#i will add a note saying i am working on fic focusing on the characters of color of this fandom because i will

[firsttraintovictoriaville]

(I THOUGHT I ASKED ALREADY IM SO SORRY): 4, 7, 15?

(It's okkk no worries <33333333)

4- Ooh, this is hard as i'm pretty fluid when it comes to ships but like top two greatest ships of all time are Mother Nature/Florida (my very first ship in the fandom) and CDC/Mississippi (even though I ship them as either a second chance romance or exes)

7- I have two big ones that I would say are actually my only unpopular opinions??? And one of them is a pet peeve paifapiq

The characters of colors are criminally underrated in this fandom :/ I've seen headcanons for personifications of government agencies that have never appeared or even been mentioned before I see them for FAA. Show some brand love to Southwest Airlines, guys. Pilots' Union- assuming Pilots' Union based on the name and the news at the time is ALPA, he's both Canadian AND American and that would be so fun to explore. Hawai'i and Puerto Rico need love too.

the pet peeve/unpopular opinion is that when mentioning other countries; people don't take into consideration that assuming IDC's existence- every other country has two sets of government level personifications- one national and one international. And what really grinds my gear is people will mention a foreign country as one giant swooping personification or maybe if lucky the capital of the entire country. Other countries also have states, and maybe they're not called states (although some of them are) but virtually all of them have an administrative division that the people living in that country have their own stereotypes and political differences much like the USA.

15- This is tough because like I rarely watch any sketch comedy creators or comedian creators in general and I don't think the general demographics of Ben and let's say LVLoverCC don't have the biggest overlap BUT I will say if either Ben or Charis is reading this; I would love to see Charis as South Korea or even Tallahassee and Ben did mention on TikTok needing the help of fashion gurus and Charis would whip him into shape. HOWEVER, realistically I would be over the moon to see the states dining at Drew Talbot's Bistro Huddy.

[demonslayedher]

Links, why started, and why abandoned:

Rengoku+Akaza Sitcom: It was very silly and rereading it still makes me laugh. I've had passing ideas here and there and have made two separate attempts to continue it, but I haven't captured the same flow. Kyojuro's efforts to get me fired as the lead writer and keep this sitcom canceled have so far panned out.

Low-Key Married AU: When I look at the notes sometimes I am like, "wow, this must be my most popular AU, but it is such a mess and I feel so bad for people trying to follow it." I got as far as The Nezuko Incident, but it was already super long, and rather than being engaging it felt more like it was just trying to give chronology to this AU. ZenNezu Angst (no link): I was in such an indulgent, angsty mood when I wrote it, and I wrote myself into an angsty hole. It was whump with an intended happy ending but by the time I went back to it I was not in as whumpy of a mood and I had forgotten how I was going to build up to the intended happy ending and found it meh. Also, I am embarrassed by how whumpy it is and even considered publishing under a different name.

Raw Sword Production: I want so badly for the fandom to appreciate the intricacies of Japanese sword production, which is why I put it into fiction format in the first place with Teppi being the vehicle through which readers can learn a complicated but fascinating process. I wound up learning a lot more since publishing that, and wanted to fix some details, as well as make it clearer with more illustrations, and add on the full process of smithing (instead of glossing over it in the conclusion and focusing most of the smelting). Got to about the point of polishing (one of the last steps), felt overwhelmed by the amount of illustration it would benefit from to be clear, and lost confidence feeling that even with all that effort, there probably would not be many people who read all the way to the end. Filler Arc w/ Character Beats: I still really like the ideas, have had ideas for how to expand it to a proper flow and make a solid story out of it, it had a very cute start, but I lost steam. I want Ufotable to make it instead and just let me direct. EDIT: So far it doesn't seem this one is going to win the poll, so I reread what 5577 words I had, and gosh dang it, it was cute. So I have posted it.

Again, zero promises of any of these projects getting more attention, even if they win the poll. But knowing what people would enjoy reading might provide more inspiration. EDIT: Guys, if you want "other," ya gotta tell me which one! Also, if you want more than one, feel free to say so too. Again, the point is to see if I can work up the inspiration to finish. If.

[unwhitewashthebadbatch]

Hello, really appreciate the work you're doing to bring awareness! I was wondering if you have thoughts/resources/suggestions etc. for fic writers who want to portray the clones well. I'm genuinely thinking that adding an author's note might be a good idea, but I'd love to have thoughts on respectfully mentioning the clones' appearance within fic itself. Thank you so much for all you do!

Hi, and thanks!

When it comes to writing, it's sometimes easier to come up with a list of "Dont's" than "Dos". This guide from NaNoWriMo is pretty straight forward!

Of course, there are some caveats: unless this is a modern AU, you can't directly say the clones are Māori because that term doesn't exist in Star Wars. However, this doesn't mean that their features don't! From another character's PoV, you could say they have even brown skin, dark eyes, and dark curly (not coily) hair with broad noses. You can tweak these for your level of prose, such as saying "warm" brown skin or coal-dark eyes/hair--but do NOT use food descriptions, as this is objectifying and dehumanizing. So no "chocolatey" (I have seen this) or anything like that.

Some authors like to code their characters as being from a certain culture, race, or ethnic background. Think of how Temuera Morrison portrayed Boba in The Book of Boba Fett and the Mandalorian, where he proudly put his Māori culture at the forefront of his fight in the latter show. I'm much less versed on the basics of Māori culture and ways of life than I am other cultures, so I personally don't know how to code the clones in the GAR as such. This is where research is important, both in terms of doing your own reading and reaching out to Māori cultural experts if they are willing to explain something.

One thing that I've seen that's quite popular in fics/art is Tā moko, which are the tattoos you may see some Māori with, like this:

However, Tā moko is sacred and, from what I understand, relates specifically to one's ancestors, whakapapa (genealogy, loosely), and rank within society. Non-Māori can use kirituhi. @/tu_edmonds on TikTok/Instagram is a Māori bassist for Alien Weaponry who has Tā moko and also has a video explaining the difference between that and kirituhi. He's also got loads of other good explainers for Māori culture and language.

Physically, don't be scared to make the clones short! Temuera Morrison himself is only 5'7". I don't know why they made the clones six feet. Morrison also has a stockier build, the way a lot of Māori do, so don't be afraid to describe them being bigger and less cut/lean than the 180 lbs they supposedly are in canon (although I refuse to believe that's true because that is incredibly thin).

This might be more than you bargained for, whoops! But these are the basic things I could come up with for describing clones in fics!

There are other ways to support #UnwhitewashTBB, if you like. I've been looking at and supporting @end-otw-racism (highly recommend you support them too!) and people will change the title of their fics or tag there works with #EndOTWRacism, as well as bookmark them/add them to collections? I'm not sure how exactly it works.

But if you or anyone else understands how this works, and your work is explicitly non-racist in nature (and focuses on the clones) I don't see why you can't also tag your work or write an AN that says #UnwhitewashTBB.

Hope this helps!

~ Mod CH

[anais-shiv]

How serious are we allowed to take this ship?

Hello! Anais here!

