#just getting TND finished feels lovely

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia

Your previous post regarding burnout really resonates with me as I'm currently struggling through a mountain's worth of uni assignments.

I hopeyou're being compassionate to yourself where you can. I know you rely on your writing for income but ould cutting down to working on only 2 or 3 fics instead be a viable solution?

Because longterm I don't think that even your insanely impressive skills can hold up to that kind of pressure.

Maybe if you cut back a little you'll be able to enjoy your hobbies again and rest a little more.

I know that I'm not the only reader that wants you to take care of yourself x

Hi anon,

Firstly, good luck with all those assignments! I do not miss the grind of uni when all the assignments suddenly seem due at the same time and it's like 'oh fuck' and it just...is truly exhausting. Remember to take a break after if you can!

I am trying to be compassionate where I can. Working on expanding my capacity / juice left in the tank is actually a big priority with both therapists this year, and it's something I'm actively chipping away at.

Unfortunately cutting down fics is not really something I can do because it would personally stress me out more to put a lot of things on hiatus like that. Underline the Red is already on hiatus, and The Nascent Diplomat on my end is finished, and I'll take a few months off after that before starting the next installment.

Ideally I will be finishing out some fics that will clear my calendar a bit more over time. For example, A Stain that Won't Dissolve won't last forever, and isn't going to be replaced by anything new (Palmarosa will likely slot into that space and I'll be able to work on it more). Underline the Black will be replaced by Underline the Red, and Blue and Gold will be replaced by Underline the Silver.

Eventually, ideally, I'll be working on a smaller and smaller load until I'm at about 2-4 projects (which is how I used to work). Also quite a few of my projects only update once a month or every few months, and that helps a lot. It's just that I have too many fics where I'm on a more regular schedule (Stain, Palm, Black) and normally I only have one or two fics that are on a more regular schedule, so yeah, I am looking forward to that slowing down!

But putting something on hiatus just makes me feel more burdened and overwhelmed than knowing I'm getting closer and closer to wrapping something up. It's just how my brain works! I am a finisher, and while that's really good for not abandoning projects (which is extremely rare for me and tends to only be very short projects or PWPs which I will turn away from), it's less good when I have too many projects lmao. I've gotten better at holding back (there's three fics I'm dying to write right now, which is an Efnisien/Kadek fic that I've already started but not posted anything of, Silver, and Red).

So yeah, I will be cutting back. I've already started. The Nascent Diplomat is no longer on my schedule, which means for the next 3 months while it's still posting, I don't have to write anything for it. That's lovely because I can still share in that world with no extra labour (it's edited and everything). Likewise, Stain and Black are both in their last act/s now. That's still a lot of chapters for both, but it feels good for me to know that both will likely be finished out this year.

But we are getting there! So yeah the view is to cut down on projects, but organically (by finishing out stories and not replacing every single one with new titles, only some of them) rather than forcefully via hiatuses. I mean obviously if I get too sick I will have to go on hiatus and I've done that before, but so far it's looking like I've written enough chapters ahead (most of May is written) that I can take about 2 weeks off from writing in April, and that will help a great deal as well. :)

Anyway, take care with your assignments too! I do not miss that part of uni at all

[starwritesficsandstuff]

To keep up with your Epithet Erased hype, what is your favorite cartoon or anime to crossover with EE?

Kids Next Door for certain! I don't update the crossover fic for it anymore (that's not to say I don't still have a plan for it; I still chip away at the next chapter every once in a while), but I still think about it constantly. It's hard for me to think of one without thinking of the other tbh. I hope I get the burst of inspo/motivation to finish it someday, since I have some fun epithet ideas for Fanny and Chad, as well as a planned epiphany for a character. I also just really enjoyed exploring the friendships between Molly and Kuki and Abigail, Trixie and Wally, and Pheonica and Harvey. If I ever finish it, it would also explore friendships between Giovanni and Kuki and Wally, and Sylvie and Chad. There was even going to be a friendship-adjacent scene between Molly and the Delightful Children having a 'bonding over having a bad dad' moment. Heck, I had big plans for the TND/AND b-plot that was steadily building with Trixie and her older brother Xerxes. Just in general, I think Kids Next Door makes for a great crossover, especially if you enjoy Neo Trio content. And all that is without getting into villain team-ups, like my crossover fic's Zora and Father duo, and Lorelai, Cree, and Chad working together (albeit, Lorelai had motivations besides actually wanting in with the teens that was going to be revealed later on). As more villains are shown throughout EE, the list of villain team-ups would only get longer.

