#(there was more that was written than this but it was rough/much more incomplete and full of author notes)

[rapono-writes-stuff]

Stitches (Sequel to Spilled Guts)

Teased this continuation of my Ghostface fanfic forever ago, but alas, it never reached completion. Honestly I'm still really upset I never finished this, especially with how much I like the reveal scene at the door.

Another tragic victim to writer's block/executive dysfunction.

-----

“It was him, among the sea of reporters.”

You were the only survivor of a Ghostface attack. He had thought you dead, and you certainly thought you were going to die, but against all odds, you had woken up. The doctors had managed to put your insides back inside you, but they had still been torn out of you, displaced. Everything hurt.

“Are you certain it was him?”

While you weren't one hundred percent sure about the camera, you knew without a shred of doubt that it was him. His smug smile had imprinted itself into your mind during what you thought was your final moments, so there as no mistaking it as him when you saw it again.

“Absolutely.”

You gave the police a recollection of all you could remember, minus the details about the tongue and cheek you had given Ghostface, and the kiss. They didn’t seem relevant enough for you to mention, plus you wanted to save yourself the embarrassment. You did your best to recall what he looked like, among the sea of reporters, but you had been so focused on his smile you could barely remember any details, but you knew if you saw him again you recognize him immediately.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna stay at the precinct? We can keep an eye on you and post a guard outside.”

“Yes I’m sure. He already knows I survived. If he comes for me again, I don’t want someone else to die for my sake.”

They strongly insist that you don’t go home, but they don’t stop you. They take

(…)

Not even half an hour of being home, you heard a knock on the door. Perhaps the cops were checking up on you, or a friend? You considered ignoring it, but they knocked again, a little louder too.

“I’m coming!” You shouted as you lumbered over to the door, cracking it open.

“Who-"

“Jed Olsen from the Roseville Gazette, I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time?”

You didn’t even give him a proper look, too tired to deal with the media right now. You audibly groaned.

“Sorry I’m not in the mood for an interview right now.”

You pushed the door to close it, but it was stopped, as the journalist had wedged his foot in the door way, preventing it from closing. Before you could react, still slightly dumbfounded at his tenacity, he pushed the door back open, slipping inside your home before closing the door behind him.

“Please, I insist.”

You looked up at his face and your heart stopped. He locked your door.

It’s him, the Ghostface, without the cloak and mask. And he was inside your home again.

You stumbled backwards as you stared at him, his smug sly grin, very clearly amused by your reaction.

“Now that’s no way to treat a guest.

(...)

His knife gently traced the freshly sown up wound, threatening to snap the stitches. You barely breathed as he did so, afraid the rhymic rise and fall of your chest would cause him to apply too much pressure with the blade.

“Hmm, they did a good job, putting you back together.” He removed the knife to harshly jab at the wound with his thumb. You hissed and recoiled in pain, and he grinned.

You tested your luck. “I'd prefer if I stay back together, if you don’t mind.”

[myreia]

fic authors self rec

When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the love ❤️

I was tagged by @lilbittymonster to fill this out, thank you so much!

I'm a little late with this, but I'll tag a few folks (I think this is going around as an ask meme, too?). If you've already been asked or tagged, I'd love to see a second selection of your favourites! 💖

@bearlytolerant @tsunael @anneapocalypse @ievaxol @ardberts

@fourteenthz @birues @thewitchofelpis @a-shakespearean-in-paris @thevikingwoman

@impossible-rat-babies @autumnslance @gatheredfates @hylfystt

—01. Divergence of the Heart

Final Fantasy XIV | Heavensward | Wolmeric, Wolcred + background Thancred/Hilda Explicit | 53,996 words | 11 chapters

Aureia Malathar may have made a name for herself in Ishgard, but her deeds come with a hefty personal toll. Despite her victories at the Grand Melee she has never felt more unsure of herself. Her relationship with Thancred—the person she thought knew her the best—is strained, yet she cannot abandon him. Aymeric is falling for her harder with each passing day, yet she cannot bring herself to accept it. All may be fair in love and war, but at least war is predictable. Love, on the other hand…

I wrote this fic last year and it quickly became both extremely personal and also one of my favourite things I've ever written. It's also me poking fun at myself for creating what is probably the worst love triangle based off a couple lines of in-game dialogue from Thancred.

But I think the thing that makes it special to me isn't the love triangle or the emotional entanglements or the drama, it's exploring the different facets of Aureia's asexuality as a sex-positive and greyace person. This is a pretty complex topic and asexuality isn't as straightforward as "no sex ever". I also wanted to approach the erotic scenes with a certain sensibility and pull back the curtain on the romanticism of first times in search of something a little more grounded.

—02. Bound by Faith

Final Fantasy XIV | Shadowbringers | Wolcred Explicit | 28,406 words | 5 chapters

With their enemies defeated, the Crystarium is alive with celebration. Despite the joy around her, Aureia is uncertain about the next steps to take. So is Thancred, for that matter. The puzzle of their lives has sat incomplete for years, but finally this last, precious piece may be able to slide into place.

Okay so. 🥺 This was the first big Aureia/Thancred piece that I finished. I wrote it when I was going through an extremely rough time last year, and I think it was cathartic in a way to have them have all the right things come together so that taking a chance on a relationship finally feels right.

—03. As We Move Forwards

Final Fantasy XIV | Endwalker | Wolcred Mature | 8,140 words | 2 chapters

With tragedy averted and the world in recovery, Thancred and Aureia finally have some time to themselves. It’s nice—good even—to spend time alone, focusing on the things that matter most. But as they depart on a trip across Ilsabard, the question of what comes next lingers in his mind. Where do you go from here? How do you pick up the pieces of something broken and put it back together?

This is a much more recent Aureia/Thancred fic than the previous ones, and I'm enjoying poking at their Endwalker timeline. So much happens. Many things have been said and done, and their marriage has been put through the wringer. It was fun to explore what moving on looks like when they came so close to everything falling apart due to the pressures of outside circumstances. Marriage for them is not a happy ever after, it's just another point on the journey and they both still have a lot of growing to do.

—04. Resistance

Dragon Age: Origins | Tabris x Daveth Explicit, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death | 25,370 words | 7 chapters

Numbed by the events that took her away from Denerim, Rhea Tabris arrives in Ostagar to become a Grey Warden. But as she prepares for initiation and encounters an unexpected person, she discovers she can never truly let her past die.

I think this is my favourite DA fic back from when I used to write a lot of DA stuff. I don't know what it is about the Tabris x Daveth ship, it's such a rarepair but my mind latched onto the possibility and wanted to shake it up and down like a salt shaker and see what fell out. Angst and smut, apparently.

—05. Leave Me At the Shore of the Heart

Dragon Age 2 | Bethany Hawke x Anders Mature | 9,332 words | 4 chapters

On the eve of the Deep Roads expedition, a chance conversation between Anders and Bethany sparks feelings neither of them expected.

This one is special to me because it's the last DA fic I wrote. I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to write this ship, but I was turning a few things over in my head while playing DA2 and I just had a thought about the possibilities of character interactions — tl;dr the conversation I made up in my head was interesting and I needed to follow it haha.

[emkini]

heyy I read towards the sun the other day bc I saw you mention it and it fucked. so ty!!!! if you feel like it, do you have other atla recs? 👀

Ohohoh do I

Notes:

I tend to be primarily a zuko-centric gen fic enjoyer in the atla fandom so that's what most of these are gonna be!

