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inkwolvesandcoffee · 3 years

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Just a Wolfish Thought #4

Thoughts ML | Story ML

Lads, I just made things worse.

Remember the gentleman werewolf tattoo artist?

- Well, what if he’s mute?

- Nevertheless, he has found his voice in art and tattoos.

- Every time he isn’t tattooing, he’ll be off drawing either on the worn yet comfy couch close to his tattoo station which allows him to bathe in the sun streaming in through the window or somewhere outside (likely the pond in the park, I’d check there if I were you).

- Has an Etsy shop, for which he also works hard since it’s another way for him to be heard.

- Loner who uses his introverted energy wisely and therefore sparingly.

- Though not so when it comes to you.

- He literally starts to dote on you after his colleague explains to you why he won’t or, rather, can’t talk to you when you come in for your first tattoo.

- In part this is because he feels guilty about making you uncomfortable with unintentionally giving off the wrong message.

- It’s mostly because you entrance him, though, but he doesn’t really know how to deal with these new feelings you stir up inside him.

- Although he mostly communicates via sounds and messages typed on his phone, he does occasionally use sign language. However, he keeps it simple since you’re not fluent in it.

- Notwithstanding, you try to learn it. With the emphasis on try.

- Only to have him tilt his head and smirk when you start panicking if you mess up.

- The other way in which he communicates is by drawing on your skin, either with his fingers for short sentences or…

- Markers. Yes, markers. Why, you ask?

- HE LOVES TO DRAW ON YOU! Each time he isn’t sure about an idea or he has a new one he thinks is perfect for you, he draws it out on whatever body part he thinks suits it best.

- Tattooing without the price tag, so to say.

- Loves how you treat him as an actual person once you’ve settled the initial misunderstanding between you two.

- Being treated with respect and as ‘whole’ remains strange to him since his muteness is essentially what got him kicked out of the pack.

- His father, the pack leader, couldn’t deal with an ‘incapable’ son. His mother, on the other paw… hand (sorry, lame joke) doted on him until she grew ill and passed away.

- That’s the moment he was adopted by a human man, who took him in and raised him as his own son. Up until this day, he’ll claim this man as his real father.

- In other words, you’re special to him. Extremely so.

- Doesn’t like chocolate, but loves pumpkin spice latte and caramel macchiato. Having noticed this, you buy him a cup each time you drop by the tattoo studio.

- Or it’s the other way around whenever you go on a date.

- Speaking of which, because you treat him as a regular guy, his self-esteem has grown to the level he’s more comfortable being in public. Nevertheless, only when you’re at his side is his anxiety lowered to a manageable level (e.g. without the use of meds or other coping mechanisms).

- Even though he can’t howl or bark in wolf form, he can still growl.

- Which he also does in bed whenever he’s in rut.

- Otherwise, he’s a nice subby puppy boy who loves having you on top of him or beneath him in missionary. He doesn’t favour a particular position, as long as it allows him to see your facial expression since he loves seeing you lost in pleasure.

- Again, this also is due to his low self-esteem and the comfort of knowing you see him as ‘whole’ and desirable. He thrives on knowing he can please you, basically.

- You’re his first girlfriend so be prepared for clumsy navigating the standards of human dating and wolfish courting.

- For example, he’ll show up on your second date with one of his shirts, presenting it to you and looking downright mortified because what if you reject the gift and him with it? Fortunately, and absolutely to his relief, you accept it.

- However, he doesn’t communicate your acceptance of his scent (essentially) means you’re courting… dating… both!

#terato #monster lover #monster fucker #monster boyfriend #werewolf #exophilia writing #werewolf boyfriend #I got a wee bit carried away #But this might now take the cake as my NaNoWriMo project

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noyourenotreal · 3 years

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WIP Wednesday

From my canon-divergent NaNoWriMo project,“At the End of the World”:

When they awoke the weather had turned hot and humid. It was early August, and they were heading south, but it was still pretty uncomfortable. The sweat caking to her skin felt like a sticky film. It was to the point that she wanted to take her shirt off, but that would have been a bit…er… awkward.

Not that it stopped Inuyasha from taking his shirt off, though.

At first she was just jealous at his freedom. It was hot, and she would have loved to just strip so that a bit more of her skin could feel the slightest breeze. But at the same time, jealousy was not the feeling she felt at all. Seeing him slick with sweat, bare chested, offering her his naked back so that she could grasp onto his wet skin for a ride… it was a more than she had bargained for that early in the morning. A lot more.

Noting her hesitation, and apparently quicker on the uptake than he’d once been, he smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Got a problem, Kagome?”

“N-no! Why would I have a problem? I have no problem.”

He put his hands on his hips, displaying his chest in an almost macho manner. “So you don’t have a problem.”

“No, nothing at all!” She heard her voice go up a few octaves as her face flushed with heat. More heat. Heat everywhere. “No problems here! We should go, shouldn’t we? We should probably go…”

In the blink of an eye he was in front of her, holding her face, kissing her softly. She groaned. Damn. That was not helping the heat at all.

She nearly growled when he pulled away and settled his hands on her shoulders. “If it makes you that uncomfortable then I can put the shirt back on. Might make it easier to grab onto.”

“Believe me,” she said, nearly breathless. “The shirt is not the problem.”

His hands slid down her arms and settled low on her waist, almost at her hips. Now he was the one looking a bit uncomfortable. “Inuyasha?”

“I already said I’m not givin you back, Kagome. When all this is over,” he said, leaning forward, that idiotic smirk returning to lips, “I’m gonna make you as uncomfortable as possible. But I’m not rushing it. We’re gonna do it right.”

The way he talked, the way he moved, the way he held her made it almost impossible to believe he’d never been with anyone before. He had to have somehow learned how to do what he was doing to her. But, then again, she supposed living a long life involved seeing a lot of relationships, hearing a lot of stories… and he’d spent plenty of time with Miroku, which, well, would have corrupted an angel, let alone a demon.

Or maybe he just knew her. Knew exactly what would get under her skin. She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t thought of what exactly she would do to him… especially with those ears.

