#had this in my drafts for a while might as well post it 🤣

[writing-for-life]

The Six Stages of a Meta-Writer’s Despair

(A Satire)

Fandom. That wondrous place where creativity blooms and everyone’s supposed to “ship and let ship” and just “do their thing”. At least, that’s what I thought when I first wandered into Tumblr three years ago with wordy metas (or OC fics. Or poetry. Or original art) nobody asked for.

Fast forward, and here I am, walking you through the Six Stages of a Meta-Writer’s Despair with the energy of a Victorian widow scowling out of a rain-smeared window…

1. Naive Optimism

You arrive in fandom like a clueless protagonist in a (horror?) movie.

“Wow,” you think, “look at all these creative people! Fanart! Fic! Meta! Ships! So much stuff!.” You believe (truly believe!) that if you simply mind your own business, blabber about your lifelong love of a certain comic, it’ll surely be awesome. And in a way, it was (and still is).

2. Mild Confusion

You start noticing… things. Like how any post, no matter the original topic (“character development,” “symbolism,” “plot structure”, “original art”) somehow ends up buried (in any tag) under a mountain of GIFs and fan-art for Thee Ship™️.

You’re not mad, it’s okay. Everyone can do whatever they like and inhabit their little (?) niche. SALS and all that, even if you’re not a shipper.

You’re just a little… bewildered as you squint at your screen and wonder: Wasn’t this a post about the importance of male friendship and toxic masculinity? Why is everyone yelling about how it’s “obviously romantic tension”?

3. Passive-Aggression

You sigh heavily, adjust your expectations, and soldier on. You add disclaimers to your posts. “This is about canon,” you assert, with increasingly brittle patience. You carve out little meta-spaces, sprinkle “analysis”-tags everywhere, and learn to close your eyes when the ship-wars break out like an oil-fire. Sometimes, you even find yourself in the midst of one just because you dared to have an opinion about the red rags to the fandom-bull: Misogyny and racism. Ah well…

You change tack: Maybe, if you stay quiet, you can still enjoy your corner of fandom without being trampled by the thundering hooves of OTP Nation. Right?

4. Active Irritation

One day you blink and realise the landscape isn’t gonna change. Canon? Minor characters? Narrative arcs? Women? Ancient relics. The fandom is now The One True Ship Show, 24/7, and if you dare to utter the tiniest non-general-consensus-opinion, you are either “bitter”, “straight” (nope) or “not understanding the true heart of the story.”

You post a 2,000-word meta about processing grief, and someone reblogs it with a tag how it’s actually proof of their OTP.

You hear a distant popping sound. It is a blood vessel in your brain…

5. Existential Crisis

You start questioning your own sanity.

Are intelligent discussions about story structure and characterisation a sign of madness? Is canon a bad thing?

You consider retiring to a cave so you can mumble about canon and narrative themes to a family of sympathetic bats (waves 👋🏻)…

6. Grim, Cackling Acceptance

At last, you achieve peace (maybe).

Not because things get better, oh no; rather because you give up trying to swim against the tsunami of ship-centric content. You embrace your role as “That Person” who sighs heavily in the tags, filters, blocks and writes essays only 1% of fandom reads. But they’re your people (waves again 👋🏻).

You open your drafts folder, dust off your 5K meta about the women of that story and hit post.

Because if fandom has taught you anything, it’s that you might as well go down blabbering about canon…

[athingofvikings]

The Savage Seas Chapter 12: Heartstrings

Chapter 12: Heartstrings

Accomplishmarks are generally agreed to be related to Prowessmarks, if not being simply a sub-type of the latter, but they are generally recognized as sufficiently distinct to warrant their own classification in the analysis of Destinymarks. Simply put, the distinction between them is that a Prowessmark indicates a specific area of skill in which the marked person, upon the completion of some noteworthy act, will reach heights beyond that of normal mortals, while an Accomplishmark presages the noteworthy act in particular. This might seem like splitting hairs, absurd nuance that is lost on the normal trend of things, but the distinction is functional enough to be worth noting, especially in their effects.

Consider two case studies, one of a Prowessmark indicating incredible navigational ability, and the other of an Accomplishmark indicating that the bearer would safely navigate a hurricane. In a noteworthy degree of appropriateness, both Marks in question were activated during the same tropical hurricane aboard different ships. The Prowessmark’s bearer managed to plot a course that took full advantage of the oncoming storm’s winds and had the ship sail down a reef-and-shoal-laden pathway in the midst of the storm to safety. In the aftermath of this stupendous act of skill, the Prowessmark activated and the bearer can now tell exactly where he is in the world at any given moment, enabling him to chart and maintain courses. The Accomplishmark’s bearer, on the other hand, was not able to stay in the outer bands of the storm, and his ship suffered the full fury of the winds and waves, and only stayed afloat due to the efforts of the Mark’s bearer. In the aftermath of that experience, the Mark activated, and now the bearer is apparently immune to the effects of sea spray, wind, and rain on his ability to focus and walk on deck.

As such, while both sets of Marks are related to having achieved something, particularly something of note, their effects and direction are distinct enough to warrant unique classification…

