#idk i think it would make it so much easier for us to avoid miscommunications

[dontyouhearmehowling]

i wish you could know every single thing i feel, like a complete telepathy mind sharing kind of thing

[saucymalum]

What's This? (Consequences of my Actions) W.S

Wilbur Soot x Gn! reader (they/them pronouns)

Warning: Angst, Enemies to lovers, mentions of past death, y/n being dumb, miscommunication.

Summary: Bro idk figure it out.

Word Count: 2.6k

I always knew he hated me. He didn’t hide it. He didn’t like that I was “Invading” his friend group. That I was getting along with them. He didn’t like me. It infuriated me how he acted like he was better than me. All I wanted was to be his friend and he didn't give me a chance. I couldn't understand how he could hate me for no reason. So I gave him a reason.

 I tried to annoy him everytime I could. He didn’t want me at a party so badly he would text me to not come and I’d arrive early with baked goods. He didn’t like me tweeting about his band so much that he’d intentionally be the only member not following me? I tagged them all in every tweet. I became his hell. Did I hate him? No. But I hated that he treated me like he was better. Like I was insignificant. 

To the fans, I was their biggest fan. I’d cover their newest songs on my Instagram story and take pictures in their merch. Some thought I was even dating one of them, which was almost laughable. I truly loved them all. The party's welcoming environment they created pulled me in as Wilbur stood in the corner. His dark brown eyes look almost black in this light as he watches my every move. Watching me talk to everybody while he tries to keep up the small talk and savors his beer. His eyes left a burning trail down my skin. It became a game for me, how far I could push him.

I’d try to ask him questions in conversations, simply because I knew he didn’t want to talk to me. And that's when my plans started to crumble. I liked the guy. I thought he was fucking funny. Being antagonizing was so much easier when I didn’t know him. I wanted to be the asshole's friend. I kept trying to keep up my game, but I failed every time unless it was social media. It’s easy to fake things there. So I did.

I ignored my emotions, my guilt, and the rising feeling that I refused to acknowledge. I posted pictures of myself at their concerts; I posted their songs on my story. I was a good friend, but I avoided Wilbur. And at the end of the day, it didn't matter much to him if I showed up to the parties. I saw the glares he’d given me that made me want to laugh in his face. I missed not knowing him.

I started showing up early at parties and sneaking out early. I’d avoid Will even if I felt his eyes burn me. It seemed fine until he caught on. 

I sat at their EP release celebration, an hour in, and I zoned out and stared at a wall. People passed by and I sat drinking my now warm beverage. Blurs of people, laughing, smiling, dancing, pass around me. I can't believe I did this to myself. 

The seat beside me dips and I look to see Phil looking expectantly at me. One eyebrow raised slightly and his blonde hair messed up a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something's wrong?" I laugh nervously.

He sits there, giving no answer, knowing I'll break. And I do. 

I spilled everything, beginning to now. Frustration pours out every word as the temperature in the room seems to rise. I don't want to be here anymore.

Phil sighs and I feel shame replacing my relief.

"Why would you do this to yourself Y/N?"

"I DIDN'T WANT THIS! I JUST WANTED THE STUPID LITTLE PRICK TO BE HUMBLED. Or at least annoyed enough to stop being a dick." my breaths shake for a second "In no universe was THIS my plan. "

I fall into the back of the couch. "What do I do?" 

"Talk to him."

I groan, "I forgot you're a 'communication is key' person" 

Phil lightly shoves me, "So are you until you get scared and run away. You can't run away this time. Avoiding him means avoiding us and you know that." 

“I know.” 

“So what do you think you need to do?” He asks softly.

I take in a deep breath and straighten my back. My eyes find Wilbur chatting up some girl in the corner. I let my feet guide me to him and without a word, too scared to speak, I grab his jacket and pull him out onto the back porch.

“What the Fuck, Y/N?”

“What is your problem with me? You refuse to talk to me, You hate my presence, and you constantly make an effort to show me you think I'm less than you. Why?”

“Maybe because you do shit like you just did without thinking about how it’d affect me.”

I scoff, “What a cop-out. You’ve hated me from the beginning. I want you to tell me why.”

He creeps further into my personal space. His height becomes increasingly harder to ignore when he looms over me. His breath fans over my face, and I want to cringe at the warmth.

“Has it ever occurred to you in your self-centered little head that not everyone likes you? You’re not some god or goddess Y/n. You grate my veins and you enjoy it. You TRIED to annoy me and you’re confused why I don’t like you? How into yourself can you be?”