This post is going to be pure word vomit, inconsistent thought chains, and a giant rollercoaster of emotions. 

Before I make many of my points, I will add a caveat or disclaimer that seems redundant but is actually completely necessary for readers to get the whole picture. (See, I’m doing it now.) 

It’s very difficult for me to complete a thought without setting it up with another. 

Anyways…

You ever heard the question “What’s that one fanfiction that altered your brain chemistry?”

For me, there’s no particular fic, but there is a specific fandom/ship that has rewired my neurons as a whole. And that fandom is none other than Dramione. 

(Note: this post will not be a critique of the fandom or any of its works in any way. This post is about me and how I’m slowly descending into madness in the most fragile of ways. [Did you catch that? Eh? Ehh? winks] And it’s about time I spoke my truth.) 

I was introduced to fanfiction at the tender age of 13, in the height of the Harry Potter and Twilight movies. And I was a Twilight girl through and through. (Team Jacob till I die!) 

I only read fanfiction for one purpose and one purpose only, to read about Jacob being with characters other than Bella or her daughter Raincoat. If it weren’t for those early days on Wattpad, I would’ve never discovered that I had a kink for pain, and that I would always choose warm brown skin over a pale cold alternative. 

Then some things happened in my life, I got older, stared dating and hanging out and I simply forgot about it. 

Then, the trailer for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows dropped. And in order to prepare, I consumed all seven books of the series in a week. (Oh to still have the young and focused mind that could consume a book in mere hours.) 

To say I loved it was an understatement, so much so that I refused to read any Harry Potter fanfiction I saw pop up on my Wattpad screen. (The old Wattpad that had a brown banner, and a similar font to Times New Roman, and that allowed people to upload entire real life books so long as they purposely added grammar mistakes to not get caught for plagiarism, not saying that’s right but Lordt, what a time.) 

Most of the fics I saw weren’t even about specific ships, they were just about life after the epilogue, with many writers opting to create entirely new characters, usually being children of the originals. Regardless, I ignored them all. Harry Potter was perfect, it didn’t need expanding or alternate universes. 

Fast forward some more, more life happened, and I sort of stopped reading books and fanfiction all together. 

I’m 27 now. 

I found Dramione only last year, through TikTok like many others. And my first fic, like many others, was Manacled. 

It was life changing, riveting, mind altering, and absolutely heartbreaking. 

I needed more. 

So I read and read and read. Joined the Reddit, joined a discord (I love you DADA!) and even started trying to write my own fics. 

Then, all of a sudden my hyper fixation began to wear off, and I started to get bored with the whole thing altogether.

I was kind of disappointed, as it was very difficult for me to start and keep hobbies and even more difficult to make friends. It was nice having something to relate to other people with, even something as specific as liking an HP ship. As someone as socially awkward and shy as I am, I was worried I wouldn’t find another focal point to relate to other people with, and I would go back to wallowing in my own bloody slutty and pathetic despair. (Did you at least catch that one?)

Then I found a new WIP that made me feel like a brand new fan all over again. 

Our lovely Gryffindor and sulky Slytherin had sunk their claws back into me, bone deep this time, (Did you fucking catch that one?!) and I was right back where I started.

So of course, in between replaying smut scenes in my head over and over and over and over again while simultaneously wallowing in my self inflicted isolation, (COME ON PEOPLE IM THROWING EM AT YOU!) I started to ponder: Why in the fuck do I like this ship so much?? 

The romantic relationship between Hermione and Draco is based off a trope as old as the London bridge. Our wonderful beautiful cliché: enemies to lovers. 

We love the idea of someone seeing you when you’re not at all trying to impress them, be friendly or mindful or considerate or empathetic or even cordial, and still falling in love with you anyways. 

Just the raw authenticity behind such a love is so entrancing, that we’ll read the same story over and over again in different fonts. 

At first, I resisted my curiosity regarding Dramione, as I thought Hermione was the walking embodiment of girls get it done, and Draco was nothing but sniveling spoiled bigoted coward and bully. (Not to mention I never noticed how hot Tom Felton actually was in the later movies. Why didn’t anyone tell meeee???)

His feud with Harry added to my dislike of him, but that could somewhat be dismissed as boys being boys. It was intolerance and ignorance towards Hermione that made me hate him. As well as his quick use of threats in his fathers name any time someone so much as disagreed with him. Needless to say, Draco Malfoy was a punk bitch. Through and through. Not my words, take it up with JKR. 

So why on Earth would I ever enjoy reading about him, of all people, falling in love with and being chosen by the Hermione Granger, one of the greatest representations of nerdy awkward beautiful bad ass girls to ever exist, after he regarded her so horribly? And over Ron at that? 

It was a hard adjustment. 

Because to me, their story wasn’t simply enemies to lovers. To me it was a story of a member of an oppressive group, experiencing the mortifying ordeal of being in love with a member of the oppressed. (If you didn’t catch this one just log off.) 

"Anais, it’s not that deep."

I know. I know. But this thought process can’t be helped. 

To put it simply, Dramione reminded me of that one movie with the black girl falling in love with the Nazi soldier. Or another better written version of the book about the Latina girl who fell in love with the klan leader's son. Or even on a less extreme note, about the Asian girl falling in love with the racist boy who actually turned out to be not so racist, seeing he only used the slurs because it’s what his dad taught him and peer pressure made him and he was going through such a hard time back then but he knows better now, and honestly they were only kids, and you can’t help the environment you were raised in and-

Ok, so I made that last one up, but you get the point. 

Manacled being my first fic didn’t really help diminish this connection my mind was making while trying to enjoy this fandom. And that wasn't the only fic that influenced the analysis, because the main premise to many other fics was acknowledging ones ability to grow and change for the better. And the only way to do that, was to acknowledge the ugly shit of their past. 

And no other example made such a direct reference to Draco's past and sometimes present ideologies (depending on the fic you read) as the use of the word mudblood. 

Ah, mudblood. 

Such a dirty, disgusting, abhorrent and absolute slimy fucking use of the English language. 

So obvious in its implication, no different than Shacklebolt or Cho Chang (you really popped off with those didn’t you JK?) that the lack of subtlety almost made the slur hit harder. 

Mudblood. It was simple in it's meaning. Dirty. Inferior. And worthless.

Reading about Draco calling Hermione the ugly name for the first time in CoS made me cringe, but experiencing similar real life altercations made me loathe it’s existence entirely.

"Anais, it’s really not a that deep."

I know! Just, hold on. 

It was such a fucked up word, I hated it. 

So imagine my surprise when I read and heard the word being used so freely and casually in fics, cosplay TikToks, edits and other forms of fandom media. 

And no matter how much I reminded myself that the word wasn’t real, these characters weren’t real, and that the word had no real history because the world it came from didn’t even exist, I could not for the life of me, stop hearing another word as an afterthought every time I read it and heard it. 

Can you guess which word that is? 

Here’s an example of what my mind does whenever the word is used: 

“If you're wondering what the smell is, Mother, a mudblood (n*****) just walked in.”

“Haven’t I told you? Killing mudbloods (n******, he means n******) doesn’t matter to me anymore.” 

