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#it's a scene from a longfic i've been working on privately
spookyxsprinkles · 7 months
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Happy Birthday
dabi × afab she/her and poc friendly reader
safe for work // 1,633 words // AO3. warnings: smoking, swearing, cheesy, dabi has an avoidant attachment style, self-harm mention but nothing happens.
summary: He wanted this conversation to be over and done with, snuffed out like a cigarette under his boot. It'd be easy enough to end it himself, all he had to do was be an asshole and leave you behind. Nothing he hadn't done before.
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"Knock knock, mind if I join you?"
"Yes."
"I brought cake."
He turned his head slightly towards you, eyeing the paper plate in your hands. In it sat a pretty little slice of glazed strawberry cake with a plastic fork stabbed into it. You had made sure to pile on a bunch of strawberries, just for him.
You may have been the newest addition to the League of Villains, but it wasn't hard to figure out that he was intentionally a loner. Criminals were usually careful not to form close connections with others and the League was no exception. Although, that didn't stop you from being on friendly terms with the other members. They even threw a birthday party for you tonight. With karaoke.
Whereas, Dabi evacuated the mansion at the first sign of a celebration. He rose from his chair when Toga and Twice carried out the cake hidden under a mountain of candles and he was out of the building by the time Mr. Compress enthusiastically accompanied their vocals with a spirited harmonization.
His eyes glanced down at you as he blew smoke out of the side of his mouth and flicked his cigarette away. You frowned.
"That could start a forest fire."
"I could start a forest fire." There was a subtle twitch of his lip that would have went unnoticed had the clouds not cleared from in front of the moon in time.
You offer him the cake, which he wordlessly took, ignoring you as you snuffed out his cigarette. Once no longer lit, you shoved it in your pocket to properly throw out later. You crossed your arms and leaned against the tree, staring out at the umbrous silhouettes of the coniferous forest.
"Being this far out from the city is so nice. Fresh air, no noise pollution. Bunch of stars."
"There's noise pollution," Dabi swallowed down a strawberry. "Y'make it every time you open that dumb mouth."
You snorted in amusement. "I guess you're right about that, but I know you'd miss me if I stopped talking to you."
"If I never have to hear you yappin' at me again, it'd be too soon."
You playfully blew a raspberry at him in fake-annoyance. "You'd have to find someone else to bug you." You pursed your lips. "He's already got Toga, but I'm sure Twice could squeeze in a second best friend," you teased.
He rolled his eyes as he took another bite.
"Spinner?"
"The hell am I gonna talk about with that lizard?"
"First of all, it's a gecko quirk and you know that so don't be mean," you declared in defense of your comrade. "Though, you're right -- what would you talk about? I assume that also means no Tomura? I don't think I've ever seen you guys talk casually before -- aside from the dryest conversation about the weather… Maybe if we find some common ground between you two--"
"Fuck no."
"Aww, hey, he's not that bad. He's just…"
You rubbed at your neck unsure of what to say to that. Nothing you could say would change his thoughts on the matter. You weren't particularly close with Shigaraki, he had his own way of going about things which could be off-putting to most, but he just struck you as an awkward person who grew up without much social contact.
"The League sure is full of lonely people, huh?" You looked back up at the star-filled night for a few minutes, the both of you settling into a comfortable silence. An owl hooted in the distance as a cricket began to chirp from somewhere nearby. "I've always wondered if shooting stars ever got lonely."
"Sorry," you shake your head and laugh in embarrassment. "I like stars. Do you?"
"Stupid question."
You wondered if it really was and thought about how stars must seem miniscule to someone capable of burning as brightly as him. You leaned your head against the trunk and watched him finish his cake.
Earlier in the day, while writing down a list of necessary ingredients to bake and decorate the cake, there had been a conversation about birthdays. You couldn't remember who exactly brought up the topic, but you certainly weren't expecting the other members to easily give away that information. Unsurprisingly, Dabi was the only one that didn't share his.
He followed a gust of wind that swept through the night and as he passed you, flicked his plastic fork at you. You clumsily caught it and complained, only earning his indifference in return. He turned his back to you and set the paper plate ablaze. You opened your mouth to remind him of trashcans and how they still exist, but the words died in your throat as you watched the smoke get carried away by the breeze, away from you. You were secretly grateful that he was too busy making his way to an adjacent tree to notice you bite back a smile.
