#I think I need to start writing original smut and publishing on amazon or something

[galvanizedfriend]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for the tag @kirythestitchwitch and @morningstargirl666 🤗

How many works do you have on ao3? 22! But I think I currently have two or three fics that are private because I keep meaning to rewrite and never get around to it.

What's your total ao3 word count? 1.617.205 😗

What fandoms do you write for? Currently only The Vampire Diaries/The Originals.

Top five fics by kudos: The Wolf (surprising no one, The Originals S1 rewriting), The Wolf II (surprising no one², The Originals S2 rewriting), Vice & Virtue (very surprising this has more kudos than TWIII lol, regency AU), The Wolf III (The Originals S3 and 4 rewriting) and The Sound of Settling (that time I committed coffee shop!AU).

Do you respond to comments? Yes! I try to always keep up with comments, but I get a little behind from time to time, especially with comments left on older fics. Sorry, folks 🥲 With WIPS, I tend to always reply to comments right before or immediately posting a new chapter.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Pendulum, for sure. The alternative ending is pure angst (and I love it very much, there's so much meaning and to me it's a perfect ending for that story).

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? All the others lol All my fics have a happy ending, Pendulum is an exception.

Do you get hate on fics? Not so much anymore, though I did recently get a bitter anon here on tumblr. But yeah, I've received a lot of hate over the years.

Do you write smut? Occasionally, when I feel like the story asks for a smutty scene, but more often than not I go with the classic fade to black.

Craziest crossover: I've never written crossovers, though I have written lots of AUs inspired by other things (I forgot what those are called now).

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yes, I have. A while back this nutjob stole a bunch of fics and published them as originals on Amazon and The Wolf was among them. I got lots of comments from people warning me about it and I managed to get it taken down.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, I have! To Russian and Chinese.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have not, though it's a fun idea.

All time favorite ship? My favorite ship is always the current one and I've been stuck on Klaroline for a few years now. Those two idiots in love have my whole heart.

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I have so many. 🥲 I really wanted to give the TVD S5 rewrite a chance, but really don't think I have it in me to start something like that again.

What are your writing strengths? Oh boy. I suck at paying myself a compliment. But I've heard I write good action scenes? I don't know if it's true. Personally, I think I do a decent job of writing AUs, as in adapting canon aspects to other universes. I don't just plaster names on characters, I try very hard to make sure everything is still recognizable even in a totally different setting (then again, that's very subjective 😂).

What are your writing weaknesses? Wordiness. I am so freaking wordy, my stories are so goddamn long. I wish I could simplify my writing, shorten sentences, but alas. I have these ideas for writing exercises I would like to try with a couple of ideas I have, but I need to finish the ones I have started before I can jump into something else.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? If it's single words or short sentences, it's ok. I kinda like it even, but when it's full dialogues in languages I don't understand, it kind of loses me.

First fandom you wrote in? I think I wrote some semblance of fic when I was like 12 for Charmed, though I didn't even know that was fanfiction. But the first conscious fic I ever wrote was for Torchwood.

Favorite fic you've written? Pendulum. I think it's the most original and profound (lol) thing I ever wrote, it expresses many aspects of how I feel about KC. But I also really, really like The Unexpected Grace of Falling Apart. I LOVE romcoms and I think that story is everything I love in that genre, without being completely silly (in my opinion, ofc). Those two fics couldn't be more different if I wanted to, but one thing they have in common is the fact I spent years working on them.

Tagging @definedareasofuncertainty, @howlingmoonrise, @misssophiachase, @jinxedwood, @bettsfic, @bellemorte180, @marginally-accurate, @b-mina and @austennerdita2533!

[ambrosiaswhispers]

September Scribbles: Day 4 SethKate Smut... oops?

Whoa I cut this one down to the wire... um also these are supposed to be short, but this one ran away with me, like ran away from me -down the hill and over the river straight to a motel swimming pool. I will be posting this to AO3 as well. Link is Here. Cause damn-it I’m proud of this little PWP piece. But onto the warning NSFW as HELL!!! Like it’s just straight smut. Oh crap. 

It’s SethKate, post-Amura, at the pool, at night with alcohol and their alone... that’s all the Math I should have to do. I hope you guys enjoy it. Inspired by Taylor Swift’s “...Ready for it” My music tastes are all over the place, but this one just hit me between the eyes as SethKate. Happy September! Love to my Loves!!

...Ready for it?

