#was writing a simile hate post

[ohitspurple2]

Would it be hypocritical to use a simile to describe how much I fucking hate similes

[slytherizz]

20 Qs for fic writers

@writing-intheundercroft you’re so Julia ✨ thanks for the tag

How many works do you have on AO3? 9️⃣

What's your total AO3 word count? 195,627

What fandoms do you write for? Hogwarts Legacy but I do have Tedromeda in the works 👀

Top five fics by kudos? Whatever it Takes, In the Shadow of Us, Everything with you, Bludgered, A different kind of wager

Do you respond to comments? Yes - I love responding to comments! I’ve made some really good friends getting to know people that way 💕

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? ‘Playing God’ by far. My only fic without any kind of happy ending

What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? All my other fics are happy endings (if a tad bittersweet). I’d say my ‘ItSoU’ has the most fleshed out ending. Most of my one shots are smut so those are some very happy endings 😂

Do you get hate on fics? No - thankfully.

Do you write smut? every device I own is haunted by Sallow cock

Craziest crossover? The Secret history x Hogwarts Legacy

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of

Have you ever had a fic translated? no - but that would be a vibe

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nothing published but most of willow shipping is just the girlies cooking together (personal fave is this crack ship has a Dentist AU)

All time favorite ship? Willow 5 eva’

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? So many! I’m struggling rn with the 2nd chapter of playing god, a Xmas Dad!Seb fic I haven’t touched in months and there’s a fluff fic in drafts called ‘Owl Post’ which will probably never see the light of day.

What are your writing strengths? I think I write quite good metaphors and similes? Also angst. Lots of angst

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? I headcanon Seb as bilingual so I do pepper in the odd phrase in some of my fics (and probably do a terrible job of translating it).

First fandom you wrote in? Drabble for twilight when I was like 12 lol. HogLeg is my first proper fandom writing experience in all honesty.

Favorite fic you've written? This is a hard one. On opposite sides of the spectrum I love my shortest fic ‘Petulant’ I like the smug Seb I wrote and men falling in lakes. On the flip side, my longest fic ‘In the Shadow of Us’ was a labour of love. I’ve never written anything that long let alone finished it and think I improved as a writer because of it.

No twentieth question - but to continue the positive vibes. I love HogLeg fandom, it’s the first time I’ve ever had the confidence to publish any writing or finish anything I’ve started. I’ve made so many lovely friends and I’m so pleased I stopped just lurking on AO3.

No pressure tags💕: @sebastianswallows @cuffmeinblack @thetotomoo @adylorewrites @peanutslore @kaidynsarell

[risualto]

Fic Writers' 20 Questions

I was tagged by @lumeha. Thank you!

1) How many works do you have on AO3? 117, apparently.

2) What's your total AO3 word count? 146,273. That's less than I thought. I really should work on writing some more hahaha.

3) What are your top five fics by kudos? Support (And Other Ways to Make Friends) [FE3H] "Cheated" [YGO] "Unseen" [Danny Phantom] "Concrete Faith" [Pathologic] "Of Cats and Ribbons" [Fairy Tail]

4) What fandoms do you write for? As you can kind of see from the above, just...a lot of anime and video games. I was a bit sad none of my top 5 were FF14, but then I remembered that I actually haven't published any of Inky's stories on AO3. Besides, OC ship fics usually don't get as many hits, so they probably wouldn't be on that list...most of the ones that are there only have so much attention because they're old. Or, in the case of "Concrete Faith," because it's kinky.

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes, I always respond to comments. It means a lot that someone took the time to write to me about their thoughts, so I try to write back.

6) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? If we don't include micro-stories, then this is probably a toss-up between "Ashes, Ashes," and "Descent." I don't really write sad endings because I don't usually like them. It's not what I want out of fiction.

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I can't possibly choose. Most of my stories have happy endings. I'm not sure I can meaningfully rank them.

8) Do you get hate on fics? No, thankfully.

9) Do you write smut? Yes, but most of it doesn't get published under this pen name. Someday I'd like to change that, but we'll see.

10) Do you write crossovers? Theoretically, sure, if the crossover is compelling enough. I don't think I've published anything that was explicitly a crossover, though...?

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of. I'm sure it's happened, though, especially since I took a little too long to lock my fics behind the sign-in requirements.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, a couple of times.

13) Have you ever cowritten a fic before? Lumeha and I had a pretty compelling post-Patho-2 world, but it was never published. I've been part of collaborative projects before, but I don't think I've published anything that was cowritten, exactly. Anything I write that features Helvi/Rinoire (@sayonaramidnight) or Aurelle/T'Nali (@orime-stories) or Kaede (no active tumblr) is technically co-written, though, since I'm borrowing their characters. I've written fics featuring other people's OCs for Speaker as well.

14) What's your all time favourite ship? I don't know. I couldn't choose. Maybe I'm just too tired and this is a cop-out answer, but there are too many ships I like that are important to me for different reasons.

15) What's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I don't keep a lot of WIPs. If I can't finish a project for some reason, I tend to trash it. If I start writing something, I do my best to see it through.

16) What are your writing strengths? I think I'm pretty good at writing dialogue and conveying emotion. Sometimes I even get inspired with some good similes.

17) What are your writing weaknesses? I really struggle with different tone styles. All of my writing has a semi-serious narrative voice, even when my POV character shouldn't necessarily be like that. Writing as Inky has helped me a little in that regard, but I still struggle adapting my narrative voice to different genres. I could never write pure comedy, for example.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I don't know if this means writing the dialogue in another language and leaving it in that other language, or using another language to write the dialogue. Generally, I think I currently come down on the side of, there must be a really good in-universe reason for dialogue in another language to be notated in that other language (or a romanized approximation). If the POV character can understand what's being said, I think the dialogue should be written in the same language as the rest of the fic with a notation that the speaker is using a different one, recognized by the listener. If the POV character can't understand, then I don't think there's much to be gained by writing out syllables they probably can't even think of in their own linguistic terms--unless, for example, you really want the dramatic irony for people who also speak the language in question, or maybe if there's some kind of untranslatable phrase that holds specific value, (e.g. Keelah se'lai in Mass Effect) or something similar. There are also cases where dialect mixing and language evolution might make it reasonable for a character who primarily speaks Dwarvish to know a few Elven words and mix them into their own speech...or with real-world language, sometimes I choose not to translate honorifics specifically, but it really depends on the tone of the story and the target audience.

