#a lot faster than a lot of fae tales canon

[not-poignant]

Congrats on starting your DBH fic! I feel like it was almost a rushed decision for you? Like you just woke up one morning and went, 'Yup. I'm doing it'. Anyway, it's awesome and you're awesome and the first chapter is awesome! By the way, any DBH recs? :) What did you like? The guys went wild with content over the summer.

By the way, any DBH recs? :) What did you like? 

I know I say it a lot, and it still holds true, but I write fic when I can’t find exactly what I want to read. I’m just a really fussy fucker. So the only reason I’m actually kind of ante-ing up to write in this fandom is because I’m not really finding the kinds of fics I specifically want to read, though there’s a lot of good material out there for sure (I’m not reading any now, because I don’t want to mess up the worldbuilding I’m starting to put together in my head lmao - please don’t rec me stuff! I may not read it for like a year at this point, lol, I’m mostly sticking to PWPs). Though I do really enjoy Scratch by L1av.

I feel like it was almost a rushed decision for you?

I’ve actually been thinking of committing to a fanfiction project for about 3 months (even longer actually, def before TGATNW was finished). I was just fandom-hopping until I found the right idea. I came really close to committing to a Homestuck fic idea (which I still like tbh), and I came moderately close to playing Dragon Age 2 as research, but really wasn’t happy with the overall idea for Cold Red Light.

I stumbled into Detroit Become Human re: the same way I did Dragon Age - through the fanart, and finding the premise intriguing. When I saw like, two Reverse AU artwork pieces on Twitter, I knew that was where I wanted to aim my sights? Idk if I have anything good to offer to the fandom, but I do know what I want to write and why I want to write it.

The thing about fanfiction is that I can be rushed about it. I can break all my schedule rules. I can do it just because it’s fun and I feel like it, and it doesn’t have to be a majorly thought through decision. It reminds me that I’m like...a person and not a word machine (which I sometimes feel like, which is no one else’s fault but my own, but the way for me to fix it is to write fanfiction). Do I have a chapter plan? No! Do I have an idea of exactly where I’m going? No! Do I plan on regular scheduled updates? Nope! Does it feel amazing? It really fucking does!

I learned a long time ago that writing fanfiction alongside original fiction might make the original fiction come slower, but it makes me a much stronger and happier writer. Which is why I had been idling like a car in neutral and keeping my eyes peeled for fanfiction projects I wanted to commit to (because I wanted something new, too). I love writing Fae Tales, but Fae Tales is also tied to income, which is tied to sometimes worrying about health and money and shit. I will never not love Fae Tales, but sometimes it feels really great to do something just because it’s fun, detached from everything else. That’s why thespectaclesofthor account exists in the first place.

So me deciding to commit to this fic did happen somewhat impulsively, but me deciding to commit to a big fanfiction project in general? That did not. In fact if anything I’m super excited about this, because if I’ve like, rushed to get the words out in the chapter (it has been beta’ed!) it’s a sign that I’m really rejuvenated/enthused about writing, and it’s a great, great feeling. I’m so excited to share this story with others, even if only 20 people read it. :D 

Like, The Wind that Cuts the Night was impulsive. Stuck on the Puzzle was wicked impulsive (I literally saw a Bull/Cullen week prompt for ‘kink negotiation’, wrote something, and then thought ‘oh I guess I’ll write more then’ when people didn’t hate it). It’s...part of the magic of fanfiction in some ways. I love it. I’m very lucky to experience that rush of excitement, and I’m trying to have faith it will see me through to the end of the project, because it has before. :D

[leiawritesstories]

Give Me Wings

Rowaelin Month, Day 24: Missing scene from canon

Designing Aelin’s new tattoo in Kingdom of Ash because we deserve that. It got a little emotional...but so was their reunion...so......