She had apparently had her jaw open, because he used a finger to shut it before walking over and putting his shirt back on.

He knelt down and gestured to the backpack, then his back. “You comin?”

She sighed and shook her head, wondering how someone could feel as much as she had felt in the past few days and not explode.

#ATEOTW #inuyasha #inuyasha fanfic #inuyasha fanfiction #inukag #inukag fanfic

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thebibliomancer · 4 years

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #204: Claws Across the Water!

February, 1981

Welcome back, true believers! ... Eh, true believer?

I hope at least one person out there is still into this.

It has been nearly two years. I let this sort of series slip into forever hiatus. My at the time job was really eating all of my energy.

That plus the yellow peril villain two-parter that’s this and next made it hard to get motivation up to get back into it.

But in the time between then and now, I wrote a fixer-upper draft of a pretty okay novel for nanowrimo and started learning crochet. So the time not Avengersing wasn’t entirely wasted.

But now I don’t have a job!

Thus, the Avengers.

Our roster of Captain America, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, Vision, Beast and Wonder Man are going to fight an enormous Ming the Merciless and many fuchsia Laserbeaks from Transformers.

Its a weird but gutsy concept for a crossover.

(Three cooks in the kitchen, writing-wise. Not an auspicious start.)

The issue really starts with a woman named Shu Han sending a secret message for help because she is being held captive by THE YELLOW CLAW.

Yellow Claw has offered Shu Han “honor, unlimited power, a pivotal role in the new history of the world” in exchange for something. He gives her three days to make up her mind, leaving Shu Han unsure of how much longer she can continue to resist.

And a day later, in Avengers Mansion, the Avengers say goodbye to Hawkeye. He had been hanging out with them a couple issues through the Red Ronin thing, the shudder Avengers #200 thing, and yet another Ultron thing.

And then Jarvis comes in with the mail.

Despite the Avengers being the Avengers, all of their mail fits neatly on one tray. And one piece of mail dramatically marked LIFE AND DEATH gets Cap’s attention and he pauses their meeting to read it.

It seems that Shu Han’s secret distress message was picked up by a ham radio operator in Hong Kong.

Imagine. Two hundred and four issues in and ham radios are still a relevant plot point! And yet Rick Jones no longer is. Goes to show...

Anyway, the ham radio operator’s letter says that Shu Han says that she’s being held captive by the Yellow Claw. And since Jocasta doesn’t know who that is, it lets Cap exposit.

Captain America: “The Yellow Claw is a biochemical genius. Well over a hundred years old, he retains his youth through secret scientific methods of his own devising. Unfortunately, he’s also a tyrant intent on destroying every last vestige of western civilization -- at any price! The Claw and I have fought several times in the past. I’d hope we wouldn’t have to again.”

So as you might guess from this, Yellow Claw isn’t a new character. He first appeared in a self-titled book in 1956. And opposing the Yellow Claw in the Yellow Claw was FBI agent Jimmy Woo. Which is slightly better.

Anyway, Iron Man chimes in that he’s heard of Shu Han. She’s a gold medalist in track in the 1968 Olympics. And Beast has heard of her too! She won the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics!

Both of these things! Shu Han is quite the accomplished person.

And Cap isn’t sure why the Yellow Claw wants an Olympic gold medalist who is also a physicist but it can’t be for anything good!

Vision points out that the Yellow Claw’s island is in contested waters and that actions by the Avengers could cause an international incident. And also it might just be a trap.

I mean, ham radio operator? Really? In 1981?

Captain America: “That might be true, Vision, but the fact remains that someone in trouble has asked for our help. And as acting chairman, the only thing I can say in response to that is -- AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!”

Good attitude, Cap. That’s a good attitude to have.

And the Avengers Assemble, which in this case means run out the door like they’re racing for shotgun in the Quinjet.

Running right past Jarvis who was bringing coffee and ginger cake in. Leaving him to eat the cake himself because heck, no sense letting it go to waste.

I tell ya, Jarvis is underappreciated. Do you know, I don’t think they even invited him to move into Dead Alien Mountain in the current book? Instead they got a man trapped in a gorilla to be their butler. I mean, valid, but you do Jarvis a disservice.

LATER ELSEWHERE

The Yellow Claw stands villainously on a balcony talking with a Dr. Liu and asking him about the status of a project.

Dr. Liu says that there’s almost enough “formula” to begin distribution.

Yellow Claw: “Your words please me, Liu, for I have waited long to grasp this moment. Others may have their kingdoms, their countries, even their continents. But soon, doctor, I... shall have a world!”

But the Avengers’ Quinjet appearing on radar takes some wind out of his sails and he orders the base locked down and defenses activated.

As the Quinjet circles the island, Cap decides to send Wasp and Vision to try to find a way to snoop around undetected.

Vision can just intangible through walls and Wasp can find small entrances.

Of course, when Yellow Claw says lock the base down he means lock it down because even the air vents have been covered up with plexiglass. But Wasp decides to just blow it open and fly inside.

Somehow, even with that, its Vision who makes the more conspicuous entrance, as he manages to intangible in right where some guards happen to be staring at a wall.

Good work, Vision.

For whatever reason, solid snaking through a dark air vent makes Wasp wistful for some time that she and Hank went in a tunnel of love. And he was so shy that she had to teach him SOMETHING.

I’m almost sorry that she stops her internal monologue anecdote when she spots the Yellow Claw.

And here our two sneakiest Avengers both prove that they need to intern with Black Panther for a weekend or something because they both make a goofus.

Vision beat up the two guards that spotted him and just left their bodies where they fell, causing alarum when they were found. See, Black Panther would have told Vision that you need to hide bodies in a locker.

And Wasp falls off the wall while trying to eavesdrop and is spotted by the Yellow Claw.

He doesn’t recognize her as a tiny woman, tiiiiiny woman, but the fact that a bug is in the base at all means that the base isn’t airtight which means one of the air vents has been compromised.

Meanwhile, the Quinjet has continued to circle because there’s no good place to land on the whole island. So Cap decides to land off the whole island and makes a water landing.

Apparently Quinjets are like seaplanes in that regard.

