#i hope more sequel fanfic writers pick up on that

[average-transdalorian]

Rewatching TLJ and it’s just now occurring to me that Kyle Ren/Ben Solo is. Kinda a nerd for the more esoteric functions of the Force, isn’t he

[physalian]

“Endings are the hardest!” / “No, beginnings are the worst!”

I’ve never had a problem figuring out the way I want my stories to end but starting them? Yeash, that’s so much pressure. Both carry the same weight for different reasons while you have writers in both camps with legitimate arguments. One may be harder than the other on a writer-by-writer basis, but they are equally daunting.

—

So. Beginnings:

You have sometimes as little as three sentences to hook readers, at most the first chapter. I don’t even give fanfic more than the opening line sometimes (mostly because fanfic takes opening en media res to wild new heights). I’ve been working on a system of “I have one sentence to give you the setting, the protagonist, and the hook that makes this book different, go” and while it might not be perfect, it’s a starting point.

For example! The opening sentence to ENNS is:

Beneath the snowdrift of the longest blizzard Elias has ever endured, the last vampire in the dungeons has finally succeeded in taking their own life.

As someone who struggles with beginnings, I have given you five pieces of information in 25 words:

The setting, that concerns long and repeat blizzards and snow

Protagonist’s name

Establishing the existence of vampires

Establishing that those vampires are kept in dungeons

Establishing that those presumed prisoners are in such bad conditions, that they’re restoring to suicide, something vampires don’t tend to do

I think I did a pretty good job.

So much of the burden of your book is given to so few words. You can’t make it cliché, but try too hard to be unique and you risk looking pretentious. You have to establish the setting, the narrator, the initial setup and inciting incident and convince readers to pick your book out of hundreds of thousands of other options. I hate beginnings.

Best advice among an avalanche of others? Write a placeholder and come back later if it’s too daunting and frustrating because there is no writing advice that is one size fits all.

It’s entirely dependent on your genre, your demographic, the age of your protagonist and how self-aware they are, the tone of your story, your own personal writing style.

“First sentences should include THIS!”

Yeah, okay, but what if I have a better idea? Beyond that your sentence should have a hook that sets your book up as something apart from its genre neighbors, just go look at the most famous opening lines. They’re all different.

There is nothing in common between

Call me Ishmael.

and

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

And that’s the point.

—

Endings though?

Endings bear the burden of providing catharsis, or robbing you of it. Endings have to answer ‘but what does it all mean?’ and stick the landing, or they don’t. Endings can turn a TV show that took the world by storm for four magnificent seasons and drag it limping across the finish line in a finale that sucks the life out of the fandom forever.

Endings either leave you in an existential lurch staring at the ceiling, or in tears of joy or anguish, or frothing at the mouth at yet another cliffhanger. If you can’t answer ‘what does it all mean’ you have bigger problems than just your final lines.

People don’t have fan theories about your first page, they have fan theories about what comes after your last page. There are no rules to writing an ending and sometimes by its nature of being unfulfilling you become infamous.

Example: The ending of Mark of Athena, that prompted this dedication in its sequel House of Hades.

“We’re staying together,” he promised. “You’re not getting away from me. Never again.” Only then did she understand what would happen. A one-way trip. A very hard fall. “As long as we’re together,” she said. She heard Nico and Hazel still screaming for help. She saw the sunlight far, far above—maybe the last sunlight she would ever see. Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into the endless darkness.

(one short Leo POV later)

Nemesis wanted him to wreak vengeance on Gaea? Leo would be happy to oblige. He was going to make Gaea sorry she had ever messed with Leo Valdez. “Yeah.” He took one last look at the cityscape of Rome, turning bloodred in the sunset. “Festus, raise the sails. We’ve got some friends to save.”

If you weren’t in this fandom when this book came out and ended with the protagonist falling into Greek Super Hell, to wait a whole year to find out what happens next—We lost our collective minds.

And then the next book opened like this:

Gettin’ a bit big for your britches there, ey, Riordan?

How you write your ending should reflect the kind of feeling you want to leave your reader with. In this case, it was anguish and despair and the pinnacle of “always leave them wanting more”. Maybe you’ve written a character who’s suffered constant setbacks to reaching their goal, and the final line is them at peace with, or without achieving it. Or it’s the final plot twist/reveal no one saw coming. Or it’s ambiguous, leaving it up to reader interpretation.

My favorite classical book ending comes from The Great Gatsby and while I had to crack open my copies of the PJO books, I know this line by heart:

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

There’s just something so melancholy and tragic about it, as it should be: Gatsby is not a happy story. That line is the answer to the thesis, that trying to live in the past and not embrace the future, not allowing yourself to move on, can only end in tragedy, and yet, so many of us do exactly that.

The image of a dinky little rowboat is always what I’ve pictured, as opposed to a ship or something more formidable. A rowboat bobbing around the thrashing waves, pitted against a force of nature it can’t ever hope to overcome, yet it endures.

The book opens on an equally melancholy note, “In my younger years…” as the protagonist reflects back on their life gone by. It’s an American classic for a reason.

Even if your final line is unspectacular, the line isn’t as important as how the narrator feels about the book being over. Quotable hashtags are great, but if the ending doesn’t feel like a proper fit, you’re going to leave readers disappointed.

—

Endings are so fricken fun though, no matter what’s at stake. It’s as cathartic for me to finish as I hope it is for the reader to read. There’s plenty of advice out there on the perfect opener or the perfect closer, the endless arguments over which is harder, and it’s all up to you in the end. They just come easy to me, I have no advice. I can picture them well before I get to the final pages and they just click into place. Beginnings, though? Ugh.

—

Thank you for 300 Followers!!!

[grxceful-ly]

Hello there! I hope you're doing good!