Besides that, just to bring up something new, I've been watching a lot of Villainous lately since we finally got the US release a few days ago (I didn't realize how far behind I was in terms of supplementary material!). Its hard not to think of how the Banzai Blasters and Giovanni and his minions would fit into that universe, especially since I figure that a LOT of villains in that universe would be very unappreciative of Giovanni's philosophy of losing as a bad guy to make the heroes happier. I'd love to explore how Bliss Ocean would fit into that kind of universe as well. I figure that Bliss Ocean would cause a lot of divide among both heroes and villains due to their end goal (Which hasn't been revealed in Epithet yet apparently? I kinda forgot they're more mysterious now than they were in the OG campaigns). If you know, you know. I can see the Bliss Ocean situation being something that either brings villains and heroes together or puts an even bigger strain between them. Probably at an individual level between arch rivals and such. And honestly, with the team's whole deal, I'd say that by Epithet universe rules, Flug and Dem would be mundies (and obviously 505 is a bear so he couldn't be inscribed either), meanwhile most heroes would be inscribed to get their powers. That would mean that the most feared villain organization/team in the world would consist of mundies, and that feels very funny to me.

[alicanta77]

listen, idek if you know how big of a fan i am of your works? but i regularly stalk your master list okay. i’ve never touched tomorrow never dies bc i had a strong feeling it was going to break me and you know what ??? I WAS RIGHT. how DARE you tear my heart out and then laugh at me ???? did you HAVE to k*ll them like that ??? i can’t tell you how many times i had to rest my phone down and look up to stop myself from crying ??? it’s so rare that a fic makes me feel emotions as strongly as this one did and i just- idk i’m so upset 😭😭 they deserved better and i feel so sad just thinking about how much they’ve all been through and i think it speaks volumes for how talented a writer you are to evoke such emotion from your audience ?? (but we knew you’re insanely talented) in case you couldn’t tell, i absolutely love tomorrow never dies and i have my fingers crossed that there will be no more deaths. i genuinely don’t think my heart could handle anymore of that or betrayal. i just really loved it so much and i hope you know how grateful i am to have found such an amazing writer as you and to be able to read your work for free nonetheless? an absolute blessing💓 thank you <3

honestly i do recognise your url, especially in early days for me with royal blooded!!!

tomorrow never dies is always so hard to write because of how intense and emotional it is, i find myself so tired after a chapter, but it is always worth it because i adore that series with my heart and soul, and the effort it takes makes it feel so much better when i reread them and they're finished.

one thing i really wanted to play on with TND though, was disrupting the reader's sense of justice. like, i write a lot of fluff, and i enjoy that, because its fun and happy and i really love it, but i love putting out something intense like this. something with the theme that TND has is the kind of concept that i enjoy reading and watching, so its been something i wanted to try for a while, but i wanted for things to be unfair. like i wanted the reader to feel like the characters deserved one thing, but instead were given the complete opposite. so this included killing a character off before they achieved their goal, letting the bad guy get an important win, not giving characters closure (eg unfinished conversations, not time for mourning etc.)

i can't promise that the final chapter is going to be pain free and easy going... in fact i can guarantee that it won't be BUT the ending is hopefully going to give some closure and make it seem worth it. after such a long and difficult ride, im nervous about the ending because i just want it to do the rest of the series justice and give you the ending you want and deserve

i honestly cannot thank you enough for loving this series and being so supportive over all my works! do you know how lucky i am to have such an amazing reader as you? and you will always get to read my works for free because here on this blog, we say fuck you post+ 😊

[bookenders]

I’m Back!

Well, mostly! 

(Also, hi tag list! I missed you!)

I finished my first year of graduate school last week (hooray!) so I’ll be starting to post again real soon! I have free time now! What a concept!

Congrats to all the college and high school and grad school and PhD graduates! You’ve done amazing work! And you conquered Hell Semester! WOO!

A little list of personal updates from your formerly hiatused writing pal, because sometimes we gotta share the joy:

My friend got me into plants. Right now I have 5 in my house (plus 4 lemon tree seeds I just planted) and 2 stuck in New York because of the lockdown, which my roommate has adopted. I have named them all after rad writers and stories.