Word count: 1304

Warnings: Emotions. Lots of them.

~~~~~

Every mark on his mate’s body had been erased--the scars from Endovier, from the years as Adarlan’s Assassin, the calluses, bruises, and bumps she’d earned during long hours of training, even the faint burn marks she carried from learning to control the wildfire that raged inside her veins. And her tattoos, the three scrolling lines of Old Language that told the story of how Aelin Ashryver Galathynius conquered the darkness that threatened her brightly burning existence.

The tattoos Rowan had poured his heart and soul into. Gone.

Aelin had barely spoken in the days since their reunion, the invisible scars Maeve had inflicted still too fresh, too deeply engraved. He watched her with Fenrys, the silent language they shared in the blinking of their eyes conveying so much more than speech. He watched how she curled against him in the nights, her eyes brimming with all the things she wanted to tell him but couldn’t yet bring herself to say. In the darkness of the night, Rowan gladly shared his body heat with Aelin, hoping his silence was comfort, hoping she could read the unspoken promise that whenever she was ready, he was there for her.

As they passed through the caves, guided by the Little Folk, Rowan sensed a spark of Aelin’s flame returning. When she mustered a smirk, an offhand snarky comment, his heart swelled with joy. And for the first time in months, a pulse of her own happiness slipped down the bond in response. It would take time, time they might be borrowing, before the queen of Terrasen was once again her fiery, sharp-tongued self, but she had started to move from the blackness of the past months into the hope of the future.

He knew some of it was for show, knew she was making herself smile and swagger and tease and lift Goldryn to stop the “fussing.” Yet he was more than happy to train with her on the small deck, to steal her focus for a few hours and keep her mind from falling into despondence. 

There were nights when she woke up in tears, shaking, always silent but always in pain. Those were the nights when she either burrowed closer into his side or quietly got up and curled against Fenrys in his wolf form. Rowan couldn’t hold anything against Fenrys; after all, he too had suffered at Maeve’s hand and if his presence could comfort Aelin, she deserved the companionship.

Every night after they’d exchanged rings in the treasure cave, Rowan kissed the obnoxiously large emerald on her left hand. To whatever end, Fireheart. Though she didn’t respond verbally, the tears that welled in her depthless turquoise eyes spoke more than words ever could. 

The night they saw stars, signaling they were almost at the end of the cave passages, Aelin produced a small, soft flame in her cupped hands. Rowan sat next to her, watching as she played with the flame, gradually expanding it into a sphere of flickering light that cast warmth around the whole small group. Ever so gently, he placed his hand on her back, offering support. I’m proud of you, Fireheart.

For the first time in too long, she responded. To whatever end, Rowan.

To whatever end, my queen.

Later, as everyone was drifting off to sleep, Rowan slipped paper and charcoal out of his pack. Knowing Aelin was still awake, he brushed a hand down her back. She rolled over. 

“What’s that for?”

Seating himself next to her, he spread out the page, revealing Old Language symbols sprawled haphazardly across part of the paper. “This is your story.”

“Is that…is that your sketch of my tattoo?”

“Yes.”

She looked at him, tears pooling in her eyes. “Rowan, it’s gone.”

“I know, Fireheart. I know.”

“She rutting stole it from me. My tattoo. My link to you.”

“You’ll always have a link to me, Aelin.” He touched his heart. “Here.”

Aelin twisted her ring around her finger. “Rowan?”

“Hmm?”

“Would you tattoo me again?”

“Of course,” he breathed, “of course I would.”

A soft smile crept across her face. “I want a hawk. A buzzard, just like you.”

“Aelin--”

“I’m serious, buzzard. Like this.” Taking the charcoal, she traced a series of swooping curves onto the page. “Look. This shape, Rowan.” She cast a soft golden light over the paper.

Rowan gazed at the design she’d created, a set of hawklike wings with three longer lines, like rays of light, underneath. “It’s gorgeous, Fireheart. May I?” He held out his hand, and she gave him the charcoal. Carefully, he added a light curve linking the three rays and a Terrasen knot above them. “What do you think?”

Tears dripped down her cheeks. “I love it. I love you. How soon can I wear it?”

“I need a few days to work out the script, but we can start the process in about four days, I think.”

“What are you writing this time?”

“Your story.”

“I want you in it.”

He blinked. “What?”

“You are part of my story, Rowan Whitethorn. Put us in my tattoo. Tell my story, yes, tell all of it. Sam, Endovier, Adarlan, Doranelle, our bond, everything. I want it all.”

Rowan swept away the tear before Aelin could see it. “Of course, Fireheart,” he managed, his voice husky with emotion.

Aelin picked up the charcoal again and sketched an elegant symbol onto the page. 

“What’s that one?”

She smiled. “The Wyrdmark for home.”

~

Every free moment he had, Rowan worked at the tattoo, filling Aelin’s graceful lines with Old Language script. As promised, he told her whole story, the tale of a young princess who loved her kingdom and the Fae prince who loved her. He labored over each character of the ancient Fae calligraphy, rendering every word precisely.

All the better to intertwine Wyrdmarks with the Old Language.

The home mark Aelin drew for him…it made him wonder if she knew his plan to include a centuries-old spell in her tattoo. He’d discovered, while combing through Aelin’s extensive library of Wyrdmark books and scrolls, a series of marks that could act as a map between mates. It was a simple enough line of markings, and as long as they were all in the same line, it didn’t matter what else wove around them. 

So he sketched the chain of Wyrdmarks across the wings of his mate’s tattoo, one mark in each feather, to let her fly home.

After four days of careful sketching, Rowan had a finished design. He took the design, his tools, and ink to Aelin’s tent when they camped for the night and tapped on the post. 

“Aelin?”

“Come in.”

She was perched on her cot when he entered, a map of Erilea spread on her lap. 

“Is that the design, Rowan?”

“Yes, yes it is. It’s finished. I wanted you to see it before agreeing to have it inked onto you forever.”

She scanned the page, tears springing to her eyes. “It’s perfect.” 

“Where are we drawing it, Fireheart?”

“On my back, of course. Wings across my shoulder blades.” 

Rowan nodded slowly. “Are you ready?”

Aelin folded up the map, pulled her cot into the center of her tent, and spread an old sheet over the top of it. “I am.” 

“Shift for me, my love. It’s better to tattoo you in your Fae form because of the salt and iron in the ink. And you heal faster in a Fae body.”

Aelin closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

I believe in you, Fireheart.

She inhaled a steadying breath. And shifted.

I love you too, Rowan.

The smile he gave her flooded her heart with joy. “We’ll do the wings today; the rest either tomorrow or the day after.”

Aelin pulled her shirt off and lay facedown on the cot. “Then give me wings, carranam.”

~~~~~~~~~~

In case anyone wanted to see my concept of Aelin’s tattoo:

https://leiawritesstories.tumblr.com/post/663357987153379328/in-case-anyone-was-wondering-what-my-concept-of

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

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Hi! First of all, thank you so much for running this blog, It's become one of three reasons why I haven't yet committed arson (I jest but the Feeling is true). [Hee, hee, hee.] I have a rec for you! It's called "wholesome life usurp immediately" by comfect on ao3 and it's. So good. It's unfinished but the author updates it literally every other day if not faster! It's a lovely fic, I hope you enjoy it. 🌻

Wholesome Life Usurp Immediately

by Comfect (T, 55k, yunmeng sibs, qingli, wangxian, WIP)

Summary: Wen Qing examines Jiang Yanli at Cloud Recesses and has a cure for her poor cultivation.

Now there are Three Prides of Yunmeng.

Everything kind of fixes itself from there.

