#i'm sorry i wasn't good at dialogue when i wrote this but i was too attached to change it

[seasonal-writes]

“old heartbeats die hard” (ao3 link is here!)

pairing: grian / scar cw: none! a quick programming break from our usual team rancher-related postings for a short and sweet scarian/desertduo fic! as i mentioned in the ao3 tags, this can be read as /p or /r, though be aware i did definitely write this with lowkey /r in mind. enjoy, and thanks for reading! ~

Did you know that listening to someone’s heartbeat can have a calming effect on your own heart and breathing pattern?

Grian knows this. And he knows it’s working right now, even if it’s not enough to lull him to sleep quite yet. Though, there is still relief in knowing that one is still thumping away in Scar’s chest. Its pace is still fresh and lively and steady, just how he likes it—even if he’d never say something like that out loud. His ear is pressed up against his chest, rumbling with soft snores and other breathing sounds. But he’s locked on target: the heartbeat.

Ba-bum.. Ba-bum..  

Sleep doesn’t come. He can’t find it in him, just in-case. You never know. No one knows at this point, with how things have been going.  

As his head rests on Scar’s chest, he’s got his arms wrapped tightly around his waist. He’s clinging to the taller figure, and hasn’t let go since he first laid down.

Grian came back from the escapades at the pool party to find Scar asleep on their little make-shift mattress on the floor, just as he said he’d be when Grian left. After a couple soft pokes to the face and arm, Grian knew he was sleeping deeply enough that movement wouldn’t disturb him. So, the little winged man crawled up beside him and practically attached himself to Scar. There was risk of him waking up, asking what he was doing. And Grian knew that after all he’d done the past few days, it wouldn’t be an easy answer on the fly. But he clung to Scar anyway.

He wasn’t planning on finding such an infatuation with his heartbeat, but once he found it, he couldn’t seem to move after that.

The night crawls on, taking its sweet time. But he doesn’t care. He doesn’t mind the silence, or the safety, even if it isn’t their keep.

He can feel Scar’s every move, little twitches and shifts every so often as dreams or sleep cycles take their hold. Grian can’t help but smile, just a little, when he mumbles and even talks occasionally in his sleep. He just listens. Nighttime noises creep in from the outside, with some occasional shouting far in the distance. It feels oddly nostalgic until he remembers where they are. The little space he put together for them isn’t as home-y, but it’s safe and far from everyone else for the time being. They’re both safe.

Scar is safe, he keeps reminding himself.  

He takes a deep breath, his own nerves kicking up when he thinks about the tower earlier that day. The smoke and the panic and the death that surrounded them. They got lucky, he knows that full well. Then there’s that memory again, floating back, the clear image of his soulbound leaping from the side of a tower and plummeting down. Arms too short to grab him, time moving too fast. The loud screams erupting from his throat, which now seems to twinge with a bit of soreness now that he thinks about it.

Just a few seconds of admiration of Scar’s compassion, only for it to be consumed by stress. His stomach drops even as he remembers. He tries to ignore it, leaving his head completely still as he closes his eyes and focuses on the heartbeat.

Ba-bum.. Ba-bum.. Ba-bum..  

There’s flashes of falling from other tall places, all that time ago. More screaming, more devastation. More heartache as the worst was revealed, only for Scar to pop up moments later, shocked but thankful to have another go. Even as Grian was still on his knees, lungs caught in his throat.

He’s so used to it, yet it never does get easier. Now, they share their life source, and it feels even worse. He’s concerned for himself, sure. But Scar. The one who always ends up in his hands. He’s the kicker. The tug on the strings.

Their heartbeats are in sync, and feeling them both nearly stop before the luckiest save he’s ever seen..something like divine intervention, or kismet.. Well, it’s shaken him up a bit.

As the memories flitter in, Grian’s arms squeeze lightly around Scar’s torso. He holds him tighter—desperately—like letting go would mean he’d never be able to keep him this safe again. Like some void would open up and send Scar into another freefall. There is security found when he’s within reach.

He knows that the morning will greet them with separation. The concern for safety poking at the back of his head as the days go on, their hearts stumbling and the phantom pain haunting every misstep or accident. Constant wonder of when the other shoe will drop.. when it’ll suddenly be over and starting again.

Things change when people die, and in this place, it’s so fast. It’s so fast and hard and nerve-wracking, and narrow escapes are the only difference between life and death. And they were lucky. But he wonders if their luck will ever run out. Fate has played such huge roles here. It’s been sticking its fingers in and playing with all of their soulbound strands like ribbon, knotting it and yanking it taut. And it’s exhausting. It brings the two together, like always.

Grian thinks about how he’s not sure if he wanted this, and he’s been so frustrated with what’s been put in front of him that he’s tried his chance at cheating the game. Finding a path that was not laid before him. His own heartbeat starts interrupting the peace, quickening and creating a cacophony of thumps.

Ba-bum, Ba-bum, Ba-bum, Ba-bum!  

“..Grian?” A very low, sleepy voice suddenly asks. Grian freezes. He slowly lifts his head for the first time in hours, looking up at Scar’s face as a bit of soreness spreads across his neck. He can see fairly clearly, even in the dim light of the cave. Scar’s eyes are barely open, squinting at him with a curious glance. He has a slight goofy grin on, as if he knows he’s caught him. Grian’s stopped in his tracks, his mouth hanging agape for a moment. Finally, he speaks. “Sorry.. Do you want me to—” Grian starts to ask, ready to move. Scar doesn’t let him finish his sentence before turning onto his side and scooping Grian into his arms. He wraps him up equally as tight, habitually careful to avoid his wings. His hands rest at just the right place on Grian’s back, as if he knows exactly where to put them, even while half-asleep. The slight grin blooms into a brief, sleepy smile as he closes his eyes again.

“I’m.. glad you made it back..” Scar mumbles, his voice falling off as he falls right back to sleep. Grian’s entire body still feels stiff, suddenly consumed by the hug. He still has his arms wrapped tightly around Scar as well, the nerves having created a rather solid grip on him. He isn’t sure what to do as the seconds pass. He feels.. oddly comforted, now. Like he doesn’t have to hide. Scar knows Grian cares, deep down.

Moments like this are inescapable at the end of the day, and so are Scar’s hugs. But even with his disdain for destiny’s choices, even with the semi-begrudging care and concern for his partner in crime.. Grian doesn’t try to leave. He allows acceptance. He stays, nestling in a bit and pressing his forehead to Scar’s chest.

Scar’s breath slows once again to a relaxed pace, and Grian finds that his own breath does the same. His shoulders relax, the oh-so-familiar warmth enveloping him. He even welcomes it. The silence returns, the heartbeat no longer right in his ear. It feels a little sad without the sound for a moment, but the loneliness in his senses disperses quickly.

That safe feeling finally reaches him, too. He feels at enough ease to sleep, his eyelids suddenly feeling heavy before he starts to drift off. He can still feel Scar’s chest rising and falling. He’s still breathing, still safe.

There is an acknowledgement. A silent agreement between them. Whatever comes next, even as the last of their kind, can be tackled together. If they don’t make it to the end, or even if they do.. it’s together. He doesn’t have to face it alone.

Suddenly, tomorrow doesn’t feel so dreadful.

And two heartbeats fall into sync. Fresh and steady and lively—just how Grian likes it.

[hood-ex]

Your post about that dialogue from Gotham Knights (the game) made me think back on how much I miss Bruce and Dick's relationship tbh. Like obv it was never the healthiest thing ever, and Bruce was always emotionally constipated, but it always felt a little more... equal? Recently it's just felt so toxic, like Bruce will be an asshole, and Dick will be hurt by it but will still come back to him and will remove the burden of Bruce apologizing for anything from him. Like the scene between them in Nightwing 100, where Bruce is rightfully apologizing for his crap and Dick says he doesn't have to. I do like that scene (even if it was over the top), but that's not right. Like, no sir, he has a lot to apologize for lmao. But that's literally been their dynamic for so long. Whenever Bruce should be called out, Dick just forgives him and Bruce goes back to doing the same old shit again, and Dick forgives him again, and rinse and repeat.

