#bc I love them a lot & the ramble outline for this project is mostly about them rn

[call-jupiter]

committing myself to attempting a chapter in the form of a true-crime doc for The Sycamore Tree lmfao should be fun but we’ll have to see how it goes. I like challenging myself and trying my hand at a variety of writing styles and this fic being my first rookie fic AND being as long and as… involved… as it is makes it a good sandbox for some experimentation. might scrap it if it pisses me off but the attempt will be made. I already know exactly what ground it’s gonna cover and everything so I’m looking forward to putting those chapters in proper writing (not just an outline) so I can really get to work on this one knowing fully how the relevant chapters before it panned out. it’s planned and all but I need to actually finish the chapters first bc I’m not… always great at following my own outlines. lol.

since I’ve been trying to flesh it out with subplots and side action and new characters and bottle chapters and things my outline has come out feeling structured very much like a season of television. so I thought it’d be cool to try and take one of the show’s unique episode formats and incorporate it in. turning Sycamore into something of like a… what-if for s5 on the whole rather than just a canon divergence that happens to start in s5? like I want it to be Large Scale. if my readers and I are committing to 40 chapters that range from 7-10k words each, I might as well use that space to its full potential.

I’m rambling. but what y’all are gonna learn about me the more and more active I get in the fanfic scene for this show is that there’s nothing I love more than using my socmed platforms to pontificate my little fic ideas instead of making private notes. do it on my twt all the time for bbc merlin bc that’s the place I promo those works. tumblr’s become a bit of a home base for my rookie content (which is just Sycamore rn but hopefully more in the future since I’m enjoying creating this one so much). that means these random little musings about potential fics or directions for those wips are mostly gonna land here. feel free to ignore them. or, hell, if I post some off-hand concept that you like go ahead and lift it for your own works. I think that’s why I like making notes this way tbh bc then if an idea is dead-on-arrival for me it could theoretically find life in the hands of another writer who came across it. like paying it forward or whatever but in fic prompts. inspiring myself and hopefully other writers in the process—since I know coming up w an idea is half the battle. might be a bit presumptuous but it’s like if I do it this way maybe I can make that part a bit easier on my future self or on someone else. idk.

anyway. love y’all a lot. like a lot a lot. the support is still mind-blowing to me. I don’t think I’ll ever quite wrap my head around it. very surreal. so hopefully you can bear w me and my aimless posts like this and my writing experiments that may or may not succeed. I’m so proud of this work so far but it’s such new territory for me and it really feels like it’s asking a lot of the audience to stick w it since it’s… so much. like I want the diversions from the main arc to feel natural and engaging. it’s difficult tho bc I’m not a professional or whatever. I’m not even someone w an english/writing/literature background or something. I’m just a pharmacology student writing some silly little fanfiction in my spare time.

what I mean to say is that I’m trying my damnedest to make it worth your time to read it all. even the parts that aren’t chenford or aren’t connected to the main plot. like they’re there bc I feel like it adds to the experience not bc I’m trying to pad the length. and ik that in my mind but sometimes I see the current word count or my projections for the final word count based on the average of the finished chapters and I question how it comes off. like I worry a bit that adding stuff like that could seem superfluous even tho it’s not my intention. I don’t want Sycamore to be long for the sake of being long. I want it to be long so it can feel like a whole universe. like a highly fictionalized thing still grounded somewhat in reality. not just a one-track story to get characters straight from point A to point B. you know?

idk what I’m saying anymore but. it all makes sense in my head. I just have so many thoughts about this work and I’m also just so excited to write it and publish it and let you see it but it’s very slow-going bc I want it to be as good as possible.

anyway. weird little draft note thing over. there was a point to this somewhere but I definitely lost it midway. lmfao. this is what happens when I forget to take my adhd meds and can’t focus enough to actually write but still want to feel like I’m making progress. whoops.

[pepsiwriteswords]

Woo, my camp goal has been met!

Now, it took 4 different projects (wait maybe five) plus two of these projects’ ramble outlines, but

!!!!!

Words got written! Characters I have had for years with nothing to do now have stories!

(Also, thank god for writing discords with people who ask at random points in the day/night if anyone’s up to sprints because my focus was shot today & it took two fifteen minute sprints to get my brain on track XP)

[s1utspeare]

20.) Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

oooooohhhhhh you’ve really done it now. I. Have. So much meta feelings. Omg. This is gonna be a long one. If u couldn’t tell i am a whole-ass meta HO and literally any of my work is going to have like. Layers and layers of meta work done in the background. I do a lot of classical literature work so I’m talking shit like writing the ending speech to a play based on The Tempest in the exact meter and rhyme scheme as the ending speech in that play. 

Okay I’m going to do Swiftly Tilting meta bc that’s what most of you know, but if anyone would like to here about the Biggest Dramaturgical Undertaking of my Life, my Untimely Ripped senior thesis project, lemme know ;)

OKAY SO SOME META THINGS I PUT IN SWIFTLY TILTING

this one was mostly about the foreshadowing I think; there was soooo many steps and hints and stuff I was trying to throw in along the way, and a lot of people picked up on them, which was SO FUN. uhhhh. There are some things that turned into plot holes a little bit but there are a few bits that stayed pretty hidden! Like the fact that Jiang Zisuan was the full-blooded human that Wang Meng scented out in Chapter One, not Mao Xincheng. Um I loved putting in all of the species differences and tie-ins to canon, that was super fun. Oh! The journal that Sanshu found when researching Yincangui was Fo-ye’s! Zhang Rishan had put it on the ship and then lost it when he was trying to turn around and go back but was freaking out and all that stuff. Wu Xie isn’t actually a Shouling because he doesn’t own the ship, Sanshu does, but his crew call him that anyway because that’s what he is to them. Normally Kylin would have others of their species with them during regenerations to form those mental tethers, but since Zhang Rishan and Xiao-ge didn’t, Liu Sang was able to keep them psychically linked to avoid losing their memories. Since Liu Sang didn’t remember the execution frequency, he killed the metal porcupine monster on Lehan by literally just Screaming At It. After the gang leaves Yincangui it eventually just gets lost Permanently. Liu Sang never goes back. Huo Daofu insists that Zhang Rishan isn’t human at every single Nine Bloodlines meeting and everyone refuses to believe him and it drives him insane. 

the other thing that I really enjoyed was the different POVs, especially the use of swear words in them??? Xiao Bai would swear, but only in dialogue. Kan Jian didn’t swear at all in his chapter, I don’t think. Pangzi used swear words like every other line (also was not as introspective as the other characters, which is why his chapter is one of my favorites? even though they’re grounded, it seems so active because Pangzi’s constantly in the action, he’s not ruminating on things like all of the others). Wang Meng only swore when Li Cu was in danger I’m pretty sure (also loved doing colors and sounds and smells and different senses with his POV). Xiao-ge swore when he though it was something Wu Xie would say (I also loved giving different emotional weight to his sentences and the ones in parentheses, as well as switching between Xiao-ge calling himself Xiao-ge or Zhang Qiling, depending on the level of danger they were in). Li Cu used Capital Letters to Emphasize Important Words A Lot (@jockvillagersonly pointed out that Li Cu’s chapter was literally just how I talk which I think is funny as shit) and swore a good amount bc he had picked it up from Wu Xie and Pangzi. Liu Sang didn’t swear because he was Literally A Baby (those chapters were also interesting because I had to keep him in the mindset of a child; there were so many ways things could have gone but he was a kid and he was panicking and he didn’t know how to handle a lot of things emotionally, so there’s a lot left out that an older narrator would have gotten). Wu Xie was sort of a combination of all of the pov voices we’ve had so far, which made sense because of how in-tune he was with the languages of his crew.

snake language for Li Cu! I used a lot of words like coiled and constricted and hissed and slithered and struck when describing his words and actions to really drive home his snake-like nature even before I revealed his species heritage. 

I wrote all of the Fo-ye and Zhang Rishan backstory before I had seen much of Mystic Nine so I killed Ba-ye without knowing the Implications. I’m so sorry Ba-ye. 

all of the acoustic stuff!!! the acoustic levitation and sound in space and sonic illusions were researched and like. hashed out before I wrote them! So theoretically they could all be real. I was like. deep in the science articles lmao. 

ALSO!!! ON THAT NOTE (haha)!!! Liu Sang’s name in Yincanguian was an A-flat four. Su Baiyin’s was a G-major five, and if you plug all the frequencies listed in the journal into a frequency generator on the internet, you can hear what those words sound like in their language. 

Liu Sang originally was going to be from a planet called Wangcen lmao. Also in the original outline they were going to completely destroy Yincangui and also pretty much all of Liu Sang’s backstory did not exist.

At the end of the fic, Sanshu is living with Chen Wen-Jin!  