Tl;dr I think it's a little silly to just write a whole sentence in another language if the POV character doesn't understand it.

That said, I also tend to sometimes translate my dialogue into another language, then re-translate it back to force myself to think about what is REALLY important about what's being said. It's also a bit like the "turn everything to comic sans" trick to catch typos--if dialogue is sounding awkward, switching to another language sometimes gets things un-stuck.

19) First fandom you wrote for? Neopets.

20) Favourite fic you've ever written? I can't choose.

I will tag (if you like!) @orime-stories @sayonaramidnight @undyingembers @captainofthefallen @queen-scribbles @dragonologist-phd and @clefaiiiry.

[berliner-baerchen]

Omg about the ai fics i didnt realize that a few of these acc were using ai and it made me feel really inadequate as an author for not being able to post or write as much as them and then i read one and i was like hey wait a minute this doesnt seem right. Then it all clicked and i got really mad

Write your own shit. If english isnt your first language or you're bad at grammar then... imrove. You wont get better at it using ai.

I don't understand people who forego the process of creating and growing.

Genuinely! This was my exact thought process. There was a time when it didn't even occur to me that people would post AI fic. After all, FanFic is inherently transformative. The ability to share your scenarios and communally engage in ideas is part of what makes fanwork so great.

Then this author, doing a daily posting challenge, dropped a bombshell in their Author's Notes. They'd been using AI to "help" because English isn't their first language... which felt like a betrayal since English is not my first language either. It was so frustrating. Beta readers exist! Fandom is a community, and people will have your back if you simply reach out and ask if somebody more experienced in English will read your work before you post it.

I use your ask to post a list of things to look out for. None of these should be treated as a "gotcha" since LLMs are trained by scraping real people's writing. However, since LLMs are calculation models, they use predictive wording and structure, and it's possible to clue into something being AI-written.

[Edit for the people with no reading comprehension: "things to look out for" =/= "here is irrefutable evidence of AI usage!". I'm talking about LLM generation patterns.]

1. Overuse of Similes

Almost every author will use similes. However, AI over-relies on them and typically uses them every other sentence. You will see many of the same similes word-for-word repeated across AI-written fics.

“He walked in like he owned the place.”

“His voice cracked like glass under pressure.”

“The silence was heavy, like a wet blanket.”

“The anger surged through him like a tidal wave.”

2. Overly Formal Dialogue

Some AUs make this type of wording far more fitting. However, both Tyler and Josh speak in an informal Americanized way, using conjunctions and filler words (uh, like, you know).

“I am not sure what you mean by that, but I would appreciate some clarification,” he said.

Instead of the more natural: “The heck are you talking about?”

3. Dramatic Em-Dash Constructions

I love a good em-dash and hate how AI uses them too. Many good writers use em-dashes since they convey information differently from semicolons. But LLMs attempt to mimic emotional fragmentation in a way that's supposed to create emphasis, but often comes across as unnecessary.

“He was trying—trying—to make things right.”

“He couldn’t breathe—no, wouldn’t breathe—until he knew Josh was okay.”

“It was over—everything they��d fought for—gone.”

4. Generic Reactions

Again, since LLMs scrape data from human-written FanFic, they emulate common reactions that real people use. However, like with similes, they tend to overuse them in ways that don't always fit the context.

He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

His heart beat hard in his chest.

His jaw clenched.

A shiver ran down his spine.

5. Repetitive Sentence Structures

Writing is like music. You have cadence and flow. But AI relies heavily on a certain sentence rhythm, like "[Character] did [action], [adverb/adjective] doing [something else]." Also, the overuse of "something" and stilted one-sentence lines, and having one-line paragraphs.

Tyler turned away, shoulders trembling, his breath hitching in his throat. He followed, footsteps echoing, his heart pounding like a war drum.

Something about the day felt different. Promising. Not just another cycle of practices and performance but a branching path leading somewhere else. Somewhere new. Something… exciting.

But no. Not yet. Not now.

6. Emotional Beats that Don't Land

AI likes to insert intense emotional reactions without proper build-up or payoff, creating tonal whiplash.

Josh glanced at him—and suddenly, his soul shattered into a thousand pieces of longing.

7. Stacked Descriptions

I keep emphasising this, but plenty of human authors do this too. Still, AI often layers adjectives and adverbs in a way that reads as cluttered and devoid of subtlety. It should not be seen as an indicator of LLM usage by itself.

His dark, glistening hazel eyes pierced through the dim, hazy light of the cramped, dust-choked room.

My final note is that none of these should be taken as irrefutable indications of AI use. I do not want to engender hostility. However, as somebody with access to an AI detector that's used in academic fields, I can assure you... There are authors in the tag who are posting heavily AI-written fics. Many of them are doing it in a disingenuous/deceptive manner, too. I do ask you, however, not to harass any person who might be using AI! It is far more effective to simply not engage with their work.

As always, please feel free to vent in my inbox. I like to know I am not alone in my frustration.

[doctorcolubra]

Lee, Night's Master

Tanith Lee was already on my TBR list, but when I saw the reblogged post about a certain famous spec-fic rapist having plagiarised her, I sought out Night's Master right away. The influence of her writing style on that writer is immediately obvious, and in the introduction she also shouts out Oscar Wilde and the Arabian Nights as influences on her. The book is composed of interlocking short stories featuring the character of Azhrarn, the titular Night's Master, Prince of Demons, who plays with human lives.

Compliment sandwich: this is some really beautiful fairy tale/fantasy writing. I read it eagerly and highlighted a bunch of fabulous sentences. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who wants to write in this genre. The worldbuilding is complex without seeming mechanistic. There's magic everywhere but it doesn't feel commonplace, and it's not poisoned by the imagery and attitudes of video games and RPGs, where magic is about as special as electricity; it inspires the wonder I'm always looking for from this genre.

