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uglypastels · 10 months

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20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by: @eddiemunsons80sbaby 💖💖

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

My main posting site is tumblr, on which I have 387 titles in my masterlists, (443 individual writing posts if seperating multi-chaptered stories).

Then i've reposted 40 of these titles on AO3 and 10 on Wattpad.*

*Counted since 2018

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

40 fics - 518,511 words total

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I've written for MCU (actors) and co, the Irregulars, Stranger Things and One Piece (live action).

4. What are your top 5 fics?

I'm going by individual posts, not accumulated interactions through series.

Following the Herd

"Wearing His T-Shirt" blurb

"Overcoming the Nerves" blurb

Heaven and Hell

The Special

5. Do you respond to comments?

I always try my best to reply as soon as possible wether its an ask, reblog or comment. (Excluding wattpad, as i see that more like people annotating their reading and generally don't want to bother them. But i do always read them and appreciate them, and if something stands out or if someone comments a lot i will respond)

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

Ooh i once killed reader off dramatically lol ("Car Crash" blurb) but I think the general reader's concensus would be Caught Me Slippin' , which I didn't even intend to make that angsty, but people cried (allegedly). And honestly, while i apologise for the emotional damage, i do take it as the highest compliment to be able to evoke such feelings.

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

Most of my stories are quite happy and i'm not sure how to rate "happiness".

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I am actually surprised how scarce the hate is, and usually in the form of anons, because I always expect people to hate me. But thats on insecurities. Honestly, writing on here has always been amazing.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes. I hate it tho 😫 like, love smut in theory and concept but it's a bitch to write.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I love a lengthy and extended au, often inspired by other works (Not Wholly Evil is basically Stranger Things x Pirates of the Caribbean) but i think the only clear "crossover" i (remember to) have written would be Murder on the Dancefloor ??? which would be a tom holland x Strictly Come Dancing crossover lmao. I do often think about tv show crossovers in concept tho, but doubt i'll write any.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yup. Shit sucks.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, but it was done without my permission and uncredited (which is still stealing!!) so that sucks.

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

I've dabbled in co-writing, haha, several times avtually, but for one reason or another, none of the projects were ever published. Would love to one day actually fully co-write something with someone on here.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

Ngl, i'm not sure I have one. Probably why all of my stories are 'x reader'.

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

At this point I think this about every single one of my WIPs and that's writer's block for ya.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Hmm...i'd like to think the expression of emotion, showing how characters feel. And maybe world building- or thats at least my favorite thing in AUs. Maybe also details (either motives, references or foreshadowing)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm horrible at pacing. Always feel like i go too slow with the plot and then suddenly too fast and its all a mess, especially when it comes to series. Also just general knowledge on things; i feel like i don't know enough things to write about when it comez to daily and regular life, or even how to normally interact with people so that makes things hard when trying to be realistic. I also feel like i don't know enough words??? So things get really repetitive.

Oh, and this is also an aspect of writing- i'm horrible at getting feedback in the form of proofreading. It makes me physically sick having someone go through my work like that, and I barely do it myself. Which may result in some horrible typos/mistakes. And i do apologise profusely for that. Believe me, if you caught a mistake in my fic, i still think about it to this day.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in different languages?

Its always better if the writer is familiar with the language. Things you're comfortable with writing translate over better to the reader. It's like in movies/tv, its always better when you have an actor speaking a language they actually know. And if you don't know it, 1) ask yourself why are you writing it then and then 2) better research the hell out of it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

My first fic, that has since been deleted for a long time, was on wattpad and it was for a youtuber lmao. (peak 2013/15 era, thats all i'm gonna say)

20. Favorite fic(s) you've written?

From my most recent, in no particular order:

Following the Herd (eddie munson)

The Special (Sanji)

Not Wholly Evil (Eddie Munson)

Biggest Fan (Buggy)

Headlights (Eddie Munson)

This was so much fun to do at 4/5 am haha. Thank you for the tag again. Here are some peeps i'll be tagging (no pressure) 💜

@mydearzero @spiderrrling @eddies-house @elvendria @josephfakingquinn

#long post #tag game #tagged #ask game #questions #writers on tumblr

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missroserose · 3 years

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Fic Writer Question Meme!

Thanks for the tag, @venhedish—I love stuff like this! I'd apologize in advance for how long this is likely to be, but I suspect we share that tendency, haha.

How many works do you have on AO3?

20 total. I've been publishing there since late 2018, so about three years now. That sounds right for me—I'm way too perfectionist to ever be prolific.

What's your total AO3 word count?

125,744! Apparently it takes me three years to write a novel's worth of words I feel are worth publishing...which also sounds right.

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

Three, primarily: The Lost Boys, Stranger Things, and Supernatural. Mostly Stranger Things, since I was pretty enmeshed in the Harringrove community for about a year and a half, though these days I'm hanging out more with the SPN crowd. We'll see if that translates to more fics.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1.) Sunflower (524) 2.) Quickly, look away (506) 3.) We'll Become Who We Meant To Be (383) 4.) Too Young To Fall In Love (333) 5.) When the Waters Start to Cross (283)

First, what's not surprising: all are Stranger Things/Harringrove works. I'm a little surprised to see that "Sunflower" had edged out "Quickly" as my most-kudosed story, for years it was the other way around—but maybe that's actually not that surprising—part of the reason I haven't been as active in the fandom is that I really love the darker and more complex renditions of Billy Hargrove's character (a la "Quickly") and since S3 aired it seems like the fashion has moved more towards more lighthearted fluff (a la "Sunflower"). Still, both are pretty undemanding smut, so it makes sense that they're on top; similarly, I'm not surprised to see "Too Young To Fall In Love" in the top five either.

I am a little surprised that "We'll Become Who We Meant To Be" is #3—it's honestly close to genfic, there's only the tiniest moment of hinted-at attraction in there. I'm not mad about it, I honestly feel like it's one of my better efforts; on the other hand, "Wake Me Up" was in a similar vein and it's close to the bottom. I guess there's just no telling what's going to catch on...in fairness, a 25K outsider POV novella is a much bigger ask than a 3K short story.

Honestly, I'm probably most surprised at "When the Waters Start to Cross" cracking the top five—it's a 52K+ WIP and a profoundly complex atmospheric existential horror/romance, which is, like, five strikes against it. I'm not mad about it, though—I love that fic, even if it is a huge time and energy suck, and it definitely contains some of my best writing.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do! Sometimes it takes me a while, but I genuinely appreciate people taking the time to leave feedback (even if it's just a string of emoji!). And every once in a while I'll get really thoughtful or incisive comments that spark whole conversations—that's one of the best reasons to write fic!

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

Hmm...to be honest, nothing immediately comes to mind; I love angst but tend to want it to serve a purpose, i.e. it gets a character closer to who they want to be. So most of my endings are at least hopeful. *checks list* It looks like probably my angstiest ending is also my first fic posted, "Blue Masquerade". Poor Michael.

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

I don't currently write crossovers; I wouldn't rule it out, but frankly I haven't come across an idea that appeals to me. Waaaaaay back in the mists of time I had a Daria/Harry Potter crossover that I was actually pretty proud of, but I got about as far as getting them to Hogwarts and then kinda ran out of ideas, so I never posted it.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not that I can think of? I'm not big-time enough to get hate, haha. Worst I ever got was some rando asking for top or bottom tags, which I just ignored, and one person on "We'll Become" who was like "I don't like this pairing but you did a good job", which kinda had me like ??? thanks, I guess? I did get one comment on "Quickly, look away" from someone who felt like it was in a different headspace from the fic I wrote it as a sequel to, but that didn't strike me as hate, it's a perfectly fair observation.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

So first off, yes, and second...I recently came across this great Garth Greenwell quote that really gets at what I'm trying to do when I write smut:

In America in 2019 we are inundated with images of bodies to an absolutely unprecedented degree—images of eroticized bodies, images of sexual bodies; the Internet makes all our fantasies visible, and it trains us in new fantasies. And yet it also seems to me that our culture suffers from a dearth of representations of embodiedness, by which I mean of bodies imbued with consciousness. I’m not at all antiporn, but sometimes pornography (maybe especially Internet pornography, with its arms race of extremity) seems to want to evacuate bodies of personhood, to present them as objects. I think literature is the best technology we have for representing consciousness, and so I think there’s a kind of intervention that literature can perform in representing sex explicitly: it can reclaim the sexual body as a site of consciousness.

"Embodied porn" is probably the best description I can come up with—I love writing sex precisely because it's such a charged form of communication (Greenwell's words again), because there are things a character can do and say in that context that they never would normally. Like, sex acts are great and all, but what really does it for me is what's going on in their head, what's the history that brought the character to this point, how're they handling the inherent vulnerability and intimacy of this incredibly risky but potentially rewarding moment. Kink (whether through roleplaying, props, costumes, or whatever) is really just another way of adding to that personal meaning, since without the characters' reactions any trappings are meaningless.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, although I'd love to work with a translator someday (whether with fic or another context)—I'm fascinated by the inherent puzzles in translating between languages, especially with informal speech and its many idioms and cultural references.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet! I'd be open to the idea, but it definitely has to be with the right person...

What's your all time favorite ship?

Isn't that basically like asking a mom to choose her favorite kid? Seriously, I like different things about all of them...which one's getting the most attention depends entirely on mood and headspace and other effectively random variables.

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

I don't have any I've given up on entirely, yet. Even Waters, as beastly complicated as it is, I've been ruminating on and adding to and arranging in my head lately...

What are your writing strengths?

Atmosphere, character, dialogue. I've said it before, I'm a capital-R Romantic at heart: I love writing settings that reflect and reinforce a character's headspace—while also implying what said character might be missing in their viewpoint.

Something I've noticed—my husband worked for years as a penetration tester, which meant he would regularly have to talk his way past people on a moment's notice. So, unsurprisingly, we both notice people, but he tends to observe their presentation (clothing, accessories, especially ones that're markers of social class and group belonging that allow him to tailor his approach), whereas I notice what they say and how they say it—and, often, what they don't say.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I suddenly feel like I'm in a job interview, haha. Perfectionism is a big one—I have a tendency to feel hopeless and quit if something's taking too long, rather than persisting until I get it sorted, even though some of my best work is stuff where I persisted. Also, I'm big on emotional intensity—which isn't a bad thing, necessarily, but I sometimes read back over my stuff and I'm like "geez, Ambrosia, ease up a bit"...I could definitely use some comic relief in my writing sometimes, but I think I'm often too insecure to try it.

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

I don't have any in particular—I rarely do it myself, because I don't trust myself to do it properly. (Perfectionism again!)

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Daria, way back in the day. My work is still up on FF.net...sometimes I wonder if anyone's ever going to dig it up and confront me with it, haha. (I doubt anyone will ever care that much...I guess I'm more just curious if my style from twenty years ago is recognizably me.)

What's your favorite fic you've written?

If we're talking about finished fics, probably either "Wake Me Up" or "Young At Heart"—they're both pretty oddball, but both required a fuckton of work and both came out pretty close to what I wanted. But "Waters" is my biggest baby...maybe I'll open up Act III to work on today...

Thanks again for the tag, Ven! I'm going to tag @ihni, @redmyeyes, @twobrokenwyngs, @skybound2, @sambrosia, @shewritesdirty, @introvertia, @coffeeandchemicals, and @anarchist-billy—if you're up for some rumination, I'd love to hear your thoughts on your writing!

#author stuff #my writing #fanfic culture #about me #tag games

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greycappedjester · 3 years

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Since I log the fanfictions I read, I’m realizing that June 19th marks the first day I read one of your fics! I read All in the Cards and was blown away by the storyline. Then, I continued to read your HQ series, the other cards fics, and your Dr.STONE fic too. I want to read your DC fics as well. I don’t know much background on it though, so I’m working on it. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your writing and how it has honestly made this past year a lot better. With all that being said though, what’s your favorite thing/theme to write in each of your individual series? Like world building, relationships, etc.? Also, what inspired you to write in the first place?

Ahhh, thank you so much! This is honestly such a sweet ask and I am so, so glad that I could make your year better.

For what's my favorite thing/theme to write in each series, that's a tough one as a lot of times in changes; but, after thinking about it, I think these are my favorite things overall for each....

(I also thought I'd do something fun and put what my favorite line to write was in the last few chapters for the ongoing works. I always wonder what lines are people's favorite so figured it would be fun to add mine)

Hq at Hogwarts: I really love writing Oikawa and Hinata's relationship. Which is kinda an odd thing to say since they purposefully only have a few conversations spread out through each story. But, they're my two favorite Hq characters to write hands down and so I absolutely love showing them as foils to each other in the series. That said, I also love writing them (and especially Oikawa and Suga) as foils/parallels to the Giant and Hisashi (Suga's grandfather). I love both foil relationships and writing parallels between generations--especially if the next generation is completely unaware/uninformed of the previous generation's mistakes

Favorite Recent Line to Write: Kenma met his eyes and his voice broke: “Why am I the only one you have to hide?”

*Note: Okay, technically not the most recent chapter but fun fact: I wrote the Kuroo/Kenma conversation waaaay in advance and used it a lot as a reference to where I wanted this relationship to be headed and I viewed this line as one of the biggest break points (along with "I am waiting" from the dance)

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Cards: This one is the most tricky for me to think of one since it changes a lot. I love doing the world building for this one (like the huge long time line I have for the history of the country). I love writing fantasy politics. As I consider a Hearts Civil War story more, I'm getting back into the groove of just really love writing Oikawa's complicated relationship with being King. And, of course, I love writing Tsuksihima and Hinata's relationship

Favorite Recent Line to Write: Oikawa swept across the office, never seeming to pause for even a second as he pointed a quill at Iwaizumi. “So, tell me, are invasions just like a semi-annual thing?”

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The Hq/Scooby-Doo AU (Investigations Inc.): the humor and banter

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Walking With My Eyes Open: I think this might be my favorite romance thing I've ever written. I really, really wanted to show a view of romance that emphasized the choice to be in love (and the work that goes into a functioning relationship). I especially wanted to do this with Hanahaki since this trope is so tied to the forfeit of choice on the patient's end and the inherent unfairness/weight on the person they're in love with. Couldn't imagine it with any other characters but Senkuu and Gen tbh.

Favorite Recent Line to Write: But, human shoulders weren’t meant to bear the expectations of divinity.

*Note: Lol, this scene got cut and reworded so many dang times in editing, the one thing that stayed consistently I feel like is me really wanting to keep this specific line

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After the Fall of Olympus: Three things and I find it really hard to pick which one is my favorite.

(1) I love that this story format lets me show the slow growth/aging of Dick as a character and (I hope) that each chapter shows how he's grown to the point that Dick at age 14 in Ch. 1 is noticeably younger in internal monologue than Dick in his 20s in the latest chapter.

(2) I love writing tricky political/social issues where all characters have their points and there truly is no write answer...with that, I love writing Dick and Jay Garrick's relationship.

