#this is not any particular scene in the fic like what i'd usually draw but just an overall themed drawing inspired by Chris' idea about Mark

[plush4bunny]

fanart for @chrism02 inspired by their fic series on Molina!Mark Rothko from John Logan's RED called "The Mummy" which i am utterly obsessed with how hot and spine chilling it is ❤️‍🔥

[kohakhearts]

for fic writer meme: 7, 18, 26, and 40, and feel free to answer for both fic and original work if you want :D

thank you!! :D

7: how do you choose which pov to write from?

in terms of 3rd/2nd/1st, usually i default to 3rd but some stories just...are meant to be 1st person, if that makes sense lol. like i have one original project where the mc gets possessed by a demon at some point and it's told in 1st person to like...really solidify the idea that they've become one person in a sense. in terms of which character the pov follows, that's just a result of blorboism LOL. in original works it's just...who the first character i conceived of was, usually. i'd say the protagonist but lets be real - nerissa is NOT the protagonist of osa. she's his older sister :p (she gets protag status by oes on account of getting herself killed so he doesn't have to put himself in harm's way anymore ofc)

18: do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? how do you come up with titles?

it really depends on the fic. sometimes i have a title before anything else. sometimes it comes midway through after i've written a particular line and been like "oh that's good, let's make that the title!" and sometimes it's well after the fact when i'm staring at the ao3 draft like what the fuck do i call you. i'd say usually it's the first scenario though, and then i try to work the title into the text somehow. i've taken inspiration from a lot of things for titles, but in general i like my titles to reference specific lines or motifs in the fic itself!

26: which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

...pretty much any multichapter i've ever written LOL. i'll give a special shoutout to ratc and entanglement for being ideas that i was like "oh this will be like 10k words probably lol" and then turning into novels. entanglement in particular, for getting so long i had no choice but to divide it into chapters lmao

40: if someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

ok there are actually a lot HAHA. i was going to commission a piece of nerissa and poseidon from the scene in oes where they're sitting on the back step at emerson's house after poseidon accidentally possessed her. that's definitely one i'd love to see an artistic rendition of. and probably the final scene in oes, too, or the scene in osa where nerissa carries him out of the sea at namthi!

as for fic...i have a lot of fic, so i'll try to keep this short hjsdfhjdkf but in terms of recent ones...there's this scene from this year's christmas fic where goh kissed gary for the first time:

or tbh...i'd love to see an artistic rendition of my palletshipping hanahaki au. y'know, for the flower imagery

or like ANY scene from sound sleepless, honestly. i love those quiet, late-night conversations (relatedly...a friend drew a scene out of common ground a few years ago, which i ADORE). the scene near the end with ash and lucario is also a fave of mine that i think would make a really sweet drawing.

there's also a scene in entanglement that i won't share bc it's big plot spoilers but it's one of those sappy "character a is crying and character b wipes the tears off their face" scenes we all know and love haha

ok i'll stop here but genuinely....there are so many. and i have received a few fanarts for scenes or character in osa that i love so, so much. and i would love any kind of art someone drew for something i wrote. i love that spirit of collaboration that comes out of things like that!!!

get to know your fic writer!

[reliand]

Hi there *puts chocolate cookies on your desk*. I adore your art sooo much and am very happy to have found your blog. I enjoy painting, but haven't done it for a while - when I had an idea I didn't have time and the other way around. Do you have any recommendations/tips how to start painting again? I would be very grateful for an answer.

Thank you, thank you so much <3 I know this message is a few days old, but I wasn't ignoring you! I was just really flattered and also trying to figure out what I wanted to say

This message means a lot to me, and thank you for reaching out.

I understand the struggle. I completely fell away from drawing for years. 5 or 6 of them if I have the count correct. between moving and the pandemic, depression and lack of time, and finally being in a fandom that wasn't all that welcoming and wasn't actually making me happy...it was difficult to find any kind of joy out of creating something for it.

Stepping back into the drarry fandom after 15 years of being away, wasn't just a breath of fresh air, but an (embarrassingly) healing experience for me. Heal Thyself was funnily enough the first fic I read because I needed a hit of astolat and that was her latest posted work.

There was so much beautiful fic and art just overflowing from the drarry community that I was inspired for the first time in years. It definitely helped that they've all been kind and welcoming :D

I feel like my main tip is going to be horribly cliche, but I would say to find a work you feel passionate about and try to create something for it. I was in the middle of reading book 4 of The Mirror of Ecidyrue and the scene where Draco is showing off his magic for Harry at the quidditch world cup was so vivid for me that I was thinking about it for hours before I finally caved and pulled out my tablet. I spent a good week on that piece just relearning how to draw and falling in love with it again. I'm entirely self-taught so it doesn't come easy sometimes.

That fic in particular has painted very vivid pictures for me, but it's also been so nice to know that it wasn't just that story, because this fandom is so talented.

Having the time is fortunately a drawback that I don't have to worry about at the moment. I am unemployed right now, so I know I have more than most on my hands. But I guess a big thing I do is put on a tv show or movie or youtuber when I draw. It's usually something I've watched before, or something I don't have to be visually engaged with at all times. Often, my husband will have Critical Role or a Dimension20 campaign playing, which can be inspiring as well.

The background noise is helpful and I don't feel like I have to give it 100% of my attention while I work or sketch.

SKETCHING. the HPtober event that bosh put together has been so helpful. I don't do enough sketching, and this has really shown me that I should engage with it more. It doesn't have to be perfect, and I don't have to throw down 100 colors of paint and make the light in Draco's hair be perfect. Sometimes, keeping it simple is not only better, but it can help you get faster and help fix problems with form or lines just with repetition. Honestly, I'd say the sketching I've done this month has probably been the most helpful tip I've used all year. Drawing Harry's hair over and over and over, has made it easier, because I find his messy hair frustrating to draw.

I'm not sure if this list will be helpful. I know it's not comprehensive, and I can't really give proper tips because I wasn't formally trained and I'm not sure what a professor might have told me...but even if it's only a little bit, I hope something might be useful.

[solar-siren]

🌈🎀🎈💞🤲

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

I can write dialogue easily and all kinds of emotional scenes... but if I have to make a character move across a room it takes a stupid amount of time for me to figure out how to include that lmao. Usually little things like that are much harder than the average reader would expect. Fight scenes in particular are really difficult for me.

The fic that's been giving me the hardest time here lately is Restore. I think I've rewritten that next chapter five or six times at this point because I couldn't figure out exactly where to start/what to include. (Although lots of people know that because they've heard me complaining about it for years, rip). I've made good progress lately though!