Electricity pricks at my skin and the back of my eyes burn, “Don’t act like you didn’t hate me from the get-go Wilbur. I know what it feels like to be disliked.”

“Then why does it bother you so much if I don't like you? Huh? Sweet little Y/N just wants to be loved and cherished by everyone, isn't that right?” My breath shakes as the back of his hand brushes against my cheek. “Well, life doesn’t work like that. Some people will hate your grating voice and some people can't STAND your GODDAWFUL laugh. So get over it and be a fucking adult about it. Stop being a little baby.” 

WARNING: description of a panic attack, stay safe and skip to the end of the trigger warning <3

He steps back and I quickly escape the cold night that suffocates me. My throat closes in on itself and my eyes water. I can’t breathe, I can’t BREATHE. I try to drag in breaths, but the effort is beyond fruitless. Through my watery eyes and past the blur and dizziness, I walk to the bathroom. I need to escape. I need to GET OUT. Everyone hates me, such a stupid baby who can’t even handle a man not liking them. How pathetic can you get? Everyone's eyes are on me. They’re laughing at me, aren’t they? I bet they are. The bathroom door’s soft close sounds like a thunderclap in my ears but that thunderclap is the most comfort I have felt since Phil and my conversation ended. My ears are ringing. I don’t know what to do. 

I sink to the floor, and my back hits the cold tile, shocking my skin through my thin shirt. I've prepared for this. Ok, just find something you can smell. Ok, I can do that. My mind wanders into my negative talk, but quickly it snaps to the smell of the Febreze air freshener going off. 

Good, good. One down, four more to go. I can see the design in the ceiling, that's another. 

My lungs slowly feel less pressure on them. Not a semi-truck but maybe a minivan. I can hear yelling outside the door, maybe someone knocking. It's so hard to hear when I feel like I'm underwater. 

I can feel the tile under my fingertips, the cold feels nice against my skin, the hot trails that the tears leave sting and I almost want to press my face into the floor to cool them. 

The sweet drink still lingers on my tongue. Good, I got all five. Now breathe. It's so hard when the hiccups interrupt but I practice these exercises daily. 

The weight on my chest slowly releases and the tears go dry. I'm left exhausted. I want to go home. The room goes steady and I slowly stand on shaky legs.

I avoid the mirror as I cool my hands in the water flowing in the sink and press them to my cheeks.

WARNING OVER: Stay safe, love.

The yelling outside gets clearer when I open the door, the house has been cleared away of any guests and the pounding of my heart gets louder. Phil stands in front of Wilbur yelling at him, words I barely have the energy to decipher. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you right now, Wilbur? You are a grown-ass man. What the hell would possess you to think talking to someone like that was ok?” Kristin stands next to Phil. She shoots a disappointed look at Wilbur, but he ducks away. 

“Oh don’t give me the disappointed parent act.” He scoffs.

Wilbur walks over to the couch, closer to me, and I press my back closer to the bathroom door that I closed.

Phil chases after him, “Well, if you didn’t act so immature, maybe I wouldn’t have to Will! What were you thinking!? You barely know her and you already decided to chase her away?”

“If she didn’t want me to hate her maybe she could have tried to not do everything I hate on purpose.”

“You gave them a panic attack! Nothing they did made them deserve that. We just want you to explain. Can you please just let us understand?”

Wilbur pauses putting on his jacket and sighs, “I’m scared, ok?” 

“Of what?” 

“Phil, they remind me of Lacy, and I can’t get hurt like that again.” He turns around and his eyes meet mine. Shock and remorse fill his eyes, but he brushes past me and bolts for the door.

I take a shaky breath in and look at Phil and Kristin. "Who’s Lacy?”

We sat in the living room of Phil and Kristin’s house as they tried to explain it in the most delicate way. But really, how can you explain to someone that they reminded a person they considered an enemy of their dead girlfriend? That they reminded someone they thought hated them of someone they were in love with? I didn't think I could cry anymore. I was wrong. I reminded Wilbur of a love that was ripped away from him. I hurt him by being around him.

I wanted to be mad at him. Hurt him for punishing me for something I had no part in but I couldn't. 

I just wanted to go home and never leave.

And that's what I did. I stayed in bed, emotionally exhausted and numb. My self-destruction hit me like a brick, canceling my therapy appointment for the next day and turning my phone to do not disturb.

Wilbur POV:

No one had heard from Y/N in almost a week. Seeing their face when I left made me feel like I swallowed a brick. A part of me felt glad that finally, FINALLY, they would feel just a sliver of what they've made me feel for months.

But the guilt…the guilt at that thought overwhelmed my brain quickly after. What kind of person would that make me to want someone to hurt the way I have? Even if it was someone who hurt that doesn't make it ok. 

