#i wrote a fic for it at some point but deleted it off ff.net and from my files but

[polterrrgeist]

Some things for an old friend's fic/AU? It was called Fatal Phantom, I don't remember the context for these but I think it was something along the lines of Fenton/Phantom being 2 separate people and Phantom not entirely being accepted by Jack and Maddie as a member of the family

[oh-cramity-its-amity]

Hello!!! :D Hope you've been having a nice day so far! 💖

For whe writers truth & dare ask game: 🍓🥤🦷🏜️🥐

hi!!!! you too!!!!! it's been pretty uneventful for me lol.

thanks for the ask!!

heres the ask game if anyone wants to see it.

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

It was elementary school. 5th grade or so, but I was deeply invested in TMNT 2012 with a few of my friends. We would all talk about it, and at one point I wrote a little story in my notebook by hand without knowing what it was called about the show (its long since lost in a flood that happened years ago rip) but I found ff.net months later because I had two infatuations. TMNT 2012 and the original teen titans. I even remember reading fanfic on deviantart. I was really big into April and Donnie and Beast Boy and Raven. I didn't start posting anything until my Wattpad days around 14-16. That was about bandom, Pitch Perfect, then Citrus (I have made bad choices and I meme on myself now but I was JUST THAT STARVED for wlw ships.) Anyway wattpad account got deleted and there was a whole thing where my email got hacked and everything just is gone. (its really soulcrushing to lose work like that). But yeah!! I got back into fanfic during 2020 and the pandemic because I had watched a movie and just decided to write for it. I don't recommend reading anything of that era because it's cringe and just... no.

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

SHOUT OUT TO MY FRIEND GHOST!!!! @localowlhousefanatic. THEIR WORK IS AWESOME AND THEY WRITE SOME AMAZING VEESHA STUFF. ALSO SHOUT OUT TO @witch128chick!!!

Can I give multiple fanfics I love though?? I can't add everyone due to time but I'll give a couple.

TOH:

1.) learning how to be (with you by my side) by uniqueusernamegenerator (<- THIS is my favorite toh fanfic) 2.) I’ll Catch You by Black_Cat_Autumn 3.) all i got is my heart (and my pride) 4.) warm coffee, summer blues by uniqueusernamegenerator 5.) "I love you," ain't that the worst thing you ever heard? by kfaerie 6.) The Rest is History by amityadmirer for Shannon_shannon_shannon 7.) No Tip Necessary by Rohad 8.) i want you to be here (but please don’t come near) by stongrays 9.) Tallmity and Petite Luz future au by the_Shan_yousee 10.) You're My Rainbow in the Dark (HAITUS) by Underw0rld

Arcane: 1.)the oldest game by thehaakun 2.) the heart is a bullet by thehaakun 3.) The World Ends, Or Doesn't by Misthios 4.) how big, how blue (how beautiful) by panglosian

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

Story sprints are a godsend. Also plotting helps alongside voice memos. I don't really have someone to bounce ideas off of but it helps me to verbalize what I'm thinking if I'm stuck so sometimes I talk through what I'm thinking aloud. Also making playlists or mood boards/collages of character outfits. Just giving you a more visual aspect of what you want to write.

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

Just genuine praise of my work feels nice. I don't get comments often. Sometimes they give me anxiety too. Maybe if you have any pointers of my fic to say something like that??

🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh

FOG HORN SOUND EFFECT. SORRY BUT IT CRACKS ME UP.

[exhausted-eternally]

Fic Writer Interview

Saw Topsy did this and it looked like fun so now Imma pester y'all with one.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

35, currently, and only 1 is for a fandom other than The Lego Movie lmao

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

496,195 over the course of 6 years

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1- Reboot To be honest, I'm kind of baffled by this one. I started it just when covid was really starting to take off, lost where I was going with it before I was even halfway through writing it because I got SO swamped with work that writing was taken off the stove entirely for a while, and a lot of it was honestly just half-assed to get it finished but so many people LOVE it. I don't think I'll ever stop scratching my head about it, but at this point I've just accepted that it's my most popular fic ever. 2- Atonement Still ongoing and without a clear ending in mind yet. I had 2 ideas I was wanting to play with when I started it- wingfic, and house arrest. I've been having fun with it so far. 3- Prizes, Plunder, and Adventure This one was actually written based on a friend's doodles & half-finished ideas. I took them & ran with them as far as I could lol. I'm honestly happy that this one's in my top 5. 4- Hot Spring Another one that I'm kind of baffled by. It's a oneshot that's barely over 400 words. People like their coppernauts fluff, I guess lol 5- Time Travel Troubles This one was based on a prompt a friend gave me when I complained that I wanted so badly to write but had 0 ideas, lol. Of all my oneshots, I'm glad this one made it into my top 5.

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Most of the time! Sometimes I can't think of a response though, and once I got overwhelmed with like 25 comments on one fic in one night from the same person so my brain kind of short-circuited lol. I definitely read and cherish every single one though.

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

I don't really do angst tbh, so none of my fics really have angsty endings.

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

That's a tough one to pick, I always write happy endings. XD; I guess I'll go with Starting Over Again.

7. Do you write crossovers?

Sort of; honestly I think they'd qualify more as AUs than proper crossovers, but sometimes I just get bit by a bug to write all my favorite characters in some other media settings for shits & giggles. Murphy's Law (Skyrim), Space Shenanigans (Star Wars), The Stranger (Myst), Octan Nights (1001/Arabian Nights), and Hollow Heart (Beauty and the Beast)

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yeah, when I first started posting Murphy's Law on ff.net. Honestly it just made me laugh, it was so obviously some kid doing a shit job of being a troll.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I tried once. It was SO awful that I ended up deleting it and swore off ever trying again.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope. The fandom I'm in is pretty small so no one's bothered to translate any fics in it, at least as far as I know.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Oh, eons ago when I was still just a little baby birb. I wrote a pitiful attempt at an OoT fic with 2 of my cousins that never got far. All my works since have been solo.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Coppernauts. C:

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

Lord I have SO MANY. Think I'd pick Tech Support though (with a much better rewrite to boot, so no link for this one. If you want to read the atrocious original, you'll have to hunt it down yourself :P).

15. What are your writing strengths?

I'm told I'm pretty good with characterization. I'll choose to believe it. ;3

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Describing literally anything. I am terrible for just... not doing it. Which is something I REALLY need to work on if I really want to reach my 300k goal with The Umiran Amulet.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

There's only one language I can speak in any capacity, so I just stick with English. If it's something that's meant to be in another language, I just italicize it. Only every once in a blue moon will I use a word in another language, like if a character is swearing in their native tongue, and only if I'm absolutely 100% certain it's the right word.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Ocarina of Time. It was the fic I mentioned earlier that I wrote with my 2 cousins.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

I don't really have any, at least at this time. I am very, VERY slow to move between fandoms & ships and am probably still going to be quite happily writing for TLM even when there's literally only 5 of us left lol.

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

I'd have to say The Atlantis Expedition, which was my first ever fic for the TLM fandom, and the first one I'd ever finished period. I have others that I love just as much, but this one will always have a special place in my heart.

