#i keep telling myself to plan these ahead but always end up drawing in the middle of the night before

[ahdriking]

Get to know your fic writer!

Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Do you like constructive criticism?

Do you have your work beta'd? How important is this to your process?

How do you choose which POV to write from?

Do you prefer the beginning, middle, or end of a story?

Do you comment on stories you read?

Cltr+f "blinks" on your WIP & copy paste the first sentence/paragraph that comes up

Link your three favorite fics right now

how does receiving or not receiving feedback/support impact you?

what’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

how do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

How do you write smut scenes? Do you get very visual or detailed? How important is it to be realistic?

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

What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

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Best writing advice for other writers?

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What fic do you wish you got more of a response on?

Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

On average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

What’s your revision or editing process like?

Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished?

Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

Name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

Do you want to be published some day?

Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

What is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain? 

How do you write kissing scenes?

How do you choose where to end a chapter?

Would you ever write commissions?

Share a snippet from a WIP

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

Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

Do you take a sadistic joy in whumping your characters, or are you more the "If you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself" kind of person?

What mistakes do you keep making no matter how many times your beta corrects you?

Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

How would you describe your style? (Character/emotion/action-driven, etc)

How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

What do you look for in a beta?

Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

How long is your longest fic?

What’s your total AO3 word count?

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both?

What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Do you prefer editing as you write, or waiting until it’s finished? 

What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most? (Brainstorming, outlining, writing, editing, etc) 

Does anyone in your personal life know you write fic? if not, would you tell anyone?

Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

Why do you continue writing fics?

Thoughts on cliffhangers?

Something you hate to see in smut.

Something you love to see in smut.

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

How do you deal with writing pressure (ie. pressure to update, negative comments, deadlines, etc.)?

Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

What, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

What work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

When asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

What order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

What scene in [Fanfic Name] took the longest to write? What was difficult about it? 

Did you have any ideas that didn’t make the final cut of [Fanfic Name]? 

Do you have a favorite scene you’ve written from [Fanfic Name] story/chapter? 

[helenvader]

Get to know your fic writer!

I have emerged from my writing hiatus, but I'm horribly stuck, so this game might be refreshing. :) I am not the author, I stumbled across it and told myself why not.

Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Do you like constructive criticism?

Do you have your work beta'd? How important is this to your process?

How do you choose which POV to write from?

Do you prefer the beginning, middle, or end of a story?

Do you comment on stories you read?

Cltr+f "blinks" on your WIP & copy paste the first sentence/paragraph that comes up

Link your three favorite fics right now

how does receiving or not receiving feedback/support impact you?

what’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

how do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

How do you write smut scenes? Do you get very visual or detailed? How important is it to be realistic?

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

What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

What is the most-used tag on your ao3?

Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

Would you ever collaborate with another writer for a story?

Are there certain types of writing you won’t do? (style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

Best writing advice for other writers?

Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

What fic do you wish you got more of a response on?

Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

On average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

What’s your revision or editing process like?

Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished?

Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

Name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

Do you want to be published some day?

Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

What is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain? 

How do you write kissing scenes?

How do you choose where to end a chapter?

Would you ever write commissions?

Share a snippet from a WIP

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

Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

Do you take a sadistic joy in whumping your characters, or are you more the "If you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself" kind of person?

What mistakes do you keep making no matter how many times your beta corrects you?

Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

How would you describe your style? (Character/emotion/action-driven, etc)

How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

What do you look for in a beta?

Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

How long is your longest fic?

What’s your total AO3 word count?

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both?

What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Do you prefer editing as you write, or waiting until it’s finished? 

What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most? (Brainstorming, outlining, writing, editing, etc) 

Does anyone in your personal life know you write fic? if not, would you tell anyone?

Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

Why do you continue writing fics?

Thoughts on cliffhangers?

Something you hate to see in smut.

Something you love to see in smut.

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

How do you deal with writing pressure (ie. pressure to update, negative comments, deadlines, etc.)?

Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

What, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

What work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

When asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

What order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

What scene in [Fanfic Name] took the longest to write? What was difficult about it? 

Did you have any ideas that didn’t make the final cut of [Fanfic Name]? 

Do you have a favorite scene you’ve written from [Fanfic Name] story/chapter? 

[lovevuni]

Double Dare Romance : Enoch O’Connor x Reader : Part 2 Success

Warning: Flirting, Fluff, slight dirty flirting (like two bits), Slow burn

Summary: You take your new challenge into effect, taking every oppurtunity to flirt with enoch to get him flustered in order to soften him up. Your only goal is to get under his skin and have him admit defeat. Is this when you succed?

A/N: Again I hate using Y/N but sadly have to. Enjoy~

Part 1: Challenge Accepted

You are unpacking your luggage in your room Miss Peregrine has assigned to you.

“Ah, Y/N. Always one step ahead of everyone else. I must say, I admire your tenacity.” Enoch says as you are unpacking causing you to look at him.

“tenacity?” You question not understanding the word. 

“Yes, tenacity. Despite our initial differences and the challenges that arise when you’re around, you never give up or lose sight of your goals. Whether it’s advancing your mission or getting under someone’s skin, you always keep pushing forward. It’s an admirable quality, even if it does drive me mad at times.”

“The only thing I want under is you pretty boy.” You tease him causing him to raise an eyebrow at your amusing words.

“Ah, I see you’re still trying to rile me up. Well let me tell you, Y/N, there are much more effective ways to get under my skin than cheap taunts and insults.”

“I bet there is, but this is a lot more fun” You wink.

He chuckles at your antics, “Indeed it is, Y/N. And who knows, maybe someday you’ll find a way to genuinely get under my skin. But until then, I suppose I’ll just have to content myself with watching you try.” 

Claire walks into the room announcing that it was time for dinner before skipping out of the room. (I love claire)

“The night is still young, Y/N. Perhaps we could continue this conversation over dinner? My treat, of course.” In your head you roll your eyes knowing Miss peregrine and the children make the food.

“We shall” You say as you grab his arm for him to escort you down to dinner.

He smiles as he takes your had, leading you out of the room and towards the dining hall.

“A charming lady like yourself should definitely make the most of social situations. Who knows, perhaps tonight will bring about a new opportunity to annoy each other further...or perhaps something more meaningful may come from it? Only time will tell.”

“Oh I plan on it” You finish the conversation as you take a seat next to him, planning your next attack.

He takes a sip of his drink looking pleased as ever, “You know, Y/N, sometimes I wonder what motivates you. Is it simply the thrill of the chase, or do you truly wish to engage in meaningful discourse with me? It’s hard to tell with you; you’re so elusive and unpredictable.”

“I’d never tell you” He grins at this.

“Of course not, Y/N. That would defeat the purpose entirely. Part of the fun is trying to figure you out, to test your boundaries and push your buttons. And yet, despite our differences and opposing viewpoints, there’s something about you that draws me in.” 

You decide to end the conversation there and move your focus to Millard, conversing with him about different books you both enjoy.

Enoch watches as you begin to speak with millard about literature, “ Ah, a love of reading. How quaint. I must admit, though. I’m suprised to see you conversing with such a lowbrow individual as Millard. Then again, perhaps you seek to prove some sort of point by associating with those beneath you?”

You decide to ignore him and continue your convo with Millard.

He seems offended but stays silent as you converse with Millard, but continues to watch you carefully.

As you finish talking and begin to eat Enoch takes this time to try and speak with you again, “So, did you enjoy your chat with Millard? I must confess, i found it somewhat amusing to observe.”

“You’re observing me now?” giving him a shocked look knowing full well he was.

He smirks, “Indeed, I find myself fascinated by your every move. Perhaps it’s because we have such a strong connection. Or maybe it’s just that I enjoy pushing your buttons. One cannot be sure in these matters. What do you think drives your interactions with me Y/N?”

“You believe we have a connection now? If I were any better I would say your catching feeling now Enoch” You say teasingly as you run your foot up his leg under the table making sure non of the children see what is happening.

He laughs as he glances at your foot on his leg before meeting your gaze once more, “Oh, I know you are much too good for me, Y/N. But perhaps there is something about the way I challenge you, the way I push your boundaries, that appeals to you on a deeper level.”

“I wouldn’t say that now” You continue to move your foot up his body to a more intimate area of his, still making sure no one else can see.

He smirks leaning closer to you, their voices low enough not to be overheard, “is it possible that part of you enjoys the thrill of danger, the excitement of exploring forbidden territories? Are you secretly drawn to the darkness withing me even though it terrifies you at times?”

“there is nothing intimidating about you my boy, I’m just trying to prove that I can get under your skin” You whisper with your hot breath in his ear.

Gasping with shivers down his back as he feels your warm breath against his ear, “You certainly succeed in getting under my skin, Y/N. And yes, I admit it - there is something about the darkness inside of you that draws me in like a moth to a flame.” SUCCESS!

You laugh as you completely pull away from him in a succeeding manner, “told you I would get you”

He laughs, “Well played, it seems our little game has become quite heated. Shall we continue?”

“why should we, when I have already won.” You get up in victory from the table to help Claire get ready for bed, “Come on Claire, time for bed.”

He watches you leave the table and take care of Claire, feeling conflicted emotions swirling within him.

“Intrigued by your wit, intelligence, and hidden desires. Driven by the need to understand you better, to uncover the depths of your soul.” He says to himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 3 : Only Fun

[arlathvhenan]

What's your take on Flemeth *in DAO*? Inquisition was my first DA game, and I was shocked to discover the "you were never in danger from me" lady actually treated Morrigan very poorly. Most of my wardens agree to fight Flemeth if Morrigan tells them of her childhood. But I have a feeling Solas would be pissed as hell knowing Mythal had to (temporarily) die again.

I think Flemeth is a deeply complex woman who was victimized long ago and that cocktail of rage and pain that’s been stewing inside her for centuries has warped her immeasurably and irrevocably. She’s the victim who went on to become the abuser.

I also know that bitch isn’t really dead, because we’ve been through this one with Flemeth before and the woman is always 50 steps ahead.

I also don’t think what happened between her and Solas was unplanned. The two clearly have essentially the same goals* and appear to have been working towards these goals together for ages. What happened in the epilogue was left intentionally vague, but if you take in to context what we know about these characters, their abilities, and how magical shit works in Thedas, you can put together a decent interpretation.

My interpretation is thus:

What happened in the epilogue was the contingency plan Solas desperately wanted to avoid, and it’s likely a factor in why losing his Orb is so devastating to him. Flemeth/Mythal knew before hand what would happen and made the proper preparations. I think the reason Flemeth acts so seemingly out of character there is because Flemeth herself had already bounced. She sent her soul/spirit/whatever through the Eluvian to occupy the next host body. I have theories on ho that host might be, but that’s for another post. Point is, she’s been doing that exact thing for centuries, not sure what would stop her now.

So who was that we spoke to? I think it was just Mythal. Flemeth bounced, leaving Mythal’s wisp and possibly also the Archdemon behind.