Honestly, it feels like whoever wrote those scenes took a look at that one meme of Batman slapping Robin and said "hey, they like that, let's do that!" Like, you can't go a long time without Bruce hitting Dick. Because they think fans eat that shit up ig. They are so attached to their shock value Bruce and Dick fights and their image of brooding Bruce that they won't address their fucked-up relationship and won't change the status quo. We have gotten many scenes of them being great together and having sweet moments, but those all feel tainted by the rest of it. It's as recent as the amnesia arc where Bruce re-traumatized Dick and then didn't help him when he was living in his car and then pretty much emotionally manipulated him to become Nightwing again. Recent comics really have forgotten what Batman is about.

And it sucks, because Dick is my fave of all faves, but I also love the hell out of Bruce Wayne, and it's so sad to see him be reduced to this... only brooding, borderline abusive asshole. They won't let him grow or develop. I don't mind conflict, and I like that they have a complicated relationship. I didn't even mind Bruce punching Dick, because it's interesting. Once was fine, twice was fine, the same thing happening all the time without addressing it and with no change across years is kind of a problem. I'm only keeping up with the Nightwing run out of loyalty to my boy, but from what I've heard of the events that are happening outside of that, it seems that they are having issues again, and I'm waiting for the next Batman issue that features Nightwing to also feature another punch or something. It's always Bruce being coddled by the story and never being asked to make the step forward, it's always Dick that has to give in and make Bruce feels better about his flaws and free him of any responsibility for his actions even when it's time for Bruce to step up and grow up.

It's why I prefer the animated adaptations or the retellings. I think world's finest did a good job with their relationship, I feel like Robin: Year 1 from back in the day did too, and Young Justice animated for its many flaws has a solid dynamic between them. They still have a complicated relationship, but it isn't so dramatically awful. It allows for a more balanced and well-rounded portrayal of the character when you aren't pandering to some people by flanderizing the character ig. Anyway, sorry for ranting, you're like my fave Dick Grayson blog so I just wanted to share. Hope this wasn't a bother.

No yeah I hated that aspect of Nightwing #100. If TT wanted to do a scene like that, he should’ve built up a conflict between Dick and Bruce to give us some context as to some type of thing Bruce actually needed to apologize for. Then he could’ve had Bruce apologize, Dick accept the apology, and end it with that reconciliation.

Instead, he just had Bruce apologize like, “I’m sorry I failed you, I’m sorry I pushed you away, I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like I wasn’t proud of you,” which would’ve hit much harder if, again, they had shown some kind of recent conflict between Bruce and Dick to warrant that sudden apology. And for Dick to then express his own hurt and such over said conflict. And then for them to come to some reconciliation. But yeah it’s very unsatisfying for Bruce to just list things he’s sorry for, and for Dick to hug him and just reassure Bruce. Like nooo let Bruce feel bad. Let Dick feel bad because of what Bruce did to him. Let Dick be angry. Let them both hurt. Then let them heal.

As for the amnesia arc, I feel like they really did a disservice to Bruce by not focusing enough on his trauma from the sniper incident. If they really stressed how much it traumatized him and then showed how his actions were effected by that (like giving him a dire need to have Dick return to normal bc otherwise it’s like Dick just died in his arms on that rooftop) then that is much more sad and compelling, and we can at least kind of see where Bruce is coming from by showing Dick the sniper video (though it would’ve been better if they just… hadn’t done that all).

If I had been writing that issue, I would’ve had it from Bruce’s POV where he would’ve constantly been in a state of flashbacks. Like seeing his parents getting killed and then comparing it to Dick getting shot. And then having flashbacks of Dick when he was younger but then Bruce imagining that Dick keeps getting shot in the head in each of those memories. And all of that literally just like… pushing Bruce over the edge. And then of course when Dick wakes up and asks Bruce “Who are you?” Bruce spirals even further. And we see his descent to this very isolated and dark place where he just wants his son back at all costs. That would’ve been waaaaay more interesting. Extremely dark ofc. But interesting.

Yeah the comic Dick and Bruce relationship can definitely be toxic (and I’m not totally opposed to that bc I think it makes things interesting between them), and there are animated shows that show them in a more balanced light. The Batman (2004) is one of those shows as well. Dick was Robin then ofc, and Bruce wasn’t so dark at that point in life. But when you watch shows like that, it reminds you of the character Bruce is supposed to be, and it reminds you of what you like the most about him. So definitely nice to watch shows like that sometimes to remind yourself of the Bruce Wayne that exists outside of modern comics.

[klunkcat]

tagged by @goodlucktai <3333

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

45 lol but i have I think. 30 wips that exist somewhere on my computer at any given moment. alas.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

701,032

which..... is like far too many words per fic actually imo

3. What fandoms do you write for?

honestly whatever currently grabs my brain stem changes a lot but i think my top ones are tmnt and stranger things (what a wild combo actually). Actively atm I have a trigun wip and a tmnt one

4. Top five fics by kudos?

A Kiss is a Kiss (But it's never like this) - 6,528

(something happens and I'm) head over heels - 3,518

Green with Envy - 1,880

Forget the mess I'm in - 1,791

Weak Point - 1,366

5. Do you respond to comments?

literally I am the WORST for remembering to reply I'm so sorry. I must say that I do read all of them in my email and screenshot them and cry

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

angsty endings are too much 4 me I believe so strongly in hurt/comfort but....

Impossible Things and the Tin Can I think is the most like, conceptually tragic series I've written

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Comfort is a requirement but I think but like Stepping over the line is basically just an extended meet cute so nothing really sad happens at all lol?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Actually genuinely have never gotten a rude comment in my life I did once get someone being hyper pushy about new chaps when I was like.... 19? Sometimes comments veer I think towards misunderstanding unreliable narrator elements and can be a little intense as a result

9. Do you write smut?

ehhhhhh closest I've ever gotten was dancing around the topic lol

10. Craziest crossover?

omg me and tai have gone down some rabbit holes and made a tangled/good omens fusion among other things, which was cute 2 me

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've gotten some requests, not sure if they got uploaded anywhere?

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

I did once many years ago but we didn't end up finishing it from what I remember!

14. All time favourite ship?

oh god I mean. ineffable husbands and wangxian invented romance. big mckirk and vashwood fan despite what my published fics would tell you. stsg ruined my life this year. I'm really big on platonic friendships though personally

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My google docs are a cesspit of fics I will never finish. Once made a wangxian softball fic that will never see the light of day but I think of it fondly

16. What are your writing strengths?

Might actually be a weakness and not a strength but boy do I love prosey metaphor nonsense. Sometimes I think it works other times who's 2 say.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Fighting scenes man, combat is hard as hell.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

in general I dooooon't write it too much just because I don't speak anything beyond like. grade 2 level spanish so.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

tmnt :' )

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Oh tricky. Stealing tai's idea of a top 5

Forget-Me-Nots - :') big ol love u to tai for this

Both the Sweet and the Bitter - so sorry to anyone who follows me for ST fics because I'm probably never going to write for it ever again or finish this but a dear friend of mine helped me with this story and it means a lot 2 me as a result. The flower metaphors were fun to research.

Plain White Beach Houses - also same as the above but idk pacific rim au....house metaphors.... I love this series a lot

change up, high inside - wanted to write a softball fic for my whole life basically and this is more or less me just waxing poetic about the sport if I'm honest

Feedback Loop - this fic was actually insane like. took me I think a full year to write out? There's a lot of stuff in this that I lol cannot reread anymore for reasons but damn if it wasn't a learning experience to write all around

Tagging @eternalglitch @byrdybyrd02 @jinbugs if u want to besties!

[mirjam-writes]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @suavissimapenna <3 Sorry it took so long!

How many works do you have on ao3?

7 for Sherlock and 23 Good Omens that are completely mine. 6 collaborative fics I have either partly written, or just made art for. So, 36.

What's your total ao3 word count?

380,863

What fandoms do you write for?

Good Omens! I used to write for Sherlock too, but that's now in the past.

Top five fics by kudos:

Truth Or Dare (E, 6.5K words), my first proper smut ever! Post s1 gettig together story.

Angel Of Justice (T, 9.5K), my first ever Good Omens fanfic. Post S1 from Michael POV, A/C as a background couple.

!False (It's funny because it's true) (E, 5.4k), an office romance human AU set in software company.

A Stable Relationship (E, 9.9k), horse rider AU with trans Aziraphale. Friends with benefits becoming a romantic relationship.