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

I think I'm usually pretty good at capturing the voices of the characters I write about. It's always satisfying when you write a line and you know it's something they would say. I'm also good at drawing people into my stories on an emotional level because I get so many comments telling me I've made people cry.

🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change?

Uhh I always struggle with this question lol. I think I focus on emotion a lot in my stories. Not just what characters do, but their thought processes and why they make the choices they do. I try not to be too flowery with my language, although I'm probably guilty of that at times. I'd say my style is pretty fixed. My tone can change a lot though. I'll write anything from horrible angst to crack fic.

💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

The characters, 100%. I won't pursue a plot idea unless I can figure out why characters would make the choices that lead to it. I'm the same way when reading. If I don't like the characters and I can't understand their motivations, I'm out.

🤲what do YOU get out of writing?

Currently (and for a long time now) I think about Tron way too much lol. It's such a cool universe to play with, the characters are so complex, and there's just a lot of ground that D!sney hasn't covered. I have new fic ideas far faster than I can write them, so any time I can actually get a finished fic down 'on paper,' that's a win. It's satisfying to get my ideas out and explore pieces of a franchise that the company who owns it hasn't. I also have a lot of friends here! So I love creating things that I think they might like to read. It makes me happy.

[ilovedthestars]

Fanfic writer game: 11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general? and 36. do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

hi dragon! <3 (link to ask game)

11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

Hmmm. For fanfic I don't generally do a lot of research, because worldbuilding definitely isn't my focus when I'm writing fanfic. A slightly gross answer: I've done the usual "hope i don't get on any watchlists" googling of injuries and stuff that can kill you for angsty scenes. One thing I remember in particular was googling what hard vacuum does to a human body for Acceptable Mission Cost, to get an idea of what Murderbot might experience when I threw it out an airlock. I didn't put any of the particularly squicky things in the fic itself, but i did specifically write that Murderbot's breath is knocked out of it by a collision with the airlock door, because turns out that having lungs full of air in a hard vacuum is very bad. (A human could conceivably survive a minute or so in vacuum, though! I wouldn't have guessed that. And MB is a bit hardier.) In general I do basic research when I run into something I don't know/can't figure out how to describe, or sometimes to double check if an idea i had is within hand-wavey plausibility. Otherwise I'm not too worried about it.

36. do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

Not on purpose, although I'm sure some things creep in there anyway. I've definitely stolen names of people I know irl for characters before (usually old friends I'm no longer in touch with, not people I actively still know). I think that a lot of my characters have a bit of myself in them, though, to a greater or lesser extent. When it comes to the Polaris OCs from my big wip: Niri has my optimism turned up to 11, and the drive to actively make the world a better place that I'd like to cultivate in myself. Enigma is highkey anxious a lot of the time, and I'm definitely drawing on personal experience for that, lol. Niri and Aybee are both artists, because I know things (and have feelings) about art. Hope has a sort of no-nonsense but still reassuring presence that i think comes a little from me and a little from other people I know. And they're all just trying to take care of each other, in the way I try to take care of my friends, and lean on others when I need to be taken care of myself.

[romana-after-dark]

Heyo, it's the anon from earlier who read the main TWW story last night. I just read Going Under and it was great!

The ending was really nice despite joel not facing any real consequences. Didnt really feel like a darker ending, but I get it.

I usually stop reading stories once pregnancy comes up, but this was so good that I had to keep reading. I had to know what mc would do with her circumstances (I lowkey thought she was gonna kill joel at some point)

I love mc's confession to maria about the manipulation and I love that mc now controls the whole town!

In this timeline, Tommy brings up alot of... conflicting feelings for me.

(SPOILERS BELOW)

Now personally..... I don't think I'd ever forgive tommy for getting with june and falling under Joel's orders again... but that's just cos I was rooting for tommy to end up with little one the whole time in the main canon story 😬

I'm glad she called him out on his bs though. Maria and little one deserved better.

But I also really liked Tommy's little speech to ellie.

(When I was talking about confrontation between tommy, joel, and little one in my previous mssg, I meant the one where tommy was forced to leave for a bit. Not the one from this timeline. Just in case there was any confusion...)

BUT MY BOY LORENZO?! AND ZACK?! OUCH 😭 Unforgivable imo.

Also, I just saw that the anniversary for this fic is coming up! And you're re-writing it! That's great! I'll be seated.

Idk if I'll read Ellie's story in the canon timeline, but you'll probably see another one of these long ass messages if I do.

Lmk if these mssgs are too much. It's all just my thoughts at 2am. I can stop or shorten them.

Side note: I just realized just how many of your stories I've been keeping up with accross your accounts. Love your work 👍🏼 I hope you have a peaceful break.

Hello!!!!!

First of all, they are absolutely not too much. I really love long comments like this, especially talking about little details, like Tommy talking to baby Ellie about another life, he would’ve been her dad. I wrote going under after I wrote ghost of you, Ellie story where Tommy steps up for Ellie and takes care of her and loves her so much so that was emotional for me and having to split the two universes.

I will say that you absolutely do not have to read ghost of you. There’s little one, there’s no smut, nothing like that, so I understand if it’s not your thing however, I do think it really wraps the story together really nicely and shows everyone’s life together coming through And I think it really makes for a satisfying end, but again not required at all

If you’re curious about life after little ones death, but don’t want to read Ellie‘s whole thing, or if you think you want to read Ellie‘s story, there’s three bonus chapters that focus on Tommy, Lorenzo, and Zach and their life with little Ellie. One, better than revenge, I think is a particular good epilogue if you want to feel some sort of justice in the world that I created there, just once wanting to see one of the bad guys lose.

And yes, today is officially the day that the wrong way was first put out a year ago and I’ll be really leasing a brief bonus chapter with some insight into Tommy, Jack, and Lorenzo, and kind of life for the Raiders

And I’m rewriting it, hoping to publish it as a dark novel, with a few minor changes it’s already in a U, so it’s not like it’s a rip off of the last of us or anything, but things like the twist when it makes sense, and of course the names will be changed

Fun fact, reworking, is that the baby will be born a boy, which is why Joel is so willing to give up the baby. He wanted a daughter, essentially to replace Sarah, so he’s not uninterested in the baby boy, but I think it makes more sense because In the wrong way it really didn’t make a lot of sense for Joel to let Tommy go so easily with Ellie. But to be completely honest with you that series could be difficult to write emotionally and I just didn’t have it in me to draw out the scene longer, and I rationalize it was in shock and triggered by little one dying in his arms.

