#and b I have too many ongoing projects

[ryderdire]

I don’t know as much as i should about warriors to make this post but . I really like the idea of an au where one of mapleshades kits survives and become firestars grandparent or smth because imagine her finding out about leafpool and seeing ashfur go to starclan would she protect her great grandkids would she even know. so many thoughts

[okanra]

FEW FUN BEHIND-THE-SCENES STUFF I DID FOR “THE UNSPOKEN” WEBCOMIC SERIES (still ongoing, of course)

So I’m migrating some of the (public version of) pre-production stuff I did in 2021-2023 for THE UNSPOKEN webcomic (back when it still had the old name “Trunks and Goten in High School AU”) here, since X/Twitter apparently annihilated the old Moment feature for real. These are mostly research stuff, some warm up doodles and inspiring sountrack playlists I did before a chapter or a story got made. I usually do a lot of research offline before working on any creative project, that’s why sometimes it feels like there’s so many information gets jammed into one chapter: it was mostly to make do for all the time that I didn’t get to, or wouldn’t be able to work on the comics.

Will add in the chapters along side the information paper for clearer understanding ✌️

———————————————

1. The warm-up expression practice sheet (or doodles, in my case) of Son Goten and Trunks in my webcomic series (late 2022 or early 2023):

Since the idea in mind for these two in the webcomic was to be more “mature, human-like” than the original manga version to fit with the narrative I want to tell and aim at the older demographic, practices are needed :p

2. The Martial Arts techniques research information papers - Chapter 2 and 3 aka “The Spar” 1 & “The Spar” 2 (2021-2022):

A. Goten’s techniques:

B. Trunks’s techniques:

This research about martial arts techniques was actually very fun to do due to martial arts and cultural aspects are being two of the things I enjoy the most in life. That’s probably parts of the reasons why I went back to Dragon Ball in 2020: motorbikes, martial arts and mixed races culture.

Back then I did plan on sharing my research to everyone in the form of little fun art lessons, so there were interesting tweets like this or this. Later I decided to share this somewhere else more private (like my Patreon community) since I realized pre-production researches (or something akin to visual developments) are not that well-liked for most online viewers even though it’s a very much needed process in a creative project 🤔

This martial art concept is one of the actual main themes throughout the whole webcomic series, not really the (super duper gay) b-romance relationship between Son Goten and Trunks, yes I’m very sorryyyyyyy I like them too but I like worldbuilding more lmaoooo :p

3. The brief character design sheet and Chinese-influenced culture research information papers - Chapter 4: “The Iron Woman” and Chapter 5: “Her Resolution, His Origin” (mid-2022 until now and will be continued):

A. Character Design brief sheet:

B. Culture research stuff:

The hilarious thing about researching for these chapters are: Back when “The Iron Woman” was being made, the research limited at reading articles and some books about Chinese cultures, and watching documentaries on Youtube. But when “Her Resolution, His Origin” was being made, the research tuned into a real life trip to China, to take real life reference photos and listening to real legends and stories.

This research for “Her Resolution, His Origin” will be posted to Patreon later, of course ✌️

4. The Original Comic introduction and comeback announcements in mid-2022:

I must have eaten some edibles while drawing this because the boys look so good here. Goten looks so good, I even made him the profile picture for my Patreon account lmao.

5. Soundtrack playlists for inspirations (2021 - now): always the cherry on top. I listen to these playlists everytime I work on the series.

A. Duo playlist for chapters featuring both main characters: link

B. Character playlist for chapters focusing on single character, or anything related to that character: link

———————————————

All in all, posts like this are for people who like to see what’s beneath the surface when working on a creative project. I completely guarantee you, what you’ve seen on this blog are just the tips of the ice berg 🤫

Def not a PR, but my Patreon has lots of this lmao. Half joking half serious, there’s even a “non-posted” comic up there too and many other things. I’m just stating facts.

That aside, I’m just really happy to be able to work on this webcomic. THE UNSPOKEN webcomic series has always been a long-term indie project, not a daily content so I hope the readers who like and follow this series would stay tuned for more ✌️

———————————————

For easier reading, you can either follow the links that are included above, or just read this Tapas updated version.

[artistsof1d]

1D Artist Masterlist

An ongoing list of artists willing to create art for you and your fics! Will be updated as more artists sign up using the form here.

Ash

Link to art

Art Styles: Fanart, Moodboards, Manips, Comics

NSFW Art: No

Preferences: I prefer creating Louis, Harry and Larry fan art as that's what I'm used to, however I am working on my style more to include the other boys. But for now, Harry, Louis and Larry. I prefer not to create nsfw fan art at this moment in time, but can create suggestive manips and moodboards. Also, I prefer to create for more fluffy topics and stay away from dark and dddne themes. My style at the moment is mainly cartoon-like but I am working on my more realistic art.

Will NOT create: NSFW fan art, dark and DDDNE themes. Art for pairings outside of the 1D boys (exceptions to Lewis Capaldi).

Timeline: At least 2-3 weeks beforehand

Commission information: None

Contact info:

Tumblr: @enchantedlandcoffee

Discord: enchantedlandcoffee

Email: enchantedlandcoffee@gmail.com

Twitter: ashtheduckling

---

Zjo

Link to art

Art Styles: Fanart, Moodboards

NSFW Art: Yes

Preferences: i’m mediocre at moodboards, so i prefer to make drawn art, but i’m happy to make a moodboard if someone really wants one, lol

Will NOT create: ships that are not between some combination of the five boys- no external pairings plz

Timeline: depends on what you want! if you want something quick and small, a week will generally be fine. if you want something involved and complex, i’ll need more time.

Commission information: i do not take money for art, but if people want to donate in my name to specific causes, i will happily encourage that

Contact info:

Tumblr: @justanothershadeofblue

---

T

Link to art

Art Styles: Fanart

NSFW Art: Yes

Preferences: the OT5 boys

Will NOT create: no violence, no gore, no non-1D characters

Timeline: few weeks is probably fine

Commission information: None

Contact info:

Tumblr: @feelmytraces

---

Kal

Link to art Link to art

Art Styles: Fanart, Video Trailers

NSFW Art: Yes

Preferences: I love drawing any of the 1d boys, portraits particularly ! larry especially are wonderful to draw

Will NOT create: I don’t do anything non-con related or nsfw for characters or people under 18. you COULD ask me to create art with animals but I cannot guarantee it will be good. I also generally don’t do chibi art. I reserve the right to say no to anything, but if you’re unsure about something, don’t hesitate to ask !

Timeline: anywhere from 1-3 weeks, depending on the complexity of the project/whether it’s just lineart or colored

Commission information: none - but I do have a ko-fi if anyone *really* feels the need to give money

Contact info:

Tumblr: @louieshalo

Twitter: louieshalo

Email: louieshalo@gmail.com

---

Tiffany

Link to art

Art Styles: Manips

NSFW Art: Yes

Preferences: larry!

Will NOT create: ziam (too many tattoos….unless your manip request doesn’t include their tattoos!)

