#what if i'm telling you that i have a multichapter fic in my drafts with this.........

[lale-txt]

"kill them with kindness" wrong. fuck their dad and their grandpa. actually fuck their whole family tree

[rosie-b]

WIP Reblog Game

Thank you for tagging me @coffeebanana! <3

List the titles your top five priorities for WIP updates (link your fics for new readers!)

An upcoming scene, event, or detail in each fic that you're looking forward to writing

Bonus: make a poll for your followers to vote on which top 5 WIP they are most excited to see an update on!

Then tag 10 writer friends!

WIP TITLES

(I'm not sure if these wips are supposed to all be partially posted already or not, so here's a mix of fics with potential sequels and multichapter fics)

True Blue - enemies au + kwami swap (Marinette is the Peacock in this one) (it's been nearly a year since I posted the first chapter and I really thought it would be finished by now T^T)

Guilty by Association sequel (probably) - ladrien fake dating post-hawkmoth defeat

For the Sake of a Ring sequel (maybe) - lovesquare multiverse shenanigans before it was cool (unrelated to the paris special)

A Chat Walks Into an Office series (perhaps) - crack, ladrien, and gabriel realizing he's an idiot after an unexpected reveal

Growing Fangs (someday) - canon divergent future au centered on the next generation of heroes (the dupain-cheng kids) (it's been over a year since the last update bc i wrote myself into a ditch and can't get out of it hehe)

(As you might be able to tell, I don't leave most of my fics unfinished for long; I'm normally pretty good at leaving my ideas as oneshots or finishing them quickly.)

UPCOMING SECTIONS

The Gorizilla chapter!!!!! It's gonna be so fun (and an emotional roller coaster)

Ladrien with fake dating!!! The first fic was more-or-less a setup for this exact scenario. The problem: I have roughly no ideas for which direction to take this series atm

Ok, so this fic will be the battle scene from Adrien's pov, featuring many different universes' Ladybugs. I came up with one Marinette who is literally a rose and I love her so much so I'm most excited to try to incorporate her story (gonna be a challenge though)

Finishing the series. I might honestly end it where it is, but I do have a draft of Hawk Moth meeting Ladybug and explaining what happened (she doesn't believe him, of course, and she's very concerned for her partner)

Ok, after the decade-long timeskip, Chat and Ladybug will start off as the main heroes. However, they'll be forced to give their Miraculous to their kids for Reasons™, and I am very excited to get to that part and what happens afterwards (i swear i have a plan, it's just i keep getting sidetracked)

I get distracted by new ideas all the time, so the only 100% guaranteed updates are for True Blue (within a month) and Growing Fangs (before I die). BUT. I will be motivated to work on the other sequels if you guys vote for them or leave comments/tags saying you'd like to read them!

So:

10 new people to tag is a lot, so let's see: @lady-de-mon-coeur, @nemaliwrites, @marimbles, @chai-ki, @aidanchaser, @deinde-prandium, @ninadove, @fragileizy, and @hamsteriffic (no pressure, of course! and sorry if i re-tagged you)

[linwelinwrites]

How I use Google Docs for writing fiction

There are so many different options when it comes to how and where you write your fiction. There's ye olde MS Word, there's Scrivener, and Manuskript, and Evernote, and Notion, and... you get the gist. But out of all the options I've ever considered or tried out, GDocs is the one I keep choosing. It's what works best for me. I'll say that again, just in case: it's my personal choice because it's what I, personally, find most intuitive, it has everything I need and I'm comfortable with it.

Which is why I want to tell you how I find it useful, so that you can evaluate what works best for you.

My favourite things about GDocs are:

It's 100% free to use, no ads or limited features.

How easy it is to get used to, because of its many similarities with MS Word (which is what I used for school and extracurriculars when I was young).

Sync with the Docs & Sheets mobile app, to write wherever, even if I don't have my laptop on me. And the mobile app has a dark theme!

Availability offline. You can mark any document you want to be available even without internet, both in web and in the mobile app.

How many shortcuts I can use to avoid even touching my mouse (I'm a shortcut gremlin)

Amazing customisation possibilities to make your writing space exactly what you want it to be.

