#tag. i'm it

[lordgrimwing]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @zannolin. Not tagging anyone but never let that stop you from doing something.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

98 (100 by early next week. the wonders of posting two short stories a week)

2. What's your total A03 word count?

274,925 (over 100,000 from works posted this year. Again, the wonders of posting two little things every week)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The exhaustive list (but only what I've posted to public places), in no particular order

The Transformers

Brave Police (Mostly just a beta reader on that one, though)

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Star Trek/Enterprise

The Expanse

Inheritance Cycle

Torchwood

Rowland Sinclair Series (by Sulari Gentill - yes, I will encourage you to read/listen to the series! Also, the smallest fandom for which I write, ie. I created the tags and it's basically mine to control. Gosh, I should really finish my current WIP so the characters don't feel abandoned.)

Redwall (technically, the only things I've posted in a podfic of someone else's story)

Sherlock Holms

Temeraire

Detroit: Become Human

Beyonders (Another WIP I should finish so I can once again say I own more than 10% of the fandom)

Rings of Power (I'll separate it from the works that Tolkien was actually involved in)

Lord of the Rings/The Silmarillion (the source of the 2 stories per week)

-I sure hope that's everything-

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

In order of greatest to least

It Started With A Fever (Detroit: Become Human)

Interruptions (Transformers)

Checking Samples In Real Time (Detroit: Become Human)

Dawson's Christiana (Temeraire)

Scavenging More Than Parts (Transformers)

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

I respond to every comment. Why? Because I like it when authors respond to my comments and I want readers to know that I see and appreciate that they not only took time to read my story but also to say something kind about it.

Admittedly, I am sometimes very late to responding when I'm busy or the comment left me very flustered (because how do I adequately convey how wonderful the reader made me feel?)

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

Probably, It Started With A Fever. It's a sickfic and the sick character isn't better by the end but there is a plan for diagnostic testing and treatment. So, more open ending than angsty.

Actually, I looked back and realized that Spy in the DMD (Transformers) is angsty because readers don't know what will happen to the characters at the end (live? die? etc). Yeah, so that's probably my angstiest ending.

Though now that I'm thinking about it, Negligence (Silmarillion) is also a but angsty and certainly more likely to actually get people to have feeling over the characters and want a good ending than Spy in the DMD.

Okay, okay, I'll stop thinking about it and just move on (but Dawson's Christiana is--)

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

Home (Inheritance). Ok also a little angsty, but the entire purpose is saving a character who died in canon and at the end he finally gets to go home with his best friend, even if he isn't totally healed from everything.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope. Most I've had is someone taking the time to comment about how they disagree with the premise of a story/how I interpreted why the directors/designers of a TV show did what they did.

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

Awkward smut? Like, I've only written it a little so it's probably still pretty clunky for people to read.

But in all seriousness, I write enthusiastically consensual slash and het smut. Basically, I want everyone to be happy and have a good time while I use them as writing guinea pigs. I'm sure that the more I write, the more I'll branch out into trying various things.

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

I have not written a crossover (beyond crossovers between various series/universes in the Transformers franchise. Does that count? Like, it's canonically established that that's a thing that can happen).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope (when your writing is only so-so, you fly under a lot of radars)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope again (see above)

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

I am a co-author on two stories (Transformers and Brave Police). For both of those, I was mostly just a beta reader but I did end up writing 2 chapters for the Transformers story when the author wanted a different POV (most of the story was first person and then I did more of an omnipresent third person).

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Across all fandoms? That's actually very hard. I'm not a huge ship person, like, let everyone be with whoever they want to be with. BUT, if we're going based on ships I've written and that I enjoy writing, Celebrían x [loving and devoted person, usually Elrond] is pretty high up there (Silmarillion). It's good soup.

But also, Carn x consequences of his actions and pinning for Roran is near and dear to my heart (Inheritance).

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

The sequel to It Started With A Fever. I would love to explore how my medical and scientific training could fit with android diagnostics/medicine, and you know I love me some good angst and hurt/comfort with a happy ending. However, I just don't really see it happening because of how much work it will require and the fact that I'm not even reading fics in that fandom now and have my writing time filled to bursting with LOTR/Silm stuff.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm reasonably good with grammar? Like, I passed all my English courses and writing classes? I write what I want to read so at least one (1) person enjoys it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I spend too much time working out exactly how I want to say something and end up not actually writing very much. I'm not very confidence with figurative language, so my writing tends to be quite straightforward and literal (which isn't bad, but I WANT to use more figurative language). Editing, my nemesis.