And although the wrong way was technically a dark ending as Joel got what he wanted, and Lorenzo and Zach and Jack and Maura all died. I was really proud of little one in the end with being able to stand up to Tommy, Maria, and especially Joel for her family. She made the best choice that she could make in the best life that she can make for her family and for her children and making a better world for the children of their little town now. People won’t have to suffer the way that her and Zack suffered.

I appreciate you so so much and for your kind words right now, and I hope you’ll check out the bonus chapter when it comes out!

You are so loved 💕

[kiraziwrites]

dear yuletide writer letter (2023)

These are a few of my favorite things: missing scenes, romantic interludes, reflective moments, epilogues and aftermaths, porn with feelings. I love thoughtful exploration of the power dynamics (smutty or otherwise) between characters, battle couple vibes, intrigue and adventure, extensions of canon worldbuilding, and stories that explore queerness and gender nonconformity. I strongly prefer canon-consistent settings, but canon-divergent plotlines are okay. Any rating from Gen to E is fine, and mild-to-moderate kink is welcome. Angst is great as long as it comes with a happy (or at least gentle) ending, and I love a bit of hurt/comfort as long as the hurt isn’t on the DNW list. 

The DNWs: dubcon/noncon; torture or violence beyond a canon-typical degree; A/B/O and alien or magical creature AUs; kink involving ageplay, blood/piss/scat, medical/school/prison settings, or non-standard anatomical features like tentacles and oviposition. I strongly prefer canon settings and canon-aged characters, so no high school/coffeeshop/other historical period AUs, please.

Fandom-specific preferences and prompts below, in no particular order of preference! If you got assigned one of these requests but we happen to share multiple fandoms, pick whichever sparks the most joy for you.

Fandom: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Characters: Keita Mori, Thaniel Steepleton, Six.

I enjoyed Keita and Thaniel in the first book, but it was The Lost Future of Pepperharrow that really made me ship it hard: all that delicious angst and pining and misunderstanding and devotion is extremely my jam. I’d really love a missing scene (or scenes) fic about Keita and Thaniel recovering and reconnecting in the immediate aftermath of their departure from Japan, or a post-canon fic where they reckon with the big revelations from the epilogue of Pepperharrow. And while I’m not usually a big fan of kidfic, I adore Six, so a glimpse at the three of them growing and changing as a family would also be lovely. If smut is your writing preference, I would certainly enjoy some character-centric Keita/Thaniel porn, with or without plot, from any stage of the relationship. I'd especially like to see their first time together after the reunion, either while they're still in Tokyo or once they are back on the boat home.

Fandom: Prophet, Characters: Sunil Rao, Adam Rubenstein.

Give me post-canon anything about these two! I just want more of whatever comes after the book’s ending. If you’re up for writing E-rated, I’d love to see what happens immediately after that fade-to-black in the last chapter, or a subsequent sex scene focused on kink exploration (particularly one that builds on the canon hints about Rao’s BDSM interests and experience). But if you’d prefer to avoid anything explicit, I’d be equally delighted to read post-coital cuddling or morning-after conversation, or a near-future fic about these two working out how to be together now that they’ve finally moved past the pining stage. I'm especially interested in seeing Adam coping with the aftermath of his grief and the uncanny nature of Rao's resurrection, and Rao reckoning with what he's come to understand about the depth and duration of Adam's feelings for him (that moment in when he realizes "he's done real damage there"—how does he make amends?) While I enjoyed the book's worldbuilding, the draw for me here is the dynamic between these characters, and I would prefer a strong focus on their relationship.

Fandom: The Last Binding Series, Characters: Violet Debenham, Maud Blyth.

I loved A Restless Truth and need more fic about the Boat Lesbians (even if only one is technically a lesbian and they are no longer on the boat). I will be reading A Power Unbound the day it drops, so feel free to involve its protagonists and plot developments! I’d like the focus to be on Maud and Violet, but Hawthorn and Ross are welcome to crash the party (and Robin and Edwin cameos are also fine, unless it’s a sex party, in which case they should probably keep their distance). Some ideas: if you want to write smut, I’d love to see Violet follow up on her promise to introduce Maud to the possibilities of strap-ons, or further exploration of those glimmers of interest in bondage and sensation play. I would also definitely enjoy a threesome/moresome involving Hawthorn and Ross (perhaps they decide to restage the encounter Maud interrupted? or some other voyeurism scenario?) If smut is not your jam, I'd love a fic of their next meeting(s) after the voyage, or missing scenes about what they're getting up to while offscreen during the events of the third book, or a post-canon fic about what happens afterwards. I'm particularly interested in seeing how they negotiate the leap from the hothouse intensity of their boat affair to something more long-term, especially given Violet's baggage and Maud's lack of relationship experience.

[mollymarymarie]

Hi lovely! I wanted to start by saying I *adore* your fics. I'm making my way through them (slowly, until someone is ready to pay me to devote my life for reading fanfiction), and I'm loving every word.

If you don't mind, would you talk about your writing process? For example, I'd love to know how you go about planning/outlining, how much of a fic you write before you start posting, what your editing/beta/etc process is like.

hello darling! that is SO SWEET of you to say!! i'm so honored ❤️

this answer is going to be kind of a non-answer because i don't really ... have a process. well, i guess i do have sort of a process, but i don't typically outline the whole fic before i start.

I start with the MOST generalized idea. For example, with The Road Not Taken, I knew it was going to be based on Tis The Damn Season by Taylor Swift, so it was going to be about a celebrity leaving town, getting famous, and then returning years later to rekindle a fling with his childhood sweetheart. Going into the fic, I didn't know there was going to be a refused proposal. That just sort of ... happened. And it probably happened because of Champagne Problems.

That being said, I had NO plans for where the fic would actually go, what scenes needed to take place, particular characterization points (like James drawing on Sirius with a marker, which became sort of a running theme during the fic). I've said it before and it's kind of a cop-out to say this, but the fic ends up telling me where it needs to go. I'll write a scene, or START a scene, and it doesn't feel right. So I'll scrap that section and start over, rewriting until it WORKS.

While I don't outline, I do take notes. If there is something particular I run across that I think should happen or a characterization point I'd like to include (i.e. what Sirius' tattoos are in TRNT, the fact that Sirius wears glasses in We Can Pretend), I have a separate document that describes where the fic is going next or in the future or in the ending. If I scrap a section, I'll often save it here to come back to, if I liked the way I worded something but the timing wasn't right for that scene. That being said, sometimes I come up with ENTIRE background stories or plot points that I never use because the fic didn't lead me in that direction or it made more sense in the grand scheme of things to write it another way.

as far as editing, i'll usually reread a short section of scene that i just completed the day before and edit certain things that i wasn't FULLY happy with when i wrote it. i don't have a designated beta, (in fact, TRNT was not beta'd at all, strangely), but i have friends who offer to read things and give me critique/editing tips.