It was just after midnight and she was floating in the pool with her hair splayed out behind her occasionally kicking her legs or sweeping her arms to stay afloat. While the pool was technically closed, the manager of the nearly vacant motel didn’t give a shit and neither did they. The moon was full and its light was enough to illuminate the entire patio. He was on his fourth beer lounging in a pool chair wearing the pair of gaudy swim trunks that Kate had bought him a month ago. She was often restless as night sometimes it was nightmares and sometimes it was adrenalin, with the score they just pulled off he was guessing it was the latter. Even with the sun down, it was still well over 80 degrees and this was the reason he hated pulling jobs in Arizona, too damn hot. He finished off the beer and snagged another from the cooler, this was the fucking life though: cold beer, a good score pulled off like clockwork, and…

“Can I have my drink?” Kate called out getting his attention. “Please.”

He looked her as she leaned on the edge of the pool. The angle allowed him to see too much of her in that barely-there black string bikini. He snagged her a hard lemonade, she’d been a kick lately, but held it just out of her reach.

“Seth.” She complained reaching for it again as he swung the bottle back and forth like a pendulum.

He smirked, “You know legally, you’re not supposed to be drinking.”

“Because underage drinking is the most illegal thing I do.” She pushed herself partly out of the pool and attempted to get the bottle again.

He watched droplets of water roll down her neck and between the valley of her breasts, as she leaned towards him pulling the bottle from his hand. She took a long drink and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her lips wrapped around that bottle. She caught him staring so as she finished drinking, she kept her eyes locked with his. She ran her tongue over the bottle’s rim, before handing it back to him. 

“Decided that you like those huh?” He asked.

“Not as much as I liked the champagne we had last night, but it’ll do. Better than that crappy beer you drink.” She was wearing the diamond choker that he’d snagged out of a safe from one of the dead lords’ mansions and it glinted in the moonlight.

Fuck. Her in that bikini wearing that necklace made him think of the last time that she’d worn it and that’s all she’d been wearing at the time. “You want me to go get us a bottle of champagne?” He really didn’t want her answer to be yes, what he wanted…

“Champagne’s not what I’m in the mood for.” Her expression became a little more deviant as she slowly shook her head.

“No?” He questioned, silently thanking whatever was up there, because oh how he loved that little expression of hers and what it normally meant. “Whatcha in the mood for, Princess?”

“Get your ass in this pool and find out.” She pushed herself away from the pool and splashed him as she kicked her legs.

He slipped into the water and swam up to her catching her in an instant pinning her arms to her sides. “Oh now you’re in trouble.”

“Am I?” She questioned. “What’s the big bad Gecko gonna do to me, now that I’m at his mercy?” She wrapped her legs around his waist, rolling her hips and no doubt feeling how hard he already was.

He groaned, kissing her shoulder before trailing his mouth up her neck, suckling, and nipping as he went, relishing her frustrated sounds.

“Seth.” She tried to move against him again, but he pressed her against the pool wall, trapping her between the cement barrier and his hard body.

His tongue found the diamond choker. “Do you know what it does to me when you wear this?” He kept mapping her skin with his mouth until he reached her ear, nosing at it gently to get her to turn her head. He kissed that spot just below her ear and she squirmed in his arms. “I asked you a question, Baby Girl.”

“If you like it so much, why won’t you let me wear it when we’re on a job?” Even breathless and all hot and bothered, she still had all her sass.

She let out a surprised yelp as he spun her around to face away from him, flattening her palms against the rough cement as he blanketed her body with his. He traced the shell of her ear with his tongue as he growled, “Because bending you over a bank manager’s desk and fucking your brains out during a robbery is very unprofessional.” She whined and flexed her ass against his hardening cock, but instead of letting her get the friction she was after he crushed her against the stone wall.

“Seth.” She whimpered.

He grinned against her skin, teeth grazing the delicate skin at the junction of her neck and shoulder. He peppered kisses back up her neck, languidly taking his time enjoying the taste of her skin and sweat. “I want to make you feel so good, Princess, I really want to.” He blew over her ear, his heated breath making gooseflesh race over her exposed skin. “But I need something from you. Can you do something for me, Kate?”

“Anything.” She panted, straining her neck to try to capture him in a kiss. She was too tempting with that wanton expression in her eyes and let himself succumb to her for just a moment, kissing her deeply. Their tongues danced, beer and hard lemonade no doubt mingling, but all he drank in was her; her taste and the pure intoxication that fogged up his brain nearly every time they kissed.

“Be careful throwing the word ‘anything’ around, could get you in trouble, Princess.”

“I trust you.” She assured him, “What do you need from me, Handsome?”

God as cheesy as that nickname was, he loved to hear it from her breathless lips; he nuzzled her temple. “I want you to keep as still as possible. I want you to keep yourself braced against the edge of this pool, palms flat on the concrete, while I touch you, while I strip you, while I get you off and if you’re good through all of those things... I’ll fuck you, ‘til you beg me to stop. You think you can handle that? That gonna be too much for you?”

“You have no idea the things we do in my dreams.” Kate arched her neck granting him better access, “Do your worst.”