(3) If I had to pick, I don't know if it's my favorite but I think it's the most important element of the story. I very much wanted to show a more realistic view of grief where it feels like the world ended; but, it's not actually an apocalypse. They recover. At the start of the story, it is without a doubt the lowest/most devastating point, but they rebuild. It's slow and there's set backs but they are rebuilding a world that isn't (and shouldn't be) the same but is there and is new and is important. I know a lot of stories that focus on grief view it as a tragedy and an end which it is in a huge way. There's the phrase "it gets better" but a lot of times I think it's viewed as "things will go back to what they used to be" which is understandably hard for people to believe because a lot of times, it fundamentally is impossible for what's lost to be regained. That doesn't mean it's the end of everything. I think sometimes we forget that the previous world (be it actual in this story or what feels like the entire world) may not exist anymore but something different can still be built. The new world and old should never be compared because they can't be. It won't be the same. But, it can be good and they can be happy.

Which is honestly the recovery of what Dick Grayson, to me, should represent rather than the constant grief/vengeance of Batman.

Favorite Recent Line to Write (technically the last line here, just doesn't make sense out of context)

“You need someone with you. I’m not just leaving you alone!” Selina shouts.

“No? Why not?” Dick spits back. “You’re so good at it !”

Selina flinches back and Dick is viciously, painfully glad.

“You don’t get to care just when it’s convenient, Selina,” he says and it hurts, a wound that’s never going to heal. “I needed someone eight years ago. I needed someone when Bruce died, when Batman was gone, and the city was falling apart, and you weren’t there. You didn’t call. You didn’t check on me. You didn’t even say bye. And that’s fine. I lived, I rebuilt it.”

He steps away. “But, you don’t get to come back now and pretend it never happened. I don’t have to let you just because it hurts either way.”

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Flash Facts of Bart Allen: Lol, what might be my least popular but in my opinion best written story. Favorite thing is Bart and Len's relationship hands down, followed by showing Bart's relationship with how he navigates the weight of the Flash legacy while feeling like he's fundamentally different than the Flashes that came before.

Partly since this is getting so long and partly because personal story, I'm putting why I started writing under the break.

I started writing for a lot of reasons.

My first fic--and the first book I ever finished--was the first Hq at Hogwarts story (Mirror of Erised). For background, I started the story when I was in my first year of getting my master's degree (which was surprisingly a lot less busy than my undergrad for a number of reasons but me getting sidetracked into that is a whole other ask about grad school).

My first reason I started writing was that I had more time. I'd had the idea for the story for years; but, I finally had enough details that I was like "okay, now, I gotta write it" so I did. I'll say exactly what the final straw was when I actually get the series finished since it's a major spoiler.

My second reason probably didn't consciously occur to me at the time but is what I consider the most important reason I write and continue to write. I fundamentally want to write stories that make people's days better. It doesn't have to be anything big; I just really wanted to write the kind of story that people could get lost in for a few hours when they're scrolling through AO3 and looking for a distraction. I wanted to write something with happy endings.

Here's the more personal part. I really don't mean this in a sad way so please don't take it as such. However, when I started writing and posting, my dad had just died completely unexpectedly a few months earlier and right before I had to move cross country for masters. It was definitely a hard time (though I had friends and a good support network, again please don't worry--it was years ago now). But, writing then definitely helped me be in a positive happy attitude while thinking of plots and friendships in my favorite anime that always puts be in a better mood.

My point here is that while that was never the reason that I wrote, it's something I reflect on a lot for why fanfic can be such a positive force. Someone can have either the worst day ever, a mildly inconvenient day, or a perfectly fine day and still want distraction. To have a community with both writers and readers interested in the things you're interested in. To have a site where fic can be easily shared and for free. There's something just wonderful about that.

So, most of all, why I write: I want to show people that care about each other. I want to make someone's day better and often that day is mine.

That's really all there is to it.

#atfo #hq at hogwarts #cards #wwmeo

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deadlyglacier · 3 years

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20 Questions tag~

I was tagged by @mythicamagic thank you senpai~<3

How many works do you have on AO3?

40 right now, plus 1 that is still hidden because of the SOFA Exchange event. (I’m still a lil fish.)

What’s your total AO3 word count?

486,920! That’s so amazing to me!

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

InuYasha - A Feudal Fairytale (18)

FullMetal Alchemist (18)

Mass Effect Trilogy (3)

Let’s Play (Webtoon) (1)

Kingdom Hearts (1) But I hope to write for many more fandoms in the future! I have ideas for fics for Castlevania, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Last of Us Part II, and more!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

#1. Stardust FemShep/Garrus, Mass Effect Trilogy, Rated Explicit. A retelling of the Shepard/Vakarian love story, with lots (and LOTS) of sexiness, from Garrus' point of view. Starts from before the Omega-4 and will end sometime after the end of ME3. Trying to stay as true to the game as possible, while adding some things happening off camera and a new ending.

#2. Flamingo Sess/Kag, Inuyasha, Rated Explicit Kagome's method of beating the summer heat attracts a certain demon lord...

#3. Hawk Sess/Kag, Inuyasha, Rated Explicit Kagome and Sesshomaru discover they have a mutual attraction for each other after a battle and a slight comedic incident brings them together. At first their relationship seems entirely sexual, but eventually evolves into something real. What will this romance mean for Naraku? Or even the future? *TRIGGER WARNING FOR CHAPTER 6! MAJOR VIOLENCE AND TRAGEDY* Very, very loosely based on "A Mere Digression" by elle6778

#4. Daisy Sam/Charles, Let’s Play, Rated Mature Sam wakes up somewhere unfamiliar with a splitting headache with no memory of the night before. Takes place right after the S2 finale. First chapter was my prediction for what would happen next, and then three other “wishful thinking” chapters happened, lol.

#5. Chemistry Ed/Winry, FullMetal Alchemist, Rated Mature A look at how the relationship between Ed and Winry developed after Brotherhood ended. Cute, sweet, funny, and hot (eventually—y'all that know me know I gotta have some NSFW in there).

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to respond to everyone, especially when a fic of mine has just been posted, but sometimes I just forget. If I haven’t responded to your comment, please know it’s just because I’m a big dumb and forgot! I love getting comments, and I reread them all the time! I just feel like there’s a time limit to when I can respond to them--if I let too much go by, it’s awkward if I reply. Gah, but that’s just me getting in my own head, I guess. I’ll do better!

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

Oof, definitely Psychology, a fic I wrote for RoyEdOTPoly this year. The prompt I got was dark, and I didn’t see any way around an angsty ending. Read at your own risk!

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

Well, aside from the last fic, I try to write happy endings for all my fics! But, if I have to name names, I’m torn between Zoology (another FullMetal Alchemist fic, RoyEd, for RoyEdOTPoly this year) and Stardust (my Mass Effect fic, which is long, but so worth it, in my opinion). Both are very fluffy in the end!

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

Argh... I don’t really like crossovers, to be honest. I actively avoid them when looking for fics to read. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought of writing them myself. (I’m a total hypocrite, I know.) I had an idea for an Inuyasha x The Sims fic, years ago, that I never did anything with. The premise was basically Inuyasha and Kagome would get trapped in the game somehow (via the jewel or magic or something), and they’d be controlled by Souta, Kagome’s friends, Hojo--all sorts of different people who think the fact that Kagome and Inuyasha are in the game is just some kind of silly mod. I probably won’t write it, so if anyone is interested in that crazy idea, have at it! You have my blessing. <3 I also have a crazy crossover idea for what I call an “Ultimate OT3″ of mine that I’ve mentioned to my friends, but I haven’t actually written down yet: Sesshomaru/Alucard/Sebastian Michaelis. So be on the lookout for that!

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I wouldn’t call it “hate” so much as “mansplaining,” but I have gotten a couple of comments that made my eyebrow twitch on Stardust--both on AO3 and FFN. Just dudes (and I’m fairly certain they were dudes, just from their tone) trying to explain why a certain plot twist wouldn’t work, or tell me how to save Sidonis in the actual game (which I already knew, that person just didn’t read what I wrote). I’ve also gotten a comment on one of my more controversial fics, Hippology, on FFN, where the person asked me if I thought my summary was K-Rated (which, admittedly, it does need to be for the site, and mine wasn’t--because of a single word). I changed it and messaged them saying it was fixed. Going to that commenter’s profile, however, proved to be fairly enlightening... They’re nuts. They have another profile, too. Read at your own risk. Yikes. There’s also a team of people on FFN who make it their life’s mission to report stories with rule violations. I’ve gotten a comment from one of them as well. These people are not mods, they just like to pretend they are--one of them even made their name look official! “CU Administration,” gtfo dude. I also recently got one of my fics removed from FFN. It wasn’t even one of my sexiest ones! They put me in timeout for 48 hours, and when I was finally able to publish something new on the site again, I posted Hippology (my centaur smut), and it’s still up as I type this. (Wonder how long it’ll take them to notice?) And since the fic that got taken down was a SessKag fic, I’m thinking it might have been a petty SessRinner who reported it to the “authorities” of FFN, because another friend of mine got hers taken down not long after mine, and it was also SessKag. Just my tinfoil theory, anyway!

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes, yes, yes. It’s practically all I write. I do all sorts of smut, from romantic, sensual stuff, to specific kinks, to monsterfucking--all that good stuff. Can’t change me~<3

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

God, I hope not!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t think so. No one has asked me if they can translate one, anyway.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet! I’m open to the idea, and I’ve had little discussions with my fic-writing buddies about it, but nothing’s come out of it just yet. Keep your eyes peeled!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oh, now come on! I can’t pick just one! But I’ll give you a top 3 (in no particular order, because they change places a lot, depending on how obsessed I am with them at the moment). Inuyasha: Sess/Kag FullMetal Alchemist: Roy/Ed Mass Effect: Garrus/FemShep

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

I have a couple of stories that I deleted from my original FFN account that I’d like to re-write and re-post on AO3, but I don’t think I’ll ever get around to it. There were a couple of Inu/Kag fics I had in-progress, and then a Koug/Kag fic. I recently rewrote and reposted my SessKag fic from years ago, Hawk, on FFN, AO3, and Dokuga! So maybe all hope isn’t lost. I’m even writing a sequel for Hawk! All the stories I have in-progress right now I plan on finishing. At some point, lol.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, without a doubt. It’s my favorite thing to write, aside from smut, of course--which is another strength of mine.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions, ugh. I try to do them well, but I always feel like they get stale. So I keep them somewhat vague, because in my mind, I think readers will fill in the gaps themselves whether you describe something immaculately or not--they’ll see what they want to see, and that is totally fine in my book! Or maybe I’m just making excuses, lol. I’ll only describe something in a lot of detail if I want the reader to focus on that--usually an outfit, accessory, or weapon--otherwise, I leave it up to their imagination (I don’t want manipulate it too much, I suppose).

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

Wildly unnecessary unless that author speaks the language as well, or if certain words already exist in the fandom’s translations (ex. “youkai,” “alkahestry,” etc).

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Inuyasha, and the fic(s) I wrote in the beginning were terrible. I want to burn all traces of them off the face of the earth. I was in middle school. I was young and stupid.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I gotta go with Stardust. It’s the longest fic I’ve ever completed at more than 160k words. I was so immensely proud when I typed “The End,” and I was able to say to myself “I did it.”

I tag: @glassesmcfancyhair @willowsrain

#SessKag #RoyEd #SamCharles #Shakarian #Inuyasha #FullMetal Alchemist #Let's Play #Mass Effect #fanfiction #writers supporting writers #q and a #I don't know what else to put so here

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vmheadquarters · 4 years

Text

We’re still playing our game of written hot potato! Dozens of your favorite authors are taking turns to tell a Veronica Mars mystery story. Each writer crafts their chapter and then “tosses” the story to the next person to continue the tale. No one knows what will happen, so expect the unexpected!

Follow the “vmhq presents” and “murder we wrote” tags for all the installments, or read the story as it develops on AO3. --Chapter Twenty-Six of MURDER, WE WROTE is written by @jeanie205. And stayed tuned next week for Ch.27 from @nevertothethird - tag, you’re it!

_____________________________________________________________

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX by @jeanie205

Business hadn’t exactly been booming at Mars Investigations lately, and even though she knew her dad was right, that the PI business, like almost everything else, was cyclical, Veronica still chafed under the inactivity.

She’d filled in her time the past few days with a flurry of office organization and some paperwork she’d been putting off for weeks, interspersed with a couple of bread-and-butter infidelity stakeouts. But either the unfaithful spouses had gotten stupider over the years, or Veronica had just gotten a lot better at sussing them out. Because while the pay had been good - great, in fact - it hadn’t taken her long to come up with the Money Shots.

So now she was at loose ends again. Even Mac had taken the day off after completing her update of the MI website, which she’d told Veronica was “a disaster.”

“They aren’t going to hire you if your site looks like it was designed in a high school IT class,” Mac had said, shaking her head.

For as much good as it’s done so far, Veronica thought, sitting alone in her office with nothing to do.

Her glance fell unconsciously to her bottom right-hand desk drawer. The deep one.

Well, maybe she didn't exactly have nothing to do.

There was a case of sorts, if she wanted to count guessing the ending of a whodunit written by the least likely mystery writer she could ever have imagined. An activity that Veronica had so far found not particularly entertaining. Mostly because the plot was already so convoluted that she doubted the eventual reveal could ever make much sense.

On the other hand, she’d become rather fond of Ruby Jetson, and knew they probably owed her for helping to exonerate Logan of murder. Besides which, she had promised.

With a guilty sigh, Veronica pulled open the drawer and hefted out a thick envelope.

Ruby had brought her the manuscript nearly a week earlier, eager to know if the story was good enough to “fool” the seasoned detective. Although she’d shown up without an appointment, Veronica had taken the time to read several chapters, Ruby smiling delightedly whenever she’d frowned in puzzlement.

“I knew it was a good mystery,” Ruby had boasted gleefully. “That even you wouldn’t be able to figure it out.”

By then, it had become apparent that Ruby expected her to read the whole damn book right then and there! Thank god Mac had soon caught on and poked her head in the office door, reminding Veronica about “her appointment.”

Ruby had looked disappointed when Veronica carefully re-stacked the loose manuscript pages and slipped them into the large envelope, stowing everything away in her bottom drawer.

“I’ll finish it soon,” she’d promised faithfully.

But she never had, although Ruby had called every day, looking for an update.

“Hurry up, Veronica,” she’d complained only the day before, the exasperation clear in her voice. “I need to send it to my publisher.”

Veronica had been surprised. Ruby already had a publisher?

As she slipped the manuscript out of the envelope, quickly flipping to the red post-it she’d left to hold her place, she fleetingly wondered who in hell might actually want to publish Ruby’s novel.

Picking up where she’d left off, Veronica noted the same peculiarity that had struck her the week before. Ruby’s chapters often varied so wildly in both style and format that it was almost like they’d been written by different people. She paused in her reading, considered for a moment if Ruby might have some kind of dual personality disorder. After all, the woman did have two names.

Or... maybe the answer was much simpler. Maybe Ruby had a collaborator, the same person, Veronica thought with growing certainty, who’d passed along all the personal information that Ruby could never have dug up, no matter how much “research” she’d done.

And that was another thing. Veronica’s annoyance rose as she came across yet another intimate-sounding encounter between book-Veronica and book-Logan. Ruby had promised her faithfully that the names in her roman a clef-slash-murder mystery would definitely be changed in the next draft. Veronica sure as hell hoped she followed through. Otherwise, the fledgling author was going to be bombarded with lawsuits. And Veronica Mars would be at the head of the line.