~*~

hello mojo!! I would really like to recommend standing still (but we keep going) by lwjromantics!! it's really good!!

standing still (but we keep going)

by lwjromantics (justfantaestic) (T, 5k, wangxian)

Summary: Lan Wangji supposed that if having to take care of little A-Yuan and Mo Xuanyu and having to look at the reminders of Wei Ying in their habits and mannerisms was punishment for his actions, he would willingly take it and flay his own back open.

— There are children in the Burial Mounds.

~*~

hii mojo! I just read this cute fic and I loved it so I wanted to rec it :) 

Word Up, Talk the Talk

by Larryissocute (G, 2k, wangxian)

Summary:  It wouldn’t have been a problem (it really wouldn’t) if they weren’t best friends. Wei Wuxian doesn’t know what good deeds he did in his past life to be blessed with Lan Wangji as a friend nor does he know what evil things he did to be cursed with being only a friend to Lan Wangji.

Or the one where Wei Wuxian kisses Lan Wangji and then runs away.

~*~

Hey! Love your account — and proud of you for taking the hiatus you needed.  [Lol - it was really nice!]  Idk if you take fic recommendations, but I'd love to rec Roots by ardenrabbit. Fantastic characterization, I really love it!

Roots

by ardenrabbit (E, 46k, wangxian, WIP)

Summary:  After Wei Wuxian's duel with Jiang Cheng, he finds that stab wounds aren't so trivial when he doesn't have a core to heal them. He wakes to find Lan Zhan in the Burial Mounds with him, already beloved by the Wens and making himself at home. When Lan Zhan tells him that he wants to stay and offers more help than Wei Wuxian knows how to accept, he fears that it's only too good to be true.

Lan Wangji knows that Wei Ying is doing the right thing, and he couldn't live with himself if he let him do it alone. For everything Wei Ying has sacrificed, Lan Wangji is determined to give something back to him.

Hanguang-Jun has turned his back on the clans to join the Yiling Wens and their demonic cultivator leader, and every clan has a different opinion on the matter.

~*~

Hello! I wanted to rec a fic on ao3 called "Restoration" by jelenedra. It's complete, an alternate universe of the sunshot campaign told nonlinearly. It has strong fairy tale and fae elements, with a touch of mystery. Bit of a fix it. Some delightful one liners, and the final ending imagery is just LOVELY. The fic deserves much more love. There's also some YilingWei, wwx not raised by Jiang, and sentient Burial Mounds elements. Enchanting read that keeps you enthralled and curious and intrigued.

Restoration

by jelenedra (M, 85k, wangxian)

Summary:  They say he was thrown into Luanzang Gang by the man who killed his parents; they say that he is an immortal cultivator who had been in a deep trance until the Wen sect disturbed his rest and incurred his wrath; they say that he is the fierce corpse of a cultivator who had somehow regained his mind and his spiritual powers.

When Lan Wangji sees him for the first time, he understands why people talk.

Meng Yao wants safety. Xue Yang wants vengeance. The Sunshot Campaign wants victory. Yiling Laozu provides, for a price.

~*~

I usually read all your recommendations. Thanks for gathering all good recs of wangxian. I am in love with every single story your recommend especially the favorites. [I’m so glad!]  I just wanted to suggest a fic i came across while searching for phoenix!wwx. Its a new story I think as author has published it today. The first chapter was very interesting that i thought ill recommend it you and know your opinion. The legendary phoenix and his dragon -Devipriya and Hidden Path to Love by ShadowTenshiV

Hidden Path to Love

by ShadowTenshiV (G, 78k, wangxian)

Summary:  Wei Ying is a servant working at the Gusu Lan castle. One day he enters through a secret passage way connected to the library where he meets a Lan for the first time. He may have left quite an impression, gaining the other´s attention and slowly becoming friends. They would like to become something more, but a servant can´t be with a prince, but maybe his secret can change that.

~*~

hello mojo! i was wondering if I could make a fic rec? it’s called “and the calm is deep where the quiet waters flow” by izanyas. it used to be on ao3 but the author has since moved it to eir own website and has started posting updates there. i was wondering if this could also act as a signal boost bc some old readers on ao3 might not have known that it is now on another website.   Author's been through a tough time so I think it deserves a lot more love.

For new readers, please mind the warnings in the prologue and the beginning of each chapter! it’s omegaverse and a very heavy read as it deals with (possible spoiler) off-screen rape that results in an unwanted pregnancy, as well as secondary gender oppression which runs deep, but for people who can bear it the writing, worldbuilding, and emotions are truly spectacular.

and the calm is deep where the quiet waters flow

by izanyas (E, 270k, wangxian, WIP, link is to WordPress rather than AO3)

Summary: Cangse Sanren was the first of her kind to become a cultivator. Talented, passionate, free-spirited, she bested everything that ever came her way until the very end.

Jiang Fengmian refuses to see her son deprived of that same freedom.

~*~

Hello Mojo! I dunno if this's been recced before, but here's another ficrec for you? It's complete, on ao3, "The Third Young Master of Qishan Wen" by KouriArashi. It's 'if wwx was raised by dafan wen, but gets recognized as 3rd heir due to his skill' scenario. Some really nice banter and characterization. Wwx and lz get together before the sunshot campaign. Story follows the live action but diverges into au, and does some cool callbacks to original canon. Love Meng Yao in this!  [Oh, I know KouriArashi from my last fandom, I love her works!]

❤️The Third Young Master of the Qishan Wen

by KouriArashi (T, 139k, wangxian, my post)

Summary:  The fic where Wei Wuxian is adopted by the Dafan Mountain Wens instead of the Yunmeng Jiang.