Note—if Morrigan’s son Kieran exists in your world state, then the scene you get instead of going to the shrine takes place in The Fade (supposedly the actual Fade). And instead of it being just Flemeth, you find she’s essentially kidnapped her own grandson to preform some ritual on him involving the Archdemon soul. That line where she tells Morrigan “you were never in danger from me” is triggered after Morrigan refuses to sell out her own son to save herself—“I will not be the mother you were to me.”

What was Flemeth planning to do with Kieran? Who knows, but after Morrigan’s little freak out she extracts the Archdemon soul from Kieran with ease. Literally flicks her hand and whoosh. There goes Urthemiel. Now she’s got the demon…temporarily.

Kieran may be quantum but I think Flemeth likely ends up getting her hands on Urthemiel regardless. If I’m right, then the Archdemon as well as Mythal are now rooting around in Solas’ head. Think Justice and Anders from DA2 but instead of a regular spirit it’s two ancient beings with godlike power. I’m not sure this is an arrangement he’s particularly ok with, but it’s what he feels must be done for the greater good.

Thing is, I’m not sure the greater good actually matters to Flemeth or Mythal at this point. Maybe they did once, but the two have been warped over the ages. They care more about vengeance than justice. Even so, there’s a part of them (or maybe just Mythal) that has enough self awareness to feel guilt over how badly she keeps fucking over the people she’s meant to live most.

There are obvious parallels between Mythal and Divine Justinia, which is how people like myself have come to draw parallels between Solas and Leliana. Based on the very scant knowledge we have of their relationship, it seems like Solas (as Fen’Harel) was her left hand. Like Liliana, he was asked to do the dirty work. The kind of things that leave scars behind, both physical and emotional, and will eventually wear a person down over time.

When Flemeth/Mythal says to Solas, “I’m sorry, too” I can’t help but think of the message Justinia (or a spirit who identified with her) asked the Inquisitor to give Leliana: “I’m sorry, I failed you, too.”

I could keep going regarding my thoughts on Flemeth and that whole situation, but then this post would go on for miles.

TLDR; Flemeth is always suss

[chronocrump]

Hello Chronocrump, I recently stumbled upon your art the other day, and I couldn't stop staring at your gallery.. It makes me realize there is so much thats lacking from my art that I really want to improve on. I felt desperate to contact you, but wasn't sure if it would be rude. I wanted to try to ask you, how do you approach drawing? Do you structure it first, or start with a gesture drawing? Focus on the form or perspective first? Etc My other question might seem strange, but I wanted to ask how do you hold your pencil? Ive learned that different pencil grips can drastically change the quality of someone's art. Thank you for your time. I'm sorry if my message is to long, or you don't want to respond back. I wanted to atleast try, but also let you know that your work has been very inspiring for me to keep trying.

I'm glad to answer your questions, it's seriously no problem. I wanna start by telling you how amazed I was when I checked your profile to see your work. I know you have a huge lack of confidence in it, but your art is genuinely beautiful, and frankly, looking at it, I found it hard to believe that you would be asking me for advice...from my perspective, you're way ahead of me. You're certainly better with color; you might notice I really only post sketches lol. I really don't want to dismiss or downplay your feelings about it, but I have to let you know how I felt looking at it. To me it seems like your brain is telling you your art isn't good enough when it very, very much is.

Anyway, enough gushing from me lol. On to your questions.

Usually when starting a drawing, I very loosely and lightly sketch the overall form of the pose I wanna do. Very rough basic shapes/forms to get everything in its right place before I start really drawing it with confident lines. Even then, all the lines are subject to change; nothing is sacred. To be honest tho, I usually mess up the proportions and have to fix them a bit lol. I try to sketch cleanly and concisely, meaning I try not to draw a lot of lines in a spot that could really be done with just one or two. I'm not super strict on that tho, at the end of the day while I try to draw efficiently, I also want to draw comfortably. So with something like a big circle for example, I'll draw that pretty sketchy. In terms of perspective, I'm trying to get better at it, but when considering how I want to use it in a drawing, it's part of the initial image or idea I have in my head, so I lay it out from the beginning. I do also draw structure lines on the face, just a simple cross to plan where the center of the face will be. Lately I've also tried taking more pictures of myself for pose reference and it works well.

Most of my practice comes from studying my favorite artists and trying to emulate the specific ways they structure their drawings. I should actually be doing dedicated practice sessions with that, but I digress. Recently I've been trying to practice from photos first thing in the morning, tho I'm finding it hard to commit to doing it daily. I just go on pinterest and find cool poses, then draw them, trying to get down the basic shapes and prominent features more than focusing on minute details. I've posted some of these practice sketches on here but there's a few more on my twitter if you wanna see what I'm talking about.

In terms of my pencil grip, I'm not sure...since I was little, I've always had an unusual grip. Looking it up, I guess it's like the "dynamic quadrupod" grip, but with my forefinger farther back. Really the most I try to do is draw less with my wrist and more with my forearm. Some say you should "draw from the shoulder", and that sounds right...I guess it's all about avoiding straining your wrist and getting carpal tunnel lol.

Anyway, I'm flattered that you would ask me for advice. To be honest, it makes me feel like I should have more confidence in my own art. And you should too! I can say that, objectively, your art is very good. I hope my advice was actually helpful and not generic stuff you've heard before lol. Good luck in your art journey.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super Manga ch. 21-26

Phew!  We’re almost done with the Zamasu Saga. 

Last time, we left off with Trunks holding off Goku Black and Zamasu so that Goku and Vegeta could escape in the Time Machine.  This is somewhat similar to what Trunks did to save them in Episode 62 of the DBS anime.  Except they never bothered to explain how Trunks survived against such hopeless odds.  Instead, in Episode 63, he just wakes up in a Resistance Bunker.  No one explains how he got away from Black and Zamasu.  It’s bullshit. 

In the manga version, he gets rescued by the Shin and Gowasu of the “main” timeline.  In Trunks’ timeline, all of the Supreme Kais are dead, but the “main” timeline versions can still travel to this world using their Time Rings.  They can also teleport to any planet they wish, including this reality’s version of the Sacred World of the Kais in Universe 7.  It’s deserted now, but they still know where it is, and it provides refuge for the good guys while they wait for Goku and Vegeta to return. 

But why do they even need to wait for Goku and Vegeta?  They used the Time Machine, so why don’t they just set the return coordinates for a few seconds after they left?  Goku asks this very question, and Bulma tells him that it can’t work that way.  I won’t get into the details because later it turns out Bulma was mistaken about this, but in this scene, she tells them that they have to “sync up” with the other timeline.  Spending one day here means that they have to return one day later in the other timeline as well. 

Tell you what, let’s just jump ahead to the ending, where Emperor Pilaf of all people figures out Bulma’s error.  Presumably Future Bulma, the one who actually invented the time machine, understood this, but Present Bulma is still learning as she goes.

Oh, before I get too far ahead of myself, check out this goofy rendition of Trunks’ sword.  It looks too wide in a lot of scenes, but in this one it’s like Toyotaro is trying to make it looks stupid on purpose.  Aren’t swords easy to draw?  Also, why is Mai wrapping her fingers around the blade like that? 

One more thing, I appreciate Goku Black in this scene declaring that he doesn’t want to destroy the entire planet.  He could wipe out all mortals very efficiently if he just blew up the planets they were standing on, but he wants to keep all the planets in tact.  This was heavily implied in the anime, but they never came out and said so, which always frustrated me. 

Here’s a scene of Black and Zamasu’s hideout, and it works a lot better than it did in the anime, because this scene shows them discussing their plans instead of just sipping tea and congratulating themselves.  Because of Gowasu and Shin’s little rescue earlier, they’re concerned that their plans have been exposed to the gods of the other timelines.  They’re worried that Grand Zeno might even catch wind of this, so their best bet is to leave this Earth and move on to a new base of operations.  But they still want to finish off the remaining Earthlings before they leave. 

See, this is excellent storytelling.  The way the information is presented, we learn additional things about their plan.  They could have wiped out the Earthlings some time ago.  It’s not even hard for them, which is why they’re gonna knock it out in one afternoon before they leave.  But like I mentioned in the last post, they’ve been using this Earth as a training ground to get Goku Black powered up and to practice for the more difficult work of invading the other timelines.

It’s also important to show that they’re actually concerned about something going wrong.  Their Zero Mortals Plan isn’t foolproof.  The only reason they were able to kill all the gods in this reality is because they had the element of surprise on their side, and because of that business where killing a Supreme Kai kills the Destroyer God and deactivates his Angel for free.  But now that Gowasu and Shin are onto them, it’ll be a lot harder to get the drop on the other gods from here on out.  Black and Zamasu are still confident about their plan, but they’re clearly troubled by this development. 

This was something that was sorely lacking in the anime version, where Black and Zamasu were constantly making those smug little grins the entire time.  They never worried about anything until Zamasu nearly got trapped by the Mafuba near the end of the arc.  And if the villain is never inconvenienced, it makes the story kind of dull.  Think about how troubled King Piccolo was when his children were killed, or how frightened he got when he thought Goku’s Kamehameha stance might be a Mafuba.  Or how annoyed Frieza would get when he lost the Dragon Balls.  Anime Zamasu never gives you any of that.

Anyway, their final push to kill the remaining Earthlings forces Trunks’ group to take action.  Gowasu refuses to stand by and wait for Goku and Vegeta.  Instead, he goes alone to appeal to Goku Black’s better nature, except Black has already murdered two other versions of Gowasu, so he has no problem doing it again.  And there’s a scene like this in the anime, but this time Black actually gets to stab him, and Gowasu falls off a building.  It’s pretty cool because:

1) It actually looks like he’s dead, because Black’s attack seriously hurt him, unlike all the times he stabs people in the anime and they’re fine.

2) It gives some karmic payback to Gowasu for failing to recognize the problem with Zamasu before it got this bad. 

Gowasu isn’t a bad person, but he made a very grave mistake, and it’s unsatisfying how he never suffers any direct consquences for it.  I mean, two other versions of Gowasu get murdered, but that’s a little too clean for my tastes.  Those dead Gowasu’s don’t have to live with it.  This Gowasu, who gets stabbed but survives, has something painful to remember this by.   It’s much more satisfying this way. 

So when Gowasu gets hurt, Trunks, Shin, and Mai return to Earth to save him, and not long after that, Goku and Vegeta return to pick up where they left off.  This time, Goku has learned the Mafuba Technique to deal with Zamasu, while Vegeta trained in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to counter Goku Black.

Vegeta’s strategy this time is to fight in the Super Saiyan God form, which is weaker than Blue, so Goku Black doesn’t understand the point.  But as Goku explains, Vegeta has learned to control his powers more precisely, switching from SSG to Blue at the very instant he attacks.  This way he gets the best of both worlds.  Super Saiyan God is easier to maintain and a little more agile, so Vegeta can defend himself in that form, and then he only uses Blue in very small doses, getting all the raw power while minimizing the strain on his body.