19, 21 and 29 for the Fanfic Writers Ask Game!

hii thank you so much for sending me an ask!! i hope you're doing really well yourself. you picked some good ones and this got kinda long, i'm sorry 🙇🏻‍♀️

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs.

i'm going to take this opportunity to say that something in me does not allow me to fulfill all the multichapter, long fics of my dreams so i mostly share oneshots. i wish i could be like "this is from my [insert title here] au from chapter 14!!" or something. but alas. anyway, this is from my wip sequel to the sabezra secret relationship i wrote a while back. it's almost done, i'm excited to share the full thing soon!

Maybe the Ezra Bridger who wasn’t in a relationship with Sabine wouldn’t have said that. Maybe he would’ve been a little giddy—like, wow! Sabine is actually touching me! And isn’t completely averse to it! Maybe he should have said something like that. Or just. . .smiled? Or hugged her back? Sabine still wasn’t letting go. His heart ached a little. He let his arms come around her loosely, his gaze stuck to the floor. “So. . .” he started. But nothing else came out. 

21. Have you ever deleted an entire scene after spending hours laboring over it? If so, why?

yes and no. i don't think i've ever had to delete an entire scene--usually i will spend a lot of time writing a scene or two and i hate it a little more than usual so i end up losing motivation for the entire project. this happens often. i don't like it.

however, sometimes i'll write a line i really like but in my heart i know it won't work for the overall goal of the paragraph or scene, so i have to delete it :( i mourn for like three minutes and then move on lol.

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

goodness, the amount of star wars time travel fix-it fics i've written in my mind. that's kind of where they stay. but occasionally i jot down a scene that has a chokehold on me until it goes away. i was going to share an anakin one, but for some reason i can't find my doc with that in it :') so you get this scene from my vostress wip where asajj goes back in time. this is kind of a cheat bc i don't know if it'll NEVER be posted, but as of now too little of it is written to share much more than these snippets. also there's very little interest in a fic like this versus my usual stuff lol.

Her eyes softened. “It is more important to reject that power and preserve those things. Understand me, Vos. Truly. There is no power that can take away the pain you feel. No power that is worth it for a fleeting sense of victory.” She realized she'd put a hand to his chest, naturally drawn closer as she tried not to plead with him. This was it. If he should ever listen to her, let it be now.

and for a bonus, here's an 'asajj takes omega to meet quinlan' snippet that was just for fun and will never again see the light of day lol!

“Your jedi?” Omega asked, eyes lighting up, glancing from one of them to the other. Vos flashed a lopsided smile at Ventress. “I love when she calls me that,” he said in that smooth, unserious but oh-so-truthful voice of his. Ventress's eyes slid to him, then went up to the sky in feigned annoyance as her hand fell to her side and she swiveled to walk away. “Come on.” Unfortunately, Vos and Omega were making quick friends. He was the type to do so; always had been, and it seemed she, too, was eager to befriend anyone she set her sights on. A horrifying pair.

[writing-for-life]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗 (i don't know if you do these sorts of chain-letter things, or if you'd prefer not to, but for my part i do like to know which of their works a given author is especially hype on, so consider this an opportunity to gush!)

I was sweating for a moment there because I thought, “I’ve written all my life and even published, but I don’t have 5 fanfics, shit!”

And then I noticed… well, with a little bit of goodwill, I do. So thanks so much for asking, @stellerssong , and here comes the gushing:

The no. 1 has to be “The Light of Stars”.

I completed most of it during NaNoWriMo 2022 for a bit of fun and respite from other projects—and then did nothing with it. Until I thought, “Fuck it,” and started publishing it chapter by chapter, editing and tidying it up along the way.

It is a long fic, and I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m honestly proud of it. I put a lot of thought into characterisation and plot, keeping everyone in character (as much as aimed-for character development allowed, so certain OOC moments had to happen) and crafting an OC that works for what I was setting out to do. So much so that many people asked for a sequel, which I’m still in the process of writing (I completed the concept again last NaNoWriMo and wrote over 40,000 words back then, but progress has been slow since because… life).

I don’t want to give too much away here, but while it’s romance and there *is* more than enough sex (I write steamy romance professionally, albeit in my other language), this is really not what this one is mainly about. So it’s not one for people who look for thinly-disguised chapter-porn and super-explicit descriptions. It’s a novel with a fully developed arc, and it deals with topics like friendship, loss and grief. Someone told me though that it felt hopeful and they didn’t struggle with the broaching of those topics like in some other works, and that was probably the most wonderful thing anyone could ever have said to me.

I’ll choose “Snow Globes and Whisky” as my second, but only because it is a Christmas gift-type one-shot with the same characters.

You can, in theory, read it without knowing TLoS, but it just wouldn’t make sense. It’s just Christmas fluff, not incredibly deep (despite picking up on the friendship and loss-theme again), it was fun to write and to get Dream a little bit drunk (just because he was intrigued and allowed it of course 🤣).

Then there are Rachel and Johanna.

They have such a special place in my heart. I always wanted to tell their story because we never got it in the show—so I did. And as a bisexual woman, I am also Jo’s biggest stan. I desperately want her to be the Sandman-character who does away with bi-erasure once and for all (because if the onscreen love interest is female, everyone cheers, but bi m/f relationships never count in fandom because they’re “heteronormative”. Newsflash: We’re not “50% straight, 50% gay”. We have nuance and deep inner lives and different preferences that make up very personal identities, and we’re not some token queer representation that stops to exist once we’re in straight-passing relationships). We’ve seen her date a woman and she has tons of chemistry with Dream too—I want them to have the messiest affair ever and somehow have her take Thessaly’s place. But better. Because she’d protect Lyta for all the RIGHT reasons. There, I said it, and I’m not sorry. Anyway, that’s not what “As it Was Before the Otherness Came” is about. It’s sad and heartbreaking and canon-compliant. It just fills in the gaps. And again, I’m super-proud that someone in the comments said to tell Gaiman about it (we all know that’s not a thing for fanfic) because they thought it was so in character and well-written. Yes, I’m shamelessly blowing my own trumpet because you asked me to 🤣

Then there are my Inktober Haikus.