“I don’t need help from filthy little mudbloods (n******) like her!”

Do you understand what I go through?! 

Needless to say I prefer fics where the word isn’t used at all. 

Oh to be able to enjoy harmless free fiction without constantly comparing the plight of the imaginary world’s minorities to the very real systemic racism experienced by black and poc people every where. sigh

Yeah, I’m that girl at the party (not really, mostly I’m quiet. Because if I talk, I'll be that girl at the party.) 

It can’t be helped. 

So here’s me, experiencing this fandom for the first time, enjoying enemies to lovers that’s really not enemies to lovers but more like racist learns that racism is bad through falling in love with the very kind of person he was raised to be racist towards and what better way to unlearn bigoted indoctrination than through spending time with said person who just so happens to be extraordinary and not like the others from said group (because if Muggleborns aren't extraordinary are they really worth loving?) and also insanely beautiful and also clever and extremely desirable and the unlearning had nothing to do with that attraction right? He became better purely from his own desire to evolve....right?????? 

(Obviously my interpretation of the ship is extremely biased and a gross generalization. There is no right way to do Dramione. Of course Draco had the capacity to better himself without Hermione. That much is canon. And even though the wizarding world has extreme prejudices within it's society, it was probably nothing compared to how any of them would be treated if the statute of secrecy was broken. There’s levels. Don’t worry. I get it. There's layers.) 

But do you see the implications as it pertains to these two as individuals? Especially regarding their backgrounds?

After my adjustment period, I realized that these implications meant that Draco’s growth was actually extremely complicated. It wasn't just enemies to lovers, it was a complex narrative that called attention to how difficult unlearning toxic and harmful ideologies could be. And while I have no idea if writers and creators ever intended to highlight the parallels between his and Hermione's story and that of very real people who fell in love even when it was dangerous and against all odds, they were impossible not to notice. Thus making his character, one of the realest and most realistic characters of the entire fandom.

And that is precisely why I fell in love. 

(No but seriously, reading about Draco from a such an intimate standpoint from either his or Hermione’s POV had me rethinking my entire dating history, taste in men, and marriage goals. And I’m not just talking about the smut!) 

Listen you know you’ve got a problem when you sit and consume fanfiction for two days straight with barely any breaks for food or sleep.  

I consumed several fics in a short span of a couple of weeks, most of them being smutty one shots. I came to develop, as we all have, a specific preference for certain characterizations. I commented, liked and shared. And I even attempted to write my own (to be announced) Dramione stories. 

I discovered new kinks, was inspired by my oh so talented friends and other writers, and I even considered (still am) dying my hair brown. 

(What? Obsessed. Psh. No. Of course not.)

Now, I’ve entered a phase of careful curation. After having deleted all of my Ao3 tabs by mistake, (fuck the iphone) I’ve been finding fics through very specific filtering rather than recommendations. And when I have the time, reading for hours and hours on end. As well as joining the occasional writing sprint. 

Eventually I’d like to start creating fan art and posting full fledged Dramione stories. This fandom is one of the most beautiful, sexy and entertaining fandoms I’ve ever come across. And when I'm not thinking and about the political and economic state of the wizarding world and how deeply that plays into our favorite ship, I'm actually just fangirling. 

Anyways, that’s all for now folks! 

Anais: out! 

[grayintogreen]

Pinned Post II: Electric Boogaloo

Hi, I'm Chris! I'm updating my pinned post to be more streamlined so here we go.

I liveblog Critical Role every week and tag with "cr spoilers" up until Monday. This tag also gets used for Candela Obscura and any one-shots. Dimension 20 spoilers are labeled “d20 spoilers.”

This is primarily a Critical Role and Dimension 20 blog, but I contain multitudes. You will see a lot of random shit depending on my mood. I’m really into Hazbin Hotel right now, for example, so my blog is kinda inundated in that. Honestly I might as well admit I am also a Hazbin blog at this point. Sorry, women.

I write a lot of fic, which can be found on my AO3 here. I primarily write fic centered on minor/supporting characters. I'm also the author of the life in the margins of redemption and red roses and dead things series- more about these below.

I have a ko-fi if you'd like to give me a tip for any reason.

I am the assistant manager of a convenience store that is part of a large retail chain and if you tell me that you shop there because “Wal-Mart is crooked” I’ll kill you. Mine is worse.

My two big series are as follows:

red roses and dead things (or Roseverse), a canon divergent Hazbin Hotel (goes AU after 1x06) series that deals with working on continuing the story while I wait for new material. It is lore-heavy, Team as Family, and redemption-focused with focus on Huskerdust, Alastor and his deal, Lucifer and his relationship to Heaven and Hell and his family, and Charlie continuing to pursue her dreams. Also contains significant amounts of Helluva Boss because we’re not beholden to copyright here.

life in the margins of redemption (or LitMoR), a For Want of a Nail CR2 Canon Divergent series, is a duology (with additional side stories) that takes the alternate path outlined in the Harvest's Close session notes- Cree rescuing the Nein from the Gentleman's wrath should they betray him- and takes it a step further with Cree reviving Molly on the Glory Run Road and traveling with the Nein in the hopes of finding a way to bring Lucien back. It is extremely Canon Divergent, but does feature CR2 plots under radically different circumstances and with additional characters. It's worldbuilding heavy, character-driven, often dark, but has a guaranteed happy ending. You may heard of it as "that 1.5 million word fanfic series."

It is not canon compliant with TNEOL as I had finished OUADYA before TNEOL came out. While I use some elements from the novel, the backstory presented for Lucien and the Tombtakers in the series is entirely different.

More details, including links to the fics, beneath the cut.

THE MAIN STORIES.

Note that while the series features Fjorester, Beauyasha, and Widomauk as primary ships, it is above all a gen fic that focuses on the platonic relationships even more than the romantic ones. I cannot in good faith rec this fic to you if you HATE any of those ships, but I can say if you're indifferent/just want a plot and platonic relationship focus, this fic will appeal to you.

once upon a damn-you-all. Cree saves Molly on the Glory Run Road, sending the Nein's trajectory off the rails in a story about redemption, change, fate, and team-building. Also Molly having to contend with the Somnovem.

you can't deny high noon. The Nein continue their journey with an additional member- a reluctant, captive Lucien- as they continue to face numerous challenges while enemies lurk in the background. While OUADYA is mostly original plotlines, this fic follows the majority of the major plot beats of canon albeit a bit twisted around and out of order.

THE SIDE STORIES

While not necessary to read in order to understand the main duology, I feel like not reading them causes a loss of impact, as often events/characters from them are referenced in the main narrative and having more perspective on the events adds more oomph. This is an extremely detail-oriented series and barely anything goes in without some thought put into it. For the sake of not overwhelming my audience, I'm only listing the side stories I think are actually important to the overall narrative, but please do read the others if you have the time.

there's something divine in the way screams can sound. The events of OUADYA as seen through the eyes of someone trapped in the Astral Sea- or Lucien's utter breakdown, now with context. Introduces several backstory elements that become super relevant in YCDHN.

as in the painted parlor, ophelia dreams. The story of how Ophelia came to the Run, became a Mardoon, and gave up her son.

all of the dreamers defying convention. A fic that takes place in the two month gap between the two duology stories and bridges the two narratives.