Timeline: typical turn around is a couple days

Commission information: None

Contact info:

Tumblr: @liminalkitty369

Twitter: liminalkitty369

---

Christina

Link to art Link to art

Art Styles: Moodboards, Edits

NSFW Art: Yes

Preferences: nope!

Will NOT create: nope!

Timeline: 1-2 days in advance

Commission information: None

Contact info:

Tumblr: @louisgayvodka

---

Gigi

Link to art

Art Styles: Fanart, Moodboards

NSFW Art: No

Preferences: Prefer Harry as I find him easiest to replicate but happy to give lots of things a go. I tend to replicate specific styles like hanna barbera, animal crossing etc

Will NOT create: Not sure!

Timeline: A month? But flexible depending on the time of year

Commission information: None

Contact info:

Tumblr: @ohharold

---

An

Link to art

Art Styles: Fanart

NSFW Art: Yes

Preferences: b!louis art, any ship with louis included, rare pairs are okay too!

Will NOT create: ships without louis, b!harry art

Timeline: at least 10 days preferably

Commission information: Commissions

Contact info:

Tumblr: @lemelous

Twitter: lemelous

Email: lemelous@gmail.com

---

Lou

Link to art Link to art

Art Styles: Moodboards, Gifsets. i can attempt gif manips (you can find some in my creations) but it might take a bit of time to make those.

NSFW Art: No

Preferences: any topic that isn’t too specific is fine with me as it’s sometimes hard to look for clear footage of certain things. as for ships, i’d prefer any within the 1d boys, and only louis rare pairs. as for girl direction, i can attempt to make something with gifs but it wouldn’t include faces.

Will NOT create: no full faces of kids, no underage (<18), no age regression, no daddy kink, no rape (even if it’s not between the main pairing), no incest/selfcest. i can’t think of anything else at the moment but i’m willing to talk to the author before deciding if i can help with their visuals or not.

Timeline: if they only want moodboards with pics, it can be two days prior. if they want a simple gifset (not specific footage), five days prior. if it’s a very specific topic and it must be included in their visuals or if it’s a gif manip, one to two weeks prior. they can contact me way before their deadline, it’s better to give them more options.

Commission information: if they want to tip me, they can do it at: https://ko-fi.com/nouies

Contact info:

Tumblr: @nouies

Email: nouieswrites@gmail.com

---

Shan

Link to art

Art Styles: Fanart, Moodboards, Graphic Posters

NSFW Art: No

Preferences: Louis, Harry, Larry

Will NOT Create: characters I am willing to try any. tho i am not comfortable with dddne topics

Timeline: a week or two at least

Commission information: None

Contact Info:

Tumblr: @tomlinsins

---

Rae

Link to art

Art Styles: Fanart, Moodboards, Manips, Video Trailers

NSFW Art: Yes

Preferences: larry, louis, and harry mostly, but i am willing to try out other ships just nothing outside of ot5. i feel comfortable drawing anything nsfw or sfw. i also love to create moodboards/covers and have slowly been making manips. i have a job in videography, so if there is a video trailer needed i would need a lot of time in advance since i do a lot of other video projects and art/moodboards/manips are quicker and easier!

Will NOT Create: i really don't draw anything too dark (anything that might fall under dddne, extreme gore, certain kinks, ect) but im willing to discuss and work with you depending on the topic/contents.

Timeline: preferably 2 weeks for a drawing or manip, one week for a moodboard and 1-3 months for a video, depending on length/content.

Commission Information: I don't charge for my art but I do have a ko-fi if people want to leave a tip

Contact Info:

Tumblr: @28goldens

Twitter: 28goldensart

Discord: rae.raeokay

---

Biz

Link to art

Art Styles: Fanart

NSFW Art: Yes

Preferences: Louis bl, Harry, Larry

Will NOT Create: Any other member of 1d or very explicit requests

Timeline: A 2 week window

Commission Information: None

Contact Info:

Tumblr: @vrebty

---

Rocky

Link to art

Art Styles: Moodboards

NSFW Art: Yes

Preferences: idk larry ig??? i don't do digital art so it's only moodboards, folks

Will NOT Create: idk i don't really know? but i will say no if someone makes it weird. Idk how nsfw things can get so...

Timeline: whenever, but i'd prefer 2+ weeks? I'm not the best so just be aware

Commission Information: None

Contact Info:

Tumblr: @louisthiccsexyglitteryass

[cinnamontails-ff]

The incredible @kittenintheden tagged me for this, so I'll give it my best shot!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

Four.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

224,051 - which, honestly, is insane because that means I've written (and edited) pretty much two entire novels over the course of last 12 months. The vampire elf is too powerful, guys.

3) What fandoms do you write for?

BG3

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'm a fandom newbie, so I don't even have 5, but here are my babies:

Accountant's Guide - Pre-Canon Astarion teams up with a human accountant to frame Cazador for tax fraud. It's exactly as whacky as it sounds.

Magistrate's Advocate - The Magistrate Astarion longfic someone had to write.

Vampire Stay-at-Home Trophy Husband - Reverse Isekai EA oneshot

An Empirical Science - My contribution to the Holy Rolan Empire

5) Do you respond to comments?

Always. Obsessively so. Love responding to comments and chatting with readers.

6) What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

My fics have a good bit of angst and tension and heartbreak, but I always strive for an overall "warm" feeling in my writing, so those moments tend to get resolved at some point. No angsty endings in my portfolio (yet).

7) What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Accountant's Guide is where I gave Astarion everything I wish he could have. Zero regrets.

8) Do you get hate on fics?

Occasionally, but it's pretty rare. Not to make excuses for people hating on fics (because that is despicable; we're working for free here), but I don't think my fics are controversial enough to attract a lot of hate. They're cute. They're wholesome. They don't take themselves too seriously, so I think it's pretty difficult to hate on them.

Although someone once called Scarlett a b**** and sometimes I remember that and I become wrath.

9) Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Explicit smut is something I've really only started doing when I got into fanfiction this past year. I like incorporating it into my longfics to emphasize key moments for my characters and their development, so it's part porn, part plot.

It can get kinky, but it will always be consensual. Dubcon/noncon is a big no for me, personally.

10) Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No crossovers, but An Empirical Science is where I have a lot of fun butchering adapting Pride & Prejudice lines. I mean, it's a Rolan fic. How could you not?

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know, but I have seen coincidences of very similar concepts and ideas popping up after I've introduced them in my fics.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, there's an ongoing Ukrainian translation for Accountant's Guide! I translate the comments every now and then and readers are really praising the language skills of the translator, so that's awesome!

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but we chat a lot about my stories on my Discord server, so that's often a little like writing together.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

Shalladin (Kaladin x Shallan from Stormlight Archive). I love Brandon Sanderson with all my heart, but for this, I will never forgive him.

15) What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I get very hyperfocused on my stories and rarely work on more than 1 project at a time, so I tend to finish what I start.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Look, my social anxiety makes me a pretty rizzless person to talk to in real life, but my writing is funny. It's charming. I am great at character voice. I keep things real. My OCs don't need to be perfect flawless beauty goddesses to woo the guy; they recite a few paragraphs and swing their fountain pen and the guy is on. the. floor.