AND it's a personal rule of mine that I MUST finish a fic ENTIRELY before I post ANY of it, because I edit so much and so frequently. In fact, I completely finished TRNT before I posted chapter one and edited a piece of chapter one JUST before posting to make the timing of the fic a little more clear.

Anyway, this all is a very pretentious way of saying, no i don't really outline properly, but keep more like a broad schematic of the fic and notes that help me decide where it's going next or what i want to add

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

I just want to say how much I love your work. Thank you so much for sharing it! I noticed that your story Leading Suspect, my favourite which made me laugh out loud by the way, was inspired by Jed Had to Die by Tara Sivec so I read that too and enjoyed it so much. I would love to see it as a movie. I was wondering if you could recommend any other stories or authors that have inspired your love of writing? I'm always on the lookout for literary recommendations to consume.

Hey Anon,

Thanks for your patience waiting for me to answer this. Combination of life being... well, life, and the utter panic I feel whenever I get asks like this kept me from answering sooner. "What if they don't like anything I recommend?!?!?!" Welp, that's just life too. My likes may not be your likes at all, especially since you've picked Leading Suspects as your favorite of my fics. That's really the only fic of mine where I can draw a direct line from book as inspiration to fanfic (other than the actual Hunger Games series lol), and I always feel the need to disclaim that particular fic as not being mine at all since I did lean so heavily on the book in order to write it quickly. If you've read the book, then you know just how closely they parallel in a lot of ways. Yes, I made changes, but I've never believed myself capable of that level of humor on my own... which will become readily apparent when I start listing some of my own personal faves/inspirations. I've even read some of Tara Sivec's other books and none of them stuck with me quite the way Jed Had to Die did. There was a cute little series that started with one called The Stockings Were Hung, and I read through those three books, but by the end I was kind of... tired? of the over the top shenanigans. I'd become numb to the humor lol, but you might enjoy those from her. There's also the problem that I tend to prefer historical romances over contemporary ones, although that is not always the case.

Anyways, now that I've disclaimered the crap out of my answer, here's a few books & writers that I've read voraciously, reread some of them quite often, and a few that give me writer's envy. A lot of these are romance books and some of them earn me side eyes and people yelling at me or never asking me for book recommendations ever again. I'll leave anything that's considered a "classic" that might be featured in a lit class somewhere off this list. If you really want those, just ask. Also I'm assuming you want adult titles but a few of these are YA. Also also, a lot of these books on the list are things that I've read or re-read recently, within the past two years, although not all of them are.

Tessa Dare. Start with Goddess of the Hunt it is my absolute favorite of hers, and you will actually see one or two scenes that were reborn in my fic Unmasked. Just a few. If I could've figured out how to work in her losing her earring in hot chocolate while she's trying to flirt and failing miserably, I would have. Now, I am aware that Dare's books are not always historically accurate, in terms of feminist ideas they can be a little too heavy handed and progressive for the time they are set in, (and yet they also have some elements that make me want to throw something at the hero's heads and one of my least favorite tropes in historicals of the heroine striking the hero, although Dare doesn't use that one as often as some writers). Don't expect literary virtuosity out of her, but several of her books are in my pile of comfort reads. Also one of my absolute favorite things about her books is that, usually, there are rich female friendships for the heroine. It's not something I really noticed until I read a bunch that I didn't like then came back to reread Dare's work and realized that I love the scenes with just two women being friends as much as I do the romances...

Rebellion by Nora Roberts. Okay so I am not a big Nora Roberts fan... I've read all of the MacGregor books she wrote for which Rebellion is technically a prequel. Like two centuries prior to the series prequel, and I didn't really care that much for them, and I haven't been able to get into any of her other extremely numerous novels, but Rebellion was one of the earliest bosom heaving bodice ripping romance novels I read at like fifteen years old whilst hiding under the covers of my bed and hoping my dad wouldn't snore loud enough to wake himself up and find me up reading past midnight again... so yeah, it owns part of my heart still to this day. Anyhow. I'm usually not a big enemies to lovers fan either, but this one is *chef's kiss* in my humble opinion. Fair warning, the opening scene is extremely unsettling (i.e. Serena basically witnesses her mother being raped unsettling), although it's not shown graphically, it's really easy to figure out what happened.

Julie Garwood... I don't like everything she's written. I tend towards the historical romances from her, but a few that rank in my faves are: Honor's Splendour, Ransom, The Bride, Guardian Angel, and For the Roses.

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams. This one is far from perfect. Personally, I felt like the guy carried more of the burden of their relationship than the lady did, and I really had my hopes up once I realized this wasn't just intended to be a book about a guy groveling to get his wife back, although there is some grovelling...just a bit... and also I still have yet to read the third book in the series, but the first two have both made me laugh out loud and feel things so I'm looking forward to the next two books.

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa. Recommended for the laughter and second hand embarrassment.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I actually only recently read this one and it took me something like five tries to get into it, but that was the Bipolar causing problems, not the book, because once I got into it, I felt like literary potato afterwards and now I've got the rest of his books in the queue to read one of these days. Funny enough, this was actually recommended to me by a friend lol.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I read this on a road trip and we had to stop to get more tissues... Read it, I beg of you.

Jennifer Weiner. I am way way waaaaaay behind on reading her stuff, but the ones that I have read, I devoured. Good in Bed and In Her Shoes. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire. Everyone always goes for Wicked out of his, and while I absolutely loved Wicked (other than what I felt was a rushed and unexplained ending then again I haven't yet read the rest of the quartet...), for some reason, Stepsister is the one that still kinda haunts me.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. It'll make you cringe, a lot, but I couldn't put it down.

The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci. This one is actually a graphic novel but it is choice.

We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist. Much crying and laughing simultaneously.

The Bride Stripped Bare by Nikki Gemmell. I have no excuses for this one except you asked for things that inspired my love of writing and when I read this, I hadn't read anything quite as brutal as it before, especially not something written by a woman. And I freaking loved it, as twisted as it is. It's been ages though and I haven't reread it because I'm concerned it won't hold up to my expectations...

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Just to give you some whiplash from the last recommendation bwahahahaha.

Isabel Allende. Although just like Jennifer Weiner, I am way way waaaaaay behind on reading her newer releases.

Feeding the Ghosts by Fred D'Aguiar. Not a happy read at all, but holy damn wow.

Normal People by Sally Rooney. Read it because of the TV show, never got around to watching the show... yet. But this was the first of Rooney's books I read and I really liked it, although the ending made me want to throw things. In a good way... And I've got more of her works in my list to read.