This is similar to something Goku did against Hit in the previous arc, but he only managed to do it once, at the very end of their fight.  Vegeta’s mastered the trick to the point where he can do it repeatedly.  Again, this is way better than the anime, where Vegeta didn’t do anything differently after training in the Chamber.  It was understood that he would be stronger than before, but there was nothing more to it than that.  One fight he lost to Black, and now he’s winning.  I hate to sound like a broken record, but the manga is just styling all over the anime here. 

I’m not even saying this “Switching Between God and Blue” trick is a cool idea.  I seem to remember fans disliking this when these chapters were published.  But the point here is that it is an idea.  It’s something new Vegeta does that he couldn’t do before, and that’s the in-story reason why he’s winning this time.  He doesn’t have to invent a new transformation every time he trains, but he has to come up with something to explain his improvement, and this works.

Meanwhile, Goku actually gets to do the Mafuba, so that’s another win for the manga.  Also, the gag with the talisman works a lot better in this version.  In the anime, Goku forgot the talisman altogether.  Here, he remembered to bring it, but he picked up the wrong piece of paper.  The joke is less about Goku screwing up and more about him looking at the talisman and seeing a coupon for “Club Tight & Scanty”. 

So this leads up to the Zamasu/Goku Black fusion, which works a lot better here, because Vegeta is handily kicking Black’s ass.  Goku may not be able to seal Zamasu away like he planned, but he can definitely keep Zamasu contained long enough for Vegeta to kill Goku Black, and Zamasu won’t be able to carry out his plan alone.  The anime borked that up by having Goku Black still have the upper hand, so they really only fused because Zamasu was rattled about the Mafuba.

So Goku and Vegeta fuse, right?  Well, not right away.  They have the Potara at their disposal, but they don’t want to go through with it.  Goku asks Vegeta, but as soon as Vegeta refuses, Goku’s more relieved than anything else.  Then while Goku fights alone, Vegeta hears Gowasu explain that Merged Zamasu should unfuse within an hour.   See, in the anime he said Potara fusion is permanent only when a Kai is involved.  But in the manga, it’s only permanent when a Supreme Kai is involved, and Zamasu never officially achieved that rank. He’s just a usurper, so his fusion has a time limit too.  That gets Vegeta’s attention, and so does Trunks when he says he wants to join in the fight because he doesn’t want Vegeta getting hurt over this, because his mom really wanted to go back in time and see him again before she died. 

So all of that changes Vegeta’s mind about the fusion, and that’s how we get Vegito in this version.  I like that, because Goku and Vegeta have shown a reluctance to fuse in the past, and it’s a lot cooler to have Vegeta motivated by sentimental reasons than just “The bad guy is really strong, so we just gotta.”  I like fusion, don’t get me wrong, but they need to sell me on it a little first. 

So Vegito starts off by blowing off Zamasu’s right arm, which sets up a nice little homage to Cell getting Final Flashed.  I think this is one of those scenes where fans whine about Toyotaro ��tracing”, which is dumb as hell, because it’s clearly a callback.  Of course he’s gonna do stuff like this.  He’s a Dragon Ball fan working on a Dragon Ball comic.  Comic book artists do this all the time.  There’s probably a few thousand different tributes to the cover of Action Comics #1.

Vegito comes apart pretty quickly, and Zamasu works the boys over with Kachin metal blocks and that portals trick Janemba does.  I get the Katchin thing, because Toyotaro probably played Budokai 2 where the Supreme Kai would throw blocks at people, and he wanted to use that move here.  The portals thing... I don’t know.  He definitely needed to do a new power just to show off Merged Zamasu’s on a different level, and this works for that, but it feels a little out of left field.  I’m not sure what he should have used instead though, so I won’t complain too much.

So from the sidelines, Gowasu and Shin watch Goku and Vegeta getting clobbered, and they wish that they could help.  Once, when they were apprentice Supreme Kais like Zamasu, they had healing powers of their own, but they had to give that ability up once they assumed the role of Supreme Kai.  Then Trunks remembers that he was an Assistant Supreme Kai in a manner of speaking.  Back when his own Supreme Kai was training him to fight Babidi and Dabura, there was a ritual Shin did for him, one that he didn’t understand at the time.  As it turns out, that ritual was to give him the powers of an Assistant Kai, which included healing powers.  Trunks just didn’t know about it until now, which is... kind of goofy, but okay. 

So he can heal the others, but it turns out he only has enough power to heal one or the other, so he’ll have to choose.  At first, Trunks goes with Vegeta, but Vegeta refuses.  While he was fused with Goku, he realized that Goku has the power to win this fight, so that’s who he wants Trunks to heal up.

This part isn’t exactly brilliant, but it sure beats what they did in the anime after Vegito came apart, which was just having Trunks chop Zamasu in half using ki from a handful of ordinary civilians.  I mean, if we’re choosing between two different asspulls, I’ll take the asspull that makes a little more sense. 

So Goku gets healed and fights alone, and Vegeta explains how Goku managed to perfect the Super Saiyan Blue form, allowing himself to use Blue for sustained periods of time.  And that works because this is the first time we’ve really gotten to see Goku fight at this level, but if he had this mastered already, why was he so impressed with Vegeta’s deal where he switched between God and Blue?  Because that sounds like a workaround that Goku had already made obsolete.

Goku even manages to use Hakai against Zamasu, but he pulls Mai in the path of the attack so Goku has to back off.  Again, a little goofy, but I can like with it. 

The main thing here is that Goku didn’t get to do much in the first two-thirds of the arc, and that’s by design.  You bring him out at the end so he can show off all his cool powers and everyone talks about how strong he is.  Which means you have to do a lot of scenes where Goku is on the sidelines, or absent altogether.  And this is nothing new.  We’ve seen it in a lot of classic Dragon Ball arcs in the past, but Toei wants to go against that idea and put Goku all over the place.  Well, they got their way in GT and they got their way in the anime version of the Zamasu arc, and both of those things sucked.  This manga Zamasu arc has some problems, but it’s a lot more sound from a structural standpoint. 

Does it make sense for Goku to be able to fight Merged Zamasu alone?  Not really, but he doesn’t have to beat him, he just has to hold out long enough for the fusion to wear off, and it does.  But it’s all weird because it was two Zamasus.

And that’s when Trunks chops them in half.   See, this works so much better because Merged Zamasu was already starting to come apart anyway, so this is just Trunks delivering a final blow instead of inventing some new power from nothing.

But it’s not the end just yet, because each half grows back, and then the Goku Black half gets up from being impaled.  How did he become immortal?

Then both of them regenerate into their Merged Zamasu forms, so now we have two Merged Zamasus.  Vegeta does a Final Flash variation called “Gamma Burst Flash”, and that rips them both apart, but then the pieces grow into even more Zamasus, so we have this Sorcerer’s Apprentice thing going on.

Retreat isn’t an option either, because the Zamasus reveal that they have their own time machine.  Remember that ancient civilization in Universe 12 who invented a time machine?  Well, the Destroyer God from U12 kept it, and Zamasu found it .  So he can use that device to invade the other timelines.  Wait, how would Zamasu know how to operate an alien time machine?  I mean, he’s not stupid, but still.  For all he knows, it’s not even functional anymore, and there’s no tech support in Universe 12 because he killed everyone in it. 

So Goku and Vegeta try to hold off this Zamasu army while the others escape.  They have no idea what good it’ll do, but it’s better than nothing.  I like Vegeta’s like here when Goku asks him if he has a plan. “Go wild until you die.  That’s all.”

I also like how Goku’s only regret is that if he has to go out in a hopeless battle like this, he’d rather do it in Super Saiyan mode.  Luffa would be touched.

But then he remembers his button that he got from Grand Zeno, and things pretty much play out like they did in Episode 67 of the anime.  The entire timeline is erased, and in the manga, we see the Time Ring that represents this timeline vanish along with it.  That kind of bugged me in the anime version, where Gowasu looks at his box of rings one last time at the end of the arc and all the rings are still there. 

On the other hand, should the Time Ring vanish?  Zeno didn’t erase the timeline, just the multiverse it contained.  Is that the same thing?  The history of that reality still exists, right?  Then again, maybe it doesn’t matter, since the Time Rings can’t go back to the past, and now this timeline only has a past.  So even if the history of that timeline remains, the Time Ring that goes with it is useless, so it might as well self-destruct.

Except Whis still has that plan to go back to the timeline before Grand Zeno destroyed everything in it, nip Zamasu in the bud, and drop off Trunks and Mai to live out their lives.  This will create a new alternate timeline, but the fact that Whis can do this at all suggests that the Time Ring for that reality still needed to exist.  Ah well, this whole business is pretty dumb anyway. 

My head canon for all of this is that Whis dropped off this version of Trunks and Mai in the timeline where Xeno Trunks lives, and sometimes he’ll come home from Time Patrol duty and say hello to his blue-haired duplicate, an older, more traumatized version of himself who lives with his wife in some cabin out in the middle of nowhere.  Blunks sees his mom now and again, but he and Mai keep to themselves for the most part, as they can’t quite feel like they truly belong in this world.  But they have each other, and that’s enough.

But I can never figure out the timeline logistics to make that provable.  It probably isn’t worth the trouble.

Anyway, Pilaf keeps asking Future Mai what happened to the Pilaf and Shu of that timeline, and she seems to know the answer, but she can’t bring herself to tell him the truth.  I was sort of hoping Future Mai wouldn’t even know who Pilaf was, since the anime never bothered to establish this, but the manga makes it clear that this is the same Mai who we saw in the first DB arc in 1984.  So whatever. 

The thing is, Pilaf’s all worried because he doesn’t know what unspeakable fate awaits him, but for all we know, Mai just doesn’t want to tell him he died.  I mean, everyone died in that timeline. It’s just a question of who killed Pilaf and when it happened.  Maybe something else happened to him before he got killed, and that’s what Mai doesn’t want to talk about, but even if he lived right up to the end, he still would have died in that one shed Goku Black blew up. 

Like I said, this arc is pretty damn morbid, and it bothers me how casually Toriyama brought back this alternate timeline just to eradicate it completely.   He could have just... not brought it back, and that would have been the same as destroying it, but instead it’s like he went out of his way to do this arc just to burn the whole thing to the ground and piss on the ashes. 

And we never really know for sure that Whis succeeds in his plan to relocate Trunks and Mai.  This feels very much like when someone says they took your pet dog to a farm where they can run and play all day long.  Maybe Whis just killed them in secret to wrap up the last loose ends.  Or maybe he made a good faith effort and it just didnt’t work the way he expected.  Or maybe it worked just fine, but Trunks couldn’t handle it and flipped out.   It’s not fun to think about. 

But it’s over now, and I’m pleased to say the manga version is a lot better than the anime, although I guess that’s not saying a whole lot.  Good night, and fuck the Zamasu Saga forever. 