She sighed, turning back to the story just in time to find that... Ruby had killed herself off!

Or at least, she’d killed off Della Pugh.

Veronica’s eyes narrowed in surprise at this fictional turn of events. Was this some sort of symbolic “killing” of her original self so that her Ruby persona could thrive? She shook her head, finally deciding she was no better as a psychologist than she was a literary critic. She flipped quickly to the next chapter and soon wished she hadn’t. A delusional, Veronica-obsessed Duncan Kane was not exactly pleasant company.

Veronica was considering with wry amusement how the man himself might view his portrayal (should he ever see it) when she was startled by the ringing of a phone. Not the office land line but the cell phone that she had to dig out from the depths of her well-loved but totally inconvenient studded black leather bag.

She might not have even bothered had the sounds of the Perishers’ “Sway” not told her it was Logan calling. She’d assigned him that ringtone in a burst of nostalgia the same day she’d updated his photo from pukka beads to dress blues.

The fact that he was calling was in itself unnerving. If Logan wanted to communicate with her during the day, he almost always texted. So of course her mind went immediately to the worst-case scenario.

“Logan! Is everything okay? Is my dad...”

“Veronica!” Logan cut in on her abruptly. “Are you watching the news? Turn on the news!”

“Wh-what? You mean, like... CNN?”

“No. The local news. It’s a breaking story on a continuous loop.”

“Okay.” Mystified, she grabbed the remote from a drawer and powered up the wall TV that she hardly ever used.

And there was that creepy newscaster, the one who invariably reminded her of Vinnie Van Lowe.

“... a tragedy right here in Neptune last night when promising new writer Ruby Jetson was murdered in her own home.”

Veronica gasped. It couldn’t be!

“Veronica! You still there?”

“Yeah, Logan, I’m here. I can’t... I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it. And there’s more. Keep watching.”

Onscreen, the newscaster was just beginning the introduction of an “important witness” to the tragedy.

“We’re fortunate to have with us here in the studio the man who discovered the body of Ms. Jetson. Neptune’s very own school principal turned book publisher, Mr. Van Clemmons.”

Veronica nearly fell off her chair. Holy shit! Clemmons was Ruby’s publisher?

She quickly turned up the volume, desperate to hear every word.

“I understand you were about to publish Ms. Jetson’s first novel, Mr. Clemmons?” the Vinnie-clone asked in that fake tone of sympathetic interest that all newscasters somehow managed to perfect.

Clemmons nodded.

“That’s right. Of course, I’d known her as Della Pugh back when she was at Neptune High, but she’d made some changes in her life, and if she preferred to be Ruby Jetson, who was I to say she shouldn’t?”

Veronica rolled her eyes. Right, Van. You were always so forward-thinking.

“And the book?” the newscaster encouraged, refusing to be shifted off-topic by anything about the actual victim herself.

“Well, ah, Ruby came to me with the idea. Some kind of murder mystery. Very popular genre, of course. But the story was to be based on people she’d known in high school. I thought it sounded... promising. And she was just about to deliver the first draft. Said she’d finished it but was waiting for some feedback from a trusted friend.”

Veronica blinked. A trusted friend?

She wrenched her mind away from dwelling on the sheer... unexpectedness of Ruby regarding her as a friend, because Clemmons was still talking and she didn’t want to miss a word.

“Ruby kept delaying turning in the first draft, so I stopped by last night to see if I could... hurry her along.”

Clemmons paused briefly, and for the first time looked visibly shaken.

“And that’s when I... found her.”

The newscaster nodded slowly. “Not a pleasant experience.”

“No, indeed,” Clemmons agreed.

“And the book?” Vinnie’s doppelgänger was not to be thwarted.

Clemmons shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen after all. Only Ruby had copies of the manuscript, but there weren’t any in her apartment. And her laptop was missing, too.”

“The police...?”

“Didn’t find anything, either.”

“So the book won’t be published.”

Clemmons shrugged. “I can’t publish what I don’t have.”

The newscaster paused to make sure that viewers caught the significance of his next question.

“Do you think it’s possible that poor Ruby was killed because of something in that book?”

Clemmons hesitated. “I suppose it could be,” he said finally. “But I guess we’ll never know. If there ever was a manuscript, it’s gone forever.”

Veronica stared at the screen for long seconds before she muttered the words under her breath.

“No, Van. Not quite fucking gone.”

She switched off the television and picked up her phone. “You still there, Logan?”

“No, I’m here,” he said, appearing suddenly in the office doorway. “Thought maybe I should come by.”

She nodded, and as one their eyes fell on the loose pages still sitting in the middle of Veronica’s desk.

In seconds, she’d scooped them up and shoved them back into the envelope. But this time, the manuscript wasn’t crammed unceremoniously back into that deep bottom drawer. This time, Veronica opened their rarely-used safe and locked the thick envelope securely inside.

Veronica thought Logan must have sensed how shaken she suddenly felt because he was across the room like a shot, and in seconds she was wrapped in his arms.

“I’m sorry, Veronica,” Logan said softly, breathing the words into her hair.

“Yeah, me, too,” she murmured into his shoulder.

Then she took a deep breath and stepped back from Logan’s arms, determination stiffening her spine as she gazed up at him.

“Somebody killed Ruby over that damn book, Logan. And we’re gonna figure out who the hell did it.”

#veronica mars #veronica mars fanfic #vm fanfic #vmhq presents #murder we wrote #round robin

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thegaynon · 4 years

Text

Writeblr?

So, I’ve seen this floating around a lot lately and... I kind of want to give it a try. I’m relatively new to this, though, so I apologize in advance. I suppose I should start by introducing myself then. For here, I go by the alias ‘The Gaynon’, but just ‘Gaynon’ is fine, too. I am a transman and I do prefer male pronouns. :) I’ve always just written fanfics. I’ve tried writing original stories before but I never seemed to get very far. Recently, though, I’ve been trying again at writing original fiction. I have a few WIPs. Though, so far, I’ve only gotten the title down. Or not even that, haha. I think one might have a paragraph written for the start. I do want to post my own works here and I do want to get some feedback, critics and such. I want to share something I thoroughly enjoy doing with others and be a part of - as far as I can see - a pretty awesome community. I think I’ll stick to posting just original works (and maybe some memes or general things related to writing) here and leave the fanfics for other sites such as AO3. I might post writing tips and such? but I’m honestly not the greatest when it comes to things like that. So... We’ll see. Without a doubt, my favorite genre to write is horror. Needless to say, not all of my works - should I actually manage to write something I don’t despise - will be SFW. Of course, trigger warnings and such will always be provided. However, I also like to write fantasy and romance stuff, too. Which actually brings me to my next topic... Right now, there are technically three stories that I’m trying to focus on: • Metempsychosis - it’s supposed to be a story set in more medieval times about a young boy who is journeying with his older guardian/father figure to discover who he really is. I want it to be angsty, heartwarming and full of adventure. I also wanted it to be a series but... One step at a time. • We Three - another medieval adventure type story, this is about three elf brothers. Specifically, three princes. I was actually really inspired by the 2008 Merlin series and wanted to do something sort of similar. As in, I wanted these brothers to go on various adventures. Adventures that may not seem like they follow a distinct plot at first but then as the story carries on, the real plot begins to unfurl. Sort of like Merlin, where he and Arthur (and the others) go on various adventures throughout the episodes. And as they go on, the plot gets more intense and complex. • ? - I haven’t thought of a name for this one yet. It’s a new idea that came to me really recently and I barely know what I want to do for the plot. I just know that I want a modern hero/villain sort of dynamic. I kind of want a mystery element to it as well as a sort of horror element to it. I’m not entirely sure yet ;;;; And that’s kind of where I am right now with my original works. Uh, I’m not really sure what else to add here. I guess that’s everything? I’d love to check out more blogs concerning writing - be it prompt blogs, blogs that share their own stories, even writing meme blogs! So, if you’d like, maybe reblog and nudge me in the right direction? ;w; Or link me to your blog and I’ll check you out! Thanks for taking the time to read this. And I look forward to not only reading people’s stories/tips/ideas/etc + working with other fellow writers but also just getting to know everyone and generally having a good time, hah. - With love, The Gaynon

#writeblr #writeblr introduction #writer #writing blog

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stahlop · 5 years

Text

Must Love Dogs (3/?)

It’s time for chapter 3! Thanks again to @profdanglaisstuff for being my beta, especially since she posted like 3 stories this week and was being a beta for so many others. I really appreciate all your help.

Chapter 1 2

Also on Ao3

Chapter 3

“So,” Mary Margaret started as she dished some spaghetti and meat sauce onto Emma’s plate. Emma was thankful that Mary Margaret had invited her over for dinner, as her cabinets and refrigerator were woefully bare. She would have to make a much needed shopping trip tomorrow.

“So…” Emma said back. David gave a snort from beside her, as if he knew exactly what his wife wanted to talk to Emma about. Mary Margaret shot him a dirty look.

“So, I talked to Ruby,” Mary Margaret said, composing her face back to normal. She sat down at the table after dishing out dinner to David as well and began to serve herself. David started to pass around some garlic bread.

“And?” Emma huffed. She knew exactly where this was going, knew it would be a topic of conversation regardless, but she also secretly liked torturing Mary Margaret.

“She said you had some news to share?” Mary Margaret said even more delicately.

“Well...I did catch my skip the other day. Idiot decided to go visit an ex -girlfriend who did not want to be visited.” Emma smiled smugly knowing this was not what Mary Margaret was fishing for.

“Oh,” Mary Margaret said, blowing out a puff of air that made the brown bangs of her short pixie cut fly up slightly. “Ruby said that you might have some other news.” David was having a hard time suppressing his laughter.

“Oh,’ Emma said coyly, “You mean about the guy I met online?” she asked as if it were an afterthought.

Mary Margaret squealed in a register that Emma was sure that if Ditie was there, only she would be able to hear.

“We want to hear everything!” Mary Margaret said finally taking a big bite of her spaghetti.

“Just for the record, some of us don’t want to hear everything.” David said pointing his garlic bread at Emma before biting into it.

Emma rolled her eyes, “We emailed through the site and he asked me for my number and personal email.” She tried to get her face to stay neutral as she said it, but she couldn’t help the corners of her lips from turning up slightly. She started to twirl her spaghetti so that her mouth might be full for the next barrage of questions Mary Margaret was going to ask her. But Mary Margaret just stared at her with the biggest grin on her face that Emma felt guilty for trying to avoid her questions.

She pulled out her phone and brought up his profile before handing the phone over to Mary Margaret to read.

“I knew that site would help you find someone Emma! Oh, he’s cute!” Mary Margaret exclaimed earning a sound of indignation from her husband.”What? He is. But don’t worry, I only have eyes for you, David.” Mary Margaret mockingly pinched his cheeks, making him blush.

“The email is already pulled up.” Emma stated taking a bite of spaghetti.

Mary Margaret swiped over to the email she had received from Killian. Emma could swear there were tears in Mary Margaret’s eyes.

“Oh, Emma, he sounds perfect for you.” Mary Margaret said in a watery voice. Emma rolled her eyes again.

“I haven’t even met him. He could be all talk. He could be a serial killer.” Emma protested but even she knew she didn’t mean it. She’d known from the minute she saw his profile that this man could be the one, and that scared the hell out of her.

“How can I be this head over heels over a profile and an email? I’m not that girl. I don’t do relationships. Even if my past online dating experience hadn’t been awful, it’s doubtful that any of those guys would’ve made it past a night in the sack.” Emma said exasperated.

“That, for instance, is one of the things I don’t want to know about.” David said with a mouthful of bread. Emma and Mary Margaret ignored him.

“There’s something about him, the way he writes and the way he describes things, that gets me all shy and nervous. I feel like he could really be the one,” Emma looked up and saw the foolish grin plastered on Mary Margaret’s face, “which is really dumb because I haven’t even met him yet.” she finished quickly.

“Send him your email and your number,” David advised. Emma gave him a bewildered look. “I know it seems a little personal, but he sounds pretty direct. And you’re usually more direct when you’re not playing this weird damsel in distress thing you’ve got going on right now.”

Wow! Emma hadn’t expected David to be doling out the dating advice. He tended to treat her like his little sister most of the time, even though she was Mary Margaret’s friend. So pushing toward a guy she met online was really not in character for him.

Emma’s expression must have given all that she was thinking away because David continued with, “Emma, all we want is to see you happy. Plus, we all know you could kick his ass ten ways to Sunday if he pulled any crap on you.” He finished with a huge bite of his garlic bread and then grabbed another from the plate.

Emma grabbed her phone back from Mary Margaret. David was right (who knew she’d ever think that?). She’d been looking at his profile and email as if he were a relative who lived far away and she wanted to show off his picture, but he wasn’t. He was a living, breathing, man who was interested in her.

“Excuse me.” Emma said, backing up her chair from the table and heading over to the couch. “I just need to send him an email real quick with my information.”

Mary Margaret looked over at her husband, a huge smile on her face. Then she and David continued to eat while Emma sent her message to Killian.

EKEKEK

Killian eased the key into his apartment door and was practically run over by Jolly rushing to greet him.

“Sorry, girl.” he said as she jumped up to try and give him kisses, eventually just licking his hands instead.

“I know I’m a little late getting home. Did Henry from across the hall take you out?” Killian checked the leash and saw that it was laying on the front table instead of hanging on the wall, his and Henry’s code so that Killian knew that Jolly had been taken care of. Henry was a good kid. Killian would usually give Henry $10 anytime he needed Jolly walked because he was running late from work, like he was today.

He walked over to the kitchen table and set down his laptop and Chinese take out he’d brought home. He preferred to cook, but it was already 7 o’clock. Too late to get something defrosted, so Chinese it was. Besides, who could argue with egg rolls and Orange Chicken (no one, that’s who)?

He lived in a small one-bedroom apartment, though it was barely more than a studio. His bedroom barely fit his queen-sized bed and a dresser. But the rest of the place had lots of windows and a balcony, and it was an open floor plan, so it really wasn’t so bad. He could also see the ocean from his balcony, so that was a plus. In the summertime he could open all the windows, and the breeze coming off the Atlantic was amazing.

Killian grabbed some dog food from it’s container in the pantry and poured some out for Jolly. She immediately went over and started chowing down, even though he was sure Henry had given her some earlier as well. He added some water to her water bowl as well before settling himself down to eat his own food.

He wondered what Emma was up to tonight. She had said she worked in bail bonds, so maybe she was on a stakeout tonight. Maybe she had a late night class at BU (he wasn’t sure if she was taking online courses or regular courses), or maybe she was studying more for the police exam. Was she wondering what he was doing as well?

He finished up his meal and threw the rubbish away, packing up the leftovers for his lunch tomorrow. Then he walked over to his recliner intent on catching up on some of his shows. He hadn’t heard from Emma in two days. Maybe he had spooked her by asking for her personal information so soon. He just wanted to cut to the chase, cut out the middleman, so to speak.

Jolly, having finished her dinner, came over to get her ears scratched, one of her favorite pastimes. Killian absent-mindedly scratched her ears while flipping through his queue of shows, trying to decide which one to watch. It was then he realized that his backside was vibrating.