Pretty much every author on this list has a bunch of stellar works and I'd recommend checking out all of their ao3 profiles, but these are just some of my personal favorites!

I've been having a Rough Time™ lately, so most of my faves fall on the soft and squishy side– if you're looking for heavy angst I do not have much of it 😔

-----------

Salvage (complete) by @muffinlance is by the same author as Towards The Sun and a fandom classic at this point; I cannot recommend it enough. Summary: Mid-Season-One Zuko is held for ransom by Chief Hakoda. Ozai's replies to the Water Tribe's demands are A+ Parenting. Hakoda is… deeply concerned, for this son that isn't his, and who might be safer among enemies than with his own father.

The Fire Nation Yacht Club series (reads as complete) by @sword-and-stars gives me all the emotions. Summary: Sokka knows three (3) things: 1. The caldera is on fire. 2. Ozai’s really, really dead (and so is his daughter). 3. The only one having a worse day is probably Zuko. / Everyone has their breaking point. This is what happens after you’ve broken. In which healing is a process and also it kind of sucks.

For Hearth and Home (complete) is another classic fic by the same author (honestly just check out all of their work, it's all stellar) that I absolutely adore. Summary: There’s a child underneath Fire Lord Zuko’s desk. He doesn’t realize this until he sits down and tiny hands wrap themselves around his ankles, and Fire Lord Zuko definitely does not shriek and backpedal away at the unexpected touch. He definitely does do that but Gou, the single guard he’s agreed to let shadow him, is kind enough not to mention it.

Mountains and Badgermolehills (complete) by Glass_Onion is an incredibly fun and well-written romp of a read. Summary: After the Blue Spirit frees the Avatar from the Pohuai Stronghold, Admiral Zhao captures Prince Zuko under suspicion of treason. Isolated from his Uncle and his crew, Zuko has only one ally: the chatty prisoner one cell over.

The Art of Burning (incomplete, ongoing) by @hella1975 is superb- lots of angst, lots of emotions, and lots of memes. Summary (excerpt): In a warring land, the Water Tribe forgave the enemy in an act of defiance. For this, he was torn from them, and this time, his wounds won't heal so easily.

Embers (complete) by Vathara is another fandom classic– one I have not yet been able to finish because dear god is it long. like holy shit. Very dense and plot-heavy and an incredible read if you're a lover of worldbuilding and fantasy politics. Summary: Dragon's fire is not so easily extinguished; when Zuko rediscovers a lost firebending technique, shifting flames can shift the world...

where the stars do not take sides (complete) by WitchofEndor is a very sweet and interesting canon divergence fic, and of course as always I am a SUCKER for the fire siblings being close. Such a sucker. Summary: When Azula is nine, she becomes an only child. She hears the Fire Lord call for Zuko's life, and in the morning, her mother and brother are gone. Azula may be young, but she isn't naive. She knows what happened to them. Which makes it all the more surprising when Azula tracks the Avatar down and fights his group of peasant friends, only to find herself staring into an eerily familiar face.

Honor & Vengeance on the High Seas (complete) by @paramouradrift is a very fun read– I haven't finished it yet but if you love boats, pirate Zuko, and angry teenagers being gay and doing crime, I guarantee you'll have a good time. Summary: Zuko was banished, but instead of devoting his life to finding the Avatar to regain his honor he gave in to his spite and became a pirate against Ozai.

And the world, still so wild, called to me (I was lost, I’d been kept on my knees) (complete) by delightfullydiscordant– An Aang-centric fic that hurts my HEART Summary (excerpt): A study in grief and loss, in anger and hate.

a viper-lizard's tales (incomplete, ongoing) by Yumi_Take is really sweet and very fun; it has a simple but unique and interesting prose style that I really like. Summary: The desert sun burns and Zuko probably shouldn't touch the moving cloth, but he does anyway.

[baronessvonglitter]

fic authors self rec! when you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. (if you feel like it, no pressure.) spread the self-love 💞

merci beaucoup for the ask @alltheirdamn 💟

5 self-written recs, here we go!

Halftime Show is the most fun, totally unserious fic, it was probably my favorite to write and I was honestly not sure people would even like it, but I've gotten some good reviews on it. A sequel is in the planning stage.

{you're an escort hired for a private Super Bowl party hosted by a mysterious client and his four friends}

(Joel Miller, Javier Pena, Dave York, Frankie Morales, Marcus Moreno x f!sexworker!reader)

Sweet Summer Peach is evidently my most popular fic, with the most notes on tumblr. Indulgent, naughty, and fun because we all want that old man.

{when your dad's best friend Joel catches you with his younger brother Tommy, it sets off a spark of jealousy that can only be tamed by showing you how a real man treats a woman}

(dbf!Joel Miller x f!virgin!reader)

he's got you on a pedestal, and me in his arms is the most angsty, and has broken quite a few hearts according to the reblog notes. A sequel is being written.

{you've known Francisco "Frankie" Morales your whole lives. Not even his marriage kept you from being in his life and in his bed. Then one fateful weekend everything changes and you have to find the will to give him up}

(fwb!Frankie Morales x f!reader)

I'm gonna be a little unfair here and add my incomplete series fics, because they're my babies and I've put the most thought and work into them than any others. Rest assured, I'm working on their completion every day. Starting with my baby baby:

Cherry, Cherry is the first fic I ever wrote after being inspired by a Neil Diamond song on Spotify one November morning, coupled with my fifth or sixth re-watch of TLOU. And it is a bit of wish fulfillment.

{It's the summer before college and you're sure you have your life figured out.. then you meet your new neighbor, single (hunky) dad Joel Miller...}

(pre-outbreak! AU!Joel Miller x f!reader)

and last but not least:

if love be rough with you, be rough with love was initially going to be a much shorter series, but it developed the more I wrote, and in terms of violence and angst is probably going to be the darkest among my fics. This was inspired by a fic I read on AO3, and I just expanded off it.

{As a nanny for the York family, you develop a crush on the head of the household, Dave York. What starts out as a simple, innocent crush grows to an urgent and violent love}

(Dave York x f!reader)

dividers by @firefly-graphics 👑

[emblazons]

i'm struggling to see how the script has anything in our favour... pls give me a hand you're my fav st blog and i always reread your posts when i have doubts but nothing is working rn lol

Okay—first off, and probably most importantly: scripts are not law. You cannot and should not take the script more seriously than anything you see on screen, given that its more a starting document that has to be edited and brought to life, not the show in and of itself.

Taking what is in a script and saying "oh no, we lost because THE SCRIPT said" would be like your professor throwing out your final paper, pulling out one of your earlier rough drafts, and saying "THIS is what I need to take most seriously and grade for concepts and final ideation...rather than their final product," with all your incomplete notions, underdeveloped concepts, and even things you realize later didn't work for making your final (actual) points included...which is what people are doing when they take a script more seriously than what they see on screen.

Just like it would make no goddamn sense to do that with an essay, so there's no reason to do it with a script....ESPECIALLY when we know that The Duffers are 1) more collaborative than a lot of creators (there are some directors where the script is law...Matt & Ross just aren't those directors), 2) there are quite literal obvious changes that happened between script and screen between The Piggyback script and The Piggyback itself, and 3) WRITING is not the medium this story is being told in—its television and film.