Sometimes literally.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

According to a rather charming public bookmark on my fic, I struggle with "pacing issues" and "questionable narrative choices". Clearly, this person knows what they're talking about, so let's accept it as fact.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I think this is generally really difficult to pull off without being confusing (check out "The Wee Free Men" by Sir Terry Pratchett for a really good example how to do it). So unless I had a very specific reason for it, I would prefer to write around it as I've done with Infernal in An Empirical Science.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

Still BG3. First and last? Who knows.

20) Favorite fic you’ve written?

Accountant's Guide. It's the story I wrote when I hit rock bottom and thought I couldn't write anymore. It's the story that made me believe again. My first story in English and by far the easiest thing I've ever written. It's the story I reread when I'm sad, when I'm happy, when I want a hug that reaches all the way into my soul. I am never happier than when people tell me this is a comfort read for them, just as it is for me.

I'm tagging @thedreamlessnights, @purdledooturt, @larvasmoon, @karinamay and @davenswitcher if they feel like sharing their answers!

[dandylovesturtles]

For the writing meme: 11, 16, 24

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

AH NO questions like this are so hard... ok I'll do my favorite completed and my favorite ongoing that I'm subbed to.

I'm basing this on how much I reread them lol

Completed:

who're you hiding - Leo gets sick and hangs out in Donnie's lab.

all the things that I could live without - Disaster Twins post-movie recovery fic.

Panic Buttons - Leo has a panic attack and Raph helps him (cw that the panic attacks depicted are very graphic)

Ongoing:

The Old College Try - Disaster Twins go to college.

Three-Sided Coin - Three Leos from three different points in the timeline get transported to an alternate dimension (I think??).

call me here (I will appear) - Leo dies in the Prison Dimension and comes back to his family as a ghost.

Bonus (some favorite fics not from ROTTMNT):

Poor Wayfaring Stranger (Final Fantasy XV) - AU where Cor finds MT!Prompto and brings him back to Insomnia to take care of him. Idk how else to describe this fanfiction. It's one of the best pieces of writing I've ever read. It basically reconfigured my brain.

ikanaide (Project Sekai) - Tsukasa gets sick and his friends take care of him.

(do you take this jerk to be) your one and only (ATLA) - AU where Zuko is engaged to Yue and Sokka does not like that (though his reasons change over the course of the fic, if you know what I mean).

(putting the rest of my answers under the cut because this got long lol)

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

OH GOD SO MANY they basically don't stop.

Of the ones I feel confident I will write at some point, there are... 5 I think. 100ft is one of them so I won't talk too much about that.

The other chapter fic I want to write is my take on the "save everyone in the doomed timeline" style fic, and I've talked about it before. I've been tentatively calling it "Donnie and Mikey's Step-by-Step Guide to Saving Your Doomed Family," or just "Step-by-Step Guide" and, like I've said, it's intended to be heavily B Team focused.

The idea came from my interest in the time between the end of the Season 2 finale and the start of the movie, a time where Leo and Raph fought a lot and Donnie and Mikey had to lean on each other. They've always been close but in the movie they're downright clingy, with Donnie reflexively tucking Mikey under his arm or holding on to him in so many scenes, and like a lot of other people I interpret this as a consequence of Raph and Leo's fighting and the tension it created in their dynamic. But I also kinda shy away from that actual time period, because if you stay canon compliant with the movie it's kinda hard to have an actual resolution to that tension without overwriting it some way. And I know some writers thrive in that limbo, but I am not one of those people haha. It's just not something I'm personally interested in writing myself.

So this fic will be set in the immediate aftermath of the film, where things are kinda resolved but not really because Leo and Raph are still too seriously injured to have an actual conversation, and Mikey and Donnie are still left in uncertainty of what their sibling bond will look like when all is said and done.

And what better way to distract yourself from the growing tension in your own family than by involving yourself in someone else's problems - specifically the problems of yourselves from a doomed future?

I'm really excited about it... whenever I get to it haha.

24. Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

I caaan't remember if I've told this story here but if I have I'll just tell it again lol

I grew up in a really small rural town that happened to have a very small private college in it (the entire campus could have fit in the commuter parking lot of the state college I went to). Every now and then this college would host some kind of speaker or a workshop that was open to the public, and this was a big thing because my town didn't get a lot of that kind of thing coming through it. One of these workshops was hosted by a published author, and it was a class for beginning fiction writers. I was around 17 or 18 at the time, and me and two of my other friends (who also wanted to be professional writers one day) were very excited to sign up.

I mean, I can't stress to you guys how hype we were for this. You'd think we had backstage tickets to a Lady Gaga concert. But our town didn't have a lot of people you could talk to about this kind of thing. Getting advice from someone who had actually gotten their books bought and published by an actual publishing house was a big deal to us.

So we get to the workshop. We're the only teenagers there, but we weren't worried about that. We were the nerds in high school, we were used to this. We all sit down in the same row, pencils and notebooks ready to go. Ready for wisdom!

She asked the group to give a short, punchy summary for a story idea we each had. Like the straight A students we were, my friends and I all put our hands up first. She called on me, and I rattled off my back-of-the-book style summary for something I wanted to write, a fantasy novel about dragons and swords (I was a dragon girl).

I remember she gave me this nasty look and said, "Oh, you're one of those."

She preceded to go into a prolonged rant about how genre fiction is pointless; how there's nothing redeemable about fantasy worlds, how it's empty-calorie entertainment, the potato chips of the literary world. Books, she said, are supposed to be about real things. Contemporary and historical fiction were the only worthy genres in this woman's mind.

I don't remember a lot of the advice that came after that, I just remember sitting in my chair feeling dejected and stupid.

I think about that sometimes, and how one person can be so wrong. Genre fiction may be set in fantasy worlds or sci-fi futures, but it's still about real things. Real emotions and real struggles and real philosophical questions. If you cut yourself off from fantasy and sci-fi just because it deals with unreal or theoretical concepts, you cut yourself off from a broad spectrum of human self-expression.

Anyway, she may have sold a few historical fiction novels but I have 250K hits on AO3 so who's laughing now, lady

[mikkeneko]

Tagged for the 'fic writer interview' by @veliseraptor!

I feel like I may have seen this meme going around before? Some of these questions strike me as familiar, particularly the 'thoughts on foreign language dialogue?' one, since I'm puzzled as to what this question is asking and I remember being stymied by it before. I think that I want to fill this one out with any answers that have changed since last time and any questions I like to talk about, and skip the questions that don't have interesting answers.

Fic Writer Interview

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

207 as of current!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

2,939,672. Getting close to the 3million mark there -- possibly, as with Lise's case, this year's MDZS big bang may put me over the top. (If not, that + other current project probably will.)

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Without even looking I'm pretty sure that the top two spaces will be Loki fics and the third will be Ceru's fic, lmao. *checks*

Close! Loki fics take up first, third, and fifth place, and Ceru's fic is in second. However *yakety sax arrangement for guqin and xiao* has crept into the top five, at place 4, making it the first of my Untamed fics to do so. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, usually. There are some factors that may lead me to not respond including 1) too short or had no content for me to reply to (i.e. a string of emojis), 2) it's on a fic from a fandom I don't really consider myself part of any more, or 3) too negative, such as when people for some reason have chosen to use the comment box as a space to rant about how much they hate a character, oftentimes with little to no connection to what I actually wrote.