And then as they are trudging through the surf to come ashore, -battle transition music- A SLIME ATTACKS!

Wait, this isn’t a dragon quest. This is an Avengers. They’ve got a man in power armor and a robot woman. We’re sci-fi. Okay so its a cyborg slime.

Or a jellyfish. Or, you know what? It has a beak. Maybe its a kraken. A cykraken.

And it drags the Avengers underwater, which is just what a jellyslimefishkraken cyborg would do, if you think about it.

Beast and Scarlet Witch are SOL. Scarlet Witch’s arms are tentacled to her sides and all of her spells require a somatic component. And she hasn’t taken the feat yet to let her ignore that requirement.

And Beast doesn’t have any leverage underwater to apply his strength and agility.

Cap isn’t doing much better because he’s trying to hit the thing with his shield underwater and the water drag isn’t helping.

Jocasta is doing alright. Her eye beams work perfectly fine underwater at cutting the tentacles. Although the narration calls her a “robotrix” which... what?

And Wonder Man does fine too. Even underwater his super strength is enough to just tie the tentacles in knots.

But Iron Man goes completely limp and the jellyslimefishkraken cyborg grabs him up and sticks him right in its mouth.

But it was a ruse. He baited the thing into eating him so he can repulsor blast it from inside and destroy it, freeing the other Avengers.

Good job, Iron Man. You killed a unique, horrible lifeform.

I think we can see that the real monster is Man. Comma Iron.

Meanwhile, inside the evil villain base, Vision runs into the evil villain. Who asks sincerely what the fuck Vision is doing here.

And Vision responds by immediately firing a laser at Yellow Claw.

Which. Good hustle, Vision.

Buuuut. The guy has an energy field that rebounds the energy back at Vision and knocks him out. Its a proven fact that the villain will always have something to stop Vision from soloing the plot.

Kryptonite, so to speak, is everywhere.

Yellow Claw has Vision taken to his lab to be dissected. FOR SCIENCE!

Outside, Beast goes ahead of the other Avengers to scout.

In his Beasty way, he’s goofing a little, singing the Loch Lomond song. And then he’s attacked by just so many flying blades. A lot many.

And so are the rest of the Avengers.

Wonder Man: “No kidding! One just clipped a lock of Jocasta’s hair -- and that stuff can take a bazooka blast!”

I really like imagining the Avengers testing that.

More than that, I’m amused imagining Jocasta’s deadpan expression as they shoot bazookas at her head.

‘The things I do to socialize.’

Anyway, the Avengers scatter to make harder targets because the blades are clearing the jungle to deny any cover to the heroes. Cap spots the blade launcher and throws his shield at it. Because that’s what he do. And it works. Because that’s what he do.

And since the jellyslimefishkraken cyborg and the “death crescents” hadn’t given the Avengers the hint, Yellow Claw appears before them towering several stories high and tells the Avengers to GTFO his island! GEEZ!

Jocasta notices that giant Yellow Claw casts no shadow and announces that it must be a hologram of some sort.

AND THEN THE METAL DEATH BIRDS

They get very angry when you point out special effect failures.

And then the Avengers do their various Avengers things.

Its an action scene. Avengers fighting robot death birds.

Iron Man jumps upside down in front of Beast to protect him from a missile. And Cap does the same right side up with his shield to protect Wanda.

I do appreciate the teamwork with immediate protecting the squishy members of the team.

Wonder Man hits one metal death bird with another. Because hitting an enemy with an enemy is great. I love grievous harm with a body.

Only thing better? If some Jedi force pushed General Grievous to smash some droids. Grievous harm.

Anyway, Jocasta does her eye blasts again, to great effect again.

Captain America throws his mighty shield and even a metal death bird must yiiiiield.

And Scarlet Witch gets to do something this time because everybody is doing a thing this time. Its a real team showcase.

She. And this is totally what probability alteration is. She changes the probability that a launched missile will just turn around and blow up the robot death bird that launched it. That’s just math.

Iron Man says that since his armor powers were originally based on magnetism, he can just remotely magnetize two of the metal death birds and cause them to smash into each other.

BUT THE BEST ONE OF ALL? And the reason I bothered to synopsize the individual actions instead of just saying “and then an action scene happened”? The best one of all.

A robot death bird launches a missile at Beast and he catches it. He catches it between his toes and throws it back, blowing up the robot.

Spectacular.

So spectacular that we can assume that it instantly ended the battle just because of its sheer majesty. I can draw no other conclusions from the juxtaposition of panels.

The Avengers finally reach the base after spending most of the issue traipsing up from the beach. And the base being locked down is swiftly solved by Wonder Man and Iron Man punching the door down.

My only regret is that neither of them make a joke about knocking. C’mon guys, I can’t be writing your snappy dialogue for you decades after the fact. Publishing doesn’t work that way! I’m not writing a redub!

A bunch of Yellow Claw’s goofy guards all prepare to be ineffectual mooks in a mob brawl but Yellow Claw stops them over the intercom.

See, he’s got Vision prisoner. And while he had intended to dissect him FOR SCIENCE, hostage is equally good. So if the Avengers don’t surrender, Vision will be sliced to bits by dissection laser scalpels.

Anyway, Dr. Liu shows up through a secret door to show the Avengers in to talk to Yellow Claw.

And Yellow Claw says politely ‘why the fuck you on my island??’

Or:

Yellow Claw: “Welcome, Avengers. I am pleased to have such illustrious visitors in my humble home. In fact, there is one thing that could possibly make my bliss more complete -- the reason why you’ve invaded my island, and my privacy!”

Which in less polite terms is ‘why the fuck you on my island??’

At this point, Wasp secretly flies up to Cap and tells him she’s okay.

It’s good to reassure him that she’s not a second hostage but. There was no reason in the plot for her to have entered the base. She accomplishes no things. She arguably makes things worst but its only arguably because she didn’t alert the Yellow Claw any more than Vision already did.

I would have liked if she had tried to free Vision or sabotaged Yellow Claw’s security system or something but that’s not the direction the plot was going.

Anyway.