"Dabi."
"What is it now?" He leaned against his new tree and lazily shoved his hands in his pockets. He was always good at keeping his distance.
"You don't have to tell me your birthday."
He scoffed, "Way to state the obvious."
"We can share mine."
He narrowed his eyes at you, analyzing you for any sign of a punchline but your face was earnest. Annoyingly so.
"What makes you think I want your dumb birthday?"
"It's not that I think you want it, but wouldn't it be nice to have a day to celebrate… you?"
"What's there to celebrate," he sneered. He didn't mean for it to be taken so seriously, but the dopey look of concern on your face made him regret he said anything. Your brows furrowed.
"A lot. There's a lot to celebrate."
"Don't get all mushy, you're creepin' me out."
"Am I?"
"Yes," he growled. He wanted this conversation to be over and done with, snuffed out like a cigarette under his boot. It'd be easy enough to end it himself. All he had to do was be an asshole and leave you behind. Nothing he hadn't done before.
Deep, deep down there was a hungry part of him that ached. It belonged to the part of him that he had refused to acknowledge for the past seven years. He continued to ignore it's existence despite it being the very thing that kept him rooted in place, as though he were one of the trees in this giant fucking forest. The frustration it filled his chest with made him want to light himself on fire.
"At the expense of sounding like a creep…" You chewed on your bottom lip as you stared back up at the stars. Your fingers fiddled with a loose thread on your clothes. You were so easy to read.
"I'm really glad you're here."
Another breeze passed between the two of you, carrying your words along and rustling leaves. You looked over at him with eyes that overflowed with a depth of sincerity that made him want to start a wildfire and let himself get caught in it. He felt physically ill.
 "You're gonna make me sick."
One of Dabi's eyes squinted more than the other as his tongue poked out of his mouth enough for you to see his piercings. The way his face scrunched reminded you of a cat's Flehmen response. You would've thought it was cute if you didn't feel so offended right now.
You huffed, staring at the grass as you tried to ignore the heat that crept up to your cheeks. "Was it really that bad?"
"Cheesy as hell. Keep that shit to yourself."
You shook it off and sighed exaggeratedly. "Well, since you seemed to like it so much, I might have to do it again for you some time." You stuck your tongue out at him playfully.
"Don't you fuckin' dare or I'll roast you on the spot."
You grinned and opened your mouth to offer a lighthearted retort when you heard your name being called in the distance. You turned to look around the tree and saw Toga waving you over for your turn at karaoke. You waved back at the younger girl in acknowledgement before she hopped back inside the mansion.
"I'm surprised they managed to pry the mic out of Mr.'s hands long enough to give someone else a turn," you laughed. "See you later. I'm glad you liked the cake."
"Yeah, yeah."
He pulled out a pack of smokes from his jacket and stuck a cigarette in between his lips. He lit it and watched as you fiddled with the plastic fork he flicked at you earlier. "What're you still doing here for?"
You smiled at him.
"Happy birthday."
"Tch, cheesy," he spoke humorlessly as you turned away. "By the way..."
You looked back at him and felt your face burning up as you saw his gaze drop from your eyes down to your lips.
"…Dabi?"
He smirked.
"Y'got cake on your face."
You blinked a few times as you processed his words before swiping your mouth. You looked at your hand to see the vivid scarlet of the strawberry glaze.
"Oh." You looked at it for a moment before wiping it against your clothes and giving an awkward laugh, "Um, thanks."
"You got a room full of ears to make bleed, mine've had enough. Get outta here."
You laughed before you jogged back to the mansion. He stared at the ground where you previously stood and took a drag. With each inhale, the toxins purged his body of a restlessness that had been stirred by the zephyr of your words.
You talk too much. 
He looked up in time to see you wave goodbye at him before you disappeared inside. He breathed in another lungful of fumes before exhaling it up at the same sky that always seemed to captivate you.
"Happy birthday."
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cosmereplay · 4 days
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for the kiss ask game. perhaps veil/moash #7 >:)
I will write a kiss… 7. …to shut them up.