AH THERE WAS A LOT!!! Swiftly Tilting was literally so much fun to write, and so much fun to see what people caught, because everyone noticed different things!!! <3

Thank you so much for the ask, I live for this shit. 

[marewriteblr]

I have so many ideas for stories but can never motivate myself to actually start writing, or if I do, to finish them. I just think writing isn't really for me but I'd still love to get my stories out there. Do you know any way I could manage to? Like writing with someone else or sharing my idea with someone, tell them exactly how I've planned the scenes I have already planned out and let them write for me? Am I just a lazy b*tch?

Anyways thx so much for reading and have a nice day! Love you(r blog) <3

first of all, writing is HARD. even people who KNOW writing is for them and who're passionate about it struggle to motivate themselves to start or finish (mostly finish for me, oof I never do). which means you're definitely not lazy. ofc there are loads of ways you could try to make it work, it all depends on your motivation and goal. if it's all about the product, hiring a ghostwriter might work greatly for you and there's NO shame in doing that! personally, I still think it's very different from actually writing yourself, so if actively creating your piece of writing is important to you, there's a few more things you could try.

co-writing

writing with someone else can be very motivating bc you're working as a team and you tend to push yourself more to meet deadlines and such. I'd be rather hesitant though if you don't actually like writing, as this can be an extra amount of pressure that'll lead to nothing if you're not into it.

switching up the medium

BUT if you're writing novels right now, maybe try a novella or short story, something more short and compact. even screenplays can work, maybe you're just not a descriptive person! if you wanna dense it up even more, you can tell your stories in song or poetry too. I'd recommend trying out all the possibilities to see if one works better than the other before you commit to a project with sb else. maybe writing really isn't for you! but if it is, there are so many different ways to storytelling and you might've just missed out on the right one.

writing alongside sb else

I don't really know if there's a name for this tbh, but basically you find a writing buddy and both of you set goals for yourselves (like writing a 50k words book) and you can motivate each other and hype each other up without actually working on the same project together. you could even set fixed times of the day/week where you both write and afterwards tell each other how much progress you've made etc. this can be super useful if you wanna write but can't get yourself to do it!

more techniques

apart from all that, these are some basic techniques I've used/seen to get yourself to write (and EVERY writer struggles at times. that's okay). some things that might help are

rambling about it to a friend (seriously I've had the best ideas and rushes of inspiration during these)

(if you're a plotter) sketching a good solid outline of your story so you'll always know where you're at, where you need to get to and what'll happen on the way

reminding yourself that holding your finished piece in your hands is gonna be fantastic because YOU CREATED THAT FROM SCRATCH

writing oneshots or drabbles to get in the feels (or any other medium)

spicing up the story with a surprising turn when you hit a low

writing out of order (def not sth for everyone but this has worked wonders for me) bc sometimes your inspiration and ideas are all over the place and this is the way to move forward

that's all I can say off the top of my head, but there is so much advice on motivation out there, I'm sure you'd find a lot more on it. I just wanna emphasise that most of these are for writing yourself, but if that's not for you, then don't be discouraged, don't blame yourself, the fact that you're coming up with stories is already fantastic and wonderful and requires so much creativity. you can tell your stories in so many different ways (if not writing, there's still podcasts, youtube videos, I don't even know) and if you'd rather get a ghostwriter, go for it!!! you can do this, I'm proud of you for trying and I'm rooting for you!!!

[giggles-and-freckles]

I have one thing to say (make that two)

You are such a brilliant writer and I love love loveee your fics! They are absolutely wonderful even though they make me sad :( but in a good way :)

Point numero deux: ouch :(

Oh one last thing,

So for school, we are supposed to be thinking about a start for a short story we are going to write and I was wondering if you had any tips on how to think about plot lines, dialogue, anything?

<3

Oh my goodness, hello, this is so kind!! 🥺🥰 I’m happy to bring any sort of emotion–be it happy or sad...

As for writing advice–oooh. These are such great questions and I just feel so unqualified to answer because I’m chaotic evil when it comes to writing haha. I’m sure you can find way better advice from a multitude of better/more organised writers on here, but I’ll give it a shot, using the basic tips I tend to stick to! :)

Brainstorming: all of my brainstorming happens via sticky notes or the notes app on my phone. If I’m working, I scribble an incomplete thought onto a sticky note and stick it to my desk. If I’m going about my day in some other way, I open the notes app on my phone where I have a huge app with about 70 random fic ideas. 

What comes first: for me, it’s always dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. If you’ve ever read anything of mine, you probably already know how much of a crutch this is for me, but that’s just the reality I live in haha. I’ve been trying to challenge myself to write beyond that recently, but it’s tough. My wit is one of my only good qualities, so normally that wiggles it’s way in to my characters’ conversations. 

When I get an idea for an exchange of banter, angsty back-and-forth, or maybe just a great one-liner...I write that first. Dialogue is always my favourite so getting that on the paper first makes writing fun. For me, at least. Some people are incredible at painting scenes and establishing iconic metaphors or dropping some gut-wrenching descriptions. It’s just not my ish, sadly. But I’m working on it!!

A lot of wips look like this until I go fill in the gaps:

“Your lying skills have only deteriorated over time, young one.” Obi-Wan...in a tired but sassy way? Smiling maybe? Or too soon.....

“So has your hairline, old one.” Ahsoka. Smirk or grin?

Plot lines: ha. Yikes. So, I’m notoriously bad at plots, which is why I mostly stick to one-shots. But with the one multi-chapter I have going right now (so obviously not very experienced advice hahah), I made an outline. Which is just absolutely wild, considering I am the least organised writer ever. For this, I jotted out little plot points that I knew I wanted to include, leading up to the ending that I already had in place. For this particular fic, the ending is why I wrote it at all, so I actually ended up writing the entire last chapter first haha. But the first part of my outline looks like this–

Obi bringing ani home and awkward move-in (room switch?)

Breakfast? ‘what do nine-year-olds even EAT?’

Obi choosing not to cut his hair (bc of QG but he doesn’t realise that yet)

Obi giving ani a tour of temple and running into soka

Soka being blunt about the “old padawan”

Obi and ani argument over <something>

Obi wandering temple and thinking about qui-gon

Obi council meeting “worried about you” “im fine”

Obi runs into ahsoka on way back giggling in gardens with friends

Super incoherent and basic, but I wrote out a long bullet outline like that first and then grouped things together into rough chapters. Sometimes, I write more for a scene than I intended, so I’ll bump a tiny plot to the next chapter. But it helps me stay linear and focused. On that same document (beneath the outline), I have random bits of dialogue that I know I want to include, but don’t have a home for yet.

All in all, if your thing is super plotty, I think the most important bit of advice is to begin with the end in mind. Writers (me, I’m talking about me) have a nasty habit of thinking the plot will find them–and sometimes it does. But, personally, I’d rather have the plot skeleton there, so I can spend my extra efforts developing the characters and relationships.

As for thinking about plot lines in general: draw inspiration from things you love!! The multi-chapter I mentioned above is shamelessly a product of me watching Monster’s Inc. and cackling at how fumbling and awkward Sully is with Boo because what’s a child!!! But from that comes the absolute sweetest relationship. So I thought: what if Obi-Wan knew Ahsoka before TCW...when she was a youngling? What would that dynamic be like? And just kind of rolled with it. I hope that people reading that story don’t think to themselves ‘well this is just a Monster’s Inc. AU!!!!’ because it’s certainly strayed so far from that original idea. And since you’re a fellow creative, I sense you won’t have that issue either 😉

Anyway, that was a lot of rambling that probably wasn’t all that helpful, but I would love to open this up to any of my other writer friends!!! If you have things that work for you, please feel free to add on to this! I’m absolutely positive I’ll learn something new myself 🎉

And anon–when you finish this project...if you’re feeling brave, maybe consider posting it on here and tagging me! I’d love to read it!! 🥰❤️

[stevethehairington]

Tagged by: the lovely @scimitar-and-longsword  💕💕

Name(s): my name is Mack, and if this also includes like usernames too then my ao3 is macksdramaticshenanigans and obviously yall can see my tumblr url lol. i have a fandom twitter but i hate twitter so i barely go on it lmao.

Fandom(s): oh boy haha this is a loooong list. as of right now, the main fandoms i’m involved in are The Old Guard and Trust FX, but in the past i’ve written for Skam, Marvel, Good Omens, Love Simon/Simon vs., Shameless, and IT. and ofc there are some fandoms i have not written for that i casually enjoy as well.