Girls Just Wanna Have Sun (G, 1.7k), outsider pov scene about Robin's day at the beach, where she meets two weird gentlemen who have never been to a beach before.

Do you respond to comments?

YES I DO! Slowly, possibly, but yes I do, and I read and reread them!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Uhhh... angsty ending? What is that? Technically Be Still My Soul: The Rift, but does that count if it's a middle part of a trilogy? That's definitely my angstiest fic of all time BUT I tried to write the happiest ending possible to it. But also, yeah, people died in the war (just not A or C), so maybe I'll count that story.

Edit: WAIT NO! To Love Somebody, a story from Shadwell pov about how he fell in love both Aziraphale and Crowley, and how that changed him. That's sort of angsty and the ending is bittersweet!

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hmmmmmm. I have so many. I can't compare. Maybe Watching You (Watching Me), it's the porniest porn i have ever written, and it has...uh... several happy endings :D

Do you get hate on fics?

Not so far!

Do you write smut?

Yessss. I'm in my porn writer era at the moment :D

Craziest crossover:

I did some super weird anime crossovers as a teen (I hope those are long lost) but haven't dabbled on that since apart from very vague blink-and-you-miss-it references.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

One of my Sherlock fics was translated into french in 2018!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Only for one round robin event, which produced four stories! Not sure if that really counts as collaborating since we weren't allowed to talk about it when we did it, we just got the fic, read it, and added 600 words and gave it to the next one! It was super fun though.

All time favorite ship?

Aziraphale and Crowley. No competition there.

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't usually start posting unless I'm 100% confident I'll finish the story, so I don't have public wips.

I had one pretty cool Sherlock post-apocalypse story idea, which I'd love to talk about if someone is interested, but writing it? Hmm probably not. But it's not really a wip, if I have only like two bullets in a doc?

What are your writing strengths?

I think I write pretty good bickerflirting and humour even in dark situations. And, uh... historical research.

What are your writing weaknesses?

LONG ASS SENTENCES. I need to cut them down. Chop chop chop. Also, I over-use commas and em-dashes.

Also, not being a native english speaker, but I think I've got a lot more fluent during the past years, so maybe that's not my biggest weakness anymore.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I have done it myself, in a situation when my pov character wasn't supposed to understand what was being discussed, but I did only a couple of lines.

My languages (apart from english) are finnish, very rough swedish, and teeny tiny bit of german, but many fics I've read that have used another language in dialogue, use French or Spanish (which are popular languages for English speakers to learn in school!), and with those I'm woefully lost!

But honestly, i don't need to understand every fic under the sun! You do you, I bet there are people who can understand whichever languages you'd like to mix in your story, and that will be amazing for them!

First fandom you wrote in?

The Book Series That Must Not Be Named. I projected so much of my teenage angst into wizard school drama.

Favorite fic you've written?

You monster! Making me choose. Uh.

Okay, fair. It's easy. Be Still My Soul, hands down. @be-still-my-soul-fanfic

No pressure tagging: @hkblack, @ambrasue, @tawnyontumblr , @ack-emma and @zehwulf and anyone else who wants to answer!

[loonysama]

20 questions for writers

Thank you for the tag @thebiwifeonao3!

How many works do you have on AO3? 88

What's your total AO3 word count? 1,090,772

What fandoms do you write for? Mostly Frozen (Kristanna, especially), sometimes crossing over with other Disney movies. I've also written 7 fics for Wednesday (TV), and one or two for Good Witch (TV), The Americans, Beetlejuice, and What We Do in the Shadows. Oh, and a fic about the song, "Brandy."

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Woe is Your Master (Wednesday/Tyler, E)

Cat Scratch Fever (Wednesday/Tyler, T)

Woe is Me (Wednesday/Tyler, E)

Sweet Poison (Wednesday/Tyler, T)

Black Lace on Red (Wednesday/Tyler, E)

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes, I try to! But to be honest, if I get a super long comment or something that needs a long response, I usually put it off because I want to answer with as much effort as the commenter put into it. So sorry to the people whose comments I haven't responded to. Please know that I read them and loved them and will respond as soon as I collect myself from the puddle on the floor.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I've yet to write anything with an unhappy ending. But the closest I got was The Ice King (Hans/Elsa, E). I can't say because it's a spoiler. Let's just say that everyone got what they wanted, but it didn't work out quite the way it was supposed to.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Everything else? I guess if I have to pick one it's She Holds a Candle (Kristoff/Anna and Stephanie (transfemme Sven)/Ryder). I ended up giving Stephanie and Ryder their own chapter because I loved them so much and just wasn't ready to let them go. So Kristoff and Anna ended up together and then Stephanie and Ryder got married at the end. (Y'all know I love Ryder so much that I named my cat after him.)

8. Do you get hate on fics? I have. Mostly on ffn, so I stopped posting there. And I've gotten a little on AO3, too. Mostly it's been from people who don't know what archive warnings and tags are for, or who have contempt for the characters, ships, fandoms, etc. and haven't even read it.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes! Mostly m/f, usually femdom, and sometimes with mild BDSM (mostly bondage)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I did more when I started out, but I don't do it so much anymore. I guess the craziest was Hans/Elsa in an animated Addams Family fusion AU (The Magenta Cravat, T). At one point I was going to write a WednesdayxFrozen AU where Anna was Wednesday's roommate instead of Enid and Elsa was a teacher at Nevermore. There's also the Frozen/Midsommar AU (Elsa/Pelle) which will never happen either. C'est la vie.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don't think so.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, a couple of my Wednesday fics were translated into Russian!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic? Yes, but it never saw the light of day. It was with a few other Frozen and Beauty and the Beast writers in the Frozen Hearts Will Melt Discord server (DM me if you want an invite).

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Kristoff/Anna from Frozen.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? All of them? Seriously, though. I've determined that none of my WIPs on AO3 are going to be finished except for Head Over Feet. I'd love to finish The Refugees, All Tied Up, Sophisticated Grace, and Pour Some Sugar on Me, but I don't know if I have it in me. I dunno. Maybe someday.

16. What are your writing strengths? I've been told character dynamics and descriptions of body movements.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Repetitive sentence structure, head hopping. And I have no idea where commas are supposed to go. Every time I think I'm right, my grammar check tells me I'm wrong.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for fic? I generally prefer to write dialogue in English and indicate that it's in another language. I don't want to make the reader do extra work just to find out what happens next. I also want the reader to be in the character's shoes the entire time without even realizing it, and having to read in a language they're not as familiar with can take them out of it. But, at the end of the day, it's a technique and a choice the writer has to make about what's best for the characters and their story.

I wish I knew another language well enough that I could write a whole fic in that language, but alas. I hold writers who write in foreign languages in the highest esteem.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Frozen (Kristoff/Anna)

20. Favourite fic you've written? Pretty Please (Kristoff/Anna, E). I wrote this for @99goosebumps for the 2023 BDSM Exchange. It was so much fun to write, and all the stars aligned with it. Aside from writing some new kinks I loved, I'm really happy with the quality of the fic and I really loved Kristoff and Anna's dynamic in this one. I don't think I've ever gotten it quite as right as I did in that fic. It's definitely not for everyone, but I hope the people who have read it found something they liked there.

Tagging @thefamilybruno @glassslippers-n-cowboyboots @bad-at-names-and-faces @thecassadilla @99goosebumps @paigebstorey @butchbetty! And anyone else who wants to participate.

[nerdacious]

So now that the fic has been finished for a bit I have some questions about the making of Partners and Paper Trails. I'm just curious about what it was like to write it (and wondering whether my experiences writing for this fandom are universal). No pressure to answer!

Generally speaking, did you find Harry's chapters or Kim's chapters harder/easier to write?

Which parts of the fic (either POV) were your favorite to write? Alternatively, which parts were unexpectedly frustrating?

From what I understand, you wrote the entire fic ahead of time and then edited it as you went along, but didn't start publishing it until the first draft was entirely finished. Do you have any advice for someone who's attempting to write a long fic following a similar process?

(as a secret fourth question, if there's any hidden lore/details that people didn't seem to pick up on/something else fic related you want to share and haven't had the opportunity to, I'm all ears. love me some secret lore 👀)

Sorry it took me so long to respond, I was working on my response instead of working and then I was like crap, I should probably do work, and then I actually went out and did stuff with people irl for once lol. So now I'm back home and can answer this!