Educated by Tara Westover. It's nonfiction but it read like a novel. I've also heard from library patrons that the audio book is very well done if that's your jam.

And for fun, here are the last two things I read and gave high star ratings to:

Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

The New Kid by Jerry Craft

Currently reading: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and not too certain how I feel about it yet... and I'm halfway through. Anyone got thoughts on this one?

Now for the real question, Anon... do you have any recommendations for me to read???? ;) I too am always looking to make my To Be Read list just that much longer.

[luna-rainbow]

1, 2, 5, 10?

Thanks for the ask!

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

(So here I am answering Qs about my WIP instead of working on my WIPs.)

I've spent the last 2 weeks trying to wrangle a meta because I am just so unhappy with the tone and the wording.

I've also got on pause the TFATWS fix-it and the post-CATWS Bucky whump fic (even though it's not particularly whumpy).

What do I love about them? For the TFATWS fix-it, I liked how Sam and Bucky's relationship develop. I like that I wrote it from Sam's point of view, although to be fair his voice is probably the most consistent (and logical) throughout the whole series.

The whump fic is self-indulgence, TBH, so I like it without much care for the quality of it XDDD I've rarely written pining before, so I really enjoyed playing with that, and doing it from both Steve's and Bucky's POVs. It's far more melodramatic in its anger and angst and nostalgia, and sometimes that's the kind of cheap emotional fast food I crave XDDD

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

For the whump fic, there is a particular scene in the climax that I've been looking forward to write since the day I conceptualised the plot. But uh...yeah will have to get there.

In terms of future projects, I'm keen to do that Loki & Bucky idea we talked about XDD I'd love to write something fluffy and cutesy but I'm not great at sustaining them, so that'll be a challenge.

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

Hmm. I can't say I identify closely with any of the characters I write in fanfiction. I find Bucky easiest to write, precisely because he's a (largely) blank slate that's had inconsistent canon characterisation, so it allows for a lot of variation, but I can't say I identify with him as such. Sam in the fix-it fic is probably more similar to my usual thought processes.

10. How would you describe your writing process?

Variable levels of planning LOL. I generally have a rough idea of where the story will lead, and a couple of scenes I know I want to include. My jam is characters (and angst) so sometimes I'd have particular exchanges written. But I think the problem is that I do like to bury foreshadowing and call-backs, so I'm not someone who tends to use placeholders, write the rest of it, then go back to iron out blocks. Essentially I'd have to write most of it as it would be in the final draft, because I tend not to make major changes after the first draft.

This is in contrast to how I draw, for example, where I'd have a really rough outline, then refine it to sketched pose, then refine it to a less messy pose, before finally doing the lining.

[sevensided]

how did you get into writing fic? i'd love to start but idk even where to begin! I loved adats so I was wondering do you have any advice?

Oh my goodness! I am so flattered you’ve asked me this. Yes, I can absolutely help. I’ll throw a bunch of rambling under the cut.

I started writing fic probably when I was... sixteen years old? A lot of my early works were oneshots. I couldn’t figure out how to do anything plot heavy for the life of me, so I just stuck to AUs or whatever I felt like. I wasn’t in any particular fandom -- I really wrote whatever I had ideas for. I remember I tried once to do a plot-heavy story and I received a review absolutely ripping it to shreds. Like, it was so cruel I cried lol. I ended up deleting the fic. Years later, I get what they were trying to say (basically, more substance, less style), but at the time it cut to the quick. Really, it was only when I was in my twenties that I started writing work that was longer and/or better.

The fandom that helped me actually write plot heavy work was a historical-based fandom. As I’m a historian, it was perfect. I got to use my research skills and knowledge to create works that, above all, aimed to feel authentic. I mainly read historical fiction, so I was familiar with how that genre worked. Miraculously, people loved my work. I think I wrote about ~200k in the period of a year? These were several short stories (20-40k) and a few oneshot filler fics. While I was part of this fandom I also helped organise a Big Bang which was a lot of hard work but was extremely rewarding. Along with that, I interacted mainly with other fic writers, so I spent a lot of time chatting to people about ideas and encouraging other writers, and it just created a lovely medley where no concept was impossible or any line of dialogue too difficult. We supported each other and it was truly like a little commune. I gradually stepped away from the fandom mainly because it was just a part of my life at a very specific time, and almost as soon as that time was over, my love for that story/ship faded, but I firmly believe I figured out a lot of how/what I do now purely through that experience.

Regarding ADATS

With ADATS, it stemmed entirely from wanting to “explain” three months in canon (at the end of season three). I was interested in the idea of season four setting up Will/Mike in canon, and I wanted to test the source material to see if I could draw from what already existed to create something authentic. I began with that simple idea: what happened from July to October in 1985? Then I thought about the major themes I wanted to hit -- family, friendship, coming of age, sexuality -- and I nested them around the bigger concept: how do I get Mike from being ostensibly straight to realising he is gay? That meant thinking of two steps: Mike discovering his attraction to guys; Mike discovering his attraction to Will. Those two concepts were separate “arcs” that needed addressing in different ways. Balance was key to weaving them together and making the reader feel like they knew what was coming (and that they felt smart for putting the pieces together) without just rushing through and going “now kiss!” That’s partly why ADATS needs a sequel, lol: because it’s not finished!

Writing process

The first thing I do when I start to get an idea is I write it down. Sounds obvious. But when you have a killer line of dialogue come to you in the shower and you think “I’ll remember that” -- reader, you will not remember it. You gotta get it down ASAP! I do that the whole way through, as generally I’ll be thinking of scenes I’m stuck on and then it’ll just come to me and I’ll quickly jot it down.

The next thing -- or what I do in the meantime -- is start structuring. I plan. I try to plan a lot. Sometimes it’s okay to write “and something happens here to get them here”, because you’ll figure it out later, but for the most part I’ve discovered that planning is like gold and you can’t get enough of it. I break my work up into generally 3-4 parts/sections, and I treat each section like a mini story. So each part needs a conflict and resolution, and it needs to flow into the next section. You need to have a feeling of things evolving and maturing. Once I’ve planned those little bits, I start thinking about the bigger plot arc and how I can drop in hints along the way. I’m probably not a subtle or skilled enough writer to yet pull off that sort of gasping twist you get in really excellent books, but I’m trying to get there. It’s hard, is what I’m trying to say, but that’s okay, because we’re all learning.