Scripts should only ever been looked at for the sake of understanding the starting concepts and ideas that M&R were trying to convey + learning their style/tone of writing, given that what was on that page eventually evolved through collaboration & editing to better convey a more cohesive, thematically comprehensive and even complex story on the screen (and the several mediums other than writing that make up a show that aren't writing) itself. Period full stop.

NOW. (cut because image heavy/script breakdown)

Maybe i'm just inoculated to any true doubt at this point, but: I fail to see what happened in this script that we didn't already know? Or...what would inspire so much doubt?

If its about the monologue, we knew already that Mike said he loved her, and if you read the script back in the version we got...El was literally pale, covered in blood, and losing consciousness as Mike was speaking...and holding onto his words like a lifeline because that's what you do when you're being choked to death. The cues in the moments around what Mike says make that clear as day:

Trying to imagine this scene holds any romantic connotations (in the form in the script, because, again, the script is not what ended up on screen) with these cues is like saying someone drowning in a pool wouldn't cling to the words of person trying to save them from the water, or "find strength" to keep trying to live...even if that person was a stranger.

There's nothing inherently romantic about holding onto someone like a lifeline, which is what this script delineates El doing...with a complete absence of positive "romantic" connotations in her or Mike's (or even ANYONE ELSE'S) responses to what's going on in the moment. Everybody literally thinks she's gonna die—and Mike is just saying whatever motivational thing he thinks is gonna get her to use her powers to stop herself from dying...after Will encourages him to use his leadership ability to help her out.

That...is what happened, both in the script and on screen (though the screen version is arguably WAY worse for romantic mlvn...which is a "good" thing if you choose phrase it like that)—

—and given that we have not one, but two different "romantic (or sexual) tension" moments written in this script as well, its really clear that the intention of the monologue was different than the others.

Even the scene where Argyle calls mike "Romeo" is more romantic-coded than that little monologue...and instead of lovebirds who get their moment like Lucas and Max, we immediately cut to Will being sad about it, which means we weren't allowed to just be happy about their little "flirty" moment anyway.

....like? This is just an ask so I'm not gonna go hard in on it (or comb over 127 pages again) but??? If the script gave you any doubt over what we've spent an entire year breaking down the show itself, the most important thing you can do is put it back in its correct context.

We're fine. Nothing changed. Everything is the same as it was yesterday morning, the canon of the show is still the canon, and the release of this was a rough ideation draft shared for the Emmys and not the final product we all drew our conclusions from.

I just. I guess I hope that helps you lmao. Also, I probably won't be doing any further breakdowns of this script though I did already pull some things I enjoyed before.

Thanks for the ask!

[homestuckexamination]

i was looking thru ur blog n i found an anon arguing that math is Doom-coded. being a math-loving autistic, i gotta put my two cents in.

math is not Doom. sure, math has rules, but that's about where it ends. Doom is about, well, Suffering. Suffering and Death and Dying. of course, math involves these things, but they aren't the point of math. if anything, Doom is sort of. antithetical to math. math is all about logic and reason, but Doom is a very emotional aspect. “They are not the advice friend-they're the friend you go to when you need to vent about a rough day at work.” that’s not what math is at all.

math is Void. of course, there’s the joke about a lot of math being about finding x, and how variables are inherently Void-coded, but even going beyond that. math is *hard*, mathematicians know this, and yet, continue to pursue it. “They don't take much on faith and would rather live in a state of confusion than believe something that might be untrue or bow to intellectual authority.” math is about proofs. there is no academic consensus in math in the same way that there is an academic consensus in humanities, or even in other stem fields. math is about proofs. in addition, math is done purely abstractly. while math tends to have real-world usage, it’s very rare that this is immediately apparent. oftentimes, fields of mathematics are discovered and then only found to be useful years, decades, or even centuries down the line. that isn't even touching upon the inherently incomprehensible nature of a lot of mathematics, like infinity.

this may all sound fairly Light-y, however i'd argue that this is due to Light being an aspect of scholars, and being Void’s complement. my final argument for math being Void is exactly why it can't be Light. godel’s incompleteness theorems. mathematics has always been thought of this purely logical thing, that any true statement could be defined mathematically. mathematicians have written hundreds of pages worth of proof attempting to prove this – principia matematica being the most well-known example. but the truth is that every non-trivial, consistent, and formal system of mathematics will ALWAYS be incomplete. there will ALWAYS be unanswerable questions, there will always be axioms that cannot be proven. and i can’t think of something more Void-y than that – a subject that is both fundamental, yet entirely incomplete.

basically mathematicians are a bunch of Light players trying to fight the most Void subject known to man (sorry about this being so long, i'm very autistic)

It's okay don't worry! The talk is good. :3c That being said I DO want to mention that, I am pretty sure that the association Anon made with Math is borne of canon's conflation of Technology, and in particular, Programming, to Doom. Probably. I don't remember the OG post but that's likely where it stems from. Good analysis though!

[laurfilijames]

Home

Pairing: George Lowe x female reader

Words: 1,166

Warnings: Unprotected intercourse (not described), nudity.

Summary: George is home after being away for weeks in India, and the weight of missing him carries on even after your reunion, especially knowing he will be leaving again to try to conquer Everest.

A/N: I was away from home for 10 days and it physically hurt how much I missed my man, so this was written with some very fresh, first-hand feelings.

The series Hillary takes place in the 50's and I realize that pre-martial sex was frowned upon but it's me so we're going with it.

Prompts used for @deanobingo were Aftercare, "Don't move", and George Lowe

Photos courtesy of @blairsanne (I couldn't choose just one because LOOK AT HIM so there's another photo at the bottom of that beautiful face)

---

“I missed you,” he breathed, his quiet words reverberating softly enough it seemed like only your incomplete heart could hear them; cradled in your chest where his lips rested now, his beard scratching against the surface as if attempting to uncover it. 

You held George closer - as if possible - still feeling that ache deep within you even though you had no reason to miss him anymore; the time apart proving almost too much for you to bear. 

“I missed you too.” 

You spoke into the mess of soft curls atop his head, carding your arms around him as though you would melt into him if you did, the need to be as close to him as possible for as long as you could overwhelming. 

His breathing slowed beneath your palms as they smoothed over his warm back, the pattern evening out to contrast from how laboured it was only moments ago, and as he looked up at you it was hard to tell if his cheeks were tinted a reddish hue from his earlier efforts or from the sun reflecting on the blinding snow to cast a burn that lingered on his weathered skin. You traced your finger over the bridge of his nose, taking in the face you missed staring back at you so much it physically hurt, earning a smile that warmed you through despite feeling like an inferno already. 

His beard had thickened since he had left, but not enough to hide his dimples when he grinned like that, the colour a rich auburn compared to his hair that had been bleached by the elements which gave him a warm, sunkissed glow that matched the sheen that coated him from your lovemaking.  

The scent of him hung in the air around you, so potent now you'd been without it for too long, yet so familiar there was no way you could ever forget it. To indulge in it more, you tucked your face into the crook of his neck, prompting him to wrap his arms around you to keep you flush against his body. George took his turn in running his rough hands up and down your back, caressing you as much as he had throughout your entire reunion so far, his lips moving to press gentle kisses on your neck and collarbone. 

