couldn’t look at each other in the eye. Link also got up.

“We… we should go.” she said, looking over the path down, pretending to fix her cloak.

“Y-yeah. You need to go to the lab, right?”

“Yes.”

They started walking down the path.

She was feeling quite conflicted, but damn, it felt so good. She wanted more. HE wanted more. Alas, there was sincerely no time. They had to talk about this later.

[defira85]

FIC WRITING REVIEW 2024

Thank you to @iapetusneume for tagging me!

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some qualitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please don’t eat glass but don’t feel like you have to do this either. Artists and gif makers, please also join in with any quantitative or qualitative stats or facts you want to share about your year.

Words and Fics

6 fics published

411, 630 words (yeah baby we're BACK)

Top 3 Pairings Relationships

The Dark Urge/Enver Gortash

Gale Dekarios/Female!Tav

on a technicality for having the most chapters written about them in a multi-character fic, Astarion Ancunin/Female!Tav which I am a little annoyed at myself for. That boy has plenty of fics about him, I need to do better

Top 5 by Comments

Keep Telling Me To Breathe (177 threads, 376 total)

A Heart As Cold As Ice (68 threads, 127 total)

(And So) My Heart Became a Void (58 threads, 113 total)

Not All That Glitters (37 threads, 78 total)

A Girl Called Midnight (10 threads, 20 total)

Top 5 by Kudos

Keep Telling Me To Breathe (270)

A Heart As Cold As Ice (71)

Not All That Glitters (49)

I Love You, Franc (34)

(And So) My Heart Became a Void (30) TIED WITH:

A Girl Called Midnight (30)

Top 5 by Hits

Keep Telling Me To Breathe (6851)

A Heart As Cold As Ice (1257)

Not All That Glitters (807)

(And So) My Heart Became a Void (739)

I Love You, Franc (219)

KTMTB really is the monster outlier fic huh. It's my Spiders Georg

Fandom Events in 2024

Gortash Week July 2024 - what an absolute blast this was. So much good stuff that week! Excellent fics! Amazing art! Great edits! Good good friends! I had so much fun with this week AND managed to post my first three entries while undergoing a monstrous day of travel from Alaska to Vancouver to Brisbane and then home.

Gortoween 2024 - My plans for fic didn't pan out BUT I did post one of my first ever big art projects, reimagining Gortash and my Durge Kassara in the movie Constantine

BG3 Villianmas - Another event where I tried my hand at art instead of writing! I threw together four pieces in total for the Villain Christmas prompts, and to the surprise of nobody it was all Gortash art

BG3 Winter Big Bang - This one is in progress, but I signed up last year and I had my first check in a few weeks ago. I'm being overly ambitious and attempting fic AND art, we'll see how much that shoots me in the foot haha

Writing Reflection

I rediscovered myself this last year thanks to BG3. I really do feel like I was in a creative coma for four years which, valid, life has been incredibly traumatic as a health care worker since 2020 for obvious reasons. And not just writing but learning how to be an artist as well!

It's not just that I rediscovered HOW to write again and found my motivation, but I fell in love with the act of being creativity and the joy of writing, and more than that, I fell in love with fandom as a community again. Making new friends, being brave enough to message people. Persevering with posting even when it felt like I was talking to the void in the early days (we've all talked a lot about how fandom has changed so I won't rehash it here) and trying to help shut that void up for other people.

I'd like to have time to read more fics in 2025, and continue to engage in community. It's been incredibly invigorating taking part in events again, I haven't done it in over a decade and I'm just so delighted by it

I want to do the Friday Reviews thing that I reblogged earlier, and uplift more writers. I want to do more art, learn how to do actual lineart instead of painting everything because it takes so fucking long. And I hope to bring a little bit of joy and excitement to others that the last year has brought to me

Tagging @flamemittens @elinorbard (did you already do this one? I can't remember) @chronurgy @sankttealeaf and anyone else who feels confident enough to share their stats with the class! Be brave!

[skittidyne]

Hii!! I hope you’re having a great day/night! I’m rereading bbac for the third time (I think this is one of the few select fanfics I have to read every few years just to relive the first time I read it) and I never tire from how in awe I always get with each chapter. When I found out you had turned it into an original story, I was (and still am) ecstatic!! I’ll have to find a way to get my hands on it ><! I hope it’s okay to still bring up bbac after— wow, nearly a decade since it first got published on ao3 O.O

Maybe you had answered a similar or the exact question before, and if you had, please do direct me there! If not, I just wanted to ask: How did you plan this entire story? The plot is so rich in mythology and horror elements, especially from various cultures and countries, and you weaved them so beautifully into a harmonious picture with your own take on magic and witchcraft. I had commented years ago in the middle of my first read that bbac is the reason why I’ve come to enjoy magic/fantasy as a genre in fiction, and I’ve been dipping my toes into them since as a media consumer and artist. However, there’s only so much input and output that could happen and I do get overwhelmed by the info I find. So it boggles my mind whenever I wonder how you wrote bbac because it flows so naturally, especially for readers who are not familiar with such elements (it’s me, I’m readers). It’s literally the perfect example of show, don’t tell without excessive exposition.

Have you always been interested in and inspired by myths, horror and etc? How much research did you do before/as you were writing? If you’re comfortable with sharing your methods, that is.

Thank you so much! ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽���)o .｡.:*☆

first off, thank you!! it's so nice to receive something like this - words cannot describe the !!!! my heart did!

also, i'm SUPER gratified that bbac holds up to rereads!

don't tell me how long it's been tho

so waaaaay back when, i started bbac with 3.5 things in mind (spoilers for bbac endgame!): necromancer suga, stop the apocalypse plot, kiyoko being the one responsible for the final god, and ensemble cast. actually, in addition to the ensemble cast (believe it or not i hadn't written multiple subplots like that before!) i did specifically want to NOT spoonfeed information, so i very specifically withheld myself from doing so. and it means i succeeded in the show, don't tell, so yaaaaay

but seriously, as to how a huge project like bbac (and originale, now!) came to be... man. it was a lot of vibes, a lot of "what if XYZ, that'd be funny/cool", and some very cool friends i made along the way. also, alcohol. i don't recommend that part as much as i recommend the others.

it was very much a case of "this is cool!!" and throwing it all into a big mixing pot and shaking it. which is technically what all writing is, i just did it with highly concentrated tropes like "goopy shadow demon" and "angels are monsters, too".

i've always been a fan of fantasy setting with a big, worldwide-feeling scale, plus i was living in america (in several different places) writing fanfic about a japanese creation, so there was already incentive to do grabby hands at all kinds of mythologies. also, like many writers, i'm prone to falling down the research rabbit hole. whoops.

i HAVE always been interested in aesthetic horror, though it was only in the last decade or so that i have been able to actually watch horror movies. (i've been able to read horror forever!) i also enjoyed using lesser-known mythologies and delving further into more widely known ones (I WAS BASICALLY FLUENT IN R'LYEHIAN FOR WAY TOO LONG), but it was very much a case of research as i write. so very, very little was planned out from the start, because i'm not a planner.

bonus fun fact: i also originally thought bbac would be like 100k. ha. ha ha.

bbac was also a case in "what i DON'T want to write" - as an example, i very specifically wanted to NOT write werewolves and vampires! they're ubiquitous in fantasy already and i already wrote my werewolf fic so while i did mentally plot out where/how they'd fit into that world, i wanted to explore other things instead. and i did! for a lot of words!

in reworking the fic into an original series (please partake! ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿) i did also rework some of the mythologies i dug into. some were minor fixes, some were more major. (for example, there is no longer a skinwalker in originale, as it's not my place to use those and i don't know as much about navajo/dine as i ought to. but now there's 100% more old norse and 50% more lakota!) but the broad strokes of the plot are still the same. there is still a dragon migration. there is still the dreamlands. (HALF OF LOVECRAFT'S STUFF IS PUBLIC DOMAIN COME AT ME) the gods are new but there's still 3 of them. (or are there) there is, somehow, even more french.

in an ideal world, i also rework the notes i've taken into a creature compendium type thing and also publish it, because sometimes writers DO like telling in addition to the showing, haha.