But. I gotta say it. The Arabic/Persian influence is especially clear in the names: Zorayas, Bisuneh, Sivesh, and so on. This starts to feel a little weird as the book progresses and you start to realise that almost all the good (or, particularly, the innocent) characters are blond and white. One good character, Mirrash, is "smoky and stern," that's it. While that's common enough in European fairy tales and books influenced by them, it's very pervasive here, to the point that Lee has to either repeat herself or invent stranger similes for regular old Caucasity:

His skin was white as alabaster, his fine hair the color of amber… Her hair is the yellow of wheat, her breasts white pomegranates, her loins honeydew. His hair was pale as barley under white spring sun. …white skinned, her mother's hair of pale primroses yet paler still—the ghosts of primroses… Her skin was like the white heart of an apple, her hair a fountain of primroses. … Like a white moth at dusk, a night-blooming lily. Like music played by the reflection of a swan as it passes over the strings of a moonlit lake. And that hair of his, so fair that it was like the color of the silver-gray bark of particular trees… His flesh is like alabaster and his hair like spilled white wine. "Your magnolia flesh would look far better in a gown of silk…"

Another critique I want to make is the way that the rage and bitterness of victims is portrayed as being more damaging than the violence of their oppressors. There is a scene of sexual assault which is described in heavily metaphorical language, and with a lot of compassion, but the rapist is portrayed as basically inconsequential while the vindictive fury of the victim leads to mass devastation and death. This is repeated later when a man is similarly cheated of love and of his own bodily autonomy—his hate eventually becomes a personified force that threatens the world. (Oh, and what colour is this personified hate described as being? Brown, of course!) Trying not to spoil too much here, but the cause of the original violence is punished in the first case but redeemed in the second, and I really disliked the idea that suffering too much makes you more evil than the person who hurt you. (Shades of Nietzsche's ressentiment.)

So you have to keep your third eye 👁️ open as you read this and be on your guard against the reactionary tendencies that fantasy unfortunately has. (She's not the worst on gender, although she does define femininity as pure passivity and masculinity as unthinking violence, which sucks.) The sex scenes are never graphic but often, uh, odd. Some things go down that would be very illegal on Earth. Even from the quotes above you can see how good Lee is at constructing dreamy fantasy sentences, which just makes the problematic stuff go down easier, so one has to stay sharp.

That said, there's something wonderful in every story here, and I did like this book on the whole; I would definitely read more from Lee and it also made me want to take another look at the 1001 Nights (never read it cover to cover!) and the Wilde stories that I haven't read yet. Much juicier and richer than Neil G*iman, in my own opinion, and reading it carefully will make you a better fantasy writer.

[miusmusings]

I hate how being a fic writer has made me enjoy fics less. Like every time I read a fic I'm thinking -

a. This fic is so good omg omg omg. I love the way the author has constructed this sentence. ooooh that metaphor! That simile! Oh this word they've used here fits so well!! OMG that imagery!!!

b. Every author in this fandom writes so well. *takes a look at own fics* This sucks next to them. I can't post this. I hate it. How can someone ever read this and not cringe. *stops writing* srsly this is torture. I love both reading and writing so much, yet now I can't enjoy either like I used to before.

[mellowthorn]

AO3 Tag Game

Thank you for the tag @tragediegh! I've only posted like two fics since I last filled this, so the answers probably won't have changed all that much. But I might as well do it anyway :^)

1. How many works do you have on ao3(or masterlist)? 6 (although one is partially fanart)

2. What’s your total ao3 word count? 100,837

3. What fandoms do you write for? Realm of the Elderlings

4. Top five fics by kudos? After the Sun Has Set, Someone Other Than Us, On This Silent Winter Eve, Ever Your Fool and Indulgence

5. Do you respond to comments? I try, because of how much I love them, though I've not done a good job at it this winter/spring. Idk why I've developed this weird mental block about them, but I'm trying my best to get over it

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably Someone Other Than Us?? With Ever Your Fool there's at least a chance that things might turn around after Bee is born, and the rest either lead to canon (which is a tragedy in itself) or have a happy ending.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? On This Silent Winter Eve, which was my attempt at writing the fluffiest and sweetest fic that I am capable of.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Can't say I ever have gotten any.

9. Do you write smut? Occasionally.

10. Craziest crossover? I've never written crossover fanfic (if KH fanfic doesn't inherently count, but none of that's published anyway).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? No

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nah

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

14. All time favorite ship? Fitzloved!

15. What’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Like half of my WIPs are like this haha. Especially when the outline gets out of hand and what was meant to be a oneshot ends up as a multichapter

16. What are your writing strengths? Hmm. Coming up with emotionally devastating scenarios and really wallowing in the characters' self-doubt and misery, for sure.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Descriptions, and any kind of figurative or poetic prose. Pretty much every single environmental description or a simile or a metaphor that I've ever written has cost me an immense amount of pain and tears.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language? I guess it makes sense if that sort of thing also happens in the source material, but I personally wouldn't do it in any other case.

19. First fandom you wrote in? Uhhhh HP, sadly.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? After The Sun Has Set is my baby, but I am also particularly fond of The Cold Side of the Bed. I'd wanted to write something in a reverse chronological order for a while, and I think the tragic irony it gave to the latter parts worked well.

[total-drama-brainrot]

i love yr art and all the td ramblings im not even an alenoah shipper (not that i hate it or anything js not my top one) but like thank you for introducing me to so many wonderful artists through reblogs and such 🐺👍🏽 i love the rice krispies fic also You have a really unique writing style i dont see much and i love the personal touch of humor scattered throughout its a really enjoyable read and you understand the characters so well 10/10 soerry i just really appreciate the ramblings and diff au's and introspective and such Have a good day _(:3」z)_

I'm surprised people are enjoying my art so much, since the majority of the stuff I've posted is poor, sketchy imitations of the show's art style, but thank you anyway!

There's tonnes of talented artists and writers in this fandom, I'm so happy that I've been able to boost their content to a new audience through my silly little blog!!

As for my writing style, I've found that a lot of it's uniqueness comes from the very imagery-heavy narrative; there's always a simile, metaphor or otherwise some sort of 'poetic comparison' scattered about in my writing to help add depth to the scene (that, and a gross overuse of adverbs to describe literally every action someone takes). I enjoy writing in limited third person because I like getting a feel for the character who's perspective I'm writing from, personality wise. Which is why it's always so relieving to hear that people think my characterisations are good/accurate!