Where you post: all my fics are posted on ao3! or are sitting in my wips folder lol. i’ve ocsasionally posted some snippets of writing here to tumblr, but none of those are like full on, proper fics, mostly just me rambling off some thoughts i had about whatever characters in whatever scenarios

Most Popular One Shot (by kudos): Imagine Being Loved By Me (918 kudos) ((so close to 1k holy shit!!!! if it got to 1k i think i’d actually die of happiness omg)) this is my Good Omens smut fic lmfao, crowley is fantasizing and aziraphale makes it a reality skgjsd. i’m actually pretty damn pleased with how this one turned out, and i never expected it to get that many kudos so that makes me ridiculously happy sfjgfg. (and also podfixx made a podfic of this fic which made me INSANELY happy like that is the coolest thing ever)

Most Popular Multi-Chapter (by kudos): I Have Hella Feelings For You (697 kudos) ahhh this one!! this one is actually my very first ever chaptered fic!! it’s a skam fic, and i have the most distinctive memory of me sititng in my dorm bed freshman year of college, furiously typing away at my laptop everyday for a week because i somehow managed to post a chapter every day until it was finished, which meant i was writing a new chapter everyday. like damn, i really peaked with that huh? lmao

Favorite story you’ve written so far: ahh okay not to like. toot my own horn kgfldg but this question is HARD bc i have a lot of favorites. i’m going to pick a favorite from each of my main fandoms i’ve written for because i’m an Indecisive Hoe okay fdjdf.

- From Marvel: Just Called To Say I Love You this one is my wrong number stucky fic and i actually adore this one so much, and also it actually ended up being WAY more popular than i expected it to? like i was lowkey shook by how many people liked it 

- From Skam: If You Love Me, If You Hate Me so. about this one. it’s probably my favorite skam fic that i’ve written. but. it also is the utter bane of my existence bc this is the one and only fic i have ever written and posted that i haven’t fnished gskgjfdlfs. it’s going on soon to be a little over 2 years of sitting on my account as an unfinished wip, but i REFUSE to mark it as abandoned bc i really genuienly DO want to finish it, i just havent written for this fandom in a while and inspiration/motivation is tricky yknow? but anyways. this fic is my soccer au!! it was a gift for a secret santa exchange i believe to a dear friend of mine and i still feel awful that i never finished it but. one day!!

- From Love Simon/Simon vs.: Where I Like You Best i am actually obsessed with this one. is that weird to say about your own fic? i enjoy reading a good soulmate au, but writing them has always been SO daunting to me bc i never feel like my ideas are original enough or like things that havent been done a lot for that trope. but for this one!!! omg i found the BEST prompt for it and it fit these characters SO well and i wrote it and i ended up absolutely loving how it turned out, and i was so proud of myself for writing a pretty successful soulmate au.

- From Shameless: Wooden Floors, Walls, and Window Sills so this one was my second ever gallavich fic, and it’s probably my favorite because i think it’s the best characterization i got of them in all of my fics, and good characterization is one of the most important things to me when i write fic. 

- From IT: To What We Might Do is my favorite reddie fic i’ve written! i definitely projected onto richie a teeny tiny bit in it for some parts lmfao, but yeah idk i just love how this one turned out a whole lot, and i enjoyed how i ended it too (esp since endings can be very difficult for me lol). ((BUT also a special shoutout to my fic Imagine Me and You, I Do bc that one is just pure fluff and i adore the concept of someone being just so absolutely in love with someone doing something so incredibly simple and it just rocks their world)

- From Good Omens: I Want To Know What Love Is (did i use the most cheesy title ever? absolutely. do i love it? absolutely.) anyways this fic is one where crowley the demon experiences love and promptly thinks he’s dying. 

Fic you were nervous to post: ooh, i mean i’m always pretty anxious about any fic i post because i never know if it’s going to be recepted well or if people are going to like it or hate it or if anyone is even going to read it or repsond to it. especially if the fic is a gift for someone, because i just really want that person to like it yknow? but yeah idk if theres one in particular i was more nervous to post than any others... i guess maybe any smut fic? just bc i never know if the smut is even any good lol

How do you choose your titles?: eaaaaasy, i usually pick song lyrics lol, ocassionally i’ve used lines from a poem, and a few times i’ve gone with a pun, but mostly it’s song lyrics. i usually find a song with lyrics that i think will fit, or if there’s a particular song that vibes well with the fic or that i listened to repeatedly while writing the fic i’ll try to pick the best lyric from that one.

Do you outline?: yes and no lol. it honestly depends. sometimes i outline extensively, but other times i just sit in front of a doc and let whatever happens happen.

Complete: on my ao3 account i have 80 works completed (will be 81 once i finally finish that one single unfinished wip i have posted gahhh). but i know in my wips folder i have a at least one finished fic that i have not and probably will not post. there are also some other things in my wips folder that like technically could be conisdered finished too, but it’s not up to my posting standards so until i fix it so it is it’ll just sit there lol.

In-Progress: honestly there are too many to count lol. i have a shiiiiiit ton of wips (as yall will know if you saw that one ‘tell us about ALL your wips’ tag game post that was going around that i did lol). 

Coming soon/not yet started: tbh see above answer bc it’s pretty much the same lol. 

Prompts?: so the thing about prompts is that i would LOVE to take them, but it’s very very tricky bc i’m a super specific kind of gal and if i don’t vibe with the prompt it’s very difficult for me to write anything for it. but then there’s also the fact that inspiration/motivation are fickle bitches and they come and go as they please and so taking prompts is hard bc i never know if the stars will align and all that jazz for me to be in the ~ right mood ~ to work on a prompt. this is the exact reason why i have SO MANY sitting in my inbox right now, and i feel so bad for just letting them sit there but ughhh brain function?? how?? lol

Upcoming work you’re most excited about: sooooo i don’t necessarily have any specific works in progress right now (i’ve been so busy lately that writing has been the last thing on my mind and so i haven’t touched anything in weeks) but. i guess if i can ever get my shit together and finish the primo fic i’m close to finishing i’m pretty excited to post that! or honestly if i can actually get myself to finish any of the tog wips i have i’d be suuuper excited to post any of those bc i have not yet posted any tog fics!!

anways!! if you made it to this point thanks for sticking w me and reading through my long winded rambly answers lmao

Tagging: @peachykoya @wandering-scholar-lad @raynertodd @cluelessheroes @pinesboi @thewolvesrunwild @1derspark 

[thegeminisage]

hey liz i've been thinking a lot about story structure lately and i wanted your take on how you decide what structure your stories will have? i know there's that "you have to do what your story needs and tells you to do" thing but these bitches dont ever tell me anything they just multiply so. thoughts? - bma

(as an aside, i don't know whether involving medium would change many things but it may be worth considering. mainly i think medium is just a matter of arrangement and that the story would be for most intents and purposes the same no matter how you choose to tell it. i guess you could argue that structure is arrangement in itself and intrinsically tied to medium but i sort of feel like it is secondary arrangement, if at all? like if you consider time as an element to outline -- the time IN the story (how things happen to your characters) is not necessarily the time you’re telling the story IN (how you are telling your reader that things are happening) aka internal chronology doesnt equal your work’s pacing? or should it??? does this make sense? i dont think so. i am sorry.) - bma :|

NOOO dont be sorry ur making total sense

i think there’s 3 thots to unpack here (medium, structure, & chronology) & i’m gonna start with medium bc it’s easier. im also putting it behind a cut bc it’s gonna get just stupidly long and rambly. i’m sorry in advance if it’s not helpful to you, i have a lot to say for someone who has never taken even one single class on writing and as a result doesn’t know jack shit (there’s a tl;dr at the end dont worry)

about MEDIUM: 

so like ok i’m just some goof-off with a HS degree who writes fanfiction but In My Very Super Qualified Personal Opinion, i don’t think that most of the time medium is intrinsically tied to STRUCTURE of the main storytelling arc...i think the art of storytelling itself is distinct from the medium you choose to tell the story IN. this post puts it better than i ever could but basically for me, i feel like the story itself is sort of the raw, malleable concept, and the medium you choose to tell it in is how you convey the information??

like in a book, you can say “she forgot her keys” and in a film you have to show her smacking her forehead, heading back into the house, and swiping her keeps off the counter. you can’t TELL in film, you have to show. similarly i regret every day i cannot perfectly describe a facial expression with words when i see it so clearly in my head. for audio-only podcasts that are dialogue heavy out of necessity you have different limitations than you would for, say, animated music videos with no dialogue at all. games allow for more interactivity and exploration while sacrificing accessibility, tv shows allow for more length while sacrificing, uh, a big hollywood budget...medium affects the kind of story you can reasonably tell which is why some stories are better suited to one medium than another. i think trying things in other mediums is a good way to stretch your storytelling muscles but with enough skill nearly any story could be told in any medium. i think when trying to decide on a medium you just gotta weigh the pros & cons and what you feel comfortable with/what you think would be most effective/what would evoke the strongest reaction

re: structure:

firstly “do what the story tells u to do” is a little silly like...the story isn’t sentient. come on. that’s like “i can only write when the writing gods inspire me” there are no writing gods! inspire yourself! it’s all in our weird messed up brains! ok anyway.