As he began to soften within you, you shifted your hips on his lap, moaning faintly at the sensation of his spend leaking out of your over-sensitive sex. George locked his arms around you tighter, preventing you from moving, shushing quietly in your ear. 

"Don't move," he whispered, knowing he needed to stay near you as much as you needed the same, the weeks-long trip to Nepal weighing on him more than he had let on. 

“Can we stay like this forever?” he murmured, his voice muffled as he kissed along your jawline, his beard tickling you each time his lips moved. 

“Please,” you answered, still feeling so desperate for him you could cry, relishing in the way he engulfed you in his strong arms. “I'll go out of my mind when you go to Everest.” 

Your admission came out strangled, dreading another stint that would be longer and more dangerous than this last one. 

He sighed heavily, applying a gentle squeeze with his arms around your middle. 

“Just one more, I promise,” he assured you, kissing your cheek while bringing his hand up to cup the other side, turning your head to face him again. “I have to do this.” 

His look was pleading, searching your eyes with his flaming blue ones, and burying your selfish desires for him to stay home, you nodded, knowing you loved him too much to get in the way of fulfilling his dreams. 

“I know.” 

"Until then," he smiled gently, his eyes bright in knowing he had your support, "I intend to make up every moment I've been robbed of you." 

You smiled against his lips as he kissed you, his chuckle vibrating through his chest onto yours, and you wished that not even the everyday tasks like eating and drinking would interrupt you from hiding away together until he had to leave again. 

The movement of his lips slowed, gradually fading out to brush ever so lightly on your moistened, swollen flesh, and parted from you to look at you seriously. 

"I hope you know how much I love you," he spoke, his voice hoarse and holding a heavier tone than it usually did. 

"Of course I do, George."

Your fingers found their way into his long waves again, smoothing them back out of his face as they threatened to fall in his eyes, and with a kiss on his forehead, his features cracked into an easy smile. 

"I love you, too," you vowed, holding his face in your hands so his soft beard tickled your palms, bringing him into a meaningful kiss. 

When your kiss broke, George cleared his throat, almost nervously, and not making eye contact with you, he spoke quickly.

"Marry me?"

"What?" you blurted, convinced you misheard.

"Will you marry me?" he repeated, finally looking at you, his blue eyes slightly wet. "I-I mean, I don't have a ring to give you, or money to buy one but-" he stammered, his eyebrows rising with the pitch of his voice, his head shaking quickly from side to side like he was dismissing the idea as absolute ludicrousy. 

"All I have is this," he continued, blinking at you as he leaned over to the bedside table and plucked a small, circular piece of material from it. 

He held it up between your bodies, revealing a strand of what appeared to be from the shoelace of his boot that had been tied at both ends to form a ring, and smiled weakly with a shrug. 

"I made it one night on the mountain when I couldn't stop thinking about you."

"It's perfect," you exclaimed, feeling your heart pummel the inside of your chest wildly. 

"Is that a yes, then?" he asked, waiting with bated breath for your answer, his hopeful pools of blue dancing frantically in the lamplight. 

"Yes!"

He laughed heartily and gave an excited shout, wrapping his arms around you tightly to squeeze you like a vice, his joy unmatched. 

Still chuckling as he sighed out, George took your left hand and carefully slipped the worn string around your fourth finger, his cheeks red and round as he beamed at you. 

You rubbed your fingers together to shift the material, amazed at how it felt wrapped securely around your ring finger and even more in awe at how such an ordinary piece of nothing symbolized so much. 

"Maybe there'll be diamonds at the top of Everest," he chuckled again, his cheeks twitching as the disappointing reality of that hope set in. 

"I don't need diamonds, George," you assured, thinking it impossible for a woman to value gems above the unconditional love of a wonderful man. "I just need you." 

---

Taglist:

Everything: @guardianofrivendell @midearthwritings @cassiabaggins @lilith15000 @trishthedishofreis @linasofia @unbeatablecurlgirl @the-poldarkian @lathalea @enchantzz @blairsanne @legolaslovely @middleearthpixie @i-did-not-mean-to @sketch-and-write-lover @jotink78 @medusas-hairband @feeweeeee @missihart23 @fortheloveofdurin @i-am-still-bb @roobear68 @ichoosechoasandbeingqueer @legolasbadass @spngingerbread21

[palmofafreezinghand]

For Fanfic Writers' Ask: #7, #32, #35 and with that intriguing tag, #42 if no one else has also asked you about it! Seeing as you forced me to think about it and it turned out I had an answer however much I do not like the answer...

Thank you, @gisellelx !

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

Renesmee. I’ve written her in the background of things but I really want to attempt to write her with more of a voice and discernible personality. I also really want to write about Emmett, but I have yet to find a plot or character question that feels right. I think he’s so fascinating and will probably be a fun challenge to write. 

And I’ve written for them before but I really want to write more of Rosalie and Esme’s dynamic. It's one of the more difficult ones for me but that’s what makes it fun. 

What's a fic you'd love to write, but probably never will? 

I think human!vampire alternate universes can be very fun to read and I have outlined a handful of scenes — most an attempt to see how far I can push Carlisle’s selfishness — and rough storylines but I doubt I will ever finish a whole story. 

There’s one specific plot outline I think of often of a 1927 alternate universe where Edward still leaves, I have yet to figure out the inciting incident or how to get him to leave, Carlisle accidentally runs into a human Esme (who’s son survived in 1921) in a small town he was passing through while wandering aimlessly. She’s going by a different name, as is he, his curiosity is piqued, he knows better than to stay after she recognized him and yet, he’s mad, grieving, impulsive, and slightly curious and in turn makes a very stupid decision. He’s already a “selfish monster” right, what’s the harm?  There’s so many hurdles and character choices that would have to be done just right to make the whole situation even slightly plausible that I doubt I will ever write it but I think about it a lot. 

What's your fic with the saddest ending? 

I think Sarah Bee has the saddest ending, although Oh Bill, I love you so… gives it a run for its money. 

Bride of Cullen gets an honorable mention. 

How do you get over writer's block? 

Anyone waiting on for appearances’ sake (last updated September 10, 2022) or a language of our own (last updated June 28, 2022) would argue I do not. 

In all seriousness I am starting to become fine with letting stories collect dust. I used to feel guilty but the fact I spent last month finishing up ideas I first jotted down two years ago is forcing me to begrudgingly come around to the idea that my interest in this series and fanfiction as a whole may ebb and flow but is not disappearing anytime soon. I do, however, now refuse to post anything incomplete on ao3. 

A few things (I think) help me get over writer’s block: 

I do really well with deadlines, this is probably because I’m only a few months removed from the cycle of writing thousands of words hours before 11:59 PM  that was college, but deadlines still work for me. I hadn’t written more than a few thousand words, which took weeks, from August to November, and then in November I wrote 30,000 because I had a self-imposed deadline of writing that many that month. Twilight Advent for example has forced me to finish two stories I was completely stuck on for years in a manner of hours the evening before they were slated to be posted. 

If I have not written in a while and I think of something for a current WIP, I do not allow myself to resume writing in the document. I can make notes but if I want to add to an already written section I have to retype it, which usually forces me into seeing a flaw I didn’t previously notice and makes me feel like I’ve written more new words than I have and encourages me to keep going. Sometimes I’ll retype a story even if I don’t have any ideas on how to better the draft or have any desire to write and it’ll force some words loose. 