The advanced linking features to turn your folders into an interconnected wiki of sorts (yes, you could technically do a literal wiki, but this requires no bothersome setup)

Sharing. You can share your documents (or spreadsheets, or files, or even whole folders) with your beta readers, your co-writers, your editor if you have one (go you, fancy!), and decide how much control they have over it. You can even be on a call and edit or look at it at the same time, because it syncs by the second.

The main drawback of using GDocs is that if you're working on a long project (+30-50k), having it all in one file can slow down the site's performance, and the mobile app tends to crash on files that big. It sucks, but I honestly dislike big ass files anyway, so it doesn't bother me. I prefer shorter files that are easier to navigate.

There's more, but those are the reasons why even when I try other software, I still end up choosing GDocs.

Tips and Tricks

I've compiled a Guide to Google Docs and Sheets' best features when it comes to writing fiction. It covers all my fave features of both Docs and Sheets (web version). If you plan on using Gdocs and Sheets for writing, I think you should take a look. There's a lot of useful stuff in there!

If you like it, feel free to share it wherever you want. I humbly ask that you please credit me and link the original file.

Organising my documents

I have one big Writing folder, which contains the following:

Documents that keep all my ideas, thoughts and trackers in order: my "Writing Desk" (I'll get to that in minute), the recycle bin (a document with bits and bobs I had to cut but I want to reuse at some point because they're good), my NaNo word count tracker, and my Commint Archive, a compilation of the nicest comments I've gotten on my fics, to keep me going when I'm stuck and unmotivated.

'Resources' folder

This is where I keep my workskins, my templates, the files I've come across while researching, and the writing advice I've taken notes of.

'Fiction' folder

Since I mostly write fanfic, here is where I have my fics organised by fandom. My main fandoms each have their own folders, and there's another to stash all the fics for fandoms I don't usually write about.

Inside these folders, I have a simple system:

For every short work (drabbles, ficlets, one-shots, or multichapters that add up to less than 20k), I create one doc. Everything related to that fic will be in there: outline, research, draft, ideas, etc. I keep it tidy using headings (check the guide if you're unfamiliar with them), and I file that doc within its corresponding fandom folder.

For any longer work that adds up to 20k or more including outline, or has more than 10 chapters, I create a new folder inside the corresponding fandom folder, titled like the fic. Inside this fic folder, I keep:

• Outline, research, setting info, character profiles. If all of this combined is shorter than 50k, it'll all be in one single file. Otherwise, I separate it into individual files.

• Chapter drafts. If I have less than 15 chapters, they'll all be together in one doc. If I have 15 or more, I create a subfolder titled 'chapters' and keep them all in there, each chapter in a different doc.

• One outline spreadsheet to rule them all, one outline spreadsheet to find them, One outline spreadsheet to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them (into one cohesive unit for easy navigation)

How I keep all these files handy

There's nothing I hate more than having to search for a file I don't remember the name of or where I put it. So I devised a digital Writing Desk to keep everything writing related in one place.

If you want to know how it works and check it out for yourself, you can take a look at it here:

Template for my Writing Desk

A guide on how to use and tweak it to your liking

This keeps every link to all the dusty corners of my writing folder in one single spreadsheet, which makes the whole thing so much easier to navigate. I can find anything in seconds; from the fics I'm currently working on, to abandoned drafts I haven't touched in months, prompts I've come across, wild plot bunnies I came up with at 3 am, to every rarepair I want to write about, to every one of my notes with writing advice and resources I've found and hoarded over time.

Again, feel free to share all this (I'm excited to share it with whomever might need it), but please credit me and link the original files, not copies. It took me a long time to come up with this and documenting it was also a lengthy process.

I have more templates that I'll be posting about very soon, for different writing-related purposes. So...

[claudiajcregg]

Tell Other People About Your WIPs

make a list of all your WIPs with a brief description of each and then people can ask you questions about them and then tag other people.

Tagged by both @onekisstotakewithme and @miabicicletta 💜💜💜 Thank you, guys <3 I don't know who to tag that hasn't been tagged already. Interested? Tag, you're it! :) (Please do know that there are no set sections. Pick whatever you want. I went the deranged route.)

I have an outdated WIP list, and many others unaccounted for. This is just a selection of stuff I could see myself posting or editing/retooling to write something new. I love talking about my WIPs, about as much as I hate being perceived because they are not remotely interesting. (I also love knowing which ones people are interested in! I have an incentive to work on them!) (Instead of snippets, part of my feedback loop is sending actual rough drafts to get a sense of whether it's worth working on more.)