I am so sorry I went totally off the rails of this prompt and accidentally wrote maybe the opposite??? Instead of kissing to shut up they're now fucking for information 😭 This pairing gave me the chance to write a scene from this Moash longfic I've been rotating for a long time, so thank you for that! Imagine Moash and Veil in Kholinar as part of separate groups infiltrating a lighteyes party for intel. 
Veil/Moash, rated Explicit, Oathbringer spoilers but not really because it's an AU anyway. 1000 words
Moash strode haughtily around the party, feeling vaguely disappointed. So far the best part of the night had been when Kaladin blushed when he’d seen Moash’s lighteyes-style outfit, all thin smooth fabric that complemented his light tan eyes. The party itself sucked. Being raised from bridgeman directly up to guarding at Elhokar’s parties had given him a skewed view of how other lighteyes partied. The space was cramped, full of furniture and people, and the ceilings were practically as low as in his own house downtown. The food was fine, not nearly as fancy as what Elhokar used to serve.
His chest cramped a little. He had to get that stupid man out of his head.
He was here for a reason, after all. At first he’d been a novelty to them, but once they’d realized he wasn’t in the duelling lists they’d lost interest in him before he could ask any questions. So he’d been skulking at the side of the room, keeping an ear open to catch scraps of useless conversations.
He looked over the crowd again. Moving smoothly among the clusters of lighteyes was a marvel of a woman. Beautiful, with long dark hair, partially braided with tiny emeralds, and a sleek havah that showed off what assets she had. She was not curvaceous by any means, but she was working everything she had, and he could appreciate that. Her eyes flashed a pale green as she scanned the room, listening and looking around. He touched his hair, hoping it was still looking okay in the increasingly hot and humid room, and moved towards her.
“Looking for more distinguished company, Brightness?” He smiled crookedly.
She looked him up and down for a long moment, then grinned back. “In that case, you should probably move aside.”
Moash raised his eyebrows. “I find it hard to believe you don’t like what you see.”
“I’m not here for what I can see, Brightlord,” she said, and the rude way she'd said Brightlord made him start. Was she…pretending to be lighteyed? He knew of the darkeyes drops, but was there a way the other way too?
Now he was doubly intrigued. “Are you here for information? Maybe we can do a little…exchange.” He glanced to the doorway and raised an eyebrow.
She gave him a long look, then sucked her teeth in a very un-ladylike way. Oh, he was liking her more and more. “Alright, handsome,” she said with a wink. “Let’s go somewhere more private.”
He followed her out the door and down a hallway. She opened a random door and peeked inside, then beckoned him in. “C’mon. I won’t tell if you don’t.”
He grinned and went after her, into a cramped closet stuffed from floor to ceiling with shelves of seasonal knickknacks and decorations. She pulled him up against her, then pushed him back against some shelves, setting the knickknacks rattling.
“So…” she started, walking her fingertips up his chest. “What kind of exchange are you proposing?”
“Well no offense but you’re clearly not from around here,” he smirked, the touch stoking warmth between his legs. “I wanna know what’s going on out in Alethkar. Is King Dalinar making things better? Is he sending an army to liberate Kholinar?”
Her fingers stopped moving as he spoke. “You’re right, I’m not from around here,” she admitted. “I want to know what’s going on in Kholinar. What’s with the Queen? Why is the palace not admitting visitors? I heard the Kingkiller is in the city—Kaladin Stormblessed. Can you tell me where I can find him?” She eyed him appraisingly, then pressed closer against him. “I’ll tell you if you tell me. Might even do more, if you’re extra helpful.”
A groan left his body, along with his sense. “Alright,” Moash breathed. “Kholinar’s ready to explode into a revolution. The darkeyes are starting to starve and the lighteyes are hoarding food. The rumours are that the Queen has gone insane. I might be part of a group looking to help the revolution along.”
She rubbed her body against him. “Mmm, I might be interested in joining that group,” she murmured.
He put his hands on her back, sliding up to her shoulderblades, then down to her ass, giving it a squeeze. “I might just let you,” he murmured back. “There’s more to you. I know it. Now tell me about the King.”
The woman leaned up, her lips by Moash’s ear. “The King is dead.”
“I know Elhokar is dead.”