[kedreeva]

What do you make of people who comment on a fic, but only to point out spelling or grammar mistakes? I had this happen today, got a comment from someone who's never commented before, on the 72nd chapter of a fic that's now 450k long, just to point out I'd used the wrong verb tense. I don't know what to make of that. How can people stay quiet for 14 months, silently consuming what I produce, but suddenly feel the need to speak up, just because I wrote 'lay' instead of 'laid'? Help me understand?

If I don't just outright delete their comment and never think of them again in my life, I attempt education on the matter and, failing that, make fools of them.

When I receive comments like this, I politely but firmly tell them I didn't ask for, and do not want, criticism on something I am doing for fun and that I either have or do not want a beta reader. I may link them to some of the posts I have made on the subject of commenting on fanfiction and how it's viewed. And then advise them that unless someone explicitly asks for help, it's best not to offer it on fanfiction because the majority of people are here doing this for fun, in their spare time, for love of the subject matter. Nitpicking can ruin that fun for a lot of people and cause them to not want to share anymore.

The ones that honestly just want to help swiftly apologize, often saying it wasn't their intention to cause harm. There are people who genuinely do think it makes writers happy to receive crit on fanfiction, without realizing that it's usually circumstantial to solicitation. Once they see another perspective, they will go forward trying to respect writers. We can still be friends, these people are excellent members of fandom, and we don't want to chase them away, which is why I try to be polite first. It's okay to not know etiquette! Etiquette can be learned. Etiquette also changes over time and between locations- sometimes people remember being on places like ff.net where the response area was labeled "review" and carried a different expectation- but honestly, no less harm was done then, which I think is part of why AO3's response section is called "comment" instead.

The ones that just wanted a power trip by showing off They Know Better Than You get super defensive and often nasty. You can handle that however you please. If they can't behave themselves in my spaces, I immediately stop being nice about it until I've made sure they understand I'm not prey worth their time. As a bonus, if I make the experience unpleasant enough, they may even think twice about doing it to anyone else, either.

[galaxythreads]

Uhm... hi! Lore for Stygian? It's like one of my top favorite fics and I have it downloaded on my kindle to read offline, I love it sm!

I’m glad you love it so much. :) 

I was working on this for two+ hours and then my internet crashed and deleted everything. Which. :/ Good and terrible. I do not want to restart. I’m exhausted. I need to sleep. Terrible because I worked so hard on it. 

Good because. Well. 

Moment of honesty here. As I was going through lore for this, I came to the realization that the reason I hate Stygian so much has less to do with the writing style and more with how deeply, deeply traumatizing this section of my life was when I was writing it. Reading over the chapters was actually greatly distressing. Love the story’s concept. Hate the story itself because of what was going on at the time. 

I have severe c-pstd. This story has unfortunately turned into a massive trigger and I had no idea until now. Reading through some of the thoughts or the scenes was really, really hard. I was skipping entire sections of the story in the lore collection TM to avoid this. I’m fine with discussing the story as a whole, but the moment we start to dissect this and read specific lines is when I start to fall apart emotionally. 

As for what this means for Death Must be Lonely Like I Am, fingers crossed it’s different enough to not trigger me as badly as this did. 

I apologize that I can’t give as much lore for this fic as I could the others. 

Here’s as much as I can think of in a bullet-pointed list in ten minutes and then I’m going to go to bed. 

The entire story was planned in a notebook by hand with colored pens 

There was no reason for Steve to be in the basement with Tony in chapter 3(?), tony just pulled him down there to get him out of guard duty

I did not know how to drive when I wrote the car chase

I researched washing machines for like an hour before writing the scene where Laura was asking advice from Clint 

I fully embraced the tropes of hte time because they were fun and I wanted to work with them

English being the common-tongue on Asgard is the shittest thing I’ve ever read my past self doing. 

i had a thing against all-speak when I wrote this

I want to formally apologize to Deaf people for how I portrayed Clint as a deaf person

Loki and Tony were always going to bond over the Void

Everyone had a meticulous character arc that I planned out with SO MUCH FREAKING DETAIL

The first chapter is not the actual first chapter, it’s an edited version from a year later

I did not originally intend for them to ever go back to Clint’s mental health hospital, it was a happy accident

Alexander Pierce was supposed to visit the Raft with them in chapter 1

the reason the Avengers get kidnapped and shipped in a van across the country is because I watched The Gifted 

The grand reveal of Loki’s scars was - no joke - originally going to happen because Clint would dump boiling water on Loki

I found the Avengers chilling in the kitchen to be very comforting 

I wrot ethe scene where Lila and Cooper find Steve and co by hand at first

I think I originally misspelled Lila’s name as Lilia, and if not in this fic it was another one

i was still using cats as a curse word, WHY is a story for another time and related to me getting bullied/harassed off of my first ff.net account

my memories of this are fuzzy, but i THINK that I uploaded a majority of Stygian all at once. Like chapters 1-10 were posted in a day. Or that was Append? I have no idea honestly. One of hte two. 

I had already started Stygian when I got my a03 account though

Yes, loki has his sight back at the end of the story

God the actual deity is in this

Lila’s cat obsession was based off of my younger sister

I wrote the chapter where they wake up on the Barton farm while co-watching a sherlock holmes tv series (not Elementary or BBC Sherlock. An older version I can’t remember the name of right now) 

The Avengers hunting each other through the Tower was inspired by not one but TWO separate fics where this happened 

No one visited Loki while he was in the cell. That’s why he still had the muzzle on. Everyone was too afraid of him to approach the cell

Bucky being there was one of the base ideas for this. He was always going to be in the fic. He has a bigger role in DMBLLIA. 

The narrative parallel of the Avengers saving Loki from the Raft and Loki saving them from HYDRA was built into the plan 

someone yelled at me recently (in comment form) about how Bruce not feeling guilty about hurting Loki in chapter 8 was proof he was a psychopath even though the conversation was about not taking guilt for things that aren’t your fault. this was kinda funny. 

I might add to this tomorrow, but who knows. I am going to bed. 

asks about any of the bullet points if you want more information should tentatively be okay? if they’re not I’ll let you know. 

[radarsteddybear]

Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @rose-of-pollux. Thank you!

(I tag everyone and anyone who wants to do this!)

How many works do you have on AO3? 74

What's your total AO3 word count? 222,374 words

What fandoms do you write for? A lotta DuckTales (2017), a good deal of Hogan's Heroes, some Singin' in the Rain, and a smattering of other stuff. Though I'm not really writing DuckTales anymore (nor am I writing the smattering of other stuff).

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Ducktober 2017 (DuckTales 2017)

Numb (DuckTales 2017)

An Old Letter (DuckTales 2017)

A Phone Call and a Visit (DuckTales 2017)

It All Fades to Black (Encanto)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to reply to comments left on AO3. Since you have to respond to reviews on ff.net via PM, I find it a lot harder to keep track of which I've responded to and which I haven't, so I usually don't anymore.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Most of my angst comes with a happy ending, and on top of that, I don't have the greatest perspective of how angsty my angst is, but I'm going to go with Exchange (Scrooge has to pay a price to get Lena back from Magica).