this is, again, just how i do things, and i am 700% self-taught so take it with a grain of salt, but when i sit down and start blocking out a story from scratch i don’t...actually consider the big structure at all! sorry if that’s not helpful to you. i like to make a list of everything i want to happen, and then put it together in a few different orders to see what looks best. and when i’m finished, whatever i have just like...IS the structure i go with, with perhaps minor tinkering to make it flow more smoothly. (i think this might be in the same spirit as “do what the story tells you” with less bullshit and more Agency Of The Writer.)

for long and more complex projects, i actually usually have several lists - one list of stuff that is, for example, the Action Plot (the kingdom has been cursed, i’m tracking down my serial killer sister to bring her to justice, i’m running from djinn who wanna kill my dad, i’m trying to bring my dead not-boyfriend back to life). then i have another list for Character A & Character B’s romance or whatever. and maybe a even another one for solo character development (magicphobic prince learns to love magic, former werewolf hunter figures out his family is a cult, half-demon learns to embrace his own nature). and as many lists as we need for however many Main Characters and or Plots/Sideplots

how i order the lists: individually first. don’t mix them together to start with. when deciding the order of an individual list i like to, for example in a romance arc, use escalating intimacy. “A and B have dinner together” is naturally gonna go way sooner than “A and B kiss” or “A and B talk about A’s angsty backstory” because that’s more satisfying. draw it out, good/important stuff last, dangle that carrot so we have a reason to keep reading! for singular character development, it’s basically a straightforward point A to point B...if i want my guy to start hating magic with everything he is and end up being very comfortable with it, i have to put “reluctantly uses magic to save his own life” WAYYY before “casually using magic to light torches and reheat his cold stew.” 

the tricky part for me is when i’m done with these lists and then i need to mix them together To Pace My Whole Story. (this is usually why i wind up with a rainbow colored spreadsheet.) i don’t like to put too many things too close together because then the pace feels uneven. even if my Action Plot is only a thinly veiled excuse for romance and character development, i still don’t want to focus on a romance for 30,000 words and then go “and oh yeah in case you forgot Serial Killing Sister is still coming for your asses.” the more sideplots and major character arcs you’re juggling the harder it is to get an even distribution, which is my main concern always

and like, generally, whatever i have when i’m finished...is my structure. (sorry.) 

i don’t know much about the classic 3-act or anything like that, but i usually can divide them up into 3-5 big arcs based on story turning points. sometimes i take a scene out of one arc and put it in another because it fits better and i like for my shit to be organized, but usually by the time i’m finished with all that, that’s what the final story is mostly gonna look like. (there have been a few exceptions when i realized i needed extra scenes/changes while i was MID-DRAFT and let me tell you that murders me EVERY time. it happened on the merlin fic i’m currently posting and that was like my own personal hell.)

this is also where thots about chronology come in:

i think time CAN be an element of this if you WANT it to be, but it doesn’t HAVE to be. if you want it to be, i would consider it just another “list” like character development or the romance arc. 

i usually plot without considering Time very much...to me, it’s all down to the events you want to show, and however much time it takes is the byproduct. if you want to show something from a character’s chilhood but then tell the bulk of it when they’re adults, that’s one thing. if you want to show a scene from their childhood, teenhood, young adulthood, etc, that’s a different kind of pacing?? i usually do it this way so i can regard time like wordcount: it takes as long as it takes. 3 days or 3 years, a 1.5k drabble or a 100k epic...overall, my LARGEST CONCERN is that even distribution. in the same way that i don’t want one chapter to be 30,000 words when the rest are 10,000 words, i personally am not a fan of huge timeskips offscreen

(because this where i think someone’s own internal chronology DOES matter...this is just a personal preference, as a reader i have a hard time really comprehending, say, a year timeskip or a 10yr timeskip when all i did was turn one page. like, a year is such a long time. i can’t even begin to describe how different i am now to how i was a year ago. it’s the same for character development. time IS development and as a writer i’m not really comfortable having that take place offscreen - for main characters, at least. it’s just too jarring. a little prologue with something happening 10 or 20 years ago is usually fine, but for the most part, i’m not a fan. ...i can do one chapter per year a lot easier than i can do two chapters in childhood and the other 8 in adulthood. of course you can play with this a LOT with nonlinear storytelling, which is a whole other very cool thing, and someone skilled in their work can keep me sucked in no matter what, but imo if you don’t want to risk throwing your reader out of your work it’s better to keep things steady)

HOWEVER sometimes time IS an element u wanna consider outside of just making sure your shit is evenly distributed...if your heart is moved to tell a story in a specific timeframe, over a year, or from solstice to solstice (this was almost the timeline for my merlin fic and then i changed it), for the first six months of a friendship, or even a huge journey in the span of a single day (toby fox had a lot of success with this one lol).

i think it can help to choose a start and end point for your chronology the same way you do for character development (prince goes from hating magic to being ok with it, story takes place from ages 8 to 25, or from new year’s eve 2038 to 2039, whatever) - that way you can keep your distribution even, if that’s a thing you want to do...even if you have a lot of skips you can still note what happens offscreen to make it work better in your head? like, if you just make it another List, another column on your spreadsheet, when you’re in the early stages of organizing you can be conscious of it and make sure it’s playing into the story the way you want it to

anyway these r my thots im SOOOO SORRY this is so long lmao. brain machine broke today which is why i had to ramble more to explain myself. the tl;dr in case ur brain is melting out of ur ears & u didn’t sign up for an essay:

imo medium is totally distinct from storytelling tho ofc some stories are better suited to some mediums

structure? i don’t know her. i plot w/o regard to structure and then if it looks funny i mush it into a more structurally sound shape

my main concern when structuring anything, including time, is an even distribution of Events and a steady rate of escalation

structure to me is just what i have when i’m finished plotting. i’m sorry one day i’m gonna take a writing class

internal chronology matters to me personally because i have a little bit of time blindness but maybe not to everyone, i know many very successful stories where they disregarded that entirely to no ill effect

writer’s block isn’t real! everyone just needs more rainbow spreadsheets

thank u for asking I HOPE i didn’t make you regret it too badly lmao and that at least a little of it was helpful!! 

[the-cryptographer]

I know you probably get asked this a lot, but I can't help myself. You can tell me to fuck off if you don't want to answer, though. Do you still want to finish Lottery Ticket? Because it's one of my favorite YGO fics and the idea of you dropping it makes me so very sad.

It’s fine anon. I mean, I appreciate the recognition that I don’t owe you an answer or free content or anything, but I don’t get asked too often so it’s not a bother. And I’m not gonna tell you to ‘fuck off’.

Short answer is that - No, I’m not dropping Lottery Ticket. I still want to finish it. And, although I’m moving at a glacial pace, I was working on writing the next chapter as recently as sometime last week.

I’m going to give a longer answer though - Yeah, I also get scared I’m not gonna be able to finish it sometimes too. Not in the sense that it’s not important to me, but in the sense that I’ve been writing it for over two years, am over 100k words into it, and I’m not even halfway through the the planned story. I hope that I’ll be able to pick up the pace at some point, but moreso I hope that two or four or however many years in the future I’ll still care as much about finishing it as I do now. I’m kind of lucky I had some experience under my belt when I first started writing LT, enough to be able to know that I need to have a rather concrete understanding of my plot and story structure to see a long project through. But what LT has really driven home is that I have a very poor understanding of how many words and chapters (and how much time) it takes to execute the ideas in an abstract outline.

Also, yeah, idk how obvious it is, but Lottery Ticket is pretty personal to me. Not in the sense that I grew up with a gambling alcoholic dad, started a long distance relationship with a classy older woman straight out of my teenage years, or worked as a gofer for the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company. But a lot of the themes it deals with - feeling trapped in a household with a deteriorating abuser, class struggle through the lens of the more personal relationships between employers and employees, codependency and not being able to trust that people love you bc they depend on you, the intersectionality of poverty, racism, and crime, etc. etc. are all pretty heavy themes that I care deeply and personally about. And you’d think that that would make this story easier to write at times, but it mostly just makes it more difficult. It often feels a lot easier to rattle off oneshots about characters and ideas that, while maybe not entirely without emotional gravitas for me, certainly don’t hit as many soft spots so consistently.