Multichapters, different levels of completion.

S5 Pregnancy AU. My main WIP. Can you believe I’ve had this idea for a year… almost to the day? I’ve been stuck since November bc I don’t know how I want this one to end, beyond a birth. (As I’ve mentioned in the past, I feel like this has legs to become a fluffy universe. I have ideas! Timelines!) Gist of it: CJ gets pregnant circa Zooey's kidnapping. How does it change S5? It's less angsty than you think.

Campaign bars, aka campaign conversations sometimes happened at bars in the 1998 campaign. Fun stuff. I need to pick it right back.

What Once Was Ours or the IM AU (2021), aka IM ends with a breakup. Not a WIP. Not a UFO. A secret third thing. (“Finished” but not edited, and I’m doubtful people would be interested. Probably bc of some bittersweet ~memories~ attached to it. I mean, I shared a third of it to discord and people couldn’t care less, at least after a while. Now, better IM AUs are being posted these days; I'm not in a rush.) 33 chapters. 150k words. I do reread it every once in a while, and I cannot put it down. But its 'age' takes me aback. If things had been different, I'd have posted this in H2 2021/Q1 2022 (or even the planned Q2-3 2021). But alas.

The “Almost Ready, question mark” Category

Another SVD prompt meme claim: what if CJ has the crush first. The thing is, I tend to write her as having a relatively obvious crush on him at first until something makes her wise up. So this is just some ridiculous, post-first-meeting thoughts. Most of it was written in one sitting! It kinda fits with something in the campaign bars fic, too.

Post birth, hospital story: A couple of hours after their bb girl is born. Pure fluff. Recently reworked it to make it less wordy. Still failed, but it’s better focused now.

Many ficlets – the few I did post on Tumblr that haven’t been posted to the story I’m collecting them in, plus a couple more. I'm thinking the ice skating one, Jan 22, a few post-eps I wrote last year, etc.

Ambitious Projects I don't think are happening right away (or ever), but probably have a detailed outline somewhere

(I put this up instead of last, because the next category has faves, but it's also a long one.)

Danny is back a bit earlier on s7. Toby leaks (or tries to leak? I always wavered) the shuttle to him, as he and CJ are getting closer.

Simon lives. How does his relationship with CJ evolve post-honeymoon phase? What is it like when Danny returns?

You’ve got mail AU. This outline had two ways the climax could go. I had fun.

Epistolary collab (?) fic. Probably an X + 1 fic. The only one with nothing written; don’t rule out writing it individually at some point.

And because this is so long already (but not as long as it could be)… A few more under the cut – more "I just want to make sure I like them" and "this meme reminded me I meant to pick those back up." And they are still not all. (How do you summarize seven years of writing?? I've only posted 20-something of them, lol.)

“Almost Ready (but I feel like I want to make changes to them) (might just redo them altogether)”

Haunted by the Notion, 2007 edition. My beta Ruth suggested this when she edited the other story, and I wrote it around then. It’s another Christmas dinner at Filomena, and, eight years later, things are different. I feel like it hits expected beats, and is just missing some oomph. Maybe. (As much as I do like it, half tempted to make it 2009. Or later.)

Heaven’s here…: A interrupted proposal. I’ve written many proposals over the years, and I love toying with different ideas and setups. Danny takes the lead here, but I’ve been intrigued by the idea of having CJ do the final twist.

5 to 6 am 'me' time. Another story inspired by last year’s rewatch that I wrote right at the start of it (so Jan 2023?). It has five short parts with five different years of what CJ describes in the pilot as her “me time.” This is one when I think one per year would be fun, but I don’t want to repeat myself.

One bed, “sexy” edition. An AU to a sort of AU (one of the drabbles from this summer) and… it's what it says on the tin. The world does not need to read my attempts at smut. If I didn’t put it in the previous category, it’s because I am not sure that I want to post it. (All the previous attempts are locked somewhere; unfortunately, someone loves this one and noticed when I tried to do that, lol.)

First baby kick: I remember writing this while in grad school (so, late 2017? First half of 2018) but I lost it, along other fic, when my laptop had to be reset because I used Bear to write back then, but didn’t have sync across devices. I rewrote it, and I feel like it's not the same, but still. It's sweet! Includes: Danny talking to the baby, domestic fluff, and… baby kicks!