~*~

Hi Mojo! I can count the number of times I’ve spoken on Tumblr on one hand (I’m shy heh) but I found this fic that I think you and others would really like? I’m a sucker for emotional hurt/comfort and this was just too sweet for me not to share (did I go through 20 pages of bookmarks just to make sure you don’t already have it? Maybe …) [Aww, you can do a sidebar search in the bookmarks for the author’s name.  But I hope you found other good fics by carding through the whole catalog!]  It’s “Close Your Soft Eyes” by timetoboldlygo! I also wanna say thank you for all the hard work you put into this blog! It’s a treasure beyond compare. :D [Thank you so much!]

Close Your Soft Eyes

by timetoboldlygo (G, 12k, wangxian)

Summary:  When Lan Wangji woke, the first thing he noticed was the slip of paper, folded and tucked between his index and middle fingers, not Wei Wuxian’s absence. His fingers trembled as he unfurled the paper. A donkey with a little smile beamed down at him.

-

On the nights that Wei Wuxian was gone, Lan Wangji woke to gifts on his pillow.

~*~

Hey Mojo! I love your blog it is beyond awesome! [Thank you!]  I was wondering if you would consider reading JaenysBloodcourt series "A Bond to Takes us home"? The summary is weird but I like the fics and would love to hear your opinion on LWJ POV (it's part 2). Part one is Mingxian but part two (Wangxian) reads as a standalone for the most part. Anyways, thank you for all your hard work! <3 [I’ll put it on my list!]

A Bond to Take Us Home

by JaenysBloodcourt (T, 10k, mingxian - nmj/wwx, wangxian, series in progress)

Summary:  Wei Wuxian has two soulmarks. He has two soulmates that seem to be the opposite of him. During his first life he meets both of them, loves only one and longs for the other. In his second life, the one he loved first is dead, and the one he pined after is pining after him.

These are the many tales of his soulmates and the raucous they made across the cultivation world.

Some are dark, some are light. Beware.

~*~

I forgot to send this in for Mother's Day a few weeks ago, but have you read dragongirlG's "into the light of a dark black night"? It's a short canon divergence where Mama Lan escapes the Cloud Recesses after spending one last, heartbreaking night with her sons. It's so beautiful and bittersweet! [Oh, ouch.  I just read this author’s time travelling juniors au, but hadn’t seen this one.]

into the light of a dark black night

by dragongirlG (T, 3k, Madam Lan & sons)

Summary:  The night that Wu Yuhua, formerly known as Madam Lan, plans to escape from the Cloud Recesses, she runs into an unexpected complication.

That complication comes in the form of her younger son A-Zhan running up to her door and kneeling in front of it, hushed whimpers escaping from his throat.

Wu Yuhua knows it's not the full moon, knows that it's not the one day a month she's allowed to see her children—but like hell is she going to leave her six-year-old son out there trying to stifle sobs in the snow.

She opens the door. "A-Zhan," she says, bending down and reaching out a hand. "Come in, my sweet boy."

On a snowy night in the dead of winter, Wu Yuhua, formerly known as Madam Lan, unexpectedly spends one last night with her sons before escaping from the Cloud Recesses.

~*~

Hello queen I’d like to recommend for ur follower rec posts Avatar: The Untamed Waterbender by KouriArashi. Banger of an ATLA au, def the best one I’ve seen. It’s a WIP but the author updates pretty regularly and it’s all around an A+ fic [Oh, yes, I’ve been waiting for this one to finish before I jump in.]

Avatar: The Untamed Waterbender

by KouriArashi (T, 123k, wangxian, WIP)

Summary:  You know the drill. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

100 years later, Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli find Wei Wuxian sealed in an iceberg.

Featuring: avatar WWX, waterbending JC, firebending Wens, airbending Lans, earthbending Nies and Jins, Jiang Yanli in possession of the brain cell, et cetera.

~*~

[My ko-fi.]

[ginnyzero]

Dad Advice, Originality, and Writing

About a year or so after I left college, I went to work for my father at his small parts machine shop “part time.” (That never happened.) I worked on the floor running a mill power, a drill and milling machine that could be programed with a computer (to make your life that much easier and faster.) Every job that came out of the office came with a job sheet and the job was broken down into where the job went on the floor. You were to use this sheet to mark down the day you worked on the job, your initials and how long it took. (This was supposedly to price the job.)

If the part was a part that the shop had done one hundred times before, the side of the sheet had an estimated amount of time that was based on the time that other employees before you had taken to do the job. Now, I was new. I’d never done any of this before. And so I remember asking my dad about those times and saying I knew that I couldn’t be that fast!

He told me: “Worry about what you’re doing. Don’t worry about what other people are doing.”

That advice came in really handy as I worked in the shop. I spent two years on the floor mostly running the mill power and focused on what I was doing and doing it to the best of my ability and not worrying about how fast I was or if I became the best mill power machinist ever. (Now, this did irritate some people for different reasons. Other people didn’t care. All I cared about is if my father, my boss, thought I was doing a good enough job. Period. Then I took over the office and I didn’t give a shit about how long it took them to complete jobs as long as the jobs were completed before they were due! Not an easy task given the way things were ordered.)

Now, I apply that advice to other areas of my life adding it to my lifetime perspective in writing and in general. Worry about what you’re doing. Don’t worry about what other people are doing.

Because, I can’t control other people. I can control me and I can control my reactions. That’s it.

Boundaries.

At this time since I had a job and a steady income I was buying a lot of traditionally published books and trying to find new authors to read. And I kept slamming up against kitchen sink urban fantasy with protags that actually weren’t what they said on the tin and had no shit clue what they were doing with all the archetypes and tropes that come from being a kitchen sink urban fantasy. The few that had original concepts, like Weather Wardens or Death’s Daughter, were grossly lacking in the good plot department. (Just my opinion.)