And, in a more immediate sense, yea- next chapter is killer. I recently complained on twitter about how the draft for it cracked 8k, and I didn’t feel it was remotely finished. I like to divide the chapters so that they individually have a crescendo of rising and falling action - or at least that’s what I tell myself - so, having established the previous chapter that the next chapter is going to be about dealing with this problem where Jou owes an ungodly amount of money to yakuza affiliates and has no paycheck to pay with, I don’t think it really makes sense for me to post until I’ve reached a resolution to that conflict eleven days later. But, in addition to the mad scramble for cash, the chapter also has to include Jou dragging an unconscious Kaiba home, Jou negotiating with his landlord, scenes with Honda and Yuugi that establish how Jou feels about relying on them, an extendend flashback with Mai (& Anzu) that does much the same thing in addition to giving more background on Jou’s living situation, all that foreshadowing, etc. Also, I was kind of up in the air about whether or not to include this scene in this chapter or next - because there is /so much/ this chapter and I have very little concretely planned for next chapter - but I’m increasingly coming to think that Jou should confront his dad about the stolen paycheck this chapter instead of next one. Like- Jou’s kind of avoiding coming face to face with his dad and directly asking him for the money back. And the idea is that Jou’s been in situations similar enough to this in the past, that he already knows what the likely result of such a confrontation is and that it’s probably a dead end. So he’d prefer to wait until after the situation with Kyoutarou is dealt with to speak to dad. But the more I think about it, the more I realise the audience doesn’t have the same information that Jou does, and would probably benefit more from seeing the outcome of that confrontation firsthand. And to see it firsthand while there is still a hypothetical possibility for Jou’s dad to somehow influence the outcome when Jou goes to pay his debt, instead of after it’s somewhat of a moot point.

And, yeah, that brings me to the last part, which is the anxiety for what comes after the next chapter. As I’ve said, the fic is plotted out pretty heavily, but the two-three chapters after the next one are the part of the fic I have planned out the least in terms of their concrete events. I know the scene that the chapter after next ends on, but I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to fill the first part of it in with beyond the extremely vague ‘need to have a scene with Mokuba and start filling in more foreshadowing before the shit entirely hits the fan’. This isn’t explicitly a problem, per se, because Lotto Ticket has a big cast and there are a lot of threads I can pick up with Mai, Anzu, Shizuka, Honda, Yuugi, the other secretarial staff, etc that will hopefully fill out the pacing gaps in a way that will hopefully be entertaining and insightful, before I get back to the more solidified chapters directly preceding and including the climax of Part 2.

And, mmm, in addition to the anxiety related to chapter planning or lack thereof, there’s also just anxiety about what I’m going to have the characters say, do, and think? Next chapter is going to start dropping some pretty horrible headcanons about Jounouchi’s misogyny and his criminal record that I think should reasonably turn some people away from a fic featuring him as the protag. Following this he will spend a while comparing Seto rather unfavorably to Mai, and I mean that in an extremely intimate relational sense. And while I, as the author, know this is him struggling with his own homophobia and that it’s not meant to reflect negatively in a meta sense on Seto or JouKai, it takes a while before Jounouchi even starts to get over himself. Also, like, I’ve dropped some hints already that Jou and Mai have an open relationship (and that it’s a setup Jou’s not very happy about and kind of considers cheating anyhow). But I think the further progression of the “cheating” as it exists in this fic has the potential to be increasingly upsetting for readers, and it’s also the first of multiple issues regarding Jounouchi not really having a very good understanding of consent. And, finally, although I started the fic with a rather stark and controversial picture of Mokuba, and have since tried really hard to communicate that he is the same kid from canon that loves his brother to death, we have absolutely not reached the worst in his conflict and anger with his brother and I’m sure at least a few people won’t like it. And, mmm, I’m not really willing to compromise any of these things or tone them down. Even the few that aren’t directly baked solid into the plot structure of the fic, even the ones that I’m really not going to be able to frame in such a way that I can address them in detail given Jounouchi’s POV, I think they’re all extremely thematic and pointed towards the story’s idea of the situation Jounouchi grew up in, what he learned from it, and how much is at stake or not at stake, when he tries (or doesn’t try) to escape the poverty and abuse that (at least in part) defined him. But, yeah, idk. Even though I’m decided in that ‘this is the story i’m gonna write and no other’ it’s still anxiety provoking to think about readers being upset with me or dropping the fic even if I think their reasons for doing so would be completely justified - you know what I mean?

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to ramble about writing (or not writing) one of my favourite fics, anon. I hope I’ll be able to get the next chapter out sooner rather than later.

[terrainofheartfelt]

2, 11, 18, 20!

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

With the holidays over, I’m looking forward to really sinking my teeth into the p & p au. I didn’t mean to write it — you know S, it started as a joke, and then I was like. Oops I’m really writing it now. But it poofed into my head around the time I wanted to work on the Miloverse, so I wrote a big hunk of it, then put it on ice. But with the Miloverse (mostly) done, I want to make time to work on the P & P now. I’ve given you lots of deets in the dms but for the folks at home: Bennets = van der Humphreys. Dan as Lizzie, the unreliable narrator. Vanessa Abrams bring her own fabulous twist to Charlotte Lucas. Nate is Bingley—Serenate is Jing. Blair is Darcy, rich pretentious snob who has to undergo some character development. I don’t want to give too much away, but I am really happy with the way the Jenny (Lydia) subplot pans out, it was the last big hunk of story I wrote before shelving it in the autumn. It’s not quite an au of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, bc Dan as a character I don’t think is the type to vlog like that lmao, but LBD as a blueprint of the modern au inspired a lot of ideas. There’s also going to be appearances of characters I haven’t really written before, like Ivy Dickens and Aaron Rose, which is fun! (But I’m not gonna give away their parallels 😉)

There’s a couple little things I want to get up on ao3 and here over the long weekend, and then it is Austen time babeyyyy

11. What do you envy in other writers?

Thinking in terms of our corner of the gg clubhouse…it’s the trust for the reader that’s there, if that makes sense? The last time I wrote fiction was in junior high, so I learned how to be an academic, research writer (especially in grad school), so I have this compulsion from that experience to want to explain everything, which isn’t necessarily what you want to do in fiction. so when I read fic that leaves space to breathe, for the reader to take up space, I’m like “wait, do I do that? I have to give everything a context, I don’t think I do that?”

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

Until like, the last drafts of it, in “sweet, wonderful you” & “as long as there are stars” I almost mentioned something about Louis cheating. Like, I think it’s no secret on this blog that I hate that guy, and we only have Estee for an episode and a half, but in this universe where Blair and Louis have a legit marriage, him having an affair with Estee didn’t seem that far-fetched. But it was one of those things that if I slipped it in I would have to address it and give it some sort of closure (Chekov’s gun and all that), and I didn’t really want to, because I thought it would detract too much from what was already going on, and make it seem like Blair ended her marriage over an affair. Not that that wouldn’t be a good enough reason, but I wanted the core of it to be that she just wasn’t happy, that she felt disconnected from herself and her friends. That her leaving Louis and the monarchy had to do with her, and not some side character that only barely matters. That, and like, homegirl had been through enough, it would have just been a hat on a hat.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

This is so open ended I love it so I am gonna tell you TWO things

The first is the bit in “as long as there are stars” when Dan says that while they were drunk, he and Vanessa made a deal that they would get married if they were both still single when they were 40 (while I ruthlessly and repentlessly ripped the gag from himym) it comes from an outline of a prequel to “somewhere you feel free” that has a little bit written to it: it’s a remix of Cece’s Irish wake, and Dan finding out he’s one of Cece’s named beneficiaries. But really, it’s a peek in how Dan is feeling as a single parent to a toddler—the custody battle is done, and he’s still adjusting to his role as a father being legally reinforced, and how he feels kind of—separated from his friends, because they’re just people in their 20s figuring shit out, and he has a baby, and he’s kind of given up on being anything but a parent, and how money from Cece changes that for him.

Okay the other thing I’ve been itching to talk about is the recurring theme of home in—well it shows up everywhere in my writing but specifically in my Date AU series “And you can have this heart to break.” All of it is a remix of s4 (where everyone is 100% gayer), but the central part of it is Nate and Dan as an established couple. Which is interesting for many reasons, but it throws everything Juliet tries to do to Serena into a new angle. (I have worked out how I want it to go down, I just gotta get the spoons to write it out) Because she’s ultimately successful in isolating Serena because Serena’s circle themselves feel so isolated. But what if Dan & Nate & co. are actually mostly fine? Or at the very least, are able to all lean on each other. So the home thing was a major part of that, especially for Nate, who spends two-thirds of the show squatting in his friend’s spare room of a hotel penthouse, never really get to make his own home, which I think is Stupid. So the fic opens with Nate giving chip the finger (which I love bc I’m petty), and effectively moving in with Dan. Also on the petty front, with the source material tossing its characters asunder in tumultuous relationships, I wanted to demonstrate with this fic that no matter what bullshit is going on around them (Jenny’s Parsons drama, Serena’s gf drama, Blair’s gf drama, the Juliet of it all), Nate and Dan were going to be and stay rock solid. So in each “episode” work in the series, I’ve been very intentional that they all begin and end with them coming home to each other. I think I have the x-files fandom (aka Nads) to thank for introducing me to the concept of The Touchstone, because that is what they are to each other in this series. The port in the storm, as it were. That, and I just love domestic fluff. :)

Fun meta asks for writers

[sage-nebula]

YGO - In Plain Sight - Outline

Thanks to @brooklynhype‘s prompt (“When does Jounouchi say ‘I love you’ back?”) and also encouragement (along with @severalbakuras’ encouragement), I’ve decided to share an outline I wrote up aaaages ago (like, two years ago) for a longfic showing exactly how Yuugi and Jounouchi’s relationship progresses to the romantic stage. This fic takes place when Yuugi and Jounouchi are ~22/23, in the post-canon headcanon I have where they ended up getting an apartment together when they were ~18/19 that was close to Yuugi’s university. I’ll still write this fic someday, and I’ve already written parts of it (which will be linked within). It may take a while, but I’ll still get to it someday. Someday . . . (Though that said, if you want to draw art just based on this, by all means, please do.)

