#kerrywrites

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forty love

Isak Valtersen is the world’s best male tennis player. Even Bech Næsheim is not. But he’s ranked #32 in the world, which is impressive enough, and he’s Norway’s favorite. Isak understands why: Even has a friendly face, an iconic headband, and the ability to make every journalist laugh in press, even after a brutal loss. He’s a hometown hero who pours his heart out in every match, and embraces the nickname fans have given him: Bechy with the Good Hair. He doesn’t advance very far in tournaments, if he qualifies, but whenever he does they are always matches to watch. Isak is the world’s best tennis player, but the world is watching Even.

After a chance training arrangement at the US Open, Isak is watching Even too. He doesn’t want to get distracted on his way to a world-record win, but it seems like his heart isn’t giving him a choice.

including beautiful art by @evakuality in the last chapter!

part of the 2023 @skambigbang | rated M | 5 chapters, posting on wednesdays

[coloursofunison]

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Kerry Chaput and her new book, Daughter of the King, to the blog to talk about her research. @ChaputKerry @maryanneyarde @kerrywrites @coffeepotbookclub #HistoricalFiction #kerrywrites #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub http://mjporterauthor.blog/?p=4000

[purposphere-blog]

Speedy the Wonder Dog

Townsperson: Have you read that story about a Jack Russell terrier mix that communicated verbally to it's owner?

Other Townsperson: What? How do you mean "Communicated Verbally?"

Townsperson: It spoke words with it's eyes?

Other Townsperson: Sorry, that' sounds too far fetched!

[fructoselollipop]

I AM WOEFULLY UNDER PREPARED

LETS DO THIS

[teamzambia2014]

And so it begins

Dearest Friends and Family, 

Tomorrow we head off on our crazy adventure with Tearfund and Jesus Cares Ministries to Zambia.  We will be posting regularly with news of our wellbeing and our escapades so please to read and respond with news of your own.

Please be praying for us as we head off: for safety during travel, for smooth assimilation into our new albeit temporary home, for team unity, for general health and wellbeing, for the people we are going to serve and for fun and excitement. 

Lots of Love, 

Team Zambia

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I just saw a little something about the next big bang and got so excited when I saw your name signed up for a fic!! I had no idea you were even writing something. What is the idea of this new story?? I can’t wait to read it!!

howdy! yeah, i didn’t really announce much, but it’s going to be a tennis AU! i can’t remember what prompted it, but i signed up for the bang with no idea and managed to knock out a decent 60k love story. here’s the little summary:

Isak Valtersen is the world’s best tennis player. Even Bech Næsheim is not. But he’s ranked #32 in the world, which is impressive enough, and he’s Norway’s favorite. Isak understands why: Even has a friendly face, an iconic headband, and the ability to make every journalist laugh in press, even after a brutal loss. He’s a hometown hero who pours his heart out in every match, and embraces the nickname fans have given him: Bechy with the Good Hair. He doesn’t advance very far in tournaments, if he qualifies, but whenever he does they are always matches to watch. Isak is the world’s best tennis player, but the world is watching Even.

After a chance training arrangement at the US Open, Isak is watching Even too. He doesn’t want to get distracted on his way to a world-record win, but it seems like his heart isn’t giving him a choice.

eh? eh? it’ll also have beautiful art from @evakuality at the end! i almost want to skip ahead to that part, but i’ll be patient. five chapters, one every wednesday!

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Hi! I just realised your follow up to Forty Love is a 49k fic and not just a one shot. I'm so stoked and I can't wait to read it 😄

hehehe hi dee! i wanted to do a sex epilogue just because i stopped myself from writing sex during the main story buuuuttttttt then i changed the POV and had an easy plot to give to even so i just kept writing. hope you enjoy it! and thank you for the comments! i was reading them at work and they really kept me going.

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six of one is so so so so good! really looking forward to the rest of the story :)

thank you so much! i'm so sorry i couldn't keep up with the writing for the weekly schedule. i have about 7k for the next chapter but i'm gonna be honest, i still don't know what i want the story to do. i actually need to sit down and outline something, because most of the time i'm just headwriting ten different versions of a climax (the narrative kind, not the other). (except yeah also the other.)

i have 7k but it's starting to feel like 7k of filler since i don't have anything for it to lead to yet, and i don't like that.