This guilt led me straight to Y/N's front door. My hand hovered over the door. What was my plan when I got here? I don't think I even gave myself time to make one. 

Before I could attempt to knock on the door, it swung open with the image of Y/N's dark-circled eyes staring shocked at me. 

"Oh Jesus!" they exclaim and hide behind the door a bit. The wrinkles in the pyjama shirt clinging to parts of their body. A small smile creeps into the corner of my mouth at seeing them again. To see that they were at least still alive and kicking.

"I'm so sorry to just show up like this!" I step away from the door, giving them some space. "I want to check in."

Their bottom lip moves between their teeth as they chew at the loose skin. A mental debate wars on behind their eyes, no doubt wondering who asked me to come here.

"Who blackmailed you?" they ask.

A hesitant silence floats between us as I wonder if it'd be wrong to tell the truth.

A sigh passes my lips. "I felt bad."

Their eyes quickly widen again as they forget the effort to hide themself behind the door. They rush the 2 feet to me and place a hand on my arm.

"No! No, you have nothing to be sorry for! I was a goddamn asshole, Wilbur! Why didn't you slap me earlier? I was so arrogant and antagonistic towards you. I can't believe it. You did nothing but try to avoid me because you were hurting and I made it ten times harder."

"Y/N, I said horrible things to you. I felt like a villain. I never want to feel like that again. I am so sorry for talking to you like that." My shoulders sink in a subconscious effort to get down to their level. To look they straight in the eyes. To maybe show them all the emotions that I felt the moment I left Phil's house."

Y/N sighs and releases my arm from their grip. They step out of the doorway, a silent invitation. Luckily, I'm not a vampire.

"Will, what you said was true. I can't fault you for saying the truth."

How could they think that? That anything I said was true, calling them such stupid names in order to belittle them and make them feel small? What have I done?

“Nothing, and I mean nothing, I said to you was true. Yes, I was hurt and yes how you treated me didn’t help but none of it was true and keep telling you otherwise until you believe.”

They look away from my eyes to the ground, “Well, that's gonna take a while since I thought all of those things about myself long before you told me.” 

A sour feeling rises in my stomach. Everything in me wants to protect them.

“Well, I’ll be here every time you doubt me.”

They scoff, “Like you’ll call me at 3 in the morning.”

“Who says I won’t” I shrug.

Their eyes glaze over with tears as they look hopefully into mine, “This isn’t how I wanted things to go, you know. I didn’t want us to hate each other.”

They turn away from me, busying themselves in front of their kettle. “I wanted to stop that stupid game months ago.” 

My eyebrows wrinkle quizzically, “Then why didn’t you?”

“I couldn’t admit to myself I had feelings for you.”

Their shoulders tense quickly and they spin around to me, “Not that I’m pressuring you at all, I swear. I just-I just had to let you know I didn’t want to hurt you like this.”

“But you did mean to hurt me?”

“I thought you saw me as less than you. I wanted to prove you wrong. Now I know I was the one in the wrong.”

“Y/N I thought you were amazing. I was stupid and thought if I avoided you I wouldn’t fall for you.” I step forward into their space, “I didn’t think I could handle it.”

“Did you?” 

The space between our bodies shrinks til we’re breathing the same air.

“Yes,” I whisper, my hand gravitating to their hip.

“And can you handle it?” 

“With you, I think I’ll be more than fine.”

[the-fandom-fuckup]

Kirikacchako? Please

I'm not sure if this is referencing a specific prompt from like.. An older post or not, but I've been on a bit of an au kick lately so I'm gonna use this as a plug for some of the aus/ideas I've had, so I hope that's alright ^-^

(I'd offer a doodle for your troubles but... I don't have any to offer rn gjskfksjfkak)

One of the most recent ideas I've had is Kirichako sirens x hoh/ace pirate Baku, in which Kirichako are a mated pair of sirens that travel the seas together to prey on unsuspecting sailors and Baku is a pirate that spends a bit too much time around the cannons n explosives, resulting in hearing loss over time

Upon meeting Baku for the first time Kiri n Ochako are both fascninated and peeved. Fascinated bc no one's ever looked them in the eyes during their song and resisted them like he has, and peeved bc immediately after staring at them Baku tried killing them with explosives

Like sure, they've met people on the seas that have been resistent to either their song or bodies before, but never someone who was unaffected by both. They didn't know whether to be more interested or insulted honestly

((They go with interested, but tell themselves they're insulted bc it's easier to admit))

