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Writing Tip:

If you don’t feel like actually writing, prepare for writing:

Open your WIP Word doc

Read the last page again

Scribble notes on what happens next

Once you’ve done this, you might just find yourself wanting to continue after all. And if you don’t, no worries. You’ve made it easier to jump back into it later. 

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I’m so excited to read the next several chapters for stain especially The Town Finds Out and Martingale is in the Kitchen.

Oh yeah this story has everything, including things like Alex Swears at Therapist and Maybe It Was Robin The Whole Time asdflkfjas

:D

Also yeah the town finding out is going to be a whoooooole, yeah, no, nothing is subtle in Stardew Valley :D

Except for Lewis asking you for truffle oil so presumably he can fuck Marnie in more creative ways

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Baldur’s Gate 3 - 38/? - Palmarosa - Astarion/Raphael

Title: Palmarosa Rating: Explicit Pairing: Astarion/Raphael Tags: (Check AO3 for the full list) Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Deals with a devil, Contracted sexual slavery, Bad BDSM etiquette, PTSD, Communication issues, Flashbacks, Trauma recovery and Retraumatisation, Dark and disturbing themes, Blood consumption, Minor character death, Canon typical violence, Dominance/submission, Top Raphael, Bottom Astarion etc.

Summary: (Set post-game / end-game) The love of Astarion’s life has disappeared to go live in the daylight with the druids, and Astarion is stuck in the darkness once more, yearning for sunlight with every fibre of his being, while bitterly reflecting on all the things that were denied to him in the end - love, sunlight, the option to kill thousands of people and become a near-god…

Raphael knows Astarion’s desperate, and comes to him with not one, but two horrid contract offers that Astarion loathes and dreads in equal measure - but the prize at the end of both are too good to turn down, and he’s become too cynical to care about how much of a good idea it is to give his body to a devil for a month or two, because really, comparatively, how bad could it be?

Palmarosa (Baldur’s Gate 3) - Raphael/Astarion - 38 - The Second Solar Coin

In which another ritual for a Solar Coin takes place, and while Raphael takes pains to make the ritual less agonising, Astarion is still furious at the situation he finds himself in, scared of habituating to abuse.  

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do you ever draw something for yourself that’s so deliciously self-indulgent that you just sit there like

[Image ID: 2 digital drawings of a short-haired person drawing on a tablet. In the first image they are looking at the screen and blushing pink. In the second image they are looking away from the screen and blushing more heavily, with the caption “…is this allowed?”. End ID]

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Hi Pia! Hope you’re feeling ok and enjoying your week. I had a question about Faber (he’s my pookie). Did he choose to work at Hillview as kind of a belated “fuck you” to his parents/his dad’s gross alpha supremacy views? Of course, if this is something that will be addressed later on and the answer would be spoiler-y, no pressure to answer! I just wondered if his parents played into that decision at all.

Thank you for writing all my favorite boys. Everytime I read something by you, I get to collect a new favorite character, and I’m never disappointed by the angst, hurt/comfort, or the endings. Literally all your works are perfect from start to finish, and I love going back and rereading them all the time. So THANK YOU!!! 🩷

Hi anon!

I think, honestly, Faber chose Hillview because alphas and omegas don't care about betas that much, in a way that made Faber feel like he could be "hidden" there.

He suspected no alpha would ever care enough about a beta to say, research his name on social media, discover his very prominent and tragic history, and he wouldn't have to deal with everyone he worked with knowing about it. And he was right. At Hillview, he gets to be 'Faber, Gary's personal assistant', and not 'Faber [Redacted because of spoilers]'

He also likes that there's a measure of philanthropy and care in the mission of Hillview, but ultimately it matters that no one gives a shit about Faber there, and he doesn't have people prising into his personal life.

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Hello. I am shocked by the new twist in the UtB story. Gary will no longer be able to manage Hillview, his brainchild, which he created from scratch. And Efnisen is in mortal danger from Alpha persuasion. I am shocked by how much damage Michael has caused in just a few hours. Thank you so much for releasing the chapter so early, but I have so many thoughts about the fate of my favourite boys.