I also really like using limited third person because I could write paragraphs telling my audience that the antagonist is a bad person, sure, but I enjoy showing people my character's temperaments using their POVs- like Alejandro's perspective scenes in the RK fic, I don't outright say "oh, hey, by the way Alejandro is an awful person" but it's pretty apparent anyway.

...The humour stuff is just me being self-indulgent, and a symptom of my inability to take anything serious ever. But I'm super glad that people are also finding it funny!

Then again, most of this blog is just me being self-indulgent. Either through introspectives/analysis on things that Aren't That Deep, or by publicly snowballing AU ideas with others, or by doodling silly things that make me laugh.

The fact that people are enjoying watching my crazed ramblings is a bonus!

I hope you have a good day too! 😁

[daisydoctor13]

Thank you @pers-books for tagging me in this!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

23

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

181,794

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Holby city mostly, and then a few of other Jemma Regrave characters - I've written a Frankie fic, and a couple of Doctor Who ones with Kate Stewart

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Wrong Side of Fifty Something Old, Something New What lasts forever can't be rushed Hey, Soul Sister Fragments of Eternity

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

I did, but haven't in so long but I'm about to reply to them all now. I always thought if someone was taking the time to comment on my fic I should say thank you, but I've felt bad about not writing so haven't gone on to AO3 to comment in like 2 years. But I still get email notifications whenever someone comments and I read the comment and they make me smile

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

I genuinely don't think I am capable of writing angsty endings hahaha. I've definitely written angsty fics but they've always ended with some sort of happy note or at least hopeful? I think there's a couple of very short fics in the Fragments of Eternity work that are a bit angtsy but no plot just each of the characters thoughts that aren't the happiest

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

Right I'm very much discovering I don't have any memory of what I've written, I think of the ones I've finished the happiest at the end with like a proper conclusion is Wrong Side of Fifty

8. Do you get hate on fic?

I did once get a very long comment on fanfic.net about how completely unrealistic one of my fics was which at the time annoyed me because I'd put a lot of time into researching things but had to rely on a *BIT* of suspension of disbelief from the reader because i KNEW it wasn't completely right (and had said so in the notes, but I wanted to tell the story anyway). But otherwise no, but i think the berena fandom are just all so lovely and supportive and my fics don't particularly break containment and i don't think they're that controversial

9. Do you write smut?

Heavily hinted at smut. None of my fics are more than M rated, because it all starts to get a bit too...anatomical when I try to write more explicit stuff. I leave the smut writing to the experts and thoroughly enjoy reading it instead haha

10. Do you write crossovers?

I haven't really, but I've written a Berena AU set in another TV show (Hustle) where the characters are all from Holby but the setting and the plots are adapted from Hustle episodes (I still think about it a lot and have a few unposted chapters written and I REALLY want to finish it)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, not that I'm aware of

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

I haven't, although I have bounced ideas off people so it feels like they've written parts haha

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

Do I need to answer this one? Berena of course

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

All of them haha. I don't have any works that I haven't posted anything at all, but I have a few unfininshed ones on AO3. Something Old Something New i know exactly where it would go and what happens but I know I just absolutely will not write it. Another Roll of the Dice has a few unposted chapters, and I might one day actually finish it for my own satisfaction even if noone reads it

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'd like to think that I can get characters voices in the dialogue. Also making the medical parts accurate :P

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I can be too wordy, and I can't write good poetic metaphors or similes. I'd like to be able to write those sorts of sentences that just punch people in the feels

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

I have done it briefly and sort of explained in the prose rather than directly translating. I am not fluent enough to be confident writing in another language and got a little help from friends to make sure it sounded colloquial and was grammatically correct. I wouldn't do large amounts of dialogue though

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Berena, I'd been reading a lot before that though

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

This is so hard! I think Hey Soul Sister because it's a bit cringey but makes me laugh a lot to read it and I just love Dom stirring things

[coupleofdays]

While looking for the funny code comments I used in my previous posts, I came across the following gem. It's too long to make a funny image of, but it feels like something Flynn would write:

// At this point, I'd like to take a moment to speak to you about the Adobe PSD // format. PSD is not a good format. PSD is not even a bad format. Calling it // such would be an insult to other bad formats, such as PCX or JPEG. No, PSD // is an abysmal format. Having worked on this code for several weeks now, my // hate for PSD has grown to a raging fire that burns with the fierce passion // of a million suns. //// If there are two different ways of doing something, PSD will do both, in // different places. It will then make up three more ways no sane human would // think of, and do those too. PSD makes inconsistency an art form. Why, for // instance, did it suddenly decide that *these* particular chunks should be // aligned to four bytes, and that this alignement should *not* be included in // the size? Other chunks in other places are either unaligned, or aligned with // the alignment included in the size. Here, though, it is not included. Either // one of these three behaviours would be fine. A sane format would pick one. // PSD, of course, uses all three, and more. //// Trying to get data out of a PSD file is like trying to find something in the // attic of your eccentric old uncle who died in a freak freshwater shark // attack on his 58th birthday. That last detail may not be important for the // purposes of the simile, but at this point I am spending a lot of time // imagining amusing fates for the people responsible for this Rube Goldberg of // a file format. //// Earlier, I tried to get a hold of the latest specs for the PSD file format. // To do this, I had to apply to them for permission to apply to them to have // them consider sending me this sacred tome. This would have involved faxing // them a copy of some document or other, probably signed in blood. I can only // imagine that they make this process so difficult because they are intensely // ashamed of having created this abomination. I was naturally not gullible // enough to go through with this procedure, but if I had done so, I would have // printed out every single page of the spec, and set them all on fire. Were it // within my power, I would gather every single copy of those specs, and launch // them on a spaceship directly into the sun. //// PSD is not my favourite file format.

[emilyhufflepufftlk]

Thanks @lord-aldhelm for the tag 💜

How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 25 currently on AO3, plus a lot of one shots that are only on tumblr.

2. What's your total AO3 wordcount?

600,065 which is kind of crazy, especially when you take into account that's not even everything I've written (as some are only on tumblr).