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Jeez, I don't know. Most of them have happy endings. The two that come to mind are:

Things My Heart Used to Know (Louie has discovered who he is and not only found his family but also put it back together again)

Ashes (Cosmo gets to live out his happily-ever-after with the two loves of his life, Don Lockwood and Kathy Seldon)

Do you get hate on fics? Not quite hate, but I have gotten complete non sequiturs, people who don't seem to understand that I like to write scenes over full stories, and a couple of arguments over my chosen characterization of a character in one specific story (which I stand by).

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I've never written any, though that doesn't stop me from thinking about them. Lately I've been thinking about Captain Carter visiting the 4077th.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

Have you ever had a fic translated? No.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? The closest I've ever come to co-writing a fic was when @eggs-arent-real wrote me a one-shot and I wrote her a sequel. We didn't post it, though.

What's your all-time favorite ship? Probably Cosmo/Don/Kathy from Singin' in the Rain. I'm also partial to Stucky and Aziraphale/Crowley.

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Good question. I've not given up on any of these, mind you, but my Darkwing Duck plot bunnies may fall into this category; it's just that I have to rewatch a significant portion of the show to pull them off, and I have no idea when that's going to happen.

What are your writing strengths? Back in high school, I was told by multiple people that I was really good with imagery. I also tend to like my dialogue, and I've had a lot of practice writing whump and hurt/comfort scenes, so I'd like to think I'm pretty good at those, too.

What are your writing weaknesses? Coming up with full plots (as opposed to random, out-of-context scenes). And also endings. And getting characters from point A to point B without any/much dialogue.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? If that's how a character speaks, then that's how a character speaks. Personally, I try to avoid it unless it's a canon piece of the character and/or it's plot relevant. I think I've only done it for Panchito and Jose of the Three Caballeros. And also Mark Beaks, who canonically peppers his speech with Spanish when talking to Fenton because he is awful.

First fandom you wrote for? Liberty's Kids. There's a good chance I still have it, too, though I'll never post it (I never finished it, anyway).

The first fandom I wrote for and posted was Iron Man: Armored Adventures, which is also the only fic I've ever deleted off the internet.

Favorite fic you've ever written? I've gotta go with these two:

Things My Heart Used to Know

“We’ll meet up in Duckburg,” he heard Scrooge say. “I’ve got a Bin there, and…” Another explosion, the biggest one yet, shook the Bin, and large chunks of plaster fell around them. “We have to go,” Donald said. Scrooge turned to Louie and pressed something small and solid and round into his hand. “Guard it well,” he told him before disappearing into the smoke. Or, Louie gives a new meaning to the nickname “Captain Lost.”

Ashes

Cosmo drinks his sorrows away after Kathy discovers that he and Don are more than just friends.

[alex-guerin]

Oh man...I went onto my ff.net author page for the first time in waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long and saw the first story I posted on there was in 2007. Except, it actually was waaaaaay earlier than that. Probably more like 2001/2002...maaaaaybe 2003, but I’m thinking more like 2001. I had forgotten until I realized one of the fics I distinctly remember finishing and being so fucking proud of and posting all the chapters of....only had a couple of chapters posted, then I remembered that at one point, due to bullies attacking my fics in another fandom, I got discouraged and pissed off and rage deleted every fic I had ever posted on there. There are SO. MANY. FICS. that I wrote as a teenager that are lost to the void and I’m actually devastated! I had so many Newsies fics and M*A*S*H fics I’d had posted that I know for a FACT I no longer have access to anywhere. So very sad...and so sad that I was able to export all of my fics on ff.net that were posted post-purge back in 2007, but I’ll probably never be able to post them to AO3 because I had to save them as PDF cuz for some reason I can’t get EPUB to work for my laptop.

[creacherkeeper]

writer ask game- tagged by @loved-the-stars-too-fondly !! thank you!!!

What’s your all-time favourite ship?

horrible question to start out with for me cause i dont think i really have one???? i tend to not be as ship-focused as many people in fandom, and also unfortunately am the type of person to get REALLY into things and then many times my feelings dont stay super strong over time. so some Honorary Mentions are shules from psych cause thats probably my oldest remaining ship, ineffable husbands from good omens cause that was my first gay ship, and clintasha from marvel because thats the oldest ship i still have waves of strong feelings about

How many works do you have on AO3?

95, 8 of those being more than 1 chapter/a collection. i also deleted a good handful of fics from older fandoms when i rejoined ao3 in 2015 (i was an early adopter but then left for a while), as well as having a decent amount of fics on ff.net and a fandom specific site from Back In The Day

What’s your total AO3 word count?

just with the fics on there now, 348k. total fics i've written across sites/before deleting was probably closer to 400k. if we're including original fiction / fully rewritten drafts of the same books, i'm definitely over a million

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

hello my old heart (3209 - she ra, touched starved catra 1)

wherever is your heart (1700 - she ra, touched starved catra 2)

you or your memory (1262 - she ra, catradora ptsd exploration)

the memories and scars (1115 - fullmetal alchemist, parental royai and elric brothers fluff)

time take us (773 - she ra, adora chronic pain au)

also shoutout to this untitled good omens ficlet that got 17.5k on tumblr but did not do nearly as well in the ao3 collection lmao

Do you reply to comments, why or why not?

yes, i always do!!! idk it makes me happy to acknowledge the kind things people say ;; and frequently they say stuff in their comments that i want to scream back about or give explanations/behind the scenes for. also i've made friends this way!!!

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

im not super a person to leave off with angsty endings, so in recent memory probably this catra cuts her hair fic that takes place after save the cat. or maybe this fic that is almost entirely claudia thedragonprince whump cause i was really Going TF Through It at the time and had to take it out on someone

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

i tend to go hurt/comfort or bittersweet a lot, but probably the like. just absolute Happiest is heartlines on your hand which was the last in the touch starved catra series and was just. the sappiest sap to ever sap

Do you write crossovers?

the only crossover i've ever done was an agents of shield/air bud crack fic that we DONT talk about. i got fucking bullied into doing it okay

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

not that much honestly? i got a few kind of mean comments on the touch starved catra #1 but also like. that fic got so popular there were bound to be a few. nothing else to my memory?? if there were a few on older stuff i probably just dont remember it at this point lmao

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i really dont lmao. besides not writing a ton of shippy stuff in general, i dont tend to write anything too Spicy. probably the closest i ever got was one short scene in this ineffable husbands 5 + 1 kissing fic that did not do as well as i thought it deserved tbh hahahaha

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of????? yall would tell me right lol

Have you ever had a fic translated?

i wrote a little ficlet about elena aos celebrating a colombian holiday with the team and a colombian friend translated it for their family! but i believe that is it. that ficlet isnt even on ao3 i tried to find it but was unable to. i dont believe anything has been translated for public consumption

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i don't think so? but i have gotten fanfic for my aos adoption au series!