[ganbaramen]

Link! Like! LoveLive! SPECIAL STAFF INTERVIEW

[This interview was published online on the G's Channel website, and is print in the Link! Like! LoveLive! FIRST FAN BOOK, released Dec 27, 2023.]

The Hasunosora Jogakuin School Idol Club is a group of virtual school idols that made their striking debut in April this year. How did their fan engagement app “Link! Like! LoveLive!” come about? Fujimoto Yoshihiro and Sato Kazuki discuss the app’s origin and what they think about the project.

It’s all about enjoying Love Live!—! The untold story behind the birth of the fan engagement app LLLL

—The smartphone app “Link! Like! LoveLive!” (which we’ll refer to as “LLLL”), celebrated its six-month anniversary in November. Let’s look back on the past six months and discuss the birth of LLLL. To start us off, could you two tell us about your roles in developing this app?

Sato: I’m Sato Kazuki from CERTIA, a producer for this app. I’ve worked for game companies as a planner and director, and now I’m a self-directed game producer. From arcade games to consumer software to apps, my path has involved a variety of media. I’ve been following Love Live! as a fan since the µ’s era, and became a producer for Hasunosora’s game after being consulted for a Love Live! app where the members stream.

Fujimoto: I’m Fujimoto Yoshihiro from Bandai Namco Filmworks, and I’m also a producer for LLLL. I started with the desire to make a Love Live! smartphone game.

***

—LLLL’s official start of service was May 20, 2023, but I heard that the road there was quite long. Could you talk about that?

Fujimoto: If we want to start from when development began…. we’ll have to go back to 5 years ago.

Sato: A big part of the appeal of Love Live! comes from these school idols being independent and putting their souls into it as a club activity, so there is a certain kind of enjoyment and emotional payoff from supporting them.

If you insert a “player” who can essentially play god into this, it inevitably feels like a mismatch. Then wouldn’t it be great to turn that idea on its head and instead have an app where you support these independent idols? And streaming would be a great match for that. As we worked out this concept where you cheer on the members as just another fan, this “school idol fan engagement app” took form.

—What led up to integrating motion capture into the app?

Sato: From the very beginning, we had decided that virtual concerts and streams would use 3D models. The development team already had the know-how for streaming with 3D models, so of course we were going to use them.

The key idea is to have the virtual concerts, live streams, and story intimately linked to make the entire experience real-time, so we decided it would be best to have them appear in the same form in both the streams and the activity log (story), which is why the story also uses 3D models. The visuals should be precisely linked so we carefully animated the story with 3D models.

Fujimoto: It is quite rare for the cast to also do motion capture, but it was necessary to realize the vision that Sato-san has described. Yes, it would technically be doable to have the cast only voice the characters and instead have actors do the motion capture, but that would be a lot less palatable.

Sato: It certainly feels a lot more real when the cast is both voicing and moving their characters. The fact that this project is a part of the Love Live! series helped a lot in being able to implement this. The cast loves Love Live!, and it’s because of how much the project staff and cast members put into this that we could make it a reality.

—As an example of this hard work: the cast had intense training on motion and talking, with lessons and rehearsals starting about a year before the app was released.

Sato: In both the live streams and virtual concerts, the cast do the motion capture, in real-time too! Even now, this fact isn’t well-known, or rather, it seems like there are a lot of people who think “No way they go that far!”. Yes, the cast do it themselves!

—So why does doing it in real-time make it good?

Sato: What a pointed question! (laughs)

Fujimoto: What’s important depends on what you value. What we’re aiming for is the feeling of a real concert.

Sato: Putting it concisely, the feeling that it’s live is very important to LLLL. It seems to me that the feeling of being live has recently been highly valued, not just in concerts but in the entertainment industry as a whole. We can look back on works of the past whenever we want through subscription services and the like, so following something now has its own appeal that can evoke a certain zeal. Bearing witness to this moment in history is now viewed as being more significant than it used to be. That’s why we maximize that feeling of being live by having the cast do the motion capture and by streaming in real-time. We felt that those two points are essential.

—So rather than just being parts of the concept, these are essential to the project.

Sato: At one point, we considered doing only the talk and MC in real-time, while having the performance part be recorded. But because we want to get at the heart of the pleasure of having it be real-time, we couldn’t make that compromise.

Actually, the cast do occasionally hit the wrong notes or mess up their dance formations, but these are little things that signal that it’s live—in fact, such happenings can increase how real it feels, which can make the performance feel special if you approach it with the right mindset.

***

—Can I ask about the Fes×LIVE production, like the camerawork, lighting, and outfits? It feels like the production value goes even higher every time.

Fujimoto: I think that’s probably because, just like how the Hasunosora members are growing, the staff is as well, going further each time after saying things like “For the next performance, I want more of this!”.

Sato: Things like flying over the stage or swapping outfits in the instant that the lighting changes—we won’t do those. A core principle is that we aim for a production that matches what school idols would do and constrain ourselves to portray what’s possible in reality.

***

—The story following school idols at a school steeped in tradition—that’s a new challenge, too.

Sato: We had certain reasons for setting this at a school with a long history—so long that this year is the 103rd. There’s this common image of streamers debuting as no-names, and then working their way up to become more popular. But if Hasunosora were like that, the fact that there would be a lot of fans from the beginning would make it very unrealistic. After all, there’s no way your average rookie streamer could be like “This is my first stream!” and yet have 5000 viewers. (laughs)

We thought hard about how to resolve this in a way that makes sense. Then, we figured out that it would work to have a tradition-laden school that was already a “powerhouse”. So in the end, we made it a point to have the school be a powerhouse with a history of having won Love Live! before.

—So the school already had fans following it, with high expectations for the new school idols: Kaho and the other first years.

Sato: Yeah, it’s meant to be like one of those schools that are regular contenders at Koshien, the national high school baseball championship.

—The world-building is done so thoroughly that such an answer could be arrived at pretty quickly.

Sato: We consulted with many people, starting with the writer team, about implementing the concepts that we mentioned before—having the cast do motion capture to maximize the live feeling, and doing the streams in real-time.

In the beginning, there was a lot of resistance to the idea of trying to successfully operate an app while constructing the story and streams such that there would be no contradictions between them. If you do streams in real-time, such contradictions can certainly arise—you have to work out the setting in quite a lot of detail, and even then, things can happen that are impossible to predict.