“Bloody hell!” he grumbled, realizing that he hadn’t taken his phone off of silent since leaving work. He grabbed it and began looking at his notifications. It looked like Will had been texting him to see if he wanted to grab dinner.

“Too late for that, mate” He texted back to him. He then noticed he had an additional notification.

He had another email from Emma.

In his actual email account.

Not from the MustLoveDogs website.

Killian got up and grabbed his laptop from where he had left it and quickly pulled up his email. He preferred responding to emails on his laptop than from his phone.

Killian,

I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous that you asked for my email and phone number. The other dating websites I’ve been on usually had an instant messaging feature, so it was a lot easier to communicate without giving out personal information. Not that I’ve been on a lot of dating websites. They all suck by the way. A story for another time. But I’ve realized through just your profile and email that I’d like to get to know you better. I’d prefer email over texting as texting is basically meant for small talk. I have included my phone number though. Do with it what you will. I’d definitely like to know about your time in the Navy and boxing and how you ended up in Boston and with Jolly.

Hope to hear from you soon (I really hate these lame ways of basically saying write back),

Emma

She had also attached a picture of Aphrodite asleep in a dog bed.

“What should I do, Jolly? Call her tonight or send her an email?” He showed Jolly the picture of the sleeping Aphrodite. Jolly gave him a ridiculous look which Killian took to mean “How would I know, you idiot, I’m only a dog.” Killian liked to imagine that Jolly had a British accent like himself and sounded like Helen Mirren from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. She then padded over to the bed and laid down to go to sleep.

Killian snapped a picture of Jolly on his phone and decided that he would send it to Emma since she’d sent him one of her dog. It was amazing how similar their dogs looked. A beautiful, strong woman with the same taste in pets, how much more perfect could she be?

Emma,

Jolly is sleeping too. She was not as impressed by your correspondence as I was. But then again, she is only a dog. Maybe she’s jealous that I have another dog on my phone. Even though her profile said she wanted a doggy friend, she’s only had me for the past year and a half. I hope our dogs get along as well as we seem to. I prefer talking on the phone to email or texting (I completely agree about texting), so expect to hear from me some time tomorrow. I hope the rest of your night is satisfactory.

Killian

EKEKEK

“I can’t believe we’re finally meeting,” Emma said as she sat down in an oversized, plush armchair.

“I know. It feels like we’ve been emailing forever,” Killian said to her as he set down his coffee on the long table and sat down in another armchair. His did not look as comfortable as Emma’s.

Anticipation fluttered in Emma’s stomach. It seemed like they had been missing each other left and right. It had taken weeks to align their schedules to actually get to meet up. But something about this didn’t seem right.

She looked over in the corner to see two black and white dogs tussling with each other.

“Did you bring Jolly with you?” she inquired.

Killian nodded, taking a sip from a comically large cappuccino mug. Except that there was a flowery teapot on the table.

“You brought Ditie too,” he added. She looked back over at the dogs and noticed that one of them was indeed Ditie. Something still wasn’t sitting right. She wondered why she would bring her dog to a coffee shop.

“Do they allow dogs in here?” Emma inquired, and then she realized, “How do you know I call my dog Ditie, I never mentioned it.” Her bail bonds instincts were starting to kick in.

She looked over at Killian who was now pouring an obscene number of sugar cubes into his cup. He opened his mouth to respond but all she could hear was The Police singing “Every Breath You Take”.

What the..?

That sounded just like her ringtone.

It was her ringtone.

She searched the long table for the phone but didn’t see it anywhere.

Killian was still putting sugar cubes into his tea and singing her ringtone.

And that’s when Emma finally realized she was dreaming.

She rolled over, still half-asleep, to try and feel her phone on the nightstand. Someone was obviously calling her. By the time she felt the phone, it had stopped ringing. She checked the time. It was 8 AM.

“Who the hell is calling me at 8 AM on a Friday morning?” she wondered. She checked the number. It wasn’t work or anyone whose name was saved in her phone. The number looked slightly familiar, but she wasn’t sure why. Well, if it was important they would leave a message.

“No more Alice in Wonderland before bed,” Emma thought, realizing that the tea party from the cartoon was featured heavily in her dream. She had come home from Mary Margaret and David’s late last night after watching the aforementioned movie, along with copious amounts of wine, because Mary Margaret was insistent that if they were going to eat somewhat Italian food, they had to have wine with it as well. Emma’s head was not happy with that. Thank goodness she’d decided to Uber it to their apartment rather than drive her bug.

Emma was debating whether to lounge around some more or get up (she only had to put in half a day today, just filling out paperwork) when Ditie padded in and started to whine.

“Ok, girl, I know what that means.” Emma said getting out of bed and scratching Ditie’s head. She quickly grabbed her workout clothes from off the floor and put them on. She and Ditie headed to the door so she could attire Ditie for the walk. Emma also grabbed a lightweight hoodie as the weather had a bit of a nip to it in the mornings now.

When they got to the dog park, Emma grabbed a cup of coffee, per usual, and brought out her phone to check her email and see if whomever had called had left a message. They had.

“Hello Emma Swan. This is Killian Jones, from the Must Love Dogs website.” Emma quickly paused the message. Her heart was about to start beating out of her chest.

He’d called!

He’d called and he sounded incredibly nervous. Coupled with his accent he sounded adorable.

And then it dawned on her.

He’d called and she missed it!

She dragged the message back to the start and pressed play.

“Hello Emma Swan. This is Killian Jones, from the Must Love Dogs website. Sorry, that sounded really doltish. I had said I’d be calling you in my email last night, so hopefully you’re not screening my telephone call. I had hoped to catch you before I got into work. You’re probably getting ready for work. It’s Friday, so I’ll be getting off at 4 today, so…. I’ll try you again later. Bye.”

“Shit!” she gasped looking at the phone. Killian Jones had called her and she’d missed it because she’d been sleeping. And it was still too damn early to call anyone to talk about it! And then she remembered that he had said he’d emailed her the previous night.

“Shit!” she said again, because she hadn’t checked her email last night or this morning. She opened her email app and saw, that yes, indeed, he had responded to her email at around eight the night before. And he’d included a picture of Jolly sleeping.

“Awww!”

Normally, Emma would lounge at the park for a little while longer, but now she was a bundle of nervous energy. She just wanted it to be 4 o’clock so Killian would call her back. She should have put his number in her contacts when he gave it to her, then this would not have happened. She felt like the biggest idiot. Of course, the wine and late night Disney had not helped the situation. She immediately added his number so she would know it was him when he called later.

“Ditie! Come!” she yelled over the thrum of the dog park. Ditie looked at her and whined as if to say “But we just got here”. “Ditie!” Emma said a bit more impatiently this time. Ditie bowed her head and slunk over to her owner. She knew when Emma meant business.

“Good dog!” Emma said kneeling to clip the leash to Ditie’s harness and scratching behind her ears. Ditie gave her a half-hearted lick.

“I know you didn’t get as much playtime as usual, but mama’s got things to do.”

The day seemed to drag on forever. After getting home from the park, Emma got dressed for work. She knew she only had half a day of work to do, but she needed to keep her mind off of the fact that Killian was going to call again.

Her mind started drifting while she was doing some of, what she considered, pointless paperwork. She really hadn’t dated much. Growing up in the foster system had not left room for relationships. Any time she’d made a friend, she’d end up leaving. And living in a world before email and the internet, it wasn’t easy to keep in touch. So she’d stopped trying. When she’d ended up in Boston and meeting Ruby, friends had started to come more easily. Ruby wouldn’t take no for an answer when she’d invite her places. Asking didn’t mean she had a choice. Emma was thankful for that now. Without Ruby she wouldn’t have met Mary Margaret, who had been a good friend of hers in high school, and had moved to the big city with Ruby to go to college while Ruby waitressed in her grandmother’s diner. Ruby’s grandmother had called them the Three Musketeers, but after awhile Mary Margaret met David and Ruby had met Dorothy. Sure they had tried to set Emma up, but just because they knew people who were single didn’t mean they were the right person for Emma (she grimaced when thinking about Graham, a friend of Ruby’s, who happened to be in law enforcement, and that was all they had in common).

But Killian, there was just something about him. She hoped it wasn’t all a facade. Something constructed for his online persona. That his picture wasn’t a fake and everything he wrote was copied from somewhere else. Her bail bonds instincts were not screaming at her that she was being catfished though. Her heart was practically singing and telling her this guy was it. Something she never thought she’d ever think in her life. Not after life had let her down so many times before.

“Hey, Emma!” The voice of her boss broke her out of her trip down memory lane. He was a short, grumpy man named Leroy, but he’d taken her under his wing when she was tired of waiting tables and taught her everything she knew about bail bonds. “Are you done with that paperwork yet? You’ve been staring at your laptop for the past half hour and you haven’t moved a muscle.”

“Um, yes. Sorry. Just thinking,” Emma said. She finished printing out everything that was needed and handed it to Leroy. She checked the time: a little after noon. She decided to text Ruby to see if she was available for lunch. She was.

“Bye Leroy. See you Monday.” Unless something important came up, Emma had most weekends free. The weekends were for committing crimes, not jumping bail apparently.

Emma entered the diner and saw Ruby in their usual booth in the back that was usually reserved for the manager during lunch. Ruby now managed the diner that her grandmother owned. Emma slid into the booth and immediately started to freak out.

“I missed a phone call from him this morning. I was asleep and I missed his damn call,” she lamented. Emma banged her arms and head on the table.

Ruby, with her wolfish grin, said nothing, just motioned for the server to come to the booth.

“Give me the roast beef sandwich with french fries and a Coke, and my friend here will have a grilled cheese, onion rings, and a hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon.” Ruby turned back to Emma as the server walked away to prepare the order.

“Thanks.” Emma said.

“Look, Emma, I know you have it bad for this guy, which is so weird because you never fall for men like this, but you have to get yourself under control.” Emma attempted to interrupt at this point but Ruby gave her a look which shut her down. “Did he leave a message?”

“Yes.”

“Did he say he’d call later?”

“Yes.”

“Then what are you getting all out of sorts about?” Ruby asked taking a sip of the soda that had just been placed in front of her.

“I’m just...nervous. This is not me. You’re right, I don’t get nervous over men. David said I was playing the damsel in distress the other night and to cut it out. What if I meet him and he’s nothing like I thought?” Emma asked slightly anxious. She restlessly swiped her finger through her whipped cream and licked it off.

“And what if he’s better? What if he’s the ultimate perfect man for you, Emma?” Ruby challenged back. “You need to stop asking ‘What if?’ because that will lead you down a path you don’t want to go.” Ruby stared at her until Emma nodded her understanding.

“Now stop freaking out so we can eat lunch together, because I have a feeling that once you two meet, I’ll never get to have you to myself again,” Ruby said with a huge grin on her face.

It was two by the time Emma and Ruby finished lunch. Emma headed back to her apartment and then took Ditie out for a walk. She might have gone back to the park, but she had too much nervous energy to work off. They walked around the neighborhood. Emma wondered where Killian’s work was. Most likely near the shore since it was a boat touring company. Although, maybe he worked out of a corporate office somewhere else. Technically, she could just look up the address, but she wanted to find things out organically, rather than research.

After an hour of wandering around, Emma and Ditie finally headed home. Ditie immediately lapped up the water in her bowl and then padded over to her dog bed. She huffed a few times while she circled around and then flopped down for a nap.

Emma would have loved to take a nap as well, but she was not going to risk missing Killian’s phone call. Instead, she put on the Food Network and mindlessly watched one of their many cooking competition shows.

At exactly 4 o’clock, Emma’s phone rang.

“Be cool, Emma, be cool.” she said to herself. She let it ring twice before she picked it up, not wanting to come off like she was desperately waiting for his call.

“Hello?” she said casually.

“Emma Swan? It’s Killian Jones. It’s great to finally hear your voice,” he said.

“Yours too. I’m so sorry I missed your call this morning. A little too much wine last night and some weird dreams had me completely out.” She said.

“Weird dreams?” he responded. God, his voice was so much better than on the voicemail. She could only imagine how it would be in person.

“My friend, Mary Margaret, and I decided to watch Alice in Wonderland, while drinking wine. So, I dreamed that we were on a date and it had some overt tea party themes going on.” Emma said.

“Dreaming of me already?” Killian responded with a slight hint of arrogance, but nothing too off-putting. She did just tell him he was in her dream. Emma responded with an eye roll but also and embarrassed giggle.

Killian thought that giggle was the most beautiful sound in the world.

“Look, Emma,” Killian began, “I know this is extremely short notice, but would you be interested in going out with a dashingly, handsome man tonight?” He held his breath.

Emma paused thinking of how to respond, “Is George Clooney in town? I thought he was married?”

Killian let out a barking laugh. “Ok, I deserved that.” He paused to regroup, “But seriously, are you available tonight?”

“Yes, “ Emma began, not even giving any pretense that she might have to think it over, “I would love to go out with you tonight, Killian.”

Please leave comments and reblog! Also, let me know if you want to be tagged when other chapters post.

@profdanglaisstuff @thisonesatellite @mariakov81 @hollyethecurious

#cs au ff #cs online dating #cs pet dating #are they every going to meet #guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out #and yes I did sleep through the first time my husband called #no way was I awake at 8 in the morning on the weekend

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morporkian-cryptid · 5 years

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Writing meme

I didn’t get tagged, but I saw this on a fellow writer’s blog and it looks fun, and I like talking about my writing, so here we go!

Author name: Morporkian Hobbit, to no one’s surprise (written with many variations of dots, dashes and underscores)

Fandoms you write for: My two biggest fandoms are Discworld and Sherlock. I’ve written one long Good Omens fic and one long-ish Harry Potter/Discworld crossover, and a few random one-shots in various fandoms (mostly self-inserts to fix the canon in the most ridiculous way possible).

Where you post: All of my fics are on FFnet, and the most recents ones on AO3.

Most popular one-shot: According to AO3 kudos count, it’s The Professor and the Colonel, a Victorian MorMor OS I wrote a few years ago. I can’t quantify popularity on FFnet (because that site is shit), but I doubt my self-insert Avengers crackfic ever got really popular.

Most popular multi-chapter story: On the same criteria, it’s Doubt truth to be a liar, which I’m very happy about considering the amount of work that went into it.

Favourite story you’ve written: Doubt truth to be a liar, without hesitaion. I’ve spent a massive amount of time on it, it’s about my favorite ship, it’s my longest fanfic, and not enough time has passed since publishing it for me to find too many mistakes. But I still ave a fondness for You Only Live Twice, my very first long fanfic, back when I was a hardcore Discworld fan who thought that self-inserts were something that readers liked.

Story you were nervous to post: I’ve never really been nervous to post anything. But if I have to pick one, it would be First Steps, my only SeveRich fanfic, because SeveRich is such a minor part of the Sherlock fandom, and it also had the very first (and only one to date) smut scene I’ve ever written.

How do you choose your titles: Badly. Sometimes they come naturally, sometimes I have to dig through Shakespeare quotes for two hours. It’s either a boring description of the content, a bad pun, or an overly dramatic title.