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The Last Kingdom exclusively.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Touched by Fire

Walk Through Fire

my hand was the one you reached for

Duty, Love, Betrayal

you'll never have to be alone

5. Do you respond to comments?

OF COURSE! I love comments. However small or long, however thoughtful or incoherent. Through comments I have found so many friends and I love when we scream over our fics and our plans to torture our OCs together 💜

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

In terms of one shots, what I lost in you I will not replace is just pure angst start to finish. Out of my longer fics, Fire Turns to Ash probably ends the angstiest - at least until I finish my hand was the one you reached for 👀

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

Touched by Fire and Walk Through Fire both end with my OC and Finan happy with their kids.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Absolutely none. I've found the TLK fandom to be very welcoming and supportive.

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

I do. All my (completed) multi-chapters have at least some smut in them and I have a fair number of one shots too. It's definitely something I have gotten more comfortable writing and I no longer get intense anxiety when I press post (only slight anxiety now lmao). I've always loved writing smut with feelings and focusing on the emotions of the scene, however I have written a few peices of pwp too, although my smut is never super long or detailed.

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

I do love a crossover. The Blind Monk is a TLK crossover with the Marvel Netflix show Daredevil - I think that counts as being pretty crazy.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, not that I'm aware of.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yes! Me and @morosemagick wrote our Bridgerton AU The Irishman Who Loved Me together. I really want to work on this fic again and try and finish it as we had such great ideas for it. Writing with someone is definitely a great experience although giving up complete creative control takes some getting used to.

14. What's your all time favourite ship?

I tend to write Finan x OC fics the most, but the one ship I have written quite a bit for is Finan x Ingrith. I also love Aethelflaed x Aldhelm and I hope to write something for them one day. Outside TLK I love Mulder and Scully in the X-Files, Monica and Chandler in Friends, Merlin and Arthur in BBC Merlin, and Buffy and Spike in BtVS.

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

Honestly all of them at this point 😭 I have really gotten out of the habit of writing and have been struggling with motivation. I want to try and finish all my fics eventually.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I feel my OCs are one of my greatest strengths, I think I create believable characters and people have said that I have created a whole world that they've become invested in - which is such a huge compliment. I also think dialogue is a strength as I find that easiest to write.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Description. I often have to force myself to describe the scene - I'd much rather stick to action and dialogue. I respect people who write really poetic beautiful descriptions as I can't even use a simile or metaphor to save my life lmao.

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

I think it depends how it is used. I personally don't write dialogue in another langauge in my fics (except Finan's term of endearment 'mo ghra') but that's just personal preference.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Last Kingdom. It was almost three years ago since I first watched the show and became obssessed. TLK was also the first fandom I read fanfic for as well.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

I think my whole OC x Finan series fire in her eyes just because of all the OCs I created and developed. I think Duty, Love, Betrayal is the individual fic I am most proud of.

No pressure tags: @morosemagick @solinarimoon @lauwrite1225 @aadmelioraa @persephones-journey

[maaaxx]

11 & 19 for the ask game ❤

ask game :)

11 has already been answered here

-

19. "Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?":

Short answer:

From the time I could vaguely write I was writing "books" (or as much of a book a child that young can make)

I entered my first writing contest when I was 9 or 10 and I got 5th place in my school

A year later I started my first major wip that got me invested into writing as a hobby

A year after that I started another wip that most of my current wips are branches off of and also started posting bits and pieces on wattpad

When I was 14 I had my writing skills tested for early college admission and scored in the top 5 percent in my state (still very proud of this)

Entered and won a couple writing competitions besides that stopped writnig

Then a couple years later I started writing fanfiction

Currently pondering working towards actually publishing some books one day.

Long answer under the cut :)

I remember making "books" since I could write. Like I would staple paper together and I remember one specifically that had something to do with sea horses but i dont remember the plot.

My mom has boxes filled of these "books" with all of the words and even my name misspelled and poorly illustrated characters and stuff.

When I was in like 4th grade (9-10 years old) my teacher had an assignment to where we made up a story and applied whatever type of literary technique we were learning about that week to it. So like if we were learning about similes the assignment would be come up with 5 sentences that include similes that pertain to your story and include one or something like that. At the end of the year we were supposed to have 4-5 pages of this story. I think I finished with like 10-12 or something like that. She made me summarize it 💀

If I remember right I think that my story was about this set of twins where one was born with some type of super power that only the other twin knew about and the superpowered twin got kidnapped by some scientists that wanted to expirement on her and my story followed the other twin and this like 12 year old girl dedicating her teenagehood to finding the lost twin. I think I made it so the dad actually ended up hiring the kidnapper and the dad and kidnapper both got arrested. I want to find this again because I dont remember a lot about it.

That same year my teacher ended up having me enter a poetry contest and I think it was a tri-county thing. I didn;t like poetry (I still hate writing it, love reading it though) so I half assed it and I think I got within the top 5 (??) of my school. (just elementary school) so that was neat.

(This specific teacher was one of those really strict teachers that no one else liked but my little undiagnosed autistic self LOVED her because i always knew what to expect yk?? but is also the one who really got me into reading and writing and stuff and I dont think I'll ever not me extremely grateful for her)

The next year I started forming this one wip. Its definetly my longest and most elaborate and sentimental one because it opened so many different doors for me.

There was no plot but it pretty much followed this group of like 20 teenagers that had very different lives and were all really traumatized and during the "story" they're all like 15-18 trying to figure out how to move on from their childhoods and maintain healthy relationships with eachother and their individual support systems.

Some of them are neurodivergent and some of their stories are centered around that.

One of the characters name is Jack. Jack is bipolar and so is his mom and so because of his moms mental illnesses and stuff he was in and out of fostercare from like 5-13. Hes probably the 'main' character in this.

Hes also went deaf from a tmi from when he was like 9.

Then theres Allison who is autistic and she is your stereotypical 'gifted kid burnout' 'graduated at like 15' type of autistic. but this leads to a lot of issues with her and her main thing is kind of working through that.

Travis comes from a VERY religious (almost cultish) family and is develops schizophrenia at like 16 I think and he's also pansexual and his parents go through his phone and find some texts from his partner and kick him out so hes homeless and has to deal with that.

But like I said theres like 17 more of these characters and its very elaborate. It goes into the parents childhoods and deals with generational trauma and how mental illness can affect parenting.