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

i pretty much write things in one sitting or not at all lmao. i dont tend to take on a lot of series and stick to one shots as well. unless its over 8k i probably wrote it in one day. even the ones longer than that usually took less than a week from start to publication (for example, paladin!aelwyn fic is 15k and took 4 days of actual writing over less than a week to write, edit, and publish)

What are your writing strengths?

i feel like im best at dialogue and tend to get a lot of compliments on in-character voices. dialogue is my favorite to write lmao. i also think im good at describing spacing and movements, because i tend to think like. almost exclusively verbally and like?? physically?? if that makes sense?? when i write i picture almost nothing but i can "feel" what the character is doing. like i imagine making the gestures and everything but dont necessarily see anything as a picture in my head

(fun fact: for actual play fic i actually uh. picture the players acting it out, not the characters in the world. lmao whoops. like the first draft of it at least is 'what does this look/sound like at the table' and then i make it into a fic)

What are your writing weaknesses?

coming from the last question, definitely description, again because i picture almost nothing when i write. i have a VERY VERY hard time thinking with visuals. even when im coming up with description, i just THINK WORDS that would describe something, not picture it. so a lot of time i have to base my description on something or im just like. pulling descriptive words out of my ass with no basis. and the visual of it doesnt always make sense to other people. the other thing i struggle a lot with is action scenes, rip

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i think there's a time and a place and a right way to do it. i think with anything, it's not a "write what you know" but "know what you write". if youre writing someone multilingual, understand how multilingual people actually talk and use those languages. i think the closest i've gotten is "writing signs" for amaya from dragon prince. obviously thats not exactly the same, but for those fics i went back and forth between translating what she was saying, giving the exact signs without grammar, or just describing the movement of the signs. i dont know that i did it perfectly, but i did my best and learned from it. everything in those fics was knowledge i gained from my ASL classes in college (mostly taught by Deaf teachers)

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

technically digimon when i was like 7 years old lmao but first published fic was for avatar in 2007 on ff

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

it definitely changes depending on what i've written recently, but i'm really proud of paladin!aelwyn fic and am still really happy with the catradora ptsd exploration and this self-indulgent ineffable husbands mutual pining fic, but i also will say that writing humor is not always easy for me so whenever i feel like i pulled it off i am very proud of that hahaha

-

tagging @agentcalliope @floralprintshark @beatricexbenedick @marshmallsy @frenchibi @rizguks @strangetorpedos @labelleofbelfastcity

[ruakichan]

Well, today I found out that a fanfic I wrote when I was younger (and since deleted) has pages at TVTropes and Fanlore, and someone externally bookmarked on AO3 its Wayback page with some particularly snide, entitled comments concerning its deletion (no, I'm not going to orphan 20 year old works I would like people to forget about, take a fucking hint) instead of just letting it fade into obscurity. Now I'm irritated. (The latter really set me off.)

The fanfic was not anything special or good--frankly, it's pretty embarrassing; it just had the infamy of supposedly being the first ff.net fic for this fandom or whatever. How groundbreaking.

I naively made the mistake of leaving it up, despite periodically purging my old fandoms I don't want to be bothered about, because it seemed important to some people. I turned off notifications for it and thought that would be fine. At first it wasn't a big deal, but I regret that so much now.

At some point word got around, and the story reached some kind of memetic status on that whole "first!" thing. I was getting messages about it throughout the years, some good, some bad; there are even posts on Twitter and Tumblr tagging me about it after all this time as new fans discovered the meme. I'm polite in my responses if I can't ignore the inquiries, but I haven't been in this fandom for two decades. I don't fucking care. Leave me alone.

I eventually and quietly purged everything off my ffn account, including that story.

It's a meme. Let it go. There's nothing "historical" about it and it has no value to most people as a story; they just want to boggle at the "first." It's a shitty fic riddled with kawaii-speak (as was the style at the time) and the possessive entitlement some people have for it cause it was "first" is bizarre to me. I wrote the fucking thing and I don't care that much.

I sometimes complain about the lack of content or fans in the small fandoms I enjoy now, but I'll take that any day, cause goddamn, I don't miss any of this shit.

[sargassostories]

Tagged by @handwrittenhello my beloved! I think I did this one a while ago but some of the answers have changed :)

How many works do you have on AO3? 60

What’s your total AO3 word count? 182,580

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

On AO3 I only have fics from The Witcher and Star Wars. But I'm old enough to have had some Pirates of the Caribbean smut deleted off ff.net, and old enough to have a few Buffy fics that died with individual servers or are lost to livejournal. That said: The Witcher is the fandom I've been most active in by far, ever.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

his sweet kiss, Dark-Eyed Salvation, Build Me Up Buttercup, The One-Eyed Monster, just quiet your mind, all of which are Geraskier fics :o

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I love responding to comments-- I've fallen way behind while I was on hiatus! I'm getting back to these now. I just love showing appreciation for comments, even if it's a quick "Thank you so much for reading!" and I love getting into discussions about characters.

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

the sleeping language of my heart, my Yentriss fic. Also my fic with the fewest kudos, it seems!

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written? Not really.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? No.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Y'all know this is a smut blog so you probably already know what "kind" if you've read it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Nope!

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Oh yikes wow geez aww this is really hard because I have a short attention span and love exploring lots of different dynamics. Right now I'm in a Merihart space, an old OT3 was Buffy x Spike x Angel (I love an ot3)... the ship with the depth, complexity, nuance, darkness, softness, and sheer variety that's kept me in its thrall is Yenralt. I think they may be my favorite, because I see little echoes of the kinds of small conflicts I've experienced in (romantic and non) relationships: the inherent tension in my need for independence, individuality, separation, and care vs my desire to collaborate and emotionally fuse with another person, care for them, and listen to them. It's in every relationship but I rarely see it in ships.

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

Oh jeezzzzzzzz my only wip is stay in my arms if you dare and I will come back to it, I just think I need to abandon my outline and follow my impulses.

What are your writing strengths?

Impulsiveness, which leads to surprise, variety, unexpected turns and reveals of character.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Stamina, fear.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I like it, especially if the point-of-view character doesn't understand the language so it isn't translated. I grew up moving around a lot, so I get a kind of nostalgic comfort being around people speaking in a language I don't understand. Also it's funny. If the point-of-view character does understand the language, we need to understand what's being said, unless that's the point of the story, too! To separate us from them a little.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

When I was eleven years old I read The Two Towers and was obsessed with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, and I thought: why aren't there any girls here? So I wrote my first self-insert OC with her own epic backstory and learned a bunch of Sindarin I don't remember.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

the sleeping language of my heart. It's the bravest I've ever been, the sturdiest. It's really a fic I just had to write, and I dredged myself like someone searching a river for the body because the story deserved it.

tagging: @queerfantasycharacter, @meliteles-tits, @gingerlambert, @reinvent-and-believe, @inber, and anyone else who would like to!

[pebblysand]

20 Questions: Writer's Edition!

I haven't been tagged in this but I saw it on @femellerklem's blog and as I'm on holidays with nothing to do, here it is for everyone's enjoyment, haha.

How many works do you have on AO3?

19

What’s your total AO3 word count?

302,756 words. As I was telling @whizzfizz the other day, I need to get a life.