N honestly I don't have much here, but they end up following Baku's ship around bc it has some good benefits (provides them with protection from bigger sea creatures, food from all the ships they destroy/people they fuck up), and also they just like bothering Baku until they get a reaction from him

They don't sing to him anymore, but they chitter at him n throw pretty sea trinkets up against the ship/into open cannon flaps for him to find later

The last thing I have for this idea is the courting process probably starts bc Baku tripped on the sea trinkets one too many times while carrying out his duties n gets pissed, so he goes up to the main deck to get their attention before chucking some sparkly, garbage thing back at them hoping to distract them enough to get them to fuck off. But the sirens look at their new gift and go wait... Returned gift?? A courting gift?? Which goes to kickstarts a whole new wave of bullshit lmao, rip Baku's sanity

Another idea I wanna shoehorn these guys into is my EnjiRei/TodoDeku mafia bodyguard au, but I'm not too sure on how to go about it tbh like

One one hand, I could have Kiri in with the Todorokis n Ochako in with All Might's group, and have Baku be the unsuspecting civilian just trying to live his life but has attracted the attention of both gang members, who then treat it as a rivalry of who gets Baku first but end up seeing each other as more than just rival groups when the gangs actually start working together n they get paired to run jobs, and has everyone spiralling into a mess of feelings and highjinks before leveling out to smth manageable

On another hand I could have a similar idea with Kacchako as the rivaling gang members and Kiri as the unsuspecting civilian, or maybe even some other underground member like an underground ring fighter or a runner or whatever, who gets scouted by the groups bc his reputation in the ring gets him a gig as some extra muscle or smth for an outside job

And then on the last hand I could have pre-established Kiribaku as the gang members (in the same gang this time) and Ochako as the civilian making bad deals with shady people for extra cash to try and help her family out of their shitty finacial situation, taking jobs she has no business taking (probably from the rising group that's fucking up everything for everyone else tbh) n catching the boys' attention bc "what's a pretty little thing like you doing in the sleazy part of town? Don'tcha know shit gets dangerous around here?" And they're endeared by her spunk n unwillingness to crumble under pressure so they take her under their wing to show her the ropes but also gives them their kicks bc they get off on corrupting her innocent n naive moral compass, all while being hunted by the other group bc she ditched their jobs n now has to face the consequences or smth, Idk idk

It would help if I had any understanding of how mobs/organised crime shit worked or even watched those kinds of shows/movies lmaofnakfmdjs

I'll finish it off with the modern fantasy au I've been thinking about bc I love it dearly, staring alpha werewolf Baku, alpha dragon Kiri, and bamf witch Ochako

At some point or other Baku gets the entire Bakusquad + Deku, Tetsu, Camie, and Ochako living in his packhouse bc he takes a great deal of pride in caring for his pack members and it's actually really easy for his alpha to categorise people as pack, but you'd have to pull out all his teeth before he admits it

Some of them just decided they lived there now n didn't leave, but both Kiri (+Tetsu) and Ochako were brought in by Baku bc his alpha's love language is acts of service/providing and clearly they both benefitted from the move so "why tf are you making such a big deal about it?? Just pack your shit n get it moved in, you've got a week"

Kirikacchako dance around each other hardcore in this au, to the exasperation of everyone else. The alphas try to play off their urges to provide n scentmark as subtly as possible, and since Ochako isn't aware of the meaning it goes pretty well. But literally everyone else is rolling their eyes n making bets on how long it takes them to get their shit together lmaojdidudj

A scene I have pictured for them (and the first one I came up with for this au) is Ochako going out somewhere and Kiri n Baku both casually scent her before she heads out, thinking they're all slick n shit. But as soon as she leaves Deku levels them with the most deadpan expression he can make n says "that was the least subtle thing I've ever seen in my life", and as Baku snaps n goes "I dunno what you're talking about" Kiri replies with a smug "I wasn't trying to be😏"

And like. Realistically the alphas know Ochako isn't really an omega, but she does share some traditional omega qualities that have their alphas going wild (period cycle=heat cycle, round n squishy but will fight you=strength n size for providing healthy pups + the ability to protect them, etc.) so it's understandable that their alphas would slip up n refer to her as their omega, right? Right??

It also doesn't help that after taking Ochako with them on full moon runs, she's been chatting with some of the betas n omegas there and asking how to better communicate with the boys (to avoid miscommunication, she says). But they've both marked her so much that the betas n omegas think she's their courted omega, so they teach her vocal cues n what they mean coming from an alpha, and teach her how to purr and chirp in response.