“I mean Dalinar. He died in battle when the Everstorm came. The Assassin in White got him. Renarin Kholin is King Regent now, and nobody's coming to save the people of Kholinar. You're on your own.”
The words almost killed his boner. “You’re here to rescure Gavinor, aren’t you? Are you going to take Aesudan too?”
“There might be some dissension in the ranks about whether we’re to take her out or take her out. I could use an ally, especially if he’s connected to the Kingkiller.” She grabbed his bulge, the warmth of her hand seeping through the thin fabric as she rubbed him back to full hardness.
“Storming…” The room was getting hot and he was having trouble thinking straight. He thrust against her hand, hardly noticing there wasn’t any fabric between them anymore. “You’re wrong. Stormblessed didn’t kill Elhokar. Fuck me and I’ll tell you who did.”
Within seconds, she’d turned around and lifted her skirts, and he was thrusting inside her, hot and wet and deep. She gasped, and for a second he could’ve sworn she was glowing.
Storms, was he imagining she was Kaladin? The thought didn’t stop him from pounding into her, getting off on the secrecy, the danger of getting caught, fucking a lighteyes bareback, the intrigue of this woman, the fact that he could finally say it—
“You know who killed King Elhokar?” he grunted as he fucked her against the shelves, setting the knickknacks shaking with every thrust.
“Tell me, tell me,” she moaned. She was fingering herself under her skirts, and she came hard, squeezing his cock with her body. He could hear the splashes of her cum on the floor.
He grabbed her by the back of her neck, holding her still, and thrust a few more times, long and slow, prolonging his orgasm the way he liked. “I killed Elhokar,” he moaned, and grabbed her hips, holding her flush against him as he came hard and deep into her. “Ah Heralds, that’s good, that’s so storming good.”
Moash and the spy held there together for a moment, both savouring the pleasure they’d managed to wring out of the night. Finally she pulled off him and started using her underskirts to soak up their cum, dripping down her thighs.
“Tell me your name and I’ll lick that up for you,” Moash said on impulse.
“My name is Veil,” she said with a smile, and lifted her skirts again, showing off the wet shine of her bush and lips. “Give me a little more and I might even tell you a secret.”
He squatted down, guided by her hand on his head, and he ate the cum from her thighs and lips, then moved upwards to her clit. He flicked and sucked, and she gasped, holding his hair tight. Storms, he could stay in this closet all night. She was a great lay.
Veil gripped him harder, trying to stop herself from screaming as she came dry, and smacked against the shelves, sending knickknacks tumbling down, smashing against the floor.
“Storms, woman,” Moash complained. They’re going to hear us.”
She pushed him off her, then yanked him upwards to standing. “What?” he asked, but he could already hear it. Shouts. The sound of swords clashing. They started straightening their clothes in a hurry.
“Beware, Kingkiller,” Veil warned. “Times are changing. The Radiants are returning, and they’re dangerous.”
They shared a look. “How do you know?” he asked, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
“There are some in my party.”
“There are some in mine, too.” He started to open the door, then paused. “If you want to find me again, ask for where the silversmiths used to live. You’ll find it soon enough.”
Then he ran. If there was a fight, Kaladin was probably in the middle of it, and he would need Moash’s help.
From the I Will Write a Kiss ask game
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internerdionality · 1 year
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Question game! Tagged by @dragonmuse and @thetardigrape 💕🙏🏻😊
if you're a writer and you see this, consider yourself tagged if you want!
Do you write in order?
Nope. Frequently quite the opposite. I tend to start with the climactic scenes of a fic, the big emotional cruxes, and then figure out how to get the characters there.
There's definitely exceptions, especially when writing more humorous or lighthearted fics, and I've been experimenting more in the last year with posting works-in-progress, which requires writing much more sequentially than I used to!
WDYDWADS and A Fucking Duel, my most popular fics so far, each started with a very cracky premise and I had no clear idea where I was going when I started with them. I had the occasional out of order moment—I've been sitting on the next chapter I'll be posting of WDYDWADS since July, because I wrote it and then realized a bunch of other stuff needed to happen first, and the third chapter of A Fucking Duel was written before the second. But mostly they were written in order and I posted up each chapter before finishing the next.
