#i couls write paragraphs about it

[classical-bluess]

The MHA Spider-verse AU I couldn't stop thinking about featuring grumpy sweatpants All Might trapped in Izuku's dimension

This version of All Might wasn't planning on having a successor so he never met Izuku but now he's stuck in a dimension with a student without his teacher I've thought about this 🤚

[linaselandbasil]

AADIFTRAF lore!

-Aadiftraf (As a dragon I find this romantic as fu-) is an Eldarya fanfiction on AO3

-If you're here for the Eldarya stuff the link to the fanfiction is next to the tags.

-If you're here for the speculative zoology read the dragon paragraph.

Let's start with this map:

Okay, thats enough map time. Now let's talk about speculative zoology!

Humans live there? But how does that make sense scientifically?

There is no sound explanation for life to evolve the same way it did on earth so I think its best if the two worlds had gateways between each other that open occasionally. That is made evident in the numerous species that had migrated from one world to another (Ex: Elves are an offshoot of prehistoric humans that evolved from a large population that found their way there, many neolithic species from 90 000BCE-30 000BCE such as wooly rhinos and modern humans are still thriving in the tundra and the steppe)

This is the reason humans live on this planet. I know that Im a fantasy writer and bonified dragon shagger but I'm also a man of science. (Nerd)

Dragons: Theres a lot of stuff to say so I'll divide it into points.

1.) How did a species without thumbs invent communism?

Their technoligy is not crafted tools, but their bond with nature. For any animal to have a brain as developed as ours, they need to have a use for it. A big brain is disadvantageous when there is no use for it because thinking burns a lot of calories, so if high inteligence is not neccessary for survival (and not selected for) it will dissapear in a few generations.

Also, higher inteligence could mean more food and more food means more developed brains so it's entierly possible for social animals to have the capacity to be as inteligent as the dragons in my original writing without the nuance of using tools. However, as I said earlier: Dragon civilization is not about building the tallest towers or owning the most land, but about their boundless compassion.

What made them the most resillient of all megafauna in the plains and in the mountains was their refusal to turn on each other. Their highly complex social life requires big brains and their high inteligence allows them to eat enough to support its caloric needs.

That's why they know about communism.

2.) Okay but why are they so confused about gender?

I honestly don't know how i got this far with my speculative zoology, im very much drowning at the deep end. At least I can annoy the hell out of conservatives with this. If you don't want to hear about anyones private parts you better skip this paragraph

In my writing, dragons are semi hermaphrodites with cloaca-like genitals.

Hopefully enough censorship to not get flagged. I don't want to withhold my knowledge.

As the kit grows up, either one of the two will become functional. Until then, there is no way to know how they will turn out.

Besides, gender identity (as opposed to gender based genitals) is a very human concept, dragons don't experience their gender identity because they have none, they just don't have a need for it.

So that's why they get confused sometimes.

3.) Why do they keep humans in check?

Short awnser: We're a menace.

Long awnser:

Dragons know that they or the humans have the potential to destroy entire ecosystems and drive most living things into extinction. They used to live and let live with humans and their baby's first agriculture adventures, but it inevitably lead to humans exploiting nature and growing so far from their roots that they no longer respected dragons the way dragons respected every living thing.

There were a lot of conflicts because humans started to view them as fair game, and also considered the land they inhabited to be their property.

As the humans grew to excessive numbers, they took up more and more of the land and the dragons had no other option but to eat them, because they couldn't forage anyone, they couldn't hunt at winter because there's not enough prey so they had to eat anything they could.

This is a topic that requires a whole damn essay, so I'll stop right here.

What's up with Blavió?

Blavió is a city-state founded by rotreá'nin who used to live in the west-ward plains. A rotreá is the bond of a dragon and a human who hunt, fly and work together for efficiency. The rotreá'nin is the name of the first tribe of a symbiosis such as this.

The dragons found it advantageous to have people with opposable thumbs healing them, crafting whatever and scratching behind their ears.

The humans greatly benefited from having apex predators not consider them competition or potential prey, help with hunting, labor, transportation, but the most important thing is that they HAD to learn to understand a creature so weird and so intelligent.

This trial led to humans getting over their inherent superiority complex, but didn't leave them vulnerable to others due to the loyalty of dragons.

After a while, some of these people settled down to establish themselves alongside other human nations. The little village was already there, dragons like to winter in the mountains so humans followed and some decided to stay.

They built jurta's and then houses and then library. The city of Blavió soon turned into a trading point. Their location is not the most advantageous and they did tax merchants, but they didn't tax nearly as much as Henda and they had a monopoly on their mineral resource, dragon feathers, and the nomads only sold and purchased in their bazaar in exchange for citizenship.

So in conclusion, Blavió is a cool place with nice aesthetics. I didn't go into too much detail but later I might.

Also, don't forget that the city was destroyed in a two week siege about a decade ago and is currently being duct taped back together.

The Laureni?? How the hekk does one justify dragons and humans having a romantic relationship?

Oh boy, I just love calling myself out on my sins.

The laureni are a hybrid of dragons and humans, they were created with the help of sorcery by turning at least two subjects into one. This practice is unethical and hazardous, so it was banned.

The laureni have very complex biology due to the unconventional mix of genes, so I'll leave it at this for now.

[mr-nauseam]

Can I ask about several wips? If so then Pottertalia, the historical SpaPort and the SH crossover please 🥺❤️

(If you’d rather do one at a time than Pottertalia!)

Of course you can ask for several!

I think I will make separate posts... about the pottertalia you my dear you have to be more specific, I have already told you a lot so I need a little guidance on what I have not talked about yet and you want to know! : D

Hetalia & Sherlock Holmes

The crossover with Sherlock Holmes is in good prospect for your luck! It is almost finished, literally the thing is that I write a couple of paragraphs that I have not written, because I think I was afraid of ruining it because of my weird adaptation and that is why I postponed it but since I stopped fresearme / doubting writing about Holmes maybe when the other problem that I got into is over, that is the one I post later -if I don't lose my mind and I decide rewrite it-

Well the story I mentioned: The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier is the basis of everything, if you read it you would already know what my fic is about and how it will end hahaha basically in my opinion it is the most GAY story in Sherlock Holmes and one day I said to myself " and why not put my favorite gays in that story? "

So I adapted the case, I opted for a human Au to make things easy for me and here England (Arthur Kirkland) is an aristocratic boy whose childhood friend is Portugal (Paulo Silva) and both after a while end up absolutely in love and go out secretly until several obstacles occur (Paulo's brother, Antonio bothering as always, Francine -nyo france- doing his thing)

The plot is configured as follows:

Paulo who went to war has returned but has not contacted Arthur Kirkland, he is concerned tries to look for him but does not find anything, things get strange when he has no choice but to ask Antonio's brother for help, but he refuses to give him information about where is Paulo and what little he says is a nonsense, Antonio's attitude is suspicious and Arthur decides to go and confront him.

On the other hand, Francine, Antonio's fiancée has noticed that for a couple of months he has had a very strange attitude, he secretly burns letters, has contact with a strange guy, sneaks out at night, she is the one who look for the service of a private detective -you all know who is-

I have not yet decided whether to include a part narrate of Holmes - I would have to write his parts - but a good option would be to adapt what Bert Coules' adaptation does with this case: place it after Watson's marriage, that is why Holmes is alone & hurt & conflicted because well he's going to end up helping two loving gay men regain their happiness. hahaha

"The man with the watches". It is another case - although it is not from Holmes as such - that I think could be adapted to EngPort/ Holmes but in a background where they are nations.

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

time keeps passing by (and i hold you close to me)

@sanderssidesgiftxchange 

Happy holidays @confusedhost ! I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you enjoy it Logyn!

Pairings: Romantic Loceit

Word count: 4075

Warnings: Self-worth issues

beta-read by the amazing @thetomorrowshow , thanks mas!

-

“Logic!”

Logic sighed, looking up from a piece of Thomas's homework to see nine-year-old Anxiety running into the room. He carefully set the paper down and turned so he could make eye contact with the other boy.

“What's wrong?” he asked calmly. Anxiety frowned at him, but he did answer (in a rather round-about way and at a breakneck pace, yes, but he did answer).

“Deceit was arguing with Morality because Thomas said he'd done his homework but, you know, he didn't, because you're doing it, and I said that Morality was right, 'cause he was– ” Anxiety paused for a breath– “But Deceit didn't think so and he said that it was his job and I said 'Well it's a stupid job' and now Morality doesn't know who's right even though I am and Deceit's upset.” Anxiety took another deep breath, and Logic waited a moment to make sure he was finished.

“Okay, I will deal with it,” Logic said evenly as he stood up. He was one of the oldest sides at 13, with Morality being just a little younger than him (Deceit, the one in question, was 11), so he was often the designated peace-keeper. Anxiety looked sullen and a little worried, but he nodded and watched Logan as he walked away.

After succeeding in getting Morality to leave the room, though the other side also looked worried – honestly, more distraught than worried –, Logic carefully made his way over to Deceit, who was curled up on the floor, rocking slightly.

“Deceit?” Logic asked tentatively. Deceit said something muffled, his arms folded across his knees in front of his face, but Logic took it as a sign that he could continue. He crouched down, studying the younger side for a few moments.

“What happened?” he asked softly. Of course, Anxiety had told him what happened, but he wanted to hear Deceit's side of the story- taking from one source of information was no way to make a proper conclusion. Deceit took a shuddering breath, and when he looked up at Logic his eyes were brimming with tears. Logic's heart would've broken at the sight if he had one (which he didn't – that was clearly Morality's job).

“Deceit?” Logic nudged. The boy across from him flinched at the name. Logic hesitated for a moment.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly. “You seem– ”

Before he could finish his sentence, the younger boy launched himself at Logic, wrapping his arms around the older Side's waist. Caught off guard, Logic froze. What was he supposed to do? Comfort. That's what Morality always did.