“This meme reminded me they exist and I love them, so don't be surprised if they are posted before anything in a previous category”

(Lbr, if I added something about them in this post at all, it’s because they sparked some memory.)

Mosaic broken hearts: CJ, circa S4, jealousy. Prompted by a former fandom friend, back in my productive era (first half of 2021; before that friend just ghosted me.)

I can’t believe I captured your heart (pancake breakfast, three words and eight letters). For a while there, I edited it so much but then I fell off. iirc, it was part of some morning-related prompts I saw around that I tried to fulfill in 2018? 2019? And they had like internal progression. But this one was the best of the 3-4, and I kept tweaking it.

Green light of forgiveness (IM-ish) �� there are many other IM/IM-Tomorrow snippets I’ve written over the years. I’m not sure if this one makes much sense, but I liked it enough.

Distance — I recall liking this one! Might have to bump it up. CJ is in Africa, Danny is at the Farm and sulking because they left off on some sort of argument. There is some Danny-Abbey friendship goodness here. I even have a second file that is “Distance - shorter version (it’s not)”

Danny writes fiction, shows it to CJ during her pregnancy and she’s into it. Technically written. I would probably try to take another stab at it. Third time might be the charm?

San Andreo phone call/fallout from ID. I just had the idea of CJ reaching out once things calm down. This is one of those fics I’ve written a version of every year or so, but I think there was one I liked quite a bit.

Terrible taste in men — a run-in with an OC ex of CJ. It was so dumb.

Fka Impatience - actually beta’d three years ago (by that fandom friend I've mentioned twice before… actually, three times) and “done”. I just think I’d change so much about it these days. It started being something else but ended up being a CJ-Toby friendship story in which they have lunch and catch up. But I would want to rewrite most of it now, and not just because it’s from like… 2019 (but finished in 2021).

I forgot this one initially! he's passing by, rare as the comet in my sky - 2? 3? times CJ thinks she sees Danny somewhere, and one time she does. (Which tried to work in the 'I remember shunning you' line.) I even wrote some sort of sequel later! Probably useless.

I said I would post a lightning round with fics that are either also done but not ready for me to mention them, or just… not done at all. The length of this post and how much I've spent on it is embarrassing. To give a general overview: in line with the nonsense I've been mentioning, includes phone calls at the end of S7, also a few friendship-focused fics around that time, too; present-day stuff; anniversaries; Hollis fundraisers; weddings; many ficlets, introspective thoughts, a “yes day” fic that's super sweet but needs better dares, the third memoir idea (the original one!!!!) that I had three years ago… And those are mostly the ones I had preselected, lol.

If you're interested, I can screenshoot this part in the notes app if you message me!

Anyway, this is embarrassing, and the worst part is that it's not all. fml.

[wilchur]

Saw someone else do it and I think I've done this before too, but the list has grown since then a bit so here's my current lineup of read dead wips that I'm working on!! :D Minus the stuff that's already posted on AO3 cuz I see no point in doing a synopsis for things that have left my google drive and you can go and read ahah.

Turned out loooooong so lookie under the cut if you're interested in knowing what I'm up to.

Morston Soulmate AU (title tba, multichapter, around 20-30k when finished) - An AU where you can feel all the injuries your soulmate gets, both minor and major ones. There's no soul marks, seeing your soulmate get hurt and connecting the dots is the only way to find out. Has a lot of time skips and focuses more on feelings than events, but starts out pre-canon when John almost gets lynched and works its way towards the end of the canon story. Chapters alternate between Arthur's and John's POV. Canon compliant :)

RDR2 "Modern AU" (title tba, multichapter, long as shit) - I only call it a modern AU for the sake of simplicity... I'm not sure if it counts as one. Set in 1999 and focuses on the case of Arthur Matthews -- a 36 year old adoptive son of the infamous criminal defence lawyer Hosea Matthews, who went missing without a trace for six months and then reappeared miles from his hometown, seemingly unharmed, but also... not quite right. Delusional, confused, suffering from some sort of memory impairment. The story is about Arthur struggling to adapt to being back home in a reality that is apparently foreign to him. Outsider's/John's POV, but not really shippy. It can be read as pre-slash, though.