—The Teeth of Fate: A Bestiary Of Destinymarks

AO3 Link: Regular Version

AO3 Link: Explicit Version

~~~

Whew. So it's been a while since I updated this. Here's the sitch. I have the next several chapters drafted already. But Part II is not fully written; it's been sitting on the backburner for years at this point, and my sense of guilt kept growing, because I wanted the full Part II written before I posted. Well, I recognize that isn't happening now; I've got too much on my plate and yay anxiety. So, in the hope of relieving some of the anxiety and pressure in my head at not updating, but at the same time giving myself a gentle deadline to motivate, I'm going to try to update The Savage Seas at least one chapter per year, preferably more, but if I can get at least one chapter out per summer, that's better than it just sitting and rotting. I already have through to chapter 18 drafted, but this way, it's not "I must have the Entire Second Act Finished before I start posting."

So happy birthday to @astridthevalkyrie, and hopefully I finish this fic before you hit 30 🤣

[drippingmoon]

Remains of a Night | Aberration of Sunlight: Beta stage!

Hello to everyone! I'm super happy and excited to announce that another one of my wips has reached beta stage. It's a series of two books: with Remains of a Night being the first, and Aberration of Sunlight wrapping up the story. Like before, if anyone would like to give a wee fellow writer a hand, I'd beam in gratitude☺ If not -- if you could at least boost this post, that'd be delightfully kindly of you. ❤

Sign-up period: till April 10

Genre: sci-fi horror, taking place on either an icy planet, or in the dead of cosmic space, as we're on the runnnn

Long story long (both books' blurb):

In purple fields of forget-me-nots, a broken helmet rests. It's the Fourth Dive of Procyon.

The Beast of the Deep Night has long turned into a cataclysm. Now it vies to extinguish humanity. The stars are slowly being tugged its way, and one day they will all Dive inside its void maw. This is the current outlook, in the planets' neon nights of bleakness and numbness. Alexander Madigan, police Superintendent of his planet, is definitely not where he should be. But with the world at an end, and a distress call breaking the silence of his office, he decides to investigate the truth behind the cataclysm. Even if that may draw its lambent eye his way.

He doesn't think his life matters more than the young marine's on the other end, who he wishes he could bring home.

Ages before their reality, the crew of another ship does its best to preserve their own lives. Things have become complicated though: with the addition of a new recruit, and while the Beast is merely a cautionary tale in their time, their impression is that it might have just come to their ship. Nor does it bode well that they have the most selfish human on the journey with them.

Word count: 120k, 123k respectively (RoaN and AoS)

Warnings: gore, body horror, suicidal thoughts, ableism (intentional and unintentional)

This all started out of my love for Halo, (if you share it, I salute you!💞) and for the idea of a creature that could hear the whisperings of the universe to it. Boy, were they bloodthirsty.

What am I looking for?

It's an advanced draft, I went ham on the editing!🥳🤣 so if any typos have dodged my attention... (they always do, the little fuckers), I will be super grateful if you found them. Otherwise, the standard; characters, plot, odd phrasing (this isn't 'quiv, so the writing is standardly clear. Still, if there's anything that makes you squint, I want to know). I do have lists of questions for each chapter, but you can opt out of it and comment free style.

Honestly, I just want your direct thoughts, and if there happens to be someone who's an expert on people who have had one arm devoured... that's a sensitivity beta I could use!🤩

Inconsistencies! Orrrr... if something just so feels like it used to have 5 more chapters on it and now it looks like a visitor from another timeline. Whoops.

Your emotions! Let me eat them! What moments stayed with you, and which had you feel particularly meh! More than everything else on this list, this is the most important one to me.🥹

Very preferably, that you read both books. However, it's purely optional.

What can you expect?

Two pretty word documents! We can talk as much or as little as you want. I do enjoy making friends, though🤭

No deadlines. Having been a beta reader myself more than a handful of times, I know how hard it is. Nevertheless, please do make sure you actually want to do this, and genuinely like the sound of this series.🧐 I will expect you to keep me updated about your progress (nothing fancy; once per month), so I know I'm not being ghosted. It goes without saying you can drop it whenever you want! Just inform me. That way, I'm not waiting, and I can move ahead with my baby. And you've something off your conscience. Win-win.

!! Since I've never shared snippets here, you can absolutely ask for a sample two chapters and decide.

That's it! Thanks for eyeballing this post, and I hope to see some of you! I am genuinely curious and excited about your thoughts, and hopefully someone will have the time🤩💞 for the sign-ups, you can contact me in my DMs, or comment here, and I'll reach out to you! Ta-ta, I'm out! Have a great day!

[nmakii]

ALL BECAUSE I LIKED A BOY?

— watching your life falling into catastrophe before your eyes. all because of a boy, because of oikawa tooru.

— fem!reader, oikawa lowk just plot device, vent draft 🤨, its me im reader, nonfiction 🤣, reader highk whipped

a/n: dawg… just had liek the WORST day at school tfff my whole lunch table dropped me can’t believe i wasted ingredients on a bitch that cant even return my chinese textbook 😒

oikawa tooru has a lot of fans. even that might be an understatement. but, it’s true nonetheless. even you’ve fallen for that cheeky loser’s spell.

in your defense, there are many things to love about him; how funny he is, how much he cares, how devoted he is, not to even mention his looks.

so, yes, you may have fallen for him. a lot of girls have.

“but it’s different this time. we have the chemistry. if he wasn’t so busy with training, if i’d be able to run into him again and hang out with him, then i’m sure he’d feel the same way.” you tell your friends over lunch. one of them scoffs. “suuuure, keep telling yourself that. i watched that latest game he played in, there were at least 10 other girls who were thinking the same thing.”

“you don’t get it, you just don’t get it! we have so many mutual friends, it’s almost as if we were meant to meet, y’know?” you explain, sounding almost desperate as your heart stirs thinking about him.

and, among the many exploits you did to impress him, you started doing volleyball. “s/o-chann! what are you doing here?” oikawa walks over to you, new kneepads in hand. “oh— hey! just buying some things.” you explain to him, handing the cashier some money as they wrap up your new volleyball. “what about you?”

“ahh, just getting some new gear since mine is getting pretty old… i never knew you did volleyball!” he notices things quickly. “well, yeah… i just have a lot on my plate, so i don’t do it as often anymore.” you tell him. “really noww? well, we should play together, okay?” he offers, a competitive edge in his voice.

oh my god. this is your chance to hang out with him. sure, this was what you were hoping for, but not right now… what if you fail to serve so miserably that he ends up laughing at you? but, again, it’s hanging out with him!

“sure! i’m down to play!” you quickly recover from your anxious thoughts. “erm— while we’re both here, you wanna hang out for a while?” you ask, words falling out of your lips without your own accord. “aww, no can dooo… i’m here with iwa-chan, and he’s gonna get mad at me if i bring a girl back with meee…” he pouts. “next time though! i won’t go easy on you!” he laughs before waving you goodbye.

next time.

that meant he wanted to see you. right?

“ughhh, enough about oikawaaaaa… he’s not even that cute, you’re far too good for him.” your friend frowns. you do talk about him too much, but what’s there not to love? all that could spill from your mouth were words of love for him. she was probably sick of it, your whole class was probably sick of it. so many people knew of your crush on him, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he knew and decided to just ignore it.

you couldn’t help it, you just loved him so much.

but, nothing ever came out of it.

he continued with his life, and you moved on with your’s.

soon enough, all the love in your heart for him was drained from his lack of reciprocation. you couldn’t blame him, he has so many fans, it wouldn’t be fair to pay attention to just one.

but still, even if he never got to be your boyfriend, you still got a best friend.

“agh!! s/o-chan, don’t, i look ugly right nowww!” oikawa whines as he runs away from your phone camera, nimbly maneuvering himself through the convenience store’s thin aisles. “come back ‘kawa!” you catch up to him, pulling on his arm so he couldn’t run away and snapping a blurry photo of his face.

“noo, s/o-chan, don’t post it!!” oikawa shakes his head in distress, trying to grab your phone. “too late!” you laugh, hitting post on your new story, oikawa tagged. oikawa falls on top of your body, trying to grab your phone. “delete!” he demands, trying to reach for the phone you held up in the air while keeping you stuck on the ground.