Generally speaking, did you find Harry's chapters or Kim's chapters harder/easier to write?

There were aspects of both that were difficult. I spent a whole other fic in Kim's head so I had more practice with him, but I think Harry ended up being a little easier or at least more fun. I could break up reactions and thoughts into each of his aspects vs the solid paragraphs of Kim's chapters. You also can just do more wacky stuff with Harry and his skills. However, it was hard to remember all of the skills. Like, I did Encyclopedia so dirty. After a point I kind of just forgot about him or didn't feel like thinking up facts for him to chime in about lol

Which parts of the fic (either POV) were your favorite to write? Alternatively, which parts were unexpectedly frustrating?

My favorite thing to write is dialogue, especially when Kim and Harry are really getting into the groove of the case and when they get their little banters going. I also really like competence porn so Harry wasn't nearly as much of a mess as he could be in game. It was a bit of a wish fulfillment fic in that I wanted to see Harry doing better for himself and not just for Kim. I think directly after Martinaise he probably was doing worse than the point he's at in the start of the fic.

The hardest part was writing the case and trying not to make it too obvious (but it definitely was so I had to hope people enjoyed it regardless haha). I'd never done a mystery before so coming up with what happened and how/what they discovered was challenging. So I guess that's not really unexpectedly difficult. Writing the actual porn was unexpectedly frustrating! A majority of what I write is smut so it was like "why is this so difficult???". I had to get that last chapter perfect (I still don't think it is, but what writer ever does) because I dragged it out long enough and I didn't want to let anyone down. It's very different from what I originally had. I also had never written d/s before, thankfully my editor has experience in that realm so he had really good pointers even though it's really light in the fic lol. I still don't know how successful I was with the smut for this one.

From what I understand, you wrote the entire fic ahead of time and then edited it as you went along, but didn't start publishing it until the first draft was entirely finished. Do you have any advice for someone who's attempting to write a long fic following a similar process?

Some people can just write and post as they go, but I have way too much anxiety to start posting something that isn't finished. I also have way too much ADHD to trust that once I started something I actually would finish it. I've also seen too many fics that don't know or don't want to quit so they just keep going past the point where it would have been a good/interesting ending (not really in this fandom, I just mean in general). So, yes, I finished it, had my editor do an initial read, made some general edits based on his feedback, and then he did a more in-depth edit of the first few chapters and then I started posting them. Some chapters I added a lot more to them during this stage and some chapters stayed pretty much the same. There are a few chapters that haven't been edited because he was unexpectedly unavailable for an extended period of time and I didn't want to stop the momentum. I didn't really have a beta reader for this one, but I asked a few people to beta specific chapters. It's not something I typically would want, I'd have preferred to have a beta for all of it, but it is what it is (or was rather). So all of that is to say, you don't have to do it that way lol, but I would at least have an outline and stopping point and stick to it. And if you want a beta reader, find someone who's opinion you trust and who you can trust will be honest with you. Also don't get rid of anything entirely. If you like something, but it doesn't work, cut it and paste it in a separate document because you might find a way to bring it back or parts of it back in other places. Also make copies for version control. Once I finished it, I made a copy so if I changed something too much in the final version but didn't like it, I could either refer back to or restore parts from the original.

As for secret lore/things no one mentioned:

In the first chapter, when Mollins first flips the siren on, Harry has an adverse reaction to the sound because of his encounter with The Pigs. Then there's an Esprit De Corps check about her listening to her police shows. (Hilarious fact: I couldn't remember her real name correctly at first and before I double checked the wiki I thought it was Marine Le Pen loool)

This goes back to the first fic, but Kim bought a book on how to support someone in addiction recovery and the receipt shows he bought it when he first started as a detective with Eyes. If you take the radiation drug in the game, there's mention of Kim possibly having had a partner with addiction. Also based on his many comments on seeing officers in much worse condition and having only one partner, I'm guessing he's talking about Eyes so I went with that. I still have no idea what exactly happened with Eyes in my story, though.

Shivers helps Kim open the door to the Linnea.

The reason Johnny's body was dropped off in the Harbor is because there had been a bank robbery in Jamrock at the time and there were cops everywhere looking for anything suspicious. That's a tidbit that didn't make it into the text.

The people in Harry's Shivers check in the first part of his final POV chapter are the people that would have been targeted next.

Thanks for asking these questions, they were fun to answer!

[fancyfade]

Could I trouble you for an extended take on Kory and Dick's NTT relationship?👉👈 Curious after seeing one of your posts.

hmm so I was debating whether to re-read any comics and initially i was gonna say I wasn't, then I did anyway so :P re-read 2 scenes for panels and the whole NTT 28-34/NTT annual 2 b/c I had the scenes where they start dating less in my memory, and have screencaps for it.

Short version: Dick and Kory clearly love each other, but Dick is prioritized by the narrative as the only one Marv is interested in exploring the internal strife of, and often by the fandom as well. Kory is viewed as Dick's gf before she is viewed as a person. In terms of their actual relationship, they are not super great for each other, and have incompatible needs -- Kory is pretty needy, Dick is BAD at dealing with this I see people be like 'oh she taught him to be emotionally free' or w/e but a) she didn't, not really, all she did was take his repression and jerkyness when he was dishing it out and b) not your job to fix your BF. Especially since in canon like I said she doesn't really 'fix' or change him, she just... deals with him being condescending to her and locking her out when he gets mad or angsty, she deals with him telling her she's too much and too bloodthirsty, then she lashes out sometimes as he does.

Long version:

anyway. So. Narratively, Dick is treated as the focal character in the DickKory ship. Marv is obviously way more into Dick's internal strife than Kory's. An especially egregrious example is when after Kory has been kidnapped and tortured for 5 days by the people who enslaved her as a child, the main focus of Dick and Kory's dialogue after that is... Dick saying he's not emotionally open because of Batman, and where their relationship is going. And for disclaimers: this is not a criticism of Dick's character, because it's clearly intended to be read as something Kory's fine with here... it's a criticism of the way Marv frames the two (though there will be some criticisms of Dick in this post :P This one is not)

The New Teen Titans #26

Anyway so :P there's a reason I did this scene different when I wrote it in my fic (link) and I was like huh I like these two dorks so much better together now.

Anyway, so let's fast forward a minute. There are 2 issues Dick and Kory are dating for during which not much happens, then like.. literally. the next issue, first scene:

The new Teen Titans #28

anyway, so dick's isolating himself more, wearing himself down, we see an angsty scene in which he is working out DETERMINEDLY to try to get as good as batman (if you believe donna) and she is trying to get him to talk but he doesn't. which again - this (not wanting to talk about his feelings) isn't really a flaw on dick's part; I think part of the frustration of Dick and Kory's relationship is that I relate a lot to Dick and see lots of what i do in him XD like he wants to be alone, kory thinks this means she did something wrong.

like I am sorry kory i love you but HOW did you get "you'd rather I awsn't here" out of "I like to be alone sometimes"

Anyway, Donna is worried about Kory because Kory is very hung up on Dick pushing himself and not being as available now. Like. Right after the characters start dating, there is a lot of focus on Kory being miserable because of Dick* and I'm like. why is there such a focus on that if the writers want us to actually like seeing these characters together? and like. the writer marv clearly does care a lot more about kory being dick's GF than about her outside of that. There's some good analysis on her character and their relationship here (link)

NTT Annual 2

anyway so dick is acting emotionally distant and kory is taking it personally, he also gets possessive when Roy hits on her**

New Teen Titans #29

Like yes, Kory is insecure and thinks Dick is mad at her because of her issues... but he also does sometimes act mad at her!

Dick also may love kory, but he does not really trust her

NTT #30

NTT 31

he's also generally pretty dismissive of her. like... how is kory asking aout raven any different from you doing so dick? get over yourself. and why does he leap to assuming she'll do something stupid in the crowd situation? like he in general later in the comics is consistently un-easy with her 'lust for blood' or w/e even though she never kills anyone

anyway, he kind of apologizes but not really - which characterize dicks apologies here. first we had 'i've been acting like an ass but you don't understand what it was like being raised by batman' now it's 'i've been treating you wrong but you don't get this earth custom'. like the apology is always followed by an excuse.