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

I'm not opposed to it and I've seen it done very well with non-sense languages from Transformers. If someone does it, I prefer that the narration indicates at least the general idea/mood of what was said so that I don't have to translate it. Also, it feels clunky when the author just writes the direct translation after what is said (if it's important enough that you want the readers to know exactly what is said, why are you using a different language in the first place?).

So, that's my two cents.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Publicly? Transformers.

But way back in the distant years of my youth, before I knew what fanfiction was, I did a lot of fanfiction and story planning for Redwall.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

I am very proud of It Started With A Fever. I put a lot of time into writing the story and even worked with a wonderful beta reader. In the end, I think it really improved my capacity as an author.

On the other hand, I love Home because I SAVED CARN!!! My sweet, pathetic little spellcaster who gave it his best and had a death that was at both times thematically appropriate and sadder the longer I thought about it. *gently hugs him so he doesn't break before passing him back to Katrina and Roran*

[rainbowcrowley]

today a fascist won an election for the first time since 1933. here, in germany.

i don't care if it's just one (out of 16) states. björn höcke is a fascist. a court decided not long ago that it's allowed to call him a nazi. bc he is one. not "far right" or "conservative" - he is a nazi.

here. in germany. and he just won an election.

it hasn't even been 100 years.

i am scared.

[lastoneout]

Ya know when people told me "when you're finally safe enough that you can leave survival mode and start to let go of and process your c-ptsd/trauma things are probably going to get really, really bad before they slowly start to get better" I thought that was reasonable. I did not understand that by "things are going to get bad" they meant "you're going to find yourself in the worst mental state of your entire life, but dw, that means it's working" and tbh I simply wish someone had been more clear.

Edit: If everyone could please take a minute and think about what it must feel like to be struggling and then have multiple strangers say to your face that they find the prospect of going through what you're going through so horrifying that they'd rather kill themselves and then stop leaving comments like that I would greatly appreciate it.

[robyn-i-guess]

liking someone platonically is so embarrassing like. yeah i admire you. yeah i think about you all the time. yeah i look forward to every time i see you even if it's only for a minute. yeah it's all platonic and yeah i couldn't explain this because it'd sound romantic. fucking hell

[onefey]

you're going about your normal day when, suddenly, surprise! you've been pokémon mystery dungeon'd!

unfortunately, due to budget cuts, the pokémon assigning quiz has been canceled. instead, you must spin THE WHEEL, assigning you a random, unevolved, non-legendary and non-mythical pokémon. you must now go on some sort of world-saving adventure as this pokémon. good luck!

tell me in the tags what you rolled, and how you feel about it - for bonus points, you can spin the wheel again for (or just take your pick of) a pokémon to be your partner.

bonus rules:

you're not shiny unless the wheel tells you you're shiny

take your pick of regional forms and evolutions (for example, if you roll vulpix, it's up to you whether that means normal or alolan vulpix)

apply whatever logic you like with regards to gender

have fun and be yourself!

[lgbtlunaverse]

The world exists in such a baffling state of simultaneous sex-aversion and sex-hegemony. Every social platform on the internet is trying to banish sex workers to the shadow realm but I can't post a tweet without at least two bots replying P U S S Y I N B I O. People are self-censoring sex to seggs and $3× but every other ad you see is still filled with half-naked women. Rightwingers want queer people arrested for so much as existing in the same postal code as a child and are also drumming up a moral panic about how teenage boys aren't getting laid enough. I feel like I'm losing my mind.

[kottkrig]

People liking your personal OCs is still such a crazy feeling, I've been doing this for years and ppl asking about them still fills my entire heart with warmth and idk how to handle it

You enjoy this fictional guy I made up for fun?? Whose only content is random artwork or writing made by me and a handful of other artists at most? They have no show/book/game with a large fandom, it's just one person with an art blog?? I love u

[doyouknowthisdragartist]

"what's the appeal of drag kings" because women are my favorite guy next question

[limelemonchi]

I succumbed . sorry

[midnight-coffee94]

No single line has ever wrecked me as hard as this one from the Good Place and I think about it constantly

[clumxy]

PINES. PINES. PINES. PINES.