[luthordamnvers]

1 for Mayhem fic & 9 for DEBS :)

1.Start to finish, how long did it take to plan and write? Did you take breaks during the process?

mayhem fic... it just downed on me that i wrote 3 fics for that... but i'm going to assume supercorp one... (tho i'll try to keep it from my pov, if snowy wants to do the game and add her experience) The idea had been in the idea doc for.... a while. So when we received the go ahead to cowrite for the event, we brainstormed a few ideas about what to write, I shared said doc with @snowydragonscave and she was immediately drawn to the soulmate trope, as she always wanted to write one. Still, I was in the middle of finishing my supercortober23 fic (mind you, it was mid-January) And my brain was still on that.. Still, I wrote 2 proposed outlines, one that was a single chapter, and the 3 chapter proposal that we ended up going with. This was my first co write, so honestly, I just wasn't sure about how it was going to work, and I have anxiety, so that was interesting. Snowy had been my editor for a while, so I wasn't necessarily nervous about writing with her, but more like the logistics of it. (we have 6+hours difference, so the overlap where we could actually write together was somewhat limited even without accounting for writers block and such) So, once I finished sctober in late February, we immediately jumped to mayhem. We decided for the 3 chapter thing, and the 3rd one being the true cowrite as it would be both characters and with the 2 previous ones giving us enough time to get into their mindset. Snowy is a Kara girl (in the sense that in my humble opinion, no other author in fandom describes her and her thoughts the way she does, that is so real and with such deepness, but i digress) so I proposed she'd take kara's chapter, as we had previously been talking about how she rarely writes AUs, and how she wanted to explore gender identity with Kara and some other things. And I was perfectly okay with exploring Lena's side of having 400 soulmates. There was a bit of miscommunication at the start, but again, my first cowrite and i'm pretty bad communicating stuff, but once we got over that it was a pretty smooth sailing. We felt incredibly bad for @rustingcat once she was assigned as our artist because we had... like 20k+ words and they hadn't even met so she had literally nothing to draw, but a ~vibe. Also, this fic kept expanding, and expanding, and yet we kept wanting to add more stuff that we felt was important. Like I wanted to keep exploring Lena's dynamic with Lex, and I had to actively restraint myself for adding more scenes about her relationship with both Jack and Andrea (like Lena's petty ass was going to tell her about meeting Andrea's soulmate during their fallout, if you know you know) But I had to remind myself that this was a supercorp fic, and thus they should be the focus. We published on May 31, I was done with chapter 3 by the 28th, Snowy still wanted to punch up stuff... all this to say.... around 3 months. We didn't take breaks, necessarily, but sometimes you need to take a step back (on said days, i wrote/drew the dansen one) And i kept fiddling with other programs to write... I wrote a lot of it by hand. So then I had to transcribe... it wasn't necessarily an easy writing, but I loved the journey and I'm pretty proud of the result.

9. Did you get stuck at any point? How did you get past that?

DEBS: Absolutely. It was my first fic, so sweet summer child me, really thought they could jot down a chapter a week, because chapter 1 and 2 were, all things considered, really fast and easy to write. Then i got to Chapter 4 and I always envisioned it as "dansen's chapter" and chapter 5 would be "nia's/brainia's chapter", I didn't found Alex or Nia's pov as easy to write as I found Kara and Lena's... And then I had to remind myself that this was a supercorp fic (do you see a trend here???) So I combined the two chapters, but then I found myself struggling with (now) chapter 5 because that was the smut chapter and.. turns out, I'm not very good at that. There was a month between chapter 3 and 4. And 2 months between each of the next 2 chapters. My saving was actually writing a different fic between chapters... I wrote self indulgence here, and I wrote my first dansen fic, i got pretty consistent and it worked for me. And then I hit six months between chapter 6 and 7/8. I got blocked, I wrote my first supercorptober because of that, to try and get out of it (also bitching about it on discord, that was important). i think it worked... though it took me a while to get back into that fic, but I was determined to finish it... I still have not been able to read it... hopefully soon.

Thanks for asking, dear 💜 tho I'm pretty sure you already knew all of this.

[ask game]

[youvebeenlivingfictional]

Kinktober Day 13

Kinktober Masterlist

Pairing: Benny Miller x Reader

Rating: Explicit - 18+ Only. Any minors interacting with ANY of these Kinktober prompts will be blocked.

Warnings: Masturbation; phone sex; scent kink

“I know it’s, like…two AM over there, I don't know when you'll get this message.” 

You smiled sympathetically at the weary note in Benny's voice. He, Frankie, and Will were driving out to California for one of his matches at the end of the week. You’d hardly had a chance to speak to him for the last week—you just kept missing one another, time-wise.  This morning, you’d woken up to two missed calls and a voicemail from your boyfriend. Rather than get right up, you laid in bed, listening to his voice. You tried to picture him—maybe in the motel room that he was likely sharing with Frankie, or at a gas station, calling while Will filled up the tank. 

“We haven't driven each other crazy yet, but we’re getting close. Will bitched at me for finishing off the car snacks, so. I owe you five bucks.”

You giggled. That was no surprise; you’d been certain they’d run out before they got anywhere near state lines. You listened to Ben’s heavy sigh. 

“I just…” He trailed off, voice phasing in and out a touch, and chased by the rasping of his stubble against his hand. The sound made you yearn for him to be in bed with you, cuddled up close, heavy-lidded and smiling sleepily.

“I know you couldn’t get off work, but I really wish you were here, baby.” 

Your ears perked up just a bit at that use of the pet name. He must be alone. You can’t imagine him openly lowering his tone and speaking to you with the other guys in the room. 

“I know you couldn’t take the time off, I get it, but you work too hard,” He went on. “You need to take a break. You wouldn’t have let me eat all the snacks…Hell, you would’ve hidden some from me just to keep the peace with the guys,” He chuckled. You listened to him take in a deep breath before you heard the rustle of sheets. 

“I don’t sleep right without you,” He admitted softly, making your heart stutter in your chest. “I took one’a your…” He tapered off with a chuckle and a groan, “Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but I took one’a your sweaters. It smells like you, and you always smell so good…Is that weird?” He chuckled again. “If it is, I don't care.” 

You smiled, a warm, fluttery feeling swirling in your chest. 

“I’ve got it here now," He said. "‘M in bed, I’m holding it.” 

You bit your lip, imagining Benny laying in the motel sheets, phone in one hand, sweater in the other. You heard him draw in a deep breath, then let out a gentle groan that rolled over you like thunder. 

“Frankie and Will are sharing a room, so I’ve got this one all to myself…Seems like a pretty sturdy bed, but I think we could’ve annoyed the neighbors.” 

Your skin began to heat as you heard Benny draw in another deep breath, and loose another lustful sigh. 

“Goddamn,” He mumbled, “I miss you so much, baby. Miss seeing you curled up in bed. I miss waking up with you…When you pretend to still be asleep,” You could hear the smile in his voice, “And you press back against me, like I won’t know what you’re doing.” You heard his swallow a bit. “I always know what you’re doing, baby…Fuck. I didn’t call planning on leaving you this kind of message…You gonna be mad if I do?” 

This kind of message? Your heart ticked up in your chest, stomach going molten at the thought of Ben cuddling up with your sweater, his hand shoved into his briefs, or his sweatpants—or maybe just grasping himself, stark naked against the sheets. 

No, no, you were getting ahead of yourself. You didn’t know if he was touching his—

And then the sound of him spitting was chased by the slick, squelching stroking sound, and Benny’s distant groan. Your jaw dropped in shock, eyes closing as heat licked up your neck, over your cheeks. Holy shit. 

“You hear that?” Benny murmured, voice returning to full volume in your ear. “That’s—That’s all for you, sweetheart.” 

“Fuck, Ben,” You breathed, despite the fact that he couldn’t hear you. 

“If you were here—mm—fuck, I just wanna lay you out. Eat your sweet little pussy. Goddamn, I love your pussy. You know the way your thighs shake around my ears, and you make those whimpering noises…You remember, couple of weeks ago, I ate you out so long you were almost crying? Fuck, you were so worked up—it got me so hard. You came so damn hard when I finally fucked you. Your cunt was so wet—You were so fucking sloppy because of me, baby.”

Your body felt hot as he went on. You were stunned as you hear your boyfriend swear up a blue streak, his hand speeding up on his cock. 

“I should’ve brought you,” He groaned. “Should’ve told you to quit and come with me. Would you press up against me if you were here, baby? Fuck, I bet you would. I bet you’d let me push you onto your back and spread you wide—” 

“Holy shit,” You mumbled as Benny drew in a greedy breath. 

“Are you wet now, baby?” He asked. You hesitated, squirming. You shouldn’t answer—he won’t hear you, anyway. 

“I bet you are,” He pressed, “Bet that pussy wants attention. You gonna take care of it? Pretend it’s me?” He chuckled roughly. “I know your fingers won’t feel the same as mine, baby, but you can pretend…Go on, baby. Feed that pretty cunt.” 

You fingers flexed in the sheets for a moment before you were shoving them back, scrambling to slide your fingers between your thighs. You listened to him panting and grunting softly as he worked himself over. You eased two fingers into yourself, shivering as he lowered the phone to his cock again. 

“Damnit, Ben,” You whimpered, beginning to pump your fingers at the same speed, grinding your palm against your clit. You tipped your head back as you heard him push out a throaty groan. 

“I wish you were here, baby,” He sighed, bringing his phone back to his face. “Even if we weren’t fucking, just—I want you so bad, all the time.” 

You could hear his breath hitching in his throat, and you knew—You knew he was close. 

“C’mon,” You urged, unable to help the words falling from your lips, “Cum for me, Benny, I wanna hear it—”

“I’m so—Fuck, I’m so close, I’m right—Right there, fuck—” 

You pushed your hips into your hands, moaning as you listened to Ben’s pace increase before he choked out your name in a whine. You hissed, pumping your fingers harshly and ignoring the slight cramp in your forearm as your pussy tightened around your fingers. You whimpered as you came, heels pressing into the mattress as you ground your hand. 

“...Shit, I made a mess,” Benny mumbled. Then, “Really hope you didn't like this sweater.” 

Your laugh hiccuped in your chest as you rode your orgasm out against your pruney fingers. You settled back, hand stilling and toes curling as you listened to Benny sigh on the other end. 

“I’ll get you a new one, I don't think you'll want this one anymore,” He added, tacking on a mutter of, “Shit,” That you didn’t think you were meant to hear. 

“I miss you, baby. I miss you so much,” Benny sighed. “Gimme a call when you get a minute—Or just send a text, or a voice note, something, but…I wanna hear your voice. I love you.” 

You grinned, sinking into flattery again as Ben murmured his goodbye. You pulled the phone back from your ear, eyeing the voicemail, and the time. You had time for a quick call—and with any luck, Benny was still in his room. 