Do you outline: I tend not too, which is a bad habit. I’ve recently started writing outlines for long fics, but I still leave a lot to improvisation.

Complete: All of my fics. The only one I’ve abandonned halfway was Au delà des siècles, a Good Omens fic, and I’ve rebooted it and finished it since then. (I’ve also abandonned three badly planned attempts at original novels, but those were before high school so they don’t count)

In-progress: A collection of one-shots in a X-Men MorMor crossover. There’s also my NaNoWriMo novel Perdus dans l’Ombre, which I’ve been planning for nearly a year and will start writing in a few days. Woohoo!

Coming soon/not yet started: OOOOH BOI. There’s a long MorMor fic I really want to write but am not sure if I can/will, a SeveRich scenario that I might tie into a MorMor fic, several songfics, a few more poems, and all the different MorMor scenarios I’ve writing since high school that are still gathering dust in a notebook.

Do you accept prompts: Only when I have sudden bursts of motivation with no inspiration or no project in progress, which is rare.

Upcoming story you are most excited to write: Perdus dans l’Ombre, because it’s the first time I’m going to write something that’s not a fanfiction (and actually finish it, hopefully). And also that one MorMor fanfic, if I ever manage to write it. I know it will take time, but I’m determined to at least try.

If you want to do this meme as well, consider yourself tagged by me!

#tag meme #writing meme

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geekofmanyforms · 5 years

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New Beginning

Summary: Unlike her twin sister, Elena, Elara Gilbert never quite fit in. Heck, how could she when this was at least the 50th time she'd relived her teenage years? Cursed by a sorceress a thousand years ago, Elara is stuck in an infinite loop of birth, life, and death, dying on her 18th birthday in each lifetime. Her curse is inevitable, and there is no escaping what's to come.

AN: I do not own the Vampire Diaries or the world any of the known characters come from. I only own my OC’s and any original ideas that you see incorporated into this story. ATTN: My wonderful Beta, by the name of Casey, is currently helping me slowly rewrite this fic and fix any mistakes. So, if you see the first few chapters looking a lot better then the ones that follow; that is why. Also, I love constructive criticism so please to let me know what you think. I am working on my own original work so I could use the help fine-tuning my writing. This fic is on Wattpad, AO3, and FFN. I currently have 33 chapters written and will post them here if I receive enough requests. Otherwise, you may search my username on any of the three listed sites to find the other chapters.

Chapter One

Looking back, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that I was ever ‘normal.’ Even as a child, I could see and do things no one else could. It never scared me, however- to me, it felt normal to be able to do what I could. I never thought anyone would view my abilities as something to fear until I was forced to show them. I remember the day I first showed anyone my skills as clear as crystal. That day, I learned that to be abnormal wasn’t a good thing. That day, I lost the filter of innocence I had to shield my childhood from the horrors of the human condition. That day, I learned you can never truly trust anyone.

It was an average day, like any other. The sun was shining brightly; I remember the way it felt seeping into my skin as my fraternal twin sister Elena and I climbed the trees beside our house. We climbed the trees in our yard almost every day. Even with the day starting as average as any other, it just happened to end up a defining moment in my childhood - all because a swift gush of wind and a few strands of errant hair caused my sister to lose her footing.

For many years, I grew up thinking everyone was as ‘special’ as I was. My mother always told me I had an active imagination, that the things I told her I could see were all in my head. After that, I decided to keep my newfound abilities to myself. I was fearful of what she would say or do if she ever found out that none of it was actually in my head.

It’s funny how quickly a few minor things can come together and change your life forever. I watched helplessly from the lower branches as she tried to brush her hair from her face, causing her to lose her balance and fall. I screamed her name as she plummeted towards the ground, her fingers grasping at the empty air as if to catch a stray branch and save herself.

If I close my eyes, I can still see myself rushing to her at the sound of her cries. I can remember the abrasiveness of the tree bark underneath my palms, scraping and scratching my skin as I dropped from the tree. All other thoughts had left my mind as adrenaline coursed through me; I needed to get to my sister.

I had always been protective of Elena. I was born first, even if it was only by mere minutes, so I always viewed myself as the elder sister — her protector. When I finally reached her at the bottom of the tree, she was sprawled out on the bright green grass. Her legs bunched up around her middle as she gasped in pain. I held her in my arms as she cried, telling her everything was going to be alright, to take a deep breath and try to relax. I gently lifted her arm to find that it was turning a purplish color and was twisted in a way that I knew, even at such a young age, was unnatural. Her pale face was screwed up in agonizing pain, tears streaming down her cheeks. I wanted so badly to help her, to take her pain away. Somewhere deep inside, I knew I could do something to ease her suffering. I was nervous to show her my abilities, but I couldn’t see her in such pain and do nothing. If anyone were to accept me for who I am, I was sure it would be my sister.

I placed my small hand on her arm and closed my eyes. I imagined her arm healed, back in its rightful place as it had been only moments before. Bright blue light poured from my fingertips, and her bones maneuvered back into place.

Elena gasped and pulled away from me quickly. She held her arm against her chest in shock, staring at me wide-eyed and fearful. She looked down at her freshly healed arm with hesitation, then screamed.

“W- what are you?” She shrieked, rising to her feet and stepping backward away from me, “Some kind of-of- monster?”

My heart broke. Did she really think of me as a monster? I had tried to help, and I scared her. I never expected my own sister to turn against me like that. My blood began to boil, my heart pounded violently in my chest; I was so angry. I stepped toward her, ignoring the way she flinched back, the disgust plain on her face. I slammed my fist square into her face, enjoying the crunch against my knuckles as her nose shattered. Blood poured down her front as she stumbled backward, falling onto her bum.

“You FREAK!” she hissed. “You’re a freak, Elara!”

I earned a nice sentence of four weeks locked in my room for punching my sister. My parents didn’t believe it when Elena told them about what had happened with her arm. They thought we had been playing and it had gotten out of hand. There was no possible way I could’ve healed a broken arm; it was impossible.

They could deny the possibility of Elena’s recount of her arm injury, but the proof of her broken nose was right on her face. That one I couldn’t deny and didn’t particularly want to. I was angry at my sister for what she had said, and as far as I was concerned, she deserved what I did to her in return.

Being whatever I was, I started to be very careful about who I trusted. If a member of my own family couldn’t accept me for who or what I was, I feared no one could. From that day forward, I never said another word about the things I could see or do. My sister showed me that I would be viewed as something scary or unnatural. Telling anyone could potentially bring me one of two things: pain or punishment. I chose to keep to myself from then on — I was afraid I would hurt someone again. I didn’t want to be the monster my sister accused me of being.

Our relationship never mended. We started doing everything separately after that day, instead of together; I honestly doubt she even remembers why. As we grew, she found her own group of friends, and I found mine. Well, I found one; Caroline Forbes. She had been my sister’s friend before she was mine. She and my sister are still friendly, but they aren’t nearly as close as we are.

At first, I couldn’t stand Caroline. I could hardly handle being in the same room as her. But, the more she bugged me, the more I started to like her. She had a fiery personality, one that you couldn’t help but be drawn to.

So, that’s how my life went. I hid away until Caroline showed up, dragging me out to a party or school function that I really didn’t want to go to. I’d rather stay home buried in a good book, but Caroline would have none of that.

That is until the Salvatore’s moved back into town. I had known from the minute Stefan knocked into my sister in the hallway at school that he wasn’t human. I could feel it, and not to mention, I had seen him before. He showed up in one of the many memories I had received of my past lives. I’m not yet sure how many times I’ve lived and died, but I know it’s numerous.

Every night, the memories come to me like nightmares. For the longest time, I thought they were until I was visited by one of the spirits that haunt me. Throughout my many lives, I’ve seen different spirits — some dead, some trapped in limbo, or the ‘in-between,’ as I call it. It’s my way of saying they are stuck in a realm somewhere between life and death.

This particular spirit, Rebekah, was my personal favorite. We had been friends in quite a few of my past lives. Her spirit form has plagued me off and on for as long as I could remember. She isn’t exactly a ghost, but someone who tends to get stuck in the in-between, thanks to a very long story full of family drama. We’ll get to that later.

I’ve always been drawn to her and her family. I don’t really know why; I have only unlocked a few of my past lives. It’s a painful process that I cannot control, and when it happens, it can take me days to recuperate. It’s like being forced to eat even after you’re full. It makes me feel like I could explode, bursting into a billion pieces if I bumped into something the wrong way. The headaches are the worst part, it feels like someone is pushing hot pokers into both of my eyes at the same time.

So when Stefan showed up, I knew exactly who and what he was. Rebekah had come to me the night before and told me everything was about to change. She told me that once again, I was going to be drawn into her family drama.

Great, that was just what I needed!

Even without Bekahs warning, I had remembered a bit about Stefan. I had run into him before, just as I had the Mikaelsons. I was sure he had come back to town the minute he heard there was a doppelganger of one of the women who had caused his change, Katherine.

Lucky me, this specific doppelganger happened to be my sister. Note the sarcasm.

Thankfully, he hadn’t noticed me playing the creepy stalker at the other end of the hall as he spoke to Elena for the first time. I made sure I steered clear of him the entire day. It hadn’t been easy, we all shared the same classes, but I had made sure to play hooky and hideout.

I wasn’t sure if he would recognize or remember me, but I didn’t want to take the chance of him giving me away in front of Elena. I had worked really hard to keep my typical, average girl cover, and I did not want that ruined by anyone.

Especially by some vampire who wanted to stalk my sister because she looked like his ex-lover.

I needed to speak to him alone, so that’s what I planned on doing. I would follow a vampire home, knock on the door, and ask to chat.

Smart right?

Masterlist

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paradisobound · 6 years

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I Want It, I Got It: Chapter 12

Summary: Phil Lester was a worker for the BBC in London. Working in the advertising department, he was content being alongside his friend and fellow coworker PJ during every shift. However, the BBC is temporarily being used as a film set for a new movie staring Hollywood ‘It’ star, Daniel Howell. Being stuck as an extra on the set, Phil finds it’s hard to ignore the famous star. And maybe, just maybe, Dan finds it hard to ignore Phil as well.

Word Count: 1.9k (this chapter)

Warnings: Occasional swearing and light smut

Rating: Explicit (from this point on)

Updates will be every Sunday at 1pm EST

**MASTERLIST | READ ON AO3**

A/N: Updates are going to be every Sunday now until I get back ahead of myself writing! I’m running the risk of catching up with myself and I don’t want to write chapters week to week, I’d prefer to have them done in advance! Sorry!

It was hard for Phil to watch Dan leave the next morning, that he will admit. He never expected to feel such a gutted sensation in his chest to see Dan get into the black cab and drive off into the distance.

He got used to having another person in his life, living at his flat even if it was just for three days. So to go from hearing Dan to having radio silence again was hard. He even thought for a moment that Spike felt the same way with the way he whimpered for minutes after Dan left.

He fell asleep, not long after. And he tried his best to sleep in before he had to go back to the BBC for his next shift. By 10am, he was already catching the tube to the BBC and he was already missing the last few days.

PJ was already in the office before him, sitting at his laptop and scribbling on a piece of blank paper. “Morning.” Phil says, setting down his bag at his desk and plopping into the chair. “How was your weekend?”

“Quite eventful actually.” PJ answered, looking from his laptop and leaning back in his seat. “Sophie and I went to visit her parents in Brighton.” He paused. “Although, I don’t think our weekend was quite as eventful as yours. When were you gonna tell me that you and Daniel Howell were shacking up in your flat?!”

Phil’s eyes widened and he immediately stood up, walked over to the door of their office, and shut it before returning back to his desk. “Okay, listen.” Phil began. “Dan wanted to come back to London without being noticed so he stayed at my flat this weekend. It was nothing more.”

“Well, you two certainly made a mark with that video you posted.”

“What are you talking about?” Phil questioned. “It was just a harmless video.”

“Have you even been on social media since you posted it?” PJ asked, suddenly turning his laptop around to show Phil the screen.

Phil gulped, and read the first headline.

“HEART EYES HOWELL? IS THIS THE NEW MYSTERIOUS MAN IN DANIEL HOWELL’S LIFE”

“PJ, you know that’s bullshit!” Phil cried, pointing at the screen. “Dan and I are just friends!”

PJ threw his hands up. “Calm down, mate.” He said, his voice soft. “I know that. But I’m just telling you what every single story is about. Your video is the product of every entertainment news source out there. Everybody who watched your video is commenting about how you and Dan acted in it. That’s all I’m saying.”

Phil felt his body tense but then relax. PJ wasn’t trying to be rude or even aggressive, he was just looking out for Phil. He had to remember that. That’s exactly why PJ was showing Phil these headlines now and not letting Phil discover them for himself.

“I’m sorry.” Phil said, letting out a breath. “I’ve been on edge about the entire thing. The video was Dan’s idea but I also agreed to it.”

PJ nodded and reached down, turning his laptop back to face him again, the headline no longer glaring Phil in the face.

“Phil, can I ask you something.”

Phil felt his stomach drop, and his heart pick up speed. Looking closely, one could probably see the way Phil’s chest was beating so hard through his jumper.

“Are you and Dan dating?”

Phil knew the question was coming and even though the answer was, without a doubt, no, he still felt a multitude of answers go through his head as he began to process it. He could say any number of responses from no to I want to. But he doesn’t know the correct response.

“No.” Phil says finally. “Dan and I are not dating.”

There is a lull in the air, his words hanging like a string in front of them. PJ looks down at his desk and then back up at Phil. “You’d tell me if you two were together right? Like you wouldn’t let me find it out over some stupid headline?”

Phil nodded. “If Dan and I ever date, then I’ll tell you.”

PJ flashed him a smile and Phil flashed one back.

The room remained silent as they worked on their own assignments, and when it came time for them to leave, they both took the same tube train and went out to coffee and dinner at a local cafe.

***

Phil found it hard to go back onto social media. He found it incredibly difficult to even open up his Twitter app or even his Facebook. The worst part yet was that his brother and even his mum had texted him as well, talking about the video and asking all sorts of questions. He particularly didn’t want to answer anyone.

His afternoon found himself sitting on his couch with Spike between his feet on the floor, chewing on a new toy Phil had found in his closet, still in the packaging. Spike didn’t ruin toys easily so Phil never bought him anything. So for Spike, even though it was only February, it was Christmas.

Speaking of February, Valentine’s Day was in two days and Phil was feeling the soft pit in his stomach at, once again, not having anyone to share it with. Last year, he had opted for a sad hook up via Grindr that he regretted almost as soon as it was over―which granted, it only lasted around five minutes.

But this year, he didn’t have any plans besides sitting at home with Spike and thinking of Dan. It’s hitting him pretty hard now, he’s decided. This crush has turned into more and he’s definitely seeing that now as he lets out a loud sigh, causing Spike to look up at him before he returning to his gnawing.

He supposes that it’ll be just as pathetic this year, eating chocolate alone (even though he’s allergic but not bad enough where he’ll willingly give it up) and indulging in some self-love that night.

Thinking about it now, he doesn’t even remember the last time he got himself off. It’s kind of sad really. He’s been so preoccupied with Dan that he hasn’t even had time to really think about his own needs.