That said . . . have a very detailed outline below the cut.

Chapter 1 --- April

Yuugi has lunch with Kisugi and Shiori; Shiori assumes that Yuugi and Jounouchi are a couple, and he assures her (and Kisugi) that they are not, but this gets him thinking about how he felt when she assumed that

Yuugi and Jounouchi watch a movie cuddled up (kind of—each one has a head on an armrest, Yuugi is sprawled across/on top of Jounouchi) on the couch; it’s not romantic but Yuugi can’t stop thinking about how it looks/what it feels like; Jounouchi goes to work (it’s late) and Yuugi falls asleep playing 3DS on the couch

Yuugi does not know this, but when Jounouchi gets home and sees Yuugi sleeping on the couch, Jounouchi carries him to bed

The next morning, Yuugi realizes Jounouchi carried him to bed (maybe?), and he makes coffee for Jounouchi, which wakes Jounouchi up; Yuugi brings up plans for after graduation and mentions he might apply to Nintendo, in Kyoto; Jounouchi tells him he should do that, after saying that he (Jounouchi) doesn’t know what he wants to do, and Yuugi bails

Yuugi ponders over his own feelings, that he doesn’t want to leave Jounouchi necessarily, that he doesn’t want Jounouchi to leave him, or maybe that he’s upset because it seems like Jounouchi doesn’t care as much? He’s distracted enough that he misses his train and opts against going to class. It’s the last day of the school week so after a few hours he decides to go his grandpa’s for the weekend to clear his head

He still ends up being distracted by recurring thoughts of Jounouchi; after talking with his mom (and his mom pressuring him about do this, do that, have you found a gf yet) he decides to ask out Mina since Kisugi mentioned that she was interested in him before

Yuugi successfully asks Mina to a carnival that’s in town the following weekend; when he tells Jounouchi this Jounouchi is very congratulatory and tells Yuugi to give him all the details of their date and Yuugi doesn’t really know how to feel about this

On their date, Yuugi thinks Mina looks very pretty, but throughout the date his heart isn’t really in it and he can’t help but thinking that he and Jounouchi would be doing this-or-that instead if he’d gone (and then he wonders if he’d have liked to go with Anzu as well, thinks probably, but Jounouchi was at the forefront of his mind); at the end Mina says she had a nice time and Yuugi says he did, too . . . but he thinks probably it’s not going to work out between them. Mina is hurt but Yuugi figures it’s better if he’s honest

When he gets home, Jounouchi asks how the date went, Yuugi said it’s over and Jounouchi says he’s sorry; Yuugi points out the carnival will be in town the next day as well and asks Jounouchi if he wants to go, to which Jounouchi says yeah, sure, and Yuugi is pretty happy about it, though he is determined to see this as just any other time of them hanging out

Throughout the next night at the carnival he can’t stop comparing it to how things were with Mina the previous night; things just get more confusing when they’re walking home and Jounouchi throws an arm around his shoulders; this never bothered him before, so why does it bother him now?? Yuugi can’t figure it out, things are 100% too confusing; he resolves to ask for help

Chapter 2 --- May

Yuugi’s main experiences in the areas of romance come in the form of 1.) his crush on Anzu, and 2.) porn videos, which are not informative at all. He tries to compare what he feels to Jounouchi to what he felt for Anzu, but the feelings are different (he thinks) and he’s honestly not sure if he still has feelings for Anzu or not given that she’s lived halfway around the world for the past few years, so it’s honestly pretty confusing in that regard, too

He tries to talk to Anzu on Skype to see if he can settle whether or not he has feelings for her; whether or not he succeeds (like, if she’s available) is tbd

Yuugi tries to ask his mom what it felt like when she fell in love with his dad; this conversation goes nowhere fast because she’s more invested on who he might be in love with rather than what love feels like

His grandpa doesn’t help by very nearly bringing up the porn tapes in front of Yuugi’s mom (“I bet I can guess who it is, I know from those tapes you have a ty—” “Grandpa!!”)

Many people at university now resent Yuugi for “playing” Mina and breaking her heart; more like they’re spreading gossip about him doing just that; Yuugi has to decide on his senior overview project and what it’s going to be

While eating lunch with Shiori and Kisugi (above bullet point comes into play here), Jounouchi shows up on a surprise visit because his shift at the radio station ended early that day for whatever reason; Kisugi flirts with Jounouchi, Jounouchi shoots him down, Shiori gives many meaningful looks to Yuugi and asks him again if he’s sure when Jounouchi leaves; Yuugi is not sure of anything tbh

That night Jounouchi ends up making dinner again (okonomiyaki—so nothing too fancy, but still good), and they make cookies and play Mario Kart or some other game and it’s really, really great night and Yuugi enjoys himself a lot—but again, confusing, because this is really domestic but?? Normal???

The next day he goes to Bakura’s for advice; Bakura says he’s not the best for advice because he’s aromantic so this isn’t really his area, but they talk for awhile and eventually Yuugi comes to the conclusion that he really, really, really cares for Jounouchi, obviously he loves him . . . but love doesn’t necessarily mean IN love . . . it’s different from how he felt about Anzu, like, it’s not like he has wet dreams about Jounouchi, but he thinks maybe he would like kissing him? Or he’d like to try. But mostly it’s that yeah, he loves him . . . he’s happy being with him, and being with Jounouchi makes him feel . . . safe? Secure? Warm? Happy? Like, it’s right, like this is how things are supposed to be, and living with him has been great. And whenever he thinks about not living with him in a year or whatever if he has to move to Kyoto for work or whatever he starts to feel anxious and unhappy, but it’s worse thinking that Jounouchi is okay with that, because Yuugi doesn’t want to leave but he also doesn’t want to stay if Jounouchi doesn’t want him to. And through all this ramble one thing becomes clear: Yuugi is for defo sure in srs love with Jounouchi; the question is: what does he do about it?

Chapter 3 --- June / July

Yuugi does nothing about it at first, continues to try and sort his feelings; he has started getting job offers for when he graduates in March (Jounouchi is not surprised by this, Yuugi feels a bit overwhelmed, esp because he hasn’t even done his senior overview yet wtf), but he doesn’t know what to do with them because he doesn’t know if he wants to leave Domino or not

The Tanabata festival is coming up; there is a celebration going on at Yuugi’s university, but also a big festival going on down at the docks; Jounouchi says that he’s going to that one because station management has asked him to make a video about it (sort of like a vlog, Jounouchi says) for the website, and he asks Yuugi to go with him; Yuugi says yes because of course he does, esp because he was going to celebrate Tanabata anyway

They are both a bit uncomfortable because it’s down near the docks, near where they had their duel, but it’s easier if they’re with each other and Jounouchi is good about fooling around with the camera for the vlog

Yuugi’s wish on the tanzaku (wish tag) that he hangs on the festival tree is something to the effect of “I wish for my future to work out, and for Jounouchi-kun to be part of it”

Jounouchi also writes a wish on the tanzaku (it’s bad luck not to and he’s superstitious anyway) but Yuugi does not know what it is

KaibaCorp was hosting some of the entertainment at the festival and so they run into Mokuba, who is in charge of that sort of thing (given that he is better at PR than Seto); Shizuka is there bc she wanted to surprise Jounouchi & also Mokuba invited her; they also run into Honda and Bakura as both came down to celebrate as well

They stay and watch as the festival tree is set out to sea and lit on fire at festival’s end

Shizuka stays the night after Tanabata, and because Jounouchi does not want his baby sis having to sleep on the couch, he has her take his bed; he plans to sleep on the couch, but Yuugi casually suggests they share his bed instead, and Jounouchi sees no problem with it once he’s sure they can both fit, so Yuugi’s pretty happy (even if his heart is beating ten thousand miles a minute)