Tag list: @leaveinthelurk ; @missredherring ; @fangirlfreakingout ; @stevie25 ; @jvalentinesworld-cokes-hyna ; @massivecolorspygiant ; @karie-me-home ; @thoughtsmeander2tumblingblindly ; @guyfieriii (tried to tag and it won’t let me D: ) ; @moonlightburned ; @amneris21 ; @shiftingsands14 ; @cloudohell ; @blueeyesatnight ; @inlovewithhisblueeyes ; @reaperofmen ; @winchestershiresauce

[sirbudgintonmc]

ATEOAE writing motivation

I just finished planning out chapter 30 for After the end of an empire(s), and it marks the final part of what I've personally been calling the 'finding Shrub' arc. My heart actually got pumping a little, because simply writing out the plan was pretty emotional for me. I won't go into any detail to avoid spoilers, but thinking about the build-up to this moment will make this chapter quite a momentous one.

What's so interesting to me is how I'm so excited to write about a chapter I know I won't get to for months. Chapter 13 is being published this Saturday, I finished writing chapter 14 yesterday, I won't reach chapter 30 for a long time, probably not till spring next year I imagine, but simply thinking about it is motivating me to write more.

There are quite a few moments like that in the story, where I look at my plan and go "I can't wait till I reach this bit." It's very motivating to know that I'll hit an important story milestone every couple chapters that I've been thinking about for months. Chapter 30 (assuming I don't split or add chapters before it) is definitely one of the bigger ones though, and it's gonna be so good.

It's like a carrot and stick analogy, pretty much. There's always a chapter I can't wait to get to not too far away, drawing me toward it, keeping me going.

There's a small arc near the end of the story that makes me genuinely giddy when I think about. I can't overstate the importance of this arc, it's the reason this story exists in the first place. What made me go from "I dunno if I should write a sequel," to "I HAVE TO WRITE THIS!" I genuinely cannot overstate how excited thinking about it makes me feel.

And when I say near the end of the story, I imagine the chapter number will probably be in the 40s. It's probably not gonna get released until close to the end of next year, but I'm so excited for it. I've vowed to myself to not jump ahead and write it, or even jump ahead in planning to plan it. To reach it 'properly', and have it be a reward for making it that far, and so close to the end. I'll point out the chapter when it comes, but it'll probably be pretty obvious what it is.

In fact, this one arc is the only spoiler I'm not willing to talk about with anyone. Any other part of the story, I'll gladly tell you spoilers if you ask (privately of course, don't want to spoil it for others), but this is a reveal I want to keep secret from everybody until the time comes.

Finally, first Tumblr post. yay.

[tinypaperstar]

Happy Birthday Lunafreya!!!!

[heartfulselkie]

Okay so I've gathered my thoughts so I'm just going to go ahead and post this.

This ended up a lot longer than I wanted it to be, so I'm putting the post undercut so as not to be a huge block of text on people's dashes.

Firstly, thank you to those who have been reading and enjoying my fics. It means a lot to me and I really appreciate that some of you even take the time to leave a comment or message me on my Tumblr.

Unfortunately this past year has been particularly rough for me and my mental health has been pretty abysmal. I'm not going to go into the details of it, but things just haven't been great. Writing has helped me a lot with that in the past, but recently it's just not doing the same. I've been writing but it feels like its going nowhere. I try to encourage interraction with my fics/writing on Tumblr but a lot of the time it feels like it comes up empty. Now I'm not blaming anyone or wanting anyone to feel guilty for that. People are allowed to consume fan content as they want and have a choice if they want to respond to it or not. I don't want anyone to feel like I'm forcing them into something they don't want to do. Because I share what I write so that other people can enjoy it and because I love writing.

My love of writing has become complicated though. And that's partly because I've started drawing again and sharing that as well. So now I'm seeing the huge disparity between my art content and writing content. And as much as I appreciate that people like my art, its disheartening for me as a writer. And I've always considered myself a writer before being an artist. It's just been getting harder and harder to write. I've lost a lot of confidence in it. I can see my art posts circling Tumblr again and again while any posts about my fics or to do with writing are just dead in the water after a day. Even if I reblog it multiple times, I'm lucky to get one like each time. Currently my writing takes far more time and effort for me than drawing. I'm feeling pressurised to write a lot and to update a lot just to keep some kind of consistent interest. But I just can't do that with my current health. I'm aware that the gap between chapter updates for Citrus and Lavender has slowly been getting longer and I hate it.

So now that I've hopefully explained the context, what does it mean?

The next chapter of Citrus and Lavender is going to be the last one for a while. Once I've finished chapter 33 and uploaded it, the fic will be going into hiatus. I need to put my writing and AO3 aside for the time being. At least until I can let go of the false expectations and pressure I've built for myself. It takes way too much of my time and effort for me to write fanfic for me to only feel inadequate with it. And I know I'm a capable writer, or at least I believe myself to be. But for the moment I'm just not in the best headspace for it.

I'm really sorry for this. Especially since chapter 33 for Citrus and Lavender is going to be a shit cut off point. I do still have every intention of finishing the fic, it's just going to be a long wait for it. I'll keep working on it at my own pace, I'll just not be uploading the chapters until probably the whole fic is done. By then I'll hopefully be in a better headspace to share it.

For my other fanfic WIPs I'm not too sure. They'll be in limbo for the time being while I work on them occasionally. But I'm not planning to be uploading any individual chapter of a multichapter fic for the foreseeable future.

As for my Tumblr I'll be cutting back my activity there too. I'll still post on occassion or share some of my art, but I will be a lot less present than I have been.

Again I want to stress that this is not meant to serve as a guilt trip for anyone. This has just been a PSA on my current state and how I can't continue to keep going as I have been. I just need time to find my own value in my writing again.

Thanks to everyone who has left comments on my fics or reached out to me to tell me how much they enjoy my work. It's meant a lot to me and given me enough to know there are people out there that like what I share, no matter what my insecurity tells me.

And thank you to everyone who took the time to read all of this. I appreciate it.

[theinkventurezone]

Do you have any composition tips? :O your drawings are always such a complete scene

Thank you so much!!! If I had to boil it down to one piece of advice, it’d be to embrace the planning stage and treat composition like its own thing. Whatever else you think gives your art its charm, leave that to the side until you’ve  found a composition that tells the story all on its own and then let colours/shading/lighting, poses, expressions, symbols, brush strokes etc etc reinforce that.  It’s funny and very flattering to be asked about composition because it was something I neglected for a long time - actually the whole reason I started TIZ was because I wanted to focus on that and improve. I also picked black and white specifically because I had a habit of using colour and shading towards the end of the process to make up for how I’d neglected the planning/sketch phase.

Especially with the first arc I illustrated, I also tried to keep the line art very simple (simplified character designs, limited amount of details) to force the composition alone to either make or break the piece.

I failed a lot! Here’s some examples so you can learn from my mistakes:

1) Perspective.

The flat angle of the background doesn’t frame the characters, doesn’t lead the eye to what should be the focus (Magnus pulling Jenkins’ bow tie) and also doesn’t allow for enough depth to accurately show the shape and size of the interior. Here’s where a one point perspective could have made all the difference. 

2) Placement of the figures. 

There’s no clear focus in this picture and a big part of the problem is that all four characters are basically at an equal distance from the viewer. By placing Taako and Merle in the foreground and Magnus and Tom Bodette in the middle ground, it’s clearer that they’re actually interacting in pairs, and also which pair we’re supposed to give most of our attention to.

3) Values.

It’s a little hard to understand what’s happening in this picture and that’s because it’s not taking enough advantage of contrasting values to group areas together and show what’s important by making it stand out. (This is definitely an example of a piece - and there’s many of them - where I just refused to think in black and white and instead barrelled ahead as if I was planning to bring it all together with colour - don’t ask me why! Old habits die hard.) A good rule of thumb is to group objects in the foreground using one value, which then contrasts with a very different value for the background (and perhaps a third for the middle ground). The more contrast in an area, the more it will stand out.

This advice is just as important for pieces in full colour and I would really recommend making a value sketch before picking out colours - the extra elements you add to a piece are only as strong as the foundation they’re resting on. I’d be happy to make a little tutorial on value sketches if there’s interest!

It’s really exciting to see how far I’ve developed when it comes to composition and I’m so eager to learn more. K’s criticism has helped immensely and I’ve often pushed myself to pick ideas I felt were beyond my technical reach. Some of the drawings from TIZ I’m proudest of didn’t look so good to me even as I finished them and that’s why I’m proud - I went for something complicated and sticking the landing was less important than taking that risk!

In addition to the three things I discussed above, here are some questions I like to ask to help myself along the way:

If I zoom out/almost close my eyes, can I still make out what the piece is meant to portray? Is the silhouette(s) instantly clear?

Do the lines/shapes/gestures lead the eye towards the important part(s) of the piece?

Am I using the canvas to its fullest? If an area looks empty, is that emptiness saying something or have I just made a badly balanced composition? (Same with a “noisy” area - am I afraid to let the illustration breathe?)

Can I push the contrasts further? Contrast in values, in shapes and sizes, in detail/noise vs pure black or white?

What does the perspective do for the tone and would another angle work better? (I generally play it safe with perspective for TIZ since the classic children’s book illustration vibe I’m going for is usually quite restrained, but I still try to experiment with my initial sketches.)

I hope some of this is helpful! Please let me know if anything is unclear or if there’s any area of composition (or anything else) you’d like me to dive deeper into. I love talking about basically every part of this craft! So thank you again for giving me an excuse to chat about it :D Also please check out my Patreon or consider giving me a tip on Ko-Fi! I’m out of work because of disabilities so it would help a lot! The links are in the bio because I know tumblr doesn’t like external links in posts.

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 203

I haven’t gotten a chance to have these two argue for quite some time... Overall, it was a blast in the end. As always, thanks go to @baelpenrose for beta reading, especially since this chapter wasn’t exactly smooth to write, no matter how the finished product turned out.

Reader shout outs this week: @thelorg and @crazyotakufanluv23.  I always like when those new names pop up ;).

Despite knowing it had only been three minutes since the last time, I flipped open my datapad to check the time. Xiomara wasn’t late, per se, but I had somewhat expected her to be here by now.  Granted, we weren’t meeting in one of our offices like usual, and were roughly ten decks from hers, but the urgency was implied.

At least, I hoped a message that just said to meet me here to discuss “what Charly’s done” would imply urgency.

“What did she do now!?” a stern voice came over my shoulder, making me jump.  Turning, I saw Xio standing, a thin veneer of sweat from clearly having run flat out, hands on her hips. “I was in the Archive, or I would have been here sooner.”

Oh. “We can talk about it in here,” I answered, tipping my head toward the hatch that was barely visible.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, and I could only imagine what she thought I was about to tell her if it required this room. Nonetheless, she went ahead of me into the maintenance shaft and confidently marched until her feet left the deck.  Years ago, I had been envious of how gracefully she adapted to the freefall found here in the balance point of the Ark, but thankfully my training had at least fixed that.

Her movements were small and precise as she turned to face me. “Now. What did Charly do this time? How bad is it? Did she somehow piss off some space pandas?”

The mental image made me snort. “Nothing even remotely that bad. She managed to spec out and engineer a suspension exoskeleton for Teeth.  It can even be adjusted to let them do physical therapy under what basically amounts to spot gravity, which means they can get out of the medbay for at least part of the day.”

“You called me up here on my day off for THAT!?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s a matter of security.”