They don't think to mention the significance behind some of the cues they teach her bc why would they? Smelling as strongly as she does, there's no way those alphas aren't going to give her their bite n bond with her. Why would they need to explain some of the more provocative noises they teach her? They're just helping her for when her alphas decide it's the right time to mate her, is all

I haven't gotten around to how their tension n dancing breaks, but it does eventually n they do get together n bond and all that good stuff, and eventually they have werewolf/dragon/magic hybrid babies bc I have quirkbabes design in another au n I'm obviously dropping them into every au I possibly can bc I love them n put a lot of work into them (and they're super pretty, so I'm showing them off where ever I can assuming I actually draw smth for this au eventually rip)

And wow, this is getting kinda long n rambly so I'm gonna end it here, but I hope that this was kinda what you were looking for landkwidjdkwbf

If you wanna know more about any of the aus just let me know, I could ramble forever

Or if you have any other kirikacchako ideas you wanna hear about feel free to drop them off, I don't mind!! ^-^

[confusedinfj]

Story Writing Tips

@realentj gave me some writing tips I've been searching for my whole life. And since I never found them, I decided to articulate them for other people who - like me - are hacking their writing by following vague writing advice. Hopefully this helps at least one person 😊

Also, I'm not saying the examples I've given are good. I'm just trying to demonstrate mild improvement 😂

Common Advice Evils

Write what you know = vague. Write SOMETHING you know. Like emotions and feelings of the characters - that's the reason we can read Sci Fi and fantasy.

Show, don't tell = pages of wasted space. Maybe your character is a hypochondriac who can tell their heart is burning as tears run down their face, maybe they're an emotionally unaware person who just goes 'I was sad - idk why'. Say it like the character would.

More dialogue! = no. Dialogue is boring. More thoughts, thoughts about what people are saying. More thoughts than dialogue. NO: 'hi' 'how's it going?' 'good thanks, you?'. YES: 'hi.' She seemed flat today. I wondered why. 'How's it going?' Maybe she'd mention what was wrong.

Set the scene = too many pointless descriptions. Give us the character's thoughts - if they don't notice anything, don't mention it. NO: I walked into the big room. The walls were red, there were three chandeliers, the floor was shiny, there were people everywhere. The room was hot, there were 15 candles... ' YES: I walked into the room, immediately struck by the size. There were chandeliers on the roof, and I stood there, staring at them.

Avoid writing in the first person = terrible advice. I personally find writing in the first person easy - it helps me know what is and isn't important to include.

Keep it simple = good advice. Overcomlicating your plot will bore the reader. You can have a complicated plot, but you're gonna have to make it SEEM simple.

Let your character suffer = good, but don't make them suffer for the sake of it. Suffering looks different for everyone, there's a lot of wiggle room here. It could be as simple as offending a friend for a few days.

Just write = good advice! It doesn't need to be perfect, I needs to be done.

My tips

Write scenes like a movie. This way you'll have less pointless stuff, and something will always be happening for a reason.

Write images, not ideas. My brain seems to work like Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Scrubs, with all the cut scenes. Let your character think the same way if it's right! So instead of: I thought about standing up on the table, in the middle of the room, and screaming. Everyone would probably stare at me if I did that. Try: I pictured myself standing on the table in the middle of the room, screaming, everyone staring at me.

Format things well. It makes it easier to read. If you press tab on a new line it gives it professional looking indents, and it's much easier to read.

Get good at punctuation. This allows you to get the sound of real speech across while still being readable. So instead of: They were on the left and the right they were everywhere. Try: They were left, right - everywhere!

Don't use semicolons. You're probably not using them correctly, and they look obnoxious anyway. Use dashes instead. They're harder to misuse, and they look much more conversational.

Don't try. Just be honest. Writers who try tend to get bogged down in pointless metaphors and needless imagery. Just write.

Let the deeper meaning appear. Don't force it. If you sit down to write a story about x, y, and z you'll probably bore yourself to death.

Write about people. People like people. Even if you have the coolest plot in the world, no one will read it without people. All the best books almost sound boring when you describe them - they're just about people.

Thoughts and feelings. Not descriptions and dialogue. This is what people read stories for, try to get them right. So while you can do: She had blue eyes, blonde hair, and a blue dress. She had a small face. I was a little scared of her. This tells us more about your character: She had blue eyes - that was the first thing I noticed about her. They felt cold, so I looked away. It describes less, but ways more about the thoughts and feelings of the character.

Be honest. Pls don't sit down and try to skip straight to being Tolkien or Keats. Your writing will sound so forced and inflated.... Just be honest when you write.

Write casually. This is a good way to learn to write well, because you won't be distracted trying to sound smart.