you laugh at his feeble attempts, politely waving hello to one of your classmates walking into the store. “get up!! you’re so embarrassing, ‘kawa!” you try to push him off.

it was a good day, a really good day.

even without that romantic chemistry, there was definitely something between you two. and, everyone could feel it; the way conversation just flowed so naturally between you two when you were simply being yourselves, it was like breathing after drowning for so long.

it was like laughing for the first time. you’ve never gasped for air so much as you did when you were with him.

just friends now, nothing more. and, that’s okay.

the next day, you’d walked into school, still happy from the fun you had after school yesterday. when you overheard someone’s conversation.

‘you know, s/o from class 3-3 is lowkey… so loud. all she talks about is boys. it’s like she thinks she’s someone special.’ you hear someone snicker.

‘her hair is so bad… it’s like… why would she go out looking like that?’ you hear from the long haired brunette in front of you, turning her head to look at you not so subtly.

‘she thinks she’s so funny… she needs to learn when to shut up…’

where did all this come from?

you frown as you try to get along with your day. it’s still alright though, even if most of the school population is against you, you still have your friends.

“s/o, we took a vote and most of us don’t want to eat lunch with you anymore.” your friend tells you, if you can still even call her your friend. the shock can barely even register before you nod. “oh. alright then.” you take your things to eat on one of the benches at school.

“ah! s/o-chan, what are you doing hereee?” oikawa sees you, staring daggers into the gardens. “huh? oh, i…it’s nothing…” you mumble. “don’t you have your own lunch table? why’re you here all aloneeee?” he asks.

and that’s when it finally sank in.

“i just wanted a change of scenery today, i’m okay.” you assure him, using all your willpower to hide the tears that threaten to fall out. oikawa frowns, feeling as if there’s something else, but decides not to pursue it. “hmm, okayyyy… well, if that’s all, i guess there’s no problem. i’m gonna go eat now then!” oikawa waves goodbye, on his way to iwaizumi’s table.

and when he’s finally gone, is when you finally let all the tears fall. this is such a stupid thing to cry about… being kicked out of a lunch table? there are so many other problems you could cry about…

you go to the bathroom to splash some water on your face, eyes all puffy from crying. when you get back to your classroom, you see two of your friends, or… ex-friends. it’s just for a split second, but they run out the other side of the classroom, trying to avoid you.

what was all this even for? because of being friends with a boy you liked? you never even dated, so what harm was done?

you’re so many things; smart, athletic, quite awfully pretty as well. you have your own interests, hobbies, and likes. why do you have to be reduced to liking oikawa? sure, you did talk about him an awful lot, but never recently.

“why did everything go wrong?

all because i liked a boy?”

[sparkforart]

1, 3, 12, 13 for both!

🫡🫡 the asks keep switching between your old pfp and the new one randomly

Thanks Tumblr ✨

1. What was the original thought that led to the creation of this character?

Don't look at me too hard, I'm spilling my secrets here 😶‍🌫️

Lydon has been kicking around for over a year on the F1 Amino community 😅 I was roleplaying with my friend and they thought it was unfair for them to play an OC while I was just a driver. And they insisted I make an OC! So, Lydon was made so we could be even 🤣

And Judas, was originally just some offhand comment because Lydon had beef with him after the first race for knocking him out of qualifying. Or something like that?? It's been awhile. All I know is he was a one sided rivalry, and Judas was a one off background character.

4. And reverse, which one of the four things (name, appearance, personality, role in story) did you struggle with the most?

JUDASSSS !! Everything about this man made me struggle. Unironically, Judas' original design looks very similar to Heath (@/sunsayrain308) with his hair style and face shape. Quite a jump his design took lmfao. Maybe I'll find that sketchbook sometime, but oh man, my art has improved so much since then. I don't want to see it ☠️

Lydon's lore, personality, role all basically fall into my lap. But I am always thinking about how they fit together.

I want them to be foils to each other. They reflect shared flaws, and show their differences as well. It took me so much time to decide who got what trait, and how they would display those traits. I want them to seem unique, and not just opposites. They still have to reasonably mesh together, and they always need an inevitable link between them.

12. Do you have a playlist for the character? What songs do you associate with them and why?

I might have a few 😅

I feel like I should say that I make playlists not on how the songs go together, but on how each song relates to the topic of the playlist!

These are my character playlists for Judas and Lydon. They are about the vibes of the characters! They are songs I listen to when trying to think about them as people.

LAM13 - Lydon in high energy, has that summer vibe!

MAD93 - Judas has a bit of a tense, growing frustration. He is also more full of himself.

MAD93 × LAM13 - This one is more about their older interactions with each other from 2022-2024, so I might make a new one to fit their current vibe 🤔

These two are what Lydon would have made for himself. Yes. He absolutely includes his own name in his mixes.

Lydon's banger beats - That is his playlist for doing most things! His go to when he's driving (in a regular car). He gets hyped, he sings, that ponytail is swinging, he gets into it 🤣

Lydon's midnight songs to cry (and rage) to - He absolutely made this curled up in his bed when Judas first dumped him.

20. Bonus question: share any additional thoughts, art, favourite scenes, anything you've been waiting for a chance to ramble about

Okay okay

So

I'm just gonna post a picture of the draft bc why not

I have an entire alternative timeline if Judas and Lydon never met! Pretty fun thing that I made during a night of insomnia

Lydon ends up as part of the U.S. army instead, as per his agreement. And Judas still ends up in F1, but there is not that hunger to win. He retires after 4 years of racing!

Lydon uh!! Yeah, pookie doesn't live the long life of an F1 driver, let's just say that !

Anyway, in their actual canon, this does come up a bit. Lydon always gets a bit uncomfortable when asked what he would do if he never became a driver.

He always shifts in his seat, adjusts his mic a bit. "Ah, well... I guess I would have joined my dad, you know."

[thebarontheabyss]

Alright i just read the entire thing today after the main post sitting on my drafts for sooo long. The most important thing you should know is that the thought of afterlife and death terrifies me. But your IF?? Made me feel better about it all??? Like the possibilities are endless and it doesnt have to be all bad?? Anyways enough personal stuff now lemme fangirl a bit YOUR CHARACTERS ARE AWESOME! There is so much depth to everyone!!! Soooo many dialogue choices too youre amazing for giving us so much stuff duuude 😍 Im so intrigues by all the characters ill be going through the blog for some crumbs! Another thing is that this story is so creative! Incredible world building (or should i say realm building) and everything makes sense in their own harmonious way! Also all that stuff with the keeper and all was a great tone switch i loved that! I think one of my favorite things is hanging out with He Without Name because we be hanging out with the staff and then all of a sudden see the birth of the universe with my shadow bestie 🤣 Also im currently romancing Death because they might be my favorite depiction of grim reaper EVER bc thats just my special failguy ❤️ I can scream about it more but its 1 am so ill just say thank you for the awesome story!

Omg thank youuuuu ❤️ I had the biggest, stupidest smile while reading your review.

The fact that my version of the afterlife made you feel less anxious about death is exactly the reason I started writing this game.

I have had several encounters with death from a young age, including a near-death experience as a teenager and losing my dad to cancer six years ago. Writing about it is my way of processing and dealing with the concept, and I’m genuinely glad it helps others as well.

Again thank you so much for the kind words! Let me know what crumbs you found in the archive lmao there are already so many 😭

[kpopsexstories]

hey, I am a big fan of NCT Dream dating ban series and I can't wait for 127 version. I think you mentioned that you don't have any ideas for stories about nct 127 which worried me:). Can you give us some update about 127 dating ban series. How is the work going? When can we expect this series?

Hey 😁👋

Certainly, happy to provide an update! And let's get straight to the good news you're hoping for: I have now set preliminary dates for the first three stories (thanks to your question)! 🥳

For those who don't know, the NCT Dream Dating Ban was a gay x male reader smut series. The NCT 127 Dating Ban series is a follow-up to that, one I have been teasing for a while.