My Self-Indulgent Jesse/Arthur fic (another title tba lol, it's too early to tell but I'm thinking multichapter? A collection of scenes from 1878 to 1899) - This one is for me and me only, though I will eventually post it 😂 Written in second person, like a reader-insert and can be read as one if someone wants to, but I am including Jesse's backstory and feelings that are way too specific to be immersive for anyone but myself... I'm working real hard to write it in a way that portrays growing up queer in that time somewhat realistically, so it's not always pretty, but I do try to keep it not that depressing. Features: Jesse's early-life backstory, the story of the scar, his first Gay Experience, how his brothers died, the ups and downs of his relationship with Arthur, why they eventually broke up for what felt like last time, how he got arrested (altered RDO storyline bit) and how he got back up with the gang. I'm planning to do a rough rewrite/fix-it of the canon story with him in it too, but that's... an "one day" thing ajsddjfk

Morston Omegaverse (title tba, one shot, around 10-15k probably? I can't keep things short, sorry) - Young-ish and freshly presented Alpha John, "Closeted" Omega Arthur. Ngl this one is smutty as hell... but! I think my take on omegaverse is rather fun (very transgendered) and it's porn WITH not without plot so something for everyone there lol. John's POV again + lotsa feelings, misunderstandings and some angst :) Just the way I like it.

Vandermatthews Daemon AU (had a title but ao3 yeeted my draft and I forgot what it was, oops)- I say Vandermatthews, but it's more of a "curious couple, unruly son" genfic than real slashfic 😅 This is supposed to be the beginning a series of oneshots from different characters' POV. This one is maybe a 1/3 done (needs a serious rewrite tho) and written from Hosea's POV. It's about him and Dutch finding and taking in young Arthur -- a very traumatised child who has undergone intercision and therefore lost his daemon. More of a collection of vignettes from that moment to when they take in John than a real coherent fic tho. The next one is going to be John's POV coming of age thing and we'll see where my brain will go from there. I want to do a separate big ass post about this one later because I have Opinions on the gang members' daemons that I need either challenged or validated...

1907!John/Isaac fic (title tba... a two parter, one set in the epilogue and the second is a RDR1 fix-it) - NOW HEAR ME OUT!!!!!! PUT DOWN THE GODDAMN PITCHFORKS FOR A SECOND PLS This is a plot bunny that Refused To Fucking Die. Isaac is obviously an adult in this (22), they have never met before, and the story begins in the months where Abigail and Jack were gone and John worked alone on Pronghorn ranch. It's not so much a romance (despite the slash) but more two people dealing with different types of grief in Very Unhealthy ways, okay. It's supposed to be a bit iffy because of that and the... 12 years of difference between them in this universe. I'm not trying to make this shit uwu or anything. It's also a bit of a daddy issues vent piece for me and I've been working it for MONTHS because I want to write this one right. This is the the fic I redacted in my last WIP showcase, but now decided that... fuck it. Here you go.

(Doubt anyone has made it this far, but if you did ily.. please lemme know what you think? My ask box is open for questions too... I love talking about the stuff I'm working on even if it's not posted yet ❤)

[alwaysbethewest]

You’re going to set off the spreadsheet nerd in me. Maybe add a one shot or series indicator? How many times have I stayed up too late binging a series when I told myself I’d only read one chapter?

Bless all writers who provide fic length so I know if I can read them during lunch.

Does anyone else find ao3 randomly omits fic text and formatting from reader view? I prefer Safari dark mode reader view but I’ve experienced the issue enough times that I stick to tumblr dark mode even though it lacks a scroll to indicate progress.

let your spreadsheet nerd flag fly, bb! And yes lol actually my first draft did have a column to indicate if it was multichapter but I deleted it because I thought I might just put that in parentheses after the title instead.

It kills me when writers don't include a word count. I know some people write and post all on their phones so I guess it's harder to tell but for me that's a must.

I'm happy to open your question to the floor here but I also have to tell you that despite using Safari on my phone for the last decade I had no idea what you were talking about with "reader view" and had to go look in the browser settings to figure out what that is, lol. Very weird that it omits some text, though! Maybe you could check at the AO3 subreddit to see if anyone has posted about this before, in case there's a work-around.

[midnightraine131]

Hello hello Raine!

2 in Hiding in Plain Sight (yes, I'm eager to know!), 4 (also HiPS), 7 (HiPS and Love Letters), 9 (Love Letters), 16, 22, 24

Hi Anna! It's been so long!