“That could have waited until Monday?”

“Charly is willing to share the specs with the Council with one caveat and it’s a firm one, so I figured it was worth interrupting your free time.” Sort of. I mean, it was part of the reason I sent her the meeting. That wasn’t entirely lying, right?

Xiomara closed her eyes with a huge sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.  Without a word, she rolled her wrist in a “get on with it” gesture.

“We can’t militarize the exo. Ever. Can’t even make one for peacekeeping purposes, or base one off the design. She was pretty strict about that. For construction and therapeutic purposes, only.”

That got her eyes to snap open. “You’re kidding, right?”

Shaking my head sent me into a slow spin, but I forced myself to stare ahead as the room seemed to float around me. “Dead serious. Otherwise, she keeps the design and will personally use you to sue the absolute crap out of anyone who uses it without a very lengthy contract, which she will also use you to right.”

“Ugh. Fine. I’ll draw up the contract to put before the Council, and let her approve all provisions before I even present it. What was her plan if I had said no?”

Finally, I was facing her again. Silently taking the arm she was holding out to stop my spin, I shrugged. “She’s the foster mother to the heir apparent of the Squid Queen.  I tried not to ask.”

Swiping a hand down her face roughly, she muttered. “The Eldritch abomination jokes have entered reality, sure, why not? They are now a plausible threat.” Rolling her neck to re-focus herself, she scowled at me. “At least she didn’t start a war.  I probably spent half the run up to this level expecting you to tell me that she somehow issued a challenge to the Eko-mari for dueling pistols at twenty paces over Noah’s civil rights or something.”

My eyes widened and I swallowed thickly.

“Oh, come ON! There’s no way - “

“Miys wants to defect.”

My blurted statement left Xiomara gaping like a fish.  The last time I had seen her so caught off guard, it involved Parvati and a lot of vodka, but this definitely wasn’t a happy gape. “How - what? How did she - “

I cut off her sputtering. “It wasn’t Charly. It was me. Sort of.” Hurriedly, I rushed out an explanation. “They spoke to me in quarters a week ago, which was weird enough, and suggested I take up mycology? But then they suggested something with the crops that just didn’t sound right, and when Conor was home, they actually showed up, and explained that they wanted to move down to the planet with us and really heavily implied they will suicide if we don’t because they know what the Geecee is doing and - “

We went careening when she grabbed my shoulders and shook me gently. “Breathe. Please. If you suffocate in here, I don’t want to explain it to… well, anyone. Just a bad idea all the way around.”

“They wanna come with us,” I stated lamely. “That’s the real reason I wanted you to come down - up, whatever - here. I just said Charly did something because I knew you wouldn’t even think to try to postpone it.”

“Eyeah. Good call,” she admitted tersely. “I want to say you could have used literally anything else, but there’s no chance it would have worked like that did.”

“And it needed to be something you would think was really bad for you to come here, and not your office, yeah.”

“I think this qualifies.” Gently pushing us back to the center of the room, she closed her eyes in thought for a moment. “Where is Conor hiding the test data?”

“I can’t - how the hell did you figure that out so fast?” I was so confused. I mean, she was right, but I was really confused how she figured that out.

Thankfully, she spoke slowly. “You mentioned Conor. If he heard this, there isn’t any scenario I can imagine where your botanically minded golden retriever of a partner isn’t trying to figure out how to make it work. Which means tests, which means test data. It has to be stored somewhere.”

I nodded, following along. “No.”

“No he isn’t helping, or no he isn’t storing data…?”

“No, I’m not telling you the answers to any of that.”

Her eyes hardened quickly, and I was grateful that my trembling didn’t show in zero gee - there was no chance of an altercation ending in her not kicking my ass, but it would at least take a while. Well, longer than it would have six years ago, anyway. “I’m the Councilor in charge of Safety and Security. There is no way this doesn’t fall under my jurisdiction. You are over Resources and Engagement. It is decidedly not under your purview.”

“I’m also not required, in any jurisdiction, to testify against myself,” I pointed out while straightening my spine. “I’m also not required to make you an accomplice.”

Her head shook slightly, but a smirk also briefly flashed on her face. “Accomplice to what, exactly?”

“If Miys does join us on Von, with our knowledge, and specifically with our help?” I started ticking charges off on my fingers. “Sedition, kidnapping, and theft under human law. Treason, kidnapping, war crimes, and civil rights violations under Hujylsogox law. Along with their restrictions against whole-being murder, violation of several relocation conventions, and it would also mean that Noah would be on trial for desertion, theft, and potential genocide if our relocation doesn’t work out.”

“They would try us for kidnapping Noah, and Noah for desertion?”

“Mm hmm. Funny laws happen with hive minds, apparently.”

Another sigh. “Still, it’s my job. Not yours.”

Poor, poor Xiomara. “As you pointed out, your job is Safety and Security - for ten thousand humans. You have exactly one person who can replace you in the event you are put on trial, and she would be implicated just by association.” I stretched an arm out to set myself into a spin again, this time on purpose so I wouldn’t have to see her face at my next statement.

“Also to your point, I’m just a glorified HR department. Kind of like the head of the merchant’s council rolled into the census bureau and employment office. I also have two replacements, three in a pinch, and in a really bad pinch, the Council can split up the duties of my office until someone can be trained or appointed.  A determined hamster could do my job. Not well, but still.”

No one in the galaxy or this reality could fall on a sword like a Reid.

“So you really aren’t going to tell me what was decided.”

“Nope. So you now are aware that it might happen, and if we’re found out, you can chuck me and Conor under the bus while you drive it.” My heart felt like I had stabbed it with a blunt object when I acknowledged that my earlier rambling had implicated Conor, but my brain reminded me that even if he hadn’t known, he would have thrown himself under there with me.  Maverick still might, if it came down to it.  “But I had to make sure you weren’t caught off guard if anything does happen and ends up going south.  You’re my friend first, coworker second, and I couldn’t live with myself without filling you in.”

If Xio said anything, it didn’t make it past the rush of blood in my ears as my heart pounded. Without another word, I kicked a leg out to bring me back toward the gravity well, walking away as calmly as possible.

Right now, a heavy bag sounded like a good idea.

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[creativebeansofchaos]

Thorin x Y/n Part 2

I woke up to the sound of dwarves leaving Mr. Baggins’s home. Looking down for the roof I see them begin to head out of town. Thorin was leading the group. “Damn he looks fine as hell,” I whispered to myself as I got from my grass bed and grabbed my bag from the front porch. I ran after them and ahead of them as they stopped for some supplies in town. I had left my mount on the outskirts of the shire because she usually scared people. You see when I was young I found a moth with a broken wing and it turns out that it was not a moth at all. But what Gandalf calls “An unimaginable trickster of many faces.”

This moth, in other words, was a shapeshifter so we became friends over the years and now he usually played the part of my mount. His favorite form to keep is a moth, explaining why I found him the way I did. But because of this, my mount is a giant moth or a moth-looking horse.

“Dau’atz” I called out when l got into the woods that surrounded the shire. I hear load flapping before I see him. Smiling I reach up towards him smiling. When he gets closer to me he gets smaller and smaller so that he can sit comfortably on my shoulder or in my hair. We had agreed it would be better if the company don’t know about him. I hear the footsteps of horses and the idle chatter of dwarves before I see them. I walked out in front of the company and happened to trip directly in front of Thorin’s pony. This was definitely not planned. （ｏ。ｏ；）

So that I could say “well look at that it seems like I really am falling for you.” In my defense, I did get a better reaction than I thought I would get. He still scowled BUT I think he also blushed a little. Maybe...

  whatever.

  Kili and Fili who had heard what I said burst out laughing. I smiled as I got up from the ground and walked over to my horse that Gandalf had been dragging along beside his. He gave me an annoyed look once I was up on the horse. “must you always act like a child?” (≖_≖ ) I shrugged at him and continued to ride along with the rest of the group. Fili and Kili road up on either side of me and smiled at each other before stating.

  “So you like Uncle.” ( ͡≖ ͜ʖ ͡≖) Thorin had clearly heard them because his back went rigid and all three of us noticed. I smirked at both of them before loudly saying.

  “I MEAN WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE.” I gestured in front of me at him and continued. “COLD, BROODING, PROBABLY HATES ME. THIS IS TRUE ROMANCE RIGHT HERE.” It was really hard to keep a straight face through this especially when Kili added in.

“DON’T WORRY Y/N I AM SURE HE WILL WARM UP TO YOU EVENTUALLY. IN THE MEANTIME WE CAN JUST CALL YOU AUNTIE.” This was when we lost all composure losing it laughing. Most if not all the other dwarves laughed along and those who didn’t at least gave a small chuckle only to make things worse Thorin spun around in his saddle, face red, pointing directly at Kili and boomed “YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING.”

  Raising his hands in surrender he said “ Alright, Alright. but I think Auntie should have a say in it.” This man practically growled and glared at me. “Don’t be mad at me.” ٩(⊙‿⊙)۶  

We continued to ride for a little while until we heard Mr. Baggins’s voice yelling. “wait, wait, I signed it. I signed it!” He ran towards us holding a contract (I assume they gave him) over his head. Handing the contract to Balin who looked at it overseeing that everything was in order. I looked over at Thorin and he looks even angrier than before.

  We continued down the small forest path leading up away from the shire.  Dau’atz began to flutter around my head. Board out of his mind.

  “Y/n” He whined, “You didn’t tell me this trip would take so loooonnnnng.”

“Dau we have been on the road for maybe an hour we have like months more of traveling to do so get used to it.”

  “but this form is so small.”  (≖_≖ )

I gave small laugh drawing Thorin’s attention I gave him a small smile before turning back to the moth (Dau’atz) “look what you did now he thinks I am a weirdo”

End of Part 2

Whenever Y/n is talking to Dau’atz while he is in a moth form big or small she is using the moth language Gandalf speaks in. In the Movie

[littlepadika]

Calling Home (1) | Frankie Morales x Reader

Summary: You are a receptionist at the VA. Frankie Morales keeps calling. Yearning ensues...

Rating: M -> E in later chapters

Warnings: fem!reader, age gap (legal), praise kink, voice kink, discussion of addiction/PTSD/trauma, no use of y/n, no beta reader, reader is bad at Spanish, Frankie has a sexy voice 😩

Masterlist here

AN: My first fic. Pedro writers have inspired me to finally start writing again 🥺. Concept inspired by the movie RED. I hope you like it ❤️Set after triple frontier.