Slowly, Logic wrapped his arms around Deceit, who relaxed a little and shoved his head further into Logic's chest. They sat there for a few minutes before Logic followed his lead and began to relax, but once he did, it was rather nice. Morality thought it was adorable (which it wasn't, might Logic add) when he found them curled up together, asleep, a few hours later, but Anxiety and the both Creativity's gave them weird looks. Then again, since when did he care what the others thought?

–

Thomas had been asked out on a date. By a girl. And he said yes. To a girl.

All the Sides were doing something in response to this. Morality felt bad about faking interest in said girl, Anxiety was generally being anxious, and the Creativity's were frantically trying to figure out a way to escape the date with a shred of dignity left.

Logic and Deceit were commiserating on the couch, Deceit because it was an awful lie (and because they were all gay), Logic because it was an awful decision altogether (and because, as previously stated, they were all gay).

“He could have said he had to study for his SAT!” Deceit was saying. “But no, he haaaaaad to pretend he was into her.” Logic hid a smile as Deceit crossed his arms, looking like an irate child.

“While there is usually a better option than lying, in this situation a good lie would have benefited us,” he agreed. Then he added, “Additionally, Thomas really does need to study for the SAT.” Deceit laughed at that, and Logic had to hide another smile. It was surprising how easily he and Deceit could spend time in each other's company. And, evidence by the fact that he rarely smiled so much in the company of the other Sides, enjoy that time together. Well, Logic hoped that Deceit felt the same, anyway. Because here they were, talking and smiling in a small bubble of peace while everyone panicked around them. The world could be on fire, and Logic couldn't care less; as long as he was still sitting here, smiling and talking, with Deceit.

–

Lojandro had a problem.

(No, that wasn't right. Was that even a name?)

Every Side was trying to figure out what their name was. Logic was sure his was something with an L, but being unable to discover his name wasn't the issue. It was the fact that his best friend, D, didn't want a name. It was worrying, how much D seemed to detest himself. Lane (no) tried to convince him otherwise, but feelings were not his forte. Every time the other Sides were dismissive (the were rarely outright rude) of D, he did try to defend his friend, but that was all he knew how to do.

To add to his troubles, Logic had realized he had a crush on his best friend.

(Laken? Probably not)

But the worst thing about it is that after a short time of surprise, it wasn't all that surprising. He had been friends with D since he was 13, perhaps even younger- for 7 years now. And he hadn't even noticed. Everything made so much more sense with this in mind. But now, he had absolutely no idea if D liked him back. He was inclined to answer negatively, but he knew that sensibly there was a 50/50 chance. The best option would be to simply ask the other man. However, given the way D was feeling currently, that was a horrible idea, possibly the worst Lund (not a name again, is it?) had ever come up with.

His thoughts were interrupted as D entered the room. Flopping down on the logical Side's bed, D let out a melodramatic sigh. He almost sounded like Crea- Roman, and Logan snorted quietly at the thought. D, acting like Roman. There was no way he could've escaped laughing. D lifted his head to look at the older man, who was sitting at his desk.

“What?” he asked, a hint of a smile in his voice. Link (no, that wasn't it either) smiled to himself, but it was certainly not a thought that should be 'outside his head', as Morality put it.

“It's nothing.”

Turning to look at the Side currently appropriating his blankets, Logic saw a face of disbelief and rolled his eyes.

“Truly. It's not important, D.”

D smiled a little at the nickname. He had told Logic a few weeks ago that he disliked being called by his function, and, horrified that he had been making him uncomfortable (though he had only an inkling as to why), Lindsay Lohan (why? No) had immediately agreed to call him D. It was just a bonus that it made the younger Side smile. After a few moments, Logic realized that D was giving him a quizzical look.

“What?” he asked, not the least bit anxious. Obviously. That clearly was Anxiety's job. It was even in his name. D laughed.

“You were staring, that's all,” D answered. “Were you zoning out?” Logic frowned. He had been staring? That wasn't good.

“Ah- yes. Simply trying to think through a problem” Technically true.

Deceit humphed.

“Do it later. I'm tired and cold, come give me your warmth.”

Logic rolled his eyes again, saying something along the lines of “I'm not that warm”, but he didn't truly mind. He could forget about his troubles for a little while. When he stood up D slow-clapped.

“Impressive. I've never seen someone get up so willingly,” the other Side drawled. Resisting the urge to once again roll his eyes, Logic shoved D over with one hand while he pulled off his shoes with the other. D squawked.

“Hush, move over farther.”

Grumbling a little, but clearly trying not to smile, D shuffled over a little farther, immediately wrapping his arms around Logic as soon as the older Side climbed onto the bed. Logic pulled up one of the now-rumpled blankets to cover them both, and once they were settled, D lay his head on Logic's chest.

After a few hours of occasional talking and cuddling, D was asleep, head still resting on Logic's chest. But- Well, Logic had seen D quite irritable, upset, and sluggish recently. His being happy, and getting some clearly much-needed sleep, was something he could forsake a little work for. It was a basic calculation.

And after all, he was Logic.

(Lapdog? Well, in a way, but that still wasn't a name.)

–

“D,” Logan said quietly. The man half asleep next to him grumbled. “D,” Logan said again, a little louder. D sighed a little and mumbled something. Logan smiled softly, then it grew a little as he remembered his name. It took him a few months, but he'd found it. He knew D had as well, but he wouldn't tell him what it was the first few times, so Logan stopped asking. But there was one more thing that he couldn't put off asking anymore.

“Are you listening to me?” he asked. D rolled over to face him as his eyes also rolled.

“No, obviously not,” the other side said dryly. Logan smiled again, but it quickly fell. D's eyebrows pinched together slightly, but he didn't comment on it. His gaze did flick to Logan's hands, however, and it was obvious that he saw the quickly aborted fiddling. Before his best friend (ha) could catalog his body language anymore, Logan took a deep breath and began.

“I don't quite know how to say this, but I no longer want to keep it a secret. It is fine if–” you're only prolonging the inevitable. Just move on to the main paragraph. Logan finished his sentence in a rush. “If you're uncomfortable, please just tell me. Now. . . I will simply come out and say it. I realized some time ago that I had romantic feelings for you.” Logan sped up slightly when he saw D tense, and couldn't seem to keep a steady space, getting faster and faster throughout.

“But we've been friends for nine years, so I didn't feel as if it were something I should mention to you, in case you didn't feel the same way and it ruined our friendship–” why aren't you following the script– “And it took an exceedingly long while to figure out in the first place, so I continued to hold out hope it was untrue, but here we are, so,” Logan took another deep breath and threw the already in shreds script out the metaphorical window.

“I see you smile, and I feel as if I will burst. I hear you laugh, and it lights up the room, but no one else seems to see it. And you come in and throw yourself onto my bed, but I can't find it in me to be angry at you, because you're D, you're my best friend, you're more than that to me, and I've kept it to myself for so long I didn't think I could survive any longer. Which is absurd, but–”

He was cut off when D lurched forward a little, surprising him, but not near as surprising as when he stared directly into Logan's eyes. As if he were asking something. The logical Side stared at him for a moment before it dawned on him.

Oh.

Oh.

No, that couldn't be possible. Besides, he had no idea if D was truly asking him for permission to- well, to kiss him. But somehow, he found himself nodding, and D closed the rest of the distance between them.

It was a short kiss, but it tingled on Logan's lips a little. He just lay there, stunned. And, as apparently his entire body was out of control today, he spoke.

“I love you,” Logan said.

What.

D stared at him for a moment, his mouth open. He opened and closed it a few times, as if he were trying to say something. Logan panicked. Just a little.

“I didn't mean– Well, I very much did, but that's besides the point, it was an accident–”

“I love you too,” D said, voice slightly raspy, but at least he'd finally said something. Wait. He had said it back to him.

“Oh,” Logan said lamely.

D flopped back onto his back, then almost immediately, as if he had changed his mind, flipped onto his stomach and pressed his face into a pillow. He said something quietly, which Logan didn't understand, and, still quiet and a mix of numbness and bliss, asked him to repeat.

“You're a dork.”

“Oh.”

Logan could hear D's slightly hysterical laugh at that, but his – boyfriend? What were they now? – D's body did relax a little, so at least his joke helped.

Logan laughed in reply and hesitantly pressed closer to D, who lifted one of his arms and put it around the older Side. Gradually, they both began to relax.

They were definitely going to have to talk about this.

–

“Roman, please-”

“I can fight my own battles, Logan, but please, keep talking!”

“See? A villain!”

“D is not–”

“Yeah, he sort of is.”

“As if you're any better!”

“Guys, please–”

Logan groaned as the arguing got louder and louder. They had simply been trying to help Thomas decide if he should go to see several rather unpleasant members of extended family. But when D had suggested lying to avoid having to go, Roman had broken. It seemed he had been stewing for quite some time, since D convinced Thomas to stay home from an audition because of how over-worked he was. And here Logan was, 27 years old, trying to deescalate the argument just like when they were children.

Logan looked to his side to appeal to D since Roman clearly wasn't backing down, but D was no longer there. He stared at the spot where his boyfriend had been mere moments ago. How had no one else noticed that one of the main subjects of the argument had left? Quickly, Logan looked around. Luckily, no one else had sunken out, or was in the process of sinking out; Patton was still looking distressed and trying to talk Roman down by the blinds, Roman was now yelling at Anxiety from his place in front of the television, and Anxiety was gesturing to Logan himself. Remus had not shown his face yet.

“- and Logan!” Anxiety finished triumphantly. Logan had no idea what he had been saying, but he nodded vaguely as Roman gasped – he didn't like it when one of the “Dark Sides” used their names. Thinking about it, it was a surprise he hadn't reacted much when D had called Logan by his name a minute ago, but he must not have noticed. Shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts, Logan mumbled some generic excuse that he probably wouldn't even remember later and sunk out.

When he rose up in D's room, at first he didn't see anything. But after searching the room for a few moments with his eyes, they landed on D, curled up in the corner with his back to Logan.

“D?” Logan asked hesitantly. There was a flash in his mind – ah, a near-forgotten memory. It was of D, curled up on the floor in a similar manner as to what he was doing now. He looked about 10 years old, so that must have been when they first started to become friends. Perhaps it is a comfort position, Logan mused as he walked over to his boyfriend.