I still intend to turn them into a bound book with accompanying art one day (the latter is where it all falls down really because although I could, it would take me 1,000 years to create all the art myself). 31 poems, some more inspired than others, but they were a great creativity exercise, and I honestly love them for what they are.

And last but not least, from the serious to the totally unhinged: Muhulhu. Murphy and his Cool Hat. The crack ship of all crack ships, aka:

I set out to write a trilogy, the first part “By The Sea, I Mean In The Dreaming: A Comedy Prelude” is published, the second and third are currently in a vegetative state because I just can’t find the time to write and/or edit. And if I do, I prefer writing the TLoS sequel. Or metas. Or running silly fandom events 🤣 I’d love to write more fanfic, but between a full time job (or rather: three jobs that make up one) and a family, I just stare in awe at the people on here who produce constant output, because I honestly can’t. But I will get back to it eventually because that one is just sheer unhinged fun.

Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to flog my goods!

@stellerssong ask answered

[recurring-polynya]

Fanfic Round-Up 2023

I was looking at last year's round-up in preparation for doing this and it is very hilarious because it starts out with "well I set a new record in sucking" and let me tell you: I have blown away last year's new record in sucking.

That's not entirely fair-- last year, I had a pretty big word count before I stripped out everything that I hadn't actually written that year, which knocked it down to about 113k. This year, I posted an extremely sad 58,086 words, but if you add in the fanfic I spent half the year working on and haven't finished yet, it gets back up to about...113k. This is still roughly half of what I used to be capable of, but I guess I'm just not anymore. I actually tried to quit writing in the first part of the year, because it was making me miserable, but it turns out that then I just got I-am-not-writing-miserable, which was much, much worse, so I just started Doing It Miserable. I finally started feeling a little better around October before I got kneecapped by Christmas, just like I do every year. Anyway!! Here's the goods:

Most of this year's Squad Six is Jerks (volume 4 of my multi-year collection of short stories) was stuff for RenRuki week, so technically it got written in December of 2022, or before because at least two of them were things I had lying around. It includes Part 3 of my silly Renji-joins-Squad 4 AU, an angsty TYBW healing springs story, some zanpakutou nonsense, and a nice Rukia birthday story that I'm actually pretty proud of. Later on in the years, as part of the Bleach Returns event to celebrate cour 2 of the anime, I wrote a little post-lude to the Rukia's arrest scene, which I am never not thinking about.

My big accomplishment for the year, I guess, was go places, a Rukia-and-Renji-prepare-to-try-out-for-the-Academy story. I had started it years ago, and it was just this little, no-plot thing that I was fond of, and I decided to dust it off and make something of it. That turned out to be a ton more work than I expected, but I'm actually really proud of the result, which is a little bit melancholy, but also full of heart (and world building). Please read it if you enjoy scenes where characters go to the post office.

On my usual one-every-three-to-twelve-months pace, I wrote two adult fanfics this year. One is the (loose) sequel to the other. If you like stories about people having sex in extremely inconvenient places, please check out the very descriptively named Rukia and Renji Bone Down in the Urahara Shouten Stockroom and/or Things to Do in Hueco Mundo When There's a Sandstorm and You're Stuck in a Cave.

The last thing for this year was a fraction of your happy heart (irresolution doesn't suit you), a nice story where Renji and Orihime commiserate about the long-haul pining lifestyle and then go fight each other for funsies. Now that I think about it, this was another one that I pulled out of the dusty WIPs pile and finished off.

I guess that was a big theme for this year, which on one hand, sounds kind of lazy, because all I did was finish things. On the other hand, I finished a lot of things, which is sort of the perpetual lament of the fanfic writer, so good for me. Also, it was easy for some of them, but for others, it was a lot of work (I am looking at you, go places).

Also, I very much did spent a lot of time working on my next installment of the Heart is a Muscle. There's still a significant stretch to go, but I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to complete it in the first part of 2024, before the Summer Vacation slump (I have now learned to set my expectations very low for June-Aug and also the month of December, because that's just how it is). After that, I'm optimistically hoping to pick up and complete a little in love now and then as my fall project, but that's a long way off, so we'll just have to see.

[onyxbird]

These are my thoughts about fan content clarifying what fandom values about a work that I mentioned in a response to @trivalentlinks.

The optimistic side of this post is that I think there is value in fan content forming a record for whoever chooses to look (even if that's only other fans), in the form of thousands of fanfics and fanart and fanposts, that these are the things fandom got out of a source work that made them love it. These are the versions of the characters that fans loved (or hated), whether or not that's quite what the writers/actors/etc. intended. These are the story beats that resonated so well that fans delve into them over and over and over, and these are the ones that flopped and get "fixed" again and again.

However a lot of the stuff below the cut is more pessimism and frustration about the crudeness of the "dialog," such as it is, between fandom and creators, using Leverage/Leverage Redemption as an example. I have no real answers, here.

Mostly, the thing is gets me is that 1) I know viewer numbers and ratings are what drive decision-making in TV/movie production and 2) on the viewer's end, the choice to watch or not watch a show/movie/whatever is such an incredibly crude, binary signal about something that so much factors into.

So taking Leverage as the example, since that's what touched this discussion off, imagine if Leverage Redemption just tanks next season. Lots of people who tuned in when season 1 launched stop watching. The obvious question that a lot of people are going to be asking is why. When Leverage originally aired, it was clearly popular enough to get 5 seasons and to eventually spawn a sequel series, and enough people started watching Redemption to get a second season greenlit, so the question would be what changed?