Thanks for the ask. 🥰

2. What are the endgames for everyone?

[Hiding in Plain Sight] I have three major pairings in this fic. I will try my best to answer this question without spoiling too much. 🤐

Jeanpiku - they will soon find the right time to grow. Someone needs to learn to let go.

Eremika - Everything Eren does has a reason, and most of it is to protect his besties. He's planning a getaway, but he can only save one.

Aruani - being forcefully separated with all the disappointments, heartaches, miscommunications, trust issues, and being done with his overwhelming fame. Someday, somehow, in the cold asphalt of Manhattan where they first found each other, one will kneel down with a diamond ring on hand.

4. What is the hardest to write in Hiding in Plain Sight?

Definitely courtroom scenes. Although I have a handful of mock trial scripts, I still spend two or three rounds revising them to make them sound natural. So yes, I'm still writing HiPS, but now at a slower pace because things are getting serious after Chapter 10.

7. Which chapter was the most fun to write/which chapter has been the most fun so far to write?

[Hiding in Plain Sight] I think the part in chapter 9 where Armin serenaded Annie. I was really imagining Armin playing a tiny ukulele with Louis Tomlinson's voice, lol. I was dancing and smiling the whole time I wrote that part, so it's kind of a mess.

I also enjoy writing Annie and Adelaine's interactions. Although Annie keeps telling herself that she's unlikeable, deep inside, she wants to be friends with Adelaine. She's like me. I'm always awkward around kids, so...

[Love Letters] I have used a different writing style in 'Love Letters.' It's simpler and has a teenage vibe to it. So it was easy to write, as if I'm working on a teen romance series for Netflix. I've had fun writing chapters 1 to 4 so far.

9. How did you get inspired to write this?

[Love Letters] I've always wanted to write about teenage Aruani and first loves, but I couldn't seem to come up with something different. So one sleepless night, I recalled an awful experience I had a year ago at the church we used to attend and decided to draft it. Then I came up with an idea to make it a fic, deciding that Armin's character will be based on a true story about one of my friends and how the church people burnt their group leaders out. It was cruel, so I will make Armin cry here. Disclaimer: I have nothing against any churches, but its people, and I'm married to a Christian.

16. Least favourite ship to write for?

I think it's eremika. I love both Eren and Mikasa, but I feel like I've neglected them in 'Hiding in Plain Sight.' I will make up for it. I promise.

22. Something you wished you included afterwards?

[Hiding in Plain Sight] During the dinner at Annie's house, I had originally planned for Eren to interrogate Armin about his thing with Annie to the point of pinning him against the bathroom wall. I found it funny but unnecessary, so I removed the entire scene. I think it's already obvious to everyone that Armin and Annie's relationship is more than just business.

24.Do you prefer multichapter fic or oneshots?

I'll go for a multichapter fic because I've always wanted to have something to look forward to writing about, and I play the scenes in my head like a movie.

If I do oneshots, that will probably porn without plot. 🫢

[rockinlibrarian]

37 and 47 for the get to know the fic writer ask

Thanks for asking! Anyone else is welcome to ask from here!

37. How do you choose where to end a chapter?

I like my chapters to have a complete arc, beginning middle and end, where you can clearly say "This is the chapter where--" or "This is the chapter about--". It's, gasp, ALMOST like an outline. Don't tell me of ten years ago I've started almost-outlining! But yeah, if I know I'm writing something multichapter (and the times I didn't and I ended UP with something multichapter, the first chapter WOULD have been a complete story in and of itself already!), I'll have like a Scrivener page for each beat of the complete story, so I go in, like, "This is the 'Do Re Mi' section," and then I focus on getting that part of the story out-- so if Maria is going to start teaching music to the Hargreeves children, I need to use the beginning of the chapter to show the status quo, then show how Maria starts to play with that status quo by bringing music in, then show her efforts fully taking off and transforming the children's training and lives. What happens next is Sir Reginald's reaction to these events, but that opens up a whole new can of worms, which is why HIS reaction begins the NEXT chapter, which then becomes the chapter about Maria proving the success of her methods to him, ie "'The Lonely Goatherd' Section, In Which The Children Put on a Show." Maybe I'm cheating with this example since I'm using the beats from a movie somebody else wrote first, rather than coming up with these beats myself.