Hi anon,

He didn't create it from scratch - James did! It was also James' brainchild. Gary was the one who executed it financially, but the person who came up with the concept was James, and this is why - in many ways - Gary has been so attached to it despite like, it not being really that good for him.

As for Gary not being CEO, that doesn't mean he can't serve as a consultant, or become a shadow director etc. He's not suddenly turfed from the property or anything like that!

And Efnisen is in mortal danger from Alpha persuasion. I am shocked by how much damage Michael has caused in just a few hours.

Tbh, this was always a huge issue, and Temsen's been flagging his suspicion that Efnisien might have brain damage from directives since he came into the story, almost 100 chapter ago. That's the first time he says that Efnisien needs an MRI because of the damage he suspects has been done by directives, and then he flags it again going forward.

Michael definitely exacerbated things/sped things along, but we've seen Efnisien in this much agony before when Gary issued directives to Efnisien, and Efnisien ended up collapsing due to the agony in his head. There was a lingering aftermath and even then Temsen once more brought up the need to get Efnisien an MRI, and says no one can ever issue Efnisien directives of any kind, ever again.

As Temsen says in the most recent chapter - there's signs of previous scarring (not caused by Michael), more recently healed scarring (not caused by Michael and likely taking place during Hillview), and then recent active small bleeds.

So yeah, truthfully, Efnisien also shouldn't have been receiving alpha persuasion for a long time. It was always a risk, Michael just...made it inescapable. But Temsen's right, Efnisien is lucky to not already have focal seizures due to the damage that's already been done, previous to Michael meeting him, unfortunately. Michael just made them all really aware of it in a way they couldn't avoid anymore.

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I’m worried about Faber is he gonna be okay or is he gonna pull a Mikkel, and also fucking Michael giving me flashbacks of the bitch Vane in this scenario fuck him 🖕

Also I hope you have a nice day and at the same time sleep with one eye open tonight.

Hi anon!

You might not know this, but Underline the Black is part of a series that includes Underline the Red, which is Faber's story!

And if he was going to 'pull a Mikkel' I'd need to use that Major Character Death warning (or at the very least, Creator Chooses Not to Use) and I've used neither. You're good, anon. And I'm sleeping great :D

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I just started ice plague book 3 and im getting ptsd of how Gwyn pushed Jack during training but this time with Mosk🫣 im excited to see where it goes!!!

Yes!

Gwyn really likes training soldiers (he was, after all, a War General before he was a King, and training people and being a teacher is actually something he's pretty good at).

Unfortunately, once Mosk gets on board, they kind of enable each other's worse qualities, and they both end up needing some wake up calls!

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Hey don't cry, okay? We just found Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, a species thought to be extinct for the past 60 years.

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reblog if you’re okay with people writing fanfics of your fanfics and/or fanfics inspired by your fanfics

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Stardew Valley - 61/? - A Stain that Won’t Dissolve - Alex/Sebastian

Title: A Stain that Won’t Dissolve Rating: Explicit Pairing: Alex/Sebastian Tags: Hurt/comfort, aged-up characters (mid 20s), minor character death, angst, injury, grief, miscommunication, bullying, enemies to lovers, dubious consent, internalised homophobia, closeted character, past child abuse, dyslexia, antagonist farmer, unrequited love, pining, acceptance, top!Sebastian, bottom!Alex, power dynamics, happy ending.

Summary: Alex hates Sebastian – which is great because Sebastian more than returns the favour – and what starts out as revenge fantasy turns into unironic lust, which evolves into unrequited love. Alex gets a job, Sebastian marries the farmer, and both of them lose almost everything before finding each other again. A story of two mutual bullies who learn how to messily grow up.

A Stain that Won’t Dissolve - Chapter 61 - Setting Words Upon the Sea

In which Alex asks Jodi if she’s told anyone about him being gay, and she points out that the curse of being stereotyped by the town hurts all of them. Later, Alex finds out when Sebastian wants to tell his parents about the relationship, and tries some communication.