If you're looking solely at the show end to try to diagnose viewership/ratings trends, there are quite a few changes that could factor into reception, both obvious and subtle, and very limited "signal" from just numeric viewing/ratings data. Some of those changes are (all stuff I recall seeing discussed in fanposts in one form or another, BTW):

They became an Amazon production. They killed off Nate. They added Harry. They added Breanna. They made Sophie the Mastermind. They moved the setting to New Orleans. Hardison was away for most of the season. They gave Eliot a multi-episode love interest for the first time. They shifted the focus more towards the way the powerful can twist the system to their own ends to legally screw people over (linked to Harry's incorporation in the team). They had a more diverse pool of clients for the crew. They went little further over the realism line into the fantastical (e.g., literally talking guards to sleep). They seemed to explicitly refute the OT3 dynamic ("robot bodies" scene). They made a number of smaller, possibly unintended characterization changes to established characters (e.g., various stuff with Parker's portrayal). And, separate from Leverage Redemption itself, a local Portland news outlet put out an article (which doesn't appear to have been picked up by any wider news outlets) about alleged sexual harassment/assault on Electric Entertainment productions, including Leverage.

Lots of changes, both large and small. Some changes I think were excellent. Some were not. Some were non-ideal for the show, but obviously limited by circumstance (e.g., working around Aldis Hodge's availability). With (I hope) the exception of the abuse allegations, I suspect every change on my list has some fans who like it, some who hate it, and some who don't really care.

So… how would you figure out what accounted for a hypothetical drop in ratings/viewers?

In the absence of any direct feedback about what the fans are saying (or expressing through other fandom participation), there would be a lot of guesswork. The show is very centered around the crew, so I would guess the impact of cast changes would be a major objective change to look at. The original crew was well-liked in OG Leverage, so they'd probably assume no problems with returning cast. (Fans perceived some changes to how the OG crew were portrayed, but those are relatively subtle/subjective and likely not deliberate on the show's part.) Harry is a newcomer, but Noah Wyle was a core character in The Librarians, which also got 4 seasons, so I doubt him turning off fans would be the first guess. That leaves removing Tim Hutton (well-established actor, central to previous well-received series, resulted in major restructuring of crew once removed) and adding Aleyse Shannon (who seems to have fairly few previous roles) as major cast changes. (If the "Silence on the Set" article had gotten more press and really blown up, then that might make the list of possible reasons for turning people off, but I have only seen that discussed on Tumblr so far, and it appears to be only the one local article in a location they don't seem to be filming in anymore.)

Now, from what I've seen in the Tumblr fandom (both on my dash and in the main leverage tag), my impression is that people here largely think removing Nate was the right choice (either because of the allegations against Hutton or because Nate's arc had ended or both) and adore Breanna and her casting. But to know that, you have to look at what fans are saying and/or how they're engaging with the fandom rather than just looking at the fact that the new line-up isn't holding viewership. Otherwise, you might conclude, e.g., that getting rid of the (older, white, male) Mastermind and bringing in a young, queer, woman-of-color geek were a mistake for the show's popularity.

In terms of fanfic (the topic of the other post), I've seen people remark before about how little "fix-it fic" there is for Leverage. In terms of the changes in Leverage Redemption, I certainly haven't seen much, if any, fic that brings Nate back. I've seen plenty of fic that's enthusiastic about both Breanna and Harry. I have seen fic "fixing" the OT3 or having Parker do more masterminding or keeping Hardison in closer contact, suggesting that those are things that people genuinely did think were problems with the new setup.

Another obvious takeaway from the Leverage fanfic/fan content in general is that the Leverage fandom loves Eliot, but from the fic and posts I've read, my impression is that the Eliot the fandom loves is one who would never do the kind of shit Christian Kane is accused of. E.g., the fan content often delves more deeply into Eliot's bloody, ex-hitman past than the show ever has, while at the same time "Parker and/or Hardison have to practically sit Eliot down for a Powerpoint presentation to convince him they are romantically/sexually interested in him, too, because otherwise he will never make a move to avoid crossing their boundaries" is practically its own Leverage fic genre.

Now, are the creators/producers/etc. going to come to Tumblr and AO3 to figure out why their show is or is not doing well? Likely not, especially not AO3. (In this specific case, perhaps more likely than for other shows, since I think at least one of the creators has explicitly mentioned writing fanfic themselves.) But I do think there is value in the fandom talking about what they do like, what was done well, in addition to the things that make them walk away from watching further, even if the only people listening are other fans.

Leverage/Leverage Redemption isn't the only place where I have this frustration, BTW. I had a lot of fun with the MCU, before Infinity War/Endgame killed a lot of my enjoyment. And then, of course, they start rolling out a lot stuff following more diverse heroes, etc., whether that's highlighting already-established side characters (Sam Wilson, Black Widow), stuff that I'd never heard of before (e.g., Moon Knight; Shang Chi), and stuff that I had heard of and wanted to do well (e.g., Ms. Marvel, one of my cousin's favorite comics). And I just want to shake the people in charge and say "Why didn't you feature these characters before you soured me on the franchise as a whole? I didn't stop wanting to watch because you shifted away from white male superheroes. Now, if ratings go down, you're probably going to say people just don't want to watch [POC/Muslim/mentally ill/etc.] main characters, and that's not it at all."

I'm not really arguing that the fandom version of the show is actually going to get back to the creators/people deciding show funding/etc. and influence their decision-making or have a tangible impact on the way mainstream media operates, outside of (perhaps) explicit reviews of the work. I'm not arguing that people should continue to make fanworks for this reason, or should continue supporting shows just to avoid creators drawing the wrong conclusions. I'm just saying I find it comforting that there is a record out there, in all the fan content, of what it was about these works that spoke to people. And of what, in the show universe, put them off enough to warrant discussion or fix-its. I just think it matters.

[rustingcat]

For the ask game (If I have chosen letters you already answered feel free to ignore them): A (your favorite title for a fic), G, K, R, S, U, V, W.

Someone went a bit greedy there with questions ;)

A: How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?