Cut words. Any word you can cut, cut it. Pronouns, conjunctions, phrases that could be turned into one word.... Cut 'em. So instead of writing: He was running after me, and I needed to escape. I ran away quickly, breathing heavily. I didn't know where to go. Try: He ran after me - I needed to escape. Running, breathing heavily - I didn't know where to turn.

CONSISTENT CHARACTERS. Maybe it's totally believable your uptight character suddenly wants to do drugs - but you better make sure it is. Don't make your characters do things for the sake of it. If you want your uptight character to do drugs but can't think of a reason why they would, be more creative - maybe it could be an accident? People hate inconsistent characters, and saying 'they're not inconsistent because they're my characters' is just lazy. My biggest pet peeve: Characters ending up together when they really wouldn't. Don't do it.

Say it how the character would. This means you CAN tell, you don't ways have to show! You can totally just write: it was a big house. Didn't think much of the colour though.

Point out things the character cares about. Don't bother describing everything in the house if the character doesn't think it's important. Your character can walk into a mansion and literally be like: x-box. That's all I saw.

Explain your character's feelings. Sometimes having them cry and say they're sad isn't enough. If you do this well, the reader should feel something too. So instead of just: She was upset with me, so I began crying. I was sorry to let her down. You could try: I'd let her down - she was so upset, she was crying, all because of me. I began to cry too, angry that I couldn't be better, stronger. Obvs don't overdo it 😂

Let your character's thoughts ramble. You can even let them cut themselves off mid sentence. Instead of: I tried to figure it out. Was it possible that she flew? No, that seemed to be taking things a little too far. Try: I mean, I suppose it was possible that - no. No, that was a little too far.

Don't over explain things. Say it the simplest, most obvious way and move on. You can always fix it later if you have to. The best writing is simple and honest.

Write down stuff that feels embarrassing and hurts. I don't usually keep that stuff in its first form, but I do keep the essence. It's helpful to see it written down and realise what you're going for.

Let your character miss things. This works particularly well in first person. It means you don't have to explain or describe every single thing, it's very relieving.

Find your voice. Your character's voice that is. You don't need your voice, you need to hear your character. I like to pick a person and write as if they're talking. They can even have multiple voices, like a lot of people have when they're aeghong or talking to themself. If you can hear your character's voice, it will be harder to write them doing something they would never do - you just won't be able to see it.

Have fun! Write things you think are fun - play around with your writing.

Love your story. Even if you don't like the way you've done it, love the story. Learn to separate the story from the actual writing. That way you'll be motivated to go back and fix it later.

Take advice. If you can find it, and it can be hard to come by. Try out anything suggested, you never know what might work!

Ignore the haters. That is, people who insult you and your writing without giving any tips. They're just mean. So many famous authors weren't published until at least 35. Writing is a skill, keep working on it!

Bonus tip: Don't kill characters for the sake of it. It's annoying. Character death should have a point. Yes, that point can be death can seem pointles, but that point doesn't belong in every story, and it shouldn't be repeated multiple times. Then you just look like a psycho and you'll annoy the reader. Just - don't do anything to your characters for the sake of it. Forced tribulation is annoying to the reader.

Bonus bonus tip: pls don't write a story that hinges on a basic miscommunication. If it can be fixed in two minutes in a conversation, it's probably a cliche... Definitely overused in films!

[sothischickshe]

Look - I’m not even going to pretend to know what you’ve already been asked for this fanfic thing. So pick three you haven’t answered or make up some of your own questions. God speed.

ha ha, i thought i couldn’t pretend to know what i’d already been asked either but turned out i actually havent answered that many of these so i will refrain from inventing my own qs for now. (sidenote: i have a couple of half finished ask memes in my drafts but i seem to have run out of steam. making up qs is hard!!!)

A: How did you come up with the title to (a) time to kill?

great q, thanks for asking. well the series and all its parts are named for lyrics from turn! turn! turn! (to everything there is a season) which is a great song, and also a great title, and also just very lyrically rich. when i was writing the second part, i had most of the third part in my head but hadnt written even a single note down. (partly cos i wanted to see all of s3 first, to be able to react to any strange new plots or changing dynamics.) and i was just thinking through the lyrics trying to work out what would be a good title, preferably in line with the other two, and then i realised a. duh and b. it actually doesnt need to in the same format you can put the brackets riiiight there, and then a spent a lot of time cackling to myself.