I reread past stories. I have this bad habit of dropping references to things I believe have happened to these characters in the past without having a corresponding story written. Sometimes reminding myself of those little references will force my mind into thinking of another plot. 

Accepting I’m not writing (for fun) for a while and diving into other hobbies instead.  I can only crochet, cross stitch, hike, quilt, etc. so much before I think of some snippet of dialogue I must write down. Sometimes it takes a few months but I figure if that happens the break is needed.

But I think the biggest thing for me is ironically disconnecting from fandom. I’m unsure if this is simply a social media killing our brains kind of thing or I can’t write well if I’m thinking about dozens of other people’s thoughts on these characters and plot lines, but I seem to finally sit down and write when I’ve been logged out of Tumblr and ao3 for a little bit. 

ask a writing question!

[paletidalwavelover]

Jily Fanfic Recommendations

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of fanfics!

Listed below are the jily fanfics that I absolutely adore so if you haven't read these yet just know that you are missing out on all the fun.

I've revisited these fics more times than I can count over the past year . And no matter how many times I read they never fail to bring a tear to my eye during the sad parts and make me laugh uncontrollably during the funny. I hope you like these fanfics as much as I do.

Enjoy!

• The Season by missgryffin

Rating : 4.5/5

Bridgerton inspired AU: James Potter, Duke of Peverell, has returned to London just in time for the season, where Miss Lily Evans is about to make her debut. Only, he’s not looking for a wife, and she’s not particularly interested in a husband.

One of the members of my holy trinity. i cannot praise this one enough. If you're a Bridgerton fan, this one is definitely for you. Amazing chemistry, well written characters and an intriguing plot. This fanfic has it all.

• Ruin by baguette2016

Rating : 4/5

AU: After losing her best friend in combat, Auror Lily Everett returns to Hogwarts for a break from the battlefield. She soon discovers that she's signed up for a year alongside her ex-fiancé who is rather determined to make sure the past does not rest easy.

If you like evil James trust me, this is the one. Never have I ever wanted to punch a character in the face so badly. He took evil to a whole new level. But regardless of that this fanfic was a great read and had me hooked. I stayed up past one in the morning just to finish it and I wasn't disappointed.

• And the Wolves All Cry by monroeslittle

Rating : 4/5

AU. if a certain person doesn't hear a prophecy, does it still come true?

An awesome dark AU. It made me cry

• Jump (For My Love) by Ritaskeeterd

Rating: 5/5

When you are the Prince of England, the last thing one might expect is to be jumped from behind by the most beautiful woman one has ever seen, who - in turn - seems to have no clue at all and mistakes one for someone else. Surely, Prince James has the right to be disproportionately upset about this. The question is; does he need to?

aaah!! This one is definitely my ✨favorite✨ one. It's so sweet and cute and fluffy! I have no other words for you, just go read it already!

• Love in a hopeless place by starrylaa

Rating: 4.5/5

Having been hiding out in the middle of nowhere to escape Voldemort's tyranny, Lily is captured by patrollers and then offered as a prize to Voldemort's followers. James claims her as his own, in the process altering the course of both their lives AU.

• Bought by scriibblehere

Rating: 5/5

"I've given this this a lot of thought," he says, "And I want to buy you."

If you haven't read this yet, what are you doing !? Unfortunately it's incomplete but don't let that stop you from reading this. Bought is the sort of fanfic that keeps you up all day and night.

• All the young dudes by MsKingBean89

Rating:3.5/5

LONG fic charting the marauders' time at Hogwarts (and beyond) from Remus' PoV - diversion from canon in that Remus's father died and he was raised in a children's home, and is a bit rough around the edges. Otherwise canon-compliant.1971 - 1995This IS a wolfstar fic, but incredibly slow burn. Literally years. Long build up but worth it I promise!

Its a great story but you need to have an enormous amount of patience for this

• properly improper by lizardcookie

Rating: 4/5

“Marry me,” Mr. Potter repeats, closing the distance between them by striding back up towards the sofa, only to stop and crouch to one knee right there at her feet, looking up at her. Burning. “Pick me,” he elaborates. “Pick me, choose me, love me instead.”(arranged marriage, regency au)

• Good Enough by lizardcookie

Rating:4/5

Lily Evans and James Potter go toe-to-toe, solving their issues the old fashioned way- through a duel. Lily Evans doesn't know what she wants but James Potter just wants to be good enough. One-shot

• Deception and Disguise by ClaudiaWrites

Rating: 4.5/5

In order to escape from her uncle, King Riddle, Princess Lily Catherine Evans flees from the royal palace. What happens when she makes acquaintances with the Marauders, the famous gang of bandits known throughout the kingdom? Will she be able to overcome her qualms and trust them with her true identity, or will it be too late?

• Crossroads by Emmyjean

Rating: 5/5

In her seventh and final year at Hogwarts, Lily Evans finds herself facing a tragedy that leaves her life in pieces. She ultimately finds great strength both within herself and those she never would have expected

I just started reading this and it is AWESOME. This is the first fic I read in which I actually enjoy their arguments. Usually in all the fics I read their argument consist of how he is an arrogant toerag and whatnot which is why I found this one refreshing. Would 100% recommend. Edit- just completed this fic and I was literally sobbing for five minutes straight. The last chap is so heartbreaking yet so beautiful. I've never ever felt this before.

And finally at long last I have completed my list. I will of course be updating it as I read and discover new fics. I hope you all enjoy these fanfics as much as I do!

[artemiseamoon]

Late last night, I wrote the end (rough draft) for Edge of Dawn, so that will be coming this weekend! 😁 I’m excited and also sad, I hate saying bye to my stories & characters. It’s like a bittersweet feeling…happy to complete the tale but sad to see them go. God, Donald & Brandi have been so much fun…even stoic B!

Next up on the list is Queen of Poisons. I’ll work on that once the above is done. I’m have about 50% of the next chapter done, and 20% of the final one. That one will be especially bittersweet because I’ve spent years with Nyx & Ezra. Of all the things I’ve written, this will always remain in my personal top 5 favorites and them as a couple. And this isn’t my only supernatural Ezra, but he’s hands down my favorite. I’ll always be obsessed with him. I need to go to his club, meet him, then enter a poly relationship with him and Nyx 💜

General etas for my other wips.

Yes, I did put a few things on hold (like Dancer Between Worlds which I’m so hyped about) , but those will make their way back into rotation starting mid September. I just bit off more than I could chew this summer, too many projects and very little time.