He shakes his head. He shouldn’t be ashamed about getting himself off in his own time. And maybe, deep down, he’s not. But he is ashamed about the fact that he’s currently thinking about Dan and about getting himself off all in the same thought.

But surely he’s not alone in this right? It’s not entirely a bad thing to think of someone so attractive that you could get off to their image? Isn’t that just porn? Phil’s gotten off to a lot of porn over his teenage and adult year.

This is dumb. And worst of all, his pants are feeling tighter as he continues to think about porn and other images in his head. And even worse yet, he’s imaging Dan’s face, the way his dimples sunk into his skin as he spoke or even smiled. How would they look as Dan was in the throes of pleasure?

Heat begins to course in his stomach and he finds himself feeling the urges of arousal. He stood up from the couch, leaving Spike behind as he walked to his bedroom and shut the door, not particularly feeling like he was willing to jerk off with Spike watching him.

Phil unlocked his phone and goes into Safari, clicking on incognito mode as he types in his favorite porn site into the search bar. He’s nearly clicking on the link to the site, his left hand already palming himself through his pajama pants when he gets possibly the worst thought in his head.

He suddenly finds himself googling “Dan Howell sex scene”. Dan had mentioned that he did an indie film with his ex-boyfriend that involved a sex scene. God, why is he trying to find this? This has to be wrong?

But yet, he’s clicking on a link to it and the video comes up on his phone screen and there is Dan, shirtless on a bed kissing some hunky blonde. He looks younger than the Dan he knows now. For one, his hair is longer and pin-straight. Not even a curl in site. And his body is less defined, much skinnier than he is now. His heart races and he sees the name of the movie credited by the video. Rain of Colorado. He quickly googles the name of the film and finds out that it was filmed in 2014 and that makes him feel a lot less guilty over getting off on it considering Dan would be 23.

He goes back to the original tab with the video and presses play and instantly, his senses are overloaded. Dan’s moans coming from the kisses are actually pornographic. His body language and his shirtless torso is…breathtaking. Phil feels his body let out a little moan as he reaches down into his pants and takes himself into his hold, stroking slowly to get himself to full hardness.

The video continues and suddenly Dan is underneath this guy, the camera is showing them moving together are one, the bed moving with them. The headboard is hitting the wall and banging like a drum to Phil’s ears.

The scene ends just as both Dan and his ex appear to orgasm. And of course it is all fake but Phil still feels his breath shorten and his cock leak in his palm as he strokes faster and faster. He reaches down, the phone tossed to the side, and pulls his pants down under hardened cock, letting it hit his stomach with a wet smack. He spits into his hand for some extra leverage and picks up his pace, stroking himself with more and more eagerness.

It feels amazing, despite it being only his hand.

He’s imagining Dan’s face as he orgasmed on film. His mind flashed to how amazing Dan would look under him as Phil thrusts into him and over and over again as they chase their high. Or maybe it would be Dan thrusting into Phil. He’s likes both sides.

The heat coils in his stomach way too fast for his liking and he cups his left hand over the head of his cock just in time to catch his release, streaking white over his fingers. His body is heaving and he’s breathing way too hard but the release was enough to rest his tired and tense muscles and his constantly overthinking brain.

He reaches to his nightstand and grabs a wad of tissues as he wipes off his hand and then tosses the tissues in his waste bin. He should get up and wash off, even take a shower, but he’s feeling too much like jelly to stand.

He tucks himself back into his pants and then grabs his phone, closing the video and closing out of the tab. He goes back to his home screen and notices a little red bubble next to his messages app and he opens it, reading the message.

Dan: That was the worst scene I’ve ever filmed and I actually feel a bit humiliated are you able to talk?

His heart falls out of his chest and he suddenly feels like he’s going to be sick.

But he answers anyway.

Phil: Of course! Call whenever you’re ready!

#phan #phanfic #phanfiction #au #famous!dan #moviestar!dan #normal!phil #princesslexi763fics

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thefishychicken · 5 years

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Fanfic stats tag game

I was tagged by @r6shippingdelivery (any probably someone else but mobile is fucking my over)

Author Name: DatGirlSuzie

Fandoms You Write For: Rainbow Six Siege

Where You Post: AO3 only. I have had some experience using other sites but AO3 is the best by far.

Most Popular One-Shot: Jägermeister. At the time of this posting, it has 1040 hits and 72 Kudos. While that isn’t much compared to other authors, I’m happy that some of my fics are breaking the 1k mark. Fun fact: I actually can’t read this fic. It’s too cringy for me and every time I look at it, I see mistakes and want to close it.

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: I only have one multi-chapter story but even that is stuck at ch.1 so I wouldn’t exactly say it fits. The title is “Late is Better Than Never” and my fun fact for this story is that I actually got my super muscular hot friend to pose for me when I was stuck writing the scene where Fuze is taking off his shirt. It might have been one paragraph in the fic but in real life it was two hours of sweaty posing under the sun.

Favorite Story You Wrote: Without a doubt, my favorite story is “Can You Fit a Fourth?” It was the first fic I had ever written for the fandom and although the first release was absolute dog shit, when I finally got my act together (and partnered with Rosallora) it became my staple fic. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. Fun fact: I had to edit this story only using my phone while I was stuck in rural Bolivia with no cell service.

Story You Were Nervous To Post: None. I usually don’t feel nerves when releasing my fics. Even my Horse Rook and OwO fics that I know everyone hates were posted without hesitation. I know exactly what I’m doing and what the reaction will be. So why should I be nervous?

How Do You Choose Your Titles: I think of something that people usually know and try to make it worse/meme-y. Although my current released fics appear to have normal titles, Kiki, Grunkle, and Sword can attest to my weird as fuck fic titles that I release in dms. Fun fact: I think of titles first and then build the plot around them. It’s a weird method that can backfire sometimes but usually it works out. Fun fact: I think of titles randomly during the day. I’ll be walking in the park and suddenly my brain will do “hold the fuck up. Two In The Pink, One In The Fink.” and that’s how my fics are born.

How many stories are…..

Complete: 9

In Progress: 37. I counted. All of them are half done or near completion, I just haven’t had the energy to write.

Coming Soon: I’m writing for dualrainbow’s event, so you guys should be on the lookout for my shitty Spanish. Along with that, I hope to release the edited Horse Rook fic, “Do You Know The Whey?”, “Stuck Between Iraq and a Hard Place”, “The Lion, the Witch, in the Wardrobe”, and “Meals On Wheels” by the end of August. I’m leaving with the titles and the reminder that they’re going to be 99% smut.

Do You Accept Prompts: No. I tried to in the past, but with my energy to write practically diminished, I can’t take on anything that I don’t absolutely love.

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited To Write: Shh… it’s a secret. The fic is much darker and more hardcore than anything I’ve written before and while I will release it when it’s done. I’m not going to talk about it much other than mention it here. :P

Tag five fanfic authors to answer these questions: Tbh everyone I know has already done this so I’m sorry if y’all have already done this. @swordliger @freedert95 @gillesmontagnetoure @aesos-caliber @rosallora

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carnationbooks · 6 years

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Fandom features: Author Wendy Qualls

To kick off a series of fandom-focused posts, we’re chatting with author Wendy Qualls (aka wendymarlowe on AO3) about fanfic, Johnlock, getting published, the intersection of fanfiction and original fiction, and a little dash of DragonCon! We so enjoyed learning a bit about Wendy’s fandom experience, and are so glad to share her insight with all of you! Don’t miss the amazing rec list she wrote for us after the jump (it’s so good). Thank you so much for talking with us, Wendy!

Thanks so much for chatting with us! How can our readers find you?

I write fic as wendymarlowe (Marlowe being my middle name), but I write my original male/male romance under my real name, Wendy Qualls. (www.wendyqualls.com)

So what inspired you to start writing fic?

I write in the Sherlock fandom with brief forays into Harry Potter, but my first ever fandom was Dragon Age. I played Dragon Age: Origins and went through the love story with one of the characters and immediately thought "I want to experience exactly that again, but different" and I remembered something called fanfic my sister used to read so I looked some up. The one I found was awful, but then I found my way onto fanfiction.net and eventually onto AO3. The fics got better :-)

Now that you’re writing mostly in the Sherlock fandom, what about Johnlock is the most appealing to you?

Honestly? I love what fandom has done to the characters. The Sherlock and John on the show would both be horrible people to be in a relationship with, but the general fandom version sort of rounds the edges off a bit. Sherlock is abrasive but not cruel, John is competently BAMF without being violent and angry. The show has throwaway lines like how John “lost an entire Wednesday once” and I know Moftiss put it in there because they thought it was funny but SERIOUSLY? Drugging your flatmate is not okay! I’d much rather read (and write) about characters who are capable of healthy relationships :-)

What is your favorite thing you have written so far?

My most popular fic, and the one that was the most amazing to write, was Dear John (https://archiveofourown.org/works/2647979). Summary: "With Sherlock dead, John eventually (under duress) makes a profile on an online dating site. And falls into a long-distance relationship with an enigmatic partner who reminds him of Sherlock in all the right ways. (Hint: it turns out to be Sherlock.)"

It was inspired by a friend trying a dating website and me realizing that sense of waiting for replies and not knowing when they're coming could be replicated by AO3's subscribe feature - I posted the fic in "real time." (As in, back and forth according to when the characters would have been writing each other). It had a pretty modest following at the beginning, but by the time John and Sherlock shared their first sexting right before Christmas it kind of blew up on Tumblr and the comments section started to be longer than the chapters :-P

It was amazing to see a mini-fandom develop right there and see everyone debating what they thought John and Sherlock were up to that very minute. By the time the fic got to the big dramatic face-to-face meet, the comments/replies were coming in faster than I could read them! I'm told it's still fun to read now, all at once, but the shared waiting experience was something I wish I could replicate for another fic and I don't know that I ever could.

When I started submitting around to find a literary agent, the popularity of Dear John and my other AO3 fics was a strong point in my favor with the agent I ultimately signed with :-) There's a LOT of overlap between romance authors and fanfic authors, actually, even if not all of them are public about it.

Speaking of your work as a published author, do you have any words of wisdom for the fic authors out there who are hoping to get published one day?

Everyone—every published author ever—has a few manuscripts “under the bed” that just didn’t work. Often it’s because their writing needed to get stronger before publishing, sometimes it’s because they hit a crowded market exactly wrong or just never connected with the right editors/agents. Only around 10% of people who attempt to write their first novel make it to the end, and less than half of those get to the point they’re submitting it for professional consideration.

The thing is, though, the only way to get better at writing is to write. I don’t care how many books and blogs you read about the craft (although those help too), you’re not going to get your book out there for money if you’re not willing to write something imperfect first.

Fanfic, I believe, is an amazing way to practice writing for low stakes. You get your pick of pre-developed characters and settings to choose from, there are no deadlines, and 99% of fanfic readers are supportive. AO3 says I’ve had 11,549 comments on my works - I think I’ve had only one or two readers who were critical. The rest are positive and make me excited to write for them. There is no doubt in my mind that fanfic has made me a better writer. Anyone who dreams of being published someday, my advice is this: write a book. Then write another. Write fanfic along the way and pick up people to cheer you on. The difference between published and unpublished is mostly luck, persistence, and confidence.

Do you ever get writer’s block? What do you do to combat it?

I do absolutely get writer's block, in big part because of my depression. (Depression sucks, btw.) Writing fic has made me comfortable having multiple works in progress at once, though, so often if I'm stuck on my "real" book I can write fic instead. I can't turn out fic as fast as I could before I started actually being published and having deadlines, but it's still a totally different feel writing for no stakes versus "how are my agent and editor and readers going to judge this?" Positive comments on AO3 pretty much balance out the negative energy in bad book reviews :-P

While we discussed this interview, you mentioned you’ll be in attendance at DragonCon this weekend. What are you most excited to do at con?

The panels and the people! There are several friends I only see at DragonCon, and it’s always fun to reconnect. The panels, though, are the heart of the convention. Science vs. Movies (10 PM Sunday in the Hilton Crystal ballroom) is always a highlight - it’s a panel of real, actual science experts forced to watch terrible Hollywood scenes and then argue why the scene was actually 100% scientifically plausible :-P Sometimes they break down and cry. It’s awesome.

You’re on some panels, right? When can folks catch those?

Friday at 10 PM: "BritTrack After Dark - British Fanfic/Slashfic Panel!" in Hilton Galleria 5 and Saturday at 10 PM: "We Do the Weird Stuff!: NC17 Fanfic" in Marriott M301

And finally, do you have any fic recs to share with our followers?

(Ed. Note: Y’ALL! Wendy wrote us an amazing rec list which is under the cut - Click for some Sherlock-y goodness!)

Favorite crack-premise-but-serious-fic: The Midas Touch (E) by flawedregina (https://archiveofourown.org/works/2479868) John Watson has a medical condition that means everyone he sleeps with is instantly healed of all illness and injury. This causes complications when Sherlock breaks his arm, and even more complications when Sherlock falls in love with him. Yes, this is a story where John has a literal magic healing cock. It's a lot less cracky than you're probably imagining. I love this for the "literal magical healing cock" premise, but it's also a beautiful look at ethics, personality, and the dynamics of sex. John is caught between feeling like he ethically HAS to use his rare gift because it saves people's lives and feeling the very human need for privacy and having control over his own life. Sherlock is a brat because he's always a brat but he GETS it and supports John and seriously, it's wonderful. 32K.

Favorite crack-premise-but-serious-fic without all the smut: A Magnificent Instrument (T) by mycapeisplaid (https://archiveofourown.org/works/7452193) A series of vignettes set in an AU in which Sherlock plays the tuba instead of the violin. This does have some brilliant takes on the idea (my favorite is Sherlock playing "oompah oompah" elephant steps in time with Mycroft leaving the flat) but it's also got an amazing connection between Sherlock and John. 6K.

Favorite fantasy AU: Here There Be Dragons (E) by Leloi (https://archiveofourown.org/works/786378) When Lord John of the Umberland Watsons volunteered to his lord father to deal with a dragon, this was not what he had in mind. Instead of using his sword and shield to deal a deadly blow he found himself trussed up like a festival goose sans armor and small clothes, naked as his birth day. This is sweet and hot at the same time and thanks to a certain Tolkien movie, we don't have to imagine very hard to envision Sherlock as a dragon :-D 8K.

Favorite short, kinky smut: Performance Art (E) by thisprettywren (https://archiveofourown.org/works/208374) “I have to say, John, I really just. Well. I can’t see the appeal.” That wasn’t precisely true, of course. At the moment, the appeal lay in the way John was blushing and licking his lip, avoiding Sherlock’s gaze, thoroughly discomfited. This one is so sexy and so Sherlock in how he thinks and gah, just read it! 6K. Favorite AU: The Bang and the Clatter (M) by earlgreytea68 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/744242) Sherlock Holmes is a pitcher and John Watson is a catcher. No, no, no, it's a baseball AU. I learned a ton about baseball from this fic - it's very educational :-P It's also clear that earlgreytea is an AMAZING writer and a true baseball fan. 137K.

Favorite D/s verse: Shames and Praises (E) by s0mmerspr0ssen (https://archiveofourown.org/works/573019) Unable but desperate to find a dom who will put up with him, Sherlock swallows his pride and turns to Mycroft for help. Shortly after, John Watson steps into Sherlock's life. Kinky as hell with a wonderful caring top!John. D/s done right. 52K.