But my thinking was always that this is doable if we adjust how often we synchronize the story and streams. I think it’s impossible to stream every day and release a new story every day. But on the other side of the spectrum, if we were to write a year’s worth of story ahead of time, and then do however many streams within that year, that would certainly be doable. 

Following that line of thought, in the early stages, we had a lot of discussion about how often we could do streams, searching for the limit of what would be possible to implement. As a compromise, we arrived at the system of fully synchronizing once a month. For each month, we can keep the setting relatively flexible, not setting everything precisely in stone until the month is over. We thought that a monthly frequency should make it possible to both maintain the charm of the story and implement streams.

But right now we’re streaming three times a week, so there end up being a lot of things like “they shouldn’t know this yet” or “this event hasn’t happened yet”. It feels like putting together a complicated puzzle.

Fujimoto: There’s one aspect that we haven’t made clear before—I don’t think there are many people that have realized it. It’s that the talk streams are the furthest along in the timeline, while the story shows what has already happened. It’s not that the story happens on the day that we update it, but rather that the story describes what happened up to that day. People who have realized this have probably read quite closely.

Sato: That’s why it’s called the “activity log”. The With×MEETS serve the important role of synchronization between what happened in the activity log—the world of the story—with reality, so we carefully prepare for them each time.

—That makes sense! One nice thing is that if you keep up with the With×MEETS in real-time, then watch the Fes×LIVE, it feels like keeping up paid off—”Good thing I watched the With×MEETS!”.

Fujimoto: It would be great if our efforts got through to everyone enjoying LLLL.

—If you set things up that carefully, it must be difficult when irregularities happen. In August, several cast members had to take a break to recover from COVID-19, causing many With×MEETS to be canceled. How did you deal with that?

Sato: The silver lining of that period was that it avoided the most critical timing. If that had been off by even a week… it might not have been possible to recover from that. This project always has this feeling of tension, because there is no redoing things.

***

Tackling the Love Live! Local Qualifiers! The culmination of the story put viewers on the edges of their seats!!

—On how people have reacted to LLLL: was there anything that went exactly as planned, and on the other hand, was there anything that defied your expectations?

Fujimoto: To bring up a recent event, the Love Live! Local Qualifiers in October very much stood out. There was tension all around—even I was nervous about how it would go. The feeling that “these girls really are going to take on this challenge, at this very moment”. It was like watching the championship of the World Baseball Classic… Well, maybe that’s an overstatement, but an atmosphere similar to that. I’m really happy that we managed to create such an atmosphere with the cast and everyone who participated as a user.

Sato: Not just in sports, but also in the world of anime or fiction, there is definitely a certain excitement that arises when you “witness” something. Bearing witness to the moment that “drama” is born produces an impulse, something that hits deep. This is not something that can be produced in an instant. Rather, such an overwhelming concentration of passion can come about only because so much has happened up to that point.

That’s why, aiming for “that moment”, we first have people experience the Hasunosora members’ existence and reality day after day. After having connected with the members and viscerally felt the sense of being in sync with their “now”, something new will be born…

The closest we’ve gotten to an atmosphere of tension that’s as close as possible to the real thing is what Fujimoto-san just mentioned, the Love Live! Local Qualifiers. I think part of why that was such an “incredible” event was the weight of everything that happened in the Love Live! series up to that point.

—Is there anything else from the fans’ reactions and the like that was unexpected?

Fujimoto: For the talk streams, we have a system where everyone can write comments in real-time. Some users go all in on the setting and act as if they’re in that world.

Sato: The characters are not aware that their everyday lives can be observed in the story, so these users adhere to the rule of not talking about anything that’s only depicted in the story, commenting as if they don’t know what happened there. And if you do that, your comment might get read. So you really can be a participant in the performance. We were surprised at just how many people were earnestly participating like that.

—It’s like making a fan work in real-time, or rather, it’s like playing a session of a tabletop RPG.

Sato: I think what we’re doing here is very much like a game. It’s the “role-playing” of a tabletop RPG taken to an extreme, a pillar of a certain kind of “game”, or maybe more like a participatory form of entertainment.

—Oh, I see! It’s as if we’ve returned to the classic reader participation projects of Dengeki G’s magazine, which is kind of touching.

[Translator’s note: Love Live! originated from Sunrise collaborating with the Dengeki G’s magazine editorial department, bringing Lantis in for music.]

Sato: Yes, indeed. In the era of magazine participatory projects, the back-and-forth would have several months in between. In comparison, a real-time system makes it easier to participate, which I think is a significant and useful advancement. For now, in the first year, it feels like we’ve been grasping in the dark while trying to do the best with what we have. But we’re thinking about how best to adjust the frequency and volume of activities from here on.

Fujimoto: Also, the users have largely figured out all the hints we cooked in!

Sato: They’ve been looking in quite some detail. (laughs) Our cooking has paid off.

***

—Is there any challenge that LLLL is taking on anew?

Sato: Going back to what I said at the beginning, I was a huge fan of µ’s, so I started by trying to analyze and put into words just what made me so attracted to, so crazy about them. 

A big part of the charm was that it involved youth and a club activity, so by following their story and cheering them on, you could vicariously re-live the passion of those three years in high school. So I wanted to make it so that you could re-live that experience of youth in depth.

My goal is to have it feel so overwhelmingly real—through LLLL’s real-time nature—that you can unwittingly delude yourself into the sense that you’re re-living your high school years.

Fujimoto: If we’re talking about a new challenge, maybe it’d be good to touch on how frequent the interactions are.

For example, let’s consider a one-cour anime. No matter how much you’d like to keep watching it, it ends after three months. Even if it turns out there’s a continuation, you’ll have to wait before you can watch that.

In contrast, if we turn to virtual content, people are streaming three times a week on YouTube. In that vein, what we’re aiming for with this project is this: you can follow this group you like throughout that limited time between matriculation and graduation, and during that time they’ll always be there for you to meet.

***

—Some people are expecting an anime as one of the future mixed-media developments. To put it bluntly, what do you think about that?

Sato: What we are doing right now with Hasunosora would not work outside the structure of an app. As mentioned before, it’s not quite a tabletop RPG but rather a participatory form of entertainment, and it’s that structure that allows fans to experience the true spirit of the Hasunosora Jogakuin School Idol Club.

—So for now, we should experience it through the streams in the app! Is that what you’re saying?

Fujimoto: Exactly. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that LLLL is a project to make you fall for these girls throughout their streams—that’s how much effort we’re putting into it.

Sato: Starting LLLL by going through the story and then participating in the With×MEETS streams might be more common, but you can also start enjoying it in a novel way by just jumping into the latest With×MEETS stream. The members’ engagement with the comments has been especially noticeable in the most recent streams—it feels like a symbiotic relationship.

***

—Finally, a word for those who are looking forward to the project’s future.

Sato: I can confidently say that LLLL is a new experience made possible because of the times we live in. Because of that, it is very high-context, so it’s hard to explain how it will make you feel or what kind of game it is—you must play it to understand. We are very aware of how much of a hurdle this is, and how it might be difficult to get a grasp on if you start later.