The 'story' mostly follows Jack and Allison (theyre love interests) and everything is kind of through their pov and their relationships with the other characters and stuff.

But like 11 year old me started writing this out in composition books and between then and when I turned 15 ish and got a computer, I filled I think close to 30 composition books with this story.

But I started researching mental disorders and stuff for this story so I could make their stuff as realistic as possible and that kickstarted my spin on psychology, which led to me wanting to be a social worker which is my major. It also meant that I was really ahead in also my psyche classes. Im *technically* going into my 5th year of college and I started taking psyche classes my second year and I didnt start getting into stuff that I didn't know until the year that just ended so 11 year old me really knew what she was doing.

I remember making my mom buy me textbooks and those articles that are behind a paywall for birthdays and Christmas's

I'm getting off track

A year or two after that I started developing this other wip with kids with superpowers and there was a whole lot of worldbuilding and stuff to this one and its what got me into fantasy which is the main genre I write outside of fanfic. (my hecles wip is loosely based on this one)

(part of this one is on wattpad somewhere)

When I was 14 I took a test that determined whether or not I would be able to start college early and part of this test was writing skills. There was a fiction and a nonfiction portion and then they combined those two scores and averaged them out and my score was in the 95th percentile (top 5 percent) of everyone who takes the test (so on average like 17-19 year olds usually and then some outliers) so I see that as one of my biggest writing achievments.

(i scored shit on the math and reading comprehension portions though)

I stopped writing and stuff for like two years besides entering writing contests.

I've entered like 5 and won 2. One was tri-county and I got first place and the other one was a little bigger but it wasnt a state contest, I think it might have been regional but I got third place. I consider those both big accomplishments too.

And then when I was 17 I started writing fanfiction.

I think fanfiction is what actually got it in my head that maybe I could write an actual book one day. Like before I just saw it as like a hobby because I was scared of the commitment of writing a whole book but ive written almost 200,000 words of one of my fanfics and it wasn't that overwhelming and I think that usually a decent sized novel so why not give it a try?

Idk if that answered the question or if I got TOO off track but oh well :)

[allsassnoclass]

hey y’all i’ve been talking a decent amount today but a candid update on my writing world: not going great!

idk i’ve just had a few rough writing days (a few days doesn’t really mean anything i know i know) and am feeling pretty discouraged about my production (only one thing posted last month, plus the fact that i likely won’t be able to post this summer due to having significantly less time to myself, constantly running into walls in my writing no matter which thing i’m working on, etc) so i might take a break. which means that nothing would really change on the blog (taking a break from posting fic when i haven’t really been posting fic means still no posting fic) but don’t hold your breath i guess lol

[evanox]

Hi hi hi :D

I saw you were taking requests so I have an au request thingy. Imagine the one au of the M3 as baristas with an mc from Astraea, except mc just fucking faceplants into the coffee shop during the closing shift and everyone loses their shit-

Also hcs for barista Felix falling for astraean mc ahajsksksjsmsms that is all okay thank you-

hii tysm for the request!! no I definitely didn't have to binge @/morgandrinkscoffee for Research /s,, also omg you've reminded me of Ciel's drawing of the M3 as baristas,, man I'm gonna miss Ciel's LL art,, also

you see I kind of forgot the Astraean MC bit and already committed to General Barista HCs so now you're getting both General Barista HCs and the M3 with Astraean MC and Felix falls in love with them, except the latter is gonna have to be on another post bc it got so long tumblr won't let me edit it normally anymore :)) i'll make sure to tag you once that's up!

m.list

Felix

Felix had to find a new job to stay afloat after practically disowning his dad. Scylla still tries to help with a lot of his finances, but Felix hates relying too much on her, so here is, working the coffee machine at a bookstore coffee shop. Yes, it is a humbling experience.

The manager had to tell him off several times about his sharp tongue; Felix wasn't exactly subtle when a customer pissed him off. His coworkers, however, enjoyed living vicariously through him. It was cathartic watching Felix come up with creative ways to roast (haha) rude customers, and it was fun while it lasted. Now he just wears his customer smile through the pain, except it's more of an unnerving "I can't stop thinking about all the ways I could poison you" smirk.

Loathes the morning shift with every fiber of his being; loves the night shift, especially if he's alone. You know he's busting a few moves with that broom while blasting his playlist that's just too hit or miss for everyone to be used while the cafe is open.

Throws far too many tirades about how tea is far superior to coffee.

"Why do you work at a cafe then?"

"Mind your business."

Oh, the scandalized look on his face when someone suggests he try out coffee so he can 'look a little more cheerful on the morning shift'...

Felix always brings a book along to get him through slow shifts. He tried to be subtle about the more risque ones, but he'd been caught by his coworkers so many times that Felix doesn't bother hiding it from them anymore.

Come to the counter carrying a book that Felix likes (or absolutely loathes), and he will look like someone breathed life back into his corpse. It's very rare that he'd engage in small talk with customers—let alone initiate it—but he'll ask how far into the book have you read, what are your thoughts so far, and offer some of his own opinions if you seem to be enjoying the conversation.

His handwriting is usually incomprehensible because he writes in cursive and his hand is too fast so it just looks like a messy string of loops. You know Felix has a crush when he takes his sweet time drawing out those pretty loops into your name and making it look fancier than a Victorian man's love letter.

And yes, he'll go out of his way to walk the order to you.

Can't help but stare as you sip on your drink, so he brings his leather-bound writing journal along to seem more subtle as he looks between you and the pages. When inspiration strikes he might jot down a few verses of poetry about the threads of your hair turned golden by the sun or the mesmerizing rhythm of your finger as you tap it against your lovely lips when deep in thought, and if you have brown eyes he might even throw in a coffee-related simile. Then he feels very embarrassed and slaps the journal shut before any of his coworkers could get a peek.

How does he flirt, you ask? By reading the same books you pick up, of course; what better way to know someone? And it'll give him an excuse to strike up a conversation the next time you come for a drink.

Anisa

Anisa working in a cat cafe? Anisa working in a cat cafe.

When no one's watching she'll try to coo at the cats and coax them into her lap. Why does she feel the need to hide when trying to get the cats to play? Because Anisa doesn't want anyone witnessing the myriad of rejections she has to face from the cats.