NTT 31

like yeah i prefer to be left alone when things are going bad too dick! That doesn't make it OK to condescend your girlfriend and get possessive of her!

(also his apology does not result in changed behavior. right after this he ignores kory again)

anyway. so that is the very first full plotline where Dick and Kory are dating, and the issues do go on the back burner but they resurface eventually. the closer we get to terror of trigon the more dick seems wary of kory's 'bloodlust' and she feels as if he is asking her to change who she is. She feels constrained in their relationship.

We get more issues pop up later on after this. Dick is EXTREMELY condescending and bitter and xenophobic to Kory during the Tamaran wedding plotline, where Kory is being pressured into a political marriage to save her planet from civil war. He takes it as a personal affront. And later, it's revealed that Dick was acting bitchy because Brother Blood Brainwashing*** but like... he doesn't really act all that different with kory after he's unbrainwashed? I guess maybe he's less overtly aggressive, but he still has clear resentments towards the situation she was forced into, no perspective.

New Teen Titans (1984) #34

Dick and Kory are broken up at this time, which is honestly pretty good for them. Dick clearly has a ton of resentments for Kory, and she is giving him no space and thinks if she can just love him enough she can restart the relationship. But like. Kory. He doesn't want to be in a relationship with you at the moment take a hint.

However, since Marv wants the two to get back together, we have this scene (still in the second NTT series #34)

Anyway, Then Dick goes out thinking about how he still loves Kory and sees a man committing domestic violence

This is how Dick perceives the domestic violence

a "Dispute"????? Really dick?

Anyway, the guy is blabbering about how his GF made him hurt her because she cheated on him, Dick is like "You know that's bullshit", but then this is the resolution:

So just as a recap: Dick saw a man who was going to kill his girlfriend for cheating on him, and thought "Well he loves his GF and seems to regret it, so I'll leave him here with her after I take his gun, surely this will end happily".

(Also he clearly relates to the man and projects his and Kory's problems on them -- where do you even start with this. Do you want to kill Kory, Dick? Do you perceive her being pressured into an arranged marriage to stop her planet from civil war as cheating on you?)

Anyway. I'm not saying people have to perceive this as IC for Dick. I think it's stupid, and if Marv wasn't clearly assuming this situation was conveying a "love conquers all" thing, then Dick probably would've arrested the guy.

So recap:

I perceive their relationship as being a not-super-healthy one in which Kory gives more than Dick, though Dick doesn't ask her to give as much as she does. It makes Kory feel bad, like she's being restrained and useless and she did something wrong. It's that way straight from the get-go, and when Dick is brainwashed and when he is not brainwashed. Dick acts selfishly, and does not understand Kory's situation with her planet (the complex political situation, doesn't like her having tamaranean morals even though she doesn't kill people on earth, her just saying she would be OK with it is something he hates) and generally focuses on himself when he apologizes rather than on her, and it does not result in changed behavior. He is not initially willing to break up with her when a dealbreaker situation arises (her marrying Karras politically), he just acts angrier and angrier at first then I guess eventually they break up. Kory doesn't accept the breakup, she wants to get back together even though he doesn't want to, because she wants love to solve everything and she still loves him and he still loves her. I see people blame bad writing and the wedding being aborted by demon raven crashing it for the dickkory breakup, but like... they were broken up before Dick proposed. They only got back together when Dick proposed. Their relationship was petering out since kory married Karras, they had a brief renaissance spurred on by Dick realizing he still loved Kory via seeing a man want to commit domestic violence on his gf.

I'm not sure if this gave you the recap of their relationship you were thinking about but ... yeah those are my thoughts as far as I can condense-ify them. I think they have the potential to be a cute couple, and they clearly are very important to each other, but that Kory gets the short end of the stick writing wise and from Dick and she does better without him.

*notice I said because of Dick, not that it's his fault - I think some of this is due to Kory's own issues. Some of it is due to his actions, as we'll see later tho.

**which I don't think is OOC to previous stuff, because when she was in another relationship and he was not jealous, they weren't dating and hadn't been dating so... that doesn't really prove that he wouldn't be possessive/jealous

***1 of the most frustrating parts of NTT is Dick's ambiguous brainwashing, which is retconned to be like. 'he was brainwashed since issue 20 something and nothing bad he ever did is his fault'. it's terrible terrible writing.

[ofbreathandflame-archive]

Honestly I was one of the people who didn’t care about Lyria (beyond the first pets of her plot is Iron Gold but tbh I wasn’t paying attention anyways) and brushed past people’s sentiments of actively separating and disregarding her from the arc. And damn, I was wrong. You describe her wonderfully. I pushed through Dark Age again the part few days and with your posts in my hindsight, it was a really good experience. Her dialogue and inner monologue is objectively effective but also so insanely touching on the personal levels

Hi anon!!!!

I honestly had a whole ESSAY in the works but this anon really made me jump with joy when I saw it💜💜 I just found Lyria (and Ephraim) to be such important characters for the story. I feel like there a return to the heart of the series in a way, and a lot of the critiques I had for the series were addressed with Iron Gold - which honestly is my favorite book in the series, thematically. I just thought Pierce did a great job of showing Lyria as a parallel character to Darrow at the beginning, while showing the ways Virginia and Darrow were different from Octavia. I loved that her anger was validated by the story, that all of the complexity of her position wasn't shoved down in order to prop everyone up. Instead, the story allowed our main characters to realize (1) how the intentions, while good, were ineffective and (2) that the only way to address the problems is to acknowledge it. It's just refreshing to see Brown build a dialogue between Lyria and Virginia (and later Victra) instead of writing a caricature of them in which these characters learn nothing from one another. Or even little moments where Lyria ponders about being a Gamma, and how they (on a microlevel) were kind of interpolated into a system that thrived off the backs of the other clans. It's just nice to see a women of color be given complex emotions that don't make her a villain and don't get invalidated.

Having a balance between characters at the top of the society and the people at the very low of the series seems like an important thing. It made me love all of the characters more for it. Just watching Lyria struggle with losing her identity, and then in the limbo state where she's promised something that seems like it'll never come, and then have her suddenly lose even that along with her entire family. Only for her to be thrust into this high struggle battle where she feels even smaller, where she has access to power, but is so full of hate she doesn't know how to express it. To see her go from that to a girl who would start a mini rebellion and risk her life for others while gaining confidence in her abilities. Literally couldn't have asked for a better story for her.

Thank you for sharing your experience, I swear I'm sorry for keeping this anon waiting, but it made me too excited and I had to just scrap the dissertation I had wrote.

[emilykaldwen]

thanks so much for the tag @theladyelizabeth!

tagging: @acrossthesestars, @stannisfactions, @arrthurpendragon, @mercurygray, @alicentive, @nyctophilic0vitnir, @selfproclaimedunicorn, @themaradwrites, @lya-dustin, @dragonsoftheeast

1. How many works do you have on AO3?: I have 9 so far! I ended up deleting some old works that were abandoned and didn't have a lot of interaction that were over a decade old (and they didn't have bookmarks either so I wasn't worried)

3. What fandoms do you write for?: Currently, House of the Dragon is the hyperfixation

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Maiden and the Drowning Boy - HotD Canon Divergent

Soulmates Never Die - The Borgias (my oldest fic)

Fight For Me (If It's Not Too Late) - Teen Wolf

Boy With a Broken Soul (Heart With a Gaping Hole) - HotD Fae AU

You're the Lighting of the Blaze - Hotd Canon Divergent

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Always! (and if I don't it's legit cause I forgot/thought I did and AO3 ate the comment). I love the community aspect of fic writing so if you take the time to leave me a comment, I love to engage. I especially love it when commenters ask questions and look for discussion.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? probably one of the old Prequel Star Wars Fics I wrote way back in the day.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Right now, it's a tie between You're the Lighting of the Blaze and Bright Star

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not on my fics directly but I have gotten some rancid hate in my inbox re: Abby (And then that escalated to telling me to end myself so). This is why I now have anons turned off. Sorry guys.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I do write smut! I'm not sure what it means by 'what kind'? I've done a few solo smut-shots, and Maiden will have a few explicit scenes when this arc is completed. I'm definitely someone who loves Plot with a side of Porn, and as long as the smut flows well and isn't overly repetitive, I'm here for it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I have written a crossover! I had a mini-series of Whedon-verse/Supernatural called It Must Be Tuesday back on LiveJournal. Sam and Dean meet River Tam in a bar and the apocalypse happen. Dean and Buffy hooked up. I was acutally very proud of that LOL

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not stolen but I did have some concepts lifted from a Once Upon a Time fic

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I'm aware of!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Soulmates Never Die was co-written with a friend at the time (we've lost touch since then), and then when I was in the Charmed fandom, I adopted out an abandoned fic of mine and was the beta/co-writer on a big future Fic series with Wyatt, Chris, and Chris' friends. Those were some fantastic stories.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? Oh man. I really love me Jacelaena and Helaemond still has a soft place in my heart (but the trajectory of a lot of the fics has just been... a turn off). Harry/Luna will always be warm and fuzzy for me (I used to be the ship captain back in the Fiction Alley days). Buffy/Angel was my first real Fandom OTP.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Hmmm... I don't have anything right now that fits that. I did have Isabelle Martin's Life is Totally Over which was a Derek/Lydia future Kid fic that I was actually enjoying but the fandom was such an utter turn off by that point.