Well, the thing about my titles is that I learned a long time ago that I'm terrible at picking them, and it takes me forever to choose. So I came up with a system where I just pick the first thing that comes into my head when thinking about the fic and hope for the best😅

The only one that changed was Privileges, which was originally named Good Reasons, because I felt like the name didn't work anymore.

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

Oh, start to finish. I find it difficult not to write in order. I have some future scenes sometimes in a separate doc, but everything else is written chronologically.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

Alone

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

Of course! There are so many great writers in this fandom. We are truly blessed. But I think that one of the main points of influence on my writing is actually cinema. I come from an editing background, and I feel that the way I write is in many ways similar to the way I think when I edit, at least from a storytelling point.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

I can't resist me a good ol' soulmates au. I'm also a suckered for a sports au.

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

@inkedroplets - Their writing is very poetic in a very emotional way, not to mention often includ characters from the extended dc universe, which is always a treat and makes the world feel bigger and more alive. Everything they write is just a joy to read, and I highly recommend them.

@mycatismyeditor - They have a deep hole of unending stories and senarios in their head, and I often wonder how they function with that, but they do. They have so many stories published, and they are somehow all absolutely amazing, fun, and just a pure delight to read. (There's a good reason why half of my bookmarks are just their works)

@thornedrose44 - Everything they write is gold. They write with care and emotion, with a very deep understanding of the characters and fantastic world building. I love their work so much and can't recommend them enough.

V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

Oh, okay, I do have one idea for a fic that is not yet published by a friend, so maybe once it's out there, I'll take a cracking at it😂

[epickiya722]

⭐🙏🏼

Well, damn it... there's a lot if scenes I could talk about so this is a hard choice for me to make...

Okay, I'm picking Not Red, Black. It's one of the fics that I wrote that centers around Miruko and at the time, I dabbled a little into horror elements than the usual comedic and lighthearted ones I go for. The fic as a whole was just a sequel I just came up with on the fly because why not and wanted to see if I could write it. Sometimes, I do like to challenge myself and write a tone and a genre I'm not used to. Indeed, it was difficult and while I don't think I fully captured a "horror" kind of feel, I still say this is one of my better fics that isn't in my usual style.

One section I like to talk about is this scene!

It's evident, Miruko inhabits the "blood knight" trope. She's down for a good fight, doesn't mind the pain or anything.

Here I kind of wanted to take that part of her and twist in a way where it's almost opposite, I guess, of how she is in canon. She really doesn't show any negative feelings to fighting or killing someone, just that it's something she has to do because she has a duty. She doesn't want to have regrets.

For this scene, I still wanted to hone in that love for fighting she has and view she has on killing and make her question it. She doesn't feel joy, but at the same time she does. It confuses her. She's not sure how to feel, but she knows she feels something about ending a life to protect herself (she was attacked).

Also, colors. I'm sure you noticed that the title has "red" and "black" in it. While I do mention other colors, those two colors are emphasized a lot more in the fic. For this particular scene, I hoped to have captured this imagery of Miruko just sitting in a huge void of shadows that represent her self-doubt and corruption.

Fanfic Writers: Director's Cut

[steves-strapcollection]

For the fanfic ask game 🫶

H

E (peace of mind)

A (icbhicbh)

R

T

Aaaaah Sandy thank you so much for the ask, this was stupid cute omg

H: How would you describe your style?

Oh jeez, coming in swinging right out the gate. I have... idea how to describe my style. Like I know I'm big on the dialogue and the inner monologues, and I'm huge on injecting the voice of the POV holder, even when it's third-person POV. Idk if that's a style but like [gestures vaguely] yeah????

E: If you wrote a sequel to here i have found some peace of mind, what would it be about?

Okay, so, I'm already writing a sequel to peace of mind, and that sequel is about Steve and Eddie figuring out being together while being apart, and also Steve kind of grappling with his own growing sort of fame on social media. Also other things. That I'm keeping... hush hush.

A: How did you come up with the title to i could be honest, i could be human?

i could be honest, i could be human was named after lyrics from the song Werewolf by Motionless In White. I got obsessed with the song, and I decided that those lyrics would make a sick fic title.

If you haven't listened to the song, you definitely should~*~

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

If I had to pick an influence, i would have to say Maggie Stiefvater and Naomi Novik, specifically for the way they both weave these immersive, magical stories? Oh! And VE Schwab! Same reasons, just... the way these authors flesh out their worlds, make it all feel real, even the magic? I especially really admire their ability to juggle multiple characters, and multiple POVs, and how each character feels Whole and Separate, like they're living and breathing, y'know? It's a quality I try to emulate in my own writing, and I hope I succeed.

T: Any fandom tropes you can't stand?

Damn, I already said "miscommunication" on another ask with this. I don't know if this counts as a trope, but I don't like... Hanahaki!AU and I think a lot of it comes down to the miscommunication aspect of it.

Send me more of these fun fanfic asks!

[loopy777]

of your own work, what story do you like the most?

I am incapable of picking just one.

It would be easy to just go with the story I think achieved 100% of what I was trying to do, but I don't believe I ever accomplished that with my writing. Likewise, I could pick a story without some flaw in it, but there's no such thing in my repertoire.

One of the more obvious picks would be my greatest achievement in terms of scope, Traitor's Face. I'm mostly satisfied with how it turned out, and my problems are mainly in wanting to do some light editing. But it's not a story I can experience the way the audience can, since I know all the twists intimately. I can't enjoy it as a reader, only as the person who wrote it.

But is scope the only measure of accomplishment? It's shorter, but I think the character work I did for The Avatar & The Fire Princess might be my best. It was definitely among the most challenging in that it called for me to push Aang and Azula out of character in believable ways, while also keeping them fully recognizable. And I think I did a pretty good job with that, although there are probably people who disagree. I'm also a bit proud that this pairing doesn't get as much fanfic as some of the more prominent ships, so I feel like my effort was put to more efficient use. However, I do think this story has its flaws, and it gets rather emotionally heavy near the end, so I don't find myself compelled to reread it much.