As soon as he sat down next to D, the other man wrapped his arms around Logan. Almost immediately, Logan embraced him in return. They sat there for a few minutes, silent, until Logan felt the tiniest hitch of D's shoulders.

Instantly, he let go and pushed D gently back until he could make eye contact with him. It was clear D was trying to contain the tears leaking out of his eyes, but it seemed he couldn't quite manage it. D tried to subtly wipe a few tears away, but it was useless, seeing as Logan already knew they were there. Logan didn't know what to do. There was no convincing the other Sides of D's importance – he had been trying for years. But he couldn't stand seeing his boyfriend like this, not again.

“D, ignore them,” Logan said quietly, but firmly. “They do not at all understand your worth.”

“But–”

“No, D,” Logan said. He grabbed D's hands, trying to make him see how important this was, but not startle him.

“You are amazing, not to mention necessary. And besides that, you are my entire world. If the others cannot respect even that, then we do not need them.”

D stared at him for a moment, and Logan realized what he'd just said. He flushed slightly, but didn't say anything else. It was silent for a few moments, before D spoke.

“My name is Janus.”

It seemed Logan was simply running slow today, because it once again took him a moment to comprehend what the other Side had said. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find his voice.

“You. . . D–” he hurriedly corrected himself. “Janus, why? You never said anything, I thought you must have been uncomfortable, or. . . .”

Janus smiled wanly.

“Or never found it?”

Logan nodded hesitantly. It was reasonable to assume. After all, as often as they could, he and Janus told each other everything. But now it seemed almost cruel to have even thought so. Janus's smile remained in place, but it was slowly getting less wan.

“Of course I found it. I just. . . didn't want to say anything. To be judged. And to hold one last secret,” he added with a little laugh. Logan squeezed his hands slightly.

“I said you are my entire world, Janus,” Logan stated. “That includes all of you.”

Janus's face crumpled, and Logan nearly had a heart attack, but Janus was still smiling – sort of.

“Great, thanks for setting off the tears again,” laughed Janus. Well, laugh-cried. Logan gave a little laugh as well.

“You are welcome,” he said. “But I have no sympathy. And I would not appreciate any tears on me.” Janus began to laugh even harder at that. But jokes aside, nothing could bother Logan right now. Not even the salt he could taste from Janus's tears when Logan leaned in to kiss him.

–

Logan looked at Janus, who was standing beside him looking nervous, and squeezed his hand. Janus squeezed back, smiling nervously at him. They only had a few more seconds to wait, as the other Sides were about to arrive.

Almost as if the thought had called them, Roman and Anxiety- Virgil, now, rose up and took seats at the table. Before they could even glare at each other, Patton rose in between them, smiling at everyone before taking his own seat. After a few moments, Remus rose up and pulled himself onto the counter. Logan stared hard at him, but Remus just grinned at him, so he let it go.

Janus looked at him, and he gave him a barely perceptible nod. You have this, dear. And with a deep breath, Janus followed the plan, which was to get this over as quickly as possible.

“My name is Janus.”

Everyone startled, and it looked like Roman was barely containing a laugh. Logan was too busy trying to communicate with his boyfriend through his eyes, even though Janus wasn't looking at him, to glare at the creative Side, but he did take a mental note of it. Patton was still smiling, if a little confused-looking, Anxiety looked sullen (then again, he always did, and he didn't care for Janus). For once, Remus's smile seemed genuine – that was good. After all, he was the closest to Janus, after Logan. Janus barely seemed to be registering their reactions, though, and he plowed on.

“I am aware that you all don't trust me very much. And, I can't blame you for that.” Logan turned his head sharply to look at Janus, who cringed slightly as if he knew Logan didn't approve of the self-deprecation.

“But I am going to assert my worth. If this is enough to trust me even slightly, then it's worth it.  However, Thomas needs me, and therefore, you need me.” Janus took another breath. “But Logan and I do not need to put up with any negativity from you. So this is your chance.”

All the occupants in the room continued staring at Janus in silence for a moment, before Virgil shrieked at Remus's sudden launch off of the counter-top and at Janus. Janus stumbled before falling onto the ground under Remus, who hugged him. Janus seemed surprised, but Logan was busy mentally clearing and grievance notes he had under Remus's name.

After a few more moments, Patton stood up and went to join them on the floor. Logan immediately dropped as well, and Patton started laughing as they shifted awkwardly to fit everyone in. At some point, though Logan didn't know when, Virgil and Roman had joined them. And for what seemed like hours, they merely lay there, in new-found peace and companionship.

To be honest, this was much better than either Logan or Janus had imagined this going.

–

“You know,” Janus said conversationally. “Today is our 10th anniversary.”

Logan looked from his book to the man snuggled up to his side.

“And our 1st for being married,” his husband continued. Glancing at the calendar on the wall, Logan saw he was right.

“How did I miss that?” he mumbled, to which Janus hummed, but was obviously trying not to laugh. He had been waiting years to remember something Logan couldn't. And when he finally did, it was possible the most important thing Logan could have forgotten.

“I'm sorry, dear. Forgive me?” Logan asked. Janus rolled his eyes.

“I don't truly care,” the other Side said dryly. “But I accept your apology, and you are forgiven.” Sighing contentedly, he shifted closer to Logan, who automatically wrapped his arms around him, lost in thought.

Half an hour or so later, and they were still in the same position, but Logan was drawn out of his thoughts by the tug of a summons in the back of his mind. Standing up with a small groan, he sunk out, quickly followed by Janus, and they appeared a few seconds later in Thomas's living room right next to each other.

Thomas took a moment to welcome them, then continued with whatever crisis he was having. Logan was only half-listening, still thinking.

He had been friends with Janus for nearly 20 years, in a romantic relationship with him for 10 years, and married to him for 1. The time had flown by, but here he was. He never thought he would even be true friends with the other Sides, let alone get them to accept Janus, but here they were, solving Thomas's problems right along with the others. Patton by the blinds, Remus and Roman by the television, Virgil lounging on the stairs, and Logan and Janus standing by those same stairs. Any major problems they had with each other in the past were past. For now, all was at peace.

Logan turned at the exact same moment as Janus, and they smiled at each other. Without breaking eye contact, they intertwined their hands, and then turned back to the discussion, still smiling. The others shot them strange looks or confused smiles, before glancing away and continuing to talk. Logan supposed it was slightly odd just to stand there with their hands clasped.

Then again, since when did they care what the others thought?

[lowkeyorloki]

You're generally thought of to have really good characterization of Loki in this fandom (I'd say that's what you're known for???), so I was wondering if you could give some tips on how to write Loki? And maybe some general tips on writing imagines/x readers?

Hi there anon! First, thank you very much for such a high compliment. I think any fanfiction author would agree when I say being told we get our muse’s characterization correct is one of the highest compliments we can be given, so THANK YOU! 

I would be happy to give you some advice, but keep in mind, this is just my interpretation of Loki. You, and any other author, are allowed to take creative control and do with his character what you will. This is just what works for me!

For Imagines/X Reader Fics

This is my third imagines blog, so I have been doing x readers for a long time. If you’re looking to expand your following, I would start out doing preferences. This is when you take a group of people from the same piece of media (in Marvel, a good example would be the whole team of The Avengers) and basically write a little drabble for each of them in one post. This will allow you to use multiple character tags, which means your posts are more likely to circulate. From there, you can totally branch off and have an emphasis on one character, or create a whole new sideblog for one character that people from your already-established following can find. I used this method twice and it worked really well- it also lets people see you can write for different types of characters, which is always a plus.

Tags! Use as many tags as you can, because that’s how people find your work. Make sure to use some with your muse’s first name, and some with their first and last. For imagines specifically, I would always make sure you have “(name) x reader”, “(name) x you”, and “(name) imagine”, because those are what people usually search for.

Avoid physical descriptions. “Reader” is just that: the reader. Not everyone has blue eyes, not everyone has long hair, not everyone is white, etc. etc. If you really want to write a character with specific physical traits, then you should develop an OC. It rips your readers out of your fics when they’re described in a way that doesn’t fit them, and can also really harm their confidence- the only descriptions of someone’s appearance I’ve ever seen in x readers are features that are considered conventionally attractive, so it’s important to be mindful of any implicit biases you may have.

...You also have to keep the reader as a character somewhat neutral, because they are supposed to be whoever is consuming your fic. If you’re going to give them character traits, justify them with your story. You want your reader to be trained in hand-to-hand combat? They took martial arts as a kid. You want your reader to be the smartest in their field? Give them a backstory that made them that way. It’s personality traits you have to look out for, because if someone’s personality doesn’t match with “y/n’s”, that person isn’t going to be able to read your works. 

Speaking of y/n, I would suggest not using it at all. I’ve recently stopped using it due to my own experience and feedback from my followers. Most people don’t see y/n and replace it with their name, it just becomes a reminder they’re reading something. Your goal is to immerse your readers in your fics, and I’ve found this often has the opposite effect. There are a lot of ways to avoid y/n, such as pet names (darling, baby, love) or creative phrasing (”your name passed over his lips, whispered softly like he had never heard it before”). It can be a challenge, but writing always is!

If possible, keep your reader gender neutral. This sounds a lot harder than it is. Especially in the Loki fandom, there are a lot more male readers than you think, and there are people who don’t conform to either gender. Not assigning pronouns makes your reading more accessible (which also means more exposure!!!) and also allows everyone to find a place in fandom. The only times it becomes a problem is when other characters are talking about the reader behind their back, or when writing smut. In my case, I do my best avoid the first option and, until I find a solution, I do use gender and everything associated with it in smut. However, if none of these appeal to you, you can also copy and paste your fics to have different pronouns. 

Strategically place that “keep reading”, it’s a good way to get readers hooked!