I will be posting/updating my fanfic soon (continuing TND and debuting The Knight and the Rose!), since I finally have time to write now! And maybe I’ll even make some progress on Heart to Heart! It feels more important to write that one right now because it’s soft and low stakes and warm. And I don’t know about y’all, but I could really go for some of that right about now.

I have done all of the quarantine hobbies like I’m checking off a bingo card. My hair is now purple. I am knitting a scarf. I have a mile high pile of to-read books. I baked some cookies. I got super into even more podcasts. I have houseplants. I’m gonna garden. I am become your lesbian aunt.

I got a very competitive fellowship in my program! I start this summer! It’s rad as heck! I’m super excited!! I’m doing a summer internship, too, which is neat.

Speaking of school, I found out there’s a book coming out that is perfect for my thesis topic and I will be vibrating with excitement until I can get my hands on it.

I love Stardew Valley now. 

And if anyone is interested, here’s my To-Be-Read Pile of Books:

Satellite by Nick Lake

Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (also Her Body and Other Parties)

Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson

A Tree or a Person or a Wall by Matt Bell

Loki by Mackenzie Lee

The Wicked Deep by Ernshaw

Krik? Krak! by Edwige Danticat

Fleabag: The Scriptures by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (it’s been sitting on my nightstand for like a whole year. I pick it up and read a few pages every once in a while for the #feels but I haven’t read all the way through it yet)

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T. Kira Madden

Angels in America by Tony Kushner

How to Be Both by Ali Smith

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings - Anthology

Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patti Yumi Cottrell

How is everyone doing????? I’ve missed you all! 

Tell me about the bright spots in your life! Let’s dwell on some joy!

[Tag Lists under the cut:]

HEART TO HEART

WIP Intro Post | H2H WIP Tag | Character Page | WIP Page | PowerPoint Intro

Character Tags: Gemma | Mel | The Ladies | Fred Coriander | Officer Oz

OC Intros: Harry | Mary | Oz | Jill | Treena | Fred | Gemma | Mel

@katekyo-bitch-reborn, @cawolters, @wasting-ink-not-youth, @quilloftheclouds, @snickertoodles, @mvcreates, @writeness, @half-explored, @dcdarrells, @asherscribbles, @mushwrites, @purpleshadows1989, @royalbounties, @waterfallwritings, @the-clockwork-anything, @kriss-the-writing-nerd, @abalonetea, @timefirewrites, @tricksexual, @introspective-outreach, @alternativeforensicscientist, @sumoranges, @hermiones-writeblrr, @timefire25, @sunlight-and-starskies, @typewriter-jade, @evelyns-spilled-tea

SHORT FICTION AND ORIGINALS

Want more original fiction?  Take a gander at my original writing tag and my short stories tag!

For writing advice and observations, check out my advice tag.

Want info on my WIPs? Have a look-see at my WIP page!

Do you like the way I put words together? Consider buying me a Ko-Fi! (Link in my blog description!)

Want to be added to my original fiction tag or my WIP tags? Let me know! 😊

@piratequeenofpixies, @quilloftheclouds, @snickertoodles, @half-explored, @purpleshadows1989, @ofvisitorsthefairest, @theevolutionofledarose, @kriss-the-writing-nerd, @waterfallwritings, @abalonetea, @timefire25, @metaphors-and-melodrama

THE NEITHER DAYS

Link to Story | Story Tag | The Playlist

TND Tag List: @every-book-has-a-secret, @at-thezenith, @ofinkblotsandscript, @alternativeforensicscientist, @abalonetea

[achieveandhunt]

live typing extra life 2019

part 2

warning: this was a mistake and i’m in the grapes

this starts right at Facilities vs AH. link to first post

let’s fuck some shit up babEY

oh what the fuck they’re playing a prerecorded video

last year was a fuckin doozy, nobody forget that

“legends of the under achiever” i didn’t know someone wrote my biography

why do i hear geoff screaming “FIVE FUCKIN FOUR” in my head, like in the legends of the hidden temple minecraft videos

jeremy looks. so dead inside on this fine november evening

ryan buzzing while they’re trying to explain the rules

my video quality went down so much that i thought i was watching someone playing roblox for a second

ryan “salty mother fucker” haywood has made a lovely appearance. he’s my favorite

michael and lindsay looking so domestic makes me so happy,, they’re my parents

someone donated under the name “ryan goes feral” uh??? yeah? you say that like it’s a bad thing??