He bit down a little harder on the crook of her neck, making her squirm as he dragged his fingers up her arms. He slipped both hands under the water to knead her breasts, his knuckles scraping against the concrete. He moved away just enough to give himself some maneuvering room, impressed that she kept herself pinned to the wall, without his weight. He kept one hand on one of her breasts while the other untied the knot at the nape of her neck. “Come on back just a bit.” He coaxed smoothly his voice contrasting his actions as he yanked down her top, “That skin is so delicate, don’t want it scratched up.”

He teased her nipples, working her with one hand while the other danced over her entire body. He palmed at her thighs, groped her ass, and gripped her hip, thrusting against her… “Fuck Seth, I want…Fuck please, I need you.” She sobbed and with only two pieces of fabric between them, her cries only made him harder; want her more, if that was possible. He wanted to pull himself out of his swim trunks, haul her bikini to the side and fuck her in that instant; abandon his earlier plan, but this was an exercise in patience. “I want to touch you.”

“Not yet.” He soothed pressing his palm to her back and dragging it down her spine. He untied the second knot, clenching the top in his fist before setting in front of her. He kissed her cheek and she turned her face kissing him wildly, her body trembling, no doubt, from the effort of keeping herself still. “You are so beautiful. Christ the things you fucking do to me.” He untied the last two knots of her suit as he kissed her. When he dropped the second piece of fabric in front of her, he braced his arm over her chest but eliminating the space between their bodies as he slid a finger inside of her. “Fuck, how are you so wet already? Do I do that to you, Princess? Make you wet with just a few touches? Oh Baby Girl, this is gonna be so good for you. Let me be good to you.”

She tilted her hips a little, trying to get his finger in her deeper, “I swear to god, Seth, sometimes I think you could get me off with your mouth.”

He chuckled low, sucking the part of her neck he’d bit down on her earlier as he added a second finger. “Princess, I know I can get you off with my mouth. I can make you see God with my mouth. I’ve proven it, you were there.” He rutted against her as he worked her with his fingers, teasing and plundering her. “But you want me to get you off by talking dirty sometime, you just let me know.” She was already clenching around his fingers and her sounds were purely primal. “There you go... You can let go. I’ve got you.” He flicked her clit with thumbs and she arched against him.

“Holy hell, Seth!” She gasped as she came apart, her hips moving to the rhythm of his hand, but her hands were steadfast against that concrete.

“So pretty when you cum.” He rumbled into her wet hair. “Knowing I make you feel that good and I’m the only one that’s ever made you feel this good...Fuck you’re better than any drug; so much better than anything that I could put into my veins.” His hands started to wander over her skin again, coax her back up instead of letting her come down completely, he wanted her wild and hungry. He wanted to hear his name fall off her lips again, hear her ravenous. “I love you, Kate. Fuck I don’t know how I’m so lucky to have you, but fucking hell, I love you.”

“I love you too.” She echoed breathlessly before flexing her fingers. “I was so good, Seth.” She rolled her hips rubbing her ass against his dick. “Now make good on your deal. Fuck me ‘til I beg you to stop.”

He lifted her hands over her head, entwining their finger together, lifting her up just enough that when he lowered his head he could capture her nipple in his mouth. He licked and lapped until she started to struggle in his hold, so he let her hands go, sucking on her tit as she dug her fingers into his hair.

“Yes, yes, oh my god please.” She mewed. Fuck, she was more wound up than he realized. He switched to her other breast, paying it equal attention. She hooked him with one of her legs, forcing them closer. “I want you inside me, now! I’m supposed to be begging you to stop not begging to get going.” She growled using her feet to push down his shorts. “Show me what you got.”

He should have paused a million reasons, a condom being the most logical one, but instead, he kicked his shorts the rest of the way off and slammed into her. It was way too fast and he shouldn’t have buried himself so deep inside her so fast, but she dug her nails into his shoulders and screeched out a string of obscenities that could have made him blush. He kept his arm between her and the wall as he slammed into her over and over with her pleading with him for more. He tried to slow down, but it only made her restart her mantra of, “Harder, baby, please I want it harder.”

Her walls constricted on his cock and he bit down on the inside of his cheek as she shrieked out his name. He kept moving through her orgasm, not letting up instead forcing a hand between them flicking her clit between their bodies. She sobbed out something that sounded like, ‘no more,’ but it only made him shove into her harder, “What was that, Princess? Thought I was supposed to show you what I got.”

“I…I can’t…I…” She threw her head back, shaking it back and forth.

“Sure you can. I know you want to cum for me again.” He kissed her exposed throat, as he snapped his hips again. “Third time’s the charm, right? Cum for me again, Princess, take me with you this time.”