Yellow Claw asked a question so Cap answers. He tells Yellow Claw that the Avengers are here because they received a distress call from a woman named Shu Han who says she’s being held captive.

Yellow Claw is actually surprised. Possibly dismayed.

He recovers himself quickly and has Shu Han brought in so the Avengers can see she’s not under restraint.

She wasn’t brought to this island to be a prisoner! She was brought to be his bride!

Easy mistake to make, honestly!

Wonder Man points out the should-be-obvious that hey kidnapping is kidnapping even if its for nuptials but Yellow Claw is like ha ha kidnapping no no, Shu Han fill this dumbo in.

And it is. A story.

Shu Han: “I... I wasn’t exactly... kidnapped. You see, when I was very young, a man came to my father’s farm, and, as was custom in my country, an arrangement was made. To be less delicate... I was bought!

“Over the years, I all but forgot the arrangement, as I turned my thoughts and energies towards excelling in athletics, and in science.

“But then, some weeks ago, I was approached by agents of Master Claw, and was brought here. I was frightened, but didn’t know what to do. And so I secretly sent a message, hoping for you help.”

Shu Han has that mix of super good at science and sports you see in superheroes but she’s a normal genius person living her life. It’s going to be weird if she just never shows up again. But also: good for her.

Yellow Claw is just so disappointed that she dragged some randos into their interpersonal drama. And we can see now that the proposal he was proposing at her was “marry me.”

Yellow Claw: “Shu Han, I wished you no harm. I am old -- even my potions cannot stay the hand of death much longer -- and I fervently desired an heir to carry my name when that hand fell.

“Thus I offered you wealth, power, the prestige of sitting at my side. And now you repay me with treachery, with cowardice... with dishonor.

“You wish your freedom that much? Very well, then -- you shall have it!

“Go! For I’ve no desire to take an unwilling bride!”

Yellow Claw: May be a supervillain but is big into consent. I mean, except for the part where he bought a child.

Yellow Claw: May be a supervillain but is big into consent when the alternative is superheroes hanging around.

Shu Han doesn’t look super burned by his speech so maybe that’s why he does what he does. He klaps to bring out a bunch of backup wives to prove that he’s not so hurt by rejection. And that he’s got ‘mad game.’

Yellow Claw: “As you can see, there are others more amenable to that lofty position! So, Avengers, you have what you came for. Please don’t let me delay your departure any longer.”

Or in less polite terms ‘GTFO!’

Cap points out that obviously they’re not going to just leave without Vision so Yellow Claw has some goons carry out Vision like a potato sack.

Iron Man and Wonder Man carry Vision with Iron Man warning that he’s not just going to forget Yellow Claw even though the guy claims he just wants to spend his final years in peace with his pile of wives.

And a good call to not take the guy strictly at his word.

As soon as the Avengers are gone Yellow Claw all about mwahahahahas and says that now his evil plan can commence.

Yellow Claw: “No, Dr. Liu, having one less wife should not effect the project appreciably. For the others, hand-picked like Shu Han for their superior genetic traits, will all give me sons, strong sons whom I will train in the arcane ways.

“Then, when they reach manhood, they shall fight each other, until only the most worthy, the strongest, survives! And it shall be he who shall inherit my destiny! The conquest and eradication of the western world!

“Yes, the plan is still sound, and there shall be no defense against it! For my children, doctor -- SHALL BE THE LAST CHILDREN ON EARTH!”

As far as evil plans go, having a bunch of babies so they can fight to the death is pretty evil even before the conquest thing. And the last children on Earth thing.

Follow @essential-avengers. Or don’t. Honestly, I can’t blame you if you don’t. Throw me a like if you read and liked so I can get a sense of how many people read and liked, if you like.

#Avengers #Yellow Claw #Vision #Wasp #Captain America #Wonder Man #Iron Man #Scarlet Witch #Jocasta #beast #essential avengers #essential marvel liveblogging #honestly one of the reasons i started this up again #is i've been reading slott's iron man and thinking 'wow jocasta is great'#'wasn't i right in the middle of the era she was on the avengers?'

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duhragonball · 4 years

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22, 23, and 25

Thank you.

22. How many projects do you usually have going at once?

Three or four, I think. Technically, that Bardock fic I was working on still counts, even though I haven't touched it in two years. And I've got a few one-shots that I mess with from time to time. I'm not very organized with this sort of thing. The general plan is to have one main project and a few smaller things I might tinker with on the side.

Although, it might be nice to plan this out more carefully, and have maybe two 50k projects that I actually devote the same level of attention to, just switching back and forth. I think about that a lot lately. Now that I've done a few Nanowrimo's, I'd like to try to write something that's actually around 50k in length, since I have a general idea of how big that is. And if I did two in the same year, that'd be kind of cool.

Like if one was a Star Wars fic and the other was a Star Trek fic, for example. Not that those would be the two things I'd want to write, but they're different enough that if I got frustrated with one, I could switch to the other for a while. That'd be nice. But that's not currently how I operate.

23. What’s more important: characters or plot?

I'm gonna say "characters" by a hair. Really, they're both important, and you can't have one without the other.

I listened to the audio version of Red Storm Rising, because it was my dad's favorite Tom Clancy book, and we got him the unabridged edition for Christmas one year (back when you couldn't just buy it in iTunes for twenty bucks) and I wanted to make sure my backup copy was in tact. It's kind of a what-if scenario where the Soviet Union starts World War III in the 1980's and no one uses nuclear weapons.

Somewhere, I heard the critique that Tom Clancy novels have no characters, only plot, and I'm inclined to agree, since the strongest parts of the story are the exposition. What's going on, who's doing what, and why they're doing it. That kind of thing. But there's not really a sense of any one person really mattering that much to the story. The only character I remember by name is "Buns" Nakamura, a pilot who becomes the first American woman fighter ace when the war breaks out during her escort mission. But she's barely in the book except for that moment. The book works as a story, but you finish it feeling like you didn't actually get to know anybody in it.