On the other hand, I will almost always reply to a comment that poses a direct question, also incl. requests for permission to translate or podfic. I love when people ask questions. It used to be an ongoing source of angst to me when people would leave comments with questions on Fanfic.net, but without any way for me to reply. ╯︿╰

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Probably Rise From Ash, a downer ending Loki fic where Loki got caught in a timeloop trying to prevent Ragnarok from happening. More recently, probably nostrum. In both cases though the Bad Ending is simply a reversion to canon mean, so it probably could have been worse.

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I do love happy endings! There's usually at least some element of melancholy or bittersweetness, but the ones I'd say are most happiness-loaded with that regard would probably be either One Elegant Solution (which was literally written for the purposes of giving the characters the happiest possible ending) or the coda ending of the refrain series (where I literally spell out at the end what I think the ideal ending for each character would look like.)

7. Do you write crossovers?

Not in the old-school understanding of the term crossovers, where the characters and settings of series A and series B literally meet and interact, but I write a lot of fusions, where characters of series A are placed in setting of series B or are otherwise remixed together. Modern fandom seems to have largely elided the distinction.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

A few times. I'd put these into three buckets: 1) people who didn't like what I was doing with the character/story and told me so, but were civil about it and merely stated they were not going to continue reading; 2) people who write unprompted character hate in my comments, usually unrelated to whatever's going on in the text, which I don't enjoy but don't really take personally; and 3) people actually writing callouts or otherwise putting me 'on blast' for a specific fic. That last one has only happened once (that I know of) and while it wasn't particularly upsetting to me either then or now, it sure was A Trip. This is already a long post, so I won't elaborate here unless someone asks.

9. Do you write smut?

Occasionally. It's one of my less favorite things to write, but I'll do it if the story seems to call for it.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

This rings a very very faint bell, possibly sometime in the aughts I have a vague recollection of encountering one of my own stories on some geocities site under someone else's name, but I don't recall who it was or which fic. Not since then that I know of.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Enough times that I have lost track of all the specific instances, but I think maybe once or twice a year I'll get a request by someone to do a translation or podfic. I do not recall any instance where I said no, but I do prefer to be asked first.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! With @faux-fires, a Tsubasa Chronicle sci-fi AU, many years ago. Alas the currents of life took us in different directions before we could write the next part.

13. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Don't have an interesting answer for this.

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I do have lingering regrets over my abandoned WIPs from Critical Role fandom, Molly's Moving Castle and Fjord Mustang's YEEHAW! Fun and Pony Ranch, both of which fell victim to the march of canon and my eventual departure from the fandom. The latter fic in particular was going to go some wild places.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I think my pacing is excellent, my character voices are usually solid, I can do humor very well and action competently. I can spin a coherent plot and an exciting adventure. I both enjoy and am good at AU worldbuilding and can convey exposition without infodumping, and can do melodrama and angst that packs a solid punch.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Mostly those of career fanfic authors everywhere: I'm weak at developing original characters and largely unmotivated to write plots that don't shadow or mirror the original text in some way. I've also noticed a recurring and growing difficulty with romance; I like romance, but when trying to write a romantic story, often fail to move the romance arc convincingly forward. (See also above answer re: smut.)

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Don't have an interesting answer for this.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Gundam Wing, baby! I feel like there was a bit of a GW revival on tumblr recently? Man, now there was a fandom whose fanon vastly overshadowed its canon.

19. What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

Fandom - I have a half-written draft for an Encanto fanfic lying around somewhere, if you can believe it; I'd also like to do some ZhanChengXian work, but haven't figured out an approach for it yet. If a romance with two principals is hard for me, imagine how much harder adding a third participant must be!

20. What's your favorite fic you've written?

Not gonna pick one! I like some fics more than others, for various different reasons, but none of them stand out as an All Time Favorite.

And that's it! For tagging people... @cerusee, @faux-fires, perhaps @tavina-writes or @nyoomerr?

[lost-walmartbag]

Marjorine x reader p. 2

Playlist- Like the sun

Warnings: N/A

Background: Marjorine helps you ease into being more comfortable around people.

Status: Ongoing

Previous part

Next part

'Leo?'

After you talked to Marjorine you felt happy that you finally had someone to talk to and hang out with. You didn't know what to really do. Do you text them whenever you wanted or only when it was important? It was new to you but you were open to trying to figure it all out.

You walked into school and look around seeing Marjorine at their locker. You slowly walked up to them and they instantly noticed you. They smiled and their eyes lit up when they saw you.

"Hey Y/N. How's your morning?" They asked with a bright smile.

"Um, h-hi. it's ok." You stuttered out making their smile slowly disappear.

"You're really nervous is that how you are with everyone?" They asked softly trying to make you more comfortable.

"Y-yeah b-because I don't talk to many people i-it's hard to not be nervous." You explain looking away. "Eye contact is hard too."

"We can definitely work on that. Don't work we'll go slow." They said with a smile. "How are you with physical contact?"

"I-I d-don't really like being touched." You say holding onto the strap of your backpack.

"Well, that's ok. Sometimes socializing and stuff is hard but don't worry I'll be a good teacher." They said taking your hand causing you to look up and see their eyes were huge and their wide smile.

You couldn't help but blush a bit. You liked them touching your hand and smiling at you like that. You had to look away after a few seconds you couldn't keep staring it just made you so nervous. It was like staring into the sun you just couldn't look for too long but they made you feel warm.

"That was 5 seconds!" They cheered smiling even wider. "That's not bad, and you haven't pulled your hand away. You're doing way better than you said."

Their praise made you blush harder. "T-thank you." You stutter out sheepishly. The bell rang signaling you to go to class, but Marjorie didn't let go of your hand.

"How about I keep holding your hand until you feel like you have to pull away ok?" They asked slowly walking to class hand and hand with you. "How about we talk about something to make you less nervous. When we talked about sewing yesterday you didn't stutter so maybe if we talk about it you'll loosen up."

You nod and walk hand in hand with them to class. "I started a new project last week and I'm almost done but I ran out of fabric for the skirt and I haven't been able to find it anywhere."

"Oh, what did it look like? Maybe we can go to the store after school today to see if they have it." They said walking into class with you and taking their seat but still holding your hand.

"That's what I was looking for yesterday and I didn't see any so I'm scared that maybe they won't get another shipment and I won't be able to finish." You say sitting in the seat next to him. You honestly completely forgot you were even holding their hand as you blabbed on about sewing.

"I'm sure we can find some don't worry." They said placing their head on their free hand.

"Hmm, I guess so. Thanks, Leo." You say smiling brightly at them making their face turn a light shade of pink.

You stayed quiet for a few seconds and it made you realize that you two were still holding hands. You became flustered once more and pulled your hand away.

"You did really good Y/N. That was like at least a few minutes." They praised making you blush and look away. You simply nodded in response.