But if you’re willing to take that first step into the world of LLLL, we promise to bring you content that is worth following. So to those reading this interview: please do consider trying it out once, even if it’s with a window-shopping mindset.

Fujimoto: Hasunosora’s story can only happen because of everyone watching. We hope you’ll keep supporting us!

Sato: We’ve prepared plenty of tricks up our sleeves for the end of the school year in March, so please look forward to it!

Credits

Translation: ramen Translation check: xIceArcher Various suggestions: Yahallo, Yujacha, zura

[readingloveswounds]

Hello! I just wanted to get your opinion on something, since I feel like you have one foot in US academia and one foot in European (at least French) academia...

I'm currently doing my PhD in Comparative Literature at a university in Northern Europe. I did a Master's beforehand, and I've been working on my PhD for four years now, fully funded, and I’ll be defending it in a few months. I haven't had any obligations beyond working on my dissertation (I gave a couple of lectures because I wanted to and the professors welcomed it). I've published a couple papers and regularly present at conferences.

I have a friend I met at a conference who’s doing their PhD in the US. They went straight into the PhD after their BA. They've been in the program for six years, but because of coursework and teaching requirements, they’ve only been working on their dissertation for about a year and a half. They’re defending around the same time as me and they signed a job contract two months ago (US university).

What boggles my mind is: first, how can someone only work on their dissertation for one or two years and second, land a job before even submitting it? Meanwhile, I’ve been researching and writing for years, have publications, and yet no university in Europe will even consider my application before I defend. How can these two systems be so different?

Hi!

You are definitely looking at two very different systems - I had to change how I talked about the PhD when I was in France because saying I was in my fourth year, while true, made no sense to people there - instead, the phrasing was première année de thèse (first year dissertating).

I'll talk about the program differences first and then the job aspect. This is going to be very long, apologies.

the tl;dr is: program structure sets us up to have already been thinking about the project for a while before writing and the job market is so insane in the US that you have to start early (imo).

Other perspectives are definitely welcome!

Program

I will say that while 6 years is somewhat common for humanities PhD's - or at least what is generally projected for people - there are a lot of people who go beyond 6 years. I'm graduating with people who finished in 7 and 10. 10 is usually the max amount of years they'll let you be in the program without extenuating circumstances (someone a few years ago had a baby, for example), so you do get a range. There's definitely pressure to finish in 5, generally from the school and because that's when funding ends and you have to apply for further fellowships - though end of funding is pretty universal, having met some PhDs from England and Germany with similar stresses.

This may be redundant, but just for everyone watching: the PhD in the US is (typically) a combined Master and PhD. Some programs make the Master an MPhil but it's the same principle. This is why people can "master out" of a PhD program, which means they leave the program prior to the prospectus, but having completed coursework and exams such that they can be awarded an MA or MPhil.

It's also why people can do what your friend (and I) did, which is go directly from a BA to a PhD, as opposed to in Europe, where it's just not set up to do this - you have to get your Master somewhere first. That said, most people in my program got a Master before entering the PhD - there's usually 5 post-MAs and 1 post-BA in a full cohort for the program. The post-MA's still get the MA as part of the PhD, but they may be able to complete coursework faster by transferring credits (this is starting to get technical, so I'll leave it there) and thus not having to take so many classes.

There are also several steps within that process that mean that while you're only writing for a few years, you've probably been at least thinking about the dissertation for a good long time. My program does: 1. a first-year exam - this is more about breadth but gets you ready and makes you think about where you might want to focus more, whether period- or theory-wise 2. qualifying exams during the third year - for these, we make 3 reading lists. one is specifically based on the research you want to do, so it's pre-prep for the prospectus and the dissertation.

For me, the research list meant that I had already read pretty extensively in my area of focus, so while I had to do more reading for my dissertation, I had a good place to start. It also made deciding on my corpus a lot simpler.

So with all this, you will have been having ideas for years during coursework, will have created a pretty good base during Qualifying Exams and the prospectus, so you can just launch into the dissertation like that. If you can then work steadily on it, you can get it done in two years (three is common, which brings us up to about the same amount of writing time as UK PhD programs, if that helps). If you get stuck or life happens or something like that, it can absolutely take longer, and often does. I was lucky because I got fellowships to essentially go to the library and write every day, which meant that I could finish in 5 (aka 1.5 years of writing) - but had I needed to teach, it would have taken much longer.

It may also be the length. My dissertation is long for my department - long enough that I cut a chapter. My chapters are about 20k words each, and the final, formatted document comes out to 300 pages, which is the upper range of what my department suggests. Most people aim for four 50-page chapters (this is what my advisor told me to aim for at first, before we agreed on 70). I think the 200 page minimum is similar in France, but it occurred to me just now that they may be writing on A4 paper settings and we're writing on letter - this actually makes a pretty significant difference in length. And having read peoples' published theses (French), those things can be long. There is definitely a lot more writing of the thesis to be a book from the start in France at least, while the US thesis is not expected to immediately look like a book.

Jobs

What you're bringing up is something I've talked about a little with my French committee members - for them, it's kind of wild that I started applying for jobs even before I had submitted my dissertation.

It definitely makes you more of a wild-card to not have defended or submitted yet - most job postings for Professor positions (Lecturer positions are different) say you need a degree in hand by August (i.e. the start of the school year you'd be teaching in) and some will require you to have a defense date scheduled for them to consider you. I really only got interviews after I had a scheduled defense date and especially after I defended. It is possible to get hired for a tenure track position pre-defense and without any publications (they had submitted work but nothing under review and a lot of conference work). That is, however, not the norm and was wild to hear about.

I don't know exactly why we do it like this, but I suspect it's because of just how saturated the market is. Europe's job market isn't ideal either, but I know for a fact a tenure-track job at a state university raked in thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of applications for one position, so I think it's just that you're going to get rejected so many times that you have to start early. We have so many damn PhD's and everyone's pretty well qualified.

While we can apply to jobs (and pretty much have to) pre-defense, in reality, committees are usually going to prefer the more "sure" options, which is those who have defended already or who are definitely on track to do so, making it a de-facto but not stated means of sorting. (I can't say this with a ton of certainty but given my own experience this seems to be at least somewhat true).

I do also think that the type of position matters as well - what I got is a Visiting Assistant Professor position. It's a year-long contract, so the risk they are taking with hiring a baby PhD is a lot less than if it was a multi-year or tenure track job. There's...a whole lot of VAP positions out there because even if it sucks turnover-wise, it's likely cheaper to the university to do that instead of hiring actual TT professors (this is also why we have a million adjuncts who are not well-paid or well-protected). This, of course, is more time spent for the professors in the department and doesn't give students continuity, but the administration doesn't care about that (cynical view).

This may not fully answer your question, but hopefully at least zooms in on the US system a little bit! There's different priorities at work and our training is very different. I didn't even talk about teaching, but that plays a role too - we are confirmed to at least have some teaching experience (even if we aren't good teachers) before finishing the program, so we are "ready" to teach once hired.

[kodokberjamur]

AHHH HUGE FAN OF YOUR WRITING your fics were actually my introduction to Trey/Jade as a ship (still pretty new to the fandom) and I absolutely adore the way you characterize both of them.

I’m curious, how would you say your workflow is when you’re writing? You publish new works/chapters so quickly I’m honestly impressed lmao.