[Image description: art of Mabel and Dipper from Gravity Falls. They're grinning, and they each have one eye glowing yellow. They have their arms around each other, and they make a triangle symbol together with their fingers.

[shayneysides]

hobie: kill yourself

pavitr: WHAT THE HELL BRO WHAT DID I DO

original format from @ha-youwish in this post!

[emberfaye]

You know what?

I love you, fics that take months to update. I click on the newest chapter and have no memory of this place and get to go back some chapters and rediscover how much i love everything about this story.

I love you, fics that take years to update. I think of you fondly, and know your names, go search for you and see an update from this year and scream, diving in uncaring of any missed details (i will finish the update and read you in reverse because this is a treat you have bestowed)

I love you, fics that probably will never update again. Thank you for being a roman empire for my mind, thank you for teaching me about the ephemeral fandom experience, for inspiring a thousand million what if-s, for being a comfort read and a nostalgia read and a reread.

I love you fic writers, who jump into projects and stories with enthusiasm. I love you when you succeed in pumping out those chapters and that love doesn't go away when you stop.

I love you fic writers who post and then get in your own head and never feel confident enough to update, whether it's at all or whether it's just that one story.

I love you fic writers, who have a fandom or media hurt you to the point of abandoning or having a hard time with their WIPs.

I love you fic writers, who lose interest or have life changes or illness or bad memory. Thank you for being part of the fandom, a core part of the fandom. Thank you for the time spent in the fandom.

I love you, fic writers who try out something new and then stop. You're so valid.

I love you, WIP fics that may or may not ever get finished. Thank you for brightening my day in the way only you could have.

[christadeguchi]

studio trigger understood the assignment. i would let her wreck me.

[tofixtheshadows]

I've been thinking a lot lately about how Kabru deprives himself.

Kabru as a character is intertwined with the idea that sometimes we have to sacrifice the needs of the few for the good of the many. He ultimately subverts this first by sabotaging the Canaries and then by letting Laios go, but in practice he's already been living a life of self-sacrifice.

Saving people, and learning the secrets of the dungeons to seal them, are what's important. Not his own comforts. Not his own desires. He forces them down until he doesn't know they're there, until one of them has to come spilling out during the confession in chapter 76.

Specifically, I think it's very significant, in a story about food and all that it entails, that Kabru is rarely shown eating. He's the deuteragonist of Dungeon Meshi, the cooking manga, but while meals are the anchoring points of Laios's journey, given loving focus, for Kabru, they're ... not.

I'm sure he eats during dungeon expeditions, in the routine way that adventurers must when they sit down to camp. But on the surface, you get the idea that Kabru spends most of his time doing his self-assigned dungeon-related tasks: meeting with people, studying them, putting together that evidence board, researching the dungeon, god knows what else. Feeding himself is secondary.

He's introduced during a meal, eating at a restaurant, just to set up the contrast between his party and Laios's. And it's the last normal meal we see him eating until the communal ending feast (if you consider Falin's dragon parts normal).

First, we get this:

Kabru's response here is such a non-answer, it strongly implies to me that he wasn't thinking about it until Rin brought it up. That he might not even be feeling the hunger signals that he logically knew he should.

They sit down to eat, but Kabru is never drawn reaching for food or eating it like the rest of his party. He only drinks.

It's possible this means nothing, that we can just assume he's putting food in his mouth off-panel, but again, this entire manga is about food. Cooking it, eating it, appreciating it, taking pleasure in it, grounding yourself in the necessary routine of it and affirming your right to live by consuming it. It's given such a huge focus.

We don't see him eat again until the harpy egg.

What a significant question for the protagonist to ask his foil in this story about eating! Aren't you hungry? Aren't you, Kabru?

He was revived only minutes ago after a violent encounter. And then he chokes down food that causes him further harm by triggering him, all because he's so determined to stay in Laios's good graces.

In his flashback, we see Milsiril trying to spoon-feed young Kabru cake that we know he doesn't like. He doesn't want to eat: he wants to be training.

