contextualrandomness

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happy hockey big bang to all who celebrate, absolutely thrilled to share with you all a rec for a fic i was lucky enough to get to make a playlist for. it's alternating perspective in the tracks, so odd numbers are tk and even numbers are nolan

this is an absolutely delightful tk/nolan fic by conformityissuicide and i cannot recommend it enough!!

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Fun meta asks for writers

Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

What character do you have the most fun writing?

What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

How would you describe your writing process?

What do you envy in other writers?

Do you want your writing to be famous?

Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?

At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)

Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?

Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

Would you say your writing has changed over time?

What part of writing is the most fun?

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Reblog if you are a fanfiction author and would like your readers to put one of your fic titles in your ask + questions about it

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As a fic writer, i need every reader to know that:

I don’t care if your comment is coherent. I know what you mean and i love you

I don’t care if you ramble. I read every word and i love you

I don’t care if you leave a comment on a fic from four years ago or leave comments/kudos on like ten of my fics in one go. This isn’t IG, pls stalk my AO3. I love you

I don’t care if you mention the same thing in your comment that four other people have already mentioned. It’s actually really useful to know what resonated with people and I love everyone who takes the time to tell me they liked a particular turn of phrase

I don’t mind if your comment is super long or just a couple of sentences, i love them all

I love you

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july 6, 2022

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flames v oilers | round 2, game 1

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if sparkling water has 1,000,000,000 haters i am one of them. if sparkling water has 1,000,000 haters i am one of them. if sparkling water has 100,000 haters i am one of them. if sparkling water has 10,000 haters i am one of them. if sparkling water has 1000 haters i am one of them. if sparkling water has 100 haters i am one of them. if sparkling water has 10 haters i am one of them. if sparkling water has 1 hater i am that hater. if sparkling water has 0 haters i am no longer on this earth. LIKE and SHARE if you are a TRUE SPARKLING WATER HATER

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Learned that 3 walks in a WEEK was too much for my couch noodles. Literally carried my 60 lb crybaby home. 😅

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Fanfic Writers: Director’s Cut

Reblog this if you want readers to come into your ask box and ask for the “director’s commentary” on a particular story, section of a story, or set of lines. 

Or, send in a ⭐star⭐  to have the author select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!

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Polite tall person

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The Shouldn't Waste Your Pretty Face Playlist

The long anticipated (cough, cough - or the thing I promised myself I would make before posting but then got impatient??) playlist to Shouldn't Waste Your Pretty Face! Enjoy and if you're interested, below the cut are my reasons for putting each song into the playlist and what I think each represents in the story.

Head Above Water by Avril Lavigne – “My life is what I’m fighting for”

When this story starts, Nolan is overwhelmed and scared and desperate to make his hockey dream a reality. All of his energy is focused on making sure he does everything right because his life in hockey depends on it.

Gasoline by Halsey – “Do you tear yourself apart to entertain like me”

This song was my anthem while writing this story. There were so many lines in this song that I debated making the title but given the themes of this story I felt like ‘shouldn’t waste your pretty face’ was the perfect epitome of Nolan’s struggle. The world hates it when we don’t fit into their boxes.

LOST BOY by Troye Sivan – “I say I want to settle down, build your hopes up like a tower”

This is Isaac’s song. Or it’s the song of Isaac and Nolan and the constant push Nolan feels to surrender to this sweet boy with kind eyes and a gentle smile and the equally constant pull he feels of knowing that their dreams of the future don’t line up and he needs to get out now.

Friends Don’t by Maddie & Tae – “They don’t hear each other’s names and forget to concentrate”

I struggled somewhat to find the best place for this song within the chronology of this playlist because honestly this song is just the entire beginning of TK and Nolan’s relationship. This almost immediate connection that always edged a little too close to ‘not just friends.’ And the absolute roller coaster of emotions it brings for Nolan as his feelings for TK grow and bubble up under his skin.

Good as You by Kane Brown – “You’re more than just the surface, you got the heart of gold”

Oh, the fight. Stories just aren’t the same without at least a little bit of drama. Losing TK as a consistent touchstone in his rookie season quickly morphed into unbearable for Nolan. Recognizing that a lot of his own bullshit hurt someone who has been nothing but an absolute gentleman to him was just the bridge Nolan needed to cross to begin to find out who he really is. This fight is the first turning point into Nolan’s transition to becoming who he’s really meant to be.

I Like Me Better by Lauv – “I knew from the first time; I’d stay for a long time”

Nolan’s friendship with Nico is a really important part of this story. Nico is the first person who truly gives Nolan permission to be himself, to explore all his angles in the comfort of a safe space.

Numb by Linkin Park – “All I want to do is be more like me and be less like you”

Nolan’s mom played a much larger role ‘on-screen’ in the first iteration of this story. In the final draft she is the constant, omnipresent ‘villain’ but doesn’t get as much airtime. However, this song was so, so important to keep in the playlist. This probably reveals that I’m someone who came of age in the early-aughts, but this song was my angsty anthem as a teen. The constant fight of wanting to be different than what your family expects of you. So, chronologically, I’ve put it in roughly where we ‘see’ his mom for the first time, but it’s an applicable song throughout the story.