AHHH THANK YOU!!! <3333 M-my fic introduced you to TreyJade? JSHDKSHDJ then, I hope I did them both justice!!! Welcome to TWST~ I hope you've been enjoying the game!!

Hmmm... My workflow? I think it'd be better if I gave you the steps...

More below the cut!!

Step One: Take a Shower

It doesn't matter what time it is. It doesn't matter if you've already taken a shower. When it comes to searching for ideas, shower thoughts are your best friend!! Just forget everything else, hop into the shower, and let yourself get lost in your thoughts. Throw all the weight from your shoulders, and take as long as you need in the shower. Let yourself... imagine. And maybe let yourself punch the wall a few times when you get a particularly genius, an adorably cute, or a perfectly angsty idea. I always get bursts of ideas during my showers!! As soon as you're done, rush to your notes and write everything down before you forget!! It doesn't matter if your ideas are coherent or not—if it's directly tied to the fic you want to write. Write it all down!!! You don't know when your ideas can come in handy!!

Step Two: Write Your Outline

After I have my main ideas sorted out, I write a mini outline for how I want my scenes to go. This includes the general vibe I'm going for, the key moments and theme, character interactions, dynamics, POVs, etc. Just go ham! Be as messy as you'd like! What matters is that you have a grounding point that'd help you with your writing.

Step Three: Start Writing the Fic

Here, you don't have to think about how messed up the grammar is and how butchered the vocabularies are. When you let yourself loose, the words will come to you way easier. Just don't think about the technicalities here! I usually do this part in one go—which usually takes up hours of my day. This is why I tend to post my fics quickly. I'm more of a do-everything-at-once person... and that is also how I usually do my work. I tend to hyperfocus, LOL. I wouldn't recommend doing something like that, though. Focus on your priorities first!! You can do this step little by little, I'm just the kind of person that finds it easier to get things done in one go.

Step Four: Start Editing Your Draft

This is the part that tends to take the longest for me. You want to go back to the beginning of your draft and reread it without touching it yet. Then, you make adjustments to the grammar, vocabularies, pacing, dialogues—everything. I like to take multiple breaks as I go during this step; because I like to reread everything multiple times until I'm satisfied. This part would be way easier with a beta reader—but I don't have a beta reader, so... LOL I do find enjoyment in reading my own draft thoroughly, though!

Step Five: Pat Yourself in the Back

Once you're done, celebrate!!!! You've worked so hard! Thank yourself, congratulate yourself!

Step Six: POST!!

YOUR FIC IS READY, AND NOW YOU CAN SHOW YOUR BRILLIANT WRITING TO THE WORLD!!!

Additional Step: Read and Take Notes

Of course, this doesn't apply to everyone, but generally speaking: writers tend to enjoy reading. It's very much normal to take inspiration from other creative writers!! I like to take notes when I find something inspiring, or interesting phrases and vocabularies that I want to use. I'm a literature student, too, so I read classic literature daily—and it's been really helpful in expanding my vocabulary! (You may find it hard to believe, but the me from two years ago absolutely dreaded reading classics. I couldn't understand anything KSJDKSHFSK. Classic literary fiction is now my favourite genre... I really learned a lot from it.)

This is how I always write my fics, both for my one shots and longfics~ having an outline is extremely helpful for writing longfics!! Sorry for the extremely long answer KSJDKSJFKS. Thank you for the ask! Have a great day!! <3333

[lucy-the-cat]

I know I just did a to do list a couple days ago but I've decided to really evaluate my writing priorities in order of how much I want to do them bc I get so many ideas that I get excited over and then get sad I didn't complete. There's a lot of scope creep and scattered focus with me, but I think I've got a solid list of the order of which I genuinely want to do things (overplanned to hell and back but I think writing it helps me lol)

first draft of Daughter of Zeus - I really wanna get traditionally published someday, and I've been dragging my feet on getting originals done, so the goal is to get this one done by the end of the year at all costs

Newblood Queen book one - I know this one is less popular than some of my other works, like God's Cursed, but it's my most creatively fulfilling one, maybe because there's so many moving parts that the challenge speaks to me. Also I just love the character relations lol

Tumblr asks - not really writing but the questions you guys have been asking have gotten more intense and require more detail and attention so I'm putting them on the list, you won't have to wait until the previous two are finished to hear back obvi but they're gonna take a backseat to making progress on them at least

B day presents for my friends - I love you guys, you deserve it

Hera poetry collection (If Only Gold Could Stay) - poetry collections rarely sell but I really wanna do this one

Blood of the Covenant - the plot is so intricate I'm scared to get it wrong

new Lover's Curse draft - shouldn't take long, just gotta neaten up the Iris/Irisare plotline, and maybe streamline some character actions/motivations and thematic implications

Newblood Queen Novellas - less motivation than main NQ, more of a challenge, but fleshing out the world and characters gives me joy

Lethe - original work about the river Styx nymph choosing to drink the Lethe to reincarnate as a mortal . . . I don't know the plot but I like the concept, real Circe by Madeline Miller vibes I think

Daughter of Zeus second draft - I wanna let it sit before I dive back in, generally good practice

Solar Eclipse - I'm sorry this is so low on the list considering it's technically for a gift exchange, I just . . . need to work out more plot

Mareven Week - should be quick to finish, I just need focus

first draft of original work whose premise I won't reveal yet

revise Hera collection if it needs it

Lethe second draft

any aesthetics - I like them a lot, I'll do a little here and there and whatnot

anything smut - Having trouble with it atm sorry

personally binding my own finished fanfictions to keep for myself (vanity projects but. I want them)

Second draft of unnamed original

God's Cursed - Sorry this is so low, I really like it and it's semi-easy to write but other things are just floating above it

new Red Ruse draft - I think the middle is a mess but I think I can fix her (no really I can)

Glass Houses (Newblood Queen book two) - I will finish this series if it kills me

Jon POV(s) - I really love writing his POV, second only to Maven

Red School Redux - simple, short, get it off my chest

Miscellaneous oneshots - these are tricky bc my ideas are so scattershot and can spiral quickly, trying to finish longfics and originals first lol

Lady Haven - Disgrace this is so low on the list, I just don't know where to take it

Taylor Swift Collections - idk why I committed to them but what I have of them kinda slaps ngl, just . . . scope creep

secret project I will not name (fanfic tho)

Stay in the Light - I love them but there's so much to write gah

Scrapped Open Novella Contest idea from two years ago - reread it recently, it kinda slaps

The Groans of Our Bones - gotta work out the kinks . . .

If I plan any more someone's probably gonna shoot me soooooo

(I just like tossing updates into the void lol)

[raichett]

Hello! I have been asking ao3 authors how they joined and who else to ask!

@definitelynotshouting told me to ask you! :D

So how did you join ao3? And who else should I ask?

Heya :D @definitelynotshouting sent you my way, huh? Well, then, let me peel back the curtain on some Raichett Lore…

So this got long (I rambled 😅) so I’ve popped it under a cut.

First things first, I actually have two AO3 accounts! This one (Raichett | Airrec) is specifically for MCYT – and I guess general Minecraft content if I ever wrote for just the game, as well as any other RPF or RPF-adjacent fandom – whereas my other one is for all my other fandoms. Man, I really need to get back to that thing… (sweats nervously at thought of the fic sitting at 5/9 chapters completed and has done so since the beginning of 2022).

