hollyhark

[hollyhark]

i hope it's okay to ask but are you still writing fics or did you start going by a different pen name? i'd love to read more of your work regardless of what fandom it is because i enjoy your writing a lot!

Thank you for asking <3! I have been writing fics here over the past few years. Hope you'll enjoy some if you check them out, they're about characters from a YT show but a bunch of them are AU so no canon knowledge required. The canon is like SP in the sense that it's an absurd comedy with aliens, clones, ghosts, time travel, and basically anything surreal you'd want to incorporate into fic, but there's also a mundane basic setting that all those elements occasionally interfere with, so it's fun for writing either the characters literally going to Hell for an adventure or like, just going to the bar. (I've hesitated to link this here before because I hate the way AO3 lumps everything for this fandom in with readerfic etc. about the people who make the show, but when I submitted a request to have the show-verse fics separated out from that tag it was ignored, lol)

[hollyhark]

Hello. I hope you are well. I know you are not as active here anymore but i am desperate so here goes.

I have been tracking down sid/andy writers because i am looking for this one specific fic. It may be crossing a line but i am DESPERATE….Did you ever read a sid/andy fic where andy is a pediatric nurse and sid works in a bar? They meet because hanna’s little boy was having an asthma attack and sid was babysitting because she is just a mess. They end up dating and then falling in love and moving in and so much happened. That story like hit me and stayed with me (much like your story of college boy and garbage man!!! One of my faves!!💚💚) and the writer took it down ao3 and it hurt my soul a little bit.

Anyway do you have any idea what i’m talking about? At this point i just want to know i didn’t just imagine it.

The bartender/nurse premise sounds familiar to me but I can't think of the author or title, and I don't have a copy saved, sorry! Maybe someone who also remembers the fic will see this and chime in.

[hollyhark]

I’ve been doing one of my nearly annual complete rereads of your South Park fanfics. All of them are such masterpieces!

It made me want to ask, is there a line/paragraph/dialogue exchange, in any of your fics, not just SP, that you would consider your favorite thing you’ve ever written?

Thank you so much!! So happy those fics are still being read. That is a great question to which the short/boring answer is probably 'no' lol, there's a lot of stuff I'm proud of and look back on fondly but there's no one single standout, though the experience of writing Star Wars fic in early 2016 was unique in that I don't think I've ever felt as wildly confident about the drafts I was writing as I did when I was working on that story, before or since, and a lot of my favorite writing I've done is more about how it felt at the time than how I look back on the actual prose (though I also think the stuff I felt most confident actually turned out best, for the most part!).

One of the things I do look back on particularly fondly is Craig in Hebert Garrison's Night School for Unwed Fathers throwing a brownie at the wall in rage, and the other characters' reactions to it. Many of the things I've written that I'm most proud of years later are the comedy bits I've felt are successful, and that's another story I was just completely emotionally invested in with shameless glee, and the experience of writing it was wonderful. Thanks for asking! <3

[hollyhark]

Hope you're doing well!! :-) I had to try sending you a message as well just cause I saw you popping in to reply to some others haha. I actually recently got my girlfriend into South Park, and half of that was thanks to your StanKyle fics!!! Like, your fics were (are) such a good way of transforming the show while still being so in tune with the canon. I also thought of them a lot when watching the Covid specials with my GF. Older StanKyle are just like how u wrote them, or at least I think so!!

Thanks so much for the note, I am doing well and that's awesome to hear! Transforming the canon while trying to keep it feeling like the origin media in some kinda way is why I will always love writing fanfic. Also love that people are still finding these stories and engaging with them in new ways :3

[hollyhark]

Was thinking today about Under The Table And Dreaming and just wanted to let you know I read that (for the first time) years ago and I still think of it often. You should be very proud of your fic child, I still cherish that story.

Thank you so much, I am proud of that one! My fic child is a good way to describe it, lol. I have 2-3 that feel that way to me. Or maybe like 10....... Glad you found it! <3

[hollyhark]

hey i hope u are well! i was wondering if you still catch up with south park, and happened to watch post-covid? after i saw it, i immediately binged all your fics especially the stan/kyle ones;; id love to know your thoughts!!

I haven't watched in a long time but I've loved getting comments on old fics about their similarities with some of the themes! I don't have Paramount+, maybe it's out to watch on something else now? Also I confess I feel like I've 'been there' re: them being older since I wrote and read about them as older characters for 5 years.... though back in the day I would have lost my mind with excitement over actual canon about their future, lol. I'm visiting with a friend from my SP fandom days soon so I might have to finally watch this before then so we can Discuss.

[hollyhark]

hey im a huge fan of ur work specifically the south park stuff. like wow youre an amazing author. i recently reread herbert garrisons night school for unwed fathers for the 1st time in years while i was pregnant and when i had just had my son. it was rly comforting for me as a young parent going thru an unplanned pregnancy w medical complications. so even tho i didnt have any other friends who were expecting, the characters u wrote felt like my friends. and i wanted to thank you for that <3

I haven't been on Tumblr in forever but I still get email notifications and love getting messages about old fics, just wanted to pop in and say thanks so much for this one! That fic helped me process a lot of things myself and I'm really happy to hear it was comforting <3

[hollyhark]

This is beautiful, thank you for posting!! Takes me back to my feelings about the story as well :'3

I recently re-read the amazing “Children Wake Up” series by @hollyhark and was again thrust back into all of my feelings. I can’t tell you how meaningful that fic was (and still is) to me, and anyway, I remember the first time I read it I wanted to make a tattoo design with one of my favorite lines/moments in the fic, but I never got around to it , until now haha. Anyway, here it is!