Then I generally do aesthetic stuff. Sounds stupid, probably. But nothing helps me get more into a mood than doing a Pinterest board or -- most of all -- making a Spotify mix. I start thinking about the vibe and the general atmosphere, and then I almost exclusively listen to that mix when I’m working. Sort of like muscle memory? Just to get the creative juices associated with that particular selection of songs.

Another thing I’ll do along with plot structure is character structure. This is a biggie. I mean, a story is nothing without characters. So I’ll just jot down a bunch of bullet points of characters and particular aspects that I want to highlight or remember. I hate continuity errors in fiction. Like, if someone says they work on Maple Street but later in the fic they’re working on Pine Street. I hate that. So I keep note of specific things that my main character might notice at repeated points in the story (colours, places, smells, names, sounds -- so they’re all consistent even as the narrative evolves). That’s another thing -- your characters’ motivations. Not everyone is going to be a huge player, but they all do serve a purpose. The most important character is obviously your main character. I personally think it’s important to let your M.C. be an arse at times. They’re going to be mean, they’re going to misinterpret things or fly off the handle... just let ‘em. Let them be wretched humans, and then bring them back and make them realise what they’ve done. Let them learn! I love consequences in fiction, lol.

At the same time, I’ll probably start writing. We’ve already written down some snippets of neat dialogue or descriptions, but now we should start the actual process. For me, I used to start at the beginning. Usually this was the most fleshed out anyway: I’ll have a clear idea of the beginning and the end, but nothing in the middle. These days, if I have a scene in mind that I can’t forget, I’ll just write it. It will possibly get scrapped or rewritten, but that’s okay, because at least you’ve got it down and now you can devote your brain power to something useful (like figuring out what the middle is supposed to be). I’ll have half a dozen of totally out of context scenes just littered in my Word document that I’ll add to as I go along. Eventually, though, you’re going to start writing properly, and that’s when you write your opening scene.

Opening scenes: super important. Every time I write a scene I think: what is the point of this? What do I want the reader to learn or takeaway? Sometimes you do have filler scenes, but they also serve a different purpose (perhaps to establish a group dynamic or to explore/describe a character’s surroundings). Mainly, though, every scene should push something forward in some way, whether it’s character development or a plot point. So, with an opening scene, I always think you have to establish: where you are; who you are; what they are doing; where they’ve come from (in a philosophical and practical sense); and where they’re going (ditto). That doesn’t have to happen in the first paragraph -- that would be silly. But if you sprinkle that information in over time it’ll gradually build up a picture of your character and that way the reader can get an idea of who they are. You basically need to give a snapshot of what your story is about. This also goes back to the character creator stuff: where they are at the start should be different to where they end up. How that happens is, of course, because of plot, and because you’ve structured everything to the nth degree, we’ve got a very clear progression of that character’s growth (/s easier said than done lol).

General advice

Write down everything: every idea, a bit of dialogue, a description, whatever. Write it down. Doesn’t have to be neat. Just has to be on paper. You can’t remember everything, so if you’re spending time trying to hold those things in your head, it’s taking up space for new ideas to come along.

Structure, plan, structure, plan. Sometimes it’s boring and I hate it. Other times, when I’ve not written in a few days and I open the Word doc and think wtf is this supposed to be, I am very grateful for Past Me for leaving such detailed notes. Seriously, it helps so much. Oneshots don’t really need planning, in my experience. You just get those out there. But multi-chaptered stories really do, even ones that “just” focus on a relationship.

Whatever you want to write, commit to it. Space goblins invade Hawkins? Do it. Eleven and Max find themselves in a cult akin to Midsommar (2019) and must escape? Yes. Just... whatever you want to do, remember that you’re writing it for you. Write what most interests you, what makes you when you reread it go AHHHHH I LOVE THIS!! Because that makes it a thousand times easier to actually get on with the writing when you enjoy what you’re doing.

Write a lot. Every day, if you can, or at least at designated times. Occasionally I have a very specific headspace/vibe I have to be in, but sometimes it just hits me and I’ll say to my partner “I need to write now” and just disappear, lol. The more you write the more you write. It’s so, so, so true. Cannot emphasise this enough. When I wrote that ~200k in twelve months? It was because I literally wrote every. day. Or near enough. Remember that some days you’ll write 200 words, and other days you’ll write 20k (this happened to me with ADATS -- part of the reason I finished it so quickly was because I had sprints of writing 10k+ at a time that only happened because I was in the rhythm of it). Write, write, write. Who cares if it’s crap! No one will see it until you are ready. In the meantime, just write!

Probably last of all (although I could go on and on) is connect with other writers. If you’re struggling to start, sometimes just talking about it can help a huge amount. I hope it goes without saying that you can message me whenever you want, anon or not, and I will talk to you. We can talk about ideas or I can beta stuff, whatever you want! Find like-minded people and talk to them about what you want to do. Another thing this helps is in advertising your work when you do publish. I see a lot of first time fic writers get super down because they publish their magnum opus on AO3 but no one comments. Honestly, it’s because no one knows you’ve published! You don’t have to be tooting your own horn every which way, but just actively talking about your work and even collaborating with other content creators with get you hyped and other people too (and the input and encouragement other fandom members give is just... out of this world. Anon messages helped me finish ADATS when I was really worried I wouldn’t [that’s the truth]. Seriously, support is everything). When you have people excited about your work, you get excited. It’s really as simple as that.

I could go on but this is already horrendously long. I hope even a bit of this helps! If you want to chat or have any more questions, just hit me up any time.

[javier-pena]

Hey!! I just want to stop by and say that I absolutely LOVE your writing and I like to ask writers that I admire about their processes. Can I ask what inspires you? What’s your process on creating characters? And do you have any particular thing you do to develop the stories you write -I’ve heard some writers draw their characters just for themselves, that sort of thing-? And just one more question if you want to answer, are you reading anything right now and what are your favorite books?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I’ll just add that your writing inspires me so much, even though I only write for myself. Thank you!!

hi!!!! first of all, thank you so much for sending this ask!!!!!! i will try and answer all your questions 👀 (and i'm very very flattered you admire me and my writing inspires you, this is the best compliment to receive 🥺)

i usually get inspired by movies i watch or music i listen to (seldom by things that happen to me), when i started to write as a kid my stories were tied to my hyperfixations, the first novel (30,000 words story i wrote) was inspired by pirates of the caribbean and when that hyperfixation was replaced by van helsing, i added vampires to the story etc. recently, i listened to an orville peck song, for example, and a line gave me an idea for a plot point that i could add to the hunt. what also helps are my conversations with dani @javierpcna and the questions she asks me about the stories i'm working on.