The class went on normally but Kyle who had watched the entire interaction kept a close eye on Marjorine and you. When class ended Marjorine turned to talk to you but you quickly got out of your seat and left the room without saying bye. Marjorine let out a small sigh and smiled softly to themselves.

"I guess we'll work on that." They muttered to themselves.

"Hey, Butters." Kyle said walking up to him.

"Well hey, Kyle what's up?" They asked with a smile and gathered their things.

"Are you and the new girl dating?" He asked bluntly.

"Y-Y/N? N-no we aren't dating." They said blushing and looking away,

"You guys were holding hands and she called you Leo," Kyle said questioningly.

"O-oh I'm just helping her work on socializing." They said clearly becoming uncomfortable by the question.

"But why does she call you Leo? I thought you didn't like your name." He said

"I-I'm just trying it out." They said looking up at Kyle who had a confused look on his face. "I got to get to class talk to you later ok? Bye."

Marjorine quickly ran out of the class. Maybe it was the sudden questions but now they couldn't stop thinking about you. Would they want to date you? Would you date them? The idea of being with you didn't sound bad but they honestly didn't want to think about that right now.

After school you walk out of the front doors seeing Marjorine standing there and waving you over.

"Hey Y/N! You wanna head out to the store?" They asked smiling softly.

"Yeah I've been thinking and if they don't have the fabric out maybe they'll have some in the back." You say as you started walking with them.

"Oh and this will be great practice for you! You can ask the cashier to check for you." They said excitedly making you stop dead in your tracks and tremble.

"I-I have to talk to her?" You ask your voice shaking

"Hey don't worry we can practice before we get there." They said taking your hand.

The sudden contact made you even more nervous but when you looked up at them their smile put me at ease. You nod and walk with them to the store biting the inside of your cheek.

"Ok so pretend I'm the cashier ok? Just tell me what you would ask." They said.

"Ok." You say taking a deep breath. "H-Hi c-can you check to see if you have any of the silk blue fabric?"

"Perfect just take a deep breath and don't worry ok?" They said opening the door of the store for you.

You nod, letting go of their hand and walking inside. You slowly make your way to the fabric isle and look around not seeing the fabric you wanted.

"Hmm doesn't seem like it's here." Marjorine said with a frown.

"Does that mean I have to ask?" You ask nervously.

"Mhm but don't worry you'll do just fine and I'll be right next to you." They said with a smile.

You slowly walk to the cashier and clear your throat. "E-excuse me?"

The cashier turned around giving you a small smile. "What can I help you with?"

Marjorine stood back watching you talk to the cashier. They smiled as they watched the cashier leave to the back, and you stood there with a bright smile. Your smile made them blush a bit as they see how proud you are in yourself. You turn your head to face them, giving them a toothy smile.

Marjorine felt like their heart skipped a beat and her blush grew deeper. They held up a thumbs up and looked away. They touched their face and felt the heat.

"What's wrong with me?"

A/N: Hey guys hoped you liked this sorry I didn't post yesterday I wanted to change the way my fics first looked and so hopefully they look way better. And like I mentioned before I'm pretty new to tumblr so I didn't know people who reblogged my post before the change would look like the old version even after I changed it. But yeah idk im learning 🤧 so I encourage you guys to read my past fics once more because I did do some editing and especially to my stan fic so yeah. Also, I made a lil playlist for this series ofc you don't to listen to it but these are just some small songs that fit the vibe a bit imo. Got the idea from @n0tangeliccc who again is a million times better at stuff like this and has way better music taste than me. Anyway I love you all thank you sm for reading 🩷🩷🩷

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

Charlotte's Halloween Celebration!

hello to my lovely spirits, ghosts, ghouls, demons, monsters, nameless entities beyond mortal comprehension, and all other assorted spooks 🦇

since it is now halfway through September, I wanted to let you know about a little tradition I have on my blog - my month-long Halloween celebration!!

for the entire month of October, I will be posting edits every day and they will all be 🦇🕯🍁 🐈‍⬛ spooky 🕸🥀🔪🪦

🔮⚰️I've got spooky art, spooky lyrics - all around spooky vibes🍂🕸

I have many of the edits already planned out, but if you have lyrics and/or art that you'd like to suggest/request, please feel free to send those ideas in!

I just wanted to make you all aware of this so you could (a) get excited!! and (b) so that I could let you know that my other ongoing projects (my art history tarot, posting vintage photos from my collection, etc.) will be on hold until after October

halloween is one of my absolute favorite times of year, and I've always loved all things haunting and macabre, so I'm incredibly excited for this, and I hope you are too!! 🥰🥰

everything will be tagged "charlotte's halloween celebration"

with much love and spookiness,

charlotte 🦇🩸🕯🕸🍁🐈‍⬛⚰️🔮🕷🍂🪦🥀🔪

[angstflavoured]

I saw your post and I do agree that Wheatley canonically was a bit of a selfish you-know-what.

However, I thought I'd give my two cents on this topic (just know that these are MY observations from looking at the Portal fandom past and present).

I feel like it's important to keep in mind two things:

Wheatley (and his many human/android versions) first skyrocketed in popularity during 2011-2012, the years when (a) the Portal fandom was gaining far more traction during Portal 2's release compared to that of Portal 1, and b) when many facets of online communities like Tumblr (which, yes, included the 'Tumblr sexyman' trend - there's a good video that goes over the basic characteristics and the history behind this trend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us5Y_Kba7To&t) were developing alongside this traction. These led to the ongoing creation of many Wheatley versions, all with variations in both character design and the magical thing called ✨CHARACTER INTERPRETATION✨.

People within fandom culture tend to latch onto different characters for a whole slew of different reasons. Portal example: The personality cores (canon and fanmade) appeal to many people because of, well, their various personalities and the fact that we can look at them and go "Oh my gosh, I can relate to this" or "Oh, this one reminds me of this person".

I agree with your point that some canon details may have been forgotten:

Wheatley was, in fact, designed to be an idiot. Enough said.

Wheatley acting like Chell was going to abandon him when she never indicated that.

Wheatley accusing Chell of bossing him around, which in hindsight was pretty much projection on his end (prior to the chassis btw).

The ONLY thing I personally disagreed with was this quote from another post you made: "and no dont you dare tell me it was the chassis that made him that way bc its not and if you think that you have zero media literacy". Now I definitely agree that some people within fandom culture in general either ignore or reject the concept of media literacy all together.

However, I feel that phrase (combined with how aggressively you stated your pretty valid points) comes off as way too harsh. I also fear that some people may misinterpret your points to mean you've seen nothing but "wholesome interpretations" of him and you want to argue that the "losercore" interpretation of him as 'the best/canon one', which I doubt is the case.

Some people like to have complex interpretations of the character. Some people prefer more canon stuff. And some people just like to see the character as more wholesome or silly because they see it as their comfort character to insert their own interpretations onto (i.e. What if Wheatley had a good relationship with Chell, and was actually controlled by the corrupted chassis only to feel guilty afterwards?).