The flip side, I guess, is characters in a story where not much happens. I feel like that's a stereotype of fanfiction? Like, you take your OTP and have them Netflix and chill, and there's probably a lot of stories like that. It's not my thing, because you can get all that and more if you have something happen to the characters. It works better if something happens, even if it's just Netflix not working right for some reason. But you can still have the characters interact with each other, and that's still a plot in itself, however minimalist. So I guess the characters win by a hair.

25. What authors and books have inspired you to write your work?

I feel like I've answered this before in another question list. Usually I'd say Isaac Asimov, Kurt Busiek, and Joe Kelly, and I guess that's still true, but I've been writing Luffa for so long that I'm starting to feel less like I'm imitating them and more like I'm imitating myself from two or three years ago. Maybe I've developed my own style without realizing it.

Dragon Ball has been a huge inspiration to me, which sounds kind of obvious, but when I rewatched it last year, I would spot things in episodes and go "Oh, so that's why I wrote that thing I did." I got to the point where I ape DBZ without even noticing I’m doing it. I've been told a couple of times that my fic is better than the source material, which is flattering, but it's also not true. Haters will knock on Akira Toriyama, but I'll never be as brilliant a storyteller as he is. Present tense.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has been pretty important to me in recent years, mainly for giving me permission to let my longfic change and grow over time. I used to put too much value in consistency, this idea that Chapter 1 ought to have the same style and tone as Chapter 100. It kind of irked me that Vegeta's neck got thicker over the course of DBZ. But you look at the art style in JJBA, and it's constantly changing, even within a single part.

Somewhere near the end of Part 3, I started to notice all these tortured analogies being used, like a rookie baker pouring tons of frosting onto a cake, so no one will notice that it's burnt on the bottom. I liked the analogies, but it seemed strange to me how they only started showing up near the end of Stardust Crusaders, and pretty much every character was using them. "Doesn't that break the rules?" I asked myself. If Araki wanted to introduce this as a gag, shouldn't he have done so at the beginning of the story, or waited until Part 4 so he could introduce it with a new crop of characters?

But eventually, I realized it's not that big a deal. You can give yourself permission to try something different, and not force it to fit into certain constraints. Now that I think about it, that's probably exactly why he did all the analogies near the end of the part. As he reached the big final battle, the plot became less fluid, and he had less room and fewer characters to improvise with, so he started getting clever with the dialogue instead.

Anyway, that's what I've been looking to more, rather than the specific writing style, or how sentences are crafted, or how to make the dialogue sound authentic. I feel like I finally have that down pat, so now I've been looking at how the pros write really big, long epics without boring their audience or themselves.

#ask duhragonball #//#///#////#/////#writing #semercury

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hcazj · 4 years

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made a cover for my whack af mchanzo nanowrimo 2019 novel. u can find it on ao3 via “finding you in the buckass of nowhere” lmao. prologue under the cut but after this i will be exclusively posting on ao3

PROLOGUE

The sun rises high into the sky, casting shadows on everything residing on the surface. Jesse gives a loud yawn before scratching his scrappy goatee and turning the page on a health textbook he was given by Angela by instruction of his residing commander. He didn’t know how the conversation had started, but during a debriefing on the latest mission in one of the meeting rooms, one of the punks on the Blackwatch team had decided to give Gabriel Reyes a run for his money and ask if he had a soulmate waiting back home. Gabe, of course, had laughed in that guy’s face. He laughed like it was the funniest thing in the entire world.

And just as he was laughing, something miraculous happened. The team was visited by none other than Overwatch’s Strike Commander, who not only served as a face for publicity stunts, but also was the head of operations. And the strike teams, hence the title.

“He better not.” Soldier: 76, better known as Jack Morrison, said as he practically kicked the meeting room door open with his boot. He looked pissed. And also had a stack of papers on him. It looked like someone forgot to get their morning coffee. “He’d have some serious explaining to do.”

There were a couple whispers across the table, a couple agents trying to understand the implications of what had just transpired. Jesse swore he saw some of his teammates starting to sweat. The band of Blackwatch agents saw Gabriel Reyes flash his most charming smile. The rascal could look good when he wanted to.

“Jackie, you’re backie. Not in blackie, though. I’m happy you’re openly talking about this, but didn’t we agree not to tell anyone? Also, hey, dinner at 8 in my room.” And then Gabe winked at Jack. Ew.

Jack sighed, crossing his arms, and not so subtly cueing to the assortment of medals pinned to the lapel of his cornflower blue coat. Subtle. He addressed Gabe. “Remember last night? Well, I’ve decided to become the possessive bastard you always wanted.” He gave an intimidating glance at everyone in the room. “How are you kids doing? I’m sure you’ve met me around. Though you probably didn’t think I’d be so involved with Gabe. Like, probably never expected in a million years that I was his soulmate. But yeah. That’s classified information, not a peep out of this room unless you want your life to being an even more visceral piece of hell.”

Someone gulped in anxiety. Someone sneered in ennui. But if Blackwatch owned anything, it was a pile of troublemakers.

Now, Jesse hadn’t been part of Blackwatch too long, but it never took him that long to make friends. Genji--Jesse’s best friend and second best troublemaker in Blackwatch history--decided it was his turn to say something. (Jesse liked to think of himself as the best troublemaker, but that was an entirely different discussion).

“And how are you going to do that exactly? Your boyfriend already has us running laps across the Mediterranean.” Genji sat proudly with his feet resting on the table, and Jack gave him a look of disgust.

Jack excused the moment of insubordination, and walked right past the table and into the arms of his lover. They shared a quick kiss after a moment of lingering in each others arms, much to the dismay of everyone else in the meeting room. And if Jack was good at anything, it was playing games with new recruits.

“What’s up, marido ? What makes my darling husband so sad?” Gabe said, combing his hair through the tufts of Jack’s pale blond hair. It was thin, very much unlike his own, but he liked to try.

Jack laughed, trying to materialize every ounce of theatrics he had stored in his body for this very moment. “My sweet love, I just don’t know how I’m going to live if you don’t assign your soldiers 50 more pushups each every morning before breakfast. They’re not super soldiers like us, but we must make sure they are raised right. They’re like our kids, to me.” Jack lifted a leg off the floor, like he was swooning for real.