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

The Good Wife, HP, Spooks, Silk, House M.D., Peaky Blinders and Without a Trace. So, seven. Like Horcruxes, lol.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

That's an interesting question, let me check.

one: castles (hp) ; two: the wolf's just a puppy (and the door's double locked) (hp) ; three: truth (peaky blinders) ; four: slipped (and sad something sort of like your name) (hp) ; five: the things that will likes (the good wife)

I can't say I'm shocked that the Potter stuff is so high up, it's the most popular fandom I've ever written for so it makes sense, just in terms of a larger readership pool. I'm always however pleasantly surprised that Truth is up there. It's the only PB fic I've ever written (although I have plans for another one) and not a particularly popular ship, so it's always nice to get recognition for it. IIRC, it wasn't a hit when I put it out but it's been growing steadily ever since! It was also the first fic I wrote after a three-year writing slump, which makes me oddly proud of it. It's not perfect by any means and has obviously been contradicted by canon since then, but I like it.

Please, however, stop dropping kudos on the things that will likes. It's really not great. I do hope my writing has gotten better since 2012 and don't understand why people like this. I've considered deleting it so many times but it's got so many kudos, it make me feel bad for the people who do enjoy it.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Always on AO3, never on ff.net. I just find the PM-ing system clunky on ff. I'm not always as prompt answering as I'd like to be anymore, but I do make a commitment to always answer eventually. It's just that, if you've ever looked at it, you'll know that my comment section is something to behold. I tend to get a lot of "long" comments on my stuff, so I also leave very long responses in return, which take a while to get to/write. This being said, I love debating/chatting/commiserating with my readers and have made some fantastic friends through my AO3 comment section. I basically live for people's long comments lol. I just wish I had more time to get to them quicker haha.

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

I don't know, maybe my most recent one, I suppose? Or horses made of sticks? I tend to get very dark and angsty throughout my works, but always end on a brighter note. Those two are about death/loss though and there's a permanency to it that you can't really avoid.

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

I mean, that fic's a 143-thousand-words journey but probably children. I like where it ends. It's a good place.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Never have. I might one day but it just sounds like a lot of effort.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Everyone has I think. The best one though was someone on castles who wrote "first learn when spring season starts and ends before writing a story about it. what a joke." I'm still baffled by it cause, like, May's in spring, isn't it?

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes and no. I have written sex, yes, aspects of it at least. There are two sort-of explicit sex scenes in children, and one very explicit one. This being said, I mostly concentrate on one specific detail while writing sex, and blur out the rest. A bit like the scene in which Harry pulls off the condom after having sex with Mia in castles. The latest chapter of castles is also obviously very explicit, but it's not really writing "sex" as such. I write smut when it shows something, when it has a point. I don't write smut for the sake of smut but if explicit sex has a place/point in a story then I do write it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Not that I have ever checked either though, lol.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope. I'd love to though!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. I've beta-ed but not co-written.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

It's funny cause I definitely write romance, but I don't consider myself a "shippy" person. I fluctuate, I'm mostly interested in storylines/characters, rather than ships themselves. A bit like sex, I think romance is an element of life. But, if I had to choose one and because I've written 143k words about them, I think I'll say Martha/Clive on silk.

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

The TGW Will-lives AU. There's 20k words of it somewhere on my hard drive but honestly, doubt I'll ever write it.

What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I'm very character-based, whatever that means. I've been told I'm good with dialogue. Very "vivid". I honestly don't know but if there's something you really like about my style, by all means, tell me haha.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I could edit myself into the ground. I have to limit the number of editing runs I do on things or else after a while I start obsessing over each and every word and the quality actually goes down. I've been known to delete a lot of things and regret it afterwards. I think if I ever wrote a book you'd find me in bookshops picking it up and correcting the copies after it's been published haha.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Very tricky. I did it a bit in ce ne sont que des cailloux but only in a language I actually speak.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Without a Trace. A 2000s procedural lol.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

My fave is always my latest one so far lol. Which is a good thing I suppose 'cause it means I'm enjoying what I'm writing and getting better? So, right this minute, it's listening for that angel choir, but it'll be something else soon haha.

Tagging @copper-dust and @whizzfizz if you haven't done this yet - not sure!

[justanalto]

we love some good bingo

i was tagged by @aleksandrachaev and @lilolilyr for some fic bingo -- thanks, both of you! :)

i've seen people explaining why they did each square, so I'll also be explaining mine under the cut:

fixing canon:

but i need to tell you something (disco)

if you're gay, then you're gay (disco)

move on the path, but keep the flame (aos)

the whole thing was more “writing deleted scenes for canon” rather than actually fixing canon, but semantics -- technically, i’m fixing canon by adding things that should’ve been there 😂

i just want them to kiss:

almost every jola fic i’ve ever published i don’t make the rules

almost every simmorse fic i’ve ever published i still don’t make the rules

i just really want my ladies to kiss lmao

this idea won’t shut up until i write it:

you burn me up (and i love it) (disco)

intertwined and overrun (aos)

family traditions (aos)

every fic i have under “(all that i can hear) is a simple song”

sometimes...my brain does not shut up lmao

found a prompt list:

almost everything I wrote during july and august 2020, LOL. I found a prompt list and asked people to send me prompts!

saw the plot and needed it for my OTP:

it was more “i saw the trope and needed it for my OTP” tbh...

emergency contact (disco)

i would ruin myself (a million little times) (aos)

i was joking with my friend and then it happened:

if you're gay, then you're gay (disco)

beautiful stranger, there you are (aos)

yeah i literally think i was joking with someone when these two were birthed. ones of them was an absolute lifesaver, though. kat could probably tell you more i think

i woke up at 3am 5am with an idea:

i haven’t met the new me yet (but i will) (disco)

yes i changed the bingo square for this piece exactly. never again

this is going to be so HOT:

“BOOTS OR I MUTINY”*

*working title by kat

yeah that’s all I got but really that’s it

thought of a great scene: 

dancing is a dangerous game (may’s golden dragon/aos)

family traditions (aos)

(she) means everything to me (aos)

at this point all scenes that pop into my head are still wips rip

fuck this character in particular:

there’s a fic on ff.net where I wrote a chapter about grant ward getting bodily hit like a human baseball and then pitched off of avengers tower. man, did i hate him. 

but what happened BEFORE canon?:

another chapter in said fic where I write about clint and natasha getting together by going undercover at harvard because ivy league schools are hydra. (there was also some plot twisting i will say)

but what if they were gay?:

every simmorse fic i have ever written, except for the words we used to say. 

but also beautiful stranger, there you are because what IF they were gay???? the power. the fake dating power!!

thought of a great line:

may’s golden dragon (aos)

it’s so funny to think all of this started with me thinking about skye being quippy as a waitress at a chinese restaurant. and now we’re just in the depths of gay.

i just need them to suffer:

intertwined and overrun (aos)

i hope i was your favorite crime (aos)

sorry huntingbird i love you

gift fic:

i think mostly anything that’s been dedicated to someone on my ao3 has been a gift fic

i want this universe and those characters:

any and all of the aus i’ve written. i literally write nothing but aus send help

but also may’s golden dragon. 

i don’t even know:

intertwined and overrun (aos)

i hope i was your favorite crime (aos)

i haven’t met the new me yet (but i will) (disco)

but what happens AFTER canon?