If you want some interpretations either more in line with canon Wheatley, I have some recommendations for you to check out:

USB-Dongle Wheatley/Ask Android Wheatley: He was VERY popular on Tumblr during 2011-2012, to the point where his creator dedicated a whole RP/ask-blog that is now unfortunately defunct. HOWEVER, if you dig deep enough, you can find reblogged art both from the artist and the RP blog on here. The more wholesome moments are only confined to some of the responses within the RP blog, but most of his canon character is still intact.

Negaduck13 Wheatley: Probably one of the most canon interpretations of the character I have seen on Tumblr. Aside from the few instances of him being sympathetic, he is pretty much a silly, cowardly jerk. (Just know that his design was recently reused for a collab webcomic series the artist is working on.)

Dragon.lunatic Wheatley (Insta): From what little I have seen of him, he also seems to be more in-line with his canon self.

Also the "THE PORTAL 2 FANDOM IS IN SHAMBLES !!!!!!!!! I WANNA TEAR MY HAIR OUT" comes off as incredibly 'doom and gloom', which I believe you didn't intend to do.

Yes, the Portal fandom has had its weird moments (e.g. that one argument some people that "All artists' Wheatley designs look the same" when some of them only shared a few traits but were still unique in their own way), but I don't think it was ever "in shambles" to begin with.

In fact, I've only seen it continue to evolve to amazing creatives like yourself. The Portal fandom has lasted for over a decade, it's only just changed slightly with a changing internet culture and even more epic people to continue its legacy.

I apologise for this long info-dump, but I enjoy your interpretation of Wheatley just as much as many others. I just thought I'd give you another perspective as someone who has looked through the history of the Portal fandom for a good few years now.

Hope you have a nice day/evening. 👍🏻

(On a much lighter and completely unrelated note, I wonder if an archive dedicated to the fandom's history and some of the AUs/artists would be a good idea...? :] )

dawg sorry what 😭😭😭😭 i know most of the stuff that youre saying, i dont need links to the definition of a tumblr sexyman. what is going on. im 23 and have been on tumblr for a few months under a decade.

what i said is what i meant, i dont really care if its harsh. my whole point was that its NOT "an interpretation" of his character. that IS his character. he is selfish and mean from start to end. if people did the very least of giving him a redemption arc--like Blue Sky did--thatd be a different story. in that he was VERY 3 dimensional, while still being EXTREMELY flawed and holding onto his basic character traits. it was very much WHEATLEY.

ive been in this fandom for almost 5 years and have consumed MOST of the big fan content for it. i know all of this and was keeping it in mind when saying what i said. at the end of the day, i cant police anyone. if they wanna write him OOC and make him nothing like how he is in the game, then they very well can. its just really fucking boring to me. A lot of the stuff i love in the fandom was made in 2012 bc people who like it now are very very young and dont understand his character. they FUNDAMENTALLY do not understand who he is.

again. this isnt interpretation. this is CANON. this is me listing CANON TRAITS. with CANON LINES. its not "how i see him." that was the entireeeee point of my post.

Literally him saying shit like: "Am I being too vague? I despise you. I loathe you. You arrogant, smugly quiet, awful jumpsuited monster of a woman." hes literally telling her this ISNT cute little game, he just WANTS HER DEAD.

he tried to kill her UP UNTIL HIS VERY LAST MOMENTS WITH HER. and he had always been this way. people who think the chassis made him evil, its like--its a just a scapegoat to excuse everything he did and say it wasnt his fault and that he was under the influence of something else. it deminishes his ENTIRE CHARACTER down to dog water. which, to me personally, really sucks! because if you just interpret him as a nice, polite guy who is super respecful and decently smart, then it just isnt him. its a random guy with Wheatleys name that people can plug into xreaders.

every fandom does this with the fav character, im just upset about wheatley atm. this is just an inevitable thing that happens, but its SOOOO frequent in the portal 2 space that its a little aggravating.

[hinamie]

Do you work on multiple art projects at once? Or do you have to finish one before starting another? If you do work on multiple at a time, how many is too many......... asking for a friend (ME, pls god help me)

Hi anon! The vast majority of the time I'm only working on one thing at a time :'> I find that what happens when I try to bench one project to work on another is I lose the motivation to come back to it entirely. My working theory as to why this happens revolves around the fact that I feel like each drawing Teaches(?) me something and shifts the expectations I have of myself--so if I put one piece aside to start and finish another, by the time the second one is done I feel like I've already surpassed the me that felt comfortably challenged and satisfied while working on the first one . So by that point if I /do/ want to try and salvage or finish the first one I feel like in order to clear the new bar that's been set I'd need to either a. redo the majority of it or b. start over entirely orz

Occasionally I will juggle multiple pieces (usually out of necessity on account of deadlines) and that's fine if it needs to happen but as far as my own workflow and Drawing Experience go i definitely don't prefer it :') If the stars could always align and I could guarantee that I would be equally enthused and motivated about all my ongoing wips then maybe things would be different but alas I have maladaptive perfectionism and hyperfixate on One (1) project at a time until I cant stand the sight of it anymore

All that being said, I'm not sure I can give a definite answer as to how many ongoing wips is too many ...? for me personally probably like 2-3 but I imagine that number is probably different for everyone . ANYWAY GOMEN this got long but I hope your friend (you) is doing ok with all your projects !! i will manifest Productivity and Inspiration but make sure not to burn yourself out ghjdsgsj <3

[tblsomedoodles]

How's the status on each of your updates?

Oh let's see.

Comic wise, the yet unnamed seer twin's apocalypse comic has it's next update fully sketched out and in the process of inking. Might be out next week, if i can manage it.

Donnieverse i know what i want to do next, but haven't started it yet. (wanted to update the seer comic/maybe finish that one off before going any farther with this.)

i have a Mikey's Imaginary Friend video all boarded but i haven't started actual work on it (i'll get caught up in it once i do, so i'm strategically procrastinating so i can get other stuff done.)

Fic wise, "Proud Family Tradition" i've been picking at but it's not close to an update. (if i just sit down and focus on this fic, the entire thing would have been done by now. but alas, my brain will not allow such logic.)

"One Without the Other" i haven't started the next chapter yet (b/c it's supposed to be Leo telling his brothers but i do not want to write a seer explanation for the third time. I honestly might skip to the 'leo and donnie fighting' bit. like going and starting the entire chapter with Leo smashing the dreamcatcher against a wall of Donnie's lab and make Splinter figure out what the heck just happened in the five minutes he left his boys alone to talk.)

"Growing Pains" is all plotted out through the secondary mutations (with an actual outline and everything) and i've been working on it recently. but i'm not really close to an update there either.

Oh, and my little angsty side project "Silver linings aren't worth it" (which i don't really talk about here b/c i haven't done much art for it) has the next chapter written, but i'm trying a thing where i don't release the next chapter until I've written the one after it, so it's not going to be posted yet. (honestly, this one is probably the closest to getting an update as a result of the update rule. Idk, it puts less stress on me for somehow. It removes the 'my brain deciding it needs a break once it posts the newly finished chapter' thing i've been struggling with. So i might adopt that rule for all my fics. )

I think that's all my ongoing projects? I...have too many active projects lol. If i missed one, let me know. I'll give you the status of it.