My first AO3 account (Other Fandoms) was started, according to my profile page, on 20th September 2015. That was ten years ago?? Holy shit. Anyway, I was definitely hanging around AO3 for a few months before that – a lot of people were making the move from FF.net to AO3 at the time, because of a bunch of recent Strikethroughs (in short: when fan content gets mass purged by the hosting website because it upsets advertisers – mostly queer content, smutfic, etc. AO3 does none of that because it is a non-profit run by fans for fans). I remember early glitches on AO3 that many won’t any more… Did you know that sometimes when you clicked on a relationship tag to filter through it, the link would sometimes take you to a Collection page that the fic whose link you used was in? They’ve fixed that bug now (thank goodness), but I remember it derailing me quite a few times before it would suddenly start working again lmao.

Venturing over into that other frightful place briefly, I can tell you that I joined FF.net on 9th May 2010. Again, I was definitely hanging around for a while before joining – this time multiple years because I was younger (exhibit A: my first fandom was Pokémon and this was still something I was actively watching on TV). I actually first encountered fanfiction on DeviantArt, if I recall correctly. Gosh, just saying that makes me feel old. I never had a DeviantArt account myself, but I think one day I was trying to find cool Pokémon art and stumbled across a fanfic? From there, I found FF.net, and there was no going back for me. If you want a short answer to Why join AO3, it was simply that fandom and engaging with fanfic especially has been a huge part of my life for, well, more than half my life!

All of this being said, I didn’t start posting fic for a while (I did post a couple of things on FF.net, most of which have since been deleted, but that petered out – I still wrote on and off but nothing that was posted, or even finished). To not put too fine a point on it, I was simply too depressed at the time, and it was really only late 2015/early 2016 that I really started to turn that around (by, uh, literally moving hundreds of miles away and pretty much starting afresh. Sometimes just physically leaving an environment is the only way to start to heal from it). I’m doing so much better now, so no one need be concerned, I promise 🥰

Anyway, it wasn’t until 2020 that I started to really write and post seriously, despite having been around fandom for well over 10 years at that point. When we all went into Covid-19 lockdown, I started having lots of free time and I also actually had the energy and willpower to not only write but post and start engaging with fandom more actively – not only on AO3, but I also founded my tumblr account at the same time, despite, as is the pattern, lurking for years without one. My Other Fandoms account has, according to my stats page, 371,183 words published across 41 fics, all of which is not including unpublished writing – not bad, if I do say so myself!

At the back end of 2021, I got deeply into MCYT. I’d been a fan of Hermitcraft since… technically 2018? When Grian joined in Season 6, I followed him because I was already someone who watched his videos on and off. I watched like 25-ish episodes of his S6 before got distracted with something else, I think? I didn’t really get deep into it at the time, but when Season 7 started in 2020 I committed myself to watching all of Grian’s S7 series, which is when I can more truthfully say I became a Hermitcraft fan. If you’ve never seen S7, then I truly cannot recommend it enough.

Ah, but I said I only got into MCYT in late 2021, didn’t I? Well, the truth is, I just didn’t much engage with the fandom aspect of MCYT (I had been, and still am, a fan of other MCYTs before the Hermits, and indeed had nosed in a little at fanfic of them out of curiosity a couple of times, but never deeply) before then. I was a little YouTube fan, watching the vid, enjoying it, and then going back to whatever fic I was reading for whatever fandom I was in because what I did on YouTube and what I did on AO3 were just completely separated in my head lol.

But get into it I did! I was also, perhaps understandably, kind of hesitant to start putting MCYT stuff on my, at the time, only AO3 account, because I feared judgement, and I had enough of a group of regular commentors, some Discord friends, and a bit of a reputation as a good writer that I was wary of losing it. Looking back, I don’t know if I would make a different choice, I admit. But that was the choice I made, and so I used an AO3 invite that I had on my account to send said invite to myself on a different email address and began having two AO3 accounts.

On 26th February 2022, my MCYT AO3 account was made, and after several months I split it into two pseuds – Raichett for Hermitcraft | Traffic Life and Airrec for DSMP, each with accompanying tumblr sideblogs. Raichett | Airrec currently has 358,839 words published across 108 fics, and if you’re asking why it has over twice the number of stories but still like 13k less words than Other Fandoms… well, I just got better at short form writing, and being confident in posting short fics that cram a lot into a small word count.

And now we’re here! That’s the overview of how, why, and when I joined AO3 - I hope you found it interesting 💜💜 As for who else you should ask… I’m sorry, I don’t really know who to direct you towards. I keep quite a small social circle, to be honest – I just got caught in @definitelynotshouting ‘s trademarked Laser Beam of Friendship, and that’s why we’re besties lmao (love you Tem!). Sorry to not be of much help there! Have a lovely day :D

[queers-gambit]

Hello,I wanted to say I admire your work and hope you continue with your wonderful stories.

I would like advice as a new fic writer myself. How long did it take before your work got noticed. Did/do you have any doubts? I know I have. TYSM for the fics -🍋‍🟩

hey, poppet. thank you for popping in, it's so very kind of you! more advice? fuck yeah, 50 points to Slytherin!

this got a little longer than i anticipated.

new fic writer, huh? so... you're, like, the new sheriff in these here parts? well, i only got ONE thing to say to the likes of you...

that's exciting! welcome! this town is big enough for all of us!

let's jump in -

soooo i've been reading fanficition since i was a kid, right? it's a comfort, it made sense in my brain, and it was something so deeply personal, i never shared it with anyone - friends or family. so this was always very niche to me.

being said, i've been an author most of my life. i've been legitimately published a few times - first when i was about 9/10 and last around 5ish years ago. no, not professionally, i didn't make a cent on those publications. so, i've been in the game for a while - BUT i didn't start PUBLISHING my fanfictions until the past, say, 3ish years?

now, look: technically, i started writing fanfics when i was first hospitalized in my early teens, using a pen and notebook because i was poor and couldn't afford a laptop (no shame, pen and paper are underrated). night shift came every 3 hours for vitals, so, i didn't get a whole lot of sleep - but i was able to write. a lot. it distracted me, it comforted me, and it was 100% mine which meant i never had to show or explain to anyone what i was doing.

i say this to try to illustrate, i didn't just walk on the scene as a writer and BOOM! got all this recognition. i started writing for myself, nobody else.

the thing to remember is that you're not writing for instant gratification - and if you are, you're setting yourself up for failure because it's going to feel stressful and "not worth" because your fics aren't getting hundreds of likes. don't let your self-worth be decided by numbers: height, weight, money in your bank account, fanfiction notes...

however, being said, i fucking get it. first thing i published was HC's about dating Eddie Munson because i had read so many and felt a couple ideas were missed or overlooked, so, i just had this compulsion to write. then, it was this thought of, "well, if i had this idea, maybe other people have, too, or at the very least, might like to read it." so i sat on the front step of my house, overtagged my HC's, and hit publish. it garnered a couple hundred likes within a few hours, then every time i opened Tumblr, there was 99+ notifications. i felt like my soul lifted, realizing, "hey... maybe i could write some more? i have a few other ideas and it feels SO good to be recognized. validate me, internet strangers!"