So let's look at "Exploration of the Astral Plane" instead, which has chapters helpfully titled things like "In Which Oliver Goes Dreamwalking and Gets Lost." Originally "In Which the Summerlanders Try to Host an Intervention" and "In Which Astral Walking Is the Only Solution" were supposed to be the same chapter-- In Which Oliver's Friends Know His Astral Walking Is Getting Out of Hand But They Can't Stop Him-- that wasn't the title, it was going to be the Hosting an Intervention Part-- but the story was getting too complicated as I wrote, so it became one mini-arc about them confronting Oliver and (briefly) succeeding, then a SECOND min-arc about how that brief reprieve ended.

Anyway, I'm not sure I actually answered the question. The actual END of each chapter, while completing the mini arc of the chapter, might just hint at things to come-- some foreshadowing of mood, so you get the Intervention chapter ending with Oliver sighing and saying "If only to prove to you that you’re overreacting..." so you get the sense that this really ISN'T the end. Or the Do-Re-Mi chapter, rather than hinting at anything, ends with a somewhat surprising reveal, so it's more like a punchline than foreshadowing, not in a joke way but in an adding some PUNCH way.

I don't do many straight-up cliffhangers. I guess because I like having the chapters self-contained that way.

But yeah, I've spent too long on one question, on to the next!

47. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

Eh, I'm one of those people who revise as they go. I can't decide if this is a Bad Habit that keeps me from JUST FINISHING or if it's just the Way I Work. I lean on the former when I find myself just rereading and rereading and not writing anything new! But I also really like revising, it's really just a part of writing, so maybe that's why I do it the whole time.

I do have at least two separate drafts usually, though. When I have MOST of the chapter/story drafted-- there are usually SOME gaps, but I know basically what needs to happen in each of them-- I print it out. Then I can do a sentence-by-sentence close revision-- the change in format helps me see things I didn't before, and often helps me fill those gaps, too. After that revision gets transferred back to the computer file (sometimes with re-revisions added in process), I'm usually ready to post. But there will be additional drafts if I use a beta, which I do usually only when I'm not sure if things are flowing or fitting together properly and need an outside set of eyes to make sure it actually makes sense. (Shouting out to @steeple-sinderby and @versaphile for performing these vital functions in the past!).

So right. I'm a little verbose when I answer ask questions. But don't let that stop you asking me!

[urlbending]

2022 Year End Fic Review

in the words of a very ancient internet joke, better nate than lever!!

1. What is your AO3 account?

My ao3 is lookatallthemoresigive, because that was my tumblr url at the time i created my ao3. I desperately need to change it but I'm having trouble coming up with a new one and am worried if i switch I'll lose brand recognition, which is hilarious bc my MO is to write a fic or two for a fandom and then bounce

2. How many words did you write total in 2022?

I wrote 8,487 published words, but i have at least 7k unpublished. There is a very long rangshi capture the avatar au that been languishing in my drafts for over six months that im hoping to finish up and post this year. I am not a particularly fast writer because i obsess over every word i use, but I've found that with practice im getting faster and better at writing more

3. How many fics did you publish in 2022? How many multichapters vs oneshots?

I published 4, which is about my usual (a couple of random scattered fics + yuletide). They're all oneshots of varying length. My new years resolution is to write 5 fics this year!! I'm holding myself to it. One day I'll write a complete multi-chapter fic, but it's not currently in the cards.

4. What was your longest fic? Your shortest fic?

Longest: a kyoshi novels fic about hei-ran, 바늘 구멍으로 하늘 보기

4,441 words that i agonized over, including the title. I'm super proud of this fic.

Shortest: your hair never falls in quite the same way, a locked tomb missing scene fic clocking in at 890 words.

I honestly had a pretty quick turnaround time writing this one. After i had a lovely and overwhelming response to a rangshi drabble in 2021, I've been trying to be better about posting fics regardless of their length. Sometimes, hitting 1k or even 500 words is not necessary to tell a story

5. What was your most popular fic? Your least popular fic?

Most popular: kiss you too hard and follow you west another quick turnaround, this is a rangshi fluff fic so i’m not surprised

Least popular: Shinrin-Yoku, my gen character study yuletide fic for a video game that came out in 2020. I'm not losing any sleep over it. Its currently at a 15% kudos to hits ratio which good!