looking back on a death wish (aos)

what do i do (with all this love for you) (aos)

just to see if i could:

cowardice is sugary (disco)

if you're gay, then you're gay (disco)

basically this was me trying to figure out if i could write disco lmao.

tagging: @the9muses @sad-tunes @maos2013 @libbyweasley @kitthekazoo @angry-slytherin @almostlikequake @genderfluid-and-confuzled @browneyedgenius​ and anyone else that wants to do this! my brain is fried i am so sorry

[dotsayers]

20 Questions: Writer’s Edition

tagged by the beloved @myrmidryad 

this is a LONG one so here’s a cut to avoid do you love the colour of the sky syndrome

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

101 after a recent purge... no one may know about my Past

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

329004! used to be about 350k but again... purge

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

on ao3 i’ve written for (chronologically) doctor who, skyfall, discworld, les mis, star trek, lord peter wimsey, marvel (various), in the flesh, red vs blue, roosterteeth rpf, check please, hockey rpf, star wars, daredevil, rivers of london, dishonored, emmerdale, dirk gently, holby city, hot fuzz, kj charles, guardian, the covert captain, taskmaster rpf, good omens, ghosts, roswell new mexico, leverage, schitt’s creek, the magicians, 9-1-1, it chapter two, the magnus archives, the old guard, the mandalorian, the ritual, the locked tomb

way back on the pit of voles i wrote for twilight, harry potter, hetalia and xmen first class. and on the newsround chatrooms i wrote exclusively harry potter fic about my oc neville and luna’s daughter

as you can tell i am not prone to staying in one fandom writing wise, i tend to end up with one complete fic and seven abandoned wips concealed deep in my google drive

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

finally see what it means to be living (captain marvel, carol/maria, i really hit the zeitgeist with this one i think i was something like the fifth fic in the ship tag)

do whatever you think (the magnus archives, this series is actually #2-7, then #8 #9 and #11 for me so i’m going to cheat a bit)

standing in a world of my own (daredevil, matt/foggy/karen, another zeitgeist hit! really miss writing for daredevil actually... it’s a perennial fave)

a winding road that stretches towards the truth (iron man, tony/rhodey, i STILL don’t know when this got so many kudos. i swear i looked away when it was at 100 and suddenly it ended up here)

where the long shadows grow (star trek aos, kirk prime/spock prime, thank god some people are checking the prime kirkspock tag is all i’m saying!)

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

i don’t really Do angsty endings... possibly a blanket of stars just because i ended it on something of a cliffhanger and then completely zoned out of rnm for long enough that i forgot where i was going with it. there was definitely the intention of fixing things but then i just... did not do that. and now the show is on s3 and i’m over a season behind! life comes at you fast

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

where the long shadows grow, because it reunited kirk prime and spock prime and they DESERVE TO BE HAPPYYYY. i’m a complete sucker for presumed dead/back from the dead stories, actually, so on a similar theme i have two (TWO) daredevil fics which follow the trope, one about ray coming back post-s2 (might never be normal again) and one about foggy and matt reuniting post-endgame (in the corner, taking up space). this is the only time i will ever acknowledge endgame ever again

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

i do write crossovers! in fact i am often roundly mocked by my friends for the increasingly esoteric nature of my crossovers. way back in secondary i wrote a twilight/labyrinth crossover where angela was sarah and jareth’s daughter  because i had a massive crush on a girl who liked both twilight and labyrinth. however, since that has been comprehensively scrubbed from the internet, i think my craziest crossover is probably part three of ‘traced upon the skies’, already an esoteric crossover of rivers of london and hot fuzz, when i added in a crossover with the horror movie ‘the ritual’ just because i wanted rafe spall’s character to be happy 

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

EXTREMELY rarely and only with extreme embarrassment. i will not be any more specific than that

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

i used to really struggle with doing this, to the point that i had over 300 comments just. lingering in my inbox unanswered. so i decided to give those up and just commit to answering them from then on, which has been working fairly well for about a year and a half now. i love getting comments but i get overwhelmed really easily and struggle with replying in a way which feels meaningful without getting in my head about it! 

10. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

yes lmao it was for a harry potter fic on ff.net where harry got sorted into hufflepuff instead of gryffindor. it wasn’t a very good fic but i think the fact it was clearly written by an 11 year old should have scared off at least some of the less flattering comments.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i don’t... think so? i don’t know how i’d find out to be honest, my vanity googling is rarely very effective

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! as bronze may be much beautified (skyfall, mallory/bond) got translated into chinese, i was extremely pleased. i think it’s mandarin but the ao3 page for the translation doesn’t say and my mandarin is.................. extremely poor

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

also yes! me and jess little-smartass have written a lot together, although only our star trek/les mis series has been published, more’s the pity. we spent a lot of les mis fandom time workshopping aus and we were always extremely correct about all of it, imo

14. What’s your all time favourite ship to write for?

oh god. i think probably kirk/spock, although there’s some recency bias to that since i reread space manhattans recently and was reminded of my love for them. i really like writing jon/martin but i’ve mostly done that from outsider pov which is a bit different to writing shipfic, i think. joe/nicky from tog was also something i really liked writing but i struggle with plotting longer fic with them

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

i recently went through my abandoned fic folder so i actually have a few options for this. the obvious choice would be ‘any of the hockey ones’ but i did delete most of those just for my sanity. more recently i started writing a vaguely smutty pre-the thing mac/fuchs fic for alex @milkdrinker5000 which i really WANT to finish but am struggling with. most obscure answer (even beyond the thing) and most likely to remain unfinished is the insanely in depth post-tog booker/copley fic i had planned out back in about october. i wrote a good 6-7k of that one and then i realised it was going to be, like, difficult, and decided if i was going to put that much work into something it may as well be the novel im meant to be writing

16. What are your writing strengths?

once a friend told me i had an excellent facility for dialogue and ive thought about it every time i write ever since. i love writing dialogue and i think i’m good at knowing what sounds ic and what is right out. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

one of the things i struggled with for a really long time, and honestly still have trouble with, is depicting action in words. once i wrote a hockey fic which featured multiple hockey games and i spent probably four times as much effort editing those to make sense and be interesting that i’ve ever done on a talkier scene.

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

i’ve done it but only when i knew more or less what i was talking about - i did italian at school so i felt confident using it for nicky in something particular and real. i try not to italicise when i drop in words from other languages, which is what i usually do when i’m using a language i haven’t studied in depth (for example, joe’s use of arabic in some of my fic), and to only use words which i’ve heard used by native speakers in that context. i think if you don’t feel confident using another language, generally speaking, you shouldn’t do it. and for god’s sake don’t use google translate for a full sentence

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

harry potter on the newsround chatboards. ariana lovegood-longbottom my sweet child

20. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

this used to be an easy question because hands down the fic i was proudest of on posting it was i’ll be seeing you. i spent a year and a half on research and writing! but these days i do cringe a little at my hockey fic, and i think i’m prouder of some of my shorter works. let’s do a curveball and say layer on layer, down on down, which is my favourite of my rnm fics and the one i like most from a narrative voice perspective. getting michael right was stressful and i’m still proud i got it down for a TIME LOOP FIC, my absolute favourite trope

tagging @little-smartass and @leescoresbies just in case they want to try this

[galaxythreads]

Hello, I hope you’re feeling better now. Wishing you good health and sending some good vibes on the way. May I ask about number 19, 22 and 23? Thanks

<3<3<3 I am feeling better, thank you! :D

19. which of your fics almost didn't get published and why?