She writhed against him her nails stinging against the flesh of his back; he’d proudly show off those red stripes in the morning light. She tried to match him stroke for stroke, but their pace was starting to fall apart; she too hot, felt too good for him to keep up the pace. She suddenly grabbed his face, forcing him to look into her eyes, “I want you to cum with me, please Seth. You know I’m yours: your lover, your family, your partner, I’m your home. Be mine like I’m yours.”

He wasn’t the kind of guy that lost control during sex, he wasn’t. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t the most controlled person when it came to initiating sex and there was a time that he’d fall into bed with almost anyone, but the act of sex itself, he controlled himself. He knew what was going on and what his body was doing at all times, he didn’t lose control when he was with a woman. But having Kate’s hands on his face, hearing her confession, feeling her quaking around him, and staring into her eyes; he lost it. A few more erratic thrusts and her screaming his name and he spilled himself inside of her. He was shaking but managed to lean his back against the wall, panting into her shoulder.

“Shouldn’t have done that.” He huffed reality catching up just a bit.

Kate ran her fingers through his hair, “First of all don’t kill my orgasm-buzz, I want to go back to the room and fall into a sex-coma. Secondly, I am on the pill. Thirdly, birth control aside, I’m at the most infertile point of my cycle. Not ovulating so no babies.” She pinched his ear, “Can we go back to the room and be post-sex cuddly now?”

“I think I can manage that.” Seth got out of the pool and pulled Kate up with him. He snatched a towel from the chair wrapping it around her and scooping up her suit, before pulling his own back on. “Come on.” He kissed the top of her head and they made their way back to their room.

They paused by Richie’s room the TV was up so loud you could hear it through the closed door. Kate cocked her head to the side, “You think he’s okay? He’s got such good hearing that I normally can’t hear it when he’s watching it by himself.”

Seth knocked his knuckles against the door and it jerked open almost instantly, Richie did not look amused. Before Seth could ask what the hell the problem was Richie informed him. “Most people have sex in their rooms, that’s what hotel rooms are for.”

“Oh God!” Kate pressed herself against Seth’s back to hiding herself more completely. “What did you see?”

“Enough. I’ve been debating on compelling myself to forget what I’ve seen, but I’ve walked in on Seth so many times over the course of our lives that I’m concerned I’ll think I’m fourteen again.” Richie turned the TV off and pushed by Seth. “You two enjoy the rest of your evening.”

“Where are you going?” Seth questioned.

“Dinner, now that I can actually leave without feeling the need to impale my ear drums with an ice pick.” Richie waved them off and took off in the car.

“Well that was…” Kate fidgeted behind him, clearly still mortified. “He’s not really mad is he?”

“Naw.” Seth opened their door for her but slammed it shut behind him. He yanked the towel away from her making her yelp as he pressed her up against the door. “Best part is,” He kept his eyes on hers as he dropped to his knees and spread her legs. “I get to make you scream again.”

oops? I mean it’s the song’s fault. This was not my plan for today

[thesunnyshow]

Name: Mae Gi

Age: 23

Writing Blog URL(s): @mae-gi-writes & https://embed.wattpad.com/user/nutmeggu

What fandom(s) do you write for?

The Boyz, EXO, BTS, SVT, Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts

Nationality: Mauritian

Languages: French, English, Creole

Star Sign: Pisces 

Favorite color: Mint!

Favorite food: Xiao Long Bao

Favorite movie: Patriot 

Favorite ice cream flavor: Mint and chocolate chip!

Favorite animal: Definitely whales

Coffee or tea? What are you ordering? Coffee all the way! 

Dream job (whether you have a job or not): Writer 😍 

Go-to karaoke song: Breaking Free High School Musical

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?

Flying

If you could visit a historical era, which would you choose?

The 70's 

If you could restart your life, knowing what you do now, would you?

I Would not. I believe that everything I've experienced was for a reason and I couldn't be happier where I am. 

Would you rather fight 100 chicken-sized horses or one horse-sized chicken?

100 chicken-sized horses because that would be cute af

If you were a trope in a teen high school movie, what would you have been?

I like to believe that I'd be a badass tough cookie

Do you believe in aliens/supernatural creatures?

...sometimes.

Fun fact about yourself that not everyone would know?

I am bad at maintaining eye contact so I am always conscious of it.

When did you post your first piece?

I think it was in 2012 that I started my first story!

Do you write fluff/angst/crack/general/smut, combo, etc? Why?

Fluff and angst are my go-to's because they are the ones that I relate to the most. My writing comes from personal experiences, so there's a lot of fluff and angst involved.

Do you write OCs, X Readers, Ships...etc?

YUpp!

Why did you decide to write for Tumblr?

I just started posting without really taking it seriously to be honest. But when people started showing interest, it motivated me to write more and gave me confidence. I also made lots of wonderful writer friends which I am so grateful for! 

What inspires you to write?

Life, people, relationships. Writing is also a way for me to process my thoughts of emotions, it's therapeutic. 