Yes she cries a little when one of them gets adopted, both tears of joy and sadness—she's gonna miss them so much. You know she memorized all their names.

Anisa has always had the best work ethic and gives her job her all, but it helps a lot that she really likes the cafe; it has the added bonus of cats and a mostly laid-back clientele who just want to see some cute fluffy babies. This place also happens to be a hot spot for first dates and Anisa always gazes at the new couples with yearning; she can't wait for the day she gets to come here as a customer herself with someone she loves.

So yes, she might be the most put-together out of the three LI's, but Anisa definitely has her unhinged moments, like spending concerning amounts of time staring at the coffee beans in the grinder and fighting the urge to grab a handful just to eat it. She won't do it, but God, that texture must be immaculate. Has she ever thought about trying out the cats' food while shoveling some into their bowls? Maybe once or twice, not that anyone needs to know.

Also she's the worst when it comes to being a chronic ice-kicker.

You can always trust her with choosing the playlist and setting the vibe for the day. Anisa loves the opening shift for that sole reason, and also because she hates the closing shift cleanup. There was a morning when she opened and found the bar looking like a total mess, proceeded to check the schedule so she can give a certain someone a piece of her mind, only to find out it was, indeed, Anisa herself who closed last night.

She's so sweet with the kids and applauds them when they manage to make an order after nervously stumbling over their words.

There are only two types of situations when Anisa might look the slightest bit intimidating; the first is when lecturing customers about not bothering the cats if they're sleeping or forcing them to play when the cats don't want to.

The second is when a customer asks her to watch over a laptop or other personal stuff when they need to go to the bathroom. For the next 5 minutes, Anisa will be your laptop's hawk-eyed, vigilant guardian, throwing herself halfway over the counter to keep watch over your things and make sure they remain untouched.

Her customer smile is well-practiced but oh, the way her eyes light up when her favorite person comes through; you can so obviously tell this smile is far more genuine.

Doesn't shy away from drawing a little heart next to your name over the cup, or maybe a little cat. If your drink comes with a straw she'll always choose the one with her favorite color for you; if she's feeling bold she might ask about your favorite color. Don't confront her about the cute cup art if you don't want to see her stammering over her words, hair poofed up and face all flustered.

"Oooh she must really like you!" Anisa calls out when a cat cuddles up to you. The cat is a naturally cuddly one, but you don't have to know that; Anisa just wants her special person to feel special.

Sage

There aren't many things Sage likes about his job besides doing delivery on the motorcycle—anything just so he doesn't have to stay in that stuffy, cramped kitchenette. So what if he takes a few detours on the way back just to feel the breeze against his face? No one has to know.

He can't even listen to his favorite music inside the shop since he was permanently banned from choosing the day's playlist; not a single one is without an obscenely crude song.

The only other thing he likes about the job is the free food. He's not sure if it's actually free, but he doesn't really care.

Far more easy-going with rude customers than Felix is but less willing to indulge and smile through it like Anisa.

"We're all out of ___."

"Are you sure? Can you check in the back?"

Yeah, sure. Thanks for the smoke break.

Well I don't think he'd actually have a cig on him but he definitely has a flask tucked somewhere in the shirt he was forced to button up to the neck and tuck into his pants.

Otherwise he's quite flirtatious with customers, though more often than not he's just entertaining himself rather than actually expressing interest. Nothing too raunchy, but enough to make the shier customers blush and earn bashful laughter from the old ladies. His customer-service voice is just his casual flirty tone coupled with a lopsided-smile; you can just catch a little peak of that unnaturally sharp canine.

The only reason his manager has yet to fire him for his lack of punctuality and texting on the job is how easily Sage can charm customers and how many he has drawn in with his good looks. You don't even have to try that hard when you're 6'2" with luscious locks pulled into a high ponytail.

That, and he has a surprising talent in making latte art, mostly because Sage has practiced drawing rosetta so many times (yes, because it looks like a dick and he thought it was very funny).

Sure he'll remember your usual if you're a regular but this man is never going to remember your name; no, he won't feel apologetic about it. If he likes you, however...

Pushes his coworkers away the moment he sees your face even if he's supposed to be on break; no one can take your order, alright? No one prepares it like he does anyway.

Hey, he might even start being punctual to his shifts.

So what if he undoes one or two buttons on his shirt? The weather is just oh, so hot ;)

Starts flirting less with other customers and more with you. This is where his terrible pickup lines finally shine. He doesn't mind if you find them laughable; he just feels lucky to see you smile. The more ridiculous/stupid lines are saved for days when you look really down and might need a pick-me-up stronger than just coffee.

If you seem to be into his pickup lines and lack of subtlety, he might just throw the ball in your court by jotting his number down on your cup.

[mellowthorn]

I was tagged by @gwenllian-in-the-abbey, thank you so much for the tag! (and sorry that it has taken me forever to do this)

How many works do you have on AO3?

Three currently (I’ve written more for other fandoms but I orphaned those years ago)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

55,643

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I only post for Realm of the Elderlings, but I also sometimes write Kingdom Hearts fics purely for myself

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Uhh, I only have three on my current account, but in order, Someone Other Than Us, After The Sun Has Set and then Ever Your Fool.

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

Yes, or at least I try to! I have a bad habit of thinking my response but never actually writing it down and then forgetting about it completely... But I try my best to remember to reply, even if it ends up taking a while.

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

Neither of my finished fics/oneshots have closed endings, so I guess it depends on what you imagine happens afterwards. Neither of them are exactly happy though.