M&M Paradise, actually.

Vertigo (part 1) was a story I wrote to deal with my frustrations over some stuff that was happening in real life, like my stupid stupid spanish class--still annoyed with mi profesors years later--It was my escape. I wrote a majority of it on some Sunday in November of that year and in December I was like, yknow what, fine. We'll just post it and see what happens. It exploded in popularity so much so I wrote a 47k sequel in a month.

22. do you have a fic that has some deep lore you never explained?

Ghosts and Failure: Wish I Could Change I wrote in a couple of days and posted it and was very proud of it.

A couple of months later in 2019, I get this review on ff.net: saying someone had made a podcast reviewing it and I was like "???? uh." and I didn't really know what to expect so after a kinda bad day (which probably didn't help anything, honestly) I listened to it and.

It was extremely, deeply insensitive. The fic in question deals with Thor wanting to hurt himself and the steps taken to help him get better while he's being haunted by Loki. At one point, Thor decides to take his own life with a gun and the people reviewing the fic COULD NOT LET IT GO. They kept insisting that it was a stupid method and I was like WHY ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF THIS?????????? WHY DOES IT MATTER? --- DO NOT. Under ANY circumstances, make fun of the method someone chooses to hurt themselves. Please. --- and they kept insisting that me trying to add a government to Asgard was ridiculous because they're just a bunch of drunken frat boys among other things. Yeah, they did have positive things to say (sort of, it's been three years and I can't remember a lot beyond what hurt now) but the fact that they were so insensitive about the mental health aspect really bothered me and they just. Had Things To Say about my writing in general.

(They did say they thought I was 25 and wrote this when I was upset? or drunk? can't remember exactly, this was three years ago but I thought that was really, really funny because like. Bro.)

Anyway, I was really really embarrassed so I deleted the fic from ff.net and changed the title on a03 and then decided I would never, ever, ever talk about this fic again. I honestly considered deleting it completely. A few weeks ago I did end up finding the podcast again and realized that they stopped making podcasts after like four other fics they reviewed after mine which did make me feel a little better. If they'd ended up making money off of making fun of mental health, I would have been pissed.

There was no way I could find to contact them and ask them to take it down, which is unfortunate.

23. are any of your fics awaiting a sequel you haven't announced?

Porcelain. I started the sequel today, actually. Typically, I don't announce anything until I have the first chapter done/or the one-shot is completed. (to be clear, this is a one-shot, not a full fic.)

And i'm working on a one-shot that bridges The Weeping Siren and the Blodig Skog, but I'm not sure if that's going to be finished.

[voidfishersong]

tagged by @bastetsbard!!!

How many works do you have on AO3? 10, but one’s a podfic, so really 9.

What’s your total AO3 word count? 22k.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Fire Emblem (Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn), the Grishaverse (specifically Six of Crows), and Noragami. Then we have my deleted Harry Potter works, and the Star Wars fics I haven’t published (yet). I have to really hyperfixate on a series to write fanfic for it.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Put Up With the Rain, Lighthouse, The Only Heaven I’ll Be Sent To, A Thousand Words, and From Apocalypse to Zenith. Watching my kudos count skyrocket when I started writing for the much larger Grishaverse fandom was quite the experience.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not? I usually reply to the first few comments, then later ones that are longer/inspire conversation. I trail off replying to comments because I feel like I’ve exhausted the five-ish ways to say “thank you for reading”, and also because I tend to yeet a fic out and there and then forget about it in a few weeks. I LOVE all comments though 🥰

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I honestly don’t have an angsty-ending fic? I like angst with a happy ending.

However, if you look at Apocalypse to Zenith right now, I left off  (notabandonedisweari’mcomingbacktoiteventually) in the middle, so it’s quite angsty. That fic is supposed to have a happy ending, though. 😅

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

no. nothing against them, but they’re not my writing style. I love fusions, though (putting characters from one series into the universe of another, but without the original characters of that ‘verse).

Have you ever received hate on a fic? thankfully no, i would probably just cry

Do you write smut? If so what kind? wkeljlkdfsl yes, but badly. it’s mostly just kinky foreplay. none has been published, but i’ve written some Reybarn (Fire Emblem), Kanej (Grishaverse), and Zoyalai (Grishaverse).

Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don’t write enough to have stuff stolen. I’d come for them with fire, though.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, but we’ve never published. I’ve started... three collabs? One trailed off due to lack of interest on my part, one trailed off because of ~interpersonal drama~ (rip, it was such a cool idea), and one trailed off due to lack of interest on my partner’s part.

What’s your all time favourite ship? honestly Kanej (Grishaverse). I lose my fucking mind every time I think about them. I’m a pretty deep Star Wars shipper too, especially with ObiAniDala.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? I really, really don’t want to say Apocalypse to Zenith, because I think I will eventually come back and finish it. I have too many partially abandoned WIPs for this question... I can't even choose one 🤣

What are your writing strengths? canon compliance and characterization. I do write AUs, but I have a very specific brand of canon pedantry that comes through in my fics 😂

also, poetic prose. I’m great at capturing those vibes.

What are your writing weaknesses? finishing anything longer than 3k. my inability to pace is a huge contributor to this.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Like whole sentences? No, you’re alienating your readers, unless there’s an immediate translation within the narrative. Words and phrases? Yes. I honestly don’t understand why this is a question, I feel like there’s some discourse I’m unaware of...

What was the first fandom you wrote for? sweet lord, don’t make me remember this. it was supernatural. it was like 2013. i published it on ff.net. i don’t remember my ff.net account. this is a good thing

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written? Lighthouse. It’s a pretty recent one, but I’m really proud of it. I think I got the relationship down perfectly, and I had a lot of fun with it, too.

Also, it’s not a semi-abandoned fic, so that’s huge points in my book.

tagging @electrick-indigo, @hux-aireaire, @being-of-rain, and anyone else who wants to do it!

[themerriweathermage]

Author Interview

I was tagged by @sleepswithvillains . I’ve never been tagged much before so this is kind of new for me, but I love it! Tag me all the time! Also you did it again, where I got the Tumblr notification like right as I went to bed, but my sleep schedule is so wack right now.

Tagging: @guardianofrivendell @moriamithril @sunflower1000 and really whoever wants to do it. Drop me a tag if you decide to do it because I definitely want to see what you have to say!

I have a lot of unfinished fics and not a lot of published works in comparison. 

1. Name: The Merriweather Mage (Tumblr)/ RinzlersGhost (AO3)

2. Fandoms: LOTR/The Hobbit, The Witcher (TV), SWTOR/Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Twilight, Underworld (though I’m not active in most of them unless I’m hyper-fixating)

3. Where you post: AO3, Tumblr, and I have an inactive FF.NET account

4. Most popular oneshot: People seem to have a real affinity for Meleth-nin/My Love. I actually hated writing it, because I was in such a bad place after receiving news that my childhood dog had died, but I don’t hate the fic itself.