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Do you think you’ll ever write a super smutty multichapter fic (like MAS) again?

halloooo! hmm, not sure. i feel like it's tough to get to that level just because most of the smut came from isak's job. so if my plots pretty heavily incorporate a job (versus focusing solely on personal life/romance) then i would need to find something as sexy as literal sex work. i'm not averse to writing more sex work, of course, perhaps with even being the one doing it at first (he really has a great personality for seducing and making you forget that you are paying for that as a service), but my next challenge would be finding themes to explore that wouldn't be the same as before. i'm afraid i would just write the same fic again!

(which isn't to say i'm not already doing that, it would just feel more obvious.)

i also have other things that have prevented it, like writing for the bang, where i don't feel comfortable posting E-level fics unlocked. and the bang has been my biggest motivator for writing. i have promised someone a couple of updates, one for fredag 5150 and one for mondays, though that one will involve their family, so probably less sex than you would expect. the other fic i was working on before the bang was the school nurse fic, which i expect to be smutty because isak is a club-going slut in it, but also even is the school nurse and it's his POV, so there's already 15k of absolutely zero smut, which isn't great proportion-wise.

but hey! if you have a prompt, i could see what i could do, with the smut-goal in mind. mondays was a prompt from someone else, so maybe that's all it would take.

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If ao3 doesn’t come back before tomorrow for the forty love update….. I am going to SCREAM 😢🤣 I’ve been looking forward to this for a week lol

aww this is so sweet actually! i think it’s back, but remember, this is the google drive show—i probably would’ve uploaded a doc for you to read if i couldn’t post, hehe.

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Kerry I have to come scream at you because I don't want to put your fic down but I have to work in 4 minutes. Seriously everytime I have to stop reading I feel so annoyed and have a chaotic feeling 🤷🏽‍♀️ arghhhhhhhhj

ahahahahaaaa your comments are cracking me up. thank you for them! but also just read and enjoy it. we can talk about it later if you want ❣️

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Oh wow so Even IS worried he could be bipolar!!!!Thank you so much for the latest chapter of one word, I think this is such a good twist to some of your fics as this time they are kinda trying to figure it out together….

I remember you once mentioning something along of the lines of not wanting to erase that part of Even from his character (sorry if I’ve worded this wrong) but it’s so appreciated that you touch on it somehow in all your writings, :)

I’ve been waiting for them for so long to realize they have an attraction to each other but now I’m just so invested in their friendship :)

yeah! and it's definitely one of the big reasons he feels so connected to june. he sees a lot of himself in her, and that includes her mental illness. i know i was really vague about it before, but i think that was me trying to avoid spoilers. they won't find out a diagnosis, but they'll continue to talk about it as a very likely possibility, and i like...headcanon? him actually having it. if i were to write a future update then it would probably be included.

i have to find that mention because yes! i never want it to define him, but it does heavily shape who he is in canon. and i like being able to use that character while also seeing who even could be at different stages of it. how does it affect him when he doesn't want to face it, how does it affect him when it's something he has learned to live peacefully with, how does it affect him when it's something he wants to hide, how does it affect him when he doesn't know it's part of him, etc. it can change you, but also you can change around it, outside of it. and a character's relationship with their mental illness can evolve. i want even to be recognizable as even while also given the range that any human with a mental illness can have in their singular lifetime.

and OH my god i kind of want to apologize for how long this is taking. it doesn't feel long when i'm writing it or rereading it because i get to do it in one sitting. but i really am dragging this out, and isak is being so stubbornly resistant to even. i'm sorry! i can't even say he's going to improve in the next chapter! we'll take one step forward but i fear it'll feel like ten steps back. he's just so scared of losing even that he doesn't want to risk the truth.

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a snippet

for @redygetsetgone, from my bang fic: one word, nine letters. this is from chapter two. for some context, isak is a second-year at nissen, and even...is a stranger. but he’s tall and handsome and there was something about him the first time isak saw him that just stuck.

i start posting this coming friday, so the first chapter will go up on the 24th! the story will be accompanied by a perfectly moody playlist and artwork by @in-wonder-underground

Isak didn’t see Even again until he opened his own front door a week later. Marianne was staying late at work to enjoy a happy hour with her colleagues, so Isak was home alone on Friday night studying. He and Sana had done well on their project, but now came the intense review sessions needed for their upcoming exams. Isak didn’t usually study with Sana after Friday prayers, so he only had a frozen pizza to keep him company, and a game of FIFA waiting as a reward once he was done. The buzz of the doorbell cut through the calming sound of rain outside his open bedroom window, and Isak jolted out of his desk chair.

