#I won't not read a fic just because it has long chapters but 8k is probably right around the comfortable max you want to go

[joycrispy]

leah i trust your judgement, good omens fic recs? 👀👀

Aww, thank you!! I appreciate the vote of confidence. xD

H'OKAY so bear in mind that I am basically brand-new to the fanfic side of this fandom, so, I don't think any of my recommendations are going to be news to anyone who's been here since 2019 or earlier.

That said, these are my favorites so far:

Factory Settings by Anonymous. 107k words, 60 chapters (and written in just two weeks last month, insanely enough).

I've recced this one before and I'll do it again, because it's an absolute blast. Premise is that Crowley DOES end up coming with Aziraphale to Heaven, but turning back into an angel has the unexpected side-effect of...well, restoring his factory settings. Meaning he is exactly the angel he was, with no memory of the last 6000 years. And things begin to unravel from there.

This fic is what finally sold me on Ineffable Bureaucracy, by the way.

Be advised that this IS a Crowley-was-Raphael fic. Since I know people tend to feel strongly about that. And it does apply some of the tropes that Raphael-deniers (and me, despite being a mild Raphael-truther myself) usually dislike. But the whole thing is just so damn impressive that, in this case, I'll allow it. xD

Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach by Nnm. 99k words, 16 chapters.

I'm sure everyone already knows this one, but hey, a lot of my followers seem to be brand-new fans, so maybe I can pass the good word along. The POV character is Aubrey Thyme, Crowley's psychotherapist, as she helps him try to unpack all the trauma of...being Crowley. It's basically one long hyper-intensive character study, and it rules.

Bark Dust by rfsmiley. 8k words, oneshot.

This one is just gorgeous.

It's Aziraphale's POV, set during the Saxon Wars. In battle, Crowley gets run-through with a blessed sword, and the effect is the same as being exposed to Holy Water, but much, much slower. So, you know. Agonizing. And neither he nor Aziraphale can heal it.

...I don't want to spoil anything, but. The way this is resolved actually made me stop and put my face in my hands. It's terrible and beautiful and poignant as fuck.

Highly recommend, with a content warning for gore/descriptions of makeshift surgery.

This Soul Outstreaming by Rend_Herring. 22k, oneshot (essentially a novella).

Okay I won't even front with you. This one is my favorite.

It's Aziraphale's POV, following their relationship across human history, in the style of the show. It's also absurd and wry and heartfelt in the style of the show. And, though it was written in 2019, elements of it predict Season 2 with an eerie degree of accuracy.

The through-line here is specifically the development of their physical intimacy, so, heads-up that this is absolutely Porn-With-Plot. But, in like a

kind of way. Quite literally. You can imagine.

I would also like some recs, if anyone wants to offer them! This is my bedtime reading, lately. xD

[theimaginatrix27]

It's August In Australia, so Let's Talk AUs!

I'm honestly kinda bad at keeping up with things like this, but I thought I'd natter on about some Star Trek: Deep Space Nine AUs that have been spooling out in my head over the past year.

Yes, this will include ones I've already started posting, because fuck it, they're on my mind and I love them.

So let's start with Family Defiant! AKA, the one where most of the main cast of DS9 is an adventuring found family in a setting where the Fae are real and fairy tales sometimes happen. Not like the Five Hundred Kingdoms does it, though—I did derive some inspiration from those books, among others, but it's my own tapestry of folklore and canon references.

Here's the series link, to start with!

There are two fics in the series so far, with more prequels and sequels to come. But it started with Seven for a Secret, which I was inspired to write after reading another fairy tale flavoured fic called Innate Conditions, by the lovely and talented @tokidokifish (Thank you again, my dear. Sorry I have not done the podfic of IC I promised yet, I had to Braille it up and also practice reading aloud, and I have been writing my own things as well, but I have not forgotten! And there's more fic for you to read now than there was before! :D )

Secret is based on one of my favourite fairy tales, The Wild Swans, but with a found family and only two out of the seven being swans for reasons explained in the author's notes of the fic. We're nearly 60k words in and still have not gotten to the beginning of the Garashir I promised with tags when I posted it, because I have tribbles in my head instead of plot bunnies, and they love to worldbuild even when it isn't strictly necessary, so even a fic someone, (like, say, Tokidokifish) can write up a similar fic and get all the finer points wrapped up in about 8k words, I, a notorious rambler and overthinker, end up making the setting more and more intricate, coming up with backstories for everyone (hence the themed prequels) and whole secondary plots that will need their own sequels to resolve), and more ideas just keep coming. And I used to wonder why it kept taking me so long to get any original work ready for publishing. I'm a chronic worldbuilder and the curse of the longform writer be upon me.