In contrast, I find that I most often reread the work I've done (and will continue to do, I hope) in the Maiko realm. Of those, I especially cherish Black & Blue and Flowers For Mai, as they are probably the most fun I've had with the pairing, and I find them both enjoyably rereadable, even as the person who wrote them. Although it's more about Mai than Maiko, I also am really proud of Samsara: Mai's Long Day for being a fulfillment of my long desire to do a Groundhog's Day story, and being a really good mix of serious character stuff and fun humor. I'd say these three stories probably best embody my skills as a writer.

But then there's stuff I wrote specifically for me, stuff that I think I enjoy more than the audience does. Of course, two of these stories are Maikka. The one that always makes me grin just to think about it is Now Kiss, because it is very uniquely of my sense of humor. Trapped in Yu Dao is another Maikka story and again satisfied a persona genre-desire, in this case a super-spy adventure; I also really dig the background worldbuilding and still want to do a sequel to it someday. Although it's not Maikka, More Than Meets the Head-Mounted Optical Sensors is another very personal project combining Avatar fanfic with a satire of the Transformers franchise, a mix that delights me and roughly three other people in the entire world.

But all of this is my multi-chapter stuff. I've written lots of short stories, and I think the freedom of that format allowed me to hit some real homers, even if their smaller size and impact don't make them as memorable. Of those, I think I most like this handful (although the list is almost certainly subject to change) for finding new perspectives and things to do in Avatar fanfic:

Irko Week - AU

Lioness

Gazing Above

The Chosen

Working It Off

Lucky Day

(This reminds me that I really need to port my older writing to AO3, now that I know how to mess with the publication date to put it in proper order. But while the AO3 culture is towards letting each short stand on its own, I don't think I want another 100 stories cluttering up my history. I'll probably just dump them in a collection and not bother properly tagging them, leaving them lost to fandom history but there for those interested in me as a writer specifically.)

So I guess all these are the stories I like the most. For now.

I'll probably have a different set of answers next week.

[dudewhy3]

❤️ 💥 ⏰ 🔮 🚀 🦈 🍬 🎬 🎨 💘 🚦 🤩 💛

:3!!!

hi you, moon, thank you for your ask!!

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

Armin watches her cross the bridge separating his side of the village from hers and slowly make her way up the hill, to a house he could never dream of stepping foot into again, where everything he could never be able to offer awaits her arrival. (from Nothing Sweeter Than You)

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

i wouldn’t necessarily change anything major, but i wish we knew more about Bert's past, and the gap between the Rumbling and them becoming Ambassadors of Peace

⏰️ Do you like to post fics on a schedule or at random?

i'd love to have a posting schedule, especially for wpts, and i'm trying to make that happen. but with how hectic life is right now, i haven't been able to keep that up.

🔮 Any advice for writers working through burnout or writer’s block?

i'd like to recieve some lmao

try stepping away from projects that give you headaches for a while. write something new, that you’re excited about, or find a prompt list, pick one at random and write on it for 15 minutes or so– i've found that quite helpful lately! but also don’t be afraid to completely step away from writing. sometimes life is just too much, there are many things that lead to burn out, it’s okay, it happens. step away, take a breath, take care of yourself and your well being– your stories amd your readers will still be there when you come back ♡

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

outline! i almost always outline my fics, it helps put stuff in perspective and makes it easier to write, having a direction and stuff.

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

all of them, in a way. it depends on my head soace at that moment

🍬 Do you write for multiple fandoms? If yes, what is your favorite fic of yours for each fandom?

i do actually, i just never posted anything for any other fandom than aot lmao. but my favourite fanfic for that is probably Who painted the sky?

🎬 If a movie or show were based on your fic, which fic would you choose and who would you fancast?

Who painted the sky?, and i want Maya Hawk as Hannah and Jenny Walser as Marie, i have no idea for the volunteers really. feel free too add your own fancast for them, i'd love hearing y'all's ideas!!

also for See You Again, i want the entire cast of Gray's Anatomy to have a role!

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

see, i'd be happy with any scene from any fic. literally a n y scene

💘 Is it easier to write angst or fluff?

depends on how i feel really

🚦What sort of endings do you prefer to write: ambiguous, bad, happily ever after, etc.?

ambiguous! i love leaving room for immagibation, or sometimes a sequel 👀

🤩 What led to your interest in the fandom?

great question! my oldest friend told me about aot in 2017 so i watched it, and i was so mad over petra's death i stopped lmao. then 2019 came aroumd and i was just bored so i picked it up again, started reading the manga in 2020 and started writing for the fandom in the summer of the same year. it was the same friemd that pointed out Annie and Armin looked cute together, and that, topped by mimi's fanfics, lured me into this side of the fandom and made me want to actively be part of it.

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

it fluctuates. it comes and goes in waves. it's an extremely flexible thing. it's entirely impacted by your personal life, it reflects in your art in ways you might not notice.

[msookyspooky]

Just wanted to send the monthly appreciation ask. Because I am depressed and when I am, I want to make someone happy.

-Thanks alot for being the reason for me to go into the universe of slasher, you introduced me to such... Movies that now I am going to be a criminal psychologist.[So thanks for shaping my future]

- Thanks alot for writing such well written fan fictions such as Set Up, Sequels suck, Terrible Trilogy and Four's A Franchise, I salute you for your consistency.

-Thank you so much for not abandoning Setup and writing so much more after it and still keeping good quality of the script.

-You are really beautiful

-I love Y/n, love how well written she is, happy that she takes no one's bullshit and that she is no 'pick me' girl, because that's what I had when I had started reading Fanfictions at the age of 13...

So.. As a summary....

That felt nice...