Sucker by Jonas Brothers – “You’re the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain”

The theme song of Nolan’s second heat. The moment he realizes that he can clock TK’s scent in a crowded bar, the moment he lets TK cut his strings and give him exactly what he needs. That moment, after, when he’s tangled in the sheets with TK and knows that if he could, if he wasn’t broken, he’d want this every moment of his life.

Silver Lining by Mt. Joy – “Wear your silver lining, wear it close to your skin”

Is this really a Nolan Patrick story without a Mt. Joy song in its playlist? No. No, it’s not. So here is Pretty Face’s shameless inclusion of a Mt. Joy song in its playlist. It also happens to be my favorite Mt. Joy song and a perfect fit for the metaphor that clothes play in this story.

homecoming queen? by Kelsea Ballerini – “But what if I told you the world wouldn’t end if you started showing what’s under your skin”

I really debated if this song had a place in this playlist or the playlist for TK’s story. In the end I think it fits both and so this is my secret, easter egg that hints at a bit of what TK’s story is going to be about. Think – first verse is Travis, second verse in Nolan, and the chorus sums up the entire message of both of their stories.

Adore You by Harry Styles – “Honey, I’d walk through fire for you just let me adore you”

THIS IS TK’S SONG AND YOU CANNOT CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE. TK one hundred percent believes that one of the most important things he’ll ever do in this life is adore Nolan and make sure he knows how amazing he is. In terms of actual story moments, I always think about this song during the scenes with the courting presents.

HEAVEN by Troye Sivan, Betty Who – “So if I’m losing a piece of me maybe I don’t want heaven”

Can you tell I really like Troye Sivan? I really like Troye Sivan. I always really connected with the lyrics in this song. In particular, this song makes me think of the scene right at the end of Nolan’s last heat of the first season and they’re in the Brooklyn hotel room and TK grabs the end of Nolan’s braid, tugs it, and tells him that it looks good.

Voices in My Head by Ashley Tisdale – “All the voices in my head always try to break me”

As the summer after Nolan’s rookie season starts to bleed into late July you begin to see Nolan’s shift towards owning his thoughts, feelings, and emotions. He’s beginning to recognize that the fucked up voices in his head are just the expectations society put on him and that they don’t necessarily reflect his own thoughts and desires.

Scars to Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara – “And you don’t have to change a thing, the world could change its heart”

This is my Maddie Patrick song. Even though many characters throughout this story remind Nolan that there isn’t anything wrong with his true self, Maddie is such a critical person in this regard. She grew up in the same household as Nolan and knows the bullshit he received. She’s the one that constantly reminds him of the patriarchy and bodily autonomy and the importance of owning yourself. And that it’s the world that needs to change, not him.

Brave by Sara Bareilles – “Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live”

This song is essentially representing Nolan’s journey to getting his tubes tied, after finally allowing himself to admit out loud what he’s always known – his body doesn’t fit him perfect and it’s time for him to change that.

Worship You by Kane Brown – “Every time I see you smile it’s like I’ve seen the light”

Would it be the soundtrack to TK’s love confession if it wasn’t country music? Or Kane Brown? I feel like TK would like Kane Brown. I feel like TK just wants to spend his whole life worshipping Nolan and reminding him of the miracle he’s giving TK by loving him back.

Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie – “I want to live where soul meets body”

And here we are at the end of Nolan’s journey where he has two tiny scars on his hipbones that remind him that the outside of his body finally fits the inside. That his soul and his body are finally one and the same.

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june 2017  → april 2018

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they're my comfort idiots, your honor

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|| TK messing with the cameraman during an interview [march 20, 2018]

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I just read Shouldn’t Waste Your Pretty Face and then immediately went to go look at your other works because it was incredible. I didn’t realize you wrote and ode to iron man! Your work is incredible and waste your pretty face will definitely join Ironman in my list of best things I read on ao3

Aww, Anon, thank you <3 You're literally melting my heart right now! God, both Pretty Face and Ironman were journeys, but I'm so glad that they resonated with you! It still blows my mind that people have my stuff on their Best Things I've Read lists. Because holy shit!

As I've grown in my writing and as a person, I've wanted to tackle deeper, harder concepts. But handling those with care while also making a story interesting can be a challenging endeavor. So glad that at least these two managed to hit the mark!!!

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When your beta just goes and does your self-promotion for you!! Thanks, my friend!!! Check out my newest story over on AO3...it was a labor of love and the story that I've always wanted to tell!

I want to highly recommend a fic I was lucky enough to beta, SHOULDN'T WASTE YOUR PRETTY FACE by @contextualrandomness (ConformityIsSuicide on AO3). Be sure to check it out. It's so so so wonderful. Can't recommend it enough.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32540911

Summary: Nolan gets off with betas and it’s been working perfectly fine.

Until, apparently, the Philadelphia Flyers decided they were allowed to have an opinion on his sex life.