so, i weaponized my mania and published some more.

but i still struggle with this on occasion. yes, most of the times, my fics warrant X numbers of likes, but i find myself disappointed in the amount of written responses - like comments or messaged praise. i see other authors having full on debates, conversations, theory projections, and being inundated with messages; and think "damn, maybe i'm really not that great since nobody comes around to express their impression; to feed me compliments!" but you see what that is, right?

it's Imposter Syndrome. none of this shit actually matters.

your writing is GOOD whether at 2, 20, 200, 2k notes and the only person who can bestow this title or confidence is yourself. you're the architect, the driver, the artist - so stand by your writing. stand on business. then nothing can touch or phase you; you'll become your own worst enemy and most supportive critic.

nobody's opinion matters if YOU have pride in YOURSELF.

got it? great. now -

here's my advice:

🍒 learn to tag. -> tag your fic appropriately by Muse, fandom, pairing. -> the more tags, the wider the audience it'll reach. -> if i want to read Aemond Targaryen, that's the tag i go to. if i want Daemon, that's the tag i go to. Readers do not want to scroll through Daemon fics on the Aemond tag - so learn to do it properly. -> it's respectful, you know? and it def helps picking up a few followers because they peep you respect the rules.

🍒 practice summary writing. -> give Readers just enough to hook them. -> i recommend just giving the basics so Readers can decide if your fic has the general gist of what they're interested in reading. i like alluding to plot twists in summaries because it piques Reader interest. -> i personally do not read fics that have no summary. i want to know what i'm jumping into, if this is worth my time to read, if it'll satisfy whatever craving i have. -> you can use a trick i learned in a journalism class where newspaper headlines have to be a single sentence that essentially answer "who, what, when, where, why?"

again, tag your fics properly because if i'm looking for angst (in the angst tag) and the summary alludes to something more fluffy, i can move on.

🍒 sharpen your diction and syntax skills. -> diction is your word choice and syntax is sentence structure. so play around with what sounds most natural in your head. -> what words would your Muse actually use? how would they say it? do they use flowery language (like TROP Elrond) or are they gruffer (like ST Billy Hargrove)? -> diction gives stories personalities. i said what i said.

🍒 give "enough" detail in your introduction. -> this is your fic's elevator pitch. -> i like listing: what's the summary, who's the Muse, what fandom, word count, any author notes, and content warnings. it gives your audience an idea of what you're about; like dipping a toe in water instead of diving in. -> a very frustrating feeling trying to read something that you have no genuine interest in but you don't know until you get X% of the way through it. -> again, i can't speak for others, but i won't entertain fics that don't have introductions - or at the very least, summaries.

🍒 get comfortable with your own humility. -> not every fic is going to be a hit. own that. accept that. -> do not gaslight yourself into thinking just because a fic has less notes (or kudos, whatever) it's lesser-than writing.

example: i was SO excited to publish Don't You (Forget About Me) because i thought it was so good. like, arguably some of my better work, but it didn't do well with Readers. it was disheartening but also humbling because while the fic picked up traction, i remind myself that i'm still a fanfic reader at heart and so long as i like it, who cares how many notes it has?

🍒 if you have a story, write that shit. -> don't be discouraged, "oh, nobody is gonna read this, nobody wants this," because who cares about that? you have a story to tell, so write that shit! tell your story! i promise there are people out there that will entertain it!

🍒 praise yourself because if you wait for strangers on the internet to do it, you're not always going to get the response you WANT.

🍒 be kind. -> to yourself. -> to others. -> to me... please 😂

i gave another anon some advice a bit back, you can check that out here if you'd like!

i hope this helps even a little. i encourage everyone to write, no matter what the driving factor. have fun with it, challenge yourself, practice practice practice.

come back anytime, poppet, and when you publish (or not, whatever), send it my way - i'd love to give your work a read! all my very best! i hope writing can do for you what it's done for me.

all my love 🖤

[authoralexharvey]

INTERVIEW WITH A WRITEBLR — @my-cursed-prince

Who You Are:

Lyn || She/her

I’m a social science major who doesn’t shut up about her social sciences despite being the biggest introvert on this planet. Devoted a whole WIP series to it because why not?

What You Write:

What genres do you write in? What age ranges do you write for?

Action, adventure, fanfic, fantasy, psychological, and tragedy. Young adult, new adult, and adult.

What genre would you write in for the rest of your life, if you could? What about that genre appeals to you?

Bestie I don’t know my own genre. I really like things that delve into social issues, regardless the genre. I prefer fantasy setting though, because I can bend rules and it doesn’t require as much intensive research.

What genre/s will you not write unless you HAVE to? What about that genre turns you off?

NSFW. I…really don’t care for romance or sex. I’m not opposed to things, but I’m not looking for these things. I don’t care to write it because of this

Who is your target audience? Do you think anyone outside of that would get anything out of your works?

Adults. It depends? It’s a lot of deeper topics. Some teens might relate, but I don’t know if they would want to read it. It’s a slow-burn series.

What kind of themes do you tend to focus on? What kinds of tropes? What about them appeals to you?

Siblings. I’m really close with my sister, so I put a lot of sibling tropes in there. My best friend I’ve known forever. So I just sorta get the bestie is my sibling or practical sibling vibe.

What themes or tropes can you not stand? What about them turn you off?

Romance. There are very few couples I swoon over. Most I find annoying as they rely on sexist tropes or are overall super toxic.

What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it?

We Lost Our Sunshine Series! Technically, five years! However, a little over a year consistently. I took a long hiatus in the middle. Ideas birthed five years ago. Ideas formed into fruition a year ago.

Why do you write? What keeps you writing?

To process social science stuff. I want to understand it on a more personal level. It also just helps me to process the world around me, and puts out what I’m feeling on paper.

How long have you been writing? What do you think first drew you to it?

About three years? I liked being able to play out the scenarios, and I noticed that writing helped me mentally too.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is that how you got your inspiration for your current project? If not, where did the inspiration come from?

Social science major galore. I really just put my studies, internships, friends’ experiences, and personal experiences in this WIP. I try to make it as realistic as possible, because I want to pay tribute to these experiences.

What work of yours are you most proud of? Why?

Hmm….We Lost Our Sunshine? It’s my first novel, and it’s on my fictionate (Lynn Ellison). For a novel that covers such intense topics, I don’t think I did badly. I’ve edited it multiple times and out of all my WIP’s is the most polished.

Have you published anything? Do you want to?

Does it count to be on fictionate? It’s free though, so I don’t think so. Not really. I don’t have the mental energy for it, and it sorta terrifies me.

What part of the publishing process most appeals to you? What part least appeals to you?

None of it appeals to me. I have a huge insecurity that no one would actually like my work because of its dark setting, or that I didn’t try hard enough to research these topics. So….yah, not super into publishing. I also think publishers would want to add everything I hate into this project so there’s that too.

What part of the writing process most appeals to you? What part is least appealing?

I think just letting ideas flow most appeals to me. Editing is definitely the hardest, but it is rewarding once it’s done.

Do you have a writing process? Do you have an ideal setup? Do you write in pure chaos? Talk about your process a bit.