OTHER LINKS

original character guide. A guide to the many original characters featured in the series.

[kitaychan]

Fic Writer Questions

Thank you for the tag :D @spinyfruit

1.) How many works do you have on AO3

34! they're mostly Oneshots and drabbles.

2.) What’s your total AO3 count?

208,218

3.) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Just Hetalia

4.) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. I call it a draw (Rochu/ Amechu)

2. Nerium Oleander (rusamechu)

3. We need to talk (Rochu)

4. Secret (Rochu and one sided Rusame/ Amechu)

5. Western pleasure (Rusame)

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

It's either Together (rusamechu) or I'll come back to you (RomeChu)

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

Sublime since Itapan is my comfort ship I usually write fluff about them

7.) Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't done this o:

8.) Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yeah, I have a couple of Oneshots and Nerium Oleander has smut too. I guess they can be described as explicit m/m, tough I think it's mostly Rusame or Rusamechu smut

9.) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to, sometimes I forget or just don't know what to say. I think it's nice to reply, as a reader I get happy when an author replies so...

10.) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Three of them. Nerium Oleander, I call it a draw and I'll come back to you were/are translated into Chinese (⁠ ⁠���⁠Д⁠≦⁠)

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

Not yet

14.) What’s your all time favorite ship?

The black triangle trio (rusamechu) and whatever pair comes out of it

15.) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but you don’t think you ever will?

We need to talk, idk I've reached the point of not knowing what's next in the story. It's probably the only fic I didn't really planned before hand, and it wasn't supposed to have multiple chapters haha

16.) What are your writing strengths?

I like to think that descriptions when it comes to settings and like the overall mood of the chapter/story is what stands out. Also I think I'm getting better at foreshadowing :D

17.) What are your writing weaknesses?

Probably pacing, I struggle to move forward certain parts sometimes, I don't usually plan or pay attention to the time within the story so it's pretty much vague.

18.) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I think it's pretty common in Hetalia fanfics, I did it a couple of times too. I think it's fun and it's a nice touch for a character who's native language is not English but as a writer I find it it's difficult to add it without butchering a language or getting overwhelmed by adding footnotes with the translation haha. If I were to write characters like Spain more often, I would totally do it.

19.) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Hetalia

20.) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Ahhh this is a hard question

I will say that Nerium Oleander because I am focused on finishing it and it's been very rewarding.

But White Flame is also my favorite because it's just me having a bunch of fun with words and world building.

Tagging:

@darcymariaphoster @crumpled--notes @magictrio1118 @fireandiceland @koolkat9 if you want to~

[simmonsized]

17 for the fic writer meme?

17. talk about your writing and editing process

Alright so I am kind of embarrassed about this tbh.

It's not like a big deal or anything, y'know, it's just like. For writing, I tend to just get really lost in the sauce of whatever idea I have in that moment. This might result in large chunks of scenes for stuff that doesn't exist yet, or just some vague notes of things I would like to happen if I wrote a thing, sometimes entire timelines for aus and whatnot you know. If I'm feeling delirious about it I might just draw instead and that's not writing but you know, these things happen.

If it's an existing work, I usually have like, a list of things in my head I want to happen by the end of a chapter, but I will let it meander as much as it needs to before I get to the end, because instead of killing my darlings, i largely let them roam free haha

since don't tend to write in a particularly linear way, either, my chapter files are a fucking mess hahaha They're all out of order, I'll have chapters halfway done months or even a year before I can post them, and not be done with anything in between.

Individually, it'll often be like: finished section, few lines of a pesterlog, supposedly finished section, something I still need to write, partially finished section, complete pesterlog, something I still need to write, finished section, probably hopeful ending (but who knows!! not me!!)

if I feel like I'm having a hard time focusing on what the characters are doing in the scene, that is when I'll straight up start doing just dialogue in large sections (i really love writing dialogue, even if I do it goofy style), and then add in the movements and background of the scene later. I like a good flow to a conversation, even if it's like, awkward and stilted, so if I have too much blocking of characters going on while also actively trying to construct a conversation, my brain goes "actually no fuck that toss the body language for now, let the fools talk" which usually works in my favor c:

My editing process is a nightmare. Since I write on my phone, I will just continue to do that until I reach the end of the draft, and then I will be like, okay I am done with the draft. Time to load up googly docs and Sprinto the robot and completely retype the whole thing on my laptop, for however long that takes me. Hours, if needed. This is usually where my typos show up lol I'm a fast typer but I don't look at my keys and you know, stuff happens. This also usually ends up being the phase where I accidentally add 1-2k extra words; going over it sometimes helps me realize there are things that need clarifying, or I'll feel like "this moment could have gone on longer" and I'll add way too much to a pesterlog, you know how it is.

And I know, okay, that editing is supposed to cut things, and I know that my chapters are already too long but!!! it's for fun!! it's fine!!! I'm fine!!! I do not have a beta, due to my crippling shyness, despite how much I will ramble, if you poke me even a little. It really is just "batter up, hope this reads" and off it goes hahaha

I'm so sorry I hope this says anything I don't expect anyone to read that.

[maruyaaya]

GOOD NEWS TO THE DC FANS FOLLOWING ME WAITING FOR CH5 OF THE JASON GENDER FIC: IM FINALLY WRITING AGAIN. got back into dc by reading a bunch of wonder woman comics (everyone say thank you to ms donna troy the loml <3) and now im committed to finally writing this goddamn chapter

more below the cut (bc i love to yap) + spoilers for ch5 of always an angel (never a god)

this chapter has been one of the hardest ones to write bc i’m tackling death in the family in this chapter meaning there’s a lot from canon that i have to write in this chapter. there’s not a lot of room for me to write silly little in-between scenes bc everything needs to progress very linearly in this chapter for it to make sense.

in the other chapters, i’ve been able to pull scenes from canon and write them from my perspective + with the pov of a genderfluid jason todd while also being able to write my own unique scenes to add more flesh and detail to the story. with this chapter, there’s a lot that i have to take from canon to properly write that buildup to the actual warehouse scene and it can be really tedious for me to decide what lines i want to pull straight from the comics and what i want to expand upon and make my own.

i’m being very ambitious for this chapter and aiming for a fairly massive word count so i don’t really know when i’m actually going to finish it, but i’m getting over my writers block and i can confirm that i am writing so hopefully it’s not a horrific amount of time.

i really like talking abt my process for this fic bc i don’t often write completely canon compliant fics like this one is (ofc, with this fic having the big difference of being mostly focused on jason’s gender which canon is not focused on). i spend a lot of time rereading comics and writing down timelines and specific lines + scenes i want to include. i have pretty detailed timelines for this fic that lay out canon scenes with my own scenes so i can make sure i get the timeline of ages & events correct and that is the worst for me bc i am NOT a planner.

when i’m writing fics, i just sit down and crank something out in one sitting and pray it makes sense. i don’t write drafts. i sit down at my laptop, bleed, and then publish the first draft i write (i do the same for school which is probably not a good habit but hey, it’s worked for me thus far!) this is the first fic i’ve written where i actually put time into planning. it helps that i really enjoy writing this fic and i’m very proud of it.

okay that’s probably enough blabber on that. my bad guys i just love infodumping. i love talking and tumblr is like a void and i am screaming into it, but it almost feels like the void is listening.

anyways! on a slightly related note, who wants to ask me about donna troy and hear my thoughts on her bc boy, do i have thoughts!!! such an underrated character she doesn’t get the love she deserves bc she’s actually so complex and interesting. donna troy my beloved <3

[thr-333]

hi 👋!!! I LOVE your Tmnt mm x 2012 crossover so far! Please continue it!! Your art is also so good! While I’m asking got any writing tips for fanfics?