So among other things, the Prophets are Fae, which makes Ben half-Fae, and there is a whole B-plot in Secret about Ben which has only just gotten properly started as of currently-posted chapters, but which is also being built up in the prequel fic, One For Sorrow, two chapters of which have now been posted. And I'm sure there's gonna be more juicy stuff added that I don't even know about yet! And some I do know but won't spoil.

Anyways, I'm very proud of this AU, so go read it if you haven't already! Those who have really seem to like it, for some reason! :P

[two-reflections]

Been ill for the past week. Still not doing great now. (More info below.) But whatever, I'm back, though I'd be surprised if anyone noticed I wasn't around thanks to my queue. 😅

Haven't written anything for MMM because I haven't been awake for long enough each day to do much writing aside from bits for the upcoming exchange. I suppose I'm awake enough now to do a quick story audit, though. Click the Read More to see what I'm working on, and how I'm doing.

Writing Audit:

Aside from the first, these are vaguely in order of completeness/when they're likely to be posted.

TOP PRIORITY - Fic for the summer exchange. I have been doing some reading, and have put together an outline. I'm excited about this one, I really hope my giftee will like it. The problem? If I stick to this outline, the story will be several chapters long, and I'm probably not well enough to write all of it before the deadline. I wonder if it's acceptable to only put up a chapter or two of a gift exchange fic and finish it over the next few months?

Of Steel and Flesh - The next chapter was largely written back in January after the game that inspired this story, but as a consequence, it feels a bit too much like a TTRPG summary... It needs to be fleshed out more. Also, should it be split into two chapters? Unfortunately, while I love this story, it probably takes me the most effort to write, so it has been hard to work on recently. (Update the next day - Put out a chapter of this! Took me weeks to get it together.)

Alpha Legion short - I have a Alpha Legion short I threw together for an MMM post a while ago but I didn't post it because it was more silly than hot. My concern with this one is that I could easily see it becoming something much longer, like Iron Will, Crimson Whispers did. I don't have the space for another long project now, so I've been ignoring this one for a while. But I like it, and it shouldn't take too long to edit it...

Even in Death - The final chapter is basically complete, I just need to decide if I'm moving one section earlier so all the flashbacks will be in chronological order or if I should leave it as it is so there is a happier flashback following a sadder one. Once that's done, I can edit and post it.

Vulkan x Roboute short - Started outlining something for a friend. The pairing is cute and I want to make her something nice involving her OTP. This one will take me some research, though, so it probably won't be ready until after July. (Update - I guess I have to put on my clown makeup now, because I was reading The Art of War for unrelated reasons and ended up YOLOing this one.)

July MMM - One of the discord servers I'm in has been very keen on MMM recently. We're choosing a couple of prompts each month. Problem is, I recently wrote two stories that were a bit similar to July's prompts ("It's raining outside" is a thing in Feel for It, "knives and blood" was a thing in Afterparty). I've got something ready for it, though. Just need to wait til next Monday to post it.

Techmarine Story - This one is still in EARLY days. It doesn't even have a complete outline, just like 7-8k words in disconnected sections. I think I may need to severely narrow the scope of this one and make it either a oneshot or 3-6 short chapters. But I can't think about it anytime soon now I've signed up to a fic exchange.

Salamander Slice-of-Life Romance - My comfort project. It's coming along bit by bit, I probably add about 1k words to it a month. Still, I'm not in any sort of hurry to finish it. This is the one I really don't think anyone but me will ever want, haha. It's literally just an Astartes' first year or two on the job in a reserve company. Lots of mundanity, city life, squad dynamics, smaller deployments, and a romance with his brander-priest. I love it. It'll be ready when it's ready.

How I Am:

Warning, this is kind of a rant.

I miss being well. I was SO prolific just a month ago, before I got Covid again and had to go off my narcolepsy meds for an unrelated reason.

Even mild Covid sucks, but untreated narcolepsy is fucking shite. I've been on meds since I was 19, so I forgot how disabling it is. It felt less crushing before I was diagnosed, but at that point, that was the only way I had ever lived. Now, I've spent eleven years without the constant sleep attacks, and I can't remember how I used to manage this. (Probably badly since I ended up doing a full sleep study, lol.) It feels like I'm out of practice, if that makes sense? This whole thing has really thrown me for a loop.

Aside from writing, I haven't been painting much because I fall asleep when I sit still for more than a few minutes. Coffee helps, but I can only have one a day, so I'll drink my one coffee and then get a decent hour or two of painting at most before I'm back to being a bit useless. That may sound like a lot, but I'm a very slow painter. So, that's no fun.