The next morning, Shizuka is rather surprised to see her brother emerging from Yuugi’s room, and she starts to ask him, “Are you---?” before she decides against it; Jounouchi asks her what she was about to ask, and she says it’s nothing, so he threatens to tickle it out of her, and they get into an impromptu wrestling / tickling match, but she still never says anything, and Yuugi (who witnessed this) wonders what she thinks, and if she’s thinking what he thinks she’s thinking, and if she is, what she thinks the chances are of Jounouchi feeling the same way as him, then

Yuugi has final exams for the spring semester, which are pretty stressful, so they distract him from things for a time after Tanabata, but Jounouchi helps him through his finals

Within a day or so of Yuugi’s finals wrapping up and summer vacay starting, Jounouchi announces that the radio station offered him a permanent position as a radio co-host—on a trial basis but w/e, point is they were impressed by his vlog and how many hits it got so like??? He’s got a real job now, provided he makes it through the trial run of August, go him

Yuugi is super happy for Jounouchi, but this also means that Jounouchi will probably absolutely have to stay in Domino, so . . . that complicates things, frick

Chapter 4 --- August

Yuugi decides on his senior overview finally: it will be a largely text based adventure game in which the protagonist has to successfully avert the end of the world, albeit the end of the world is really a metaphor for the protagonist’s own life, with multiple endings

Since it is summer break for Yuugi and Honda, they agree that they’d like to take a vacation, only that is hard given that Bakura is pretty broke, and Jounouchi has to work; they decide that they’ll take mini vacations over each weekend in August since Jounouchi doesn’t work on weekends; since none of them have a lot of money, ultimately they settle on one four day weekend trip to Hokkaido

In Hokkaido:

Failed attempts at surfing, Honda and Jounouchi try to bury each other in the sand

They can’t afford hotels so they end up camping out on the beach and brought tents for this purpose

See some bikini clad ladies, and Yuugi, Jounouchi, and Honda all find them attractive while Bakura is just like “ok, you do that, I’m going to go get some ice cream”; Yuugi finds the ladies really attractive, but it’s seeing that and knowing he doesn’t feel the urge to go flirt or anything that lets him know his feelings are legit

Spooky stories around the campfire to Jounouchi’s dismay; Bakura is devious and tells extra spooky stories because he knows that Jounouchi and Yuugi are sharing a tent

Yuugi and Jounouchi share a tent; Yuugi innocently asks if Jounouchi is okay and Jounouchi says that ofc he is, everything is cool, but strange spooky noises are heard outside of the tent and so Yuugi “sacrifices” by sleeping closer and Jounouchi says that ofc he’ll keep Yuugi safe and hugs him close—for Yuugi’s benefit ofc

The spooky sounds were Bakura, that devious lil thing

Other summer shenanigans as they crop up maybe: impromptu beach volleyball tournament? Other beach games they can’t resist playing (Yuugi and Bakura especially)? Things like that

When they get back from Hokkaido Yuugi tries to tell Jounouchi how he feels, but chickens out at the last second and they go to bed

Chapter 5 --- September

School has started again and Yuugi presents his senior overview project idea to his advisor, who thinks it is a bit cliché; Yuugi is hurt and put-out by this but resolves to try and find a new idea

People at school have heard Jounouchi on the radio and Shiori and Kisugi approach Yuugi about it, to ask him what is up; specifically Shiori wants to know if this means Jounouchi is staying in Domino, has Yuugi thought about his options, has Yuugi talked to him? And she knows that they’re not dating, she knows it, but she figures, they’re still roommates, this is still probably something they should—but Yuugi cuts her off and says no, no, but he will, soon. Probably.

Since Jounouchi lasted the entire month of August and proved to be very adept at what he does, he’s officially an official radio host now at the station, congrats, go him. They officially slot him in at the mid-morning/afternoon show, and while they considered giving him a co-host at first they’ve decided against it, ultimately, because he talks enough for two people

That night, Jounouchi and Yuugi talk Yuugi’s career options again (discuss him leaving Domino, him staying in Domino, working for KaibaCorp etc), and this segues into Yuugi finally confessing how he feels in a roundabout way, and they talk about it; Jounouchi says that he can’t return Yuugi’s feelings, but he also promises that ofc they’re still best friends even if they’re not going to start dating, Yuugi is Yuugi etc; Yuugi is relieved but he still feels deep disappointment because ultimately his feelings weren’t returned (or so he thinks)

When he wakes up the next morning Jounouchi is already gone; Yuugi tries not to read into it and goes to class; Shiori and Kisugi ask what’s up, and Yuugi kind of wants to tell them, but opts against it; it’s hard to concentrate in class and he still doesn’t have a new idea for his senior overview

At work, Jounouchi (POV switch!) has a hard time concentrating on the radio; he manages to get through the show all right, except halfway through he starts rambling about unexpected changes and what to do when you’re in a jam like that and etc etc he ends up turning it into an extended Duel Monsters metaphor and caps off the entire thing by telling his listeners that sometimes they just have to take trap cards as they come and use a luck card to pull it through, only too bad luck cards don’t’ work in real life, right? Station management does not know wtf is up with this and they send him home and tell him to pls feel better tomorrow; Jounouchi texts Honda to tell him he’s coming to visit for a time (also texts Yuugi to let him know he’s going to Honda’s and says it’s bc Honda needs help with something, but he’s vague about what that something is)

Jounouchi tells Honda that this must keep this secret under threat of pain of death, but that Yuugi told him that he loved him; they talk about this for a long while, Jounouchi ends up spending the night; the next day before he leaves he resolves he’s going to be super careful from now on because he doesn’t want to lead Yuugi on or anything

This is where things get hard.

Chapter 6 --- October

Things are awkward in the apartment; Jounouchi is often out later, and when they are at home together there isn’t the same level of comfort they had before (e.g. no cuddling on the couch during movies)

Yuugi invites Jounouchi out to the arcade (“you know, just to hang out”) on a Saturday, and they go, and as they’re walking home Jounouchi goes to sling an arm around Yuugi’s shoulders—only to quickly pull it back and apologize, which makes the whole thing super awkward but really makes Yuugi feel like the world just split in two; Yuugi makes up an excuse about something he remembers he had to do and bails

Yuugi goes to Bakura’s and is basically already crying when Bakura opens the door (“I ruined everything”) and tries to seek counsel, but it’s hard because things are different and awkward and distant now and Yuugi doesn’t know what to do

Jounouchi calls Honda because he can tell he really hurt Yuugi pretty badly and he doesn’t know what to do either, because aren’t things better this way?? He doesn’t want to lead him on or make things harder, but is this a damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t??? (“Because it’s not like we can be together—” “Why can’t you?” “Why do you think? I can’t---I’m not gonna spell it out for you right now”)

Yuugi gets home that night, things are super awkward, sort of a “I’m sorry about before” “yeah no it’s ok” kind of situation; Yuugi excuses himself to go work on his senior overview and Jounouchi goes to his room to play guitar; both doors are shut (they were always open before) and both boys are unhappy

KaibaCorp hosts a Halloween event in the city that is basically like a fear trial utilizing their virtual reality/hologram technology in a massive complex supposedly built for this purpose (really it was an old weapons facility but shh no need to let anyone know this); the station sends Jounouchi to go vlog it like before much to his dismay, and when he tells Yuugi he asks if maybe Yuugi wants to go, and Yuugi excitedly says yes before he says, well, Bakura was already going because he helped with some of the ideas (“great” Jounouchi says, even less enthused than before), so the three of them can go together

At the fear trial event thing:

Bakura speaks with Mokuba beforehand to make things extra frightening for Jounouchi (unknown if this shown or will be referenced later, we’ll see)

The entire thing is actually underground in specifically designed tunnels and the like; each tunnel is fitted with holographic technology and the holograms and such adjust as guests wander through

Mokuba is present at the event again because, again, PR

As they go through things start out OK until the jump scares start in with demons and ghosts and things; there’s a particularly bad one at a three way split, and on pure instinct Jounouchi bolts down one corridor while Yuugi went down the other (and Bakura wondered which one he should pursue)

As they’re separated, Jounouchi tries to find Yuugi again while trying to explain himself to the camera, and spends a lot of time running; he ends up finding Yuugi again at another point in the maze, and it looks like Yuugi is being harassed by a big group of dudes

Jounouchi immediately rushes in to his defense, about to whoop some serious ass, but 1.) they’re holograms and 2.) they shift to demons whenever Jounouchi gets there, so he grabs Yuugi’s wrist and takes off running again

When they reach some distance away Jounouchi makes sure Yuugi’s all right, and Yuugi reminds him that everything’s a hologram, but they lost Bakura; Jounouchi is like “oh, right” and they go to look for Bakura

Everything feels normal as they battle their way through the underground maze; at one point they’re assaulted by Duel Monsters holograms and at another they have to avoid illusions of falling CapMon capsules (like Penalty Games, eh?)