6. What fic didn’t perform as well as you thought it would?

Listen, I died on some weird hills last year (the love interest’s mom needs more of a backstory!!!!), so any response is a good response. I guess I was secretly hoping your hair never falls would usher in an era of camilla/nona fics bc i was certain it was going to be a thing, but the book came out and crushed those dreams. I still maintain nona had a crush on cam!!

7. What fic performed way better than you thought it would?

바늘 구멍으로 하늘 보기 because as I mentioned above, it was a character centric fic focused on a minor character. glad the kyoshi novels fandom appreciates milfs!

8. What was your favorite fic you wrote from 2022?

This is turning into a whole arc. I love the nona fic dearly, it makes me happy every time i read it, but im so proud i pulled off that hei-ran fic. Writing a character arc is not easy or as instantly gratifying as making two characters kiss. I knew I was pouring my heart (research into ancient Korean tea ceremonies for half a scene! Politics! Asking @funnefatale to bug fandom friends for Korean sayings for me!) into a work that simply might not be received. Also, I finally came out to my mom around the time i was writing this for unrelated reasons, and this fic reminds me of that 💕

9. What was your favorite fic that somebody else wrote in 2022?

by land, by sea, by dirigible, @firstelevens' amazing c&d/tfatws fic which gave me everything i needed for BOTH shows. A two for one, can you believe!!

falling (for you) like snow on christmas, a warrior nun ava/bea hallmark au. I watched a lot of hallmark type christmas movies last year, and this fic delivered on the coziness these movies provide and the chemistry they usually don't. Also, it relased daily during the week leading up to christmas, corresponding to the days in the chapters, which was super fun to experience in real time.

10. Tag your friends to do this year-end fic review as well!

@funnefatale @isabrella and anyone else who wants to do this meme!

[ectogeo-rebubbles]

Hey! I'm curious, what does your writing process normally look like? So for example how do you come up with ideas and build upon them? Everyone does this differently so I'm curious what this looks like for you! Thanks for entertaining this gay plebian's ask.

Hello, friend, thanks for the ask!!!! <3

I get ideas and inspiration from a ton of places! Main sources: other fanworks (art and fics and amvs and meta and shitposts...), discussions with friends, sitting down and closing my eyes and thinking "hmmmm what would be an extremely silly scenario I could make my faves have to deal with?", trying desperately to sleep and instead having intrusive fic thoughts, rewatching DS9 eps and trying to figure out the absolute minimum that would have to change/occur in order to get any given characters to kiss during or after the events of that episode...

As for the rest of the writing process, it varies a little bit but generally starts with me writing down bullet points about the key details/plot points of the fic (and I gotta do this quick, before I forget!). Then I start writing prose from whatever is the earliest point in the fic that is calling out to me, screaming to be written (and go back and fill in more setup later if it needs it), to get my momentum going. Or sometimes a part of the outline gets a little out of hand and turns into pseudo-prose bc I can't contain my excitement about that one bit, so I start by cleaning that part up and writing that part of the scene out while it's clear in my mind how I want it to go. Often my multichapter fics start with one chapter or moment clearly in my mind, and I have to, like, extrapolate the rest of the plot from there (which I sometimes do not figure out until a few chapters into the fic lmaooo! I cannot recommend highly enough starting a multichapter fic with a solid premise but no idea where the fic will go, and then coming up with the full outline only after you get your bearings by posting a few chapters hahahaha).

As I write, I skip over hard parts or stuff I haven't figured out yet and leave placeholder notes for myself. Then, after I've jumped around and written all the parts I'm excited about (which usually happens at about 75% of the eventual total word count of the fic), begins the less fun task of connecting/rearranging the disparate chunks and editing them for flow, internal consistency, and characterization lol. Well, I shouldn't say less fun, sometimes it's very fun and it can feel like solving a satisfying puzzle, but usually this part is much, much harder for me than the initial drafting stage (but it's usually a necessary step, for me anyway, bc I cannot ever seem to write fics from beginning to end without skipping over stuff, and usually my idea of how things should happen in the fic changes constantly).

Also, woven throughout all of this process is the CRUCIAL step of inundating my friends' DMs with my unhinged fic thoughts, and brainstorming solutions to plotholes/characterization issues with them, and testing out ideas/snippets on them, haha! I LOVE this part of writing tbh, the part where you tell people what you are writing (or simply what you want to write) and they say "bestie you are insane" and egg you on! ^_^ <3