Now let me give you a more detailed update...

What the hell is taking so long? 😅

Well, like you said I initially didn't have enough ideas for this series. But then I did. Only to make it way too complex and confuse myself. Which, when I did a poll recently about which storylines and series to prioritize and the 127 Dating Ban got a lot of the votes, led me to completely scrap everything.

That's right, since I was stuck in a loop of writer's block I decided to simply start over.

And guess what? It did the trick! That's why I can now comfortably give you (preliminary) dates for the first three stories.

Dates? What dates? Just tell us already! 🤩

Okay, okay 😏 The first thee stories will be:

Haechan, March 13, 2025

Jungwoo, March 20, 2025

Doyoung, March 27, 2025

You can now see their cover images on the Up-coming Stories page on Story Finder (my external website for all k-pop smut on this blog) and further down this post.

Oh come one, that's soooo long from now!

Not really 🤣 February is almost over. But even though I have written the first draft of all three of the above they still need some editing.

Writing a single story – any story – takes a lot of time, because I care about details and want to give you good stuff 😊

And the rest of the members...?

Well, this is another reason why I initially got stuck. When I did the NCT Dream Dating Ban I wrote and published stories continuously. In fact it was never planned as a series which I think is evident if you were to re-read the stories in order today. It just became one organically, because you kept requesting more.

And once I did realize it was turning into a series and started planting seeds and connecting plots, I was super worried I'd run into a block and end up never finishing it – disappointing you all 😕

Luckily that never happened, but with the 127 Dating Ban I wanted to be sure. So I planned on writing all stories before publishing anything.

But your question made me think. And I realized the reason I enjoyed writing the original dating ban so much was because you guys gave me encouragement and ideas between stories.

I wrote when I felt like it. Sometimes you had to wait weeks between stories because I was uninspired. But ultimately everything was better for it, because it helped me finish the series at all.

So, long story short and the honest answer: I have not written the remaining stories and I don't know when I will.

Does that mean the series might never finish?

Probably not. Hopefully not! I mean there's always a risk 😅 But I can tell you this:

I now have rough ideas for all remaining members.

I know you'll send requests and encouragement between stories, which I've learned by now always motivates me a lot.

Since this series is in demand, I am making it a priority – even if that's a long-term priority and there might be weeks or even months of waiting between some stories.

Some more good news if you like the Dating Ban Series... 😏

Take a look at the Up-coming Stories page again. Scroll down to the Planned Stories section.

Notice the "Big Brother, Little Brother" stories (there's six of them), featuring members of BTS and TXT? If you like the Dating Ban I'm pretty sure you'll like those, at least if you're a BTS and/or TXT fan.

These stories are very short and will be released as part of the Quick Fix Gay series. They aren't a series in themselves or anything, but they share a similar setup and style to each other – most importantly the fact that they're gay crossover stories featuring an older and younger member from two different groups.

(Obviously, the Big Brother, Little Brother title comes from the fact that TXT is the little brother group of BTS.)

I haven't scheduled these stories yet, but they have been written in full. I have other Quick Fix Gay stories to publish first. But the fact that the Big Brother, Little Brother stories have already been written means you will get them, probably sometime this spring. I just have other content to share too, and am holding on to these for later.

Sorry to tease another thing you're likely to wait a long time for 😉 But the Dating Ban made me think of them, as they will appeal to the same audience.

Anyway, thanks for appreciating the Dating Ban series, and for reading this far. While you wait for March 13, check out the NCT Dream Dating Ban series if you haven't already.

(External link, but click on the Tumblr link under each story thumbnail on that website to open the story on Tumblr.)

Now let's end this post with a poll:

[highladyjane]

While we're waiting for the announcement, what's your guess for the title of the next acotar book?

Lol, you sneaky nonnie! I've seen this Ask all over my dash today yestereve (I fell asleep writing my response to this)😆 Thank you for letting me join in on the fun!

I've actually had a theory about this hiding somewhere in my drafts for a couple of months now, but I've been too lazy to dig into it because 1. Structured writing, and therefore theories, is not my forte 2. I'm a perfectionist but my mind's messy - so it's all a bit messy, 3. so I might sound like a loony... 4. and I'm too insecure about my thoughts at times to even post about what goes through it 😅

But since you Ask'd... Here's a "shorter" version of that draft, at least:

My theory is that Elain's book will have something to do with ✨️Vines✨️.

Like... A Court of ✨️🌿Golden Vines🌿✨️(which I'm leaning the most towards), ACO Twining Vines, ACO Tangled Vines, ACO Blooming Vines, ACO Shadows and Vines... etc. I'm still trying to figure out where to lay my theory 😅🤣

It may sound very Elucien or even Tamlain, but ✨️Vines✨️ are described as "a plant whose stem requires support and which climbs by tendrils or twining or creeps along the ground" which, if you read or search through the books, also hints and applies to the movement of Azriel's shadows in many instances... @wingedblooms absolutely brilliant post that I quite recently came upon, especially supports the 'Twining'... So I think it's the perfect title to confuse people about her endgame 😜

Anyways, to back up my guess/theory...

Elain's scent is of Jasmine (and Honey), which seems to be the bloom of the Night Court 👀, grows as climbing shrubs or ✨️vines✨️. But I'm feeling specifically strongly for the ✨Vines✨ because

Aaaaand because:

1. Ivy is a ✨vine✨ and Sarah has mentioned it in relation to Elain's book in an interview presented at the back of ACOFAS.

2. Nesta's drawer had flames🔥. Elain had...

🌿✨Twining Vines of flowers✨🌿

We often see the beautiful petals (Elain's softness & beauty), but we don't think about the strength, resilience, and foundation of the vines underneath and........ 👇

3. ✨️Vines✨️ symbolise:

Strength & hope & resilience = Elain's quiet strength.

Determination = Elain has shown determination to help in ways she can, but is yet to be given the chance to...

She also has shown a determined disregard and opposition to having a mate...

Connection = Goes well along with my guess on "Golden" or "Twining" Vines which are often used as adjectives in relation to bonds, threads, and even spells.

Also, Elain is an Archeron sister, Cauldron-blessed, and a Seer - connected to basically every plot and possible subplots in the books (The Cauldron ➡️ Ramiel in Illyria ➡️ Made Objects & People ➡️ The Middle & The Prison/Dusk Court ➡️ The Dread Trove ➡️ Koschei ➡️Vassa ➡️The Human Queens etc.🔁); not just for who she is and her Cauldron-given gifts and abilities, but also possibly through her LIs and family. She's the one sister left unexplored and it all leads back to her. She's basically at the beginning (She's the first sister mentioned by Feyre at the beginning of ACOTAR) and in the end (She's the last sister mentioned by Nesta at the end of ACOSF) of everything. So I don't know if that supports her book being next or last...

Life = the meaning of which also applies to her scent of Honey and "Golden" -the colour of (sun)light, honey, her eyes, her hair.

3. ✨️Vines✨️ are also mentioned/connected to the earthen powers described in CC3 that Sathia & Tristan Flynn + Bryce have, which I believe many has already theorised Elain to also have... I quite like those theories (can't remember exactly where I read them as of rn) and would like to believe that it's something the Cauldron has blessed her with since she's associated with gardening and life...

I also read somewhere in a biblical text (which I wasn't too keen to delve into tbh, so don't trust my word for it, but it's Googlable) where ✨️Golden Vine✨️was associated with Life, Rebirth, and Free Will... But if Elain turns out to be the next Messiah/Saviour/Prophet of Prythian, then it's quite perfect 🤷🏻‍♀️

So... that's sort of my take so far 🫣 Hope it makes sense to you, nonnie 😅

What's yours?

[mrs-weasley-reid]

KER!!!!

Hi Ker. Its me, again. Don’t you worry about accidentally deleting my ask I did read your fic also at like… 3am LOL. I’m going to bullet point what I asked before I forget so sorry if this feels a bit rushed and kind of rude

- say don’t go (taylor swift reference? If it is I SEE YOU SWIFTIE! (Maybe swiftie? Idk if ur a swiftie but i see the ref regardless)

- this was me begging for a part 2 if you’re down to write a part 2 because i desperately wanted to know what happens next

- i was also wondering if what you did was perhaps intentional, though. The angst leaving us all on a cliffhanger. Did you leave it open ended on purpose?