oH FUCK MICHAEL GO DRIVE WIN PLEASE

jeremy HAS BROKEN OUT THE GLASSES SHIT’S SERIOUS

NO THEY’RE LOSING GOD DAMMIT

ʳʸᵃⁿ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃᶜᵏᵍʳᵒᵘⁿᵈ, ᵠᵘᶦᵉᵗˡʸ: ʰᵉˡᵖ

JEREMY IT’S TIME TO TEST OUT THAT NONEXISTENT GAG REFLEX AND SWALLOW THE OPPONENT’S CONTROLLER

oh nvm they’re winning again lmao

OH FUCK thEYRE LOSING

oh nvm

OH FUCK

oh nvm they unplugged his contoller lol

OH FUCKING TH EY LOST MICHAEL JONES MY HEART IS BROKEN

the amount of people watching has gone up from 32k to 40k in the past fifteen minutes

michael “hurry up you dumb cunts” jones

“oh don’t worry about destroying our cabinet, it’s essentially matchsticks”

“how are you feeling john? are you ready for this?” “MM M M Mmm mM”

TEAM NICE DYNAMITE IS NEXT AND IM READY FOR PERMANENTLY RINGING EARS FROM ALL THE LEET DONATIONS

oH god here we go

“hopefully they haven’t been saving them all day” oh honey. you’ve got a big storm coming

if xavier slaps gavin i think gav might go up in a puff of smoke

i did the math, they went up 45k+ within five minutes of team nice dynamite showing up on stream

GAVIN AND MICHAEL ARE GOING TO DIE

THERE’S GONNA BE A MOONBALL SIZED HOLE IN GAVIN’S CHEST

ryan and lindsay both donating a grand during this segment... so good

the day gavin free successfully gets a tattoo is the day i drop dead

lindsay saying she didn’t want the TND tattoo on michael but she agreed because gav is michael’s boi :((( 

i’m too sleep deprived for this i might cry

oh god michael’s punching the floor

i’m too sober for this

EIGHTY EIGHT LEET DONATIONS IN TWENTY MINUTES HOLY FUCJKIGN SHIT YOU GUYS ARE GONNA BE THROWING MOONBALLS FOR FUCKIN SIX YEARS

on a sentimental note- i love how much collective love we have for gav and michael,, they deserve it all

milk boarded has some not-so-great connotations attached to it

gavin “the bullshit bitch” free

a mark nutt reference?? in my 2019 extra life????

this just in: sarah is going to obliterate gavin

oh. oh my god. that was the sound of a wet fish smacking a wall

why is jeremy the liquor goblin walking like a crab that has a bird attached to its back??? see: flapping arms

that beer and milk concoction... gag

“drink that milk yard”

“YOU GOT MY TOES MILKY”

no. nO MICHAEL NO YOUR INTESTINES NOO

michael “the milk’s in my brain” jones

“stop pouring it on people!” “iT’S HARD DICKHEAD”

lindsay is now. taking a milk shower

*caiti brings a small roll of paper towels* *gavin gently places a single paper towel on the massive puddle of milk*

no LINDSAY NO THINK OF THE CHILDREN

gavin: this has gotten way out of hand. she’s... she’s swimming in an inch of milk! everyone knows you should swim in at least two!!

the fajita seasoning will solve everythinG everyone calm down

fiona: yeah this is my first extra life. jack: and what were you expecting? fiona: this. exactly this.

ah yes. the bunny suits have arrived and michael is ready to tackle gavin

aaaand here comes the AH fanfic. it can only get worse from here so buckle up fuckos

“holy fuckeroni”

“re-reanimated trevor”

michael is so fucking smashed and god i wish that was me

“cum-ductor”

fiona “this is a white man” nova

“bone-ating” *leet donation* *leet donation* 

“ready set blow” made me genuinely bust a lung laughing

aaaand michael’s licking the floor which is to be expected

jeremy “i’m gonna actually harm you” dooley

IF ONE MORE PERSON BRINGS UP RANCH IM GOING TO WALK TO AUSTIN AND PROJECTILE VOMIT ON THE OFF TOPIC SET

no JEREMY NO YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE I THOUGHT YOU WOULDN’T DO THIS GET OFF THE F  L O O R

don’t get close ups on jeremy’s tongue. don’t do that to me. i don’t want nightmares

“fuck root” “let’s just fucking fuck”