For Loki’s Character

In my opinion, Loki is all about a balance of vulnerability. We all love to see him be loving and open and intimately intwined with someone, but it would take a lot of time to get there with him. For that reason, if you’re wanting to write that side of the Trickster, I would make your fic an established relationship or slow burn. If that doesn’t sound like something you want to do, a lot of faults in writing can be forgiven if you call them out yourself. Does something feel too random? Say it was sudden or unexpected. This shifts blame from you and actually becomes a characterization choice: now, instead of you possibly misinterpreting Loki’s character, he and the reader have so much chemistry with each other they’re acting differently than they normally would. 

Loki (and Thor’s) way of speaking is a HUGE factor of any fics with him. Loki has a different colloquial than we do, and thanks to Tom Hiddleston’s really sexy voice, it’s something closely associated with the character. So, we have to walk a line of Loki’s words being formal, but not being out of touch. He was able to assimilate easily (that’s part of the reason he was such a threat in Avengers), and is super clever and picks up on a lot of things. Therefore, Loki is more likely to address Tony as “Stark” rather than “Man of Iron”, and I think it’s fair to say he knows the name “Coulson” doesn’t refer to the SHIELD agent’s lineage (he’s probably not going to call him “Son of Coul”). But phrasing is also a part of this. I try to avoid contractions coming out of his mouth, so “you are” instead of “you’re”, “he is” instead of “he’s”, etc. etc. 

Loki also isn’t going to say things we normally would: As humans, we tend to exclaim “Oh my god!” or something along those lines. But Loki was brought being told he was a god, so that isn’t going to be in his vocabulary. It’s little things like this I keep an eye on when I’m writing for him.

A good way to accomplish Loki’s speech is just... adding words the modern world has deemed unnecessary. A recent example of mine is in one of my fics, Loki is asking the reader what a group of characters want from her. Originally, I had him saying “What do they want?”, and while editing, I changed it to “What is it that they want?.” It’s subtle, but when this is how most of the Loki’s sentences are structured, it calls back to the Loki we saw in earlier Thor films (regardless of your opinion on Ragnarak, the Shakespearean-esque language is gone by the film) and creates a simulation of sorts that makes your reader feel more in tune with your story. Not to keep using this word, but it’s a technique that immerses your reader.

Make sure your style matches Loki! I have a very dramatic and articulate style, lots commas, lots of (carefully placed) repetition, and paragraph breaks. This works for Loki because he’s such an emotional and complex character, and my style compliments and emphasizes that. 

Readers respond well to your style correlating with your character: Compare my fics Aftermath or Wounds to A Mortal Occurance. Aftermath and Wounds are written in the style I described above, and are approaching 500 and 400 notes respectively; whereas I tried a more domestic and conversational style in A Mortal Occurance, which has yet to reach even 150 notes. While there’s definitely something to be said about people subscribing to you for one specific form of writing, it would be impossible for me to deny one style is not only more true to me, but more true and realistic to Loki. Think of if I wrote in my style for Ant-Man or Sam Wilson. It wouldn’t really work because their characters aren’t as high-stakes as Loki.

I hope this all helps! Remember this is just my opinion and is what has worked for me. You’re free to take all this to heart or completely reject it. I’m honored you came to me in the first place <3

[superconfusedandreadytorumble]

It is the 23rd July, 2021. The summer heats have finally subsided, the morrows now cool giving us normal folk the ability to catch a breather before the work begins anew. The harvest is-

Yeah no, enough of this. It is the day it is but truth be told all this post is supposed to be is an answer to my darling @laninlurks who has tagged me back in March and did not even have the decency to tell me personally! Yeah girl, how dare you! You know I´m not tech-savvy, I´m old. Well at least I feel like it in my head...

So here I go, playing this little game (this is considered a game, right? I have absolutely no idea. I´ve seen this kind of “introduce yourself” thingies here on tumblr but this is the first time I´m participating. Thanks again LANIN!)

Well, let´s get over this:

Name/Nickname: uhhhhh... Yeah, no I know how this goes. Name equals power so you fae can forget it, I ain´t buying this. You shall have no power over me. Ha! As if I´d fall for such a cheap trick. Hahaha! Nah, but on a serious note I really did not think of anything what people coul call me here... I guess Superconfused works?

Gender: female

Height: 5´8″ (thank you Google for converting cm to feet and inches)

Time: 2.55pm

Favourite Bands: Okay, let me stop you guys right there. I´m not going to go posting a ton of different band names because my music taste is very eclectic and most of the time I either do not know the name of the song/band that I´m into. If I hear it and my brain starts projecting a story it´s a good song for me.

Favourite solo artist: *looks up to the previous point* Yeah, you guys get the message

Song stuck in my head: Ohhh now that is easy! It is currently a mix between “A whole new World” from Aladdin (1992), “Save your Tears” by The Weekend feat. Ariana Grande, “Plastic Hearts” by Miley Cyrus and “Racing into the Night” by YOASOBI

Last Movie: The Avengers: Endgame

Last Show: Loki

When did I create this blog: Good heavens, I have absolutely no idea... Lanin, you´ll probably know that... can I check this somewhere? Somehow? Eh... let´s leave it at that, I have no  clue... may have been 2 or 3 years ago

How it started: After ages of going around and sending myself link after link so I would not lose sight of great posts and until my email inbox was full, I finally decided to make myself an account. That is it. That´s the story.

How´s it going: *looks around* Good, I guess? I mean, I´m still here, so...

What I post: Ufffffffff. Everything and anything that touches or inspires me, I guess? The content here that I reblog is as eclectic as my music tastes. We got witchy stuff, fandom stuff, quotes, life lessons, you name it. I did finally get around to making an additional blog to reblog all of the wonderful pieces of fan content here and leave a comment because till now I have been very neglectful of that. But that is another story...

Aesthetic: Personal? Blog related? I have absolutely no idea... Next question please.

Last thing I googled: That would be the conversion of cm to feet, but if that does not count then it was an anatomical picture of the hymen. There was a conversation ging on in the family and I had to explain the location. It was much easier with visuals, I tell you.

Other blogs: And I just mentioned mine two paragraphs ago xD Well then there´s the @studyblr-beginner where I try to collect info on how to be a more productive student (with mixed efforts I might add) and the @stillconfusedandreadytorumble .

Following: Anything witchblr, studyblr, any blog that feeds into my current obsession of any fandom, cottagecore, academia be it light/romantic/dark, quotes, art, etc. Seriously, anything...

Followers: Eh, I think 2 or 3 poor misguided souls... Yeah, okay so I checked and apparently there´s 44 of you. 44!!!! Like guys, guys, are you okay? What are you doing here? Not that I´m not grateful but I´m also very very VERY confused right now... Hi?

Average sleep: 7 hours, if I have time to sleep in even more

Lucky number: I do not really believe in that... Although if I see a platenumber with three identical numbers beside each other I take it as a good omen

Instruments: I may have tried to learn the piano years ago but it was never really my thing

What I am wearing: an oversized shirt with the wolf medallion logo form “The Witcher” series, black shorts and a dark green dressing gown with flowers and pretty little humming birds. Yes, I´m in my sleep wear. No, I am not ashamed. The last couple of days have been hell, I´m still recuperating.

Dream job: Physician, and I´m working hard to get that damn doctors degree.

Favourite animal noise: wolves howling. That moment when it sends chills down your back, when the hairs on your arms stand? Love it and it gets me every time.

Random: If asked a question I start stuttering and mumbling and warbled bla-bla just comes out of my mouth until I try collecting my thoughts. That may take a couple of seconds though.

Dream trip: Japan, Prague, Venice, these three are from the top of my head but otherwise I´d like to travel and see the world. Yes, vague, I know but the world is big and nobody has time to write long lists about this.

Favourite food: Dumplings. Do not, I repeat, do not make me specify which dumplings cause I´ll eat or at least ry them all if given the change. I already diviate from my normal answer of “There is so much good stuff out there, I could never choose”, okay?

Nationality: Welp, before I make this any more complicated I´ll just stick to what is in my passport: AUSTRIAN 

Favourite song: May I refer you back to the paragraph that says Favourite Band/solo singer, please and thank you.

Last book I read: “Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll

Top 3 fictional universes I would like to live in: Currently it would be either Lord of the Rings, Witcher or Boku no hero academia. Ask me in 3 months and I bet with you that answer might have changed again.

Tagging: Oh boy... who am I supposed to tag that will not shoot me on sight or think of me being a total lunatic, @laninlurks you don´t count, after all you put me in this mess... Who are the last couple of ppl I had a conversation with? Oh okay, if you guys don´t want to do this, just scratch and ignore that but then again all of my 44 followers are very welcome to do this (still can´t warp my head around the amount of ppl). I´ll just tagg @lostoctaviaaugusta and @thewhit3w0lf , but again please don´t shoot on sigth. I promise I´m harmless.

Okay guys, whoever made it this far, I applaud you, cause really you deserve a medal. thank you for reading I guess and have a wonderful day.

Hugs and kisses!

[ckret2]

You'd Be Amazed At The Cultural Divides That Develop After Four Million Years of War

... by Fall Out Boy

Prompt: @tfspeedwriting: Prompt 1: A character outstays their welcome and Prompt 5: Write a story with two main characters and tell in two parts - from first one character’s POV and then the other. Writing two prompts was accidental, I swear Continuity: IDW Pairing: one-sided oblivious & unrequited Starscream/Wheeljack Wordcount: 2000-ish? Notes: If anybody out there has any more Starjack fics with Starscream unrequitedly pining for Wheeljack... hit me up. Need me some Screamer pain. Summary: Wheeljack thinks Starscream is interrupting his day off to demand a tour of his current projects. Starscream thinks he's taking Wheeljack on a date. Neither one bothers to clarify.

Double doors slammed open with a grandly declared "So!"

Wheeljack started, dropping his wrench, and almost swore. Frag. Starscream. Wheeljack wasn't expecting Starscream. Why would he expect Starscream to barge into his personal lab?

Okay, maybe he should have been expecting Starscream.

Yesterday Starscream had said, idly, that he ought to drop by Wheeljack's lab soon—not the lab space he shared with several others at the capitol, but his private lab, his off-duty lab—and see what he was up to when he wasn't working the space bridge. Wheeljack had said, sure, he probably should come by and see. He'd half meant it—he was working on things that could eventually be useful to Cybertron—but Wheeljack hadn't thought Starscream meant it. Much less that he meant it so soon, and without warning or invitation.