H: How would you describe your style?

instinctive, mostly! i write the way i write bc... it’s the way i write!

however, the more i do it, the more im able to identify commonalities across my writing and i think that helps me deploy those aspects/tricks/whathaveyous more precisely/with increased intent?

so not everything is going to use all these things, or to the same extent but i think it involves some combo of:

tight pov/a lot of internal voice

limited dialogue (which is hilarious bc i live my life like im competing for a repartee award. though i think you get more dialogue if it doesn’t involve beth n rio, lol)

preferencing character over plot

ambiguity

humour/angst/mood whiplash

unreliable narrator

off-kilter preposition use

alliteration; assonance; rhythm

weird word choices; metonymy

past-as-memory; repetition-as-obsession

punctuation-as-rhythm; repetition-as-faltering-thought

hyperbole-as-melodrama

ridiculous premises/writing myself from a corner

supernatural references (often as melodrama)

relatively naturalistic dialogue

describing things in the negative (and often double, triple, more negatives)

writing towards pay-off

miscommunication and misunderstanding, but in a general sense (rarely does a story hinge entirely on a single misunderstanding that could have been easily avoided... beth n rio at least are just generally dumb)

a weird relationship between temporal generality and specificity (im sure i got that from dh lawrence)

interiority (especially in the sense of characters behaving and speaking differently with reference to different characters and situations)

random theories writ large

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

@septiembur @ohmisterjapan and @nakedmonkey

bc i love their stories and their writing, and bc (although they write very differently) the number one reason for all 3 is their beth characterisation.

i increasingly kind of feel like rio characterisation is actually easier in a lot of ways bc he’s more of a blank slate that you can project onto, whereas we know a lot more abt beth AND it can be hard to pull all those strands into a coherent picture. i like the way that they all write her as...pointy! but like... not without care? and i always find their characterisations of her extremely believable, as well as detailed.

also! they’re all capable of doing a LOT with few words which is, like, hard!

idk im barely caffeinated and havent finished my breakfast avocado and probs not making much sense, but im always extremely excited when any of these 3 post something <3

fictacular asks

[frazzledsoul]

What are your top 5 most unpopular Gilmore Girls opinions?

Oh, boy. Here we go.

5. It is in everyone’s best interests that Christopher and Lorelai have almost nothing to do with each other at this point.

I don’t know how unpopular an opinion this is (probably um, not so much) but it would have remained extremely uncomfortable if they had remained on friendly terms with each other. Every time they are in the same space, they end up reliving their adolescence and it’s fun for an afternoon, but it also keeps them from ever really growing up. As long as Lorelai’s there to enable him and help fix his mistakes, Christopher will never become a real adult. As long as he’s around, she’ll just end up making extremely ill-advised spur-of-the-moment decisions because she wants to relive her youth again. They’ll just keep repeating the same pattern that their early parenthood forced on them: Christopher gets off scot-free due to Lorelai’s long-standing attachment to him, while she’s left to pick up the pieces and each spontaneous decision causes massive emotional damage to everyone around her.

So to put it more simply, Christopher’s a shitty friend because he can’t help being who he is. All of the stuff I just mentioned caused them to have extreme boundary issues that would end up hurting any future relationships either of them might have.

And then there’s the Luke issue. It won’t really ever be okay for Luke and Christopher to be around each other again. As far as Luke is concerned, this is the person Lorelai more-or-less cheated on him with. Their relationship could never really survive unless he was sure he could trust her. So Lorelai cut off contact. I don’t think Luke forced her to do this: it was her decision because it’s healthier for everyone involved. Including Christopher.

Of course, this might change a little bit once Rory has that baby. I think that’s healthy, too, and it has been a decade, after all. It won’t ever be like it was, though, and that’s still a positive thing.

(BTW, I would love a fic written about this that wasn’t too angsty and didn’t make Christopher out to be a total villain, if anyone feels inclined)

4. Zach is a great husband for Lane. Yes, better than Dave would have been.

Lane and Zach appeared to have the happiest, most functional relationship in the revival by far. I thought he was fairly sweet and supportive in the last season of the original series as well. It’s a little sad that they didn’t achieve music superstardom, but in my head they’re involved in musical projects that we didn’t quite hear the details of. Sometimes it’s better to let go of one’s wildest dreams for these characters and just be happy when they are.

3. Season 7 isn’t that bad.

As someone who followed the show when it was on, I can tell you that ASP had not only been toying with the idea of Christopher/Lorelai for years, but she often gave off the impression that she preferred that pairing. More to the point, there simply was no quick fix for what happened at the end of season six. Luke was going to be devastated, and he was going to have to not talk to Lorelai for a while. The season 7 writers could have avoided doing the L/C pairing, but based on what had been set up in the show to that point, it’s not surprising that they went ahead with it. We were going to have to deal with it one way or another.