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

I haven’t finished posting it yet, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise that After The Sun Has Set will soon take that title. I mean, it's already happier than anything else that I've written

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No

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

I do, occasionally. I don’t know exactly how to describe what kind, other than that my smut scenes tend to be quite sad?? I like using them as a way to explore or exaggerate some complicated character dynamic, and I guess that’s why they often turn into something at least a little uncomfortable. As much as I enjoy reading smut that’s all sexy and romantic, for some reason I can’t write it myself at all haha

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

Nah

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Nope

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

Fitzloved is my current favourite (and I've never been this intense about a ship before), though Zemyx (from Kingdom Hearts) is the one I always eventually return to

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Last spring I wrote about 45k words of post-Assassin’s Fate happy ending AU. The outline for it is massive, and what I’ve written so far covers maybe one tenth at most. I know I will never have the patience to finish it, but somewhere at the back of my mind I refuse to let it go. I’ve been trying to see if I could turn parts of it into one-shots or something, but who knows what I’ll end up doing 🤷

16. What are your writing strengths?

I’d say I’m fairly good at characterization, as well as building up tragic and angsty scenarios. My favorite thing when writing fanfiction is to take some (usually sad) aspect of a character/relationship/etc and then dive deep into that, and I think I do it pretty well.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

My prose, especially detailed descriptions and creative similes and metaphors and the like. Writing those does not come naturally to me at all, and I feel like I often get stuck using cliches and specific words or phrases, and then have to spend half my time editing to make things less repetitive.

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

 Not my thing, I prefer to keep everything in one language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

 Harry Potter, I think? Way back in like 2008 or 2009.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

From RotE stuff, After the Sun Has Set. It’s the first time I’ve managed to fully write, edit and post a multi-chapter fic from start to finish, and that alone is a huge achievement for me. Writing every chapter from a different character’s PoV was also a really fun (if sometimes frustrating) challenge and I’m really glad to have done it. Outside of RotE, a few years back I wrote this super self-indulgent novel-length Zemyx fic. I never posted it anywhere and it’s kind of crap quality-wise so I never will, but since it’s basically just every romance trope I’ve ever liked, it’s fun to reread for comfort every once in a while.

[samanthahirr]

Oooh, 7 or 20 for the writer meta asks, please! 💜

Thank you so much for this ask, Ani! Fun Meta Asks for Writers

#7 - What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

Oooo, this is a tough one! I did quite a bit of thinking about this topic at the turn of the year. After a lot of soul-searching, I’ve determined what I think my strengths are as a writer: I know what makes a satisfying story/plot, I can deliver strong pacing and structure and parallels and themes. I bring the unreliable narrators and surprises, and all the side characters in my stories have their own motivations. I work hard to develop tension and conflict and believable characterizations. 

But what’s probably most-distinctive about my writing “style” is economy. I sketch an environment with a couple adjectives and then move on. I drizzle in exposition only when it’s needed/relevant. I don’t stray down side-alley tangents or linger in descriptions and introspection; I keep the story moving. And my writing is (deceptively) straight-forward: similes are rare, and my prose is direct as opposed to poetic. But just because it’s direct doesn’t mean the narrator is impartial in his observations, or being honest with himself (cough * Off the Books * cough).

Also, my spelling & grammar are always ON POINT.

Would others agree? Fuck, I have no idea. Some yes, some no. Shout-out to all the readers who have commented on my believable characterizations and intense planning/plotting! Shout-out to all the readers who were swayed by my unreliable narrators’ opinionated perception of their world and ended up hating characters I didn’t mean to be hated! Shout-out to all the readers who missed my foreshadowing or didn’t understand the theme! All of these comments inspire me to try harder with the next story.

#20 - Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I love this meta question so much! What a great opportunity to peek behind the curtain of the fics I’ve most-loved to write! A few months ago I posted a 30k hurt/comfort-and-pining story called Please Ask (for Help), and I’m really proud of the choice I made for the romance arc and the late additions I made to the story outline to develop it.

The story is set over 10 days, in which Q gets struck by an SUV on his cycling commute, and Bond cuts a mission short so he can support Q during his first week of post-surgery convalescence. Bond is already in love with Q since well-before the fic starts, and he spends those 10 days of intimate care-taking secretly pining for Q, determined to conceal his feelings from his injured coworker. 

I started writing the fic with a brisk, shallow approach to the pining, sticking solely to the present-day, taking it for granted that James Bond was simply in love. (I thought it would be a 15k story. Hah!) I wrote the opening scene of the fic, and Bond thinks to himself, “Four months ago, James would have voiced every filthy double entendre that crossed his mind.” And when I wrote that line, I knew it was a keeper…and also that I would have to eventually produce an answer for what happened “four months ago,” which meant another phase of brainstorming!

Clearly, four months ago was the moment Bond realized he was in love with Q, but what spurred Bond’s realization? Was it something dramatic—an action scene or a kidnapping or a brilliant rescue? Did Bond get jealous of Q dating someone else? Did he catch Q naked, or did Q put another agent in their place with devastating sarcasm, or did Q do something that reminded Bond of Vesper? So many classic tropes I considered. But this was going to be a quiet, soft story about building trust and embracing vulnerability, so I didn’t want anything dramatic or sudden or violent fueling the romance. 

Instead, I chose to base Bond’s love on Q’s fallibility; Q’s characterization changed to that of a man too young for his promotion, who puts up an arrogant front of unimpeachable competence around his coworkers as a defense mechanism—an aloof act so convincing that Bond didn’t even consider Q a friend for the first months of their acquaintance. Not until Bond glimpsed Q’s weaknesses, a few rare moments of embarrassment that made Q feel like a real person to Bond. Over the course of the story, I interjected four short memories, each building the backstory of what it was about Q that made Bond fall for him: Q laughing at himself over a wrong answer at a pub quiz; Q asleep and drooling at his desk; Q distractedly pouring salt into his tea instead of sugar; and Q so engrossed in his work that he doesn’t realize he’s wearing his jumper inside-out. All moments when Bond got to see the real Q behind his proud work facade, made Bond want to shield Q from embarrassment, and made Bond recognize Q as someone human and worth adoring.

So I wanted to highlight those four memories in this meta post because they add a rich history to Bond’s feelings, and it’s easy to miss some of them amid the stresses of Bond’s present-day care-taking and Q’s physical challenges. And Q’s fallibility as the source of Bond’s love juxtaposes really nicely with Q’s initial resentment and humiliation at being so helpless and vulnerable in front of 007 post-accident—a delicious irony I used to torture Bond repeatedly! But over the course of Q’s convalescence, Q grows comfortable being vulnerable in front of Bond (as Q never would have been at work), illustrating how Q’s feelings for Bond are developing. And I really love how that soft emotional story line plays out in the fic, supporting the convalescence arc and building to the inevitable get-together.