1 2 3 CONSENT

michael has gone full gerkie

alfredo’s look when larry is reading the part about trevor choking him is how i feel about everything that’s happened in the past twenty minutes

almost 300k in less than an hour 

fiona saying “i don’t want this” overlaying michael humping a trash can

“TAKE THE TACO CHAD”

aaaand michael’s in the trash can

nO why is there a triangle is this a POETRY READING ALL OF A SUDDEN

oh thank god it’s over

OH FUCK THERE’S A N EPILOGUE

aaand trevor’s dead again. poor treyco

DUSK BOYS DUSK BOYS DUSK BOYS EVERYONE PUT A CUP IN YOUR PANTS

people singing along... what goes on

why am i downloading this fuckin song asap

jeremy turning his phone flashlight on and waving it like he’s at a concert god dammit i love these people so much

those are my BOYS

oh my gosh they’re still singing the song. why is my heart so happy from this i need to get slapped

“come on you’ve never been waterboarded before gavin?”

everyone standing in a circle shining their flashlights at gavin

someone surprise them and instead of a moonball just yeet a whole gallon of milk at them

actually, on second thought, no

OH god GavIN Is GOING to Die 

gavin “i forgot to breathe” free

several milk explosions

gavin “my brain is cold” free

michael has milk dripping from his ears

i’m about to pass out i don’t know what’s happening

michael is in the grapes right now man

how many moonballs? oh, only 107. :)

i’m not writing this part- you guys have to watch the moonball segment yourself, if you didn’t watch it live!

team nice dynamite finishes up with over 300k!! holy shit, that’s so cool! this community is awesome

werewolf is up next!

xavier is such a gentleman can we keep him

alfredo: *chooses to kill miles* trevor in the audience: *silently freaking out*

xavier is about ruin another man on stream

miles has no self preservation instinct

barbara is now smelling fiona

this just in: i love alfredo and 100% would have done the same thing

trevor running up to film alfredo getting smacked. what an icon

alfredo SCREAMING oh my god i felt it in my soul

the high-five of the backs in solidarity of intense pain

miles choosing alfredo is so fucking good

and also, i feel so bad 

his heart might shoot out of his asshole this time guys

oh NOOO HE’s so bruised :(((( fredo nooo :((

oh my god it’s gotten to the usual point in the stream where you start to question whether someone is going to die this time

rip blaine but at least i think he can take the hit

he can but ouch it still hurts me 

barbara “i’m participating in the game” dunkleman

yo miles might win this game

the crowd when someone needs to shoot barb: TREVOR TREVOR TREVOR! trevor, with the strength of a thousand suns: N O

people are now chanting about shooting an unprotected trevor. the man already died once this stream god dammit

alfredo is about to throw hands for fiona

that’s a big F in the chat for miles, but his loss is well deserved

xavier’s hands could serve as a defibrillator

alfredo showed jeremy his chest and jeremy shied away as if he was looking at the sun

 --- i’m taking another break to finish an assignment---

i’m barely alive and it’s ready set show time 

oh god please no more shock collars

i’m so fucking tiiiiredd please take thge res t of this post  wigth  a grain of salt lbecasue i can hardly type at this ponitn 

“do you want to control the shock collars” “will there be repercussions” “no” “fuck yeah i’ll do it then”

“smother the children. steal the baby” “DONT STEAL THE BABY TREVOR”

lunging forward “s c a r e  t h e  b a b y” “OKAY I’M PASSING THIS ONE”

“you can’t bake popcorn????” jeremy hits the floor

alec and matt clearly = dream team

oh thasnk god the shock collars are on their arms now i was stressed out for chris earlier

this stream does not promote recreational nyquil usage 

i don’t even know how to explain the pure insanity of what ready set show has become

alec has become this whole segment

i would write more but i have no thoughts because my brain doesn’t work

larry “makes people fuck other people besides their wife” insert last name that my brain can’t come up with

anyways. marbles

oh. no marbles

i’ve blacked out idk what happened during backwardz compatible

i mean i was awake but does that really mean anything at this point

SPPOKU PSOOKY SPPOKKKY SPOOOKY !!! FUCL YEAH 

cole is so good during this segment

oh so many 1337s right away 

the real scariest thing during the segment: being genuine

oH my god the scream being pitched up. i have fucking dogs outside of my house now

i don’t fuck w/ ghosts no thank you

“aba-jail” wow if u guys weren’t gonna get haunted before you will now

okay i’m about to pass out i have to take a nap

oH fucking I SLEPT until thirty minutes before the en d  fuck

conclusion: this community is incredible and raised an unimaginable amount of money for charity. the fact that rooster teeth does this every year is awesome, and honestly, it makes me feel hopeful in times when things aren’t so great. so yeah! for the kids & stuff 

[not-poignant]

I ADORE Temsen, he's my fave side-character since Mikkel and TRP. I wanna know more about this delightful frogman doctor, he is SO good, in both TND and UtB😍 Chefs kisses all around

Hi anon!