What genres/AUs do you enjoy writing the most?

Romcom and slice of life mainly. And my guilty pleasure is the best friend to lover AU. 

What do you hope your readers take away from your work?

That it makes them laugh, have a good time, or cry in sympathy. I want my characters to reflect real people and I hope that my readers can relate and realize that they are not alone, no matter how tough life may seem sometimes. 

What do you do when you hit a rough spot creatively?

I stop writing and listen to music. It allows me to imagine scenarios without me actively writing them. 

What is your favorite work and why? Your most successful?

My favourite work is definitely my first novel that I recently published on Amazon! It's sci-fi dystopian and is really close to my heart because every character is a piece of me stitched into them. 

My most successful on Tumblr is Deobi Playlist series, which is a fanfiction mashup of the series Hospital Playlist x The Boyz. I think people find it really entertaining and light to read. 

Who is your favorite person to write about?

Kevin from The Boyz, Jungkook from BTS. 

Do you think there’s a difference between writing fanfiction vs. completely original prose?

There's a difference in terms that some elements are already crafts for you and you approach them in a different perspective. Original prose is completely made up by you. 

What do you think makes a good story?

The storyline is important, but characters are definitely the most vital elements in telling a good story. 

What is your writing process like?

Depending on the mood, I usually put on a playlist of slow songs and start writing whatever comes to mind on my laptop. Sometimes if I need to figure out a story, I use pen and paper to quickly outline the series of events. I also usually write better at night or early morning. 

Would you ever repurpose a fic into a completely original story?

I actually already did! It was named as Entity and was a BTS fanfic that received so much love I decided to alter it into a real novel now called Terminal. It's available on AMAZON. 

What tropes do you love, and what tropes can’t you stand?

I am a sucker for Love Triangle tropes and Best Friends to Lovers tropes because, in my experience, they really do happen. I can't stand the "I'm not like other girls" trope, I just think it's overdone and is always portrayed as something that the protagonist needs. 

How much would you say audience feedback/engagement means to you?

I definitely don't depend on feedback to write because I write for myself. But getting feedback and seeing people appreciate my work definitely motivates me to believe in myself as a writer. I would not have come this far without support. 

What has been one of the biggest factors of your success (of any size)?

I just kept writing, even though it was shit, even though I was sometimes frustrated. No matter how bad it was, I always told myself that I was doing this for me and never listened to outsiders who didn't appreciate my craft. 

Do you think fanfic writers get unfairly judged?

Definitely! Just because we write fanfiction doesn't mean we're not writers. I know of so many AMAZING fanfic writers who are so much better than actual authors!

Do you think art can be a medium for change?

Yes, art has always been involved to portray what can't be said. And that is the beauty of it. 

Do you ever feel there are times when you’re writing for others, rather than yourself?

Rather than "writing for others" I keep myself disciplined by writing everyday, no matter how bad it might be or how little i write. 

Do you ever feel like people have misunderstood you or your writing at times?

Yes, I don't really understand why writing as an art form is so underrated when it is so beautiful, but there is this misconception that writers, especially fanfic writers, are just thirsty fangirls who are obsessed with their biases. No, we are content creators, we write stories because we are artists and take so much time and effort to write these amazing stories.

Do your offline friends/loved ones know you write for Tumblr?

My boyfriend is the only one and he is really supportive.

What is one thing you wish you could tell your followers?

That I appreciate every single one of them for supporting my work, and that every comment, reblog or like just makes my heart feel so full with love. I also wish to tell them to keep dreaming, keep pushing and stay safe 

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who might be too scared to put themselves out there?

Be scared to start. Be scared because that means you're pushing yourself and that's okay. Fear is part of the process but you have to go through that to gain confidence in what you do. Throw yourself under the bus, because that's how it gets easier. And don't compare to other writers because like every artist, your story and your craft, your words and your voice will be different. So believe that you can, and you are worth it.

Are there any times when you regret joining Tumblr?

NEVER.

Do you have any mutuals who have been particularly formative/supportive in your Tumblr journey?

YES!! I'D LIKE TO THANK @pixelelf @choaticdeobi @moondustaeil @aveluant1a @atbzkingdom @thesingingfae1905 @2hyunjae @tbzhours @jenocakes ❤❤❤ 

Pick a quote to end your interview with:

There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair - Haruki Murakami 

[imsfire2]

Writing meme

I was tagged by @ephemera/ @incognitajones!  Thank you for tagging me!

Author Name:  On AO3, imsfire.

If you want my published original smut fic on Amazon Kindle, look for me under Imogen Claire.

Fandoms You Write For:  At present, pretty much exclusively Star Wars; about 95% Rogue One with occasional excursions into original trilogy territory.  I’ve also done one or two pieces based on the sequel trilogy and precisely one (In the holding pen, very angsty) set at the end of the prequels.