16. What are your writing strengths? God fuck if I know. I think I'm really good at tying things together/call backs and really emphasizing those themes. I like to think I'm thoughtful at cause/effect of character action and consequences. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I feel like my descriptions are lacking and I get lost in the weeds. I struggle with finding the stakes in a story. Conflict is difficult. 

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? me crying with dote on doing some appropriately translated high valyrian for Maiden instead of just copy/pasting from one of the online translators. Only very, very, VERY few people will know that they're grammatically correct and honoring the original development of HV, but it was important to ME.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Star Wars back in the late 90s.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written? Maiden obviously holds my heart and soul, and it's always going to be everything for me, but I'm actually incredibly proud of Fight For Me (If It's Not Too Late). It was a two parter, and I wrote it in the span of a week? Maybe two weeks? and it was the last thing I wrote for a very long time.

[sometimesanalice]

Hello, Alexa!☺️

How are you?

A bit of a random Q, but! I remember you saying that the first fanfic you wrote

was ‘Oh Christmas Tree' and I was just wondering if there was any other fandoms

you ever thought about writing for? Even if you don’t want to publish them! :) An even more general question, what other fandoms would you say you're into?

I know it's a little random, but I just love hearing about other people's interests/loves! 🥰

(I’m sorry if you’ve answered these in some way before)

Have a lovely weekend!

Hi Bo!! 🌟 I'm so good! I'm having the best afternoon with some coffee and a treat from Trader Joe's and working on a fluffy oneshot! I hope you're doing well! I love seeing you pop in my inbox!

The call of Bradley with a pine tree allergy and getting his best girl a fluffy pink one was too strong for me to resist! It was such a new thing for me that I wrote the whole thing on the notes app on my phone, it didn't even cross my mind to open a word doc for it, lol.

It's such a funny thing that for the years and years that I've jotted down ideas and dialogue that I never once thought of actually sitting down and trying my hand at writing fanfic until last year!

More for you under the cut!

My first foray into fandom and fanfic was when I was a nugget out there wilding on fanfic.net and shipping Clark/Lana from Smallville and Padme/Anakin from Star Wars. (back when I didn't even know what shipping meant, lol)

In college, I didn't have much time to read books because of all the school work, so I turned to fanfic again and got really into The Hunger Games. Dandelion Peeta had my heart, and all the modern AUs really softened the dystopian angst. That fandom had so many truly terrific writers, ones that I still follow even today.

Which is how I ended up becoming a big The 100 girlie. Some of my favorite THG authors started posting and writing for a couple of the main characters on that show and I was hooked. (it's been a lot of fun to learn that some of my fav TGM babes were also the 100 babes, so we've trauma bonded over it, haha)

And let me tell you, I need to be financially COMPENSATED by the CW for the chokehold this man had on me for like 5 years. (the hair! the gravely voice! the chin dimple! the biceps! the grumpy king with a heart of gold!)

If I was going to write for another fandom, it would be that one. Bellarke (bellamy blake and clarke griffin) still has my heart. At the height of it, I was spending hours every day reading fic for them. The chemistry between them was bananas and every week I was waiting on baited breath for any little interaction between them. It's funny now because the actors are actually married now, haha! The show gave us crumbs and went out with such a tragic whimper, but the fandom and the incredible talent there is probably why I was so invested and still read fics about them on AO3.

When I reread my favorite series The Winners Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski I fall DEEP into an Arin/Kestrel spiral. It's such an underrated YA series that I'm pretty sure I've read every piece of fanfiction that's out there (which isn't nearly enough) at least 5 times.

There was a brief Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen GOT era, but it was short lived.

I also like the Darkling/Alina dynamic from Shadow and Bone. I read the series when the books first came out before the show, and wasn't particularly enamored with them as a couple. But then they had to go and cast the pretty bearded attention whore that is Ben Barnes and I had simply no choice but to ship, lol.

I always joke and say that I don't pick the hyperfixations, that they choose me. But it's really true. The 100 ended in 2020 and I didn't have anything really capture my attention in the same way until TGM. This is the first fandom that I've really participated in, like getting to know other people and creating content! And it's been so wonderful!

Oof! Well, this got out of control quickly, lol. This was such a fun ask to get! I haven't been asked before, so I really went off the deep end here giving you my full life fandom history, haha!

[septic-dr-schneep]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag, @sneakyfox55 :D This should be fun!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

It says 894 but I've anonymized some older/lower quality fics so those aren't accounted for in the public number. Including those, it's 1045!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

At the moment it's 1,760,756!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The big ones have been Tolkien, Transformers, JSE and Markiplier, Undertale and Marvel!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Locks To Fit The Keys The Little Things Out of Suffering Come Strong Souls Tell Me Where It Hurts In All But Name

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

Feedback is love, feedback is life! Comments fuel me to keep creating :D There are some I wasn't able to respond to at the time because I was too busy/tired/ill/etc. but I do my best to get to as many as I can!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Wrong Turn, Dying Light and Last Words come to mind because they all involve everyone dying horribly. Sorry...

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Retrouvailles is just a ball of warm and fuzzy family feelings <3

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have on a couple of occasions, usually because someone didn't like my characterization or I declined to write ships that made me uncomfortable.

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

I gave it a try back in the day before I figured out I was ace and sex-repulsed. Since then I've sworn off it :'D

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I do! My Fran Bow + Undertale crossover is one of my favorites but the weirdest one was probably The Hobbit + Doctor Who XD

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. I have seen another writer use my OCs without crediting me but when I brought it up, they were apologetic so it was resolved cordially.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have, I just can't remember which one it was at the moment asfjks

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

Yes, I have, with a couple of different roleplay partners. It's been a while though; I've found I prefer art collabs over writing collabs.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I don't know if I have an all-time favorite; I usually prefer platonic, QPRs and familial dynamics. Grillby/Muffet and Eowyn/Faramir come to mind, though; they're adorable!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Just yesterday I was feeling guilty for the umpteenth time over leaving the tenth (and arguably most important) part of The Pacemakers series unfinished. I posted what I had of it so my readers could know how it would have gone but still...

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I'm pretty good at detailing high-intensity emotions and the effects they have on the characters so the readers can feel them too.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Actually finishing longer fics :'D I have a terrible track record of cliffhanger WIPs and trust me, it frustrates me just as much as it does my readers. I'm not sure how to remedy it, unfortunately.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've done it here and there with Dr. Schneeplestein's German and it's a lot of fun! Since I'm not fluent I have to be sparing with it, though; it'd suck to overestimate what I know and end up mistranslating something.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I think I wrote something for the 90s TMNT movies? That was before I knew it was even called fanfiction or that there were websites for posting them XD

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

That's such a hard question! I don't know if I could ever pick a #1 without second-guessing it later but In All But Name is pretty far up there <3

No pressure tag for @jacky-rubou! Have fun!

[vukovich]

20 questions for fic writers!