Thank you!

[flowerflamestars]

Hi, hello, good day, bonsoir!! I hath cometh here from the holy land (ao3) where I have read every acotar story (masterpiece) you wrote. I love your style. English is not my native language so I sometimes need a dictionary when I am reading you stories - AND I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN! Sometimes I feel like a historian discovering ancient holy texts that open my third eye. It's amazing!!

Anyways- I have been snooping around your blog and I found snippets (delightful, master has given dobby a sock) and stories that you have not posted on ao3. I was wondering if you had a masterlist somewhere which I could use for convenience.

If not, that is completly fine and understandable, I will just continue my archaeological hunt to discover the ancient texts of our gods (I will look for your stories by scrolling for a long time).

Thank you so much for writing so many amazing stories!

Ciao, Goodbye, Adieu!

Hello hello!

You're so sweet, thank you! It must be admitted that like ancient texts, some of the snippets exist solely in fragmentary form. Any stories that I haven't migrated to ao3 are either a) things I pulled because I decided instead to cannibalize them for original work, b) WHOLLY ABANDONED because canon made writing them too meh of an experience, or c) ongoing, pending projects.

There is not a masterlist. However- despite most my tags just being chatting- pretty much most snippets and little extra stuff (visuals quotes ect) are strewn about under probably the same tags as the story titles, or in short form (see: On the Shoreless Sea posts getting tagged just Shoreless Sea, or No Grave Can Hold My Body Down going as simplified Timeloop AU).

Thank you for reading and reaching out!

[ruthytwoshakes]

Howdy everybody!

it’s June! What! It was March yesterday I think,,,, urgurgh

But actually wait this is super exciting!! I’m out of my depressive slump which means I get to use the rest of June to prepare for artfight!

I’ll still be posting here, but it’ll be just my preparations + artfight attacks until August. I’ll be tagging everything with “Daffys Artfight 2023” so if you don’t want to see soooooo many skeletons and my cool swag characters than block that tag babey B)) and I’ll see you in August with more tf2!

And since I am very much developing a special interest with tf2, I’ll be doing attacks on tf2 ocs! If you want to attack me and draw my little meow meow Glider, than I’ll love you forever and ever and draw your little guy too teehee

Alrighty! Here’s the breakdown for this years artfight:

Until July 1st, I’ll be redesigning, updating, and writing my characters + (hopefully) posting about them on here! Also I’ll be bookmarking characters during this time, so send me your little guys during this time >B)

When the teams are decided I’ll make sure to use the templates that go along with it and finally edit my profile lol.

Every year for artfight, I do a mass attack with a bunch of skeleton characters! Last year was about 70, this year I’m planning to do 100 and actually finish it this time! As soon as artfight starts I’ll begin planning out my sketch and working on editing a nice little speedpaint for you all.

If I’m able too, I’d love to start a chain with someone and give my characters some friends! Last year I did one with Sam, my most littlest guy, and it was super fun!! (I’ve also got a lot more characters this year that I’ve been wanting to flesh out hehehe)

And that’s about it! I’ll add on some art I’ve been working on below

Here’s the personification of my process of creating characters! That’s a mouthful though, so he’s just called the Creator. Silly guy. As old and as young as time itself. Fuzzy.

Here’s some WIP character designs! I’m struggling a bit for inspiration on the top two, but fuck it we ball.

Thank you for reading! And I hope to see ya there! (My user is DaffoDuck) or https://artfight.net/~DaffoDuck

Well howdy again,, did you think there was secrets down here?? Because there is MUHAHAHA

here’s some tf2 plans and progress for my ongoing projects

The tf2 horror thing I’ve been working on! Sure have been working on it! Most definitely my most bodacious dude. H. I’m just mainly struggling with the bigger meaning of it,, got the plot all done,,,, now gotta somehow make it anti-capitalist. I gotta go analyze some more horror stories,, gotta go back to the scp phase.

I absolutely adore the child mercs that people have come up with, so I wanted to try my hand at it! I’ve got a real fun story going on, and I’m involving the classic mercs! I’ve changed them up quite a bit though because they’re much younger in this, and teachers,, hehheheh. Basically I stuck them all in a summer camp,, imagine LumberJanes and Gravity Falls with tf2 humor. Kinda terrifying when I write it out

OOOOO IM ALMOST DONE WITH A REALLY COOL THING!!!! I just need to finishing a little bit of writing but I’m almost done with my take on a class swap! As far as I can remember it goes like this: Heavy is Medic, Medic is Heavy, Sniper is Scout, Scout is Sniper, Pyro is Demoman, Demoman is Pyro, Spy is Soldier, Soldier is Engineer, Engineer is Spy. GHHRGRRRRR IM SO FUCKING EXCITED

I have a lot more but I forgor because it’s 5am in the fucking evening what oh my god goodnight!!!!!!! SHIT,!!!!!

[samanthahirr]

MI6 Cafe Creators Tag Game

(Thank you so much for tagging me, @silverbrume!)

We’d love for people to keep getting to know each other after this year’s 007 Fest, so we’re starting this tag game!

Rules: Answer the questions, then tag 3 new people to complete this. Also, tag the person who tagged you and @mi6-cafe so we can reblog your response.

Note that when we say ‘fanwork’ in the questions below, that could mean a fanfic, gif, fanart, headcanon, cosplay, crocheted work—any kind of fancreation counts!

1. What work of yours challenged you when you were creating it?  

Can I count my ongoing 00Q WIP-epic Off the Books? Yeah, I’m gonna say this is my biggest challenge. I’ve never posted a WIP before, and it’s a much bigger challenge than I anticipated, controlling the pacing, the evolving relationship dynamics, and the gradual reveal of exposition. It doesn’t help that it’s already my longest work to date, and it’s only 1/3 done at 54k. I’ve got reams of notes for this fic and a heavily detailed outline to follow, but I still agonize over nailing all my set-ups and pay-offs. Very challenging project, but my most-rewarding by far.

2. What is a fanwork you’ve seen which gave you a new headcanon about a character?    

Queen of Spades by Astolat. One of the first 007 fics I ever read, it took the M & Craig butting-heads dynamic from Casino Royale and amplified their antagonism and manipulations and competition into the stratosphere. I fell in love with Astolat’s headcanons of a Bond who resents orders and leadership but craves M’s approval, and an M who effortlessly manipulates Bond into becoming the agent she wants him to be, and even as Bond sees those manipulations happening, he can only rise to her challenges instead of turning his back on them.

3. Is there a fanwork that you really want to make, but you haven’t started yet?

Yes! I’ve got a pre-slash 00Q fic all planned and researched, wherein Bond’s punishment for a botched mission is bodyguard-duty for Q at a conference in Salzburg. In this AU, Q & Bond don’t know each other well and have an adversarial relationship. En route, Bond mercilessly taunts Q about his blatant fear of flying…until Bond realizes just after takeoff that Q has dosed himself with an anxiolytic/hypnotic to get through the short flight. Now Bond has a heavily drugged quartermaster at his mercy, and he must choose whether to be cruel or kind for the next seven hours. (Spoiler: Bond chooses kindness, and they forge a mutual respect and tentative friendship by the story’s end.) Tentative title “Bases to Guard or Beleaguer.” Just gotta finish writing a couple other fics before I can start banging this one out.