- because in that case i get it but still humbly request a part 2… on my knees

- does she wake up and survive the surgery? Where do they go from there if she does?

- does she NOT survive the surgery? Where does Spencer go from there??

- but once again i don’t want you to feel pressured by any means to write a part 2. If it comes to you it comes to you, if it doesn’t that’s ok! You already gained a new fan of your writing and your work 💕

- oh i also wanted to tell u idk if i said this in my comment but I LEGIT THOUGHT that when she was standing in the doorway and he was standing there in his suit and tie that she bought him- THAT SHE DIED AND WAS A GHOST. LIKE STRAIGHT UP. I WAS LIKE DAMN SHE DEAD? But she wasn’t dead- her heart was just broken and crumpled up on the floor and what lay in the space between them

Anyway I think I’m rambling again. These aren’t really bullet notes 🤣

OK BYE YOU’LL BE SEEING ME IN YOUR COMMENTS REAL SOON 🫡😗

OMG you are such an angel for doing this😭😭😭 and don't worry, it's not rude at all!

First and foremost, yes! I am a swifitie🫶 The entire fic is written while I had the song on repeat and specifically based on these two lines:

And I'm yours, but you're not mine I said, "I love you." You say nothin' back

So, if you want to reread it while listening to the song, it might make the angst angstier (? is that even a word lol)

Now, my favorite part of your ask. I did, in fact, leave it open-ended because I love to leave readers asking themselves what they want the ending to be. One thing I want my readers to know is that I will always leave things on a cliffhanger or open-ended because I myself cannot decide what I want. The reader recovering from the surgery does not mean things will go well with them and Spencer. So, it really is up to everyone whether they want her to go or to stay. I got a request to make a part 2 where the reader dies. It was a pleasant ask (and very tempting, tbh), but I left it for everyone's own interpretation. And I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on that.

But of course, sometimes I do fold and write part 2s and more if I feel like it. Although, I love most of my fics as a stand-alone. Anyway, this might be a bit of an advertisement, but I'll be posting some unfinished drafts that are open-ended because I'm too indecisive. It would really be amazing if I get replies that tell me what they think happened and will happen. I already posted one called Execution Style somewhere around my blog. It's vague. And too short. So might not be as great.

Moving onnnnn lol

The ghost part had me chuckling when I woke up so I truly appreciate you sending the ask again. I kind of wanted the story to seem like it's going back and forth from one scene to another. It's a bit difficult to portray, so I understand why you thought she was a ghost😂😂😂

I officially welcome you to my crazy department and hope that you enjoy your stay

— love lots x

[kingwuko]

7, 11, 13, 27, 43, 50, 79 for the fanfic asks!

YAY of course!!! I'll put them under a cut

7. Post a snippet from a wip.

“Guess not. But if the swamp showed you a vision of her…,” Korra said carefully. “The swamp is strange. It sort of shows you what you need to see. The visions aren’t always right, but whatever the swamp showed you probably has some deeper meaning…” Korra wasn’t sure what the Earth Queen might have done or said to Wu, but whatever it was, it had really rattled him. Of course, that wasn't saying much. Wu wasn’t exactly the most cool and collected person she had ever met. Still, Korra got the sense that whatever Wu had seen was intense. “What I need to see…” Wu said thoughtfully. “I… I don’t know. The things she-I mean, the things the vision said to me…” “What did she say in the vision?” Wu’s posture became uneasy and his eyes darted away for a moment. He was being cagey, which wasn’t like Wu at all. Normally he was over eager to share. The vision must have really freaked him out, if he didn’t want to talk about it.

11. Do you write scenes in order, or do you jump around?

OOOhh good question. I actually try to write in order! There is a fic author from a different fandom who posts (amateur) fic writing tutorials. She's got a great track record with longfics and wrote a tutorial explaining her methods. One important point she made was that she always writes in order, because it helps her get through the not-fun parts if she has the fun parts waiting for her; just like it's enjoyable as a reader to experience a build-up to the big moments, it's enjoyable as a writer too! I followed this advice and I think it worked REALLY well for me. I managed to finish Secret and Windswept is coming along really nicely. That's not to say I've never written anything out of order, but if I have a scene in my head that's further down the line and I don't want to forget something I've thought of, I put it in my outline rather than directly into a document. Tricks my brain into thinking that I haven't really written it yet, because it's just part of the outline.

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

I do! Well I try to, anyway. If I'm sitting down to write after the kids are in bed, you betcha. But I also do a lot of little micro writing throughout the day as ideas come to me or I have a few moments to myself. in that case I don't listen to anything. I have playlists for my fic and I like to listen on my work commute which is some of my daydream time where I think of fic ideas. Here's my playlist for Windswept:

27. What area of writing do you feel strongest in?

oh boy you're going to make me compliment myself??? I have imposter syndrome big time this is difficult 🤣 I think I'm pretty strong in the sort of inner-monologue-stream-of-consciousness area. I really love getting into the character's heads and portraying their inner thoughts, and capturing their inner voices throughout it. And I think I do a pretty good job!

43. Is there a trope or idea that you’d really like to write but haven’t yet?

I REALLY want to write something about Wuko from Bolin's perspective. Every time I write Bolin I have SOOO much fun I really want to get in that guy's head!!!

50. How would you describe your writing style?

Maybe introspective? I try to keep the story moving but every time something happens, I always make the POV character think about it. I really like writing what's going on in the characters heads.

79. Do you have any writing advice you want to share?

Get a beta reader for your fanfics!!! Seriously. If your beta reader is just someone you send your completed drafts to and they provide suggestions and edits, that already will elevate your writing miles above what you started with. If it's someone who can also be there to help bounce ideas off of, outline, brainstorm, keep you on track with writing by encouraging you etc. Even better! Also. Don't be embarrassed about writing smut. Whatever. It's just sex. If you're writing it, you probably like reading it. Just write it and don't feel weird about sending it to a beta reader (as long as they've agreed beforehand that they're okay with smut!), don't feel weird about posting it. Lets unlearn shame together and all that. If you're writing outside your experience, try to get the perspective of someone from that experience. If you can't actually talk to someone about it, google and try to find info. For example I'm writing m/m when I don't ID as a man. I so I talk to men (especially mlm) and read accounts from men about certain things, so there's less chance that I'm being offensive or disrespectful or just plain wrong about something.

[writefightandflightclub]

it's almost time for chapter two of ride or die 🤗🤗🤗🥰🥰 I'm readyyyyy.

Tomorrow can't come soon enough.

Anyways, I have a question for you.

What made you decide on writing the whole story first before posting instead of like everytime you finished a chapter you posted it? Did u write it chronological? Or was there certain scenes you just HAD to write first bc they were making you sleepless? What's the story behind the fic? Did u had the story in mind when u posted that first chapter years ago? Or was the support of the readers asking for a second part the thought that made you go: "I can totally make this a story"?

Sorry if those are a lot of questions....I'm just a curious girl. 🫣 Feel free to not answer me if u don't wanna.

Take care 💜

Lola, you are giving me LIFE.

Thank you for indulging me. My lil writer heart is so happy to receive these questions! 🧡☺️🥹

So, I decided to write the whole series before posting mainly so I could force myself to finish it! I’ve completed some series before by posting chapters on the fly… but I also have others which are unfinished with the concluding parts languishing in my drafts. So, I really wanted to know this was DONE, in part so I could escape the pressure / guilt (self-imposed) which sometimes comes with winging it. But also so I could give a satisfying conclusion to anyone who chose to kindly invest their precious time in it.

As well, omg. I felt so wrapped up with these characters that I sorta wanted to write their story free of external comments and perspectives. I felt like there were specific places I wanted them to go, and I wonder, if I had been responding to comments as the story was still unfolding, might I have started second guessing things or taking it in a different direction? And don’t get me wrong, comments are my FAVE thing, I live for hearing all the different takes and interpretations, and feedback has been endlessly helpful and meaningful to me. I’m grateful for every single one! I just sorta wanted to let the characters in my head have first dibs on where they wanted to go this time, you know?! ☺️ An honestly, most of the time I have NO IDEA where I’m going with something, but this time I had a little bit more of an idea of the arc I wanted, and so this made sense.

Practically, it was also so I could get the continuity right from chapter to chapter. A later moment might change my perspective on an earlier scene, and if I posted outright I wouldn’t have had the flexibility to make changes.

On that note, the flexibility turned out to be needed. Some things even changed pretty last minute.

I definitely didn’t write it chronologically. I jump around a lot when I write. It’s CHAOS!!!

Tbh, I never had any continuation or larger story in mind when this started, and I fully credit all of the wonderful readers of that one-shot for this being a thing AT ALL beyond that! Chapter 1, in its OG form, was actually my first EVER Santiago one shot, and I loved the pairing so much that, with encouragement, I resolved to do a “part 2”!

However, their situation is actually so complicated that it… wouldn’t resolve quickly, yk?! The characters needed more space to breathe and grow (and to go through some stuff). And so now it’s LONG. It just… expanded as the characters pushed it apart.

I had a blast 🤣🤣🤣

In terms of scenes that were making me sleepless? Hmm. I spent a LOT of time thinking and pondering and playing out variations in my head. A LOT. There’s a flashback scene I was itching to write for a very tender moment contained in it (that chapter is far too long gah). And there’s a scene between Santi and Frankie that’s a real highlight for me.

Also, I cried MANY times while writing this agshsjajshahkahshsjjaj.

Thank you so much for being so sweet and being interested. I can’t tell you how much it means, fr. 🥹🧡

[hide-in-imagination]

12, 14, & 23 for the WIP ask game :D

Thank you!

I'll answer these based on Roads That Cross since that's the WIP you all know-- if anyone wants to ask about another I haven't posted yet, go ahead!

12. Will/do you have multiple drafts or versions of your WIP, and if so, what draft or version are you on right now?

Oof, oh my god. Um, well, as you all know I've been working on Roads for 5 years now, and I don't write in chronological order, so I've basically had 40 different Word documents on my folder for a long time, each for every future chapter. Some scenes have changed throughout the years, mainly because my writing has evolved and because I've gotten better ideas for them since the first time I ever came up with them. I usually just delete what I don't like and rewrite it, but, there are some scenes, especially from chapter 30 and afterward, that are very important and so I don't want to lose anything, no matter how it might no longer fit with the vision I currently have. For those scenes in particular I do keep the old drafts, usually at the bottom of the same document, so that I can go back to the original versions of it and maybe rescue some sentences or feelings that I consider important. Sometimes, it's not about the scene not working out but that I have a lot of different ways that it could go, and they all work in their own way, but I know I'll eventually have to choose just one or mix it all into one because I can't have 10 different versions of the same conversation kjsdn (yes, they're usually dialogue scenes that get the most drafts.) Um, I'd say those scenes are in version #3 by this point ? The oldest dating from 2018 or 2020, then some changes in 2021, and... I can't remember if the last time I touched them was this year or last year. But yeah, that about sums it up🙌🏻

14. What has been the hardest thing about working on this WIP so far?

Not losing motivation, I'd say. It's been a long journey. I'm constantly reading other fics since that's my favorite way of passing time, and while that's partly good for my creativity, it is also kind of discouraging because I'm constantly just seeing people writing way better than I do, and way faster than I do at that, so when you see someone cooking 7k words chapters every week, you kind of look at yourself and go Damn, what the hell am I doing?

It's a little sad to realize you don't really have a talent so you have to work 10 times harder just to reach the level of someone that whips out 12k words like it's nothing. Of course, I could defend myself saying they're writing in their native language while I'm not, but honestly, I know it wouldn't make a difference. My writing would still be the same if I wrote in Spanish, and, in fact, I think it would take me even longer to write because I would be cringing all the time ksjfskjd.

Anyway, in summary, keeping it going has been the hardest part, but I just try to remind myself that I don't need to be Shakespeare, and that, by this point, I just want to finish it so I can put it to rest, so it shouldn't be a big deal and I try not to let it affect me😂

23. What is the weirdest thing you’ve had to google for this WIP so far?

Oh my god, remember "With a new perspective" ? I spent months, MONTHS, googling about bathrooms 🤣🤣🤣 I JUST- again, English is not my first language, so I wasn't sure how to describe the things in Ámbar's bathroom, and hell- not even in Spanish I knew how to call some stuff 😂 Plus, first I had to come up with a mental image of it, so I went on a deep dive on Google Images, Pinterest, etc. And when I found something that I liked, then I had to discover how that specific shape of furniture was called. I became an expert on all the kinds of bathtubs there is 😂😂 I was so insane that my best friend even joked about it, sending me tiktoks "just so you can look at the bathroom" 🤣🤣 The worst part is, the bathroom descriptions weren't even important in that chapter compared to everything that was going on😂😂 But for me it was really important that everyone knew Ámbar had a ceiling-to-sink, wall-wide mirror and that she calls it "the usual bathroom mirror everyone has" because it was funny to me that she believes that's the normal when my bathroom mirror is literally like 40x20cms 😂😂

Anyway, I better stop ranting now. Thank you for the ask! <3

If anyone else wants to do it, the questions are right here.

[dashawfrostart]

Yet Another Month In "Time & Again" #35: I Made A Major Breakthrough In My Workflow Optimization! 🥳

Oh how time flies. I guess my plan established earlier to post bite-sized updates more frequently does not work. It's been a month, again. Mostly due to how I plan my days ahead, I usually have about 5-10 minutes of free time in the morning, and 5 minutes of free time very late at night (unless I'm drawing late at night, which also started to happen more frequently lately. Or, like right now: I'm writing this post quite late in the evening. Because daily art responsibilities must be fulfilled, I said). I had my Keep notes overfilling with the drafts of the incredibly wordy posts - almost as wordy as the buzzing hive in Lothar's head - but truth be told, within the last month, I just stopped updating them whatsoever. Instead, I organized my work schedule in such a way that allowed me to input as much time into development of "Time & Again" as I possibly could've reasonably donated. To be able to get closer to its completion as soon as possible (because heck, let's be straightforward here: Chapter 6 has been in development for far too long. The creator in me wants to move on to the next chapter already - and NOT ONLY because Chapter 7 will introduce one of my favourite characters in the entire series! 😉). Work first - extra stuff later. Priorities, meine Freunde 🧐☝️ ... And oh boy, have I moved forward within the last month, I'm so proud of myself 🤩 Awesome, innit?! Wanna know what I did? Then keep reading!

Therefore, as concludes from that massive prelude, this post has been written from scratch, without any prep work.

So on to yet another monthly update!

But first and foremost - a little teaser of a panel I *almost* finished up literally today. Cute!

And ta-daaaa! There are colours now! Things are getting funner and funner by the hour! 🤣

At the moment, the chart of completion of Chapter 6 looks this way:

The writing and the script - ✔done (long ago)!

The storyboard (drawn with a pencil on paper) - ✔done!

The Vector Stage (panels arrangement for every page according to the storyboard in Inkscape) - ✔done!

The Lineart Stage (drawing everything in black and white as it will appear in the final release) - 92,5% complete.

The Colouring Stage (colouring the lineart for the final release) - let's say approximately 40% done; some of it is dependent on the lineart that is still incomplete.

The Post-Production Stage (cleaning up everything, perfecting the speech bubbles, SFXs, and polishing everything squeaky clean for the actual release)

Some fun stats here for you: Chapter 6 features 323 panels all hand-drawn by a human, some of which are fairly simple while some others are mind-bogglingly detailed (probably unnecessarily so, knowing me).

As you [probably] could ponder - that's an huge ****ing amount of work for one person, no exaggeration.

But you could see in the chart included above that it doesn't look too bad already. I'm getting there. Maybe slowly, but it's moving. I think I have achieved a lot lately. Happy.

And finally! TO THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS POST. About the topic mentioned in the title of this post (therefore techy. you're welcome).

In the previous posts I wailed numerous times that I hate flatting because it takes HOURS AND HOURS of brainless mechanical work, and that I would like to discover a tool that could help me speed it up - possibly through the use of AI technology so that I could train the algorithm on my art style to make it recognize and distinguish Lothar, Jeanny, Beatnik, and everyone else from one another, only to automatically colour them according to my own predefined palette. For the sole reason of flatting being unbearable to me (especially at a huge scale such as a 61-pages-long Chapter 6).

Well... Turns out I might not need AI for that just yet.

Prior to a supermassive amount of colouring work that stood before me in Chapter 6, as soon as that 92,5% of the lineart was successfully complete, I decided to buckle up, approach, and face my arch-nemesis directly, straight in the eye. And it has been done in two grand steps.

Step One: I created a palette for "Time & Again" that contains all the swatches of all the characters in the story (including the past ones... yup, talking about you too, Edgar, you've very long overdue, sadly) so that I could switch colours on the go as fast as possible. Previously I had to open a separate Krita file prepared by myself that contained all the character swatches - which, I believe, I spoilerlessly showed off in one of the older posts - and I had to constantly switch from one file to another to transfer all the colours one by one (or rather two by two, because you could pick a foreground colour and the background colour to keep in the current memory). Needless to say how annoying it was all these years. And it required a lot of focus. No wonder I could burn out so quickly. In the meantime, I was perfectly aware that Krita Palette Docker was broken and that it wouldn't allow you to create groups of swatches (as reported in this post) - which was crucial for me. So, following the workaround from the aforementioned forum post, I unpacked portable version of Krita 5.1.0 and created my palette meticulously in there, with all the groups and swatches I needed. Then I opened my comic pages in Krita 5.2.9 which is the latest version I use - and du duuuun ta-daaaa! I could see all the groups, and everything works fine right now. I can even add more colours to already existing groups of swatches - BUT, unfortunately, I cannot modify the groups themselves, because then everything just breaks in 5.2.9. I also shared my experience here on Reddit.

I really hope that feature gets a fix soon! But for now, we have a fool-proof workaround, and I'm happy about that!

Step Two: I finally got serious and learnt Krita's Colorize Mask. And I don't regret it one bit. In fact, I'm simply astounded to see how well it works. This tool is A BEAST. I don't even know what else to say. The principle is simple: you just paint small brush strokes with an appropriate colours around the artwork - and the magical, smart, programmatically made algorithm fills out the lineart with the colours. With precision, I must say. It's just fantastic.

Below there are 2 examples (possibly not the best ones, but that's what I had so far spoiler-free) showing how powerful this simple tool is. The picture to the left is a "colour map" I made using the tool, and the one to the right is the colour output (converted to a raster layer). You can see the boundaries of the coloured areas on the colour maps.

The more directions you give it - the better it works, and requires less cleanup afterwards. It's especially effective at colouring Lothar's super pointy hair that has always been a pain to do ever since that character has been created by me 10 years ago. Now I don't have that problem anymore. And precision in colouring when using Colorize Mask simply shocks me (just like a shambler in a narrow corridor... yup. good times).

I played with settings a bit, but I ended up reverting back to the default settings. It just suits my needs perfectly as-is. I think I'll stick with it for the years to come. And honestly, flatting doesn't even scare me anymore. In fact, it has become a somewhat enjoyable process. Very good, very good indeed. 😁

So, the Palette and Colorize Mask together allowed me to deal with a huge number of panels for the chapter quite quickly. There's still a ton of work left to do - but the most tedious parts are done, so I can enjoy creating art more now.

That's how colourful my artistic life has been within the last month!

Let's be truly honest though... I'm still not certain on the release date of Chapter 6. Let's say it's "TBA". Ideally, I would love to be able to release it by the next GPop fest in October so that I could make an official reveal at the event. And there's still time. But we'll see how it goes. If you want quality (and I'm aiming at quality first and foremost) - then you should not expect fast work. Sloppy quality has never been my motto (unlike Toei Animation sometimes, lol). Moreover, Chapter 6 is incredibly conceptual and has a BIG MESSAGE in it. ... Yes, the message is, indeed, sometimes written in BIG FONT. Like, size 72 or even 102, maybe. But my cringeworthy jokes aside - yes, Chapter 6 is a twisted creature to tame, for a multitude of reasons. Time and time again, I foresee Chapter 6 to possibly become the best chapter in the entire series. So you know what to expect from my drawing pen: it's ready when it's ready, and it's gonna be perfected just at the right degree, no matter when.

Until next time, guys! Possibly in a month again - or maybe sooner. Who knows what this crazy author suddenly comes up with. 👋 Bis dann!

[pebblysand]

Hi!! I'm in a 4 hour bus ride and i thankfully had the latest chapter of castles to read, and, even though family fluff is not my thing, you abosolutely managed to give us a wonderful chapter, so, thank you and congratulations! I devoured it, and sadly still have like 2 more hours on this bus 🫠

One question i wanted to ask, what does penny gitrot mean? Maybe you already mentioned it, but i remebered it had some meaning in a previous chapter and i wanted to ask you but i kept forgetting lol.

Oh and Beyoncé's pregnant portrait? i was so obsessed with it when she posted it, that we made a photo with a friend inspired in it, that ended up in a museum, but nobody understood the reference, which was hilarious, and also kind of frustrating because the whole point of the photo was that it was a weird version of pregnant Beyoncé.

Ok i rambled enough and spent so much time writing this ask that i only have one more hour on this bus!! Yeeeey!

Have a wonderful start of the week!!

aw thank you so much!!! so glad you enjoyed!! i will say: the fluff chapters are always the hardest ones for me to write as well because it's just not my comfort zone, so it's always extra special when you guys enjoy them! it means it wasn't too bad hahah!

re: penny gitrot, it's an anagram for ginny potter. it's the pseudonym ginny used when she wrote articles for the quibbler during the war to protect her identity. (though, that didn't work because the carrows found out which is one of the things that led to ginny/amycus, etc.)

lmaoooo. i was just looking for references of celebrity pregnancy pictures, you know? i thought ginny might want to do a photoshoot again or something (i'm still actually not sure if it'll make it in the draft or not). and, i seemed to remember a photoshoot of some "celebrity" with a sort piece of floaty fabric that hid their boobs and other "regions" while enhancing their pregnant belly so i wanted to find it again to refer to it. except: i couldn't figure out where i'd seen it. i was like: was this beyonce? rihanna? and then i realised it was my actually one of my friend's instagram 🤣. i suppose the pictures were so good my brain registered it as a celeb photoshoot 😅.

good luck with the bus ride and thanks again for your kind words!

[noonaishere]

@luvvvx lol, thank you. I’m glad you like it, it was very difficult considering my cat was assaulting me the whole time I was trying to put it together 🤣🤣 (Sort of like right now, lol)

(Putting a read more because this ended up being longer than I expected)

See it’s actually because I learned from trying - years ago - that I can’t write serially. Like, I can’t just sit down once a week and write a chapter of a fic and upload it and then go off and live the rest of my life and expect to sit down a week later and still have the same level of interest in the project; I still have an unfinished fic on my AO3 that is testament to this. I really envy people that can do that, because unless I ride that hyperfixation wave all the way up to the shore of Actually Finishing Something, it’s never going to get done. (Like, I was one of those students who waited until the last second to do anything because that’s the only time the deadline felt like it was real at all?? If that makes sense lol) This normally manifests in me doing some variation of a Nanowrimo-style thing working on something for a straight month until it’s done and I’m mildly burned out on it and can’t even look at it for a week after.