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a scene can start wherever you want it to

writing isn't real life. You don't need to set up a character walking into a room or two characters greeting each other and talking about the weather or what-have-you in order to lead into the conversation you actually want them to have. just start at the conversation.

hell, start in the middle of the conversation. you could even start at the end and then have one of them leave and the other one left behind to reflect back on what just happened.

writing gets easier when you open yourself up to writing the parts that are interesting, to starting where it's easy instead of where you think you should start.

if it ends up not working? that's okay. you tried it, and sometimes just getting something out of your head is a necessary first step to getting the words right

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a character who isn't used to being cared for or treated kindly being gently and tenderly cared for for the first time in years or maybe ever. save me

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Yeah, those books are published less. Not just by the big corpo publishers, but also by indie writers who often abandon one pen-name and dive into another based on what they think are trending genres, because they want to eat.

It sucks, but please please please, if you find an author you like, tell everyone. If you've got money, see if they have a subscription site or Ko-Fi (many, many more do these days), buy their e-books (especially off their own shop if they have one), and tell everyone you know on your favourite social media of choice - Tiktok, Tumblr, Reddit, Instagram, Bluesky, wherever.

I've been in professional writing groups for 10 years and I would say that a lot of indie authors trying to write get absolutely crushed by the reality that is trying to make it in an oversaturated market (this was before GenAI came along and made it worse), a lot turn to indie in the first place because they already know the Suits won't sell them.

And unfortunately, it's not just that they 'won't sell' in the eyes of the Suits, they don't sell enough independently either. Too many readers are dependent on ads and The Algorithm to tell them what they like, so it's also worth making sure that you're going out and trying new authors, new avenues, and reading the recommendations of others if it aligns with what you're looking for.

I stopped publishing asexual romance because it didn't sell. I'm lucky to have pivoted successfully into writing a whole bevy of queer characters (including ace characters) in serial format, but I'm lucky. Most authors just stop. They Stop. And the rest just hardcore pivot into the trend, because they have to stay afloat somehow. The outliers that remain are genuinely hard to find, because they are buried in the algorithm, cannot afford much adspend, and usually hunker down into tiny but dedicated communities.

I don’t dislike the BookTok Romantasy Smut Trend because it exists, I dislike it because big corporate publishers have latched onto it, and now all I get advertised are cottagecore fantasies or steamy books that happen to have dragons in them. Makes it harder and harder to find the kind of fantasy books that I do like to read, and I fear that they’ll be published less and less because they “won’t sell” in the eyes of the Suits™️

It is not about the readers and authors at all; it’s about fucking corporate again, like so many other things in this wasteland of a life.

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Excerpt from chapter 61 of A Stain that Won't Dissolve:

‘What I told you about liking guys, you haven’t told anyone, have you?’ Alex said finally, eyes darting to hers, then looking away again before he could register anything other than her shock. ‘I don’t think you would, right? But, I mean, the town…’ He couldn’t just say she was a gossip, could he? He took a shaking breath. ‘I didn’t even think about it when I told you,’ he said. ‘And maybe I should’ve asked you not to tell anyone then. You haven’t told anyone, right?’ Jodi was silent for a long time, and Alex had to look at her, then felt queasy at the way she looked off at the now-empty laundry hamper. She looked upset. Alex didn’t know if it was because she’d told people, or because she hadn’t. Either option was bad, for different reasons. ‘It’s so funny,’ Jodi said finally, her voice quieter and slower than usual. ‘Oh, it’s funny, isn’t it? I got the reputation for being a gossip all the way back in high school, and – admittedly – I was one back then. I’m awkward, and a bit silly, and I suppose gossip was my social currency. People like drama and things like that, and they want a story, so I just made sure I had some.’

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I'm having a divine premonition that we should all start keeping physical diaries about what's going on right now. Not saying plan anything or rant if you Are, but for when the government inevitably decide how this history will be written. We need multiple sources available telling what we are actually witnessing and the peoples actually feelings about it.

Not just easily scrubbed digital musings.

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A good thing to remember is everyone is bigoted about something. No one is exempt from this. Not me. Not you. No matter how much work we do or how much we learn or unlearn. The sooner you learn how to admit that openly and be curious to learning and changing and apologising, the easier life gets.

you have GOT to be able to admit when you’ve believed something bigoted in order to improve as a human being. like you NEED to be able to handle that if you want to act in line with your values