Favorite Mystrade: The DI and the Spy (T) by chasingriver (https://archiveofourown.org/works/558609) Greg is an early-morning runner. Mycroft is an early riser who happens to live on Greg's running route. Hilarity ensues. Written for MystradeDoodles' prompt: "Greg is a runner. Rom-com." Exactly what it says on the package - a sweet rom-com story about how Mycroft and Lestrade get a crush on each other before even knowing who the other is. 44K.

#wendymarlowe #Wendy qualls #fandom feature #sherlock #johnlock #fic writers #fanfiction #author interview #dragoncon #fic recs #rec lists #writing advice #fandom #fandom life #original fiction #gay fiction #m/m romance #m/m books

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stillthewordgirl · 6 years

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LOT/CC fic: If You Can’t Take the Heat

There's a heat wave in Central City (and it's not necessarily Mick). Leonard is not amused. But he and Sara have promises to keep...and how they keep them might just surprise everyone.

This story is for @tavyn, who gave me the prompts: "My parents are coming over in 10 minutes, so please put some clothes on." and "Our AC is out and it's the middle of the summer." It's set in my "If I Never" continuity, between "Wait For It"/"What the Future Holds" and "Midnight Run." There will be two chapters. (The second is done and will be posted very soon.)

Many thanks to @larielromeniel for the beta. And, yes, this was written by a born-and-bred WNYer, so I'm aware that the weather described within isn't particularly hot for some. ;)

Can also be read here at AO3 and here at FF.net.

Central City is Leonard’s city. It’s his home, for better or worse. Through annoying speedster metas and time-traveling hijinks and near-death experiences and falling for (and hitching his life to) a Star City native, it’s still home.

But this…this is a bit much.

It usually doesn’t get out of the 80s here, but it’s been in the 90s for five days now, with a heat index near 100. One day, the actual temp had hit 100. Most of the city is miserable, minor conflicts are turning into assaults and keeping the CCPD hopping, and there are brownouts due to much higher than usual AC use.

Once, Leonard would have probably picked up and left town, heading to somewhere cooler…like, oh, Antarctica, if he could get away with it. But Sara is here, and so is Mick at the moment, and there are commitments keeping them all in place. And so he merely suffers in relative silence, staying in the AC as much as possible and resisting the urge to fire up the cold gun just to use it as a portable chilling device when he has to go out in the heat. (Although, while he’ll admit it to no one but Sara, he’s just come from one of the city’s poorer neighborhoods, where he’d used up the last of the current charge to ice down the spray of a fire hydrant and turn it into snow in July.)

But this…this is not good.

He stands at the doorway to the apartment, frowning and staring into the open door, which still has his key in it. There’s not the usual chill emitting from the space within. Sara’s been home; she’d have had the AC on or let him know if she had to leave. No. Not good at all.

“Len?” She’d undoubtedly heard him the moment he’d set foot in the hallway. “Ah.” Sara moves into his field of view, wearing nothing but a tank top and very short shorts—which is appealing, but the heat is counteracting it—and looking unhappy. “Honey…”

They don’t do pet names “What?”

“The AC’s out.” Sara shrugs. “All over the building. I’m sorry. The power itself was actually out for a while—and still is, a lot of places in the city—and when it came back, the AC was toast. The building manager’s been trying to get to the bottom of it, but no luck.”

The apartment, like the rest of the floor, is baking. Len leans within, winces, and gives Sara a look. She smiles at him a little, leaning against the door frame, although there’s understanding in her expression.

“North?” he asks plaintively. “Alaska? Nova Scotia? I hear Iceland is lovely this time of year…”

For a moment, longing joins the understanding in Sara’s eyes. But then she shakes her head. “You know why…”

“They’d understand…” He hates the whine in his voice, but Sara gets it. And she knows, despite his words, why his sense of honor will keep him there with her. That doesn’t stop a teasing and mock-stern expression from crossing her face as she pulls him into the apartment and shuts the door behind him.

“You want to explain to the woman nearly nine months pregnant with speedster twins why you—we--didn’t keep the promise to be here when she has those twins, so that there’s someone else to help watch the city and Barry can be there with her without being too distracted?” she asks, eyebrows rising. “You want to explain that now, so close to her due date, during the hottest week of the year?”

Leonard winces. Giving Barry grief is still one of his favorite things to do, but Iris—especially now—takes none of his shit. And he’s possessed of enough compassion to feel for her right now.

“I made that promise in January,” he protests, letting the bag in his hands drop to the floor, but Sara knows he’s not going anywhere. She gives him a tiny smile and reaches up to lay a hand on his arm—his bare forearm, because while he hates to show his scars, he hates this heat even more. Hell, he’s not even wearing his habitual black because of it, opting for gray instead.

Sara’s fingers tighten a little, a show of support. But when Len decides to disregard just how…sticky…the heat and humidity make everything and starts to pull her toward him, she lifts another hand and places it on his chest.

“Mick likes it,” she says, with amusement. “This ridiculous heat.”

There’s a warning in the words. “Mick?”

That’s when the bathroom door opens.

“Hey, boss!”

Leonard’s oldest friend, brother in all but blood, ambles out, and Sara sighs as Leonard rolls his eyes. It’s not like he’s not used to Mick’s tendency to be far more free in showing skin, but for fuck’s sake…he could at least get Gideon to make him some boxers that are a little less…threadbare.

Well. At least he’s wearing the boxers.

Sara is less resigned about it, or at least resigned in a different way.

“My parents are coming over in 10 minutes,” she says with a sigh, pointing a finger at the Waverider’s current captain, who’s been couch-surfing among the more settled Legends while he’s staying here, “so please put some clothes on. It’s tense enough when they’re both here without…"

“Even I think it’s too damned hot.” But Mick stops and throws his hands up at Sara’s glare. “But I will. OK? Or better yet…I’ll get outta Dodge for a bit. Go visit the professor.”

“You still need more clothes, or Clarissa will…”

“Or the kid.”

“Just because Jax lives in off-campus housing doesn’t mean his roommates won’t call the cops, Mick.”

“Allen, then. It’s his fault I’m hanging around here instead of off in the ship with Haircut and the newbies.” He takes a drink of his beer. “I told you we could be back in time. It’s a friggin’ time ship!”

“Yeah, well, you and I both know shit happens when it comes to time.” Leonard winces again at the idea of Mick descending upon Barry and Iris at this point, but Sara’s shaking her head.

“Their loft was in the middle of the worst of the outages,” she says, “and the power probably won’t even be back on there ‘til tomorrow at the earliest. I doubt they’ll be home. Not that that’s ever stopped you two.”

Even Mick looks sympathetic at that point, but the words make Leonard pause, brain seizing on a logical conclusion.

“STAR Labs,” he says abruptly, getting a grunt from Mick.

Sara eyes him. “What about it?”

Leonard nods to himself, then looks at her. “They have a generator, a powerful one. They’ll have air-conditioning. Especially with all that fancy equipment.” He lifts a finger. “And I’ll bet Barry’s got Iris here. He sure as hell won’t let her sit around an AC-free loft in these conditions.”

Sara returns his gaze steadily, considering. Mick looks back and forth between the two of them, then makes an amused noise and drops onto their couch.

“They do owe us,” she says finally, “for agreeing to do this.”

“They do.”

“And there’s plenty of room there.”

“There is.”

“It even makes sense for us to stay there, right on site in case we’re needed.”

“It does.”

They grin at each other. “Head on over,” Sara tells Leonard, nodding. “I’ll be there as soon as my parents leave. I’ll even bring our go bags.”

He doesn’t argue. “Why are they stopping by again? And why is your dad in town?” Quentin Lance may not precisely approve of him, but they get along pretty well now. Dinah Lance is a bit of a cypher, though she’s polite enough. And so far as he knows, both of Sara’s parents have never been in this apartment together.

“Mom found some things of my grandmother’s, wants us to all look at them together. Dad’s been doing some consulting work and just got in today.” She makes a shooing motion. “Go, Len. Mick, put on some clothes or get out. We said you could stay a few nights and I’m not reneging, but this is going to be weird enough.”

“OK, Blondie, OK.”

As it turns out, Sara’s parents cancel anyway, texting separately only a few minutes later as Quentin confesses that he’s stuck just outside of the city because of train issues and Dinah reports that she’s helping get some elderly neighbors to an emergency heat shelter. Sara hangs up with relief and she and Len head for STAR Labs, leaving Mick to bask in the heat with a beer and watch golf, of all things, on their TV.

Len’s in such a hurry to get into the presumed cool that he doesn’t even pause to mess with the labs’ security system, actually using the key he’d been given, maybe for the first time. No matter how tempted she is, Sara doesn’t even tease him, sympathetic to the misery on his face. He hadn’t been kidding, all those months ago in the Russian sauna. He really does despise the heat.

It’s a measure, really, of how much he’s changed, she thinks, trailing him into the cortex as they both sigh in relief, that he’s not leaving despite his promise to Barry and to her. Well, the honor of sorts had always been there—but the man in question has expanded the circle it applies to.

Because Len had used his key, the systems have alerted the usual denizens of STAR Labs to his presence, and Barry and Cisco are already staring at the entryway when they walk in. Barry’s wearing the same vaguely happy, perplexed and weary expression he’s been wearing nearly perpetually since Iris reached the third trimester. He’s leaning against the bank of desks, next to Cisco, who looks slightly amused and slightly harassed.

“Snart?” the speedster blurts out, staring at him a bit blankly. “What are you doing…oh, hi, Sara.”

Sara nods to him, concealing a smile at his glassy-eyed expression. No one’s been sleeping well in the Allen household lately, she knows. Practice for when the twins get here? Well, she’s not going to be the one to say it.

“Our AC is out,” Len drawls as he saunters toward them, “and it’s the middle of the summer."

Both men nod. Enough said. Cisco grins, though. “What, you can’t just ice your apartment down?” he taunts good-naturedly. “You haven’t created a setting for that yet?”

Leonard’s propensity for tinkering with the cold gun in new and increasingly creative ways is notorious at this point. He gives the weapon’s original creator a withering look, but parks his hip against a desk, declining to snark back for once. He really must be grateful for the AC, Sara thinks.

“Where’s Iris?” she chimes in, looking from Barry to Cisco. “She must be…”

But Barry’s eyes go wide and Cisco starts shaking his head violently back and forth, and Sara lets her voice trail off as she takes in their antics. Leonard rolls his eyes and turns away, wandering off as Barry starts to speak, keeping his voice low.

“Iris is,” he says quickly, quietly, “…ah…”

“Miserable,” Cisco interjects. “But at the same time, she’s getting sick of people asking her if she’s miserable. Or commenting that she must be miserable. Or telling her she looks like she’s going to pop…” He lowers his voice a little more. “…even though she does…”

Barry lowers his head to his hands. “Doctor appointment tomorrow. She really didn’t want to be induced, but if the doc offers, well, I bet she’ll take him up on it.”

Sara gives him a sympathetic look. “You ready for this?”

Barry gives her a woebegone look. “Parenthood? At this point? Hell, yeah. Once they’re, um, out, at least I can do something…change diapers, help with some feeding. Right now, I’m just…running in place.”

“Pun definitely intended,” Cisco says seriously, then snickers. “Hey, Snart, Bar beat to you to a pun today. You’re slipping!” He glances around. “Snart?”

Leonard’s nowhere in sight. Sara shrugs, because her husband’s propensity for wandering places he’s not supposed to go in STAR Labs nearly matches his propensity for breaking and entering the building in the first place. But just then, there’s a chime from the computer panel in front of the guys, and Cisco glances downward, mouth dropping open.

“Ooooh, crap, he’s in the infirmary,” he stammers as Barry makes a pained noise, looking even more horrified. “How does he do that?”

“Sara, you might want to go get him out of there…if you don’t want to be widowed just yet…” the speedster says, turning to her urgently. “Uh, Iris is down there, reading in the strongest AC, and…”

“And she isn’t really overly polite to men right now,” Cisco says, nodding solemnly. “She, well, says it’s good they’re having twins, because they wanted two, but she never wants to be alone with a guy again.”

“Yeah? I could work with that.” Sara snickers as they both gape at her. “Joking. I’ll go retrieve Len before she does too much damage.” She heads for the elevator, pausing to toss a question back over her shoulder. “Any advice?”

“What I said before,” Cisco mutters, even as Barry says, “Don’t mention her due date or ask if she’s sure it’s not triplets. And whatever you do…”

They finish in unison: “…don’t tell her she’s glowing!”

In all honesty, Sara’s not overly worried as she strolls down the hallway toward the infirmary. She knows more than most that Leonard can be unexpectedly charming, and he’s always had a fondness for Iris. He also has a crook’s sense of self-preservation too, of course, and that can’t hurt.

She can hear voices as she nears the door, and no one sounds alarmed, or even irritated. Smiling, Sara picks up the pace a little, then slows as she can make out the words.

Iris actually sounds amused. “…if you two ever decide to do this…”

“This? What, kids?” Len sounds amused, too…although Sara’s simply stunned to hear that word coming out of that mouth in that tone. She’s frozen now, listening, although her sneaky crook of a husband has certainly heard her approach. “Think Sara’d have something to say about that.”

The small clatter sounds as if Iris has tossed something at him. A bottlecap, maybe. “No kidding,” she retorts. “I’m just saying. Avoid…trying…in the fall.”

“TMI, West.” His tone is so easy. Seriously?

“West-Allen to you, Snart.” Sara hears Iris sigh. “Sorry. I have baby brain.”

“Understandable.” The drawl is absurdly nonchalant, and Sara strains to hear as Iris says something else, and their voices drop. After a moment, though, she decides she’s being silly, takes a deep breath, and strolls in, knowing that Len, at least, will have realized she’s there.

Iris is seated on a sort of recliner, sitting up with her legs out in front of her. Sara, who’s seen her only a few days ago, feels her eyes widen as she takes in her friend, who’s wearing a maternity shirt that, well, might as well be a tent.

She wipes the expression from her face immediately, but from Len’s snicker, not quickly enough. Iris rolls her eyes at him, then gives Sara a long-suffering expression.

“Yes,” she says with a sigh. “I know. Still growing. Since that means double trouble here…” She affectionately pats her abdomen. “…are staying put, and my blood pressure is still good, the doctors are happy. The closer they can get to the due date, the better.”

“Barry said tomorrow…”

“As of tomorrow, I’m at 37 weeks, and that’s considered full term for twins. So…we’ll see.”

Those last two words are delivered in the tone of a woman who’s hoping mightily to see some sort of action on the part of labor. Sara shakes her head, smiling, then crosses to give her friend a gentle hug. Iris returns it.

“He brought me cold water so I didn’t have to waddle my way across the floor to get it,” she tells Sara cheerfully. “I think you should keep him.”

“I intend to.” Sara throws a look at Leonard, who’s slouched against a table looking amused. “How are you?”

“Pregnant. Tired. Warm.” Iris shakes her head. “Your power is out too? I told Barry there was no way in hell I was staying in the loft without it.”