Pure chaos. I write shit and I edit it later. My characters talk for like 300 pages, and then after that we finally come up with a plan and I scrap a lot of it. It’s a pain in the ass, but it can be fun too. My ideal setup that I never do is to plan and go through with it lol.

Your Thoughts on Writeblr:

How long have you been a writeblr? What inspired you to join the community?

I wanted writer friends lol. 4 months. I’ve made good friends here!

Shout out some of your favorite writeblrs. How did you find them and what made you want to follow them?

V my beloved. No, they’re super supportive, and I super appreciate it. I get surprised they follow me consistently all the time. I’m like bestie you know how dark this world is, especially since they’re reading We Lost Our Sunshine which is darker than Scattered Sunshine and Poisonous Medicine. Which really says something about that WIP lol. I really appreciate the support, and it helps me feel better about my world and that I have successfully communicated that I try to put meaningful effort into my work. Also elizaelwrites (did I spell it right I’m sorry) is super relatable every time they post. I’m like me too bestie me too. It’s nice to see someone with similar writing struggles.

What is your favorite part about writeblr?

It helps keep me accountable in planning. I also like the interaction and tag games. I also make myself laugh with my shitposts loool.

What do you think writeblr could improve on? How do you think we can go about doing so?

Probably reblogging more? Or just being more mindful of hyping up other people’s work? But I also get that people have lives, different tastes, and I totally need improvement too. Also, all of us are in different time zones. It’s not really a critique, but a sad reality lol.

How do you contribute to the writeblr community? Do you think you could be doing more?

I try?? To hype up other people’s work?? I could be better tbh. Tagging people in tag games. I suck at tagging people after being tagged. It’s the introvert.

What kinds of posts do you most like to interact with?

Mmm….I like it when people reblog my excerpts. It makes me smile. I also like reblogging others excerpts even if I drag my ass.

What kind of posts do you most like to make?

Shit posts. It’s my notebook of things I need to remember to include.

Finally, anywhere else online we may be able to find you?

Fictionate! Under Lynn Ellison. I have We Lost Our Sunshine on there completed! Just make sure to check trigger warnings because there are so many. Also feel free to comment! The book is free!

[dynamic-k]

Me me has a quetions :3 when did you start writing and where do your ideas come from?

-BK

Ooh, that's a tough one.

Hmm. Well, I know I started getting a like for writing in the 3rd grade. I'd done some random school two-paragraph assignment and Mrs. Meusen, my lovely teacher whom I still remember to this day, had returned everyone's papers with our grades.

And she liked to write custom messages along with the overall score and stars.

She told me in her little markered note at the top of my paper, that my writing was well structured and I make a good author. Something like that, I don't remember exactly how it was phrased, but it was a compliment to my writing.

I have no memory of what I wrote, though. It wasn't significant.

That was probably the first jump-start encouragement I got, though how it affected me in the future was probably subconscious for the most part. It's not the driving force that I remember on a regular basis as "Ah, yes, this event here is what started it all."

That long ago compliment just came to mind when I really started thinking about what the answer to your inquiry was.

My ideas just spawned into existence from my imagination. I was always the kid that found immense joy in reading books and also staring off into space. The wall. The ceiling. Out a window.

I once got lost in space during my 2nd grade Spanish class, while we were doing TESTS.

And I was lost in space, not really looking at what I was looking at... Well, I was apparently looking at someone else's test, lol. Got scolded. XD

My dreams were often the source of cool ideas also. I had entire MOVIES worth of action and everything. Sleeping was always a well anticipated privilege...

I wonder why. 👉👈

I remember my very first fanfiction was written for a comic series, Mega Man by Ian Flynn.

Cool robots, action, adventure, fights, suspense, a whole assortment of my favorite types of things to enjoy from any media, be it novel, comic, or movie.

It was... really bad. My family tells me it was good for my age at the time. The ONE friend I randomly decided to share the old google Docs with also gives me positive feedback, but... ehhhhhh.

There's reasons I haven't continued it further for years. It was pretty bad, in my eyes. I definitely had so much fun writing it though. It was a self-insert, sort of? But with an OC that had cool characteristics I just liked. Not really me, but a character that was an amalgamation of ninja skills, smarts, and powers. And was very much, as the term goes [that I would learn about just a few years later], a "Mary Sue". An overpowered character.

At least, my character still had a plethora of issues, and as the story progressed, I found ways to insert Nora [the aforementioned OC] into problems and lessen the overpowered aspects a bit.

I learned from that work. A lot.

I guess, if anyone is really interested, I can post the links to the old docs. I don't suppose I mind all that much, though I'm warning you all. I ATTEMPTED ROMANCE.

AND IF YOU ALL KNOW ME AND MY CURRENT HABITS... YOU KNOW I SAY ON A REGULAR BASIS THAT I CAN'T WRITE ROMANCE.

It was written by 13-year-old Scarlett. She doesn't exist anymore.

I think I somehow got off topic, why am I talking about my first fanfic...

Anyway!

I wrote a lot of other stories also.

I had originals.

I had fanfics. [My hyperfixation on Beyblade Metal Fusion remains dormant to this day, but I still remember all the ideas I never wrote down yet]

I had dreams that I attempted to normalize and remove dream-weirdness from for story material.

I had school assignments that were fairly tame as far as action, but I kept the docs anyway.

And then I tried to publish stuff.

[By this, I mean, on the Archive. I had technically posted fanfiction before on fanfiction.net but we don't talk about those abominations...]

I was in a Lego Monkie Kid hyperfixation at the time, and was currently on the cliffhanger of season 4. [Before the special came out, I mean.]

And I had a very very vivid dream scenario one night, where my brain decided to imagination its own ending and wrapped up plot for the cliffhanger of season 4.

I decided to post it. And I still have more ideas that I have yet to sort out and add more chapters to the fic, but that was the first published work on the Archive, I think.

And... it was romantic focused, actually. The one OC was a character that fit well into the series, and wasn't just an annoying rendition of overpowered characteristics. (I TELL YOU. I LEARNED FROM "NORA")

And, well, my dreams are good at imaginating romantic scenes. It's just my brain doesn't know how to make it sound good with words yet.

I'll get there... 😅

To get back to the point I seem to keep deviating from as I reminisce over older works and my author journey as a whole: I have come very far.

My first Alan Becker fanfic, was A Second's Tale. Which, until Super Sticks appeared, remained my most popular fic.

It started so SO simply. All I knew was, "NEW HYPERFIXATION GO BRRR!" and "I wanna write a fanfic and post it"

Then it escalated.

The AVA/AVM fandom is still my all-time favorite, and I think it's honestly going to stay that way forever. It's definitely the longest fixation I've ever had.

All my others are dormant, or active in spurts. I have a list of like, 60? 65? fandoms I'm into, lol.

Uhm, anyways, yeah.

That's the summary.

Man, that's another thing I suck at. Summarization.

Look at this long schpiel of words!!

No one gonna read this. XD

TL;DR

I have come far from the 3rd grade.

I still aim to make a difference. Make someone's day with my weird unique sense of humor. Make others inspired. ;]

And my imagination go brrrr for ideas. Dreams are just the best thing ever.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk--