amysuevr

[amysuevr]

Sneak Peak Sunday Tuesday

Thank you @messitydepressity for the tag, I'm sorry I'm so late! I've been overseas at a family wedding on my husbands side and it's been nuts! I had planned to write some while I was here, but it just didn't happen so I don't have anything new for Bless the Broken Road. I fly home tomorrow so I'm hoping to get back to it this weekend.

But, I have a very fun snippit from my traumadramarama fic, Collapsing Suns, hopefully coming soon. I've been writing on this damn thing for 2 years, but I keep second guessing myself on it so I haven't posted any of it, despite having 2 chapters done.

This is from Chapter 3, which takes place at Tommy and Maria's wedding and Tommy has made the mistake of trying to set Joel up with a nice lady to talk to...Ellie is not having it.

The only hiccup occurs about halfway through the reception when Tommy decides to introduce him to a friend of Maria’s. Joel generally hates this type of thing, but he’s on his second beer, and he had a glass of champagne when they did the toast, so he’s feeling more social than usual. The girls are goofing around in the photo booth set up across the reception area, so what the heck, he can muster up a conversation with a friendly and very pretty woman for a few minutes.

After about five minutes, they’ve made it past the usual “Yeah, Austin is great, lots of growth, you should see my property taxes, oh, yeah, we keep Austin weird. No, I don’t really want a Tesla,” etc. Joel notices Ellie noticing him from across the reception. She’s smiling at something Maria has just said, but her face changes immediately into one of horror, and she begins to march across the field like a heart-seeking missile. Joel braces for impact, but Tommy clocks her at the same time and smoothly intercepts, turning her away from Joel.  Joel can’t hear what he says, but he sees him herd her back to the photo booth and takes out his phone for a selfie. Joel tries to refocus his attention on Jen, who is telling him about skiing in Utah, when he sees Ellie slip back out of Tommy’s grasp and head back towards him. Tommy intervenes again and begins trying to get her into a game of Cornhole. She half-heartedly tosses one beanbag, misses by a mile, and worms away from him again. Tommy tries to follow but is cut off by another guest who wants to give him a congratulatory hug. Ellie sets her sights back on Joel when Sarah, who seems to clock what’s going on, intercepts Ellie and pulls her over to the cake table. She shoves what is probably Ellie’s third piece of cake into her hands.

The whole thing looks like a ridiculous slapstick routine that should have the Benny Hill theme playing in the background. It takes everything in Joel not to laugh, even if he does feel his mouth twitch a hair. He schools his face, keeps his eyes on Jen, and tries to focus.  Ellie makes it difficult as she takes 2 large bites and shoves the plate back at Sarah, causing Sarah to almost get frosting on her dress. She turns to put the cake on the table, and Ellie takes the opportunity to head back towards Joel. Sarah is not easily deterred, though, and manages to catch up with Ellie, pulling her onto the dance floor as the song changes to an upbeat one. Poor Sarah really throws herself into looking like Party in the USA is the best song she’s ever heard, and Tommy, who has escaped his well-wisher, joins in.

Joel nods at Jen and tries to follow her story about hiking at Arches National Park, which sounds fantastic. He keeps missing parts of the story, though, as he watches his older daughter and brother jumping around in a desperate attempt to get Ellie to join in, much like they did when trying to distract Ellie from Joel leaving when she was a toddler. Also, like when she was a toddler, Ellie stares at them like they’ve lost their minds. Between trying desperately not to let Jen see how distracted he is, he almost misses Ellie, who has evaded her captors and is heading back toward him at full speed. Sarah tries to come after her, but one of the bridesmaids grabs her for a photo, so Tommy leaves the dance floor, hot on her tail. Tommy has long legs and is fast, but a possessive 14-year-old daddy’s girl determined to make sure her dad stays hers is even faster. Joel has approximately 5 seconds to tell Jen, “I apologize for what is about to happen.”

[amysuevr]

WIP Wednesday

A WIP Wednesday that nobody asked for, it just gives me something work towards each week. Below is a snip from Chapter 5 of Bless the Broken Road.

[amysuevr]

Chapter 4 of Bless the Broken Road is up.

It's extra long to make up for the delay in finishing, which may or may not be worth it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Enjoy either way!

[amysuevr]

If you are in need of some Father's Day fluff, may I offer you my fic Carried You With Me?

Set in my modern AU and covering 7 of Joel's Father's Days, this fic has everything except a world ending cordyceps outbreak.

Babies ✔️

Sisters ✔️

Bill and Frank ✔️

Uncle Tommy ✔️

Grandpa Joel✔️

So. Much. Fluff✔️

Read it now before I become embarrassed about this shameless self promotion and delete the post!

[amysuevr]

WIP Thursday

I think it's Thursday, I've been off a day all week.

Thank you @messitydepressity for the tag. I have been meaning to post some WIPS for a couple weeks, but none of them felt right. This was the kick I needed to finally get something posted!

I have been working on chapter 4 of Bless the Broken Road. It's been slow going, I'll make good progress and then get slowed down again. Mostly by the emotional damage of season two that keeps driving me back to my fluffy modern AU, where everyone is safe and happy!

Below is a snip from chapter 4, it's the first scene I wrote, with Sarah confronting Joel on knowing about Ellie's possible immunity. I love it, but it's giving me all kids of trouble. Here's where we are though!

Then to prove I haven't abandoned it all, below is a snip from a WIP in the modern AU. Currently labeled a year in the life, which will change, each chapter is one day from each month of the year. Set when Sarah is 15 and Ellie is 10. This is from February, when Sarah gets dumped on Valentine's Day and Ellie plays hype man for her sister!

Hopefully, that isn't too small to read... I was trying to keep it on one page.

I almost added a third snip from another modern AU WIP I have, but I'll save it. And get back to updating my current fic. I promise!

I think everyone's been tagged so if you see this and want to post, you should! :)

[amysuevr]

Ok, but like what if this actually kills me? 😭😭

Full pic. This is a hug, I'm screaming. It's a hug!!!!

[amysuevr]

WIP Wednesday Thursday

My WIP Wednesday on Thursday because I need to keep myself motivated and accountable.

I had every intention to have chapter 3 of Bless the Broken Road out by now, but first I was hit with a case of what I call squirrel brain late last week. Then, today I realized the first third of the chapter needs a re write due to a poorly thought out plot point. 😩 I'll have it up as soon as I can.

In the meantime here is something lighter to come from chapter 5. It's pretty rough, and mostly dialogue, I haven't fleshed it out yet, but it made me laugh.

[amysuevr]

Listen…I am going to need that next update soon. Because the way you ended chapter two was BRUTAL. 😭

First thank you for reading, I’m always surprised when anyone does! 🥹

I’m sorry for the ending of chapter 2, I triggered myself a little with that one! I’m trying to get the next chapter done as soon as possible! If I can get my husband out of the house for a few hours this weekend, I’ll have a chance to get it done by Monday!

[amysuevr]

WIP Wednesday

A WIP Wednesday that nobody asked for, but I'm using to stay on track.

I'm working to get the third chapter of Bless the Broken Road up within the next week. Below is a snip that made me cry while I wrote it.

If you decide you need less sad and much more cordyceps free fluff I have whole modern AU series that among other things includes Sarah alive and rocking the oldest daughter/big sister role, Ellie living it up as feral little sister and poor Joel just trying to raise these darn kids while they run circles around him.

[amysuevr]

WIP Thursday

Thank you @messitydepressity for the tag.

I have been plugging away at chapter 2 of Bless the Broken Road, but some mental burnout is causing a delay. I think I'm coming out of it, so hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in a couple weeks.

After episode 2, though, I was in desperate need of fluff and when I stumbled upon a paragraph that was supposed to be the start of a New Years Eve epilogue for Make Glad the Heart. I went down a brief rabbit hole and knocked out like 2,000 words in a day. Who knows when I'll finish it, but it's so fluffy and fun and was a nice distraction from the happening!

Snip below, just be warned it's a very rough draft!

[amysuevr]

WIP Wednesday

A WIP Wednesday that nobody's asked for, but I'm using to keep me accountable to myself!

Working furiously on piecing together chapter 2 of Bless the Broken Road, below is a snip.

You can read Chapter 1 now!

[amysuevr]

Reblogging this just because it hit 100 kudos today. Really, that doesn't mean much, but I've been a little down on my stories lately and struggling to finish a couple WIPS so that 100th kudo was a nice surprise and meant a lot.

Anyway, just Halloween fluff, bio dad Joel, Sarah lives, tooth rotting fluff!

I wrote this last year for Halloween. I was traveling for 3 weeks for work and finishing it was a fun distraction during a stressful time! Modern AU! Sarah lives! Joel is Ellie’s dad! So much family fluff!

[amysuevr]

Hi! Can I ask for #’s 19 and 29 for the ask game?

Thanks!🖤

Thank you for asking! I have never given a short answer in my life, so I apologize now. :)

19 - How do you get over writer's block? - I wish I had a good answer...it kind of depends on the block. If it's flat out can't write anything I try an ADHD trick of doing it for five minutes. Just write something for five minutes. It's okay if it's not good, you can edit it later. It doesn't always work, but a lot of times it helps unstick me even if it's just a little.

I also sometimes try going back and reading my old fics. I mostly write in the same AU, so going back to read one of my other stories tends to spark ideas or excitement.

If I'm stuck on a particular scene or section I will go for a walk and listen to something like classical music on a low volume. I can't listen to music with lyrics because then I hear the lyrics and not the scene, but I need something. So I just walk and think through the scene and let it play out in my head several different ways until I get something I like. It might not be perfect, but usually I have something and then I can edit later if needed. For some reason it feels less pressured when there's not a computer screen in front of me. I did this yesterday afternoon and at least partially fixed a section of a current WIP that needs a re write.

I don't know, those don't always work, sometimes I just have to walk away for a few days, but usually those tricks help unstick me a little.

29 - How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting? Oh lord, too many times! Chapter 9 of Make Glad the Heart had 8 versions and this doesn't include pull out sections. If there's a section I need to work on, I tend to pull it out into it's own document, make edits and then drop it back into the current version. For some reason I get very overwhelmed by all the...words, I guess, around whatever I'm trying to edit and start to panic. Pulling it out helps me focus on just that section and feels less overwhelmed. So that same chapter that had 8 full versions also had 5 pullout sections. I also keep a running document for the full story with whatever I end up deleting, in case I decide I want to add something back later.

[amysuevr]

Fanfic/Author Ask Game

Write a scene from [insert fic] in another character’s POV

Which of your fics is your pride and joy?

What are your top three most commonly used tags on AO3?

What are some words or phrases you feel like you overuse?

What’s something you learned while researching a fic?

Would you ever accept requests or commissions?

Coffee or tea while you write?

What is your favorite line/section from [insert fic]?

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

Is there a character or ship you'd love to write for, but haven't yet?

What makes a fic 'successful' in your opinion?

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Do you have an 'official' creative writing background such as a degree or previous experience publishing?

What makes you happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers, or Tumblr asks?

Does anyone you know in real life know you write fanfiction?

What do you struggle with most when writing?

What is something you recently felt proud of in your writing?

How many WIPs do you have and how many do you expect to finish?

How do you get over writer's block?

Share your favorite kiss scene from [insert fic]. If there's no kiss scene, share your favorite moment of intimacy (romantic or platonic)

What stops you from writing more in your free time?

Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

Which scene/theme was the inspiration for [insert fic]?

Are there any moments in [insert fic] that feel "blurry" to you? Is this a stylistic choice, or would you go back and clarify the descriptions if you were given the chance?

Do you ever "prep" your fics with outlines or warmups before you start writing, or do you just dive right in?

Are any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?

How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

Have you noticed your style change over time?

What fic meant the most to you to write?

A character you enjoy making suffer.

A character you want to protect.

What is your favorite fic to get comments/messages on?

Wild Card: Ask me something else!

[amysuevr]

Thank you for the tag @messitydepressity and @dinobotbitch

I literally put this on my to do list because if I don't I will forget to respond until it's too late and way past the trend and then I spend a month feeling shame! 🤦‍♀️

Last Song: Everywhere, Everything by Noah Kahan (the version with Gracie Abrams)

Last Book: Last book I read Crying in H Mart. I'm about halfway though and enjoying it! I've had some bad brain days lately and I tend to stick to rereading my favorite fanfics on bad brain days but I'm going to try and focus more on books soon.

Last movie: I think Anora was the last one I watched. I liked it more than I thought I would. It was sad, but also very funny at times which I liked.

Last TV Show: Mythic Quest but I'm looking forward to watching the latest episode of the Pitt tonight.

Favorite color- Blue or purple, depends on mood.

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: Savory. I love cake, but put a plate of fries or a charcuterie board in front of me and cake gets pushed aside.

Relationship Status: old married lady

Last Thing I Googled: 2025 SAG winners. For research. My husband and I have an Oscar ballot contest each year, complete with a trophy and after a three year winning streak I'm on a two year losing streak. I use winners from previous awards to help settle my predictions. I'm taking it back this year!

Current Obsession: So my external obsession is ER. We started a rewatch and we've made it four seasons in like a month. I'm a geriatric millennial that watched it live but haven't gone back to rewatch in years. Pairs well with the Pitt.

My more internal obsession in my new AU fanfic I'm working on. I'm completely obsessed with it and writing from Sarah's POV. I'm also terrified because I realized I'm going have to write some action scenes in this one, I think and that's way out of my wheelhouse. I had a mild panic moment last night when I realized that. We'll see though.

Looking Forward To: This will sound mean; but hear me out. My husband is going to a movie one evening next week and I'll be home alone for a multiple hours. I love him dearly, but we both work from home and are pretty introverted so we spend like 99.9% of our days together. I get my longest stretches of writing done when he's gone so I'm so excited to get a plate of cheese and crackers for dinner, crank up the 8D music to help the brain focus and bang out a chapter of one of my WIPS.

I don't have too many people to tag, but no pressure tag of @amiijenn

[amysuevr]

WIP Wednesday

Once again a WIP Wednesday that nobody asked for, wants or will even read, but is mostly for me.

If you had asked me even a week ago if I would ever write a TLOU fic outside of my current AU, I would have said probably not, but never say never. Well...

Over the weekend I started a new WIP set in a new AU. This one in the post cordyceps world. Somethings don't change, Sarah still lives, I can't kill her and Joel is still bio dad because I guess that's my thing

But Sarah is shot on outbreak night, but survives and 16 years later they're living in the Boston QZ with 10 year old Ellie who is the product of a relationship between Joel and Anna.

The Fireflies realize Ellie is immune and kidnap her, sneaking her out of the QZ and Joel and Sarah take off across the country after them.

I'm very excited, but also feeling super guilty about going outside of my current AU. It is not abandoned!! Anyway, below is the first few paragraphs of the first story in this new AU. No name yet just Cordy AU -CH 1 in my drafts.

Gunfire rouses Sarah Miller from her sleep late on a Wednesday night. Logically, she should be used to the sound, which is not uncommon in the Boston QZ, where she's lived for 15 years. Longer than she lived in their home in Austin. Longer than she was alive before the world went to shit. She tries not to think about that too often.

Still, after all these years, the sound of gunfire startles Sarah; makes her heart race, makes her remember the sound of her dad's guttural cry when he'd crawled over to where she lay in that field, in the worst pain she'd ever felt, both of them assuming she was about to die. Sarah sits up quickly, shaking her head like she can force the memory to fall out of her brain before it takes hold and sends her too far into that night, that awful fucking night.

Like many nights when Sarah awakens in fear and fights to keep the memories away, the presence of her little sister asleep next to her helps pull her back. The sound of her deep, even breathing and the feel of her head under Sarah's hand anchors her in the moment. As her heart returns to its normal rate, Sarah takes a second to marvel at Ellie's ability to sleep as soundly as she does. It must be a superpower granted to those born after the end of the world. Born under a military dictatorship, with limited food and medicine and mortality rates through the roof, but they can sleep through anything. Sarah's pretty sure the last full night's sleep she had was September 25, 2013. She knows it's the last night her dad got a good night's sleep or any sleep, really.  

Sarah lays down uneasily, she resists the urge to pull her sister into her like a teddy bear. Ellie can sleep through gunshots, but aggressive cuddles would wake her up and will make Sarah’s life harder in the morning. Not only is she a bear in the morning to begin with, but she's also demanding more and more not to be treated like a baby, especially since she turned ten a few months ago. Just a month before Sarah turned thirty.

As she lies in the dark, she instinctively touches her t-shirt and feels the scar across her stomach through the fabric. Better stitching than many who were injured and still walked away from outbreak night received. A miracle seeing as the doctor in the brand-new rural clinic, two days away from seeing its first patients, turned a few hours after removing her spleen as chaos raged outside. Her dad and Uncle Tommy barricaded themselves into a back room for three days until they were comfortable moving her in a stolen truck. Sarah remembers next to nothing about this; she didn't wake up until they were in rural Arkansas. She's only heard bits and pieces about that first week, and she thinks that it may be for the best.