[hollyhark]

Hello I was feeling a bit nostalgic today and I remembered my days reading your South Park fics circa 2012-2013 and I just wanted to say that you’re one of my favorite writers ever. You really influenced my aspiration to become a better writer. Sometimes I remember about The Scenic Route and Leave the Pieces and feel like crying. So good. I still remember that circus WIP that sadly never saw daylight. I remember when you adopted your cats. Thank you for being part of my life, stay safe and happy

Gahhh I’m extremely nostalgic about that time in my fandom life too, and your mention of the post about adopting my cats makes me happy, we got them right in the middle of my SP fandom years. I’ll share this picture of a couch that I wrote parts of Leave the Pieces on that almost made me cry the other day: 

This is (was ;-;) in a hotel across the street from the building I used to work in, where I’d go during my lunch breaks to write, featuring my old very heavy laptop. Someone who worked at this hotel once told me while I was sitting here that I should move because ‘people might get the wrong idea’ as I was like stretched out writing as if it was my living room lmao.... anyway I loved your note, thanks, hope you’re doing well also <3

(AND OH MAN THE CIRCUS AU gahhhh !!)

[hollyhark]

Do you have any of your longer fics for sale anywhere? If not, would you be okay with me publishing a personal-use book copy? You're the best and I want to add your fic to my library :)

I do not but am totally okay with anything you want to publish for yourself! Thanks for the note and for asking <3

[hollyhark]

i know this blog's not really active anymore but i had to tell you: i've just finished rereading leave the pieces after 4 years and. i have to shake my fist at you for making me SO attached to dumb lil issac broflovski. he's such a fun lil bastard and he deserves the world. i want to read a whole fic just about him. hell i might even write one myself (just for my own eyes that is). tdlr: i'm stupidly attached to the minorest of characters - an oc to boot! - from your fic. i hope you're happy >:(

I think I just got your comments in my inbox, and I was grinning about your thoughts re: Issac!!!!! My memories of writing that epilogue are still so like vivid and happy pfff and I still love those OCs a lot. Please feel free to write and post whatever you like about him! I’ve always been totally ‘open source’ about fanfic in the sense that if it inspires someone they can do whatever they like with it. 

((Also just generally re: my fics on the hollycomb account... I haven’t posted on here in a long time but via email notifications I read every AO3 comment I get and cherish them all, they reliably brighten my days and are so appreciated <3))

[hollyhark]

Hi! I was wondering if there was a Twitter or Tumblr where you're more active where I could follow you? I love your fics so much and would love to see what fandoms you're into!

Hey, thanks for asking, I'm @ formerdinosaur over on Twitter but I'm not super active there, unless you want to talk to me about RLM via DM, in which case you will never get rid of me and will enjoy (???) many relevant links...!

[hollyhark]

OMFG you're not dead ooh my god I have been worried! What did you think of Rise of the Skywalker?

Hey! Still alive yes! I'm good, just got out of the habit of using Tumblr and felt very bleh about Star Wars after TLJ (the Kylo/Rey "romance" stuff fell very flat for me and I hoped they weren't going there but had a bad feeling), then got into another fandom and by the time TROS came out I'd read all the spoilers in the months leading up to it and was very checked out. We saw it a few weeks after it came out and it was exactly what I expected based on spoilers, a few fun moments, a lot of bad pacing and weird choices, and no emotional impact for me personally. I'm so glad I wrote "my version" after TFA, will always cherish the fandom memories :') Anyway I'm still around and writing daily, I miss posting here and am craving fandom involvement, I'm sure I'll dive back in eventually!

[hollyhark]

!!!!!!!!! Oh man oh my gosh this is beautiful! Takes me right back to all the feelings I had writing this part, thank you so much for posting!!

kylux landscape inspired by @hollyhark ‘s iconic fic Ceasefire

[hollyhark]

OMFG! I cannot believe you are back and BETTER OF ALL in the Shazam Fandom!!! Not only you are my favorite author, but also Shazam is my favorite superhero!!! and I LOVED THE MOVIE SO MUCH! Knowing that you are writing for it just turned my day brighter!!! <3

Yes omg yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy I’m so glad you’re into it, too!! There are like 1000 interesting dramatic things going on in the canon even on a concept level and I just adored everything about the way the movie was written and performed, it’s so heartwarming and funny and great. 

I just posted Chapter 3 of the fic I’m working on, I wrote it in about two days because I can’t stop writing this ficcccccc & it’s a great feeling lol. Thank you for the note! <3

[hollyhark]

What’s your new fandom? And you haven’t COMPLETELY left Kylux, right? Just waiting for inspiration or writer’s muse? I loved “Gold & Stone”

My new fandom is Shazam! And nah I haven’t completely left Kylux, I still love the pairing. I would love to get inspired to finish that fic, because I hate leaving WIPs unfinished... I regretted some things about how I set up the pacing in that story, which left me kinda stuck around the midpoint, unfortunately. I’m happy that you loved what was posted <3 <3 Hopefully I’ll get back to it eventually. Thanks so much for the note~

[hollyhark]

hello! i know its been years since you wrote the CWU series but i just finished it yesterday. i began reading it years ago but i put off reading beacause i really didnt want it to end. it was an amazing story and became a huge part of my life and i cant thank you enough for making something so beautiful. i hope you have a great day :^)

Thank you so much for the note!! I’ve been super into writing fanfic again recently and just like walking on air from how fun it can be, it’s always so great to be absorbed by a new idea, BUT I’ve noted even in my reverie that it doesn’t approach the time in my life when I wrote CWU and woke up at 3am because I had thought of a good plot note and there was no way I’d rather sleep than write lol. Such an amazing time in my life, and I’m so glad to know you found the story and enjoyed it <3