First off I'm so sorry ur depressed rn baby 😥💔 I really hope u feel betfer soon and life gets better too ❤

Second, OMG REALLY?! That's so neat!! I always loved the idea of criminal psychology so I can't beileve I influenced that but I'm so happy to hear that for you!!

Lastly, thank you sm for the high praise of my writing and (you thinking I'm pretty aw thank you that's so kind 🥺💖) I'm glad you've been here since the beginning supporting me and you've always been very sweet and very helpful with my journey as a writer with this fanfic. Seriously, I look back at Set Up and cringe at my writing and here you all liked it and that means sm to me! I can't thank you enough for the encouragement you gave me and support so ily Aura and thank you for this ask it really made my day 🥰🥲😭💘💘💘💘💘

[dragodina]

Hallo! :) Fanfic Writer Emoji ask: 😅🛒❌👀

Hey, ich hoffe du hattest trotz allem ein schönes Weihnachten, ruhige Feiertage und konntest dich ein bisschen erholen 😊❤️

Danke für deine Fragen 🥰, schauen wir mal was mein Kopf draus gemacht hat 😅

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

> I noticed it with the two Adventscalender "Last Christmas" and "Another Year Has Gone By" stories that I always seem to come back to certain emotions between Julia Grosz and Tine Geissler. That Tine is the brave one at first asking Julia out for that one drink and Julia over the course of time finding the courage to be brave enough and let her feelings and trust for Tine grow to finally let her in more.

I also like to dive back into the past of Julia and describe what that made her feel, how it changed her and how it effects her feelings for Tine and the way she may or may not lets her close.

And I really just love to write them both falling in love all over again, seeing each other through their eyes, their insecurities, their possible feels and emotions and come up with new ideas and scenes to put them into.

I probably used the reference of them being each others lighthouse way too often, but I just find it so fitting for them.

I can really just hope any readers don't grow tired of the fact that I use themes, topics or feels more than once in different stories and sometimes come back to them.

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

> As far as I can think of now I'm not a big fan of anything related to science fiction regarding time jumps and shifting time and space and also not of the whole Omega/Alpha/Vampire universe so that will probably never be a thing in any of my stories.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

> Puh, I got quite a few in the pipeline and so many more ideas actually, I don't really now which one to pick 😅🙈.

First of, if you're interested and haven't yet already seen it, I have shared a pretty long snipped of an upcoming thing here.

Its part of a series of "What If" takes on every Tatort Hamburg episode from "Querschläger" on with one significant twist.

I got an idea for a story of Julia and Tine on vacation in the mountains. Possibly visting Julias father and him meeting Tine for the first time.

There is something I have planned to share after "Last Chance" is (hopefully) finished, it will be a multichapter and I'm pretty anxious to see how its received. As of now it will be titlted "Pareidolie".

I got an idea for a suprise upload for someone which I'm really very nervous about and still pondering if I really should share it 🙈.

Oh and a possible Sequel to "Last Chance" or standalone story (I haven't decided yet) in which someone finds their life at risk.

This was as always lots of fun, if anyone is interested in more, please reach out and ask 😊😉.

[hannahmationstudios]

3, 13, and 14, and also 21 for red rowan, please <3

Eee thank you Kate ;v; 💜💜 taking writer asks here!

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

I can tell you immediately what tropes can be found repeated through my fics.

Some aspect of parenthood, present or future (wanting kids, pregnancy plots, or characters being parents already). That was easy to fit in with Red Rowan because Yennefer canonly wants children very much, so it made for a compelling narrative conflict and an interesting exploration of her character.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" - characters are forced to make choices and do things they would never otherwise see themselves doing because they hope it's leading towards a good ending they deserve. Combine that with the occasional fall from grace/"I gave up everything and in the end I still lost" and it's just. Chef's kiss.

"Retired badass" is another trope I love and will use whenever I have a chance. Yes, I lived through hell and retired... but now circumstances have forced me back into the fray, and I'm about to make it everyone's problem.

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

Hmm. Not exactly a trope, but I think I used to be a lot more into shipping than I am now. I think I'm about 50/50 with whether I even care about ships at all when I get into a media these days. I still enjoy them of course but they've drifted significantly from being my main focus of interest in creating for things I like.

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

Ah, yeah, a few for sure. I'm not huge on a lot of more campy fanfic tropes (that's generous - I'm extremely picky about fanfic tropes) but I'd read them if I knew/trusted the writer and wanted to see what they did with them. There are also a few darker subjects where knowing/trusting the writer and their intentions more in-depth makes it easier (or even possible) to allow for unfettered immersion.

21. If you wrote a “missing scene” in Red Rowan, what would it be?

For Red Rowan? Aw man, there are so many things I'd love to write for that fic (including an entire sequel of sorts I was picking at at one time), though to be completely honest you wrote the most amazing interlude scene imaginable with Camellia (there needs to be more soft Eskel/Shani in this world, you have truly done the lord's work). If I had to think of any other scenes I might like to write...

Possibly something that better explores Lambert and Keira's outcome, where they are, and what's been going on with them. There's more going on behind the scenes with the two of them - both of them have deeper issues that they're willing to let on, but both are too stubborn to just come out and talk about them, even with how deeply in love they are and how much they trust each other over all other people. I didn't want to delve too deeply into their story in the actual fic because 1) it's Geralt's story, not Lambert's, and 2) Lambert gave exactly as many details as he was meant to give, and any more would unbalance the narrative.

But... I do love them, your honour. Maybe once the big overall story wraps they can have more content. As a treat.

[livingwithhorrors]

Hello, I hope you are doing well with everything!

I just wanted to say I recently read your fanfic (Welcome back Bobby) and it's one of, or my favorite fanfictions I have read! You write each character well and detailed, I do love Linda a lot. I love your take on Robert and Pennywise, I took their 'relationship' as a version of Venom and Eddie from the 2018 movie. You are a great writer, it's like I was watching a tv show and in some parts I was nervous for the outcome like I was in the situation myself.