Chapter One

~~~~~~~~~~~

The first time he called was an ordinary Thursday.

“Veterans Affairs, how can I help you?”

You had been working at the VA office for about two weeks. Fresh out of college you felt lucky to have a job in the first place. You went to school to be a writer but your big idea for 'The Next Great American Novel' had yet to present itself. At least here you had access to the most inspiring stories and interesting people. Men and women who had seen more and done more than you probably would in your entire life. You loved talking to clients on the phone. It was weird but something about only being able to hear people’s voices excited you. You would sometimes write little stories in your head about the people you'd talk to, filling in the details that were unknown.

Your desk accessories reflected your love of books and writing. You had your growing collection of books sitting on your desk sandwiched between baby pink bookends. Next to them was a matching desk organizer filled with your favorite sparkly pens and sticky notes. You had decorated the plain cubicle walls with posters of quotes from your favorite books. You also brought your favorite candle from home. Even though you couldn’t light it you still liked to lift it to your nose once and a while and smell it between chapters. When you weren’t on the phone or scanning documents you would read. You finished To Kill A Mockingbird in your first week on the job and were now halfway through Murder on the Orient Express.

You were starting a new chapter when Frankie Morales called the first time.

You picked up the phone on the second ring already mustering your chipper 'customer service' voice. “Veterans affairs.” You stated your name. “How may I help you?”

“H-Hi. My name is Frankie- uh-Francisco Morales." A deep voice answered you. "I’m calling because I have gotten my benefits check yet. It’s been a month. I was hoping you could tell me if it got sent?”

“Okay Mr. Morales." You flipped on the computer. "Let me check. Can you spell your last name for me?”

“M-o-r-a-l-e-s”

“Okay... let's see.” You clicked on his account. You were momentarily distracted by his picture likely taken when he graduated basic if you had to guess based off the uniform. He looked sweet. Sharp nose and strong jaw balanced by kind eyes and a shy smile. You could imagine how age would continue to soften his expression making him even more handsome. The image was a strange juxtaposition to the voice you were hearing on the phone which was much deeper and rougher. His profile said he was special forces. A pilot. The rest of the information was blacked out. Something you were used to seeing on many people's accounts but even his years of service were redacted. He must have been involved in some dangerous stuff, you thought to yourself. The dates that were not redacted were mostly in Latin America. You clicked over to processing requests. “Looks like the check got sent one week ago.” You informed him.

"I'll look again but I haven't seen anything-" It sounded like he was apologizing when clearly it was not his fault.

"No no. It's probably a mistake on our end." You interrupted. With how shitty and outdated the payroll interface was you wouldn't be surprised if there was a mix up. "I’ll go ahead and let payroll know to send another."

"Great. Thanks." He replied sounding relieved. The roughness in his voice gave way to a smooth baritone.

“No problem. I'm sorry for any inconvenience it may have caused. We'll get it sent right away." You hoped he was not relying on this benefit check for anything important. While you could promise you'd fix the problem, the administration was notoriously slow. When he didn't respond you asked, "Is there anything else I can help you with today, Mr. Morales?”

“Uh-no" The roughness back in place. "Thank you." He paused before adding your name onto his thank you which made you smile. People usually never remembered your name.

“Alright. Have a nice day and thank you for your service.” You chirped before hanging up. The smile he put on your face lingered for a few minutes as you returned to your book.

The next time he called was exactly twelve days later.

“Veterans affairs” you answered, your routine greeting cut short as your eyes were still on your book.

“Hi- I’m calling because uh I still haven’t gotten my benefits check. This is Frankie Morales.”

“Oh Mr. Morales.” You recognized his voice even before he even said his name. You quickly shut your book, pushing your hair out of your face. Had you been thinking about him? No! Okay maybe you stared at his picture for a few minutes longer after he hung up. Yes, it was probably very unprofessional but you couldn't fight the curiosity. You were trying to rationalize the contrasting sharpness and softness of his features with his voice. How it all worked together. How one person's voice could change textures and colors so easily. You wondered what kind of things this man might have seen on the job. Most of the veterans you would help day to day did not have so many redacted missions and deployments. You were in the middle of Narcos season one so you immediately thought of drugs or something equally dangerous. After much pondering, you had come to the conclusion that Frankie Morales was both insanely attractive and insanely courageous. “Still no check, huh?”

“Nope.” He sighed the sound making the phone's shitty speaker crackle as you held it to your ear.

“Let me just check that it was approved...“ you found his profile again and scrolled to the status page. “Hmm... it says it was sent out last Friday after we spoke. That’s so weird...”

“Yeah. Really weird.” He echoed your frustration on the other end.

Typical payroll, you thought to yourself as you rolled your eyes. “I'll get another one sent to you right away. I'll see to it myself.” You tucked the phone under your chin and typed out a short email to Mary in payroll letting her know you'd be stopping by her office to explain the situation. You realized he hadn't hung up yet.

“Sorry for the back and forth.” You said, trying to fill the silence.

“It’s not your fault." The earlier irritation gone. "You’ve been really helpful.” His voice sounded warm and reassuring. Less gruff than it was last you spoke. Instead it was that rich baritone that you caught of glimpse of last time.

You feel your face warm at his compliment. It was this annoying reflex you had. Praise always made you blush no matter what context but it was worse when it came from a (you assume) gorgeous stranger.

“And just to verify that your address is correct- you’re on Maple Lane in Miami, Florida?”

“That’s right.” He confirmed.

“Okay. Sent!” You clicked send on the email, which caused the window to close and reveal Frankie’s profile page again. “I was curious-" You spoke before you really made the decision to speak. You didn’t want to overstep but once again your curiosity got the better of you. Honestly, you were just searching for a way to keep him on the phone. The day had been so boring.

“Your profile says you were stationed in Costa Rica.”

“For a bit.” He replied after a moment. He didn’t sound too defensive but there was definitely some tightness in his answer that made you feel bad for asking. Like you were scratching a wound.

“Did you like it? The country I mean.”

“Are you planning a trip?” He sounds a little amused.

“Yeah- well- kind of. It's more a trip in my head right now. I’d like to go there one day. It looks so beautiful.” You sighed closing your eyes trying to imagine the heat on your skin.

“It is." He agrees. "Really humid though.”

“Mm that sounds nice.” You would kill for some warm weather after such a long winter in DC.

“It was too muggy for me at times." He grumbled. "If you do go, stick to the costal areas where it’s more breezy or else you’ll just be sweating the whole time.”

“I don’t mind a little sweat” you shrugged, still thinking of the awful east coast winter you were currently suffering through. The sexual connotation of what you said hit you hard as soon as you heard the statement in its entirety. You felt your face flush again, though the man on the other end would never know.

“I’m learning Spanish!" You announced loudly trying to move the conversation past your awkwardness.

“Wow. Muy impressivo.”

“Si” you replied but after a moment you admit “I don’t really know what you said.”

Frankie laughed loudly on the other end and you couldn’t help but join in, drawing dirty looks from the elderly lady, Donna, working in the cubicle across from you. You ducked your head behind a stack of papers to avoid her glare.

“Fake it till you make it.” He chuckled.

“Maybe you should help me out.” You took on an indigent but still playful tone. “You sound better than duolingo” Your smile widened when he laughed again. His laugh was what you hoped it would be, by all your assumptions from his picture. It was an unencumbered, unburdened, rich sound with only a hit of roughness from the air behind it.

“Tell me you’re not using that dumb app to learn.” he scoffed, saying your name in an almost scolding tone.

“I’m got my thirty day streak today.” You boasted.

“You’ll be a total tourist if you go by duolingo.”

“But the owl is so cute every time I get something right!” You argued your voice taking on a more childish cadence.

“That’s how they trap you, silly girl.” He teased right back. Usually such a condescending nickname would piss you off but something about the affection behind him using it made you feel very differently. You felt warm like you were proud to be silly as long as it made him laugh.

“Then you saved me just in time, Mr. Morales.” You bit your lip. His scoffing and laughter died down on the other end.

“Frankie” He corrects you.

“Frankie…” You repeated it, smiling at how well the nick name suited the voice over the phone. Honest, sincere, and not pretentious at all. Way better than the pompous guys you know with equally stuffy names like “Edward” and “Christopher.”

“So what do you want to know?” Frankie interrupted your thoughts. “Dime”

You started asking him questions in Spanish to the best of your ability. Granted they weren't particularly probing questions. What is your name? What is your favorite color? What is your favorite animal? What's your favorite book? I am reading Gone Girl. He answered them all with patience and amusement, occasionally interrupting you to correct your pronunciation or explain what a word meant. Every time you’d repeat the word back correctly he would say something like “good” or “there you go” or “you got it”. You hated to admit that his kind words and his praise was doing something to you. You didn't even realize you were clenching your legs together unconsciously, almost in anticipation of his next correction or next answer. His low voice so sweet and encouraging against your ear, more tangible when he was speaking Spanish. You just wanted to hear more of it. Would it be this sweet in other situations? Would it get huskier or rougher? If you closed your eyes it was like he was sitting right next to you. It would be all too easy to slip into that daydream and escape the dull office.

Suddenly out of the corner of your drooping eyes you saw a flashing red light on the phone console meaning another caller was waiting.

“Shoot- i’m sorry, Frankie- I have to take this call.” You shot forward in your chair, legs uncrossing.

“Of-Of course. I should let you get back to work.” He sounded a little sad or so you hoped. You felt bad for interrupting him after you both were having so much fun. You wanted to say he could wait on hold but he killed that idea when he said, "I have work too. Technically I'm five minutes past my lunch break."

Your pout turned to a smile. He was spending his precious lunch break with you? Get a grip! you snapped at yourself.

“You’re welcome to call again if you want.” You threw out the offer in a small voice, scared you would be rejected. You peered over the cubicle wall to see if you were still being glared at. Thankfully Donna was away from her desk. Probably out for a smoke. “It’s really boring here and usually no one calls.”

“Maybe I will.” He replied and you could hear the smile behind those words. You felt your heart clench weirdly in your chest like it didn't know how to process the sudden spike in emotions.

“Bye, Frankie.” You beamed.

“Bye”

This time the smile on your face lasted for hours. Frankie’s laugh echoed around in your head, taunting you, sending your mind to the gutter. His voice went from grit to molasses on a dime. You wanted to be the one to bring out those sounds. You wanted to hear his voice bend and stretch and strain as you fucked him. What the hell is wrong with me? you screamed internally. You had never been so depraved and with a stranger no less! You clearly needed to get laid fast because this much yearning would not end well.

Frankie got the second VA check a few days later and this time he didn’t even feel bad about ripping it in half. He was already reaching for the phone to call you.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: Message to be added 💕 no minors please!

[recurring-polynya]

Do I mind if I ask how you approach writing longer fic? I've always struggled to write anything more than maybe two chapters long and I'm curious if you have a particular method to how you approach such stories.

Thank you so much for this ask! I absolutely love it when people ask me for writing advice because it makes me feel like a Smart Person Who Knows Things.

Before we start, here is one grain of salt to take all of this with: I have a naturally long-form brain. It is very hard for me to write something less than 1k. Short fiction is great, and there is nothing wrong with sticking to short things if that's what your brain likes to do.

So. You have decided to write a story. This is going to focus on "stories". Some people write fic that's more freeform or whatever, I am not going to cover that. What I mean by a story is this:

It starts

Some stuff happens

It ends

It is highly probable that your story contains a change of state, which could be that a villain is defeated, or a goal is reached, but it could also be that character falls in love with another, or someone learns to like broccoli.