Wheeljack had thought promising to come by had been more or less a politician's promise—something he said to make one of his citizens think he gave half a slag about what was going on with him, with no intent of following up on it.

Wheeljack should have expected Starscream to mean it. Wheeljack could name a new governing law of probability after their illustrious leader. Starscream's Law: if given the choice between doing and not doing one thing, regardless of whether or not Starscream says he'll do it, the one he actually ends up doing is either 1) the option most surprising, or 2) the option most inconvenient, whichever value is greater. Usually both. This? Was both surprising and inconvenient. Very inconvenient.

Wheeljack set down his current project and turned to face Starscream. "Can I help you?"

"I certainly hope so! I came all the way across Iacon on the expectation that you could, after all."

Wheeljack didn't think he'd be getting to pick his project back up again for a while. Duty ever calls. "With what?"

"Well—" Starscream gestured down the length of the lab, with the type of overdramatic flourish he usually reserved for speeches where he was referring to the great people of Cybertron, or our friends and allies among the stars, or such things. Big, sweeping, and all-encompassing. "A tour, ideally. You said that you'd show me your lab, after all. You implied that you had some things I'd quite like to see."

Had Wheeljack implied that? He didn't think he'd gone anywhere near that far. One last longing look at his discarded project, and he got to his feet. "Yeah, yeah—sure. Of course." Fine. This was an inevitability, after all. Eventually he'd be trying to show Starscream all this. Why not now?

Starscream waited for Wheeljack to cross the lab to him (the lab was an odd, long shape, with a door at the far end; the easiest thing Wheeljack could find to rent in this part of town that he could modify to meet his safety standards) with a hand on one cocked hip, the very picture of arrogant impatience. "This really is out of the way, you know," Starscream said, as though Wheeljack had personally and deliberately made his life harder by choosing where to put his lab. "You're practically out in the Decepticon slums. I've offered you lab space in Metroplex's cephalocomplex, it's where you do all your other work."

"Yeah, well—thank you for the offer—but this place is for my non-governmental works," Wheeljack said. "I don't want politics leaking into my personal projects." He gave Starscream a very pointed look.

"Why—" Starscream turned back to the doors, as if checking he hadn't left them ajar to let a draft in, and then turned back to Wheeljack. "Surely you don't think I'm going to let any politics sneak in?" He tapped the top of his head, "See, I even left my crown at home. This tour is all about you."

"Uh-huh." Sure it was.

So. What did Starscream want, really? Maybe it really was a tour—but if it was only a tour, then he wouldn't have crossed the city, unannounced, without so much as a warning, much less an appointment. He'd probably wanted to catch Wheeljack off guard—that was the sort of thing Starscream did. Why? To intimidate him—to remind him that he knew where he kept his private lab and that he could and would invite himself in at any time? To try to catch him with some subversive projects laying out? (Joke was on him; Wheeljack wasn't working on any subversive projects.)

"So." Starscream hopped up to sit on the nearest lab table, crossing one leg over the other, like he thought he owned the place and could plant himself anywhere he liked. "What's the first stop on this grand tour?"

Wheeljack crossed his arms. "Well, let's start with lab safety."

Starscream's optics flickered in disbelief. "'Lab safety'?" He scoffed. "Really? We're beginning with the basics?"

"I think we should. It's important stuff—you know, things like, 'Don't sit your skidplate on strange tables in strange labs if you don't know what might have been spilled on them.'"

Starscream bolted up like somebody had set off a firecracker under his seat. "Lab safety. Got it."

The tour dragged on for an excruciating two hours. Wheeljack had thought he could've kept it to fifteen minutes. He could have just swept Starscream through an overview of his current major works—among other things: a small engine that didn't do anything but spin a fan, which he was using to study some Camien designs for more efficient energon-to-electricity conversion for inanimate machines; a tiny explosion powered by Ore-1 that he was planning to set off next week that had been popping in and out of existence in one corner for the past four weeks; a prototype for a shield that could absorb laser fire and use it to charge—

"Well, originally it was going to charge another laser," Wheeljack said, lifting the shield-generating forearm brace with the gun attached—the project he'd been working on when Starscream had barged in. "But that seemed kind of—I don't know, eventually you just get two guys shooting back and forth at each other forever, you know?"

Starscream—who, to see the project up close, was leaning as far over Wheeljack's lab table as he could without actually violating Wheeljack's for-Primussake-stop-touching-all-my-tables rule—said, "What about a sword? Some kind of energy sword."

And this was why a fifteen minute tour had taken two hours. Because Starscream would not stop asking questions and making suggestions. Every one-sentence explanation was dragged out with incessant questions for clarification into a ten-paragraph explanation, which was followed—at Starscream's insistence—by a two-sentence-quickly-turned-five-paragraph explanation of the potential practical applications for some project, even when he had no practical applications yet, and then Starscream started throwing recommendations at him—for how he should proceed, for what tweaks he should add, for ways it could be applied—and then Wheeljack had to patiently explain that most of them wouldn't work, and then Starscream asked why. At this point, Wheeljack had an entirely new theory for what it was Starscream wanted here, a theory that had shot quickly to the top of his list: he was trying to distract Wheeljack while something Starscream desperately wanted to keep hidden from him was going on somewhere else in the building. Wheeljack was going to be spending the next few days sniffing for any lingering signs that Rattrap had been nearby.

This was the last suggestion Wheeljack was willing to take. He was tired of this and tired of humoring Starscream. "I'm not making a sword," Wheeljack said tersely.

"But you coul—"

"I could, but I'm not going to. The energy expended by constantly extending a sword would rapidly use up any energy absorbed by the shield. Unless the shield is taking a constant stream of shots, the sword'll immediately splutter and die." He was talking fast, impatiently, and at this point he didn't care how impatient he sounded—he'd never requested suggestions in the first place. "I'm deciding what's going into the project, and—and it's not up for official review! It's my project!"

Wheeljack knew he sounded petulant. But it worked; Starscream straightened up immediately. "Of course. Far be it from me to try to barge in on your little project." ("Ha!" Wheeljack scoffed.) "I only meant—" Starscream didn't finish the statement. What? Out of explanations? Not going to try to claim he was being helpful when they both knew full well that that wasn't why he was here?

Because that sure as hell wasn't why Starscream was here.

"I think that's enough of a tour for today. The next time you want to see my lab, schedule a meeting. And I'd deeply appreciate it if it isn't scheduled on one of my few days off."

Starscream opened his mouth, shut it, and nodded dumbly.

"Thanks." He looked down at his shield. Energy sword. Pfft. Stupid.

Starscream looked lost for a moment—wasn't expecting Wheeljack to not take his pestering? even he had his limits—but then rallied, chest puffed up again. "Well. Then. I suppose I'll see you—whenever I next visit the space bridge. Or you come to my office, whichever—"

"You don't need me to show you where the door is."

Starscream laughed humorlessly. "No. You don't."

Wheeljack didn't look up from the shield project as Starscream walked to the other end of the lab. He heard the doors open, but not shut. "I'll leave you to the rest of your day off, then."

"Goodbye, Starscream."

The doors shut.

Starscream leaned against Wheeljack's lab doors, staring at his feet.

His spark was spinning like a top, too fast and teetering, sending static anxiety down his arms. His fingertips tapped nervously against Wheeljack's door—quietly, quietly. He didn't want Wheeljack to hear him and know he hadn't left yet.

But he couldn't bring himself to leave yet. He couldn't move. His fuel tank was twisted up like a crumpled engex can with the bottom punched out. He regretted convincing Bumblebee to leave him the hell alone while he was visiting Wheeljack—he hadn't expected to come out of the experience this… lost.

Collect yourself, Starscream. That's what you do. That's who you are—you're collected. You don't need Bumblebee; talking to him is only talking to yourself. So go on. Talk to yourself. Work through this.

Okay. Working through this. That… Okay. That—didn't go well. So. What… what had he done wrong, exactly?

True, Starscream hadn't gone on a date in… yikes. Okay. Longer than he wanted to think about. Fair. He was rusty. Rusty and—

And not very popular.

But he'd done everything right, hadn't he? He'd informed Wheeljack of his interest in spending time with him outside of work. He'd made a point of proposing a place that Wheeljack knew better than Starscream–he'd practically handed him power over their interaction. That was as non-threatening as he could make a date offer. That was—that was laying himself down at Wheeljack's feet. And Wheeljack had okayed it.

Starscream had showed up on a day that both he and Wheeljack had off (Starscream had had to give himself a day off just for this) and immediately made it clear that this was not a work thing. He'd shown interest in Wheeljack's non-work projects. Abundant, detailed interest. He had flirted his spark out. He had spent the last two hours preening and posing and showing off while he asked Wheeljack about his projects. He hadn't talked about himself once.

Wheeljack hadn't asked him about himself, once. That should have been Starscream's first clue that the interest wasn't reciprocal, shouldn't it?

But why? What had he done wrong? He'd thought the date was going great, but—

Maybe he was misreading this. Maybe this wasn't how Autobots did dates. Or how grounders did dates. Or—or how scientists did dates?

But no. No, Starscream had—he'd said he should come over to see Wheeljack's projects, and Wheeljack had agreed. He wouldn't have done that—not on his private projects—if he hadn't known Starscream was proposing a date. Why else would he have welcomed Starscream showing up in his own lab?

Right?

Which meant the problem was Starscream. Wheeljack had agreed to the date—he'd agreed to give Starscream a shot to prove himself—and… Starscream blew it. He didn't prove himself. He'd bored Wheeljack. He wasn't interesting enough. He wasn't interested enough. Who knew what? It could have been any of a hundred factors.

Starscream shouldn't have expected anything else. There was only so far he should have expected Wheeljack to be willing to be kind to him.