Groaning broke out around the table, and Jesse wasn’t sure if his teammates were groaning at the obviously satirical display of affection, or at the thought of actually being assigned even more pushups every morning.

It was Gabe’s turn to laugh. “Aw, Jack. We’re going to have a conversation later on why you’re so touchy today. Let me kiss you goodbye, though.” He planted another kiss on his husband’s nose before resuming business as per usual. Jack begrudgingly peeled himself off of his husband, but not without greeting their personal pet project. He smacked the stack of autopsies in front of Jesse and gave him a wink, before ruffling through the kid’s hair.

Gabe cleared his throat, as the door shut. Radio silence. He looked at Genji, who was making paper triangle footballs to send flying across the room. Genji looked up at him and discarded the paper football into the recycling bin. Gabe swore, some of the people on this team had the attention span of gnats.

“Ok, amigxs. Before we get into the details of the upcoming mission abroad, Jack was serious about our relationship being confidential. Think of the absolute horror you would cause if the UN caught winding that I’m fucking their Strick Commander. Like, maybe it’s funny. Actually, that’s pretty fucking funny. Can I get a laugh track going here?”

Jesse was the first to start hooting and hollering. A round of applause followed. If Gabe getting laid meant a happy Gabe, who cared, really? Sure, it could cause an international scandal, but Jesse liked to take it a day at a time.

“Thanks, caballero. Ok. It might be the funniest thing ever, but let’s be serious. I don’t want to fire any of you, but if wind caught that I’m soulmates with Jack, that would probably raise some suspicions of nepotism. Now we all know that I’m a very accomplished man, with a great piece of ass too, but it could potentially mean getting the pink slip from the higher higher ups. And all of you would probably also be out of the job, since Blackwatch technically does not exist. Really. So please don’t, if you value your paycheck.

“Alright, anyways. Any questions before we begin reviewing these autopsy reports like a pack of lawyers from a video game?” Gabe asked.

Jesse McCree had a question.

He partially raised his hand like a kid in a classroom, but then put it back down as he was contemplating if he should ask it at all, but then fully raised his hand as he thought ‘fuck it’.

“Hey, son. What’s bothering you? No, I don’t have any Nature Grain bars to feed you right now, please wait until after the meeting,” Gabe said. That aroused another short round of laughter from the people at the meeting.

Jesse chuckled too, because he had actually asked for a Nature Grain before in the middle of a mission. But he had a question to ask, and that was very important. “Hey, so, uhhhhh. I don’t know if this is relevant, or important enough, but what in tarnation’s a soulmate again?”

And Jesse kind of knew too, but only vaguely, like the word ‘esoteric’.

Of course, ‘esoteric’ is a word that is used to describe when something is only understood by a small set of people. Like you could call string theory ‘esoteric’, because who the fuck knows what string theory is? But it comes around often enough that people have heard of string theory, if only by name. You could even consider the word ‘esoteric’ esoteric. That was kind of funny. But Jesse was raised in the pit of the South with a single mother, before he found himself living a life of crime. He reconsidered how esoteric the word ‘soulmates’ was.

Like ‘esoteric’, ‘soulmates’ was not a word that came up when Jesse was robbing trains for a living, nor running from the police after a shooting with an opposing gang, nor in the middle of jewelry heists in the heart of Santa Fe. ‘Soulmates’ wasn’t necessary by any means of the word, that word, necessary. But maybe while he had only heard it a handful of times, with no definition to attach to the word, maybe everyone else had.

He felt like he was the odd duck out, and that was hard to do in a group of mother fucking misfits. Like, come on, Genji was basically a fucking cyborg. Gabe had gone through that freak of a soldier enhancement program that probably fucked with his biology in ways Jesse would never understand. Moira, their resident evil scientist, shot floating orbs out of her hands in the middle of combat. What the fuck was that about? Did she hone the essence of Orbeez for the inspiration behind her primary weapon? Jesse had some real mother fucking questions.

And a lot of the times, he asked them too.

But out of all of the unprofessional and obscure questions he had asked in his life, and even just in his short stay at Blackwatch where he could ask some pretty weird things, he had never asked a question that just about floored so many different people all at once. It’s like, he asked the question about soulmates, and the question took the cake. It took the cake and ran away with the spoon and like, eloped with the dish. And fucked the moon. Jesse didn’t think there was a reason for everyone to look so scandalized, though.

Because questions didn’t take cakes, or run with spoons, or elope, or fuck.

Gabe had a face that betrayed emotions Jesse knew Gabe didn’t show often: remorse. Of course, ‘remorse’ kind of sounded like ‘Morrison’ and that was funny for 2 seconds. But it was downright scary. Jesse was the type of person that was always starting something.

2 days ago, he had snuck into the mess hall at 3:30AM to steal a bag of doritos. Last week, he got captured on a mission and had to be rescued from an abandoned warehouse. Yesterday, he accidentally passed a stink bomb so bad, Gabe started coughing and moved their weekly recap meeting outside. And it was raining, too.

“Kid, did you ever take a health class before dropping out of school?” Gabe asked.

Jesse didn’t know how to answer that. “Well, I know how my body works, thank you. Uh, but t’answer your question…. No. What’s that got t’do with soulmates?”

Gabe scrunched his lips, wondering how he could quickly remedy the situation. This is why they paid him the big bucks. Not the biggest bucks, but more than large enough bucks. “Ok, everyone settle down for a hot second. Jesse, I’m going to comm Angela for a textbook you can read. And you probably need some one-on-one lessons on other stuff--yeah, I know you know what sex is but what about STIs? That’s half the battle. How about taking a break this week and just getting through health class?”

“But boss--”

“Trust me, this is way more important.”

Gabe took out one of his comms, one that only a limited amount of people on base had access too. It was mostly used for emergencies, but other times, was used as a quick way to contact anyone on base.