4. What fanwork of yours surprised you, and how? 

I was surprised how effortlessly Touch It, Stroke It, and Undress It came together for 007 Fest 2022. In summer of 2021, I came up with a series of vignettes for aromantic!Q sleeping with all the agents, amusingly thwarting Bond’s seduction attempts. This year I decided to flesh the ideas out into a series of standalone smut scenes with an overarching “lovers to friends-with-benefits” arc for Fest, and I somehow cranked out 21k of smut in under a month! Biggest surprises of the resulting fic: A) I haven’t been that prolific in a decade; B) the multiple POVs were an engaging challenge to figure out; and C) once I stopped being self-conscious about sharing all my kinks, the smut became downright fun to write.

5. What themes/styles/subjects are common across many of your fanworks? 

I’m all about hurt/comfort (though if I injure a character too seriously, they can’t have the celebratory ‘we survived’ sex, so I tend to go minor-to-moderate on the physical trauma). And I’m currently fascinated with all the possible variations on a drugging storyline, so expect to see that crop up in my next few fics.

6. What other fandoms do you create for, if any?

None right now, but last year I did fics for The Mandalorian and The Man from UNCLE.

7. Is there an artist that you like to listen to while you create? Or one whose work always inspires you?

I can’t listen to English lyrics when I’m writing, so I listen to a lot of instrumental or foreign-language albums. I spent the month of July looping the Argentinian singer-songwriter Federico Aubele’s second album, Panamericana (produced by Eighteenth Street Lounge Music (shoutout Washington DC!!!) so it’s got sexy-chill electro-lounge vibes), featuring Fede’s genius guitar work and hauntingly gorgeous guest vocals over Latin dance rhythms. And now for August, I’m hooked on a YouTube playlist called Tropical Night Bossa Nova that’s all dreamy/beachy guitar instrumentals.

8. Share a fanwork that you’ve found yourself thinking about weeks after reading/seeing it.

In 2016, @beaubete wrote a 300-word piece for Last Drabble Writer Standing called “Property,” wherein Q poses as a buyer to rescue Bond from a slavery ring. I read that fic on June 1, 2021, and it completely rewired my brain. Within four days I’d planned out the entirety of Off the Books, a 150k sequel for a goddamn drabble I’m still writing a year later, and I joined a new fandom, and now I’m a part of the MI6-Cafe. If it hadn’t been for that genius, shocking cliffhanger of a drabble, I might not have started writing in this fandom and meeting everyone in the Cafe, so I’m still so, so grateful that Beaubete’s fanwork exists.

9. Finally, share where you post your works! 

My AO3 page

Tagging: @prismatic-bell & @kmk1701d & @a-forger-and-a-point-man

@mi6-cafe

[ailelie]

Aeon Timeline

So I am trying out a new toy and it is amazing. So I want to share.

Aeon Timeline is a downloadable bit of software that enables you to create timelines.

You can use it for work and things like that, but! It also works for writing fiction.

As in, they let you create your own calendar and decide when the start date is. Does your world have 18 months each with 3 weeks of 9 days? Aeon has got you covered. Of course, you can also name your days and months. Also, eras. You can name the eras. Want to start from 1 each time a new emperor ascends the throne? You can do that. (You do need to set that up first, though, so keep that in mind).

That alone would have sucked me in, but that isn't all Aeon does to support writers.

When you add items to the timeline, you can note if it is an event, a flashback, or a flashforward. There's more options than that and if that isn't enough, you can add more.

And it lets you have 2 timelines. One timeline is for the actual order of events. The other timeline is for how those events show up in your narrative. The flashback is scene 6 in year 3021, but actually took place in 3010? On the regular timeline it shows up at 3010, but in your narrative timeline, you can list it after the events that happen earlier in 3021.

When you add an item to the timeline, you can group it under a parent event. So if your main plot spans the entire length of the book and then you have an early subplot and a late subplot, you can put those three things as parent events on your timeline. They'll show up as long, empty boxes. Then, you can organize every other event to show up in the proper box. Two things happen on the same day, but one is main plot and one is subplot B? Put them under the correct parent node and they'll show up on different rows of the timeline.

You can, of course, color-code all of the events.

Aeon also lets you add People and Places to your timeline. For people, not only do you type in their birth and death dates (or ongoing if they're alive at present day in your world), but you also include data on them such as their relationships to other characters, the locations they're associated with, their character type (protagonist, antagonist, ally, etc), their goals and motivations, etc. You can also attach files to the characters such as pictures. And when you update one character, it auto-updates the others. So, if you load in Susan first, you don't have any characters to associate with her. But then you load in her mother, Ellen, and best friend, Marcus. When you associate Ellen with Susan saying that Susan is Ellen's child, it automatically adds Ellen to Susan's card as her parent.

If the basic character card doesn't fit your world, you can go into settings and completely change what fields it offers you and what drop-down menus say. For example, default gender offers Male, Female, and Other. You can go in and change that, though, to have as many genders as you like.

Oh! Since you put in character birth dates, you can always check to see how old they are in comparison to other characters and when certain events happen.

The timelines are easy to navigate, too. You can throw in pins to take you to key events right away. You can also filter by color, event type, character, etc. That means you can let the timeline get as complicated as needed and then easily filter it by what matters to whatever you're working on at the time.

And this is all just the stuff I figured out last night. There's more to it like themes and more stuff with narrative structure that I've not even touched yet. Like being able to arrange events by chapter and scene.

The major downside is that this program is not cheap. It costs $65 upfront. Then, if you want access to the yearly updates, it costs an additional $35/year starting next year.

But, like I said, this isn't just good for fiction writing. It can also be used for project management and Gantt charts. It lets you use it for free for 2 weeks as a trial, but then you have to get a license to continue using it. The license is good for up to 5 devices. And, though I don't use either program, it also will sync with Scrivener and Ulysses.

[theladycarpathia]

Hey, guess who finished Nano! Did she do any work on her original fiction? No. Did she write a bunch of Hellcheer/Harringrove/Cherik instead? Uh...

Man, I have too many projects. Have an update of my current WIPs.

Pirate Hellcheer au: Drafting, close to editing. 10 chapters, currently 18,872 words.

Creel House au: Drafting, close to editing. 6 chapters, currently 13,450 words.

Scream au: Plotting/drafting. Six chapters, currently 2,212 words. 

Season 4 au: Drafting, ongoing. BIG project. Currently 11,546 words, not including previously written ficlets.

Magic S2 au: Plotted, drafting. Currently 1,266 words. 

A/B/O au: Plotting. 

Soulmate au: Currently plotting.

Superhero au: Plotted. Probably 3 chapters, low priority.

Supernatural au: Plotting. 

Hawkins academy Hellcheer au: Likely to be a full fic eventually.  Not yet plotted.

Buffy au: Likely to be a full fic, not yet plotted.

Random domestic Cherik fic: ...we’re not gonna talk about this one. This is what I get for watching all the X-men films again.