It makes me so happy that you adore Temsen! He's so much fun to write no matter where he appears. I love that we get to see more of his playful side (alongside his serious/intelligent side) in Underline the Black because there's no big language/species barrier there, so it can be harder to see in The Nascent Diplomat.

But in both worlds, even with the differences, I just adore him every time he's in the room. I've just finished chapter 31, and that chapter is literally just...Augus and Temsen in a room talking, and it was like ahhh, he really is basically a third main character in this story now that he's entered it! I love that he's strong enough to carry chapters when Augus and Gwyn aren't there together, and he's just...interesting. He has a cool way of looking at the world! It's not one I always share, but I feel like I could sit down and listen to him talk about his thoughts and feelings forever. :D

So there's definitely more Temsen coming!

[alicanta77]

Well I’ve just finished TND chp 3 (I binge read all the chps just now after breakfast) and holy shit…I feel like I want to say something more of substance but I don’t feel equipped to, other than “wow?!” I’ve read another story of yours centered around Hyuck a while ago and Idk how you keep crafting these whole worlds but it’s awesome. I thought I was being paranoid about the Ten thing or the eye symbol thing on the uniforms when they got out of their trucks / my first nightmare there, and I’ve felt sus about the pills (which I wonder if anyone else has gotten?? It wasn’t mentioned. OR OR OR.…what if we DID all get them but they’re simply pLACEBOS and these are things would could do all along we just needed to “believe” we could do it. HMMMM 🔍👀) so I was on the fence but as I read on I now know it’s not in my head lol, pun unintended. When I noticed the similarity in schedule I thought “maybe it’s just structure, like we have at school or daycare” but 😐 The end of chp 3 hurt me. I’d had that looming bad feeling & sometimes in literature when a character makes eye contact with someone for too long in certain contexts it just feels like it’s somehow an unplanned but resolute goodbye and now… 😣Idk what to think, like that they pulled a him, on he himself and realized the jig may be up sooner than planned. I’m also paranoid that it was PLANNED for me to have been able to find what I found like a “Don’t even think* about trying anything slick, or you know what’s next” kind of way? Since of course only I would be able (other than 🐹) to get into a room I wasn’t “supposed” to go into anyway🤔 i wonder if our rooms are mic’ed? Tbh the whole time 🐰 talks to me I’m surprised he doesn’t just tell me it in my head in case there’s an eavesdropper about somewhere. I wonder if that’ll be our doom (I wanted to say “don’t these kids know technology is EVERYwhere these days?!!” until I remembered that no, no they do not. That’s,,,, the point of the characters escaping living a lie🤡 lol my Some with Jeno is so cute btw!!! ALSO, it isn’t lost on me that we probably never got our bookbags with our emergency provisions back🤔 It may be because I’m super vigilant (tense paranoid and anxious tbf) irl but I want their bags back! Cus if we needed to escape suddenly we would need the contents. This is all a jumbled mess of my rushed typing and rambling thoughts but one thing is clear. It’s all a plan. #StayWokeMyFriends 👁

omggg thank you so much for reading TND and i'm so glad you're enjoying it so far!!! ahhhh you also read post mortem? thank you so much for loving the worlds i make, i absolutely love writing my series and creating these alternate universes so hearing how much you enjoy them to literally makes me so happy. literally some of the best things to hear as an author is the reader's ideas on what's going to happen next as well!! like hearing about their views on things so far and then what they think/hope will happen. also when people bring up things that they want to see, i sometimes get really inspired by the things they mention and add scenes that are similar to that.