But my longer fics like Soaked to the Skin and Mutually Beneficial were written much more chaotically. Chapters 17 & 18 of Soaked to the Skin have some of the earliest scenes I wrote for that verse. It's been a bit longer since I wrote Mutually Beneficial, so I don't remember the exact order, but I know that the moment in Chapter 14 where Clark goes to his knees was the first one I envisioned and one of the earliest ones I wrote.
How fully formed does your writing come out the first try?
I tend to think over the scenes first, and then workshop sentences and paragraphs as I'm writing them, so it depends what you mean by "first try." Most of the time, the fic as you would read it after my first fully written draft is pretty close to the final version. It's just fine-tuning after that, unless something isn't working.
However, sometimes something isn't working, and then it can change a lot. For example, the aforementioned Chapters 17 & 18 of Soaked to the Skin were originally one chapter, and all from the Lucius' POV. After I'd written a bunch of the rest of the fic, I realized that we desperately needed to see what Izzy was thinking during it, so I ended up splitting it in two, expanding both parts, and flipping the POV in the second half. That doesn't happen to me very often, but pretty much every longfic I've written has at least one chapter that ended up getting overhauled, sometimes multiple times. The one I tend to remember with agony is Chapter 9 of Welcome to the Mouth of Hell (please mind the tags if you follow that link)—I actually swapped out one of the major characters in that scene twice before finally figuring out how to make it work.
How many drafts do you go through?
Well, that depends on what you consider a draft, lol. The longer and more serious the fic is, the more I tend to pore over it. I also tend to reread and fine-tune earlier chapters of a longfic to get back into the right mindset before writing more, so chapters written earlier may end up getting fiddled with a lot more than later chapters. But it's all a pretty incremental process, so I don't usually have multiple "drafts" of the entire fic in the way I did when turning in assignments in school.
If we're counting every time the text changes as a different draft, though—at least two? At the very least, I'll write out a fic in Google Docs, import it into AO3, and read it over again in the rich text editor, looking for import errors and fine-tuning as I go. I think the most I've ever gone over a chapter before posting it is probably around ten times? I do also reread over my old, posted work sometime (especially the smut, that's why I write smut!), and I'll fix typos and fine-tune sentences even years later if I notice them.
So an old smut like A Private Nightmare... and Fantasy, I've probably gone through three or four "drafts" since it was originally posted. As far as drafts that are substantially different from each other though, the record is three, for that chapter linked above.
Tell me about your process.
Well, I think I covered a lot of it as I blathered on through the previous answers! I tend to seize on something that seems important or interesting (preferably both!) to me, whether it's a dynamic between two people that I couldn't get out of my heard, or a piece of emotional growth that I went through and want to model, or exploring a sexual kink or orientation that resonated with me, just a particular premise that I thought was funny! (Or well, sometimes it's just 'write the smut you want to see in the world'...)
I usually try to have at least the broad strokes of what I'm going to write worked out before I start, although as mentioned previously, there are exceptions! With longer fics, I write outlines—I'll use the heading feature of Google Docs to lay out the main beats, then block out how many chapters I think I'll need, usually with a little summary of what I'm trying to do with each one.
I get somewhat overly married to (what I think are) clever story structures sometimes—for example, the alternating POVs in Soaked to the Skin, or each chapter of A Fucking Duel aligning to a number in The 10 Duel Commandments. I have one outlined WIP that using a four-person rotating POV. We'll, ahh, see how that goes if I ever start actually writing it.
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aquaticflames · 3 years
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What fic have you been working on the longest? What scenes from a fic you’re working on now are you the most excited to write?
woah ty for the ask! :0 💕💖
I'd say the fic I've been working on the longest is one I've talked about a lot in private circles, but made no hint to online, haha! it's an LU AU longfic that's going to explore teaching, adoption and work romance haha!
and from that fic, I'm most excited to write a scene I've been envisioning for it from the beginning. a particular character's arc will come to a head with a bit of a bang, and I'm going to use it to reveal a fair bit of shocking backstory about another character hehe; fistfight scene! >:)
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ltleflrt · 3 years
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Hi! So i've been reading your fics for years, and just recently started following you on tumblr. You're great! And I was wondering if you possibly had any advice for someone trying to get through writing a large fic? I've just recently gotten back into writing, and what I thought would be a quick write has mutated into several chapters and feels a bit daunting. Even if you could just point me in a direction would be appreciated!