“Power’s back. AC is still gone.” Leonard drawls. “Mick adores it. Us…not so much.”

Sara rolls her eyes at him. “I was managing, but no, you insisted you wouldn’t survive if it wasn’t subarctic…”

“Didn’t hear you arguing.”

Iris snorts. “OK, enough with the flirty banter, or whatever it is you call it.” She glances at Sara. “You’re welcome to stay here. But I’ve called dibs on this recliner, because it’s the only thing I can easily get out of. And Barry stays in here, too, because the least he can do is be the one to get me ice cream in the middle of the night if I want it.” Both women ignore Leonard when he snickers again. “There’s a futon in the spare office, the one right outside the server room. The AC is nearly as good there as it is here. Just…” She smirks. “Well, let’s just say Cisco still refuses to use the bathroom off the Cortex, the one with the shower. We can’t have him refusing to go into the server room. OK?”

They make no promises.

#captain canary #west allen #if you can't take the heat #legends of tomorrow #the flash

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thecoolkidsbasement · 7 years

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Basement Corner: Writing for the F.A.M.I.L.Y. Initiative/Procreation Law of Vault 101

Welcome to the Basement Corner! Basically a little sector of this blog where, as Faerie, I talk about writing! It’ll mainly have to do with my fanfictions, since this is a fanfiction-driven blog, after all, but once in a while I’ll make posts about writing in general. Spoilers lie ahead for my fanfiction Inventor’s Absolution so proceed with caution if you haven’t read up to Chapter 18 - The Culling (P2) at least! The fanfiction can be found at either of these sites; AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12490448/chapters/28433148 FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12694845/1/Inventor-s-Absolution ============================================================= Other warnings: The content/topic discussed here might be considered upsetting, so those who read on please understand that this is a fictional assessment in a fanfiction. Thank you! ============================================================= I wanted to address the ‘behind the scenes’ of writing the F.A.M.I.L.Y. initiative into IA. What is it, exactly? Well, it’s a questionnaire featuring a whopping 150 multiple choice questions to fill out, and it covers everything from simple questions like “what’s your favorite color?” to situation-based assessments like “you’ve been stranded on a deserted island with no sources of food alongside your soul mate, your mother, and your pet. You have been stranded for the last week with no foreseeable hope of rescue. Who would you vote to eat for sustenance (or would you sacrifice yourself)?” Okay, that last question is more like a fun gag, but honestly Vault-Tec would probably put down something like that, wouldn’t they? I’ve always been curious about the experiment of Vault 101 in having to keep the door shut indefinitely and relying on the unpredictable rise and fall of the population. We see promotional messages and posters littered about the vault that encourage procreation, detailing it as the civic duty of each and every vault dweller, but after 200 years we can assume that everyone is a distant cousin of another resident (save for the Lone Wanderer and James). This, obviously, can create unwanted mutations and will cause the population to steadily go stagnant in number. Lucy Palmer tells us during our 10th birthday party that the vault was packed when she was young, and though we don’t see the assumed entirety of Vault 101, or see how many people were initially let into the vault when the bombs fell, we can assume that the vault was huge--especially if they had enough food sources to feed everyone for 200 years (I like to think that they had crop farms, though, because having nothing but packaged food for 200 years sounds unreasonable). Concerning the meat of the F.A.M.I.L.Y. Initiative, I wanted to create a program similar to the G.O.A.T. that felt lore friendly. The biggest issue was coming up with a name that was comprehensive and would actually spell something (like the G.O.A.T. and S.P.E.C.I.A.L.); I originally considered titling the Initiative after another farm yard animal, but after much trial and error I couldn’t find an animal/acronym that felt realistic. I also considered shortening the name to F.M.L.Y., as inspired by the shortening of W.I.C.K.E.D. to W.C.K.D. for the Maze Runner movies, to a simple Future, Marriage, Lineage, and YOU spell out, which would have worked just as well but it bothered me that it wasn’t a legitimate acronym that spelled out FAMILY. I also considered something a little more silly that implied obvious foreshadowing with the acronym D.O.O.M., but I, again, couldn’t find anything to represent each letter in the name, and it felt a little too ‘on the nose’ to be taken seriously (even if it was meant for a dumb chuckle). A note for anyone who wants to come up with an acronym for anything in the future; it always helps to start with an idea, and a thesaurus will be your best friend! Always write down any words you find interesting or could be worked into your acronym and just keep playing around with it. The process is mainly exploring and trying out different options. A definite drawback to the F.A.M.I.L.Y. Initiative in Vault 101 is the fact that anyone who doesn’t identify as ‘straight’ isn’t welcomed or tolerated. The vault can’t have any residents trying to initiate same-sex relations or marriages because it goes against their basic civic duty in 101. Yeah, people can adopt unwanted or orphaned children, which nullifies the need for straight relationships, but the vault believes this will curb the genetics applied to the vault for future population if the Initiative is in effect. As well, due to the time period that Fallout is inspired by, I doubt that, socially, people would’ve been okay with same sex relations. Another issue with the Initiative is that it wouldn’t have been accommodating for residents who can’t have children due to health or mental concerns... after all, before taking the official exam, any residents who qualify in age (19-45) and marital status (single and without children) have to firstly undergo a medical exam to ensure they’re in top shape to bring in the next generation of dwellers. Side note: I think that Winona would’ve actually been considered underweight (since she’s described as rather scrawny/small in some descriptions of her body) in her medical evaluation prior to taking the Initiative, but it didn’t warrant marking her as ‘unqualified’ as a potential breeder... much to James and Jonas’ fear. Otherwise, I’ve actually thought about writing up the 150 test questions as a playful thing, so people can actually take the F.A.M.I.L.Y. Initiative’s questionnaire and get a result (through me) of who their ‘potential match’ would be! Suitors would include Butch DeLoria, Amata Almodovar, Susie Mack, Paul Hannon, Christine Kendall, Wally Mack, and Freddie Gomez from Vault 101, and some other NPCs you can find in Fallout 3. I also thought about doing it plainly for my own fanfiction OCs and characters I write for otherwise. Would’ve kept it all in Vault 101, but then there’s not very many single options. Plus it sounds more fun this way to include other characters! Writing the test would be a big undertaking, though, as I’d feel the need to get super technical with it an have answers that link to the proper results, with questions that cover various topics of dating... plus, the more suitors that are available to match with, the harder it would be to deliver a ‘compatible candidate’. Maybe I’ll spoof a draft and see how I feel about it, huh~? Anyway, thanks for sticking this random Basement Corner post! If I didn’t address something about the topic that you’re curious about, or you want elaboration on anything that was said, feel free to ask me anything! (picture attached was compiled by me; graphic of Vault Boy courtesy of Fallout Shelter) ~Faerie

#The Basement Corner #Inventor's Absolution #Vault 101 #FAMILY initiative #behind the scenes #writing #writer

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artistic-writer · 7 years

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50 Questions for Fic Readers - Answers

Found this @captain-k-jones had posted and i figured i’d give it a go too!

What fandom(s) do you read? Prison Break & Once Upon a Time mainly, but i used to read BtVS, Angel, 24, House MD

If you could request more of a certain type of fic, which would it be? AU...everyone loves a bit of AU! And POV...I absolutely love watching a scene and writing the characters POV, so more people should do it!

What is your favorite all-time fic? Trick of the Light by @msgenevieve447 without doubt is my all time favourite fic. I read it when it was first written, and i have loved it like a good book ever since <3 <3

Do you ever re-read fics? How about triple-read? Yes! Yes! and Yes! Whe nyou find that connection with a certain fic, or author, you become addicted!

Do you prefer angst or fluff? Angst. I love nothing more!

Do you prefer long fics or short fics? I love long fics! I like to get lost in them <3

Name some incomplete fics that you wish were completed. Uh...confession time. I try not to read incomplete fics unless i know the author...

Talk about the ships that you read. So i read Michael/Sara (PB) and Captain Swan (OUAT). Good, old fashioned angsty couples who, against the odds, end up together. And when they don’t, i’ll write an AU lol

Do you read smut? Of course, i am an adult! But i write a lot more ;)

What’s the most hard-core smut or kinky fic you’ve ever read (be honest) Well, i don’t know...none have really stayed in my mind for too long. I prefer writing them and hearing other people’s reactions :)

Do you read AUs? Who doesn’t :D It is what fuels our good ships, is it not?

List a few of your favorite AUs. I can’t! They are all so, sooo good! If you head over to prisonbreakfic.net i would suggest @msgenevieve447 (pen name msgenevieve) because her AU’s are my favs.

What type of AUs are your favorites? Give a general description. So i really like AU’s were the characters are meeting for the first time. A lot of my own AU’s start this way. I also really like AU’s when the characters are basically non-epliogue compliant versions of their show characters - same names, same jobs, same vices, etc. but with a twist. Basically, i like change, but not too much lol

What makes you give up on reading a fic? Well, lots of things. Writers who do not take the time to describe and set the scene irk me. I am a bit autistic, so i HAVE to know what is in every scene. Like, read any one of my fics and you will see i spend 1000′s of words desribing the fibres of the carpet lol I hate it when an author is so focused on getting to their goal they neglect to let me know stuff my brain deems important. It’s not enough that one character might give another some flowers, i want to know what the flowers look like, what colour they are, what they smell like, how a few petals might have the faintest sign of the colour fading, you know? And grammar. Bad grammar makes me sad.

What makes you pick up a fic, what makes it sound interesting? I love it when authors quote a tiny tidbit of their fic in the summary, and its so intriguing i need to know more! Also, the pairing as a huge influence on what i read - if i am not a fan of the character in the show, i probably will not read it unless you ask me to.

Name a fic that made you cry (or that made you come close). I can’t say that many have to be honest, not that i can remember. Maybe ten years ago, but this is my comeback to fandom, so i’m going to have to re-read everything!

Name a fic that made you laugh a lot. Again, i don’t recall. I generally don’t read humor fics...

Do you have a fic recommendation page or master list? I don’t, but if you have one for CS or MS, link me!

How many fics do you think you’ve read before? Who can put a number on this? Ten years ago, i could honestly say i had probably read the entirity of fics posted on LJ and PBF, but now there are so many more authors around, i’d better catch up!

What’s the weirdest fic you’ve ever read? Describe it. God, it was a BtVS fic where Giles and Xander were a couple and Giles was pregnant (?), and Spike and Buffy were a couple, but Spike was a dwarf (?!), and they were all on an adventure to Oz, to get a heart, brain, courage, etc. You get it. But the author was off their mind crazy so it was just...weird. I think it’s about that time i stopped offering to beta because i couldn’t handle the weirdness lol

Do you read crack!fic? Not really but i will if recommended

Name a few of your favorite crack!fics. None spring to mind lol

Has fluff ever made you cry? What about angst? Fluff generally doesn’t. I am far too blackened in RL to find fluffy stuff too emotional. I love me a good bit of Angst though, and i have to really get invested to cry Haven’t for a long time.

What’s the longest fic you’ve ever read? Only a few spring to mind. Safe House by @msgenevieve447 and Fighting Back by Pemphredo, but lots of great authors write great series!

What’s your opinion on reading dubious consent or no consent? I’ll read it, but mainly out of curiosity for writing styles. I find it fascinating to know how people interpret certain situations within the confines of the English language.

Name a type of fic you’ll never ever read. I’ll never not read something, but i wmight give up on it pretty quickly if its a bit...much lol

Name a type of fic that you wish there was more of. CS/PB crossovers! Because, why not. :p

Who are your favorite fanfiction author(s)? So forgive me that these are all PB writers, but i am still reading a lot of ONCE fics and getting to know the authors. So, @msgenevieve447, @wrldpossibility Clair_de_lune, halfshellvenus, Bec/volatile, Foxriverinmate, happywriter, Lyaiso, CutePoison, Rosie_spleen...so many good writers, i cannot name you all!

When you find an author you like, do you follow them? Yes, normally after reading just ONE of their fics too!

How often do you read fanfiction? Everyday, normally in bed or on my lunch breaks!

Do people know that you read fanfiction? Only my husband in RL.

Do you leave reviews after reading fics? If so, what do they sound like? I like to because every good author deserves to know that they have succeeded. We all thrive on the comments of others, so i like to tell them what i really enjoyed, what parts stuck out to me most and encourage them as much as i can :)

When you read a good fic, do you go to the author’s page? Of course.

Name a common type of fic that you cannot stand. I am pretty easy, i will read anything, but my absolute pet hate is when i read smut/pwp fanfics and the author tries to be so eloquent and fantastical with their language and then used the word “cock” or “cunt”. Just no. Don’t ruin it! Just...find another way! I don’t think i have ever used either of those words in any of my smut fics. lol

Name all the Work in Progress fics that you are currently reading. I’m not actually reading an WIP...got any?

Has a fic ever left you unable to fall asleep or think about anything else? Yes. Remember that Trick of the Light? I recently sat up until 3 am reading it again which was fine, except i had work at 5am :D

Are you good about keeping up when reading Work in Progresses? Yes of course, but i am also the annoying person who notices glaring obvious plot descrepencies and continuity errors.

Name some of your favorite fic recommendations pages. I dont have any!

Name a fanfiction author that you’re scared to talk to because they’re so amazing. So @msgenevieve447 was always my favourite author when i joined the PB fandom. I practically stalked her on LJ and PBF and we never really got to chatting much because I was scared! She had won fanfic awards! And then recently, some wonderful ladies decided to ressurrect Prisonbreakfic.net and i was asked on board as an admin/graphics/fanart/limited coding skills. That’s when, after nearly a decade, i grew a pair and actually starting talking to her! haha! Turns out, we are just normal people doing normal people things with a common interest - go figure! :p

Have you ever written fanfiction or considered it? Pfft...have i ever written fanfic?! Of course! I wrote it before i read it!

Name a fic that has a perfect ending. Everyone’s idea of a perfect ending is different ;)

Name a fic that you wish was longer. Tough one...

Do you read OT3 fics commonly? Have you ever? Of course! However, I have to be in the mood. I’m so possessive of my OTP’s, putting a third wheel in there is sometimes damning for my soul. I have a thing for Michael/Sara/Linc sometimes.

Do you mainly read TV shows, movies, or books? Yeah, just TV shows.

Do you read fanfiction about Anime? Noooooo

If you could imagine the perfect fic, what would it be like? My perfect fic would be AU, but there are so many possible scenarios running through my head i couldn’t pin down just one! They would forever be Michael/Sara though, a happy/non-happy ending (lots of angst!) and a good fight! I love me a good fight!

If you had to introduce someone to fanfiction with a few fics, which would you suggest? Well, i would direct people straight to PBF if they have never seen it before. There are so many great authors around there, and then to AO3, because there are literally thousands and thousands of results for the words “captain swan” :D

Have you ever read a fic containing character death? Yes of course. Character death/suicide isn’t something i shy from. We have all been there and as authors, we can take our characters there too. It’s about how you write it that makes it worth reading.

Do you have an AO3/Fanfiction.net/LiveJournal page? Link it. Prisonbreakfic.net - AO3 - FF

What sites do you typically use to read on? AO3 & PBF but i’ve noticed a lot of good fics on Tumblr!

#Q&A #fanfiction #prison break #ouat #captain swan #michael/sara #otrp

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