If you need a break, take it you deserve it! I wish you everything well with your life and everything else, have a wonderful day/night!

<3

Thank you so much Anon it means a lot.

I do plan to finish and possibly make a sequel.

But sadly at the moment I needed to take a step away that’s been keeping me from finishing the story for a long time.

The reason being around the start of Covid my dog, that was gifted to me by my late grandfather (who passed in 2019) and I had raised since a puppy (born 2016) began to suffer from seizures.

He’d be fine and then suddenly he would be shaking.

We began trying to find the proper meds and dosages and it would never be right.

It began to look worse and be longer and several more times in an amount of days.

Then finally we thought we’d found the right dosage. He went for 3 months without a seizure.

Then in December he suffered another suddenly and continued to have them the following days.

Sadly the last round he suffered were constant and he could no longer fight his way out of them.

He had only turned 6 when my family had to say goodbye.

It’s been a hard following months as he was not only an amazing dog, he was also a very sweet loving boy. He gave hugs and kisses when I needed them most.

Though I’m still processing it, I’ve been busy as well as exactly a month after his passing we ended up adopting a rescue.

It had not been planned and happened suddenly. We also have a Cat and another Dog that I’ve looked after since we adopted each.

Our other dog I had hoped to get a new friend as he was best buds with our late dog, but had dent thought it would be so soon.

But it’s been a wonderful thing for him and I think even the cat enjoys having her.

She was a rescues from something similar to a puppy mill and was not used to humans or being a normal dog.

She’s been slowly getting past her fears and coming out of her shell thanks to working with her and our other dog.

She looks just like my late boy just a bit smaller. She’s a part of a different breed then he was as well. He was a mini Goldendoodle and her papers say she’s a mini Labradoodle.

I plan to try and write more hopefully after I’m sure she comfortable and acclimated to her new home.

She’s no longer skidding, but still isn’t sure how to communicate with us when she just wants to run, when she has to potty and how to react to being held and loved.

She loves to zoom, but if she doesn’t want to go in yet she’ll cower and crawl. She would a similar action when we met and got her but she was afraid and would pee and submit. Thankfully she no longer pees when doing this, but kind reassuring words are needed to sooth her into knowing we’re not upset if she wants to keep playing.

She’s gotten better with potty as well. At first she’s pee just being approached or even excited. Thankfully no longer, but she has a few accidents when she doesn’t know how to get our attention. That thankfully is improving as she has begun to understand the bells on the door that we ring going in and out and say potty. She now will hit those, though sometimes too lightly. She’ll stand by the door and stare out and at us. She’ll even bark at us if she’s not in a play mood to let us know. So far it’s been days since the last accident.

She’s starting to understand commands as well. Though the the holding and loving is still an on going thing.

I pick her up and give her affection and she used to be a limp noodle with a dead stare, but thankfully she’s starting to understand that it affection.

She’ll still be limp and look dazed, but she now gives kisses and will move when she’s done with being held which I’ll let her down gently and praise her on both kisses and letting me know she’s done.

Tonight was the first night I actually got her to let me hold her and she was relaxed enough while I did that she fell asleep. I was so happy and excited.

She enjoys laying in my lap after a period of not doing so. She still checks rooms before going into them, but will rush in more. She calls our other dog who is a Pomeranian we rescued to go in a room first if she’s too scared to go first.

He looks annoyed at times but he still does it for her and then she’ll come bonding in happily.

When we first got him he was skittish as well and was sacred of men. But our late boy helped him out of that and they became inseparable.

Now it’s our poms turn to be the guide and help.

She follows him around and mimics him in many ways, though he does get overlay times and needs time away from her. Usually that’s when my mom takes him into my parents room, when he gets to lay in my lap as I watch tv or play video games. Sometimes he has to share the charge with his sister, but not always and that’s when he gets belly rubs and love. He also gets to sleep in my bed at night. It’ll be some time still before his sister can do that.

She does get to sleep in the bed in the morning when my parents get up before me and let them out. She likes to sleep in my bed with me like my late boy. He loved joining me in bed and would start at my feet curled up before splaying out and taking over the entire bottom of the bed.

When she no longer has accidents it’s more likely she’ll get to be in bed too. Until then it’s my Pom and cat only and they love cuddling up on my, lol.

We’re guessing she’s around a year and a half. It’s hard to say as she is very puppy like right now. Part being how she loved til now and her age.

So hopefully soon I’ll start again with writing. Sorry for the long reply. Felt only right to explain since you were so kind.

Thank you so much.

[tediousdelusion]

14, 17, 18 for the fanfic writers ask game?

Oooh, yes, of course! Thank you for these - ask games are always so fun.

14) I was really excited by how many readers picked up on the legal questions / ethics in Stuck in Second Gear! There are a lot of little law references in the fic that I included mainly just for my own entertainment, but I didn’t really expect people to care about the legalities? But a lot of people paid close attention, and a lot of people have pretty high standards for legal ethics, which I found oddly heartening.

On a more technical writing note, I like to throw in allusions to other works that I think are thematically relevant, and I always hope someone picks up on them. They’re never crucial to understand what’s happening, but it’s always fun when you’re reading to connect the dots :)

17) So, not a WIP in the formal sense, because it exists only in my mind, but I have a few prequel/sequel one shots around Stuck in Second Gear that I’d like to post at some point. Sequels are still under wraps until the fic finishes, but for prequels, I could see writing about the time that Izzy got called a good girl and about some Ed/Izzy’s adventures on the road. If I’m particularly ambitious, maybe we could get some Anne, Jack, Mar- backstory... To be determined, dependent on my free time.

18) Oh, god. I write pretty substantially about the age of sail, so off the top of my head, a few contenders are: whether Christmas fell on a weekend in 1737, the historic population of Philadelphia, and 18th century fabric dyes, haha.