Hello!  Welcome to my messy corner of this hellsite(affectionate)!  Please don’t mind the stacks of reblogs, I promise I’m working on organizing them ;D
Getting back into writing is exciting news!  Taking breaks is supposedly good for the muse, but it’s not as fun as writing that’s for sure lol
It’s hard to give general advice without knowing what you’re struggling with specifically, but I can give you a rundown of my process.  It’s as messy as my blog because it’s something that just happens to me.  I suffer from longficitis and I’m ALWAYS surprised when I manage to write something quick and short.  The first fic I ever wrote was supposed to be a 1200 word one shot, and 2 months later was 78k, so uhhhhh.... oops? XD
Anyway!  I don’t plan shit, and I always think my stories are going to be short.  I am the very definition of a Pantser.  I write a little scene, and then I think “huh, I could expand on that”, rinse repeat.  This means I often write myself into corners, or into mysterious fogs that hide the future plot from me.  So at this point I whine.  Whining is VERY IMPORTANT.  It vents the frustration while also making me lay out what I’ve done so far and what I want to do and the options to get from here to there.  That’s a conversation I’m able to have without the whining component, but honestly the venting that comes with whining is cathartic and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.  Shoutout to @jupiterjames and @bendingsignpost for putting up with me when I get like this lol
And that brings me to the most important part of writing longfics (or writing in general, really).  Finding people you can talk it out with.  Someone you can bounce ideas off of, who can also be like “oh but you know what else you can do?” (because it’s not like I don't’ have a million plot bunnies breeding in my brain already, I must adopt those my friends offer me as well).  Now I know I make that sound simple, but it’s not.  Finding someone whose muse gets along with yours can take a while.  In the meantime though, find yourself a writing group.  Right now the writing group I like to work with is in the Profound Bond server’s writer cafe channel.  There’s always folks in there who will help me find the right word, help me rephrase a sentence I’m stuck on, encourage me, and talk out fic ideas with.  Sometimes I end up DMing someone and we chat it out privately.  And they’re WONDERFUL cheerleaders.  Sometimes it’s fun to just go in there and see if anyone wants to do a writing sprint, and see how many words can happen in the next 15 minutes.  You can find more info about them @profoundnet. 
Lets see, what else...?
Schedule writing times.  I write 1 hour a day, but not always all at once.  Sometimes it’s 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there, sometimes I manage to do it all in one sitting.  But I try to do it around the same time every day so I can get in the mindset for it.
Track your words.  It’s FUN and encouraging.  Don’t look at low wordcounts as a failure, ever.  Every number is a good number, because they all mean progress.
Keep notes of ideas about the story. It doesn’t have to be an outline, it can be messy and unorganized, just make sure it’s written down where you can find it.  Revisit the notes file whenever you’re in the mood to be creative, but not in the mood to make words happen.
Don’t be afraid to drop plot points if you feel like you can’t fit them in.  You might be able to use them somewhere else, either later in the story or in a whole different story.  Your favorite plot ideas will be better served in the right story that fits them, rather than forcing them to fit into a story that is wrong for them.
Try not to let the word count intimidate you.  Even after all the 100k+ fics I’ve written, I still look at my stories at the beginning and think “oh gods what have I gotten myself into?” and that could easily discourage me or anyone.  Just keep writing, you’ll get there eventually.
Some people like to write the exciting scenes first and then fill in the spaces.  Some people like to use the exciting scenes as their carrot on the stick to keep them chugging along.  I’m in the latter group.  Figure out which one works for you, and use it as a motivational tool.
Feel free to skip scenes you’re stuck on!  You can always come back to it later.  Heck, you might even figure out a way to skip it altogether and streamline the story.  Or by writing what comes after, you’ll figure out what kept you stuck on the skipped scene and now you’ve got your solution.  Longfics never need to be written in order.  (I mean, I usually write them that way, but I think I’m kind of an exception to that?  I dunno, we’re all different, and that’s neat!)
Anyway, I don’t know if any of this is new or exciting advice, but I hope it helps.  Good luck, friend!
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