Hmph. It would have been nicer if Wheeljack hadn't been so kind to him. Wouldn't it? At least then Starscream could have sealed his armor against him from the start, the way he did with everyone else. But nooo, no, Wheeljack just had to—had to listen to Starscream, had to—respect him, to give him a chance. Had to coax Starscream into peeling up a corner of his armor and letting Wheeljack slide underneath. Where it hurt when he finally rejected Starscream.

Not that it was Wheeljack's fault, was it. No, Starscream was the one who'd let that armor peel up. Starscream was the one who gave Wheeljack room to hurt him. Starscream was the one who'd taken the chance Wheeljack had given him, and—and failed to live up to it, somehow.

Don't let people get close, Starscream. You know that. They're only going to let you down. You're only going to let them down.

He sighed in irritation at himself, pushed himself off of Wheeljack's doors, and trudged for the exit.

If you want a tiny fic/story, buy me a coffee and leave a prompt in the comments!

(Feel free to reblog/add comments)

[klainelynch]

2017 in review

I always say that I’m going to post a “how my year was” at the end of the year, but I have an awful memory so I never remember what happened in each month. This year, I tried to post about each month as it finished- the good and the bad. Under a cut because of course it got long, and I never seem to post about my real life, so this may be boring if you don’t actually know me.

January

Got a snow day after having students for just one day

Accidentially read a book in one night (Perfect) because of aforementioned snow day/borrowing it electronically from the library/not knowing how many pages there were (not that many since it’s YA)

Got two more snow/ice days because my county has mountains in it and we’re in the South, so we’re not prepared for winter

Saw Hidden Figures and cried about how good humanity can be when we actually allow and encourage all people to be their best (black women!!!! they did that!!!!!!!)

Helped my students navigate our county’s program of going one-to-one with Chromebooks (there were many good things, such as getting my kids to play freerice for extra credit; there were many bad things, such as a quiz getting screwed up because I shuffled the questions but had asked my co-teacher to help me by reading the quiz [as she normally does] to a half dozen students...who all had a different order of questions...).

Went to a conference for new teachers and while a lot of the information was repetitive, there were a few things I got from it (such as 6.5 professional development hours aw yis).

Got to see lots of family I don’t usually see on this weekend!

Started reading The Diary of Anne Frank with my students because this country allowed fascism to be A Thing™ and I’m going to resist however I can.

Got two (!!!!!!) days off at the end of January for sick days (apparently other students in the county? not us but we benefitted!!!!)

February

Finally had an entire 5-day week of school

Then got another two days off for sickness (8th grade was doing our part by asking ENTIRE classes “Hey! Anyone feel sick? Anyone want to go get their temp checked???”)

Went to an open house at a local mosque, and y’all, I live in The South™ but their parking lot filled up a good 15 minutes before the event even started and there was an overflow room and so much support for this community during the Muslim Ban and it just filled my heart with joy

Got a haircut (it was literally down to my butt y’all!!!!) and now it’s right below my shoulders

Had pedal extensions installed in my car because I’m 4′9 and would have literally died if the airbags went off.

March

Got my professional teaching license! I’m no longer an apprentice! I don’t have to have 4 observations a year!!! Only 2! And while I’m REALLY good at playing the observation game (and am MUCH better at this than the testing game), it will be nice to not think about it so much.

My mom came to stay for a few days because it was her and my sister’s spring break.

During that week, I had a LONG 4 day week, which included staying at my school until 7:30 for a town hall meeting/carnival/extravaganza. F U N.

My spring break was purposefully low-key. I rested a lot, read books, caught up on Netflix, shopped at Old Navy, and went to the local art museum for the first time (I’ve only been in this city for 8 years...)

April

I found that I actually enjoy teaching how to write an essay. The 5 paragraph essay, while it has many faults, is a really good place for beginning writers (which 8th graders are) to begin. I had a student tell me that she liked how I made each sentence have a specific purpose because she was able to plug in her evidence and thoughts more easily- this honestly made my whole day.

That being said, I HATE teaching essays when students are absent. Trying to get them caught up and keep everyone else on track is SO MUCH WORK. Especially when the absent students don’t come to me during my plan to make up their work...

For two whole days, my last period class was not allowed to use erasers because some people (two boys, as it turned out) were shredding and throwing them at each other.

I turned 26

The Welcome to Night Vale Live Show FINALLY TRAVELED TO TENNESSEE AND Y’ALL CECIL (REAL CECIL NOT THE CHARACTER) IS FROM KNOXVILLE!!!! The weather singer was super fun (she played Rocky Top and we ate that shit up like biscuits and gravy with no shame whatsoever) and the show itself was just so much fun even though I went alone. It was almost an hour of normal segments with the plot of the glow cloud, but they also brought in Steve Carlsburg and Tamika Flynn (I diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiied when she walked on stage because I majorly crush on that actress whoops) and watching those actors interact on stage was so much fun.

May

End of the school year is always chaotic and better left forgotten tbh

We took the 8th graders to the local theme park, and it was really good (though my expectations were super low because last year’s trip SUCKED). The weather looked like it might rain, but it was nice all day, the kids were pretty good, and the rides were fun.

There were some really sad community deaths around this time :(

The teacher who normally MCs the 8th grade commencement is now an administrator, so while we still had him open the ceremony, I gave out several of the awards, and I don’t think I did a bad job (two of the other teachers hate public speaking and the last one was new to the team this year, so I was really the only choice).

June

Worked my church’s festival, which is always fun. The crowds are never what they ought to be (due to a combination of rain threats and poor marketing), so a lot of people missed out on some really great food and music.

Great music included a new band- Southern Avenue- that I got to see again later in the year.

I had to miss the third day of the festival because of a friend’s baby shower. I knew a few people (besides the couple), but they left early; luckily, the people throwing it were a lot of fun. We played games (don’t get caught saying “baby”; pin the sperm on the egg; etc) and decorated diapers/onesies/bibs for the baby). The next day, we went to church (IN A MOTHERFUCKING MONSOON) and for Mexican food.

Started my reread of Harry Potter (it had been about 5 years since I’d last read the series). I cried in almost every book, and not always at sad parts. I’ve become very protective of Harry as I’ve gotten older.

My younger brother found an NES, which was the console I grew up with and my parents gave away years ago. They really loved to play on it, so this was a wedding anniversary present for them. The Legend of Zelda is the shit.

July

I finally got a new phone (I’d had mine about 3 years, and it died in May) and I know it’s fun for iphone users to shit on Android users, but I really do love the camera quality on my Samsung.

Rachel came to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We drank wine and went to the zoo and got real bbq and the best donuts in the world

Had a Treat Yo Self Day which included:

WAFFLE HOUSE

BITCH!!!! B I T C H

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU CAN GET AT THE WAFFLE HOUSE

DO

YOU

KNOW

COUNTRY HASHBROWNS!!!!!

aka

biscuits and gravy minus the biscuits plus the hashbrowns

I just had regular biscuits and gravy BUT ALLI HAD THE GLORY

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

McKay’s

I bought Pokemon yellow because I never played/watched it as a kid, and while at my house for the summer, I found the old black & white gameboy an older cousin gave me, so naturally I had to do it.

Pokemon Go

yes still

You know what once I was back in town I went to my favorite library almost every day for an hour or two and read while opening Pokemon Go every few minutes so there

Went with some of my best friends to visit another one of our best friends who lives in the middle of fucking nowhere and had adventures including, but not limited to: getting pizza because we were too weak to change out the gas’s grill, waiting 5ever for food at dinner, and watching the entire Flowers in the Attic series.

August

School started back up, and at the kick-off for all the teachers, I won $500 in a drawing of all the people who hadn’t used a sick day last year!!!!!

And I didn’t even realize that I’d won $200 at the previous school board meeting in the same type drawing!!!!

New class started off with 85 students. It was a DREAM to be able to focus on individuals and not just herd cats.

I actually felt more confident in the classroom with my early units (poetry & our whole class novel).

September

Still felt confident in the classroom!

I got my testing scores back from the previous year (this shit takes 5ever and it’s dumb) and did better in about the only way I could have, so that was good to see.

I had about 10 county people in my classroom (principals, academic coaches, etc) to see a certain style of teaching ELA that the county is working on. It’s basically making sure that teachers keep students engaged in complex text (which is what I do almost every day anyway) and I had been to two of these trainings already, so I knew what sort of lesson worked. Well...they LOVED it!!! The kids were in small groups and did SO GOOD discussing evidence/answering questions (they all got candy afterwards) and I got some good feedback about how I talk to my students. Then that same day the superintendent came in my room (one of several rooms he visited while doing his yearly observation on the principal). That visit was super unannounced, but still fine.

The academic coach got rid of my classroom’s desks and found tables and chairs instead!!!! My classroom is tiny and weird shaped, so this works SO MUCH BETTER.

I help coach volleyball (aka I keep the books) and the girls won district (beating out a team with a redneck grandma in the stands who literally came up to our girls and yelled at them for cheering on their own damn team in the previous game). They didn’t do so well at sectionals, but that’s ok.

October

Holy shit I won another $200 in that drawing!!! And this time my parents let me buy them plane tickets so we could see family over Christmas.

LESLIE ODOM JR CAME TO MY CITY AND HE PERFORMED BEAUTIFUL MUSIC AND I WAS THERE AND I DIED

Got to see a lot of family at my cousin’s ‘wedding party’ (he got married last year in Europe since he met his now wife over there, and wanted to have a family party here). I learned that my uncle and his son dance exactly the same at the same level of alcohol.

November

I should have known something was up when my first 9 weeks went so well. Apparently my county is in the bottom tier for the state, and now everyone is freaking out (never mind that the data to support this was mONTHS LATE AND BASED ON STANDARDIZED TESTS WHICH WERE A CLUSTERFUCK TO BEGIN WITH) so there was a lot of school stress during this time.

Nice things though- got to see friends when their baby was baptized and went home for Thanksgiving, where my dad came into the Catholic Church.

I organized most of the 8th grade field trip for the semester- going to see “A Christmas Carol” put on by my old college’s theatre. I was stressed the entire time because if something went wrong it would be on ME, but it was absolutely wonderful and I cried which honestly surprised me. We went to the local mall for our lunch and it was good to see the kids just relax. It was a great field trip and several people including the principal thanked me for my hard work which felt great after a hard month.