I’ve also written a single mid-length chapter fic for the film “Solo quiero caminar”, which for anyone who hasn’t seen it is a wonderful feminist heist movie and well worth checking out.

In the past, I’ve also written a bit for the MCU, for The Town, and, back in 2012 when I first got started, for a random collection of characters played by Jeremy Renner.  

Where You Post:  AO3.   In the long-ago past (i.e. 2012!) also on a members-only Renner fandom tumblr the name of which I can’t even remember, which is embarrassing!

Most Popular One-Shot:  

In hits; Leather.  Not really surprising as it’s deliciously filthy PWP.

In kudos; an exact draw between “Leather” and Tooky.  This is kind of hilarious given the contrast between them; “Leather” is full-on smut about BJs and mild bondage and “Tooky” is a sweet fluffy comedy about a cat.

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: 

In both hits and kudos; By stardust and moonlight.  

Favourite Story You Wrote:  Very, very hard to choose!   Which is actually incredibly pleasing, as it means I’ve begun to be more confident of my writing and more able to see what worked about a story, rather than just focussing on what didn’t.  

Honestly, I don’t think I have a single favourite, though. I have favourites, plural, but even those shift with time. I’m very fond of my Shane AU, A rider comes to the valley, and of some of my single-character one-shots. The latter are often on the sad side (e.g. The mask, Unacceptable, The last dancer, The first time) and perhaps because of that they don’t get as much love, but they mean a lot to me.    

Story You Were Nervous to Post:  Agent. It’s untidy from a structural pov, I don’t like the way it ends, and much of the content, especially the opening chapter, is extremely dark.  It was also written in anger, as a reaction to one of the very few pieces of fic I have ever truly despised (a grossly salacious “all women want to be raped” story full of utterly creepy racist stereotypes), and I’m not entirely sure that’s such a great place to start.

How Do You Choose Your Titles:  Mostly they just kind of come to me (I know how daft that sounds, sorry!).  I’ve noticed my titles tend to be fairly short; two or three words, even sometimes just a single word, that either come direct from the story or function like a descriptive hint of the contents.  I think the only one I’ve really struggled with was for the long chapter fic In a dark time, the eye begins to see, which had the initial working title “Artist!Cassian smut”!  I spent ages going through books about creativity, looking for a quote that expressed something of the idea that an artist must be truthful to the larger world as well as their personal vision.

Do You Outline?  A bit, if it’s going to be a long story.  I’m more of a note-taker than a full-blown planner, though.  If I’ve jotted down the basic arc, key plot points, and what the set-piece scenes are, that feels about right.  Having too much pre-set structure seems to dam the flow for me.  

Complete:  On AO3, 168 works.  155 Star Wars and 13 in other fandoms.

In-Progress:  Counting only works with significant word counts, right now:

·         The city and the sea, a sequel to By stardust and moonlight.  

·         A friendly game (cricket match AU, set in the Guau-guau ‘verse)

·         The bargain of liberty (original novel, alternative C16th setting with magic and a different balance of power across the world as a result)

·         Various short one-shots.  E.g. I’ve made some small headway on a one-shot about Cassian’s relationship with Draven, on another about Jyn and Saw discussing her parents, and on one told in the form of love letters – this last has stalled because it has no plot!

·         Various attempts to re-write my longer fanfics into original stories by changing certain plot points, the main McGuffin, character names and place names, etc.

Coming Soon/Not Yet Started:

Don’t ask!  I have a list of “stuff I’d like to do sometime” almost as long as my arm.

I really want to do a one-shot of Leia and Jyn relaxing at some kind of health club, swimming and pampering themselves a bit.  And another Leia and Jyn story where Leia hides in a ‘fresher on Home One to cry when things finally get too much for her and Jyn finds her there.

I’ve had an idea on the backburner for ages of a fantasy story where Cassian is trapped among the Sidhe when he has to eat their food while undercover; mysterious Blacksmith Kay and forest daughter Jyn, and their animal allies, go into The Land Under The Hill to try and rescue him.

Someday I’ll have another bash at the King Arthur/Star Wars AU.  And the LOTR AU.

But my main energy at the moment needs to stay on The city and the sea and The bargain of liberty.

Do You Accept Prompts:  Generally not. I’ve had to accept I don’t really respond well to them.

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write:  The city and the sea.  I’m part way through chapter 3 in draft but I don’t want to start posting it until I’m a bit further on in the story and have really got into the swing of things.

Thank you for asking!

[kittenshift-17]

I was wondering what your process of choosing to self publish was?

I’m not really sure what you mean by “my process of choosing to self publish”…. If you’re asking why I went the indie publishing route rather than the traditional route, the answer is three-fold.