In October, Artes frighfest will return! I’m bringing back the incomplete stories (esp excited for Death Kiss; my Mayans /JC Vampire’s cross over, I miss it! ) with finales! Then will post a few newbies along the way.🎃

[shoezuki]

re: your post abt the paragraphs.

also like...the "ideal paragraph length" rule is more specifically for academic writing like thesis and articles etc etc, so it's a bit crazy to me that people are taking this sort of rule for...(fan)fiction?

because in writing fiction has no rules. Its a type of art. and art has no rules. Also paragraph length in VERY important when it comes to pacing too?? varying length with in the right moments can help with the delivery...

tbh im p damn sure the whole 'paragraphs are five/seven sentences' thing in highschool was jus to make sure people actually Wrote Enough. cuz like no one is gonna count how many sentences u got in an essay. like it matters More that your paragraphs at least have their own rough beginning/middle/end format and thats definitely not possible in like 2 sentences.

but even so like... the point of 'rules' with writing when it comes to fiction is moreso to learn what's 'conventional' than to learn what is an Absolute Requirement. like ya in fiction courses in uni that i been taking we also learn about the typical structure of a story, the whole 'hero's journey' and how to do dialogue and shit. but all of that is relative in itself, from genre to type of literature. and even THEN. some the most famous pieces of fiction in history were nonconventional and constantly broke the 'rules' like. Jack Kerouac wrote all of On the Road on one longass piece of paper. I have a book in my room called Blood Red Road that all of the words are spelt wrong in it. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream has a lot of 'incomplete' sentences. Gregory Corso's poem Bomb is written to look like a mushroom cloud. House of Leaves is fucking WILD. and even shakespeare like???? that dude was straight up making up words and now they exist in our vocabulary like its no big deal.

its jus wild to me and so funny tbh. like sure certain rules or methods of writing can be more poignant in certain situations but it entirely has to do w what youre tryna do. big paragraphs can be good for vivid descriptions of a scene. short, punchy lines can be good for action or arguments or shocking scenes. but nothing is absolute and its much more fun to jus. fuck around

[shig-a-shig-ah]

Hey! So a while back I remember you mentioning having to prepare yourself for the motivation of writing (and completing) a long fic before starting AtBI, and I was wondering if you could go more into what that process was like? I want to try my hand at a longer fic for the first time in a while, but I struggle a lot with motivation these days 😞

Oh, man. So for me it involved doing a couple of things. The first was literally just psyching myself up for it which I know is vague, but it's the truth. I don't think there's any shame in writers moving on from long fics and leaving them incomplete, but I didn't want to do that so I tried to steel my resolve or whatever by literally thinking a lot about the time commitment. Not so much in terms of what I'd have to invest in writing week to week, but in terms of how long it would take me to finish the story. I also thought a lot about the fact that it would be my main writing priority for potentially a really long time. (I still WAY underestimated that time frame, btw. Partly because I'm posting much slower than I used to, and partly because the fic is going to be twice as long as I originally thought.)

The second thing I did was more practical, and that was outlining and making sure I more or less knew what was going to happen for at least the first 90% of the story. My outline was way more specific about the first half of the fic than the last half--probably 80% of what's happened in the story so far was according to outline. I think one of the big reasons long fics get dropped is because people don't know where they're going and things just kind of peter out. I don't think having that kind of plan is is strictly necessary, but it does make my life a lot easier on days where I'm feeling uninspired or unmotivated, because the writer's block doesn't hit as hard. I at least have enough already done to work out a very shitty rough draft of a scene, and from there editing is always easier. I think I've mentioned before that I already had a pretty good writing habit--it was a big part of my morning routine so I'd literally sit down to work on thing around the same time every day--and that also really helped with the motivation.

So, idk. I think just really thinking through what you want to accomplish, how you'll make sure you're working on it consistently (if that's a goal), and what you'll do if it starts to feel like a slog are all really helpful for actually getting it done. It feels important to note that doing all that only helps so much, too--I really love writing AtBI but I have thought about abandoning it or going on hiatus more than once. It can be weirdly stressful writing a long fic, for a lot of reasons. You might get new ideas you wish you had more time to pursue, and then you have to think about priorities. Or you might get kind of bored of your own story, because if you're trying to keep tone/characterization/dynamics really consistent, eventually things are going to start feeling repetitive. Maybe not to readers (although I guess people could weigh in on that) but definitely as a writer. And that's without thinking about the potential added pressure if people get invested in your fic. It sounds kind of egotistical to pose that as a problem, but most people I know who've written long fics that got traction have agreed that after a while it gets easy to stress about disappointing your regular readers, so things start to feel more high stakes. I have definitely spiraled out more than once thinking I'm about to post garbage that people will hate, and while it's logically easy to know that I'm writing for myself and have every right to tell the story I want to tell, sometimes it's harder to actually feel that if you get what I mean.

Of course, some of this depends on how long 'long' is to you. AtBI is probably going to be 250k words by the time it's done and that's just stupid. I would never attempt to write another fic that goes through the whole canon timeline, or anything even close to that long. Something that's probably going to be 60k words is going to be a lot easier to get through and avoid some of these problems, I think.

Anyway, that's probably more than anyone wanted on the subject but I, uh, have a lot of thoughts on writing long fics, and the sum of it is that to do it I think you have to be either a really fast low-stress writer, or a little bit insane.

[anoddrock]

Hey, an attempted tag list below the cut!!! There will likely be many edits now and in the future

Asks are open

Addition: I know it’s pretty unlikely, but please DO NOT repost my art. If there’s a platform that you wish I was on, tell me and I’ll take it into consideration. If the post says you can use art, you should still credit to me.

Links:

[Would You Still Love Me If I Were A Wyrm]

[Why I Need To Go Back To Hell]*

*WINTGBTH is going to be restarted, I think I’ll feel better about it and it will be more enjoyable if I do this. This masterpost will lead to the original posts, but will also lead to the new ones as I begin working on them.

Tags: (I do not neccesarily keep up with these very well)

Non oc tags:

tmntd- teenage mutant ninja turtles, but instead they take place in the world of ATLA and are turtle ducks

WINTGBTH - My ROTTMNT AU [first page here] [Masterpost]

Fanart - fanart

ebog - unimportant reblogs

rebog - important reblogs

Asks - asks

Polls - polls I’ve done or that are in progress

Emoticons - I like to do homebrewed emoticons they’re fun

Sewing adjacent - tags to do with sewing where I’m not actually sewing

Medium tags: I feel these are fairly self explanatory

Animation - anything that’s on here relating to animation, most of it being my own attempts at the art

Roughs - rough animation, not clean

Animatic - not animated drawings to sound

Video - videos

J me - Where I say things

Writing - me writing

Sketches - sketches and doodles, incomplete stuff.

Comic - comic

Digital - digital art

Character list - character lists

Miniatures - miniatures I’ve made

Crochet - crochet projects

Sewing - sewing projects

Complete art - non-digital works I consider complete

Original Story posts will be tagged by world, storyline, character groups, and individual character.

This is not yet complete, but I’m working on it.

Realms -

This is the nearest and dearest of my worlds, in which there are several storylines and a consistently inconsistent magic system.

Log entry- worldbuilding written from the perspective of an interplanetary explorer gathering info on the main planet that Realms takes place in

Kings Scavengers and Tenth Star- tags featuring one of many storylines taking place in my Realms world, which primarily focuses on the King family and the friends they make on a quest to save their planet from falling back into an apocalypse. Tenth star is a separate storyline that meets Kings Scavengers about a third of the way through the story

10th+Scavengers Character List:

Star Song - a story that also takes place in The Realms, very shortly after the first known apocalypse on the planet of Intul. It follows a Shadowborn who was recently separated from the hive mind that wanted to destroy all intelligent life on Intul and Ibis, who has spent her life surviving despite of and hiding from the hive mind.

Outposts - a story following the earliest characters I created from the Realms, a group of humans, who aren’t native to Intul and arrived on the planet through a portal centuries ago, as they bypass the forest that stopped them from meeting those who have lived on the planet for much longer than the humans have been there.