I really don't want to just complain. My life is great, I'm very lucky to have a lovely spouse and not to be in a position where my narcolepsy could endanger my job or leave me homeless. I'm also lucky to be in the UK, where my diagnosis was free and I could actually afford eleven years of treatment without difficulty. But, fuck me, I want to be able to do normal human things again without falling asleep. This isn't forever, I'm off them for a good reason, but it may be a long time before I can go back on.

Ending on a happy note:

Hopefully, two friends and I will get to play Blood Bowl soon. She has played the digital version, he used to play but hasn't played for decades, and I've never played at all, so it should be a lot of fun. Plus, if there's three of us, whoever isn't playing can sub in for me if I fall asleep, haha.

[singsweetmelodies]

do you already have a date when u plan on posting the fake dating au chapter 6?? I’m DYING to read it, I love this fic so much 🥰

hiiii anon! firstly, thank you so much for the compliments 🥺 i am so soft whenever someone tells me they enjoy the fake dating au, bless, it just means so much ❤️ it's the most self-indulgent thing i've ever written lmao so hearing that you all are enjoying it too? INSANE. and also absolutely amazing. <333

secondly: gosh, you know, i wish i could give you a specific date 🥲 unfortunately my work has been absolutely murdering me lately, and it's all contributed to a rather nasty spot of exhaustion and writer's block over november. i did try and help myself out a little bit with some 5 sentence fic prompts (which, btw, i am definitely planning on finishing when i get a minute! there are some FAB prompts in my inbox still and i am really excited for them actually.)

anyways all this to say: i know i said i'd try and update fake dating au in november, but that turned out to be a little impossible, i'm afraid. i have been finding a bit more motivation in december, though, and i can exclusively report that chapter 6 is already 5.6k words long! but... far from finished (it's going to be an insane one lmao 🙈 i predict 7k or perhaps even 8k.)

regarding specific dates: you know what, maybe it WOULD be good to give myself a deadline 🤔 because since it's december, that means all the christmas projects and winter fic exchanges and december birthdays and whatnot are coming up, so soon i won't have time for fake dating at all, welp. i'm going to say: 10 December. if i haven't finished writing chapter 6 by the tenth, then unfortunately it'll only go up sometime in january next year. so let's all say a prayer and put our hands together in hopes that my work chooses to be merciful to me for the next few days so i can get it done 🥲🙏🙏🙏

thanks again for asking, anon, ily and i appreciate your support and kind words so much ❤️

[sdktrs12]

3, 23, and 27 (if you wanna) for the fanfic reader asks

Thanks for sending love! 💕

3. Have you ever assumed you wouldn't like a fic and then read it and been very wrong?

No, simply because if I assume I won't like a fic, I just don't read it haha.

Although, I used to be pretty wary of fic that involved Rio/OC and/or Beth/OC but a lot of those surprised me in how much I really enjoyed them!

I am not a Brio purist haha.

23. Do you listen to music when you read? If so, what?

I do! I normally have spotify playing in the background no matter what I'm doing, including reading.

I don't have like, a dedicated reading playlist, I normally just pick a random one and let it play through.

27. REC A FIC

OKAY! Here's a random one from my recent AO3 history -

traveling through space and time by mydearmoon

rated t | multi chapter 8k+ | fluff + angst | au - high school

Here's an excerpt -

“Whatchu lookin’ for?”

She’s startled by the question. She turns her head to face him, raising a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.

“I’m not sure,” she replies shyly.

He’s tall, not as tall as Dean, but she still has to crane her next up to meet his eyes. Around her age, give or take. His eyes are dark and warm, and he’s quietly studying her in a way that makes her feel like he’s willing to wait however long it takes for her to say more. It’s unnerving and unexpected, it’s not something she’s used to from the teenage boys in her class.

“I mean,” she’s flustered now, can feel her voice faltering. “My boyfriend says I should check out this guy…” she trails off and holds up the scrap of paper to him.

The boy takes the note out of Beth’s hand and scans it quickly.

With a shake of his head, he snorts, “Nah, you don’t wanna read these.”

The complete shift in mood is fast. Beth stiffens, immediately bothered with the way this person she doesn’t know at all has so easily interjected his opinion into her decision. Feelings of indignation quickly start to replace the embarrassment she was feeling only moments ago.

“Oh? You don’t know anything about me,” her voice is bristly, and even Beth is surprised with her quick, sharp retort.

But if the boy has taken any offense, it doesn’t show. Instead, a big grin spreads easily across his face, “I think I do,”

Fanfiction Reader Asks!