5. Most popular multichapter: Every Kitten Has Claws which is a Geralt X Druid Fem!Reader. 25 Kudos, 3 bookmarks, 517 hits. Followed by Turuhalme in the Greenwood which is Thranduil X Fem!Reader. 9 Kudos, 1 bookmark, 270 hits. Both contain 18+ Content.

6. Actual worst part of writing: I legitimately hate writing fight scenes. I’m horrible at them and most of my fics contain some sort of fight scene obnoxiously enough. Although the best advice I ever saw on here was to keep your fight scenes short because not very many people are interested in a long drawn out detailed fight scene. 

7. Favorite story you wrote: Bards & Beans Coffee Co. Elrond X Fem!Reader. Was the first time I’d ever written anything in the second person. I based it off of a dream I had about meeting Elrond in a coffee shop. I planned it, wrote it, and posted it in the span of four days. It’s basically as if Middle Earth exists on the other side of meridian locks, and it’s set during the War of the Ring but with some of the characters from the Hobbit so the timelines are pretty pushed together. Your side of the meridian locks has a Earth that is basically a continuous strip of land that varies from high-tech futuristic ports all the way down to medieval ports. Basically the farther North you go, the more high tech and futuristic the land becomes. Quite a shock for those who would have never been to the other side of the locks. 18+ Content.

8. Story you were nervous to post: Most likely all of them. Any of my Twilight work though, I always hesitate about publishing. Sometimes it’s because the stories are close to my heart, but I also know that the fandom can be rabid. Most of the interactions I’ve ever had with Twilight blogs are fine, but there’s a lot of discourse about Twilight right now, and while I appreciate that most people are in the right (the issue with the Quileute tribe, the Cullen’s as villains, Jasper and the Confederacy, the actual legitimacy of the Volturi as a ruling body, etc), this is actually one of the reasons I left the fandom from a writing/following POV. (There are many, many things that are wrong with Twilight and not from a literature point of view. For example, Meyers took a real life Native American tribe and treated them highly unfairly in the books, to the point of calling them dogs which isn’t very fair at all, and they have received no compensation for being used and they are risk in the place they live in now. If you have some time and money, I would recommend checking out the Quileute Move to Higher Ground project.)

9. How you choose your titles: For story titles, I like to choose the main theme or a main phrase that is used. For chapter titles, I either don’t title or I will chose something that is a main part of the chapter.

10. Complete works: Out of the 21 works I have on AO3, 18 of them are completed, although one is an open ended and may be reopened after I get some of the larger works out of my way. As for fics in general that I haven’t published or have published on other platforms, there is 2 of 5 complete works on FF.NET. Some of those stories I will be pulling and deleting. The two complete works will be migrating to AO3.

11. Incomplete works: Actively: Sadril-nin/My Loyal One, A Hunter’s Circlet, and Beauty in Brokenness (unpublished for now). I have a few other inactive LOTR/The Hobbit based fics that I might try to finish after the main two are finished. Inactive: Literally too many to count. I mean, when I wrote my goodbye to the Twilight fandom, I said that I had been writing for the fandom for nearly nine years. I have so many unfinished Twilight fics, well over 100.

12. Do you outline: Not usually. I’m at the point with Sadril-nin right now where I’m literally following a map of Middle Earth and cataloguing the journey across the map, so I guess that could be considered an outline. Mostly if I’m writing for LOTR/The Hobbit, I want to follow the timeline of progression for the story that’s already been written. I do have a little bit of leeway in that gap between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings though.

13. Coming soon ideas, maybe? I’ve been giving you a taste of Beauty in Brokenness. I do intend to publish it, but it’s a constant struggle to rework it. I have ideas that I want to cement in the story that don’t always come out the way I want them to, so I am consistently reworking parts of it all the time. I will also be rewriting (eventually) Crown of Thorns, which is Pirates of the Caribbean fanfic, Lord Beckett X Siren!OFC. I also appreciate the idea of Nestadion X Centaur Fem!Reader, but instead of being a centaur all the time, you’re actually a shifter who can turn into a centaur. Really confuses a warrior elf to see what amounts to a small human carrying this massive two handed sword around and calling him “princess” all the time.

14. Ask me anything: Is there anything you miss in fanfic? In comparison to the actual book/movie? Not really. I appreciate the original works, but I recognize that they can be flawed and so can their authors/writers. Which is why fanfic is so appealing-- everyone has a different spin on the original; everyone has a different take on the characters, everyone writes differently, and that’s the fascinating part to me. The only downside, of course with any fanfic, is the fandom and it can be hit or miss with people. It is what it is, and the liberty of fanfic is that not everyone is going to like or enjoy your works, and the same goes for your tastes. Are there right or wrong opinions? I don’t know; I’ve both read and written some morally ambiguous fics, and some I would like to forget that I very much haven’t.

15. Best writing traits: Same as the worst writing traits. I’m a sucker for detail. I love it. I want my readers to see it like I do. When I read books or play D&D or play video games, I see it like I’m in a movie. When I write, I want you to see it like you’re on set and the cameras are rolling and you are perfectly prepared. I want you to feel like you are in the story, which is why my oneshots turn into series, and my multi-chapter fics turn into novel length stories. I find it obnoxious at times, because I feel like I can’t ever turn it off, but by the feedback I get, some of y’all really enjoy it, so let’s get this show on the road.

16. Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: Uhhhh, let me go browse my WIP folder. I’ve put quite a bit of research into rewriting Crown of Thorns and making it slightly more historically accurate. I know that there will be a Part 2 to Sadril-nin, because I’m not going to time skip a seventy/eighty year gap between the timelines of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. And I really don’t want to submit y’all to this absolutely massive story all jam-packed into one fic. Other than that, I’m also sitting on Through Hellfire and High Waters, which is another Elrond X Reader fic that follows the premise of a modern/medieval world all smashed into one. The Queen of Eryn Galen also needs a proper ending and to be published, a Thranduil X OFC fic; this one will also have a Part 2.

17. Spicy Tangential Opinion: I don’t care if my writing makes the characters out of character. I try to tag that if I can, but let’s be real here. Either I’m writing a character that originally has a limited backstory and a very real chance at an open-ended future, or I didn’t like the canon character and I’m rejecting that reality and replacing it with my own. Does it mean that I don’t or am refusing to recognize character flaws? No, and that’s the beauty of fanfic. You can do whatever you want. You might get hate for it or you might not. For example, I am a fan of Severus Snape (RIP Alan Rickman). Does his character have flaws? Yes. Do I like the way he was canonically written? No. Are his actions justifiable? Hell no. Is that going to stop me from being a fan? Again, no. He is arguably one of the most disagreed upon character of that series. I don’t see a need to defend why I write him the way I do. I don’t see a need to defend him in discourse, and I’m certainly not going to be hateful about it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about it. Yes, there was probably some underlying intent when the character was written. I’m not here (unless you’re specifically asking my opinion on it) I’m not here to read in between the lines with characters like Snape. I do not care enough to lose friends over opinions like that.