I, um, got fed up. I mean. I’d been fed up with kitchen sink urban fantasies for a while. At the same time, none of the high fantasy stuff was really catching my interest and the science fiction that wasn’t the “lone soldier fighting a war on an alien world” was really hard to find and as far as I know, still is. (And what I found was very plot focused and dry.) But I still liked werewolves. I still like vampires. I still like space operas. I still love high fantasy with elves and magic and bad fairytales.

After binge watching the first few seasons of the Sons of Anarchy and having watched the Expendables 2, I finally got an idea that had been a tiny spark in my brain from my college days about biker werewolves. But I wanted to be different. I wanted some “originality.” I wanted to have that Post-Apocalyptic Mad Max, Dredd mixed with Minority Report type of feel. But I still wanted it to be urban fantasy without it being “kitchen sink” with every vampire, fae, werewolf and other fantasy race in existence. And my love of Vampires and my love of Werewolves had a fight and a piece of advice from a college professor of “No Vampires” and that tiny spark of an idea of biker werewolves really blossomed into an idea.

Reading all that, it’s still not really original. Werewolves. Mad Max. Sons of Anarchy. The Expendables. Where is the originality in that? (Heathens may not expressly be the best example for this to be honest, but bear with me.)

But who would want to read yet another werewolf story? How is yet another book about werewolves even remotely original? I mean, I just typed it, it’s Expendables and Sons of Anarchy drawing from Dredd and Mad Max and Minority Report and there’s bits of Star Wars Wraith Squadron and Ratchet and Clank and Starship Troopers in there too actually and I mean, that sounds like a tangled mess of inspiration. All of this shit has been done before, who’s going to read that?

I didn’t really think about this when I started compiling ideas and really digging into research about werewolves and biker gangs and planning my post War World 3 setting. Because, I wasn’t worried about that. Other people could be worried about that, but I wasn’t worried about that. I knew I was genre mixing in an out of the box way that wasn’t on bookshelves in that combination even if the concepts themselves, the building blocks weren’t original.

Because, I’d already proved that people would want to read something like that through my own actions! I was the one going “I like kitchen sink urban fantasy,” and picking up the first three books of every series I could find that remotely interested me (and supporting those authors) in hopes of finding a new author to read that was entertaining as the authors I already had on my shelves.

It wasn’t the author’s fault that my tastes weren’t precisely lined up with what they were writing. They had a story they wanted to tell and if the blurbs of their story didn’t actually reflect what was in the pages or if the books had things that I didn’t like. I was free to stop buying them. These books are huge series, some have hit the double digits! People like them. They’re getting sales. Just because it’s not to my taste doesn’t mean they aren’t decent books.

I mean, look at licensed books such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Forgotten Realms and so on. These books are huge parts of the expanded universe franchises of those stories. People buy them. (I bought almost all the old EU of Star Wars.) People collect them. People saw the Star Wars movies and wanted more Star Wars and then bought books and comics and other merchandise for that franchise because they liked that thing. Science Fiction fans are likely to watch Star Trek, Star Wars, Battle Star Galactica, Star Gate, FarScape, Lexx, Firefly, KillJoys, Dark Matter, The 100 and anything they can get their hands on that’s space opera related because they like that sort of thing even if it’s the same type of thing in different trappings. Look at how many series Star Trek has and it’s all the same universe! SeaQuest and SeaQuest DSV was space opera IN THE OCEAN.

Maybe I was being out of the box in Joss Whedon does a Western in Space type of way, but it wasn’t wholly unoriginal.

My third perspective on this came from being in fandom. There is nothing quite being in fandom where fanfiction and fanart are encouraged and there are tons of people with tons of ideas and yet somehow there are 50 Coffeeshop AUs, or 100 Highschool AUs or good lord, the MERMAID AUS, “let’s write this missing section of canon” stories and “let’s get so and so together” stories and “this is what happened after this scene” stories. And lots of them, if not all of them, get views and likes and comments and kudos and so on and so forth. And sure, they have the same premise, but they aren’t all exactly the same. They have different styles. Different POVs, different events. They started out with the same building blocks and came up with different plots and ideas! (Now, whether they were any good is a matter of opinion, just like any sort of book writing.)

You see, people crave certain types of stories. Those are the stories they like. They’re comfy. They’re familiar. They’re old friends. They sit down with a certain type of story they know to an extent what is going to happen and no matter what type of story it is, they’ll more than likely enjoy it because it’s familiar and comfortable.

People don’t like the unfamiliar. They don’t like being uncomfortable. When someone sits down to read they’re sick, bored or lonely. They want to have the warmth of an old friend. They don’t care about originality. They just want to escape. They’re risk adverse.

Originality doesn’t appeal to the risk adverse.

Firefly was risky. Western in space. Cowboys Vs. Aliens is risky for the same reason, a science fiction western. Aliens in the old west! People aren’t always prepared to take that next step out of the box of genre conventions despite the masses and masses of amounts of different types of speculative fiction stories. You start adding things they don’t expect (like Western to Sci Fi) no matter how much Dark Tower they’ve read or Vampire Hunter D, they are likely to back up and go “I’m not ready for this!”

Not that originality is easy to find. I’m sure someone out there wrote the first “IN SPACE” story. Our stories are made from building blocks of old stories, myths, legends, fairy tales, stories we’ve read and the stories that go on around us in the world at the moment. (Truth being stranger than fiction.) Originality is a very difficult beast to come by.

The fourth perspective of this came from Fashion Design classes and Project Runway. If you give ten people the same inspiration, those same ten people are going to come up with ten different things because they’re bringing in their voice, their aesthetic and their experiences and style to the design. I don’t care if you have ten different “hard vs soft” designers. They are all going to “hard vs. soft” in a different way! Sadly, in my classes we never really experimented with this overtly! (One girl and I did have a similar inspiration for a design class once, Thailand. We were very different people and did very different things.)