with creating characters i tried several different things in the past that never really worked for me, especially when it comes to creating characters "on purpose". i used character sheets or made a list of characters i thought the story needs but i always lost interest in my stories after creating the characters. writing fanfiction definitely helps with this because it gives me room to learn about character development and being mindful of motivations and characteristics. now i usually get to know the characters while writing a story. it really works best for me, but i did need years of experimenting to be able to stop stressing about creating characters.

as for developing stories - i also tried several different tactics for that in the past (not drawing though because i cannot draw haha). when i worked on my mentalist fics in 2020 i used a story plotting sheet to plan a story before writing it, which was kinda useful but had its limits. with the book i'm writing, for example, i just started writing the story with no idea how to end it and after i'd written around 20,000 words and spent some times with the characters, it became clear what the ending needs to be. i also sometimes have ideas for specific scenes and write that idea down in 1-2 short sentences, which is really helpful when i get stuck. i tend not to do too much planning because i feel the need to stick to that plan even if i realize the story doesn't really work that way and it makes me frustrated.

and i'm currently reading blood meridian or the evening redness in the west by cormac mccarthy which is a VERY hard book to read, i need to pay attention constantly to get a faint idea about what's going on, mr mccarthy also refused to use quotation marks or apostrophes and some of the dialogue is in spanish (which i don't speak) without any translation. it's definitely one of the hardest books i've ever read, but i'm obsessed with his stylistic choices.

as for my favorite books, i love treasure island (i read it five times haha) and the great gatsby, last year i read the acotar series which i ADORED, the paying guests by sarah waters is definitely also one of my favorite books, i also love the seven husbands of evelyn hugo (which dani recommended to me), the wayfarers series by becky chambers, and to be taught, if fortunate, also by becky chambers

[seyaryminamoto]

I've been browsing your blog for Sokkla research as I feel like it has similarities to what I'm trying to write with Azula and Soren. I haven't begun tackling Gladiator yet, as it looks a little daunting, but I feel I should since I keep hearing so much. I am a little hesitant over accidentally using anything you wrote for my own story. I'd be proud if I could make it as long and epic as yours. It's very personal to me. What motivated you to write Gladiator and keep writing for so long?

Yeah, I saw your post about your crossover ship having potential similarities with Sokkla and I agree that it would, since Soren shares a few traits with Sokka, character-wise. Admittedly, Azula interacting with a character like Soren would present quite a lot of fun possibilities, so it seems to be an idea worth exploring :)

As for reading Gladiator and accidentally using similar tropes… well, I don’t know if it will ease your mind much, but there are several tropes that I’ve run into in many Sokkla fics, mine, other people’s, just… lots of them xD and it’s not really a problem. Storytelling can lead to similar places, but usually, every writer handles their tropes and character development differently.

My plan for a certain, poignant scene in Gladiator’s 96th chapter was set in stone in my head back when I started plotting the fic (like I said in that ask I answered yesterday). The scene in question is one I depicted in some artworks for Gladiator’s second anniversary: Sokka defeats Azula in combat for the first time, pins her down, aims his sword at her, and they just stare at each other before things take a pretty heated twist...

A few months after planning this, I read another fic where practically the same thing happened between them (it’s a Spanish fic, I hadn’t tried reading it yet because it was incomplete, sometimes I still scold the writer in question for never finishing it), only, rather than it happening when they could no longer resist the attraction between them, it happened when they were barely getting to know each other: Azula followed Sokka into a forest clearing, where he was training on his own. Upon noticing someone was hiding in the bushes, he leaps at her and pins her down, aiming his sword at her as well. Of course, he freaks out upon realizing it’s her, she isn’t very happy, and no heated things happen other than a lot of blushing, especially on her part xD

So, as you can see, even if the trope is “Sokka holds Azula down, at swordpoint”, the context was entirely different, the outcome was completely different and heck, the wording and even language we used was 100% different.  I came up with the idea for Gladiator before reading Majesty, later on I found out that someone had written a very similar scene already (and it was a close associate of mine, no less xD). As much as I didn’t feel like I was all that original anymore… I didn’t change my plans because of that. As long as I didn’t pull a Cassandra Clare and copy-pasted the whole scene my friend wrote into Gladiator, where was the harm in trying my own hand at it? I wrote the tropey situation in my own way, with my own words, and it’s completely my own thing.

There was something else that happened with Gladiator, another friend read it and thought I was taking inspiration for my portrayal of Sokka and Azula from a couple in a TV show she loved. Turns out I’d heard about the show, but I hadn’t watched it until she nudged me enough to do it (no regrets!), and after watching it I understood where the similarities were, but the context was all different. More than that, a certain situation (Sokka admitting his love for Azula for the first time, she asks him to say it again) was close enough to what happened between the main couple in said TV show…

… But I actually had been inspired by another couple, in ANOTHER TV show, that had a slightly similar exchange too xD

Therefore, tropes are tropes. I’ve recycled so many tropes in so many things I’ve written that people could probably psychoanalyze me and figure out all my brain chemistry damn easily if they did. I tend to have a very particular structure when writing, too (the original story I wrote and finished had 3 parts, Gladiator has 3 parts too, to name the most superficial similarity only), and I’ve frequently explored similar topics in them. It’s hardly a crime to do it again, but as long as you do it in a unique way, there’d be no harm in testing how some tropes would turn out with Soren and Azula. It could be worrisome if you portrayed Soren reacting to events exactly the same way Sokka does, but that’s not very likely to happen. As similar as they can be, they’re also different in several ways and in the post where you compared them you seemed to see those differences pretty clearly.

Therefore, I don’t think there’s any real harm in trying your hand at certain tropes and situations. If the context is different, if there’s logic to what you’re writing, and of course, as long as you write it yourself, there’s absolutely no need to worry about repeating things other people have done before.

That being said, don’t feel pressured to read Gladiator at all. I’m glad people have recommended it, but I understand if it feels not only daunting but that maybe you won’t be sure what to write if you see all the stuff I’ve done so far. Gladiator is many things, and one of them is my playground for testing Sokka and Azula’s relationship in just about every way I can xD it’s so long that I’ve been free to play with all sorts of possibilities with them, to fulfill all my shippiest wishes for these two. Therefore, if you’d rather be true to your own ideas and not get too influenced by it, it’s absolutely understandable not to read it until you feel comfortable about giving it a shot (presumably, once you’ve plotted plenty of own story and feel like you won’t be at risk of taking too much inspiration from it).