It soon becomes apparent that to escape the maze (or maybe they knew from the start) they actually have to battle and play a game that is part riddle and part logic; KaibaCorp is a gaming company after all

When the event is over and Jounouchi and Yuugi go home together, it’s in silence, and it seems like maybe, tentatively, they just . . . won’t discuss Yuugi’s feelings, or Jounouchi’s feelings, or anything like that; things are still a little awkward but before anything can be discussed Jounouchi says he needs to transfer the video to station management for editing, and Yuugi says yeah, he needs to work on his senior overview; once again they’re in their own rooms, doors shut

Chapter 7 --- November

Yuugi has another meeting with his senior overview adviser to discuss his project; he starts throwing out random ideas like “maybe something with time travel so the player can fix their mistakes” (but cuts back on that because “no, that’s too much like Braid”) and basically throws out random ideas until, wishing that he had Atem to talk to about this whole mess with Jounouchi, he says, “what if the player has an alter ego they can switch to in order to skip over hard parts in the game for them, only in so doing they make the game longer every time they do it because they’re not actually clearing the obstacles themselves” and his adviser is like “I’m listening”

Jounouchi tries to force himself to be upbeat on the air, but it’s hard; station management has a talk with him about his “depressing demeanor” and consider sticking him with a co-host again (or giving him some time off if he needs it?) but he insists that’s not necessary and that he’s fine, really

A few days later (or so) Yuugi and Jounouchi are both home in the evening and Yuugi mentions off-hand that he made a resume and that he noticed Nintendo had an opening for a game developer and he was thinking about applying; Jounouchi tells him that he should go for it, and Yuugi says that he’d have to move to Kyoto, and Jounouchi says again, in as firm a voice as he can manage, he really thinks Yuugi should go for it; Yuugi takes this the wrong way (ofc he does) and goes to his room; Jounouchi takes a walk

The next day, Jounouchi is real depressed on air, and station management ends up sending him home basically immediately after with the note of “take tomorrow off if you have to, but this has gotta stop”; as he leaves he runs into Mai, who is in town for a gig with KaibaCorp, and she sought him out because “I’ve heard happier people presiding over funerals”

Jounouchi does not tell Mai all of the details; basically just talks to her in general terms about relationships etc; Mai tells him that he needs to take chances when he has them because otherwise he won’t, and wasn’t he always the recklessly courageous one? Jounouchi says this is easier said than done; in any case they talk over dinner

When Jounouchi gets home, Yuugi is in his room with the door closed; he is working on his senior overview project, but Jounouchi figures that’s probably a hint, too . . . and closes his own door all the same

The next morning, it’s small talk over breakfast until Yuugi brings up that Anzu will be in town next month, so, he figured, they could have a holiday party or something, if that was okay, and Jounouchi says that yeah, of course it is, they can invite everyone, it’ll be awesome; it’s a tentative, tiny band-aid over the issues between them

Chapter 8 --- December

Jounouchi and Yuugi plan for the holiday party together, though Jounouchi does much of the food purchasing and such as Yuugi still has to work on his senior overview/other homework and also prepare for his final exams

The holiday party is really just Yuugi, Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu(!!!), and Bakura

Midway through the party Anzu notices the odd distance between Yuugi and Jounouchi and she pulls Jounouchi into his room to talk about it; they discuss things for few seconds but when Jounouchi says he can’t talk about things there she declares to everyone that they are taking a walk and drags him out of the apartment

Jounouchi ends up spilling everything to Anzu in the park, and they talk about what has been going on (this bullet was originally more detailed, but the entire conversation is in the link so just read that)

In the next few days/week or so(?) Anzu and Yuugi are hanging out, and it feels kind of date-ish, and as they walk Anzu brings up the idea of the two of them dating, if they ever wanted to pursue a relationship etc; Yuugi is caught very off-guard and, much like she did with Jounouchi, Anzu takes Yuugi to the park so they can talk (and note, Anzu still does not have feelings for him, but more she wanted to create an opening to talk about Yuugi’s feelings for Jounouchi); Yuugi tells Anzu about his feelings for Jounouchi and what has been going on there and Anzu assures him everything will work out just fine (though she refuses to tell him why she thinks he shouldn’t give up hope just yet, because even if she doesn’t want him to give up / wants to reassure him, she’s not going to tell him everything Jounouchi told her in specific, it’s not her place to do so)

Yuugi has to buckle down and finish his senior overview after this (as well as study for his upcoming exams etc);  after some deliberation (including some not-vague-enough deliberation ON-AIR, FFS JOUNOUCHI PLS), Jounouchi decides they for sure need to talk about this when Yuugi’s exams are over

Chapter 9 --- January

Yuugi presents his senior overview to the committee for his department and it is accepted/he gets a pass on it; he also feels that he does all right on exams so with any luck he will graduate for sure come March

Jounouchi ends up asking him again about his future prospects, job-wise, after congratulating Yuugi on things going well and Yuugi says that oh, he doesn’t know, he’s applied to some places but he’s still deciding, you know; Jounouchi tries to tell him then, tries to talk to him about things, but he ends up chickening out and going for a walk instead

Jounouchi comes back that night, and Yuugi is playing a game in the living room; Jounouchi reminds himself that he’s got balls, he can do this, he’s faced scarier things, he did Kaiba’s fear trial bullshit back in October, he can do this; he asks Yuugi to turn off the game for a sec, or at least pause it, so they can talk

Basic bottom line here is Jounouchi explains to Yuugi how much he cares about him, and does love him, and he never really thought it before because they were always bff but Yuugi is really, really, very, very important to him and he thinks that he, probably—no, he does, love Yuugi, and he thinks that it probably is like that, you know, but he freaked out and he’s sorry, but part of the reason why he’s been like this is because he doesn’t think that he’s very good for Yuugi, all things considered, Yuugi can do better and shouldn’t let himself be held back by—

Yuugi kisses him. Lightly, on the lips, just once. He pulls away, leans forward to kiss him again—and Jounouchi kisses him back, again, chaste, just testing the waters

Jounouchi stares at him, and things are tense and emotional and hearts are beating very, very, very, very fast, and Yuugi wants this, and Jounouchi wants this, and that scares him, so he says, “um, actually, I think I have to go do a . . . a thing” and bails (god DAMN it Jounouchi god DAMN IT)

Jounouchi goes to Honda’s, and Honda is not happy about being woken up at whatever time of night, but when Jounouchi blurts “I kissed Yuugi” Honda lets him in; they talk for a long, long time about things, Jounouchi finally vents all of his “BUT I’M NOT GOOD ENOUGH AND ANYWAY I JUST BAILED AFTER HE KISSED ME LIKE WTF HE’S NEVER GOING TO WANT TO SEE ME AGAIN ANYWAY I’M SO STUPID THIS IS WHY HE DESERVES BETTER” etc, but Honda insists that no, Yuugi is not like that, and anyway, the more important thing here is Honda wants both of his friends to be happy and if this makes them happy, then really the only thing standing in their way right now is Jounouchi, and goddamn he’s never seen anyone so determined to be in the way of their own happiness, honestly. Jounouchi is really quiet for a time and finally, just--- “Do you love him?” “. . . yes.” “How much?” “More than . . . god, I . . .” (Unintelligible mumbling as he buries his face in his arms) “Dude, there’s your answer, just get over yourself and be honest with him, let this happen, you guys’ll work it out somehow. Now go the hell to sleep, I still have an exam tomorrow.”

Jounouchi goes home the next morning, Yuugi isn’t there because Yuugi went to go have breakfast with Bakura. When Yuugi gets back in the afternoon Jounouchi throws the remote at the TV to turn it off (smooth—it doesn’t even work), and apologizes for bailing, Yuugi says it’s okay, Jounouchi says it’s not . . . and more calmly explains everything he’s been stressing over, how he thinks that he doesn’t want to hold Yuugi back, Yuugi could probably do better etc, BUT, he says, before Yuugi can interrupt, BUT he . . . he . . . and he kisses Yuugi, this time he initiates it, and it’s more desperate and far less chaste than before (well—less chaste when Yuugi introduces some tongue as, you know, a test), and when he pulls away Jounouchi says, “I . . . I really . . .” and he just hugs Yuugi as he finishes the, “I love you, and I’m sorry, but I mean it—” and Yuugi hugs him back because finally, FINALLY, finally everything will be all right.

Chapter 10 --- March (Epilogue)

Yuugi graduates, of course; he has his degree in game design and practically a hoard of game companies knocking down his door

Jounouchi has been much, much, much happier on air, of course, given that everything is sorted out and like it used to be (except with more physical intimacy, natch)

Yuugi accepts at a job at an indie games company (MalleaBoundary Games) in Domino; it’s on the other side of town so they do have to move, but they opt to move together esp since the commute still won’t be too bad for Jounouchi

 All in all, everything is as it should be.