Basically, I wrote this for every Fri-Sun during May of this year (as I had work from Mon-Thu); then divided it into “parts” for upload (roughly based around scene changes or time jumps); made all the text screenshots (which was probably the worst part, my carpal tunnel was like “SURPRISE BITCH!” from all the typing on my phone and I was like “Dear GOD, no!!”); then I made this tumblr and premade the posts as drafts so they were all in number order and I could add the pictures and/or text after; added all the pictures and text once they were all done; figured out the dates that everything would have to update and then put them into a document (so I would never have to figure them out again because oh my god, that was tedious lol) and copy/pasted the dates into the schedule part of each post and scheduled them.

... then as it started uploading, I realized I needed to have a couple more scenes to make a few points a bit clearer (and I just finished the last one and still have to make a post lol)

So like, it was a lot of work in the behind the scenes sense, but now I get to kind of chill while it updates on its own and enjoy everyone’s reactions to it without the pressure of “Shit, I have to write this week’s thing.”

As for new stories...

I thought of maybe doing kind of a “choose your own adventure” (like a Twine or something) style fic with Ateez where you get to choose which member you have important moments of the story with and which one you end the story with, but that would require writing certain scenes 8 times and that’s..... a lot, lol. So idk about that one. (That might actually be easier if I had someone else to write it with lol)

I also have been having ideas for an original story that takes place in the kpop industry, but that’s not a fanfic, soooo...

I was also thinking of finishing the unfinished fic I mentioned, since I still have most of the original notes and maybe turning it into an enemies to lovers or something? It wasn’t kpop though lol

And then I also have like... four original things that I need to so something with. Like... a something that involves me getting paid for having written it lolol. Like, I’d love to find an artist and do them as webcomics, honestly.

But if you’re interested, I have some older fics on my AO3:

An oc/Deucalion (Teen Wolf) fic. My first one. I think there’s some formatting funkiness in there somewhere, but I might have fixed it? I literally can’t remember anymore. This has smut.

An oc/Loki (MCU) one. This has smut as well. One chapter is just 10k of almost all smut.

An oc/Malachi (Riverdale). This doesn’t have smut, but it’s also the unfinished one.

An oc/real person fic (Henry Cavill), which is only like 30k (smutless), and I wrote it because I wanted to try writing something with the structure of the first season of The Witcher (re: time jumps and that narrative circle).

Soooo, yeah. I tend to jump from fandom to fandom as I find interesting things or get bored of them lol.

I’m not totally sure what I’m going to work on next 🤣

[dashawfrostart]

These Two Weeks In "Time & Again" #14: My Feelings For Facebook Are Still Surprisingly Mutual... And I'm Getting There!

A big announcement! The artist contracted a wee bit cold 🤧 This is sad, for it broke my impressive "I never get sick!" streak that lasted for, like, 7 years or so. I guess I'm not gonna get that notorious achievement anymore. And fine, see if I care! I don't like achievements anyway (which is, perhaps, pretty clearly stated in Chapter 3 😁) But don't get me wrong: under any circumstances pathetic excuses such as "having a cold or something alike" most certainly do not set me free from working on "Time & Again" 😤 They might hinder my progress, which is truly unfortunate, since the work is almost done - but that will not stop me, by any means. *for some reason, I really wanna put that weird "shake fish" smiley from DeviantArt in here*

Trying to prettify and overhaul, completely or partially, the social pages for the upcoming release of Chapter 5 is not easy at all... A long time ago - and that means well over a month ago - I submitted a name change request for my art page on Facebook, to better reflect the current obsession priority and certain ethics of the author in this great adventure. I was told that it might take up to 3 days for the changes to take effect, if approved. But it's been already that long, and there's still no change, nor can I submit a new name change request. I mean, I absolutely don't mind "Art by Dasha W. Frost" as a page title, but, honestly, "Official Time & Again Graphic Narrative Page" would simply be better right now, while I'm still working on this "genre abomination experiment of a graphic novel". That's a little bit sad to me. So this is where that post title comes from. Facebook seems to really dislike me - but you know what?! My feeling towards it is truly mutual 🤣

Somehow, I believe, constant dissatisfaction with the social netwroks has always been one of the most prominent topics I wrote on back in the day, when I used to have a secret blog on Wordpress. However, it's getting a tad too old for me (not the blog, but the topic; the blog is long gone), so I don't want to keep up with the "tradition" and I'll just move on without it. ... also, how I accidentally misspelled "networks" in the second last sentence really makes me think of yet another one Ultravox song. So, once I realized I typo'd, I just decided to leave it as is, for the sake of fun association. (I sure somehow became a big fan of this band over the course of, like, 5 months 😅)

But on a more positive note!!! I finished up all the teasers for Chapter 5 that I had in mind (and one of them you've already seen in the previous post 😁), and that's one of the biggest and the most important things I've done for "Time & Again" within the last two weeks. W00t and doot!!! You know what else happened?.. I finished up all the new inner covers (also known as Vorsatz und Nachsatz in book printing ☝) and the main cover for Chapter 5! And I really like the results 😁 (some snippets of the progress go below)

I guess you will see the finished product soon enough 😁 And yet again, I want to praise Krita's Assistant Tool: I used Vanishing Point assistant to draw a better urban perspective for the cover art. I think it turned out pretty good and significantly less crooked. Haha)))

I also finished up the author's letter that will be included into the chapter as a bonus material. I started writing it long ago, gradually adding more and more to it as the time went by. This is not what I usually do, for, at times, writing in segments might quickly become a disaster for me. Even writing future snippets/drafts of the blog posts in here often represents a sort of challenge to me - although I clearly seem to magically succeed somehow. (yay? 🥳 I guess?..) But nevertheless, this is what happened to the author's letter/afterword for Chapter 5. And it turned out good... but big 😅 However, after an attempt to figure out how to make it shorter... I simply decided to keep it as is. Because WHATEVER! You can read the whole thing if you want. It's moderately entertaining after all 😁 Or you can skips some parts in it. Or you can skip the whole thing (because you probably came here for the artworks anyway, right?..). I don't care. I just did what I thought would be good and what makes sense to me, as an author. That's all, deal with it! 😎 The readers are not obligated to like everything 😁 Also, the author's letter/afterword turned out very sincere. ... Heh, as if I can ever be insincere? That's ridiculous.

"Then, what's left now?", you ask me. Good question. Indubitably. The right answer is: not much. Not much at all. Just one more session of proofreading (damn, I hate hate hate discovering typos already after I posted stuff! 😫), and tiny touch-ups here and there, and assembling the last bonus pages from the materials I have on hand. And I also need to write a short dialogue for a certain background. An ugly dialogue, I must admit. But I'll rickroll my sleeves up (for realsies), and I'll do it. Preferably in one sitting. Perhaps even today. 💪 And shortly after that I'll finally initiate the last stage of work: I'll recut it into a webcomic. And I'll finish up drawing all the extra designs that I need for the itch.io release.

I ask myself this question more and more frequently lately: how did Lothar even end up as a protagonist after all?.. That's quite a turn of events. Originally created in late 2014 - mid-2015 as a side character/antagonist for a story about catpeople that I never happened to finish writing (and not only that, but apparently, I never even posted any substantial artwork of the catpeople Freia and Fjolvarr together, so I cannot show almost any proof... sadness), Lothar has sure come a long way. He's been through a lot - thanks to me. I never really asked his permission; I mostly just did whatever pleased me as a writer/artist. And now... we can see him as a main character in an effing blooooody graphic novel - a format that I haven't even been familiar with up until a few years ago! That is quite a change!!! And what the peck even happened to me as a content creator? I think I possibly lost my mind. But again... Lothar has sure been through a lot in the last few earthly years. And my first comedic one-shot is probably gonna be about that.

But I think that's enough talking for today. The important piece of a dialogue won't be finished today if I keep talking. See you next time!