The buzzing was insistent, and echoed down the hall as Isak made his way to the front door. “Calm down,” Isak muttered. He put on a politely neutral face when he reached for the handle.

“Even?”

Even was standing there, soaked through from the rain, and very much surprised to see Isak. “Do we know each other?” His voice was rough and quiet, barely audible over the rain. Isak’s home had a small overhang at the entrance but nothing that could really protect someone from the elements. Isak powered past both of their surprise and opened the door wide.“Come in, come in, you’re all wet.”

Even hesitated, then crossed the threshold. He was in jeans and sneakers and a windbreaker that did nothing to stop the rain. Isak shut the door. Even cleared his throat. “Um, is Marianne home?”

“No, she’s still at the university. Hold on, let me get you a towel.” Isak was still entirely confused about Even’s presence, but he couldn’t just stand there letting the man drip in the hallway. There were rivers running down his neck, and his hair was plastered to his forehead, barely pushed away from his eyes. Luckily their bathroom was right around the corner, so Isak lunged into it and pulled down the closest towel he could slap his hand on.

Even took the towel tentatively, their hands almost touching through the terrycloth. Isak walked him through the steps. “Take off your jacket; I can hang it to dry in the bathroom. And your shoes…socks. We….” Isak did a quick assessment of the man: he was slightly taller than him but they shared a similar build. He could probably fit into something loose of Isak’s, so he made the decision right there to get Even changed. “Let me go get some clothes for you. Hold on.”

He ran to his room without thinking. He had one purpose: to make this man dry and comfortable, and any questions about why he was in Isak’s house in the first place were to be ignored. He skidded to a halt in front of his dresser, pulling out the top drawer for socks, the second drawer for an oversized t-shirt, and the bottom drawer for a pair of joggers. He drew the line at underwear though—if the man was that soaked then he would just have to suffer.

“Here. You can change into these dry clothes in the bathroom.”

Even looked confused, and didn’t take the offered bundle. “No, no, it’s okay. If she’s not home I’ll just head out.”

Isak felt something sink in his chest, a shock of disappointment at Even’s logic. Of course he wasn’t going to stay if Marianne wasn’t home. But Isak needed him to. “She…she’s working late, but she should be home soon. You came all this way in the rain. If you wait a little bit you’ll be able to see her.” It was a lie; Isak didn’t know when Marianne was going to be home. But he still needed Even to stay, and this would buy him some time. “If you change, I can dry your clothes.” Isak begged Even with his eyes, but Even’s own gaze was cast downward, still on the clothes. “I would feel like a complete asshole if I turned you away in this rain, to wait at the bus stop. I…I would offer to drive you wherever you need to go but I don’t have my license yet.” Isak’s voice had gotten quiet, a bit of shame creeping in with his plea.

And that seemed to unlock Even. “Is the bathroom right…?” His eyes darted over to the corner.

“Yes, yes, right over there.” The clothes finally exchanged hands. Even walked into the bathroom and gently closed the door behind him. As soon as he heard the latch click, Isak ran back to his bedroom again. He had to get his phone and text Marianne.

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a couple of weeks ago henrik inadvertently posted a photo from chapter four of one word, nine letters, hehehehe

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is there a reason there’s no smut in your new fic? 💔

heartbreaking, i know. it was actually pretty hard writing a relationship that doesn't go all the way, because i always have, even if it's only implied. but because i would have to keep this fic unlocked in order to be part of the bang, i wanted to be comfortable with what i was sharing. i still have a fear of my writing being read by people who worked with the characters/actors i'm using, even if that's highly unlikely at this point. so i lock the smut down to prevent that. also i'm writing a 17-year-old character for most of the story, and didn't want to deal with "underage sex," even though it happened in canon.

to make up for it though, i'll have about 11k of an explicit postscript that i'll link to at the end of the fic, a separate work that i can lock, where isak is 18 and they get down to it like the canon horndogs that they are.

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Ohhh!! so happy to read a story from you again!!

thank you! tbh i'm excited to be sharing a story again. it had been so long since i've been able to contribute and interact on this level and i missed it. hope you enjoy it!