Then with Mithrun, we see him eating the least-monstery monster food he can get his hands on, for the sake of survival- walking mushroom, barometz, an egg. The barometz is his first chance to make something like an a real meal, and he actually seems excited about it because he wants to replicate a lamb dish his mother used to make him!

...but he doesn't get to enjoy it like he wanted to.

Then, when all the Canaries are eating field rations ... Kabru still isn't shown eating. He's only shown giving food to Mithrun.

And of course the next time he eats is the bavarois, which for his sake is at least plant based ... but he still has to use a coping mechanism to get through it.

I don't think Kabru does this all on purpose. I think Kui does this all on purpose. Kabru's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be understood as informing his character just as much as Laios's autism informs his. It's another way that Kabru and Laios act as foils: where Laios takes pleasure in meals and approaches food with the excitement of discovery, Kabru's experiences with eating are tainted by his trauma. Laios indulges; Kabru denies himself. Laios is shown enjoying food, Kabru is shown struggling with it.

And I can very easily imagine a reason why Kabru might have a subconscious aversion towards eating.

Meals are the privilege of the living.

[krysmcscience]

Did somebody say Bill shouldn't be allowed to swear? I think somebody said Bill shouldn't be allowed to swear. Thanks to that, have these retooled The Good Place jokes:

The "powers that be" can refer to either the Theraprism staff, the Axolotl, or just. Ya know. Disney in general. Or all three! Whichever you think is funniest. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The "party" Bill's referring to is Weirdmageddon, of course. He was quite the ashhole to everyone back then.

Ford has probably gotten pretty good at the 'tune out your psychopathic ex with dank memes' challenge.

It must be very cathartic to be able to make Bill shut up whenever you want with just the press of a button. I'm sure Ford doesn't abuse this ability at all.

Oh, sure, 'Not now,' he says, before he immediately backs out of the newly-made hole in the Theraprism wall. 🙄

Don't worry, Bill doesn't get far.

also yeah i know this one doesn't have an attempted swear - i just wanted to use the joke because of the massive stink-eye involved in it because it makes me laugh

⬇️ More goofs beneath the brief ramble if you wanna skip it lmao⬇️

Why is Ford even there, you might ask? Well, he either decided he preferred to watch Bill suffer in person over being distantly and repeatedly harassed with the same evil desperation book for the rest of his life, or he got roped into some kind of contrived community service for 1.) all his many counts of interdimensional thievery, and 2.) his ignoring all the very clear warnings to NOT summon Bill in the first place (which I like to imagine is also illegal). Theraprism staff were just like, 'Wait, this guy matters to Bill? Ooh, we can USE that! It might be the only thing that can help him want to get better!' It is not considered that throwing Ford at Bill so soon after Weirdmageddon could instead make them both WORSE - in new and altogether special ways! :D

Anyway, I'm calling it the Community Service AU, and I am most likely not going to do anything else with it beyond appropriating these silly Good Place jokes. So, feel free to adopt the concept if y'all wanna??? Just make sure that Bill is still not allowed to swear, no matter what, full stop. It's gotta be a real linguistic corkblork of a situation for him, is all I'm sayin'.

Finally, have these bonus Good Place jokes, but with Handyman!Bill this time:

'Opposite tortures' doesn't sound so bad...at least until it's an all-powerful chaos entity known for torture saying it.

you may think i forgot mabel's cute pink cheeks but the truth is that i did in fact forget but then immediately stopped caring which makes it okay, SHHHHHHH

And, finally:

lmao this is shit

True facts, if you cram Season 1 Eleanor Shellstrop and Michael into a singular triangle shape, they turn into Bill Cipher. This is science, look it up. Or don't, and just trust the source that is me, bro.

Anyway, I should be in bed, y'all have fun with these, I guess. Tune in after like a week or so and maybe I'll have an addendum to my comic about how Bill was drawn naked for karaoke night. Because him actually being naked was not the only thing I considered as a plausible explanation. XD

Also if you see any inconsistencies or errors in any of these comics, No You Do Not :D

Also also, reblogs are rad as hell and I appreciate every single one, just don't repost, please and thanks. Every time a repost is made, an artist somewhere cries. :,)