Project Runway sometimes does this by giving the designers the same types of materials or the exact same brief. And it’s interesting to see how each of them actually run with it and what they turn out in the end for good or bad. (The more limiting the brief the more interesting to see how this plays out actually, often in unconventional challenges, but not always.)

This is the same with writing. Your kitchen sink urban fantasy isn’t going to be Jim Butcher’s or Patricia Briggs’ or Kim Harrison’s or at least another half dozen writers I have forgotten the names of. Your voice, your rules, your world building, the setting, the characters are all going to be a point of difference between your story and their story. The point of difference is your voice. Your writing style and your voice are your brand of writing.

So what if you’re writing another kitchen sink urban fantasy? There are lots of people out there that love kitchen sink urban fantasies. As long as you’re writing the best and most polished kitchen sink urban fantasy you can in your own style and voice, then don’t worry about the other people writing kitchen sink urban fantasies and not being original or that your writing is inferior.

You know what readers see, “MORE KITCHEN SINK URBAN FANTASY. MINE!”

It's the Two Cakes thing:

https://helpfulwritingstuff.tumblr.com/post/175643753023/lbibliophile-salt-of-the-ao3-pervocracy

Look, stealing from one person is plagiarism. (And I do mean word for word, idea for idea here.) Stealing from many people is research. And if you’re compared to someone else and it doesn’t matter for good or for ill, that’s great! That means there is an audience for your writing! So what if they don’t think you’re as good as the other author? Or maybe they think you’re better than that other author? Why does it matter? As long as you’re putting out the best possible work you can put out in your voice. You aren’t that other author! Don’t worry about them. Worry about you! You’ve got to move on to the next book and the next set of characters and the next idea.

You can’t control what readers (including editors) think about you or how they compare you to other authors. You control your reactions. Sure. Go ahead. Get emotional. Let the emotion run its course. Come back and see if you can learn anything from that critique. Or, you can accept that readers are critiquing for other readers and not you. They all have opinions. Everyone has opinions, it doesn��t mean they’re good or even applicable opinions! You have to find people to put around you that you trust know your vision and what you’re trying to convey to an audience and find that editor that pushes you to improve the way you write or the way you pitch. Worry about what you’re doing.

Don’t worry about what the readers are doing outside of reading. You can’t control it.

And honestly, if they don’t like what you’re writing. They have fan fiction.

You, as a writer, don’t exist in a vacuum. You can bar yourself away from social media and society and write the most original concept you can think of writing and submit only to find out that someone else had the same type of concept even though you’ve never met and never read each other’s works. Why? There are a lot of ideas out there floating around. No one owns them. No one owns how they get to be combined. But your concept and their concept will be different in execution. The building blocks may be the same and maybe they built a fairy tale castle and you built a brooding manor house.

This is the universal consciousness of mankind. People all over the world coming up with permutations of the same building blocks over and over again and creating wonderful things that reflect their experiences and share their voice!

And if you let that get to you, that someone out there might have the same idea as you do. Then you’re going to be paralyzed and not write anything at all for fear of “not being original.”

Being original doesn’t matter. Execution matters. Your voice matters. Once you get past that originality is Queen then you can focus on you and your story. Worry about your voice and your execution and creating the best book possible for your audience, the people who want more of your type of comforting stories.

So, as daddy says, “Don’t worry about what others are doing. Worry about what you’re doing.” Because, that’s all you can control, you and your reactions.

As for me, I have my post-apocalyptic urban science fantasy adventure werewolf stories, my broken fairy tales, my sometime in the future kitchen sink urban fantasy bakery adventures, a urban fantasy magical horse game, and a straight out science fantasy space opera adventure thing to write. So many ideas, possibly none of them original all ripped out of building blocks of other things, but you know what, they have my voice and I don’t care. People who like that sort of thing will like those sorts of things.

Happy writing!

[adscititious-cacoethes]

“Remove the hand before I remove it for you” in the Petrichor universe with Michael?

This is in the same universe as Petrichor, but it’s not the exact same canon, because in the original I had a few allusions of Michael and Lindsay being together, and this took a romantic turn…

If you’re not super familiar with Petrichor, it is a modern fantasy AU with supernatural elements, and Geoff runs AH - a group of supernatural beings who act as a sort of pseudo police/gang group that monitors the supernatural presence of the city and deals with the stuff that the “normal” police wouldn’t be able to, and whatnot. 

Pairings: Michael J./ReaderWarnings: swearing, threatening violence, general warnings that should be given when Michael is involved. open ended, can be interpreted as kind of sad? idk, that’s for you to decide for yourself. 

Enjoy!

You can send me prompts here, read prompting “rules” here, or read my other stuff here!

________________________________________________________________

You were relatively new to Ramsey’s crew, but up until this point, you had gotten on with the rest of them like a house on fire.

Key words, of course, being “up until this point.” 

You weren’t sure what you had done, but for some reason, Michael had taken a sudden and acute stance change from “friendly” to “completely ignoring you.” 

As a fire nymph, you figured that the demon, whose original domain is bathed in fire and brimstone, would be the easiest person to become friends with. And at first, you thought that was true. Michael was charming, if a little hot-headed, and seemed to give you tiny, secret smiles when the others weren’t looking. It made your heart flutter in time with your wings. It wasn’t long after you started when he started saving you a muffin at breakfast when he knew that it was your favorite or sitting in the chair you had decided was your “favorite” chair for briefing meetings until you arrived so that it was saved for you. 