First, I submitted my manuscript to several publishing agents within my own country, and a few abroad. I heard back from two of them, both based in London, both offering me a contributory contract. What that means is, they print my book, they market my book, but I have to fork out an inordinate amount of money for the privilege. Both companies I heard back from wanted me to pay, upfront, in a lump sum of 5000 pounds each before they would “take the risk” of investing in a novel that “sounds very enticing, but has no guarantee of selling.”

Which leads to my second point. The publishing market is flooded with authors all trying to push their work in front of a publisher and in front of a reader. The competition alone is tough. What’s worse is that in the past publishing houses have too often bet on the wrong horse, so to speak. They receive millions of stories every year, and go through them, select novels they think they can effectively market, and more than about half of those they bet on, flop. You walk into your local ‘popular’ or big-chain bookstore and you’ll see what I mean. There are books on those shelves that no one is reading, no one is buying, no one is interested it. Meaning the publishing company loses money. As a result, after years and years of this, most publishers refuse to accept manuscripts from new, or even established authors unless they can prove their book will sell. Why invest money just to lose again when there are tools allowing authors to prove their worth within the market?  Every publishing house I submitted my work to (excluding those that wanted me to pay for it) had listed in their fine print that unless you had a book agent, you wouldn’t even be considered. Book agents are expensive. Half the time, I struggle to pay the bills to keep the bloody lights on. Most authors do. Hell, most people do. 

Which leads into my third point. IF by some miracle, you come into some money to pay an agent to shove your work at a publisher, you get contracted. And when you get contracted you have to sign a very long document that strips the author of all creative rights to their work. Meaning that you get no say in cover design. No say in bits of content that are ripped out. No say in how it’s marketed, who it’s marketed to, what price they put on it. Nothing. You get a settlement cheque from the company because they purchase your manuscript - and unless you’re a big name like Rowling, you get a pittance. Typically you might be given between 5-15k dollars for the manuscript and you get a royalty on sales. A very small royalty. Usually between 20-40% depending on how well the book does, the company you sign with, and what genre it is.

Now, for a book like mine…. They’re a dime a dozen. A werewolf romance novel? One of the most easily accessible things on the market if you know where to look. Unfortunately, the places to look are not the big chain bookstores. They don’t stock a whole lot of smutty werewolf romance on their shelves (because gods forbid the average reader have access to interesting and diverse reading options). You might find a few werewolf novels amongst the Young Adult section if you rip out all the smut; and if you include adventure and war and other rubbish, you might land on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy shelves, but it’s unlikely. There’s an enormous market for it. I’ve spent years collecting novels like the ones I enjoy writing. In fact, I started writing them because initially, I searched the big book stores, couldn’t find anything like it, and wanted to read it, so I wrote it my dang self. 

But the publishers and the bookstores don’t want to take a chance on the genre as a whole, from what I can see. Everyone jumped on Vampires following the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Sookie Stackhouse books, and even the Twilight Saga, and if you look hard, you might still find a few of those types dotting the shelves, but again, not that many. I don’t know what the book companies do with all the books they do take a chance on that don’t sell. Maybe they have a monthly bonfire or something and lament the dollars wasted before demanding another, better book from their contracted authors, but I sure as hell haven’t been buying them. Excluding buying gifts for my partner from the Sci-Fi section to the tune of Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss, I haven’t actually purchased a book from a book store in a long while because when they hit on an idea, they flood the market with crappy b-grade choices that mimic the initial spark. I mean, you look at the shelves for teen fiction. Sarah J Maas is killing it with her fairie novels, but now the market is full of fairy writers and none of them hold a candle to the Maas novels. And if you’re unfortunate enough to pick the b-grade choice first, you turn your nose up at the rest and nothing gets bought. 

Maybe the same happened with werewolves. Who knows? I don’t remember it. I remember a few in the teen section when I was scouring it every other day, and I picked up a couple that were addictive and delicious. But for the adult section? Nope. You get the “Woman goes on holiday, has fling, yaaay” and the “This terrible thing befell a career woman. Now she’s pregnant” and all that other rubbish. I know Anne Rice tried her hand at werewolf fiction after her success with the vamps, and it flopped hard. I was gifted a copy when I turned 18 and I still haven’t read the whole thing. *shrugs* Unfortunately, the publishing houses know her for her novels, and they think that if she can’t do it, no one else will succeed, either. It’s painful.

In any case, I chose to Indie publish my novel because I can’t afford to fork out thousands of dollars for a literary agent, or a contributory contract. And because through Amazon, I retain creative freedom. I designed the cover, I polished the book and decided what got ripped out, what was re-written, and what was kept. I get to set the price on the book, and I can unpublish it, release a new edition with a different cover, I can do anything. When you Indie publish, you’re in control. Complete control. It does mean having to push your own wagon, and that’s some damn hard work trying to break into the market, garner a reader following, get some hype going about it, and keep people interested in it. When the big companies are producing Book Trailers for their novels, it’s pretty damn hard to hold up an Indie novel and lure readers to give it a go. But I’m trying my hand at it. If it garners enough attention, a company might contact me. I know my fellow author, Gerilyn Marin, had that happen with her first novel. She indie published it, and when it did well, a publishing company contacted her.