“Hey Angela! How are you? It’s Gabriel Reyes. I’m great and so is Jack-o’-Lantern thanks for asking. Do you have a this week to give some health lessons to one of our agents? I know you’re friends with our little Jesse. Great. Yeah? Perfect, please put that textbook on reserve. I’ll send Jesse down soon. Ok. Awesome. Over.” Gabe clipped the comm back into his belt. “Ok, anyone else skip health class?”

The room, for once, was a resounding silence. Moira raised her hand.

“You didn’t take health class, O’deorain? Aren’t you a doctor?” Gabe asked.

“Very funny, commander. I was wondering why you did not just ask me to prepare some lessons and generic information for Jesse, and instead contacted Angela Zeigler.” She brought a hand up to her face, and rested her cheek on her long purple nails that looked like talons.

“Hey, doc. You’re coming with us on this mission. You can help out later if Jesse wants.” Gabe sighs and turns to Jesse. “Alright, cowboy. Sorry to do this to you, and don’t let this go to your head, but I can’t just let you go gallivanting into a foreign country with no knowledge about your own body parts. Trust me. Soulmates isn’t something to mess around with. I know you’re stressed about it. Consider yourself on hourly while you lax away while hitting the books this week, ok?”

Jesse sighed and pulled his cowboy hat off of his head. He was disappointed he wouldn’t be going to Japan, but there would definitely be more opportunities for travel in the future. Filling the cracks in his education wasn’t something that he would have completely expected out of Blackwatch.

In fact, he was still reeling over getting fed 3 square meals a day. Being treated with any semblance or respect. Being valued not because he was probably the greatest sharpshooter of his generation, but for his personality and interests. Though playing old Hollywood flicks on movie night annoyed his teammates to no end, people stuck around and watched with him. And that was more valuable than ransacking a jewelry store.

“You can stick around, but I suggest getting around early since the textbook Angela has for you is several hundreds of pages long.” Gabe grinned, trying to whisk away Jesse’s problems.

Jesse replaced the hat on his head, and yawned as he stretched his arms above his head. “See y’all later, suckeroonies. Y’all hear that? I’m being paid to stay on base this week!”

More laughter from the gallery. Jesse got a few pats on the back. Genji flicked a paper football in his direction, and it smacked Jesse straight in the forehead.

“Text me” Genji said with a salute. Gabriel cleared his throat and held out his hand.

Genji sighed as he was caught red handed, and surrendered his stash of paper footballs. A beat passed, and Gabriel remained focused on Genji. Genji took the paper footballs out of the pockets of his sweatpants and handed those over too.

That Genji.

Jesse snuck out the door as the team started talking about the autopsy reports, and was off to find Angela.

And not to say he wasn’t disappointed at not being able to travel with the rest of the team this time, but he tried to stick to the silver lining: gorging on breadsticks. Sometimes they were stale, but hit those babies with an unearthly and disgusting amount of ranch dressing, and Jesse would eat them like there was no tomorrow. Being paid also wasn’t half bad. And getting his question answered certainly wasn’t that bad.

He walked past the kitchen, one of the larger living rooms, and some of the barracks before taking an elevator up a few floors to the right area. Why wasn’t the med bay in the middle of the building?

Angela “Mercy” Zeigler was one of Overwatch’s doctors. She was at the top of her field at a young age, and a dear friend of Jesse’s. While the two could not have come from more different worlds, they bonded over some obscure things like miniature scented soaps. Besides, Jesse got injured so much on missions, they practically had to become friends. Angela was huge on doctor patient confidentiality, but that didn’t stop her from chewing Jesse out every single time he came back needing a cast.

If taking health classes was urgent enough for Gabe to kick him off of the latest mission, it had to be some level of important. How important could the whole soulmates thing be ? The elevator dinged and he followed the path he knew by heart to Angela’s office. He knocked on her door.

“Come in!” someone called from the other side.

He stepped inside. The examination room was just like he remembered it. White walls, with neat stacks of papers and books sitting in the corners by a computer desk. He was always impressed by how Angela worked, nothing seemed to get by her despite the clear lack of organization she subjected her belongings to. “Angie! Reckon you have a moment to spare for an old cowboy?”

She looked up from the paper she was reading and instinctively scanned the length of his body. “What appears to be the problem, Jesse? Ah. You’re here so early. Health lessons?”

“Correcto-mundo.”

She stifled a laugh and motioned to the examination table. “Feel free to take a seat, I’ll set up one of the projects. I have time to give you a quick lesson today, but otherwise believe you are just going to have to read a textbook and call me with any pertinent questions. We should also have a quick quiz at the end of the week just to see if you have retained any information. Where would you like to start?”

Jesse started swinging his legs back and forth, and took his hat off to get comfortable. This would be the closest he’d ever gotten to college. “What the hell’s a soulmate, Angela?”

“Ah, yes. That is a fun topic. Let us begin.”

And that is how Jesse finds himself reading through what has got to be the densest book he’s ever laid his pretty brown eyes on. Reading this thing is like trying to breath in a chunky soup. There’s just too much going on for it to be possible, but some find a way to make it happen. Not many, but some. The sun, now past noon, has travelled lower into the sky during the course of the afternoon. He sits on a cliff by the Overwatch base in Gibraltar, after thoroughly being lectured this morning by Dr. Zeigler.

Jesse rolls over, book in hand, and takes a moment to look over the cliff he’s been sitting at the whole time. The sea beneath him crashes into the crook of the precipice, leaving sparkling moisture behind to glitter in the sun. Who needed to go to Japan for a mission anyways? He sighed.

He glanced back down at his textbook. Jesse swears he’s never read so much in his life.

The connection between soulmates has not yet been properly explained by the lengths of modern medicine .

Great. Just what Angela said.

However, there is one documented process that occurs between a pair of soulmates. When an individual instigates skin-to-skin contact with their soulmate for the first time, their touch will leave a mark in the shape of the touch. For example, if a person accidentally bumps into their soulmate and the two touch shoulders, the initiator of the touch (IOT for short) will leave a shoulder shaped imprint on the receiver of the touch (ROT for short). Though the receiver may not see the mark form on their skin automatically, they will automatically feel a connection to their soulmate. However, the IOT will not feel anything short of some shoulder discomfort during this exchange.