Ahhh thank you! Actually posted the second chapter just now so I will be continuing. As for writing tips I’ve never been asked that, so this is gonna come out rambly and very much neurodivergent.

I’ll first establish I have aphantasia, meaning I don’t ‘picture’ things so much as I think in words(and in abstract concepts of movement). So when I write I don’t spend much time describing what things look like, I can’t picture it so why would I spend time explaining what it should look like? This means my writing is very dialogue heavy. It focuses on what character are saying and how they sound and what they do when they say it(because of how I think about movement)

So one of my best writing tips is when I get stuck or am slowing down with a scene I’ll start jotting down the dialogue. No actions in between, no they said this or that, no quotation marks they waste time, usually I won’t even note characters names and trust future me to know. Or trust I've written the charcters with strong enough individual voices that it's obvious at least to me. For example later in the fic is this scene:

We actually don't have a last name

Not until we had to go to school then we had to choose one

We didn’t really know what to pick so we settled on Stockman!

Stockman

Yep that’s our cousins last name and Baxter Stockman technically created us so that makes him our uncle-dad

I see, here Baxter Stockman is an associate of the shredder

… yeah we learnt that yesterday, but our Baxter stockman never did anything really bad!

Unless you count animal extermination as bad

Which we do

It’s still better than going with something like Smith

Writing it like this means the dialogue flows better. It also helps my brain out since I don’t have to constantly switch tracks meaning I can write faster. Also lets me move onto other scenes I have the itch to make. Often I won’t come back and fill in the gaps until I’m editing.

Another thing that helps me is using the fact fanfiction comes with prebuilt stories to work on top of. I like having an episode with premade plot points to build off of. My best example of this is another fic I wrote, The Bat Trap which was based on The Parent Trap(a movie I love). In it I had a bunch of one liners and situations from the movie that I wanted to include, so I would follow(and adapt) the plot to fit and follow. While in other places I could go off script so I wasn’t following it word by word. To this day it’s the only longform fic I’ve completed and that's entirely due to following a movie plot, so I had an endpoint I could work towards. Instead of an overeaching storyline I made myself with no end in sight.

And my best piece of advice! Give yourself a voice in your story. Especially if you’re doing something comedic. It’s all well and good to give your characters hilarious lines but ultimately only a fraction of your writing is going to be dialogue. Most of it is that connective tissue, what characters are thinking, where they are, what they’re doing. So think as the ‘narrator’ of these parts as a character equally capable of jokes. Such as my favourite technique the ‘smash cut’. My art for the first chapter is an example of that. 

“They will be fine”

“Mikey was not fine”

It’s a fun way to open a new perspective and I will use it at nauseum because it entertains me. Ultimately it’s fun! Have fun writing, undercut your serious scenes. You want to add something but it doesn't fit the tone? Screw that, write it anyway. It doesn't matter if people don’t like it, because you’re gonna spend a hell of a lot more time writing than they will reading. Eventually that becomes your writing style and people ask you for tips:P

[emotionalcadaver]

Hello! I hope you're having a lovely day/night! 😊 Just had to pop in to show some love for your writing. I stumbled upon your fic, Love Me Where I'm Most Ruined, a lil while back and I'm obsessed??? I flew through it so quickly, I just couldn't stop reading! I apologize for not leaving comments as I went, it's like I was in a trance, just had to keep reading 😭😂😂 I'm also somewhat new-ish to the fandom and interacting kinda gives me anxiety, but I'm working on it lol. I'm gonna do a re read sometime soon and I'll let you know my thoughts, gonna spam you with love probably, your story certainly deserves all the love. 🥰❤️❤️ I also see that you've recently rewritten/edited some parts? As if I needed another excuse to re read this whole fic 🤭 Truly, one of my absolute favorite fics I've read. I love the story you've built and I adore your characters so much. I'm in love with Lucy, for real. Obsessed with her. I also haven't read many fics (if any) that are pro Grace. I think that can be a bit controversial in the peaky fandom?(sadly) But holy shit!! I LOVE how you wrote her whole storyline. You broke my heart tho, but I still loved it! 😂 I didn't intend this ask to be so long, please forgive my rambling! You posted your latest chapter on my birthday and girl. Birthdays aren't always the easiest for me and this one was kinda rough. Honestly, reading your fic was kinda the highlight of my day. An unexpected delight! A little gift you didn't even know you were giving me! I literally squealed in excitement lol! Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your stories. Your writing is so, so beautiful and I can't believe your fic doesn't have more notes. Honestly, it's criminal! I'm seeing it pop up on my dash again and I just had to show you some love!! 🥰❤️❤️ Also, it's still Valentine's Day where I am, so I felt all the love was a little fitting. ❤️ I hope this novel of an ask finds you well. 😘❤️

-🦋

Oh my goodness, anon, thank you so, so much! Seriously, my heart is practically bursting right now I just wanna reach through the screen and give you biggest hug! 🥰

It means SO MUCH to me that you've loved Lucy and my fic so much 😭 I have quite a few OCs, but Lucy in particular is very near and dear to my heart, so to hear that you love her so much just makes me so happy.

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts if you do a reread! I don't like to pressure people too much to comment because I understand it can be nerve-wracking, but I promise I am literally the least intimidating person in the world and will be absolutely thrilled to hear what you think!

I did recently do a bit of a rewrite/edit, specifically of Red Right Hand. Nothing too crazy, but I did add a few more scenes with Grace and a few more smut scenes.

Grace is certainly a controversial figure in the fandom. I understand why people dislike her, and I never want to make people feel like they have to like her to read or even enjoy my fics, but at the same time I have a soft spot for her, and my vision for the series always included Grace and polyamory elements, despite it still being primarily Tommy x Lucy focused. I was quite nervous including the poly aspects of the story, and I know it turned a lot of people off to my fics, so I really appreciate your support for that particular part of the story! 🖤

And Happy Birthday! I'm so glad to hear that my fic made your day a little brighter! And Happy Valentine's Day as well! This really is the best gift anyone could have given me today!