some of your questions will be answered in the next chapter (along with a lot of unknowns and confusion will be cleared up) but i can tell you that yes all the other members got a radiation pill as well and they all decided to take it. ooooh placebo, that's a really interesting idea! however, i can confirm (it will be mentioned in the next chapter but it's not a spoiler so i'll say it here) that the pills are... *insert drum roll* really radiation pills! these are something that the facility were telling the truth about and they do enhance their abilities. since their abilities were born from radiation exposure, it gives them extra strength. i really wanted to play around with the eye symbol as well, something that creates a link to the lab that i could reiterate in later chapters. the only problem was, i came up with that idea during chapter two, hence the flashback scene lmao.

i had the ending of chapter 3 planned for so longgggg. literally that scene was one of the first one i wrote, and then i edited it when i got around to finishing the story so that it linked well to the previous scene. but things like the door, and the rooms possibly being mic'ed will be revealed in later chapters!!! i'm afraid i can't be saying that here so, you're going to have to wait and see why things panned out the way they did.

and omg the bags!!! i almost forgot about those, i'll add them into my list of details to remember (i keep a page of notes of things that i've mentioned or the characters have gone through, it also doubles as my plan for the next chapters, but it helps with continuity) and who knows.... maybe we'll see them again.

[bookenders]

Storyteller saturday! What was the first thing you knew that /had to be/ included in your wips? What's special about it? What is giving your motivation to work on your current projects? What's a neat worldbuilding thing you came up with?

Storyteller Saturday!

Hey hey @timefire25! Thanks so much for the asks, friend!

I’m gonna tackle these fantastic questions in order: 

[H2H = Heart to Heart

FF = Fish Food

AOPC = All Our Painted Colors

TND = The Neither Days]

1.  What was the first thing you knew that /had to be/ included in your wips?

H2H: Lesbians. Happy, live-beyond-the-end-of-the-story lesbians who can do magic and are ridiculously wholesome. Also: a strong, loving community; social commentary; enough fluff to stuff a whole set of pillows; cool science stuff.

FF: Humor! Without it, this story would be super duper way too dark. Also, lots of social commentary on… *checks notes*

That. And legit depictions of mental health issues.

AOPC: A culture centered around ART. I love art. And stories.

TND: Okay so there’s this one scene coming up that’s super rad and I’m really excited about it. It’s been in my head since the beginning and it’s like, the second scene I thought up. I love the imagery and the symbolism and the feelings. It’s great.

2. What’s special about it?

H2H: Sometimes you need to read something that will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Fluff makes the world go ‘round, ya know? And lesbians gotta survive. Also, I’m passionate about found families, which is why the story has one at its very center. I love writing stories about people who don’t feel at home somewhere, so they find with other people who feel the same and call a new place theirs. It’s an important thing to learn: there’s always somewhere for you, and always someone out there who can catch your drift. 

FF: Stories like this one are ways to see the truth of reality. Okay, that sounded super intense. What I mean is that this is a story about a group of people who have been used coming together to fight back against a system that’s doing its best to tear them down. Including accurate and respectful depictions of mental health in this story is important to me, too. I feel like this genre is a great place to explore that. 

Also, I need to work on my humor writing so that’s pretty special, I guess. 

AOPC: I loved the idea of a culture based on art. What do they value? How to they keep records of events and their history? How do they share information? What do they hold dear? It’s sort of my own version of the Legato Conservatory, for those who listen to TAZ. I don’t know of any other fantasy cultures 100% centered on art, either. It’s a story about storytelling and all the ways you can use it. And I think that’s pretty special.

TND: The metaphor and the symbolism, with the context of the canon, is so full of feels it makes my heart clench. It’s an unexpected coming together, a reaching out of two hands that meet in the middle while the world spins off-kilter around them. It’s an oh and a gasp in the same breath. It’s a fall that feels like flying.

That’s about as poetic as I can get without spoilers.

3.  What is giving your motivation to work on your current projects?

Right now, not much, to be honest. It’s midterms time and I’m a grad student, so life is pretty much study hell right now. But my stories are my creative therapy, so I expect I’ll start writing again pretty soon after all my business chills out. 

But on the regular: I really want to tell everyone about the big giant spoilers and how they happen in H2H, and one of the big confrontation scenes in FF (seriously, it’s a huge twist I don’t think a lot of people will see coming - one of them anyway 😉), and I want to figure out what the hell happens next in AOPC, and in TND, I really want to get to the switched POV chapter because it’s full of mutual pining and it offers a lot of really good insight into one character’s head (it’s my motivation to finish this transition chapter too because it’s taking forever).