Thank you @orange-peony @schmem14 and @teledild0nix for tagging me in this game! Sorry it took me eons.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

47. 46 under "Vukovich" and one that's anonymous.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

921,870

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Just Harry Potter.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Crane Lord of Gringotts Beauxtiful Boy "I'll Figure It Out" It'll Come Back Fearful Trill

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

No, as a general rule, I don't. I just feel like it's awkward to treat an AO3 comment as a conversation starter, I guess. Like, if someone wants to talk to me, my email address and Tumblr are in my AO3 bio. I do reply to AO3 comments if there's a question about the fic. Especially if the reader says their first language isn't English. I also will reply for the purpose of harassing friends.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Return to Sender and "I love you, (too/also)" are way up there in the angst department. For "I love you, (too/also)" I actually recorded a podfic of it, and I couldn't read the ending out loud without crying so I scrapped it. NO WAIT!!! I forgot about The Seven Weasley Horcruxes. Oh, Jeebus. Apologies in advance for that one.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Eagles in Truro, just for the sake of everyone getting to have their polyamorous cake and eat it too.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Yes. Just... yes. Big yes.

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

Yeah, most of my fics are explicit. I'm not really sure what kind of smut I write. I feel like my smut is probably more graphic than some. More jizz dripping on the floor and errant pubes in teeth than what's fandom typical.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No, I can barely hold the HP universe in my head.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, several of them. I think it's cool as hell. If it's a language I'm familiar with, I help with phrasings and subtext and stuff.

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

Yeah. I have a WIP collection that people can leave unfinished fics in, and then I finish them. And I'd say when I collaborate with an artist, there's enough back and forth that it counts as co-writing. Oh! And there's a WIP with @oknowkiss and @mintawasalreadytaken I'll eventually get back to writing, I swear, you guys, for real, I will finish that shower piss scene.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Joker/Harley Quinn, actually.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

OMG just one?! I have (briefly leaves to check Google Docs) about 100k in unfinished fics, plus outlines for about ten more. I think those are all going to get dumped as-is on AO3 in an anonymous collection, and I'm only going to finish the ones I'm actively posting (Seahorse, Glitch, 24k9).

16. What are your writing strengths?

Weird turns of phrase, I guess. Or at least that's what people tell me. I feel like I'm pretty good at not bogging down the pace with descriptions, but some people like to know the threadcount when they read smut. Honestly, I have way more strengths as an editor than as a writer.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Complete disregard for the em dash. If I were meant to use it, it would have a key on the standard QWERTY keyboard. I even bought an expensive-ass keyboard, programmed an em dash key for it, and still didn't use it. It wasn't meant to be. Who would like to buy a very fancy keyboard? I will also die on my double-spacing at the end of sentences hill. Going down with this typewriter skills ship. Maybe YOUR language evolves over time, but mine's stuck in 1987.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

That's one of my favorite puzzles. How comprehensible can I make the foreign language excerpt solely through the use of cognates and cues? Love it. 10/10.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

HP

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

My most masterful works of fiction are letters of recommendation. But this sonnet is fun.

Tagging everybody already tagged, as well as @peachpety @@epitomereally @tontonguetonks @diligent-thunder @wheezykat @lou-ifyouwant @corvuscrowned

[hugollorizz]

i’m here sorry for the hour! (i think we have the same time zone) SOO one of my biggest hc, because i’m a drama lover and love suffering,, i think they fight really rarely but when it happens it’s a big deal and they both suffers so much having an argument with each other 😭..brahim is always the one who say sorry but he does with actions and not really verbally because my other hc is that his love language is physical touch (it feels just real YK?!?).

THOSE ARE MY PRINCIPAL ONES BUT I HAVE A LOT MORE HC, BUT I THINK I WILL WRITE THESE AFTER SCHOOL TOMORROW (today basically lmao) BECAUSE IM SO TIRED😭😭

OHH AND I WANTED TO TELL YOU THAT, just as yk i read anything u wrote on AO3 and i really love the way you write emotions, dialogues, sensations and the scenes ITS JUST AMAZING,, and i can’t wait for you to write more😭😭🫶🏻🫶🏻 (this text is so long helpp) ohh and my favorite one is absolutely “”i want to hear your breath (just next to my soul)”” I LITERALLY READ THIS LIKE 26382728 TIMESS🫶🏻

AND NOTHING SORRY FOR THIS REALLY LOOOONG AND BORING TEXT, (i’m so talkative when i talk about things i love lol)

love youu💕🫶🏻😭

(i hope you understood this because my english is so bad sometimes and so confusing☹️☹️)

hii!!!

right off the bat, drama and suffering? girl same 😭😭 HDNFKJFJ ES YES BIG YES that is so 100% how it goes, like they're both dumbass supreme fr it's bound to not end well sometimes (ಥ_ಥ)

AAAAAAAA as for saying sorry, ur soo right brahim is definitely the one to do it first bc honestly? look at theo bro does he look like he'd ever say sorry FKSHFJKKK 💀 ok jk he probably would if he realllyyy had to but yk... but really, that's so cute to imagine and also kinda sad pfft-

& ahh yes the age old struggling to verbally say sorry is so both of them fr... both of them are a little stubborn for that hehehehe

i totally see physical touch being their love language hdnfksskkk aaaaa U KNOW THEM SOO WELL this is so accurate i' cryingggfggf

THANK YOU SO MUCHH FOR SHARING THESE,, and wow,, even more? i'm blessed fr ah 🥹

AND OH! i'm,, (❁´◡`❁) thank you infinitely, i'm soo glad there are people out there who like what i make it makes me soo happy, and of course i will write more for them, always!!!! :,-) *☆。

PLSS DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE LENGTH, i love getting long asks, they're absolutely the best to answer, and it wasn't boring at all AA already made my whole day has me smiling like an idiot etc etc,,

i'm also reaaaally talkative about these things, i get itttt and pls feel free to talk about them (or anything else!!!) whenever u want to!!

i love them fghdd

and love u too omg thank u sooo much 💐(´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) 💌💌

(yes of course i did!!! not confusing at alll and your english is really good don't worry pleaseee)

[gojonanami]

Sab, my dearest, my beloved, the light of my life,

I know I'm two weeks late (and that a certain professor would be on my ass for it) but I had the wonderful idea of re-reading the whole Prof Geto series before reading part 6, thinking it would make for the best emotional impact and after doing just that I have to say... my hypothesis was correct. There wasn't a single second where I regretted my decision (except, maybe when I had to read the breakup scene again 😭), not a single dull word in the +90k masterpiece you wrote (isn't that the length of a novel!?), the flow of your writing is just so good, the dialogue, the internal conflict of the characters... I loved all of it, Sab. This series holds a special place in my heart and I'll probably read it time and time again in the future ❤️❤️❤️

And this chapter– god. I really have no words, it was just a whirlwind of emotions. I was giggling and kicking my feet in the hair like a teenager and I even cried at some point. I loved the beginning, the raw emotion of seeing each other again after what happened, the longing... the way Suguru and Yuta felt so conflicted about their feelings for the reader, and her getting jealous over Mei Mei... omg.

I also loved how Geto helped her with the citations of her dissertation (they were my worst nightmare during undergrad) and hated how Yuta broke up with her right after she presented it. How could he ruin such and special day like that!!! (Ofc I know it made sense to have it happen right then, but gosh 😭💔) but anyway, regarding Yuta... I love how you've set up his part. I'll love to read it when the time comes ❤️❤️

Oh! And the way Yaga *knew*. Now I can't believe that the whole reader assigned as a T.A thing wasn't tampered by him in some way– he had to play a part in that, and I bet he wasn't too fussed with them sharing a hotel room, as long as Suguru was happy hahah.

And then, the passion in his office, the reconciliation and the ending... I had to stop reading a couple of times because I was getting way too emotional, Sab. It was beautiful. I can't wait to see more of them in the extra credit fics (!!) I really hope you make a proposal one <3

I wanted to thank you for writing this series, I've loved it more than I could ever expect to and I believe it came to me in a point of my life where it just... made sense. I was stressed and unsure about continuing in academia and I believe I told you a few months back that I was applying to grad school... well, I got accepted and then hired as a research assistant at the same university!! This is as close as it gets to me living reader's life though I'll keep living vicariously through her for a while longer, I think.