I'm so sorry that it's been taking me longer to get updates out! I recently started an internship in January that's taking up more of my time, plus just dealing with a general lack of motivation lately. But I am hoping now that I'm more settled into my internship that I will have more time to write and will be able to get onto a more consistent posting schedule. I have SO MANY things planned for Lucy and Tommy and I hope that you enjoy them!

Again, thank you so, so much for this ask, 🦋! You've absolutely made my day! I am sending all of my love your way! 🖤🖤🖤

[margridarnauds]

How did you name Kitrye?

Signed,

Someone who is considering playing as an elf but doesn't know how to name an elf.

You have no idea what you did by asking this because it's one of those examples of me vibrating for months to explain why I made a choice I made.

A lot of the DND books that are focused on a given race will give you example names to work with, but, personally, that isn't an option I've ever taken. A little known Thing with me is that, when I'm naming characters, I am pretty much always very, very specific. Even if it's information that won't come up, naming a character is a big part of characterization for me.

So, I went here -- Not as canon as I'd have liked, but, given it's DND, it's as canon as I could get. And I looked at various options, but "Kitrye" was what I went for in the end, because it meant "Half." And it worked on multiple levels, first was that it highlights the sort of person Kitrye's mother is, that she would just give her the name "Half", second of all that it's something that other Drow can note and comment on if they want (even if Kitrye can ALMOST pass as a relatively pale full Drow, her name + eyes give her away), and third of all that it highlights the theme of duality that was always meant to be embedded in Kitrye's story arc. I went through a couple of designs for her in the early game, including one where she would have half white/half black hair, which was meant to be a very, very imperceptibly slight nod of inspiration to the goddess Hel from Norse Mythology, which ultimately ended up in her current design, which lost that idea of black/white duality but still has a lot of black highlights in it despite looking very silvery on the surface. I wanted to add a lot of death motifs to her at the beginning as a way of underscoring her eventual role, though most of those ended up getting cut, but the idea of duality still stayed, especially since most of her outfits feature strong contrasts between dark and light elements. (The third bonus was that it was something that was pronounceable AND something that could hold its own in a world of Quinthels, Liriels, and Malices -- just foreign enough to seem distinctively Drow, just short enough to be pronounceable and recognizable as a name, with possibilities for nicknames as well.) I knew, from the beginning, that I wanted her to be a strong contrast to Raphael, so it made sense that her duality, her mixed nature, would be front and center when naming her (in a way that it ISN'T with him -- one of them kind of intentionally hides it and sees it as a weakness, the other doesn't.) I go back and forth on whether I'll ever give an explanation of the name in a fic, because a part of me thinks it's really, really important to her, another part of me thinks it's great to leave it as something that you have to dig for.

And, from that point on, it was a matter of shopping for which house she ought to belong to, since that's central to Drow society. I toyed with a number of options -- never the most prominent house, House Baenre, since Minthara already belongs to that one in-canon, but somebody who would, ideally, be in a place of nobility and privilege while also being out of the spotlight, someone who there was just enough canon on that I had something to work with and just little enough canon that I could be very flexible with, say, matron mother names, timelines, etc. And House Symryvvin, 18th on the house ranking, but once holding some lore that said that they might be the REAL rulers of Menzoberranzan via their hyper-devotion to Lolth...it was perfect. Like, it meant that (1) Kitrye wouldn't be a celebrity, even if she had some amount of power, she is not coming from a place of HYPER privilege, even if it's still a place of privilege and (2) There was a justification for how she was allowed to be born in the first place, because she's a Symryvvin and people might have still been too scared to challenge her mother's decision.

For Mallathalra, I followed a similar pattern (minus the surname issues since I'd already selected that) -- since she actually was chosen by the family and adopted, I wanted something that was slightly more ornate for her, so I chose "malla", meaning "honored" or "honored one" and "thalra", meaning "encounter", for something that is VERY ROUGHLY intended to convey the idea of "honored encounter" -- her name is more outwardly complimentary than Kitrye's, it actually had effort put into it, but there's a double-edged sword in the sense that she very literally does not have an identity outside of the family. They found her, they adopted her, and now she couldn't even remember her birth name if she wanted to.

In a lot of ways, it would be easier to go to a Drow name generator or to take one of the suggested names from the guides, but I'm honestly really happy I didn't, since it gave me a much clearer idea of the characters by going the dictionary route.

For an elf, you have this dictionary, if you want to take the approach I did. The 5E player's handbook has these suggestions:

[agent-cupcake]

hellooo! i admire your writing so much and would love to hear more about your ~process~. how much do you plan, what do you like to know before diving in, that kinda thing <3

Oh I love talking about myself you really shouldn't have opened up the floodgates

(but since you did...)

I don't really have a process I follow. Even if I do plan things out, I can't ever stick to it so mostly it's not worth the effort. For the most part, everything begins by taking story concept and character and writing down little scene snippets in an empty doc, or on my phone. Usually this is dialogue or sensory stuff, and a lot of times it doesn't make it into the final draft because my obsession with keeping to what I feel is more character accurate. The point is to set the tone, I guess.

Not that its relevant, but some of my favorites of these starting snippets that were in the final product is Junpei showing reader her own funeral and Emet-Selch dunking on reader's hopes and dreams at the end of Devil's Bouquet.

Anyway, from there, I flesh out that starting line, add more little snippets or even ideas for other scenes, and almost always write the ending, or at least write out the portion of the ending that I see as "the point" of the fic. This can be a segment of dialogue, a paragraph of emotional language, or even just a sentence to remind myself of the moment that every word I write is building up to support. That's the break of tension between the characters which, in my case, is usually the part right before or around the smut (but usually not the smut itself, as I see that as the tension builder or tension release rather than the "climax" ((haha)) itself). I didn't used to do it this way, but it's so much easier to write when you have a working knowledge of the core of your story.

You know, like your basic moral lessons: Make sure your mother doesn't marry into a family with a stepbrother who is a bully and pervert. Don't engage in a power struggle with Claude. Think twice before being too friendly with old British men.

Obviously this is a joke but yeah, I definitely could come up with single sentence explanations for any of my fics. No matter how far along in a story I am, before I decide on "the point", it's kinda a mess. Often times when I am cutting scenes, it's because it doesn't fit this specific vision. In cry foul, Sylvain and reader originally met at the wedding and he was a lot more honest about his intentions throughout, but rewatching scenes with him made me realize that my starting premise was flawed and so it all got cut and my focus shifted more onto the games he was playing with her. In Asteria, I have the scheme between Yuri and Aelfric set, but reader was going to be more of a sleuth about it (the original plot of this fic was unhinged ngl) but then I changed to make her a lot more of a charming country bumpkin sort of character so it could be smaller scale and more self contained, more focused on how reader feels about Yuri. I want to account for as much of the world and setup as I possibly can to make the payoff more satisfying. Somnambulant exists as it does because I kept adding little notes for scenes I thought were necessary which then saw a lot of elaboration to justify itself. Also characters have a tendency to run away from me. I'll add scenes or segments simply because the characters demand it. Sylvain wasn't supposed to take reader's panties but then it happened and I had to deal with it. There are a lot of small things too. In heavensent, I added in that she was sitting in a chair last minute because I felt like it smoothed out their movements and the DP thing just happened because I thought it was... Not funny, but contextually... Yeah. Forever ago when I wrote Welcome to Dead House, I straight up retconned reader's personality entirely because she was too well adjusted, so I added the therapy scene and mental breakdown.