That being said, many authors who have contracts with publishing houses have been pulling out of them to go it alone. It’s more cost effective. You can publish on Amazon.com for free. All you need is a cover, a manuscript, and a KDP account. You can set your royalties to 35% or 70% and keep a larger portion of your profits depending on what your target market is, and what kind of pricing you want to put on your works. You’re in charge. 

So I guess my process was one of elimination. If at first you don’t succeed, try; try again, and all that. Maybe I’ll hit it big. Maybe I won’t. I’ll keep writing. I’ve got plenty more Original Fiction works up my sleeve. If this first series I’m releasing doesn’t shoot me to the moon, maybe the next one will. *shrugs* right now, I’m just happy that some people are giving it a go. It’s nice, after so long writing and sharing fanfiction, to be making some money off the time and effort put in to perfecting my writing. 

Anyone interested can find my debut novel here:

Paranormal Division: Awakening by Ellie J Duck

xx-Kitten. 

[salaciouscrumpet]

Stupid Fucking Brain.

I am, as is rapidly becoming tradition (yes, hello, thanks, anxiety and depression) trapped in a hell-spiral with regards to my writing. (This ended up super fucking long, so if you actually want to read this, I’ve put it after the break.)

I have an original work that is ... well, it’s there, at the forefront of my mind. I rather desperately want to work on it. The characters are very real to me, the plot is rapidly unfolding inside my brain, and I’m just ... I’m so fucking excited about it. It’s something I want to read, myself, and it pisses me off that it’s not already written. That it’s not a book I can buy in a store or check out of the library and just sit down and enjoy.

But -- and it’s presently a big but (heh, big butt) -- no one is going to pay me for it. Even if I write it, it’ll be hard to get it published. A fantasy novel: sure, fine, whatever, there’s lots of those. The main cast? A stable poly triad and the 14-year-old ace girl they’ve “adopted” (although honestly she’s the most stable, functional “adult” of the bunch). It’s not, I think, marketable (there’s no will they/won’t they angst regarding their relationship, it’s a stable triad and not a love triangle, and the 14yo isn’t going to become torn between two equally boring white dudes at some point in the plot because that trope is so fucking done). So I want to work on it -- desperately, passionately, so much so that I’m dreaming about it -- but my stupid anxiety brain tells me it’s a waste of time, that I should be working on something people will pay me for.

So then I think, well, okay, I could work on my fanfiction. And yeah, no one is paying me for that, but it gets me an audience, and maybe ... maybe one of my readers would want to commission me for a piece? (I just finished reading one work on AO3 where the author was “sponsored” for each chapter, and my broke-ass self is like “Okay, how do I get on board with that?”) And then anxiety takes over again, because I have no idea how to ask people to commission me, how to market myself, how much my commissions would even be worth (one Ko-Fi is, what, $5? but surely my time is worth more than that?), and how to arrange payment.

So then I’m like, yeah, okay, remember that idea about writing erotica and publishing it on Amazon or some shit? Except that again, anxiety. Because I don’t know how to do that, either, even though I’ve been researching it like mad. (To be honest it’s the book covers; you need a flashy cover to catch your potential reader’s attention, and I have zero design skills and no money.) Plus ... I don’t want to work on erotica right now. I want to work on my OW, so it’s hard to find the enthusiasm and creativity to write smut.

And then we go back to my original issue, which is that the only story I want to work on is the one I won’t get paid for. So then I think, well, what about setting up a Ko-Fi or a Patreon, and people could pay me that way? Except that who will? And how do I even do it? Do I need someone to literally hold my hand through the entire process of setting up one of those sites? (Yes, possibly.)

And I’m left wondering: do normal people even have this problem? Like, you get up, day to day, go about your life and not have to worry about this wonderful world you’ve got living inside your head, aching to come out? You can just ... go to work and function and get paid? How selfish am I, that I feel like I need to work on this story, even though it’s not going to go anywhere, even though my partner is freaking out because we need money and I can’t find work anywhere else? Sometimes I just want it to be just me, so that the only person I need to worry about starving or not having a roof over their head is me, and I can work on my writing without worrying about letting someone else down.

So here I am, in this hell-spiral. I want to write, but if I start work on the piece that won’t be marketable I feel guilty and selfish, and if I work on anything else I’m distracted by what I want to be working on. So I do nothing, and feel even worse for it. My stupid fucking brain.