It was cute. Michael was cute. The two of you got along well. And it wasn’t more than a few months into your employment with AH that you realized you were starting to like him, in a schoolgirl crush/romantic sort of way. At first, you were too scared to admit it to yourself, however eventually (with a lot of needling from Jeremy, who had accidentally discovered your crush), you decided to stick out an olive branch and see where it led. 

But, as soon as you sent him a tiny, secret smile back one night after a particularly rough run-in with some Unseelie fae that had been causing a ruckus, the next morning - poof! - it was like you didn’t exist. 

And, frankly, after a week, it was starting to piss you off. 

The first thing you did after you realized that no, this was not just a “Michael-being-moody” thing and was, in fact a “Michael-pointedly-ignoring-you” thing, was go to Ryan. The vampire had been in charge of your little group outing, so he was the most logical person to ask if you had done something that would warrant Michael ignoring you.

When you had finally found the elusive Elder Vampire, holed up in his office (even though you had checked there thrice earlier and he had not been there before), he had just responded with a shrug and a wave of his hand. 

“It’s Michael,” he stated with a frown as he fiddled with a gadget that looked to be at least a century older than you were, “I try not to figure him out anymore. Gives me too many headaches.” 

“You say that about everyone.” You retorted shortly, hands on your hips.

Ryan blew hair out of his face, finally looking up at you, “Exactly. And you’re about to be added to that list of “everyone.” Ask Gavin or something, I don’t know.” 

—

Heeding Ryan’s advice, you waited a day or two to see if Michael got over his whatever, and when he hadn’t, you set out in search of Gavin.

The siren, turns out, much easier to find. 

“Hmm…” He pulled at his beard, looking off into the distance as you told him your tale. Something flashed across his unnaturally blue eyes - a glint of recognition, maybe? - but it was gone before you could have the time to pinpoint what you saw. 

“Well?” You huffed, tapping your foot.

“I dunno. He’s my Michael-boi, but he hasn’t said much to me about it.” Gavin finally said with a shrug that looked suspiciously like Ryan’s had, dancing away before you had the chance to probe him for further information.

—

It seemed, however, that while your brief chat with Gavin brought you to a dead end, it had also amped up Michael’s avoidance of you. Instead of just pretending you didn’t exist, he had escalated to making every excuse to leave the room as soon as you entered, swapping out with others on scouts and missions, and so on.

You endured this for three more days before you couldn’t take it anymore. Michael was in the kitchen, his back to you, and before you could realize what you were doing, you were striding towards him, cornering him in the kitchen.

“Michael, we need to talk -” You stated, putting your brave face on as you lightly grabbed his shoulder with your hand. 

He spun around with faster reflexes than you knew he had and glared at you. His eyes seemed forever dark, an inky black had spread into his irises from his pupils. You took a split-second to decide whether or not pissing off the demon was worth it.

You decided it was. 

“No, we fucking don’t. Remove the hand before I remove it for you.” Michael spat, trying to step away from you, but you were faster, reaching out and floating forward in time with his movements to latch onto his wrist, this time.”

“Yes, we do! I’m not leaving, Michael, not until I understand why you’re ignoring me.” You pushed, trying to portray your hurt and despair over his actions with your voice. If only he would understand.

“I said, get off!” Michael practically roared, wrenching out of your grip and you watched as his body began to smoke, inky black, and the smell of ash and fire burned your nostrils. 

You knew it was supposed to be a threat, a warning. But Michael was forgetting that you were also made from fire. You let your own aura glow, your fiery wings revealing themselves, and you felt the flames licking at the tips of your fingers.

“I just want to understand, Michael! Why are you ignoring me?” Despite your own show of power, you pleaded, unsure of how to get through to the hot-headed demon. 

The darkness that surrounded Michael vanished as quickly as it came, and he sagged back against the countertop, “I just…I like you, okay? I can’t risk you getting hurt. I can’t risk it happening, not again.” He sighed and brushed past you, and you, too in shock at his confession, let him go. 

It took you a moment to bring yourself back together, but once you did, you went back to searching for Michael. No matter what he thought, the conversation wasn’t over.

You weren’t giving up on him. 

[authenticaussie]

if you're still taking prompts from earlier, how about headcanons for a NaVi AU where one or both can use magic? (witches, wizards, whatever term you like)

i loveeeee magic aussssssss. Or even just not AUs, just UAs, (sometimes UAs are even BETTER bc u get to see how it fits with canon hehe ;u;). JUST. MAGIC.

This is actually part of show me skies on fire !! Bc I don’t get a chance to talk abt the magic system and that thing is so indepth it’s. Yep. So complicated. And I don’t get to rant and I love it.

ANYWAY Witches in the skies world have magic that they imbue in objects!! They can get it to do different things, and layer magic to make the object more powerful, so like, Nami’s weather staff has been imbued with weather magic for years, basically ever since she was a kid. And witches have less instinctive/explosive power than fae but? If their imbued objects have been given enough time to collect power they can beat a fae? So it depends.     

Regardless, in Skies most witches form into covens! Bc then they are with people who are like them and they have more power together than alone and can share spells - because witches can create new spells but it’s Harry Potter style spells with specific words and gestures rather than just BAM! power like the fae - and Nami gooottttt. Inducted into one early? Like you’re meant to be able to choose but Nami got…shoved into it so she could get more power from the witches, and the witches she was pushed into joining weren’t the Best (most witches…aren’t?? They are very. “our opinions are right and yours are wrong and to prove it we shall kill people!” Which is. Shitty.)

ANYWAY Luf ended up breaking up the coven and beating people up bc he and Zoro got hired by the townspeople to get rid of the coven and Nami said she was going to tag along with them and Luffy was like oh. Uh. Okay then!! What can you do???