Um. Yeah. I think the point of me saying all of this was just to say that I don't really go in with much of a plan or anything as I maybe should, I just live my bliss and see what happens. The stuff that I love the most in anything I post is usually the unintended things that spring up when I'm "in the zone" because that's when I feel like I get the best banter/dialogue and most intense scenes.

Anyway thank you for coming to my TED talk

[melodygatesauthor]

Sad Tuesday :( This is, out of EVERY story I've written, the SADDEST chapter I've ever written. Hit me in all the feels, I'm sorry for doing this to anyone who has been reading this story. THERE IS ALSO AN AUTHOR'S NOTE AFTER THE EXCERPT. If anyone is interested in what's coming next for this story...

Chapter 8 Excerpt:

Maxim surprised you. He didn’t respond right away, but instead he looked at your hand before sheepishly reaching his own out and placing his palm over your fingers. He squeezed and ran his thumb over the back of your hand. He looked at you, and you looked at him.

He chuckled, “I should have been able to handle the guy in front of me, no problem, but I was not focused.”

You heard him, but your eyes were trained on his hand, and the way it felt on yours.

“Max…” the beeping was still rapid and consistent on your left. “Did…” You almost didn’t want to say it, “did you kiss me?”

You can read the full chapter on AO3

Story is updated every Tuesday!

A/N BELOW: TL/DR: I'm adding some extra smutty chapters to the story coming up in a couple of weeks, hang tight, if you want to know why, please read the full author's note. I also want input on future r6 stories. Details below.

Alright guys I have heard your cries. So I want to say that I normally don't let people's comments or requests for a fic I am working on change the way I planned something to go from the start (when regarding long fics). I'm usually very stubborn about that for various reasons, all of which involve my own personal integrity and the integrity of the story. I don't want to seem like a writer who will change a story for the sake of attention. THAT IS NOT WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE to be clear...

I have really been on the fence for a while about adding smut to this story. It was originally NEVER meant to contain any. I wanted to create a cute fluffy romance between Kapkan and an inexperienced recruit girl. However, all of this mutual pining has got me feeling some type of way, and I was already trying to think about ways that I could change it to add smut without jeopardizing what I was already planning to do. So when a couple of you came to me asking for smut to be added, I was already halfway there, I just needed someone to push me over the edge. The first plan was to create a one-shot AFTER the story concluded. Now I'm resolving to add a few extra chapters just to flesh out their sex life a little before the story ends.

The other thing I wanted to mention, is that I keep seeing people talk about how there isn't enough Rainbow Six content like this out there. I agree, which is why I wrote it. I remember looking for a fic to read and couldn't find it so I said "fuck it I'm going to write something" and here we are. So I ask you guys...what is it you look for in Rainbow Six stories? As a writer for the fanfic community of R6, since it is on the smaller side of fanfic communities, I feel like I should be making an effort to bring more works to the fan space and I'd LOVE to do that. So if you have any thoughts on what you want to see more of, who your favorite characters are, different tropes you wish you saw more of in R6 stories, e.t.c. please let me know. Nothing is off limits, I'm just curious and I don't judge. I mean, I have a series of non-con one-shots so come on lol. Either comment here, message me on Tumblr, or email me at: melodygatesauthor@gmail.com

[deadmandairyland]

Considering starting The Fog Cutters over from the beginning but I’m not sure what the etiquette is for starting a fic over on AO3. Currently thinking that I should add a new chapter telling people that I’m going to start the fic over and why, but I don’t know how people feel about that kind of thing. Though I think it’s better than saying nothing.

For the record, here are my current thoughts on why I want to start the fic over:

I’m not a fan of how it’s going so far. I want to at least revise it and make it more well-rounded. (I feel like I’m focusing too much on comedy right now and I want it to just have some comedy, some serious, etc.)

I want to focus on world-building a bit more, which is something I feel the fic is lacking. Though the story takes place in an established city in the Danganronpa universe, I’m reworking the city as a “Japanamerica” type setting, so it’s not 1-to-1 with the official depiction of the city and should be treated as such.

Longer fic projects like this, in my personal opinion, benefit from the story being written in a way where you write the characters as if the reader has never heard of the character before. This is especially important in my fic because it’s a massive crossover fic, so there’s a good chance that there may actually be some characters the reader doesn’t know anything about.

I’m still not confident in my ability to write mysteries, so I want to look more into that.

I feel like I’m just hitting bullet points rather than telling a properly flowing story, which is something I need to work on in my writing in general.

Ironically I also feel like I haven’t planned the bullet points out very well either. I had a much more concrete outline with Despair Imitator and I’m mostly okay with how that turned out, and I think I need to plan this fic out a lot better too if I want it to work.

Fukawa deserved better than how I’ve written her tbh

I am also considering maybe splitting it up into separate fics that follow an overall story arc and combining them in a series. This would resolve a few problems that I’m worried about:

The new tag limit. By splitting up the arcs into separate fics I won’t have to worry as much about having too many tags per fic.

Longer fics in general can be pretty overwhelming to get into if it’s not broken up, I think. I know I sometimes see 100 chapter fics on AO3 and I get overwhelmed just looking at that, and I feel like doing it this way will make the series feel more accessible.

The arcs I have in mind are mostly episodic, so if you don’t like one arc, you probably wouldn’t miss much if you skip it (and if it’s super important to the plot as a whole I’ll probably mention that it’s an important arc in the author’s notes anyway), and it’d be easier to skip those arcs this way.

Related to the above, if I decide to add some lemon-lime to this... insert food analogy here, I feel like it’d be easier to notice and skip because you’d see a change in rating and new tags with sexy words and be like “I think I’ll go to the next one.”

So what I’m thinking of doing, if I decide to go through with this, is updating the fic with a message saying I want to start the fic over, and then when/if the new fic is ready to post I will delete the old one and start a new one. But I’d like to know if this is a good idea. Personally I would feel weird about just removing the chapters and just revising it because the hits, kudos...es, and bookmarks would reflect the old fic, not the new one. But if there’s some kind of issue like a waste of bandwidth or something that might be a problem, or if it’s just considered rude for some reason, please let me know before I make any changes.

[aiyexayen]

for fanfiction writing asks!! 14, 18, 19, 23, 28, 34, and 46~!

14. What is your favorite location and position to write in? i'm so sorry the first thing that i wanted to answer was "on my knees" which is not original even if i made myself laugh. i think my favourite place to write is up to a table or desk where i can feel more focused, preferably surrounded by people/ambient noise of people like from a coffee shop or something. the age-old "it's midnight and my bedmate is asleep but the plot bunny snagged my brain so i'm frantically thumb-writing under the covers on my phone notes app" cannot be discounted, though.