There are also tags for characters by their names but I don’t really feel like listing all of their names at the moment

And that’s it for the time being!! Enjoy!

[erinfulmerwrites]

Over the next thirty days, thousands of ambitious writers will churn out 50,000 words apiece to earn nothing but bragging rights, a hearty case of sleep deprivation, and hopefully part of a messy first draft.

I’ve attempted the challenge nine times and met the 50k goal six times. The event has a special energy that inspires me. There’s something about knowing that so many writers are pushing for this goal alongside me, sharing the experience of highs and lows, prioritizing their creative process.

Note that I also thrive under the urgency of a short timeline—not everyone’s best case scenario. Your mileage may vary. If NaNoWriMo isn’t for you, that is completely valid and doesn’t make you less of a serious writer. In fact it probably makes you more sane and healthy than some (i.e. me).

But! Since tomorrow is Nov. 1 and those who enjoy a good arbitrary deadline will be off to the races (also me), it seems like a good time to talk about how to “win” at NaNoWriMo without losing your mind or your motivation.

Make time for your writing.

Tell your spouse, tell your kids, tell your cats (as if they’ll listen): your priorities will be different this month. Set aside blocks of time where you can. Clear your schedule as much as possible.

NaNoWriMo is a great time to establish or experiment with a writing routine. Ask yourself when you get the most out of your writing time. When do you feel the strongest sense of creative flow?

Do the words flow more easily the morning, before everyone wakes up? Or do they come easier in the evening, when the concerns of the day have been put to bed? If you’re short on time, can you fit in small sessions to “sprint” throughout the day? Stay curious about your experience throughout and be open to trying new methods when the tried and true falls short.

Make every word count.

Can’t figure out how to start a scene? Brainstorm in your document. Ask yourself on the page what should happen next.

Start with “I am having trouble writing this scene because…” and just free write for a while. List possibilities, lines that pop into your head, ideas for future scenes you want to lay groundwork for. Do a brain dump of your doubts and hopes for the story.

If you find an interesting hook, start following it. Before long, you’ll probably have a nice chunk of words on the page, even if some of it is angst or lists or seven different ways to start a scene. Don’t delete anything—they all count as words you wrote in November.

Accept the mess.

You can edit out the brain dumps and angst later. You’re going to revise this manuscript anyway. There is no perfect first draft. There is definitely no perfect 50k words written in 30 days.

Also, unless you are writing a novella or a middle grade book, 50k is not a full length book. It’s embryonic, a skeleton, a homunculus, a mock-up. It’s incomplete and that’s the way it should be. It’s what it needs to be at this stage.

I think of this draft as the roughed-out shape of wood or stone on a sculptor’s table before the artist does the real detail work with chisel and knife that exposes the grace of her vision. It’s the first layer of a painting with blocky shapes, a few colors, sketched lines. It’s laying a foundation that you will build on later.

It might help to call it a zero draft or an in depth outline—whatever gets you out of perfectionist mode. The perfect is the enemy of the done. It has no place in NaNoWriMo.

Keep it interesting.

If you’re not enjoying what you’re working on during a given session, if you’re not excited about some aspect of it, use this feeling as a cue. Ask yourself what would have to happen to make it interesting to you. Now write that instead.

A more specific variant of this technique: ask “what’s the worst thing that could happen to my character right now?” Whatever you come up with is also probably the most interesting thing that could happen to them. Character torture is legal, even encouraged, in NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo is a good time to take risks with your writing. Don’t be afraid to go off outline, to try out new voices, tenses, or techniques, or to introduce brand new characters that derail the plot in exciting ways. Sometimes you have to blow up your plot to get through it.

If you have to skip some stuff, skip it. You can literally write that “somehow, they got from point A to B.” Do whatever it takes. You don’t have to write the boring parts. You don’t want your eventual readers to have to read the boring parts, either.

You don’t have to write every day.

I’m not a fan of any writing advice that preaches the gospel of daily writing, because that’s not possible for everyone and is frankly ableist. If you don’t get your words in or you don’t hit “par” for the day, don’t stress. In fact, a break may be just what you need to get your creative mojo back.

Don’t give up because you miss a couple of days or a week or even more. Although the number of words you need for the month may seem overwhelming, a few good days can go a long way. Focus on meeting incremental goals rather than the amount you’re ahead or behind on a daily basis.

You can always stage a late game comeback. Hell, I’ve made it a NaNo tradition. (I am REALLY motivated by urgency. *waves in ADHD*) However…

A few words are better than zero.

If you’re feeling unmotivated and you’re not sure if you should try to push yourself on a given day or not, make a deal with yourself to write 50 words. Just 50. When you get those 50 words, if you still don’t want to write any more that day, you can stop and do whatever you want instead.

Odds are that by the time you get those 50 words in you will have found your flow again. If not, you still have more words than you started. And that is a win.

Be kind to yourself in this and keep your promise if it’s a real chore to get out 50 words, if you can’t stand to stare at the page for a moment more. Let yourself be done. Creativity takes energy, and sometimes that energy just isn’t there. Honor that and take time to fill your creative well, rest, and recalibrate.

Find your easy mode.

Writing is already hard. Engaging your creativity is a workout for your brain meat. In that light, look for ways to make the act of writing easier and more comfortable. You don’t have to write on hard mode!

Focus apps or browser extensions can eliminate distractions like social media. The StayFocusd Chrome extension, which is free to install for desktop, will let you “go nuclear” and block the whole internet. It annoys me how well this works!

Having trouble getting to the computer? Try writing in your notes app on your phone or sitting on the couch with a laptop or tablet. I recently dug out my old Surface notebook so I could write on the couch and it’s so much comfier than my desk.

Curate your physical environment as well. Noise canceling headphones are a blessing if you’re easily distracted. Experiment with what kind of noise keeps your energy up without interrupting your flow. White noise or instrumentals are usually my go-to, but lately dance music has been giving me an energy and mood boost while writing.

Dictation to text apps can help if you have physical pain or vision problems. I haven’t tried this myself but I sometimes use my voice memos for notes if I can’t get to a keyboard. I might test out dictation more this year, though, because my eyestrain issues have been killing me.

Sprint to the finish line!

Finally, there is the classic NaNoWriMo tradition of word sprints. A sprint is a short burst of writing time in which you try to get as many words out as possible, perhaps in friendly competition with fellow writers. Most Discord writing servers I’m in have automated sprint bots now, so that’s how I usually do this, but you can also use a regular timer.

I don’t always use sprints because they can stress me out. They are effective, though, so I will use them during NaNoWriMo if I need to do some catch up. Once I’m warmed up, I can write around 300 words in a 15 minute sprint, so four sprints or an hour of writing can net me more than 1k words—and I’m a relatively slow sprinter.

Do it because you want to.

If short deadlines and fast drafting don’t work for you, if you hate every minute of NaNoWriMo, if reading this stresses you out, don’t do it. It doesn’t make you a better writer to write 50k words in a month. It’s an arbitrary goal and for many writers, it’s a hard stretch goal.

Not everyone wants to run a marathon. I don’t! Plenty of runners don’t do marathons, either. It’s not worth doing unless you get something out of it, and it is very taxing.

You will need recovery time. You will feel exhausted. You will wonder why you decided to do this.