Season 7 definitely has its awkward moments, but I think it gets better as it goes on. Luke had been such a jerk the previous season that they had to build him up again and make him a great guy. He stops fumbling with the parenting thing and is a great dad to April: he finally stands up to his child’s mother: he’s there for Liz and Lane and Zach. He’s able to finally ask Lorelai for help and to come through for her when she needs him. Lorelai is most awkward for me in the early episodes but I think she does start to improve once the show hits the middle stages and the LOVE TRIANGLE ANGST is dialed up to 11: ten years on it’s a lot easier to actually enjoy a lot of what goes on. I think that Logan and Rory actually become a couple you can root for throughout most of the season. The last third of the season I think is mostly classic GG and as good as the show got in its first five seasons.

2. The breakdown in parental responsibilities re: April between Luke and Lorelai in the revival wasn’t an indication of dysfunction on their part, but was fairly typical parent/stepparent behavior.

There is so much missing information in the April/Luke thread in the revival that it’s often hard to get much of a grasp on what’s going on. Why does he seem to be the only parent providing for her education? If he’s putting forth that much effort, why did he mysteriously not attend her graduations? Why are Lorelai and Rory almost rude to her? Why does Lorelai seem to think she’s spoiled? Did she get up early and attend the “real” wedding we didn’t see or could she not make it for some reason? Blah blah blah. But I digress.

Oddly enough, the thing most people seem to have a real issue with is when Luke brings up April’s graduation gift and Lorelai seems to imply that April is spoiled because of how much Luke is paying for on her behalf and suggests that she get a job instead. She offers to help pay for the trip and Luke says he has it handled. For some reason, this gets twisted into Luke being closed-off and refusing to let Lorelai participate in April’s life by not letting her pay for something she disapproves of anyway, even though we are told shortly afterwards that it was Lorelai’s idea that they split up responsibilities in this way.

And oh yeah, this is shortly after Rory has invited herself home, when she has no job or plans to get one, even though she mysteriously has access to enough money to rent an apartment of her own. I don’t know about you guys, but Lorelai seems to be a wee bit hypocritical on this one regarding who in the Gilmore/Danes brood is really spoiled. (Good thing Jess seems to have his shit together).

All of this is kind of beside the point. This is the sort of discussion that is fairly common between parents and stepparents. I have two stepparents and four adult stepsiblings: when we have a problem, we go to our actual parent, not our stepparent. The one that isn’t technically related to us can have opinions and they can advise, but they aren’t the ones making the decisions. All of this is perfectly normal. Lorelai never wanted to supplant April’s mother: she just wanted a chance to be involved in her life, to be able to meet her and spend time with her and know what was going on with her. She’s getting to do all of those things: she wouldn’t have these opinions about April’s plans if she didn’t know what was going on with her. There’s a big difference between “you can’t meet my child” and “I have this one expense handled, but thanks.”.

(as you can see, I have way overthought this one. I’ve contemplated writing a fic about it to fill in the gaps, but I’ve never done that before, so IDK)

1. It is perfectly fine for Luke and Lorelai not to have kids of their own. It’s also perfectly fine for them not to want them.

I often think I’m missing something in the fandom because I still fail to grasp why Luke and Lorelai not having kids is such a big deal. I just wanted them to be together and for Christopher to leave them alone. The fact that they didn’t settle on a traditional life together makes sense to me because when they finally settled down together, they hadn’t done much of anything traditionally anyway. They had both been married: they had both raised kids on their own. It makes sense to me after Lorelai had ended things with Luke and married someone else solely because of the marriage issue and found that it wasn’t going to give her what she wanted that she backed away from those things. I think she regretted making their relationship all about marriage and all the pain the Christopher interlude caused Luke: more than anything, she just wanted not to lose him again. Luke just wanted what she did. So she purposely made their life together not about that, and it was a good life. Add in what may have been some turbulent adolescent years with the almost-stepdaughter and it’s easy to see why they didn’t want more.

I think a lot of fans conflate their communication issues with the fact that they didn’t have kids. There’s this mentality in some quarters that they desperately wanted to get married and have kids but were afraid to talk to each other about it, so it never happened. While I think miscommunication the one time Luke tried to discuss it is something that happened, it’s not really the tragedy some fans want it to be. The main reason it never came up is because it wasn’t a priority and they were (!) happy with their lives as they existed.

I kind of imagined they went on to a traditional family life when the series first ended, too. Sometimes I get wistful when I read fics about it. But I also think it’s okay that it didn’t happen.