The familiar clicks and thumps of the six locks on their front door pull Sarah from her thoughts, and she scrambles out of bed as quickly as possible. It must be their dad or Tess; she hadn't seen either since the day before when she'd left to watch the Norman baby one floor up while his mom, Jill, took a shift street cleaning. She knew they were finishing up some trades of items they'd brought back after their last trip outside the wall. Her dad requires all business to be done as far away from Sarah and Ellie as possible, and he usually stays away an extra night or two in case someone tries to follow him.

Sarah slips out into the dark living room, lit only by the flicking streetlights outside, pulling a flannel over the long-sleeved t-shirt she sleeps in. They've been in Boston almost fifteen years, and she's still not used to fall and the cooler weather it brings. In Texas, "fall" was simply code for summer part two. She complained about the heat and lack of winter for years, but now, what she wouldn't give for long warm evenings on their back porch, sipping sun tea that Mrs. Adler would make, sweetened until it tasted like liquid candy and watching the fireflies blink flicker across the yard.

She makes out the outline of her dad in the dark, trying very hard to be quiet as he sets down his bag and fumbles to turn on a lamp.

"Sorry, baby. Did I wake you? Is Ellie still asleep?"

[amysuevr]

WIP Wednesday

A WIP Wednesday snip that nobody asked for. This is for me to keep myself accountable. I've struggled since posting the final chapter of Make Glad the Heart so I figure this is one way to make sure I'm writing something.

So here is a snip from Chapter 1 of my traumadramarama fic, now titled Collapsing Sun.

When Ellie gets home from school the day after Labor Day, her dad's truck is in the driveway. It's not unheard of for him to be home this early, he set up a home office a few years ago to allow him to be home more, but it’s the earliest he’s been home in several weeks.

Predictably he’s in his office when she walks in, on the phone. She hears the words specs and timelines so it’s obviously about work. Dad sticks his head out briefly to give her a little wave and mouth 5 minutes. Ellie wanders into the kitchen to look for a snack, grabbing flour tortillas and some shredded cheese to make a quesadilla. Her dad comes in as she's pulling out a pan, gives her a kiss on the crown of her head, and gently hip checks her away from the stove.

"I can finish this for you."

"I know how to do this;” Ellie argues, mildly offended, “I do it all the time and I only started a fire once and it was very small."

Her dad snorts, "As the person who had to replace the portion of the wall that was burned, I’m not sure I’d call it small.”

Ellie scowls, “That was three years ago when I was eleven. I’m in high school now, I’m not a baby.”

"I know you're not a baby, but I'm a dad, and I want to do it for you. I’m making one for myself as well; I skipped lunch. Go." he nods towards the fridge. "Grab a couple of drinks. There's water, sodas, Topo Chico, and some other fancy sparkling water Sarah got over the weekend."

Ellie rolls her eyes but grabs water for her dad and a Coke for herself. 

"Grab the salsa as well, " he says, sliding the finished quesadillas onto plates and heading to the table. 

Ellie grabs the salsa and settles into her spot next to her dad to eat her snack; he does make a good quesadilla. Better than hers ever turn out.  He asks her about school and reminds her he’s leaving early the next day to get to the job site in Georgetown for a meeting, so she'll have to get herself on the bus. They talk about their trip to Wyoming in October for Uncle Tommy and Maria's wedding. Apparently, there are horses that Ellie will be able to ride, and she is very excited about this, even if she’s still a little sore at Uncle Tommy for up and moving like seven states away from them.

 Her dad finishes eating first, takes a final swig of water and then leans forward, elbows on his knees, and turns Ellie’s chair slightly so that she's facing him directly.  Crap, those weren't just snacking quesadillas, they were conversation opener quesadillas; this can't be good. 

Ellie eyes him warily, "What's going on…did my school call?"

Dad narrows his eyes at her; "Is there a reason they would?" Ellie thinks hard about any recent transgressions; she got into a small argument with Bethany, but it wasn't that bad; they exchanged “fuck yous” and moved on. Ms. Callahan wasn't in the room when it happened. She failed a math quiz but not by much, and so did a lot of other people, so they're retaking it. She can't think of anything call home worthy.

"No, I don't think so," she finally answers. 

"Good. I just uh… well… your mom called me today."

Ah, it's that kind of talk; these are your absentee mother is back in town quesadillas. That explains the extra spiciness.