December

School was nothing but survival mode per usual.

Hosted the Christmas party for my friend group at church and it was a lot of fun.

The actual break was fast- we flew to Texas with one of my mom’s sisters and her family to visit their brother and his family. I hadn’t been to Texas since high school, so it was fun to explore and eat good food.

My final count for books was 93 (67 new and 26 reread) (I’m trying to finish an audiobook I’m borrowing from the library but I still have 80 minutes left and literally 4 hours to finish it so we’ll see!!!).

[altajackuniverse]

9 Steps to Writing Blog Posts That Engage and Transform

How I Write My Blog Posts

  You may be wondering how I write my blog posts.  It's a process that generally follows the same path, though sometimes outside influences may change the path a bit. In this post I’ll take you through my process.  You may find it helpful, but remember it's never about the process.  Your approach may be different than mine, but that's OK.  Do what works for you. What you always have to remember is that your audience wants to be informed and educated.  Keep your posts interesting and provide information on topics that are of current interest and timely . This doesn’t apply to just blog posts.  You could use the same process for creating your other web content including your YouTube videos or podcast episodes.   My First Step is Pretty Logical, I Select a Topic   I'm presently writing three blogs.  The Better Business Alliance is my main blog, however I also address two topics with my other blogs that are also important to me.   Accessibility International and Sustainability International are written to address two topics that should matter to all of us.  The topics of Accessibility and Sustainability are important and affect all of our lives. The topics I choose to blog about in each blog are either points that are of particular interest to me, or need to be discussed because of their importance for all of us.   My Better Business Alliance blog is mainly focused on helping business owners develop a Digital Marketing Strategy to help them grow their business.  Digital Marketing may seem to be an overwhelming task for most small business owners.  It's not, if you approach it by breaking it down into a number of related steps  for successfully marketing your business. My blogs teach people how to do things.  The majority of my posts are “how to” content.  If you have a different style of blog, you may follow a different path for developing your post topics.   Consider the Needs of Your Readers   While many of my topics come out of readers’ questions or problems, sometimes I just write about something that I feel will help and inform the reader.  It's important at this step and take a moment to think about my reader’s situation.  I will write a couple of sentences about who I'm trying to reach and how they may view the topic that I have decided to write about. By putting myself in the reader's mindset, I am better able to write with empathy and write a post that is truly relevant to my reader.  It's also important to consider what the reader will do after reading the post. If I'm writing about a problem, I might wonder if my reader's have the same problem.  How would they feel about the problem?  What have they tried to help them solve the problem?  What has stopped them from solving the problem in the past?  How can my post help them solve their problem? Before you even begin writing, you should think about what your call to action will be.  This will shape the headline, your introduction, how you compose your post's body, and how you reach your conclusion.   Create Your Working Title   Once I have selected my topic and considered how I want to approach my reader's perspective, I like to come up with a working title. Creating my working title often helps me develop a unique angle for the post.  If I'm working on an idea for my Accessibility International blog, I may want to help my readers better understand the need for alternative text. Most of my reader's may have some grasp of what alternative text is.  However, the correct use of alternative text in the many different situations where it is appropriate and necessary are very diverse and sometimes difficult to understand.  Communicating the uses in a cogent and correctly worded titl is an important step for writing the blog post and telling what your reader's need to know. It's important to keep in mind that this is just a working title.  After completing the post, I will revisit my title choice and tweak it.  Occasionally, it will be changed several times, til I have the title for my post that best expresses what I am trying to communicate to my readers.   Outline Your Post   This is when I list the main points I want to teach someone in my post.  It doesn't require a lot of writing here.  It's normally just the main points in a Word document on my computer. During this process I am examining the identified problem, brainstorming answers to the questions and solutions for the problem.   This involves outlining the steps a reader must follow to solve their problem or master a new skill. It's like building the skeleton of your post, where you will add the muscle at a later time.  Many of the bullet points which I have created often become subheadings in my completed post.   By developing the main sections and then the subheadings for each section, your post begins to take shape.  Many times I will have more points than I'll use in my finished post.  I'll begin to remove the weaker or less relevant points which allows me to focus on the more important things that I want to say. Now I'll take a little time to arrange the remaining points into the most logical order.  Many bloggers seem to skip this step.  But sorting your information into a logical order is a very important step.  You need the points you cover to each build on the information provided by the preceding section.  This will make a noticeable difference to the readability and quality of your finished post.   Critique Your Outline   With your outline finished, it's a good time to ask some questions you may have about your developing post.  Will my readers find my post informative and useful?  Will readers have a positive reaction when they read it, or will they just think it is okay?  Is it groundbreaking, will it change reader's lives in any way?  After people finish reading the post will they still have questions? Now is the time to ask these questions.  Instead of waiting until you have finished writing the entire post.  Then if you find that there are possible gaps or weak ideas in your post, you can take the time to do the additional research which may be required.   Write the Introduction   Some bloggers write their post and then write the introduction.  However writing the introduction first often  works best for me.  It helps me establish the proper tone for my post and allows me to get into the mindset adapting to the natural flow of writing my post. Much like the working title, the introduction often shapes the direction of the post.  My introduction is usually one to three paragraphs long.  But again like the working title, I go back to edit the introduction after finishing the post. As you write the introduction, consider your reader and their situation, question or problem.  Show them you really understand how they feel. If you can show some empathy in the first few lines of your post, you’ll make a deeper connection with your reader.  And they’ll want to read the rest of your article. This is also a good point to paint a picture of how the reader will benefit from reading your post.  What will they be able to achieve after reading it?   Expand on the Main Points   With your outline written, it's time to write more on each point to create the main part of your content.  You just give each of your points the additional content and facts beyond what you’ve already written. Keep your reader in mind while you write. What problem are they trying to solve?  As they read your post, imagine what they are wondering about at different points in your post?  Will they be confused while they read?  You want to ensure that your post makes sense and does what is intended. By now it’s probably clear that I write my posts in the order that people will read them.  I begin with the working title, then the introduction and move on to writing the body of the post.  This works best for me, however you'll have to adjust and do what works best for you.   Write the Conclusion and Your Call to Action   Writing a great blog posts requires that it also must come to a conclusion.  I create this after writing the main part of my post, and it's a matter of recapping what I've taught readers during the rest of the post. I’ll restate the problem or question I set out in the introduction, and remind people what I’ve tried to teach them.  I’ll also summarize the main points to refresh the readers memory.  It’s then really important to give readers something specific to take action on.   Go back to whatever you identified as your reader's need, and clearly state what you want them to do next.  My call to action might be encouraging them to try out the technique they’ve just learned, or to leave a comment or interact in some way. Don’t give them several different things to do here.  And make sure your call to action flows from the goals of your blog and this particular post.   Add Depth and Appeal to the Post   At this stage of the process, I look for things I could add to make a post even better.  I might want to include a story or anecdote which would add to what I have written.  Or I might add an image or embed a video that would add relevance to my post.  Charts and graphics could illustrate a key point in your post, making it easier to understand. You could even add a quote or an interview that would add another perspective to your post to lend it further credibility.  This is about making the post better, and ensuring that it looks good and has plenty of visual interest. Edit and Proofread the Post   With this final step, it’s important to go over your post one final time to make sure you haven’t made any mistakes or typos.  Allowing some time between when I write and when I edit is also important.  I feel that we use different parts of our brains for critical thinking and editing. You don't want to waste all your hard work by publishing a post that’s riddled with errors and mistakes.  Quality control matters, so make sure you have sufficient time to edit and proofread. You could also get someone else in to help you at this stage of the process.  It could be a fellow blogger who you swap posts with, or a professional editor or proofreader.   Visit Our Web Accessibility BlogVisit Our Business Sustainability Blog

A Quick Summary of My Process

  Here’s a quick recap of my blog post writing process from start to finish: Select a topic Consider the Needs of Your Readers Create Your Working Title Outline Your Post Critique Your Outline Write the Introduction Expand on the Main Points Write the Conclusion and Your Call to Action Add Depth and Appeal to the Post Edit and Proofread the Post   That’s my workflow.  Perhaps you have an extra step, or do things in a different order.  Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.   Develop Your Own Workflow   Regardless of your workflow, it’s important to pause along the way and be consider the process.  Keep thinking about who’s reading your content.  The reader with the questions, problems and feelings.  If you can show you understand them, you’ll create a real sense of connection. So don’t just think about creating content.  Think about crafting it, and taking care and time to make it the best it can be.   Read the full article

[maryreadszbooks]