I like to start out by completing the sentence, "This is a story where _______". This is basically like coming up with a summary for an ao3 post, except that it doesn't need to be catchy. Lots of different kinds of things could go in that blank! It could literally be what happens: This is a story where Ichigo goes back in time and punches young Aizen in the nose. It could be about what you want to explore: This is a story where Hitsugaya gets a better understanding of his zanpakutou. It could be about the vibe you want to achieve: This is an AU where everyone is in a punk rock band and has cool hair and outfits. The idea of this is to clearly define what you, the author, is interested in writing. Make sure it feels right! Maybe you pick the first one, but when you say it out loud, you say, "You know, I really just want Ichigo to go back in time so he can horse around with young Renji and Rukia and punching Aizen in the nose is just an excuse for that." That may sound dumb, but it's fine, actually! Most people don't read stories strictly for the plot, they read stories for the implications of those plots! Will my favorite two characters kiss? Will there be funny interactions between these two groups of characters? Will there be sick fights? Stories are excuses to have scenes. Sometimes, you will have a story where the interesting sequence of events is the draw, but the point is to know what you're about.

Once you feel happy with your "mission statement", you need to decide the bounds of your story: where it starts and where it ends. It may be easier to start with the end. In some cases, it may be obvious from your mission statement: everyone gets home, a villain is defeated, Kenpachi realizes the meaning of friendship. On the other hand, let's look at that punk rock AU. You've picked a vibe, but you don't really have a natural story arc. It has to have a destination, though, otherwise, it's not really a story, it's a recipe for 3 chapters of an abandoned fanfic. So brainstorm a little: Maybe they get a record deal? Maybe they win a Battle of the Bands? Maybe Byakuya accepts that the band is actually good and tells Rukia he is proud of her. Do not settle for a plot just because it works. Pick something that makes you excited! You're the one who is gonna have to write it!

I said that we needed to pick a beginning point, too, but I'm actually going to skip that for now. The next thing I do is think of all the Big Scenes I want to write, the ones you are hype to write, the ones that pop in your head as you think about the premise. Make a bullet list. They don't need to be in order. The descriptions don't need to be super detailed, but write down anything about it that is important to you. If there's a mood or a snippet of dialogue or a joke you want to make, go ahead and jot that down so you don't forget it later. What you're doing now is putting broad blotches of color on a canvas, filling in space and leaving the detail for later.

Once you are pretty happy with what you have down, try to arrange it in chronological order. Put your end at the end (if it wasn't one of your big scenes, add it now). The next task is figuring out how to traverse your scenes. You've already picked out where you want to spend the majority of your energy. The rest, I regret to tell you, is your slog writing. Now, it often happens that you will find joy in some of these scenes and your best writing may occur there, but that's serendipity. These are the scenes that you are gonna have to make yourself sit down and write, so you honestly want to limit them to just the ones you need.

So how do we do this? Look at the first thing on the list. Can you start there? If so, congrats, that's your beginning. If you can't, what needs to happen to get to there? Where can you start so that you can get to your first fun scene as soon as possible? There. That’s it. You’ve picked your beginning, good job! Now, go through the rest of your list, and add in things that must happen, even if you don’t particularly look forward to writing them. The characters need to travel from geographic point A to point B. Shuuhei needs to say something that Izuru hears and misinterprets. The Central 46 makes a new law. If you have a good idea of how these things happen, go ahead and write them down, but it’s okay if you don’t know yet. Fill in all the blanks so that if you think of each bullet list as a scene, you could read it as a story, start to end. Once you get writing, you might add more scenes, or move things around or whatever, but you should have a thing that functions as a story.

If you struggle with this, an alternative is a story with a very strong structure that is going to guide you though what you have to write.Here are two examples from my own stories Hold On, Hold On (which is only one chapter, but the principle is the same) is structured around the 5 stages of grief. Not Broken, Just Bent takes place over roughly a week, and I just decided what happened every day of the week. See You on the Other Side takes place in the middle of a bunch of canon events, which worked at mile markers.

Congratulations. You’ve just made a rough outline!

Special note for avoiding burnout!: I am a slogger. I will drag myself through the broken glass of an interminable plot to get to a single thirsty scene. That's why, at this stage, I try to look at the ratio of what I want to write to what I must write. It's gonna vary for everyone, but this is a hobby, and if looking at this proto-outline makes you feel deeply tired, maybe this isn't a good story to be devoting your time to! Can you carve it down? Can you chuck two scenes you really want to write and get rid of 80% of the slog? Or maybe you can't! In that case, just write that thirsty scene as a standalone drabble! Or just go work on something else! Maybe in the future, this one will come back to you and you’ll have a fresh idea or a renewed enthusiasm for it.

Another thing I sometimes like to do at this point is to write out some notes about my characters and their motivations and moods. Character A is homesick. Character B is so determined to defeat the enemy that they are having a hard time being sympathetic to Character A. Character C cares for both A and B and is trying to support them both. This is sort of background info that you want to keep in your head as you are writing. Depending on the type of story you are writing, this might actually be the main plot, or it might be happening subtly, but adding to the emotional impact of the story. It’s very easy for me to write these sorts of emotional arcs, but if you struggle with that, you may wish to go ahead and made a more detailed outline for that, too.

Now, it’s time to start writing! I am great at beginnings-- it is very often the case for me that the opening scene was one of my Big Tentpole Scenes. (Before you hate me too much, I make up for this by being double horrible at endings; just let me have this) Usually, I will start at the beginning and write linearly for as long as I can until I get stuck. Then, I will look forward on my outline and do the next chronological scene that I feel like writing. In general, if I sit down to write and there is something I have an urge to write, that trumps everything else. Inspiration is a precious commodity, and you should embrace it when it hits! You can slog any day. I will occasionally hold off writing a scene that I really want to, because I am saving it, like a prize for myself for getting that far. This is a very personal process of figuring out what motivates your brain and then giving your brain what it needs to be its most productive.

Eventually, you will run out of things you are excited to write, but the good news is, you’ve got a bunch of story now! Odds are that what’s left is going to be a lot of those connective tissue scenes, and you’re just going to have to do them, except that now, because you’re connecting two concrete points instead of two abstract points, it will be a lot easier. You can continue running jokes you’ve started. Maybe you invented a cafe in an earlier scene where your characters hang out and you can have them return there. Try to think of ways to make these scenes more fun, both for yourself to write and for your reader to read. 

Around this time, I like to start refining that rough strokes outline into what I will call an “as-built” outline. (This is an engineering term where you update your plans or models for something to reflect any changes that had to be made along the way). This is a great activity to do at times when you feel like you have writers block. I write down every scene I have written as a 2-3 word blurb, in order. I break the scenes into what I think makes logical chapters, and I will do a word count on those prospective chapters and write it down. As you do this, you will realize that maybe you can move a scene from here to there, which will make it 1000% easier to write. Things may be happening too much, or you’ve got the characters eating three times in the same chapter. If you have subplots and dangling threads, this is where you make sure they get closure. I know this sounds very headache-y, but you are so far along in the story at this point that it’s really not-- it’s a way to look at the problems you have left. Use some sort of formatting (I like to bold things I haven’t done and sometimes I put them in red) and it gives you a very visual to-do list.

You specifically mentioned multi-chapter fanfics and I admit that I don’t tend to think in chapters, I tend to think of the story as a whole and just break it up where it feels natural. The as-built outlining I described is very helpful in making sure that my chapters feel balanced. They don’t necessarily need to be the same length, but I like them to have the same amount of stuff in them. One chapter may basically contain one long scene, and other may contain many short ones. I don’t tend to, but you can certainly have a fanfic that varies between short and long chapters, that can actually be an interesting effect. But like I said, I always like to know what I am doing, and so having it mapped out, you can say “welp, this is what I’ve done, how do I feel about that?”

Polynya, you may be saying at this point, do you write the whole fanfic before you post any of it? and I regret to inform you, the answer is yes. A lot of people write as they go, and I have made one attempt at this and I didn’t like it. I don’t like locking myself in, I just need to be able write out of order and go back and change things. Here is the story of a little in love: someone gave me an AU prompt and I got mildly obsessed with it, and wrote 5 snapshots drabbles in that universe, ending with a slight cliffhanger ending. I probably should have stopped there, but I decided to keep going. I wrote out an outline of 5 acts where the first act was detailed to the degree of each chapter being specified. The chapters here were much smaller than I usually make chapters: 1-2k. I wrote act i and ii and it was actually great, and then I hit act iii which required a lot of set up for misunderstandings and a mini romance arc. I couldn’t wing it, but nor could I figure it all out with outlining. I write dialogue in almost sort of an improv “Yes, and...?” style, so until I do it, I don’t know what’s going to happen. So, what I did was treat the second half of act iii as a complete story in the process I describe above, wrote the entire rest of it, and then posted it. One might notice that the chapter lengths grew to 3-5k each. I have two more acts to go, and I haven’t decided how I am going to do them yet, but I suspect I will treat each of them as their own mini-stories.

(I will admit that in Heart is a Muscle, I tend toward chapters that are about 10k long, and this is honestly too long, someone should smack me. If you like punchy chapters, 1-2k is good. I think 3-6k is probably an ideal chapter length. Is this how long the chapters are in my latest fanfic? Absolutely not.)

Okay, so there’s one more step, which is quality control. I am habitual re-reader-- I read my fanfics-in-progress over and over and over while I am working on them. I understand that not everyone does this, but I am usually the primary audience for my own writing, and this is the actual fun part for me. Nevertheless, you should re-read your work at least once, to make sure it hangs together.

This is purely optional, but I recommend it: get a writing friend (if you don’t like re-reading your work, I recommend this even more strongly). If you can get a full-service beta reader, that’s great, but if you can’t find someone, or if receiving that level of critique stresses you out, it’s perfectly valid to just find a friend who will read your stuff and a) shower you with compliments, b) reassure you about parts you aren’t sure about (or suggest ways to help) and c) point out any huge problems you missed. When I am writing a long fanfic, it is a huge motivational factor for me to be able to send my beta chapters as I finish them. If you are already an established writer, and you have people who consistently comment on your fic, they might be overjoyed to get a sneak peak at your work.

And that’s it! That’s the way I do it, anyway! Some people are able to sit down and write a very detailed outline and the write it start-to-finish. Good for them, I say! I have tried this and it doesn’t work great for me. I will admit that some of my fics (especially my early ones) I just sat down and banged out whole-cloth like an insane person and they are generally better than the ones I actually plan out, but that’s not a reproducible process.

As one final mechanical note, I usually write in Google Docs, which I can access on multiple devices (I used to write a lot on my phone), has convenient sharing functionality, and I use the ao3 html formatting script add-in. I generally have two documents for a single story-- one is the outline, and any other notes I want to have handy. I’ll usually put a trashcan space at the bottom for scenes that got cut but I don’t want to lose. The other is the fanfic itself.

I hope this is helpful! Please feel free to follow up with other questions and good luck with your writing!