4.  What’s a neat worldbuilding thing you came up with?

H2H: The magic types I developed are pretty cool! Astromancy, Totem Magic, Sigilcrafting, and Pact Magic. There are a few others, but that’d be spoilers, my friend. Making these info posts was also very fun. I got to do nerdy research about magic and science! 

And something I haven’t mentioned yet: liminal spaces are very important in this story! The town of Linsay is a liminal space. Gemma’s house is a liminal space. The police station is a liminal space for Oz. The lake is a liminal space. This is important: transformation takes place at liminal places. Magic is strongest there. The old is left behind and the new is just ahead. And the fae inhabit liminal spaces.

FF: I made a WIP page that mimics the Coalition of Heroes’ database! It took forever and it was really hard but I did it! And I think it looks rad. 

In-world, hmm… I really like Lithium’s bar. It’s a place that’s like a hero-themed TGI Friday’s or Red Robin, and it’s also the hangout for off-duty heroes. They all chill there like it’s a cop bar for officers who are all undercover. It’s great. None of the civilians who go there know that they’re sitting next to high level super heroes. And Lithium thinks it’s hilarious.

AOPC: There are so many cool worldbuilding things in this story. One is the marriage ceremony I made up. The couple stands before the Namestone and the most senior Elder binds the bride’s left hand to the groom’s right. Then the men of the tribe line up behind the groom, and the women line up behind the bride. They’re ordered so the people closest to them, like family and lifelong friends, are first. One by one, the women dip their right hands in purple paint and mark the bride’s back with their hand print. The men do the same with green paint on the groom’s back.

After everyone’s marked the bride and groom, the Elder blesses the couple, holds their foreheads together, and then they turn around and press their backs together, mixing the paint and blending the colors together. The party starts as soon as their hands are unbound. 

TND: Since most of the worldbuilding for this has already been done by the canon, here are a few recurring story threads I’m working with: Crowley vs. ducks, liminal spaces being the most comfortable and calming, “a good shock to loosen the tongue,” and the kinds of miracles that don’t work. 

Thank you so much for these awesome questions!! 💜

I’ll add my tag lists since there’s a lot of information worth tagging about:

H2H

WIP Intro Post | H2H WIP Tag | Character Page | WIP Page | PowerPoint Intro

Character Tags: Gemma | Mel | The Ladies | Fred Coriander | Officer Oz

OC Intros: Harry | Mary | Oz | Jill | Treena | Fred | Gemma | Mel

H2H Tag List: @katekyo-bitch-reborn, @cawolters, @wasting-ink-not-youth, @quilloftheclouds, @snickertoodles, @mvcreates, @writeness, @half-explored, @dcdarrells, @aslanwrites, @minusfractions, @purpleshadows1989, @royalbounties, @waterfallwritings, @the-clockwork-anything, @kriss-the-writing-nerd, @abalonetea, @timefirewrites, @tricksexual, @introspective-outreach, @alternativeforensicscientist, @sumoranges, @hermiones-writeblrr

[Let me know if you want to be added or removed!]

AOPC

AOPC Tag List: @quilloftheclouds, @snickertoodles, @half-explored, @chemistwriter, @purpleshadows1989, @waterfallwritings, @kriss-the-writing-nerd, @abalonetea, @alternativeforensicscientist, @hermiones-writeblrr

FF

WIP Intro Post | FF WIP Tag | WIP Page | PowerPoint Intro

Character Tags: Iron Will | Overseer | Lithium | Babylon | Nightmare | Sparkplug

OC Intro Post:  Phase 1 | Phase 2

Individual Intros:

Phase 1 (Main Cast): Iron Will | Overseer | Lithium |  Babylon | Nightmare

Phase 2 (Supporting Cast): Sparkplug | Battalion | Ferro

***

[Let me know if you want to be added or removed!]

Fish Food Tag List:  @theevolutionofledarose, @kriss-the-writing-nerd, @quilloftheclouds, @waterfallwritings, @dontwritethatone, @aeschknight, @abalonetea, @ladywithalamp, @writevevo, @danger-writes, @anika-writes-things, @sunlight-and-starskies, @writing-every-other-star, @shadeshadow234, @jaimistoryteller, @leave-her-a-tome, @dowings, @alternativeforensicscientist, @sumoranges, @notanalien51, @hermiones-writeblrr​

TND

Link to Story | Story Tag

TND Tag List: @every-book-has-a-secret, @at-thezenith, @ofinkblotsandscript, @alternativeforensicscientist, @abalonetea