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch My rating: 2 of 5 stars 1.75 stars. This book had a fantastic premise, and the writing for the summary was snappy and enticing. I was so excited for this book. After finding out about it, I put on my Christmas list, and I was so happy when I received it. I expected to fall in love with this book. And I...didn't. Not in the slightest. As I kept reading, I found more and more things to disappoint me. Meira, while not an unlikeable protagonist, was almost impossible to relate to. There just seemed to be this wall between what she thought and experienced throughout the book and my ability to care about it. For most of the book, I just could not make myself care. She whined about never being allowed to go on missions, and I just sat there thinking, "Well, yeah, you suck at close range fighting. No fucking wonder they won't let you leave. You're a liability. Boo hoo. Keep practicing." She was betrothed to the Cordellan prince without her knowledge or consent, and yeah, that sucked and I felt bad for her, but also she wasn't really in a position to bargain much and it would get their nation a military ally, not to mention that Theron was actually a good guy and trying to make the most of the situation too. So...yeah. Boo hoo. I honestly couldn't find it in me to care about what happened to Meira or really any of the characters until the battle of Bithai. Everything that happened afterward, I cared a bit more about. Not significantly, because Meira was so hard to connect with and Theron was really the only character I found enjoyable and interesting, but I did sometimes care when something went wrong for Meira after Bithai. My second complaint is the world-building. It's extremely shoddy and handled so poorly. There are info-dumps everywhere. Freaking. Everywhere. There's an example fairly early on in the plot, when Meira and Sir first meet a bunch of Cordellan soldiers. When the soldiers discover that they are Winterians, one of them swears, "Golden leaves!" And Meira is confused but concludes that it's some Cordellan idiom. Then they go to the Cordellan capital and see a fancy gate covered in golden leaves. This is fine. If we'd been left with that, we could figure out for ourselves the meaning/origin of the expression "golden leaves." But nope. Ms. Raasch instead decided to write an entire paragraph of Meira explaining how Noam, Cordell's king, is so good at farm magic that Cordell can practically make leaves out of gold, which explains the soldier's earlier swear--"golden leaves." These types of info-dumps are abundant throughout the book and frankly, they're insulting. Readers are a lot smarter than that. We can figure this kind of shit out by ourselves. We don't need Meira to explain everything in several paragraphs every time something fantastical happens. This was the biggest issue I had with the book. I constantly felt like I was being talked down to, like the author thought I couldn't handle basic fantasy culture. This book was written for a young adult audience. The people reading this book know how to use context clues and critical thinking to understand the cultures you make up and the phrases you give them to make them feel more real. My third complain is about the characters. Theron was really the only one that stood out to me. Meira could get quite whiny at times, but was otherwise an alright narrator, if a little bland. But the other Winterian refugees? They all felt so two-dimensional. They didn't get enough development to feel like they were actually even there. I only remember half of their names and I just put the book down two minutes ago. Oh, and let us not forget the "big plot twist" we discover when Meira is in Angra's palace in Spring. Yeah. I figured that out probaby in chapter two. It wasn't that difficult, it wasn't remotely surprising, and it was handled terribly. Frankly, it would have been more interesting if Meira knew that all along and we had the suspense of whether she could keep her secret or not. I just...could not find many redeeming qualities about this book, aside from the fact that the plot from the entrance into the Winterian work camp until the end was better than the rest of the book. Unfortunately, when it came down to it, this book failed to meet any of my expectations for it. I will not be continuing the series, and I will look forward to the day when I can get rid of my copy and get something better suiting to my tastes on my bookshelf. View all my reviews

[altajackuniverse]

9 Steps to Writing Blog Posts That Engage and Transform

How I Write My Blog Posts

  You may be wondering how I write my blog posts.  It's a process that generally follows the same path, though sometimes outside influences may change the path a bit. In this post I’ll take you through my process.  You may find it helpful, but remember it's never about the process.  Your approach may be different than mine, but that's OK.  Do what works for you. What you always have to remember is that your audience wants to be informed and educated.  Keep your posts interesting and provide information on topics that are of current interest and timely . This doesn’t apply to just blog posts.  You could use the same process for creating your other web content including your YouTube videos or podcast episodes.   My First Step is Pretty Logical, I Select a Topic   I'm presently writing three blogs.  The Better Business Alliance is my main blog, however I also address two topics with my other blogs that are also important to me.   Accessibility International and Sustainability International are written to address two topics that should matter to all of us.  The topics of Accessibility and Sustainability are important and affect all of our lives. The topics I choose to blog about in each blog are either points that are of particular interest to me, or need to be discussed because of their importance for all of us.   My Better Business Alliance blog is mainly focused on helping business owners develop a Digital Marketing Strategy to help them grow their business.  Digital Marketing may seem to be an overwhelming task for most small business owners.  It's not, if you approach it by breaking it down into a number of related steps  for successfully marketing your business. My blogs teach people how to do things.  The majority of my posts are “how to” content.  If you have a different style of blog, you may follow a different path for developing your post topics.   Consider the Needs of Your Readers   While many of my topics come out of readers’ questions or problems, sometimes I just write about something that I feel will help and inform the reader.  It's important at this step and take a moment to think about my reader’s situation.  I will write a couple of sentences about who I'm trying to reach and how they may view the topic that I have decided to write about. By putting myself in the reader's mindset, I am better able to write with empathy and write a post that is truly relevant to my reader.  It's also important to consider what the reader will do after reading the post. If I'm writing about a problem, I might wonder if my reader's have the same problem.  How would they feel about the problem?  What have they tried to help them solve the problem?  What has stopped them from solving the problem in the past?  How can my post help them solve their problem? Before you even begin writing, you should think about what your call to action will be.  This will shape the headline, your introduction, how you compose your post's body, and how you reach your conclusion.   Create Your Working Title   Once I have selected my topic and considered how I want to approach my reader's perspective, I like to come up with a working title. Creating my working title often helps me develop a unique angle for the post.  If I'm working on an idea for my Accessibility International blog, I may want to help my readers better understand the need for alternative text. Most of my reader's may have some grasp of what alternative text is.  However, the correct use of alternative text in the many different situations where it is appropriate and necessary are very diverse and sometimes difficult to understand.  Communicating the uses in a cogent and correctly worded titl is an important step for writing the blog post and telling what your reader's need to know. It's important to keep in mind that this is just a working title.  After completing the post, I will revisit my title choice and tweak it.  Occasionally, it will be changed several times, til I have the title for my post that best expresses what I am trying to communicate to my readers.   Outline Your Post   This is when I list the main points I want to teach someone in my post.  It doesn't require a lot of writing here.  It's normally just the main points in a Word document on my computer. During this process I am examining the identified problem, brainstorming answers to the questions and solutions for the problem.   This involves outlining the steps a reader must follow to solve their problem or master a new skill. It's like building the skeleton of your post, where you will add the muscle at a later time.  Many of the bullet points which I have created often become subheadings in my completed post.   By developing the main sections and then the subheadings for each section, your post begins to take shape.  Many times I will have more points than I'll use in my finished post.  I'll begin to remove the weaker or less relevant points which allows me to focus on the more important things that I want to say. Now I'll take a little time to arrange the remaining points into the most logical order.  Many bloggers seem to skip this step.  But sorting your information into a logical order is a very important step.  You need the points you cover to each build on the information provided by the preceding section.  This will make a noticeable difference to the readability and quality of your finished post.   Critique Your Outline   With your outline finished, it's a good time to ask some questions you may have about your developing post.  Will my readers find my post informative and useful?  Will readers have a positive reaction when they read it, or will they just think it is okay?  Is it groundbreaking, will it change reader's lives in any way?  After people finish reading the post will they still have questions? Now is the time to ask these questions.  Instead of waiting until you have finished writing the entire post.  Then if you find that there are possible gaps or weak ideas in your post, you can take the time to do the additional research which may be required.   Write the Introduction   Some bloggers write their post and then write the introduction.  However writing the introduction first often  works best for me.  It helps me establish the proper tone for my post and allows me to get into the mindset adapting to the natural flow of writing my post. Much like the working title, the introduction often shapes the direction of the post.  My introduction is usually one to three paragraphs long.  But again like the working title, I go back to edit the introduction after finishing the post. As you write the introduction, consider your reader and their situation, question or problem.  Show them you really understand how they feel. If you can show some empathy in the first few lines of your post, you’ll make a deeper connection with your reader.  And they’ll want to read the rest of your article. This is also a good point to paint a picture of how the reader will benefit from reading your post.  What will they be able to achieve after reading it?   Expand on the Main Points   With your outline written, it's time to write more on each point to create the main part of your content.  You just give each of your points the additional content and facts beyond what you’ve already written. Keep your reader in mind while you write. What problem are they trying to solve?  As they read your post, imagine what they are wondering about at different points in your post?  Will they be confused while they read?  You want to ensure that your post makes sense and does what is intended. By now it’s probably clear that I write my posts in the order that people will read them.  I begin with the working title, then the introduction and move on to writing the body of the post.  This works best for me, however you'll have to adjust and do what works best for you.   Write the Conclusion and Your Call to Action   Writing a great blog posts requires that it also must come to a conclusion.  I create this after writing the main part of my post, and it's a matter of recapping what I've taught readers during the rest of the post. I’ll restate the problem or question I set out in the introduction, and remind people what I’ve tried to teach them.  I’ll also summarize the main points to refresh the readers memory.  It’s then really important to give readers something specific to take action on.   Go back to whatever you identified as your reader's need, and clearly state what you want them to do next.  My call to action might be encouraging them to try out the technique they’ve just learned, or to leave a comment or interact in some way. Don’t give them several different things to do here.  And make sure your call to action flows from the goals of your blog and this particular post.   Add Depth and Appeal to the Post   At this stage of the process, I look for things I could add to make a post even better.  I might want to include a story or anecdote which would add to what I have written.  Or I might add an image or embed a video that would add relevance to my post.  Charts and graphics could illustrate a key point in your post, making it easier to understand. You could even add a quote or an interview that would add another perspective to your post to lend it further credibility.  This is about making the post better, and ensuring that it looks good and has plenty of visual interest. Edit and Proofread the Post   With this final step, it’s important to go over your post one final time to make sure you haven’t made any mistakes or typos.  Allowing some time between when I write and when I edit is also important.  I feel that we use different parts of our brains for critical thinking and editing. You don't want to waste all your hard work by publishing a post that’s riddled with errors and mistakes.  Quality control matters, so make sure you have sufficient time to edit and proofread. You could also get someone else in to help you at this stage of the process.  It could be a fellow blogger who you swap posts with, or a professional editor or proofreader.   Visit Our Web Accessibility BlogVisit Our Business Sustainability Blog

A Quick Summary of My Process

  Here’s a quick recap of my blog post writing process from start to finish: Select a topic Consider the Needs of Your Readers Create Your Working Title Outline Your Post Critique Your Outline Write the Introduction Expand on the Main Points Write the Conclusion and Your Call to Action Add Depth and Appeal to the Post Edit and Proofread the Post   That’s my workflow.  Perhaps you have an extra step, or do things in a different order.  Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.   Develop Your Own Workflow   Regardless of your workflow, it’s important to pause along the way and be consider the process.  Keep thinking about who’s reading your content.  The reader with the questions, problems and feelings.  If you can show you understand them, you’ll create a real sense of connection. So don’t just think about creating content.  Think about crafting it, and taking care and time to make it the best it can be.   Read the full article