Know why you are doing it. Don’t pressure yourself if it doesn’t sound like something you want. Also, if you want to quit midway, you can quit without penalty. You will still have more words than you started with, and that is a win in itself.

Make the challenge work for you.

The NaNo events have loosened up over time. You can work on more than one project at a time during November if you like. You can work on revisions, continue a draft you already started (this is what I’m doing) or write something that is not a novel at all.

So be a NaNo rebel if that’s what works for you! They’ll even give you a badge for it. Again, if you’re writing words in November, you’re winning.

If you want the community writing experience but don’t want the pressure of committing to 50k, you can set your own goal. You won’t get the badges and rewards if you don’t go for 50k, but you’re not missing out on anything major. The real magic of NaNoWriMo is making a commitment to writing with community support.

There are no NaNo police. Even the 50k is verified on an honor system. I am sure people lie about it but literally no one cares. (There are some discount codes available if you win, but that’s really just icing, and there are offers for participants as well.)

Celebrate the power of “no.”

Last year, some friends and I decided to celebrate NoNoNoMo – the month of saying NO. Saying no is powerful—and it doesn’t have to be negative. It’s all about setting and honoring our boundaries.

Say no to guilt and obligations that get in the way of writing. Say no to self-doubt and self-rejection. Say no to Twitter, fuck that place. Say no to distractions that steal your time and don’t replenish your energy in return.

Say no to the rules of writing—use all the adverbs and filler words you want. Say no to whatever sucks the joy out. Say no to other people’s ways of doing things.

Hell, say no to every piece of advice in this post! Say no to NaNoWriMo, if you want. It’s really there to get you hyped up for writing—if you find it does the opposite, definitely say no to that.

But you say no to everything else here, please don’t forget to sleep, hydrate, and eat—your brain will use more fuel than you think while writing. Say no to running on empty. It is just electric, amazing, creative meat in there, after all.

Experiment with what works for you, get curious about your process, and don’t forget to connect with your fellow writers who are running this marathon with you. Community commiseration will carry you through a lot of rough spots. Writing can feel solitary and isolating, but NaNoWriMo provides an opportunity to remember that you’re not alone in your struggles or your triumphs.

However you decide to spend it, NaNo or no NaNo (or just NoNoNoMo), have a great November and happy writing!

[rachelfivehundred]

A Year in Review & Looking Ahead - 2022 edition

Wow.  If I thought 2021 was a bit of a struggle writing wise, it had nothing on 2022.  I’ve really, really struggled to have the energy and motivation to write.  The upshot of it all is that I definitely did not achieve my 2022 goals.

Original Fiction/Non-Fiction: No original story.  I’ve pretty much left my Vocal account go fallow. 

I did have a great idea over the Summer but things were incredibly stressful with work and that took up all my headspace.  Then I started a new job...and I just do not have the bandwidth to start what I know will be a big project.

I thought I’d focus on fanfiction instead...

Fanfiction:

I started out in reasonable shape... January: I posted two stories in my Stargate Aftershocks series:-

Faulty Beliefs, coda to S8 Icon: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36128263

Faith, coda to S8 Avatar: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36573985

and after a weird YouTube spiral a fic I thought I’d never write, a Sex and the City/And Just Like That fanfic in Samantha’s POV: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36232627

February: I posted two more S8 Aftershocks:-

Limited Choices, a coda to S8 Affinity: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36921310

Second Chances, a coda to S8 Covenant:  https://archiveofourown.org/works/37369066

March: I posted all 3 of my entries into the Big Moxie Q1 Challenge which was Canon Divergence.  I chose to take Tony DiNozzo in 3 different directions, one at the start of his NCIS career (Rule One), one in the middle (Rule Fifty-One), and one at the end (Rule Five).  These are collated into my Variations on DiNozzo series: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2812654

And then things started to go a bit off track. I signed up for April’s and July’s Rough Trade, but could not complete either of my fics due to energy issues.  

I did manage to post something for Q2′s Big Moxie Fusion/Sentinel as the deadline was extended but wasn’t completely happy with it.  I preferred my original attempt but that was too short for the challenge itself.

The Mand’alor’s Guide: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40284972

Seeing Clearly: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40328322

I attempted my Q3 Big Moxie, but could not complete on time for posting.

I only just squeaked in with my Q4 Big Moxie Soulmates - posting today:

Very Special Magic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43973778

So.  Not a particularly great showing.  Of everything I’ve written Seeing Clearly is probably my favourite of this year’s story-writing.

Fanfic Decluttering / Works in Progress:

Having decluttered my writing folder last year, I find myself at the turn of this year reviewing the folder and realising I might need to do the same again.  I have many incomplete fics written as part of challenges or just when my muse struck. I have too many now to list below.

Goals in 2023:

Original Fiction: I’d like to keep my 2022 goal and write one original story in 2023 but only if I get the headspace for my idea.

Fanfiction:

Still focused on finishing up Aftershocks.  I like the fact that I managed to make a little progress in 2022, even if there are still a sizeable number of fics still left to finish S8 (10).

I’m taking part in the Big Moxie Challenge again which is a second goal.

Other than that, I am not committing to completing anything else WIP or to start finishing up another series - I know people are keen on my writing the rest of the A Step to the Right series in Harry Potter fandom and I am still committed to doing it sometime in the future but not in 2023.    

If you’ve read to the end of this, once again thank you for your patience :) Hope you have a wonderful 2023!

[straycatboogie]

2022/12/22 English

BGM: Donald Fagen "Snowbound"

What is autism? Today I talked with a co-worker and said about myself as "TBH I am an autistic person". But why do we need this category? Why should we divide ourselves by this division? Of course, this division can work well. But I guess that the base of "neurodiversity" is the concept of "everyone has their characteristic brain". So we just have to face our handicaps when we encounter various problems in our daily life. I never forget that our brains have their charms, and therefore they are precious. From that point, I want to think about "what is the handicap?" again.

Today I met my job coach and did the third meeting as an activity for my work. I learned "hourensou". "Hourensou" is an important Japanese word that means "reporting, connecting, and consulting". She said that we can work smoothly if this "hourensou" works well. Me, I always care about my boss's mood because she always works so busily, so I wonder what I should do in that situation. Generally, autistic people (I might have to add "some of") read the lines or atmosphere too much, so I might be able to work without concern for other people. Anyway, it was a wonderful time and I feel thankful for this chance to treat our problems in the work creatively.

After my work, I attended the "farewell 2022" party at the nearby restaurant that deserves Indian and Nepal meals. We, the people who always meet online each other, show our faces offline. I feel thankful for this opportunity. Other members certainly look at their future and work actively although they are at off days. That impressed me. How about me? This year I could start using the system of job coaches, and learned about autism again on my days off. I also could spend time watching movies, reading books, and learning English. It was a busy (or I might have to choose the word "reckless") year. I enjoyed myself.

This evening, I joined the conversation on Discord and talked about the result of reading books 2022 with other members. This year I have read various books as usual and thought of a lot of ideas. I have even written them in this diary. I found that there are many readers of my diary. More than I have imagined. Yes, I feel thankful for that fact. Although my diary contains various rough "tips" for my daily life incompletely, readers might be able to learn from it. I wish so. I like reading other people's diaries, and especially this year Shinji Aoyama's diary left a great impression on my mind (if I had to choose this year's best one, then I would choose it). What books I would read the next year? Souseki? Or a brand new book?