Anyway– I believe I'm babbling now. I just want to thank you again for writing this wonderful series. I'm so excited for Prof Gojo and all the wonderful things you'll write in the future, Sab ❤️

baby, love of my life, the sun to my earth

haha I think prof geto would more than forgive you — especially after the diligent work you did rereading — dare I say he would be very impressed—and I am too omg

I cannot believe you read all 90K+ that’s insane and it means so much to me 😭🥹 thank you so much — it truly means the world to me because I had so much fun writing it!! it was really a special series to me and will continue to be as I write more extra credit fics :).

ahhh I can’t believe you cried 😭 I’m sorry but also thank you haha. it’s the biggest compliment 😭🥹 I really wanted to convey both yuta and suguru’s conflicted emotions — and I’m glad they came across 😭 writing mei mei was so fun because it was very spur of the moment — and I love jealous reader 🥹🫣

citations are truly a nightmare and when I thought of the idea to have that be reader’s crisis, it was so perfect because I think so many of us in academics can relate to that 😭 we all deserve a suguru. I can’t wait to write yuta!!! it’s def gonna have stuff from prof Geto like the repercussions of his relationship with reader and it will be fun :)

hahah yaga knowing was also spur of the moment — it just felt full circle since so many times he’s also pulled them apart in some way 😭😭😭

thank you 🥹💕 I’m glad you enjoyed the reconciliation scene — it was so important to me to get that so right. and I really took my time and I’m glad you think I got it right 🥹💕💕I’m def writing the proposal!!! Don’t worry :)

aww baby thank you for reading 😭🥹 I’m so glad this series could help you in any small way that it did. omg I do remember and that’s amazing!!!! Congratulations I’m so so proud of you (and professor geto is too)!!!

writing this series also came at the perfect time for me because it just was such a wonderful thing to post a new part and see everyone’s reactions — it truly made my day. I especially loved your asks as well 🥹💕

thank you for being here and sticking around. I can’t wait to start writing more of professor gojo — I think you guys will really like it 🫶🥹💕

[seethesunny]

Fic writing meme

Doing this again, this time tagged by the one and only @hypnotisedfireflies, thank you soooo much Chica! 💗

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

45! Forty-five! Mind you, it's been only a year since I came back to the gig lol

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

A very humble 260, 213 amount of words I've offered y'all 🤲🏼

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Again, I have to be in the right mindset (aka brainrot) to write for something, and The Last Of Us already got that space occupied for now 🫡

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

It is late now, I'm a bit tired; the sky is irritated by stars. (And I love you, I love you, I love you.) — first installment in my Jackson series, Tess lives au, and a sick fic all in one, TLOU.

hoax — that one rapple fic about them coming to term with non expressed feelings, EAH.

it is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world — the second installment in my Jackson series, 10k words being a Tess’s character study, TLOU.

I was lost within the darkness (until I found you) — family prompts fic collection, TLOU.

two slow dancers (last ones out) — ficlet collection centered around Joel and Tess with a variety of ratings, genres, and universes; aka my dumping ground, mind the warning. TLOU.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Always do and always will. They’re precious and important 🥹

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Whumptober is the outright answer. However, any of my canon compliant fic (joel misses his apocalypse wife) can fill that spot. Some of the ones in the ficlet collection are pretty tragic and grim, so angst is adjacent to it.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Those would be the ones where I'm delusional correct and Tess is alive and thriving 🫡

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I rarely get the normal type, so no. Luckily, no one is hating on my fics and if they do, I'm not aware 😝

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

Uhhhhh yes, actually embarrassing the amount of pwp that has been posted bc I don't have self-control 🧍🏽‍♀️The kind ranges from very sad poetic introspective work to reallyyyy kinky nasty stuff. Idk what that says about me, and neither I care.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I don't vibe with them, sorry.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Again, no, as far as I can remember. But that's never cool, so don't even think about it. I vibe with so many things but not that :/

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! I had the idea to translate my own stuff to Spanish, but there wasn't an audience for that.

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

Tap into tlou time loop madness co-written by @tessaservopoulos and yours truly <3 we have more stuff coming up next, so stay tuned.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Nice try, I don't have favorites

I say, as I shove a picture of Tess and Joel into my front pocket.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Staring at my graveyard of multichapter fics that are on creative hell: for starters-

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm very good at conceptual/poetic stuff. I'm a control freak (complimentary). I would die if I didn't nail characterization. AUs. Uhhhh babyfic. Compelling ambience.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Pursuing multichapter storytelling. I'm a control freak (derogatory). Dialogue. I can get too much inside my head. Not writing in my mother tongue, so not the best vocabulary. Writing when I'm sleepy (a sin).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

For the love of God, do not use Google translate and take the time to consult the language you're gonna use if it's gonna be a recurring thing 🫶🏼 all my respect and love to writers who get to do their research, y'all are doing amazing sweetie.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I used to (terribly) write anything I could get my hands on, so no idea? Could've been anime to a very niche flash game from the 2010s.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I'm never ever toping this tribute to flutterings. If I ever leave, I hope my legacy is this work, and it continues to haunt readers forever and ever and ever 🫶🏼

Tagging fellow talented peeps: @tessaservopoulos @beerandyarn @wardenannie @vaelyrians @ammotraguslervia @electricbluebutterflies

[amethystunarmed]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank you @marypsue for tagging me! (I'm sorry it is so late) This got VERY long, so I will put it under a cut.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

54, my god.

2. What’s your total word count?

188,134. Which seems both enormous and not enough lol.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, I'm in a major Hatchetfield kick. Those musicals have me by the throat. But I am also working on a Stranger Things series too! However, I'm probably most known for my My Hero Academia stuff, I know a couple of those absolutely did numbers when I wasn't looking.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

Oh I'm pretty sure I know. *checks Statistics* Yep I was right. My top five (and six and seven) are all from my Truth series, which is a MHA Dabihawks AU where Hawks joins the League of Villains.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try! Sometimes I get overwhelmed and fall behind but I swear I always read them and love them and am so touched.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ummmm... Deadass, I think it was the first fic I ever posted, back in high school. It was a Doctor Who fanfic, about a Weeping Angel who feel in love with a human, and tried to stop killing for him, but was so hungry she ended up killing him instead. It's almost ten years old, but you can find it here.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I am once go back deep in my archives for this one. Back in 2015, I posted a Supernatural fic that was pure fluff, Karaoke. It was my idea of a series finale where everything was beautiful for once. Riiiiip.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I definitely have before, but only like once or twice and I immediately blocked them. It is always heartbreaking though. :(

9. Do you write smut?

Once that I posted! Though I may have an unfinished draft or two, lol

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yes, absolutely! My crossover tend to be characters experiencing scenarios from other universes, rather than character meeting.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Mostly by the AO3 scraping stuff, though I have found some suspicious posts with stuff from the Truth series on other sites, but nothing really definite.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes and I dropped my phone when the request came in. I was so excited.

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

Yeah I have!!! My go-to partner in crime is @little-engineer-who-cant, we've been writing together since middle school.

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

Oh god, this is hard. Ummm... I suppose the first ship I ever really super got into was Ten/Rose in Doctor Who, so it holds a special place in my heart.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

Honestly, one I really loved was an Adventure Zone Wicked au. There were a lot of great concepts in that one, but I never really got anywhere with it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue! I love dialogue. It tends to be what I write first and then I go back and fill in the blanks.

I feel like I'm also pretty good at exploring concepts, like, taking things to their furthest extreme and exploring what it means in the universe.

Also angst. I love angst.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions. I just want you all to know what I am seeing in my head, not have to describe it. I really have to work at imagery, and making scenes feel alive.

Also fuck fight scenes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

I would do it if I felt confident that I or another person could edit it to be accurate. If I am google translating or something, I'd rather just do English italics or say what characters the language are speaking. I don't want to butcher another language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

As mentioned previously, the first fic I published was for Doctor Who but god as a kid I wrote myself into stories all the time! Should have known I'd end up a writer. Probably Yu-Gi-Oh or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Ohhhhhh these are so hard. Ummmm... To be honest, I am so incredibly proud of I Need a Shovel to Love Him. It is one of my recent Hatchetfield fics and is an exploration of grief, and it probably the closest a piece of writing has ever been to exactly what I pictured in my head when I wrote it.

But! Trying to ignore the bias for recent works, So Few Men Can Carry It is probably up there. It is an OC focused story in the Truth universe, and I loved discussing healthcare in a world with professional superheroes and plan to do more original stuff with that concept, because I love it so much.

I'm going to tag @little-engineer-who-cant again, as well as @snarky-wallflower and @starpirateee. (Does anyone else like to be included in these? I need to make a list!)