As for what motivates me… well, I guess there were many factors. One of them is that Gladiator was an idea worth digging into, with so much to explore that I was completely overwhelmed by the possibilities and I got completely caught up in it. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted the story to exist, so I decided I needed to make it happen. As it’s practically a full re-write of ATLA’s storyline, I had a chance to just… handle everything on my terms. And that meant the developments I didn’t like from the show could change: I could improve on things I thought needed improvements, I could add things that I felt the show needed, and so on and so forth. There were nearly no limits, really, and as I was absolutely lost in the beauty and glory of my OTP, I couldn’t help myself and I decided to dive right in.

It helps a lot that Gladiator’s kind of a multi-faceted thing: as I’ve been developing my art too, whenever I was bored in class I’d sketch things related to it and then, if I had a chance and the sketch was good enough, I’d finish the art digitally later. I have a lot of music that inspires me, so sometimes I just sit down, listen to it, and I let myself evoke scenes that I want to write or draw. Fact is, the whole fifth anniversary project was a mix of art and music: the songs that inspired many arcs of Part 1, along with images that referenced them.

Lastly, though… I generally know where Gladiator’s going, so I don’t usually reach a point where I’m like “Woah I have zero plans for what to do next”. I plot things for the story whenever I have nothing to do (when I’m traveling places, when I’m showering, when I’m waiting for something? Just, whenever, wherever). If an arc isn’t shaping up to be particularly fun, I try to figure out what to do to make it more interesting and appealing for me to write. Whenever I come up with something I’m hyped about writing, it helps me keep on writing until I get there. Sometimes that’s also a curse because I go overboard and write like… 12K in a single day because I am that hyped about whatever I’m doing :’D happened a couple of weeks ago xD

Anyways, always try to fulfill your own needs with your story, first and foremost. Sometimes your public won’t be 100% receptive to your ideas, but sometimes they’ll actually want exactly what you’re putting out there for them. The magic of fanfiction is that, if someone doesn’t like what they’re getting, there’s absolutely nothing to stop them from taking to writing a story they do want, right? So, why should we try to please other people instead of writing what we’d want to read?

Make your story something you can revisit and smile about, make your story something you can find value in, regardless of whoever tries to undermine it. Make it yours, make it everything you want it to be. Want humor? Set up humorous situations (I mean, your lead couple would be Azula and Soren, humor’s basically guaranteed xD). Want tragedy and angst? You can have it too. You really can do anything, as long as you make up your mind to get it done. Figure out what it really is you want to write, the key scenes, the development you’re looking for with your main characters, come up with plans on how to get them where you need them to be, and once you feel you’re in solid grounds for it, feel free to start writing and always keep on looking forward to the big things you’ve wanted to write for your fic.

[shadowsong26fic]

10. How do you decide what to write?

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

10. How do you decide what to write?

I generally start with a question or a concept--I do a lot of canon-divergent AUs and/or backstory fills and/or adding OCs for fanfic, and a not-insignificant chunk of my original work started as a wildly AU fanfic that I decided actually worked better when separated from its original roots, lol.

So, like, if it starts with a question. "What if Baltar was on Pegasus instead of Galactica." "What if Anakin didn't follow Mace Windu and was still in the Temple when Order 66 went out?" "What if Mordred was a daughter instead of a son?" and then it tends to spiral from there.

Or if it starts with an OC and/or Backstory Fill. "Who are [x character]'s relatives who are either implied to exist by That's How Biology Works (i.e., parents) or could exist (i.e., siblings/childhood friends/etc.) or I think it would be Interesting if they existed (often children)?"

And, like...a lot of these pop into my head? Some of them work better in different formats than Actually Writing them for whatever reason, some of them just grab onto me and refuse to let go. So when it comes to deciding which of these threads I'm going to follow...it's sort of an 'I know it when I see it' type thing? It's basically a...what has the Right Level of focus/awareness/etc. And sometimes I write these things for an audience of one, or divert them into freeform/casual RPs with friends, or get it out in like an outline format as opposed to a fulltext fic.

...yeah, I don't actually have like. a Process, lol. It's pretty intuitive and comes from me poking at 'what-ifs' 99% of the time. Sometimes I do one-shots that are missing scenes, but those are pretty rare.

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

Yeah, I'd probably have to say I am? But it's usually not just one character, and I tend to prefer writing gen fic with pairings as backgrounds?

So, for example, my Star Wars home tends to be the PT/Clone Wars era and characters, up through Rebels/Rogue One/basically the inter-trilogy period. The characters I tend to write most often/got the most invested in/flow the easiest are (in no particular order) Anakin, Ahsoka, Padme, Obi-Wan, Rex, Kallus, Zeb, Sabine, Bo-Katan...

For pairings, I tend to write Anidala/Obianidala or Kalluzeb; most other things are either situational or involve OCs or both.

AtLA, I was (and am) pretty invested in Zuko, and also Long Feng fascinates me, and I adore Toph; Ty Lee has always been a draw for me as well. I do have a preferred pairing in that fandom (Zuko/Song), but that's a particularly gen-focused fandom for me.

And for BSG, there are just. So many to choose from XD As I'm getting back into the fandom, I'm drawn to some who have always been my favorites (Gaius, Caprica, Helo, Athena, Kara, Felix) and a few who I'm way more interested in this time around than I was before (primarily Sam and the Tighs; although Fleet!Cavil is kind of a joy to write in his own special way--Palpatine is, too, to backtrack; something about digging into their heads is just. kind of fun???).

As for shipping...honestly, apart from Roslin/Adama (who I love, but I find both of them kind of hard to write, so I haven't done as much with them as I'd like), my favorite 2000-year-old robot drunks in love, Helo/Athena, and Gaius/Caprica, I don't have super strong opinions? I prefer Kara/Sam to Kara/Lee, and there was one AU I was working on (that will hopefully get picked up again at some point?) where the goal was Zak/Kara/Sam. And also, like, these are endgame pairings? As other partners along the way, I can get invested in a lot of different things. (I lose patience with the Quadranagle of Why very quickly, though.) ...that also goes for Star Wars, incidentally, though to a lesser extent. And all of this is leaving out how OCs affect shipping dynamics.

...right, there was another part of this question, lol.

Why do I think I'm drawn to these characters/pairings? Uh, well I know I'm invested in complex loyalties/morality. I've said before that I have a Thing for that, and for double-agents. So a lot of the characters I'm drawn to are very shades of grey, depending on the point in the storyline and/or whose perspective you're looking at. But...not all of them? So that's a starting point but not the only thing.

As for pairings...I do like a good enemies-to-lovers that's handled well; the personalities that go into it also matter, they have to fit with each other in some way. Other than that...I'm not sure there's a whole lot of commonality between the pairings I like. Like I said, I mostly focus on gen fic with pairings as a background/fact of life when applicable?

Ask me a writing question!