18. Do you enjoy research?  Which fic of yours required the most research? i fucking love research. i will drop a fic like a hot potato and spend the entire day on pointless research trails if i am left unattended. i'm not entirely sure about "required" and i am bad at keeping track of specific quantities of research once i get going, but i think ratio-wise that one time i spent a whole afternoon reading studies on the science of blood pool coagulation just for one throwaway line in a ficlet was the most egregious.

19. Do you enjoy creating OCs or do you prefer to stick solely to canon characters? i am terrible at creating OCs myself. if it's a character anyone else has come up with, canon or someone else's OC or anything, i'm like "hello i know you and you are unique and beloved by me and i know exactly what to do with you" but if it's a character i try to pry out of my own brain it's either "this is just me i guess" or "who the fuck are you, i don't know you, you aren't real, get out of here" and sometimes this happens simultaneously. i do not trust my OCs. <_<;;

23. Is writing the beginning, middle, or end of the story easiest? Hardest? beginning of the story is easiest. 1000%. i can start a story anywhere, i can just start writing on any given premise and that rush of newthing dopamine is [chef's kiss] to my adhd brain. i would say that the task of finishing a story is the hardest, but that's not because the ending of the story is difficult for me to come up with or write. in actuality, the middle of the story is the hardest, and once it starts getting into the thick of that hard stuff and it's not new and shiny anymore, i tend to fall off more easily even if i know exactly where the story will end by then, even if i have jumped ahead and written the ending even. i'm quite terrible that way.

28. What area of writing do you want to improve in? every area, but especially sensory and setting description which is what i'm working on more lately. it is often much more difficult for me to write about sensations or setting than to come up with dialogue or describe action or deal with fiddly editing things. i often wrestle with that the most during the editing process or get hung up on getting it right before i feel i can write more.

34. How much of your personal life/experience do you include in your fics? completely depends on the fic and on my mood. sometimes it's really fun to write something that's got nothing to do with me, and other times it's cathartic to explore something from my own life through fic, and sometimes i draw on a piece of my life simply to add spice.

46. If you could only write one type of AU for the rest of your life, what would it be? canon divergence. that's almost all i write anyway lmfao.

[lyra-swan]

Hiiiii I know you're offline as I'm writing this but nevertheless I still felt like jumping into your inbox and word-vomiting for a second because I've been following Mechanical Angel for quite some time now and picked it up again recently and I just made it to part IV, god I'm having a blast. I can't wait to put all my full, extensive thoughts out there once I'm done but for now I need to stress that I'm just super impressed with both your writing style and the tone/ character development as a whole but the world-building in particular got to me gooood.

Am I right to assume that a lot of research went into this???? Because you can genuinely tell, to the point I literally felt transported to the places as you described them every time and the details are just so captivating to witness. It really feels like I'm reading a ww2 novel, I feel transported back into German literature class on occasion and it's just. Impressive???

Anyway thank you SO MUCH for putting this out there, I'm so happy Mechanical Angel (and all of your works) exist!! I've already noticed that there's another story focused on Natsume/Sora set in the same universe and I can't wait to finally jump into that one too once I'm done with MA. (Especially since Natsume is in my top 4# favorite characters but that's only a bonus)

Last but not least I am very mentally ill over Eimika now, congrats, I'm rotating them in my brain a very normal and totally not concerning amount, haha

May you have a wonderful day!!

Oh hi thank you so much!! I both loved and struggled with Part IV so much, but it was extremely fun to write, especially that dumb part in ch.38... I dunno if you've reached ch.45 but that was also very fun. I hope you continue to enjoy the rest!

I'm going to ramble like an old grandma again, adding a read more thingy so the post won't be a bother to scroll past for others.

In my opinion I don't think I've done enough research! But I'll always feel like that no matter how much I do so bleugh, nevermind. The scenery is typically based on my own surroundings but changed slightly to match an European feel... I think I wrote more in the last ask answer but it has a tiny bit of spoilers, I believe. The setting is a bit of amalgamation of my own country and europe because my own surroundings is what I'm familiar with, and of course although it's supposed to be inspiried by Germany everyone drives on the left side (I think I mentioned it in a chapter note) because I didn't want to accidentally trip over myself from a simple description of where a character turns their head. It's the Little Details that are important!

I say, as if I also didn't mess up a few details here and there because I started posting before finishing the first draft and so I couldn't edit the way I used to do for my previous longfics... But yes, it was very fun adding random bits from what I learned into the story because I used to love watching WW2 docs and laughing every time the nazis messed up and suffered a crippling defeat.

Like, I'd read about how they lied to their citizens that they were doing just dandy, and then have Wataru ask Eichi if he wanted more 'false reports of our so-called victories on the battlefield' to be published in the newspapers. Because that's the funniest shit ever to me...

Then one day I'd read about the nazis being among the first to connect smoking to bad health, and I'd add something like that in a conversation between Eichi and Tatsumi, they're not nazis obviously but because of the setting's inspirations that's where I got a lot of information (but you'll have a scene later on that's more Britain than Germany, so the fic truly is a amalgamation of different european settings during WW2). And of course, people are sceptical of new medical findings, that was mentioned. And the part where Eichi mentions 'common people are suspicious of IV drips' to Mika, that was a thing in the real world too.

I wonder if there is a single medical invention that wasn't regarded with suspicion by at least one person at first.

I kind of wish I had Eichi offering gold watches to anyone who quit smoking, it would've been funny, but eh.

And of course there are some things that don't make sense because this IS an alternate world so I DO have freedom. Like, even though this takes place generally in 1930s-1940s time, tranquiliser guns weren't invented until the 1950s (by a NEW ZEALANDER!!! Colin Murdoch. He's also the genius behind the modern day syringe, if I recall correctly), but you know, I added it in anyway because alternate world, alternate invention timeframes. I wrote that fog scene where Mika is shot by Midori while also sitting outside one dark foggy morning, and I liked the scene so much I kept it in.

Anyway I'm so happy you like the world-building! It was super fun to work on! I really like rural settings for world war stories... one of my favourite authors, Michael Morpurgo has that kind of vibe going on too, my bookshelf has a few of his books. So many dog and animal stories with themes of war lingering in the background if they don't directly deal with war and I love every one of them. They're all so full of emotion, they'd always make me cry. I love the stories that can make me cry and look back and think it was the most beautiful thing I've ever read and Morpurgo's works can do that A LOT. But also I'm very emotional...

And thank YOU for this! I'm always so happy hearing someone enjoyed what I wrote!

I still need to finish that natsusora fic. It was supposed to be a part of the main story itself but because it would've taken so many chapters, I was worried about 'forcing' readers through a side story that had no bearing on eimika. So I posted it as a separate fic! It takes place during that last chapter of Part IV so you can actually have a look whenever you've started Part V.

Natsume is very out of character, however. He's in his 30s and not really the cute feminine witchy boy that he truly is in canon (at least, that's how I see him), he's an engineer and really logical... but he hates Eichi with a passion, that's VERY necessary. Nevertheless, I try to write him as close to his canon self within the au that I've shoved him in and told him to survive in. Totally fine if you end up not liking it!

Excuse the rambling!! Thank you! You have good day!!