“Steer better than you, probably,” she says, but doesn’t reveal about all the magic she’s shoved into her weather staff for years and years until after Luffy refuses to let her go into a bar on her own to get what they need bc it’s Dangerous and she Obviously doesn’t want to do it. 

Vivi’s actually a princess from another land!!! They’re neighbours and so Vivi’s land kiiiind of have fae?? But they’re not like, exactly fae, they’re more like elves? Vivi’s an elf!!! She was meant to meet with the Council to go over trade agreements but they were Dicks and confined her ship to harbour when she got message that her father was in danger and so Luffy + crew agree to help her get over the mountains and the smaller sea to the other side of their land to get to Vivi’s and it’s SUPER dangerous but Vivi is Desperate ™

Luffy is like. Hm. U could help Ace. Cools. and agrees to help her and they travel to the mountains from the sea and Nami is Standoffish bc like….she’s not a fan of nobility??? A lot of nobility drive out peaceful covens and turn them cruel and she’s still…heard lots of shitty tales from her coven and even tho she knows they weren’t trustworthy they were still her family for years??????

So anyway they end up getting all seperated while crossing part of the mountains and there’s this forest that. Literally throws you together with someone/something you hate/fear and vivi and nami end up together and vivi’s like seriously?! after they escape the forest bc she hears about how zoro and sanji had to work together and luffy was all alone and. yeah stuff like that but DURING the forest they’re arguing with each other but also stabbing things and Nami’s trying to fight things back and then like growls in frustration and grabs Vivi and pulls her really close and then. Lets loose a lightning bolt. 

And vivi is like WHAT WHY DID YOU DO THAT WHY ARE WE SO CLOSE (why do you look so fucking beautiful with lightning in your hands????????/) and nami just huffs and tosses her hair back and daintly steps over a tree root or w/e they were fighting and is like do you want to die????? bc u would have if you hadn’t been close to me.

And Vivi doesn’t really know what to say to that bc like...she’s still Distracted by. How powerful & gorgeous Nami looked it Wasn’t good for her heart

so we start having like....pinning vivi??? a bit??? who knows she has an Aesthetic crush but nami is an asSSSSS omfg

But like......There’s Robin, Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy and Luffy and Zoro are always talking in shit that no-one understands and Sanji’s....ugh. And Robin is Cool but also not very talkative. So Vivi and Nami end up talking a little bit and slowly realising stuff abt each other and vivi ends up apologising one time to nami and nami’s like?????? what???? 

“for the nobility. for how you were treated. fo whatever I did to hurt you.”

“You haven’t- hurt me.” Nami goes cautiously, and doesn’t add but you might and knows Vivi can probably hear it anyway when Vivi’s expression softens with pain. 

Anyway they reach the sea that separates their land from Vivi’s and!!! Robin ends up being a spy and double crosses them ((but then later ends up double crossing crocodile?? uhhh, lots of double crossing, man))

SHE MAKES OFF W/ VIVI. Nami is Not Alright with this shit, for fuck’s sake, goddamn, sTOP, they were just starting to get along damn!!! it!!!

aND LIKE. STAFF TIME. NAMI USES LIKE. HURRICANE-ESQUE WINDS TO PART THE FUCKING SEA AND STORMS ACROSS THE OCEAN FLOOR BED (in defence of this show of magic like. It’s not a big sea lol)

Nami almost electrocutes Robin but the wind stunt took a lot out of her and Robin dodges until Nami runs out of power and faints and Luffy looks at Robin and looks about ready to fight her but then robin’s just like “sorry, captain.” and he kind of goes ohhh,,, and stays by Nami’s side instead

When nami wakes up it kinda like alabasta except it’s like. five ppl overthrowing the entire revolution/Crocodile in a very blatant. Rescuing Vivi and Nami like. Punches someone out

ummmmm Vivi ends up socking crocodile in the fucking face

Vivi gets her kingdom back and,,,,like Luffy and crew aren’t technically bad guys lol so they stay in alabasta and Vivi ends up showing Nami (well, technically everyone but’s 95% for nami’s sake) the city and her favourite places and exploring libraries filled with how their magic works (bc it’s slightly different to fae/witch/demon magic) and they end up becoming,,,pretty friendly?? bc nami can see Vivi really,,,isnt as shitty as most of the nobles and they hold their nobles accountable instead of like what the Council does but

Luffy ends up getting antsy again and they have to move on, and Vivi offers to travel with them and show them more of alabasta but she’s needed to help repair the city and stuff and so nami promises to send her letters and that’s what happens for about a yeaar ish??? With na/vi slowly,,,getting closer to each other in letters,,,,missing each other bitterly, unhappily-

But then Luf always celebrate’s ace’s birthday at the tower so they pass back through alaburna to say goodbye and Nami feels so happy to see Vivi again and Vivi feels the same way and when Nami half-picks Vivi up in a hug when they see each other she doesn’t end up letting go and so they’re pressed super close and nami’s heart is beating super fast and she’s like oh. 

“So I know this would be a bit late, but heroes can usually score kisses from damsels in distress.”

“I’m not in distress, and you’re no hero.” Vivi says, and when nami’s face falls quickly adds, “You are good at stealing what you like, however. And I wouldn’t put up much of a fight.”

and she grins and Nami looks at her and then grins back and quickly kisses her and viVI LIKE,,,, TOTALLY ENDS UP FLUSHING A LITTLE BIT BC AH. WOW. THAT WAS. NICE. RLLY QUICK AND SOFT BUT JUST SHE CAN’T STOP SMILING

They still send letters back all the time and Nami goes to visit her whenever Luf passes by the mountains, and travels back that way occasionally by herself to see,,,vivi. Vivi sends ships to pick her up bc it’s Faster ;u; and safer lol.