Individuals in Markwell’s case study report that a forming soulmate connection feels like being “stuck in a movie montage” (Markwell 40). The ROT will automatically reel through a selection of events from the IOT’s life, and thus, gaining a better understanding of their fated person .

Hm.

When someone first receives their soulmate marking, Markwell reports, “it is common to freeze up as the memories are being transferred from person to person” (Markwell 41). In order to seal the bond and make it permanent, the ROT must then instigate skin-to-skin contact with the original IOT. Otherwise, any received soulmate marks will slowly fade over time, though never completely disappear.

Soulmates do not have to be romantic couples. Some opt for friendship, or other types of relationships. However, the majority of soulmates do end up spending the rest of their lives together in some form, due to the depth of their unique connection.

It is possible for soulmates to never meet, because before initial skin-to-skin contact, there are currently no medical tools available that accurately predict the existence of a soulmate connection between two people. The next section is a photo gallery of soulmate marks .

Ok.

Some of these were pretty funny. There’s an image of someone with a neon purple pair of lips, indicating that their first contact with their soulmate was a kiss. It was so embarrassing Jesse laughed. On another page, someone just had an imprint of a dark yellow hand on their shoulder. That looked kind of cool.

Next page.

Soulmate pairs with an incomplete set of soulmate marks are another story. Individuals that have received a soulmate marking, but whom are unable to reciprocate the marking on their respective soulmate, have a greater chance of developing anxiety or depression. Individuals studied have repeatedly reported feeling listless. This has not yet been thoroughly studied. Psychiatrists predict that this is due to a mixture of reasons.

Scary.

Jesse hoped that this would never happen to him. He hoped to god, the gods, the sky, the flowing rivers and the tall mountains. He hoped this would never happen. But fate had other plans for young Jesse McCree.

#mchanzo #jesse mccree

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eirian-houpe · 4 years

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Working Wednesday

Here is the state of my current WIPs.

The Library Beneath the Clock Tower: AU Cursed Storybrooke. (Inspried by/based on The Bookshop on the Corner: A Novel, by Jenny Colgan)

Storybrooke has no library, and neither does Belle, not since the library where she worked in Boston discovered her past as an inpatient at a mental hospital. Taking her future into her own hands, Belle travels to Storybrooke where her intention is to open up the town library, but all does not go according to her plan. Obstacles and false starts, and diversion along very wrong pathways interrupt her journey toward fulfilling her dream, as well as taking her rightful place and becoming a part of the Storybrooke community. - This was my Camp NaNoWriMo project and I have a few chapters in hand waiting to be edited and posted. Chapter 24 has been posted, and a few more chapters planned as I was catching up to myself.

All Our Past Mistakes: AU Non-Cursed Storybrooke

Doctor Gold, professor of history at the local campus of Maine University, is stuck in a loveless, and one might say abusive relationship with a wife who is less than attentive to their family, and whom he suspects cares little for her marital vows. His resolve to maintain his own faithfulness is sorely tested by the presence of one of his new students - a junior by the name of Belle French - whom it seems fate is determined to put in his way. The two become embroiled in a passionate, and redemptive relationship, but not before suffering numerous setbacks and separations. This is no instantaneous happy ever after, but a tale of two hurt souls finding their way together through darkness and despair. - Nothing written since last week

Disparate Pathways: AU and Remix of Witness Protection, which was written for the 2019 RSS.

Gold has a past, a past that he has rejected, but it seems one that will not let him go. Belle, daughter of Governor Maurice French has been kidnapped, along with her mother, and just as the authorities raid the organization that is holding her hostage, decides to make her own bid for freedom, unknowingly derailing an undercover sting, and Agent Milnor has not choice but to take her into ‘protective custody,’ but is he all that he seems? As the threads of the story grow more tangled and the threat to Belle, and to Gold, her appointed protector, grow ever more real, a growing, mutual attraction makes everything far more desperate and far too personal for Gold to ignore what he knows to be the truth. - nothing written since last week. - 2560 words written, making one chapter ready to edit.

Scattered: AU OUAT, where the curse didn’t quite happen the way it did on the show. (It went ‘wrong’)

Casting a spell, any spell - at least the ones that involve more than just the wave of a hand, or worse, the wave of an irritating fairy’s wand - takes time, and patience, and the right ingredients, and… just like any recipe, if you get it wrong, it doesn’t mean the cake won’t cook, rather then will, just with unexpected or unintended outcomes. All of Rumplestiltskin’s careful planning and manipulation, all of his hopes and dreams turn to dust; ashes in his bitter heart in the blink of an eye… in the fall of an equine heart. Belle exchanges one terrible prison for another, and it’s one she is desperate to escape, and though Rumple’s fate as The Savior was severed from him centuries ago, sometimes fate itself has a way of finding an alternate route home. - Chapter 6 is ready for edit and posting

What the Actual Fuck! : Sutherelle fic

Prime Minister Robert Sutherland is feeling pressured, and isn’t prepared to acquiesce to the repeated challenges from within his cabinet nor the wider circle of those around him. He resorts to drastic measures to ascertain who can be trusted, turning to an ‘old friend’ to help him separate the wheat from the chaff. Said friend promises to send in his best operative to assist the PM, the trouble is the operative finds out more than Robert necessarily wants to know, and all this just as all hell is breaking loose around him; people hurt, Britain in chaos and multiple deaths push him into making some hard hitting decisions in order to safeguard himself, the country, and the people he cares about - Nothing written since last week.

Breathe: Rushbelle. As the Lucian Alliance attack Icarus Base, Doctor Rush makes the decision that dialing back to Earth is too dangerous, though that may not at all be his reason for attempting to dial the ninth chevron, persuaded by Eli, and by something Belle had said to him previously, he substitues Earth for Icarus, and the connection is made. In spite of hurrying to urge Belle to the ‘Gate room and through the ‘Gate, neither he, nor anyone else believes that Belle actually made it on board Destiny… - Part one of the We Three series. The next chapter has been written.

Beauty Compelled: Rumbelle. May A Monthly Rumbelling - Years ago, Moe French endebted himself to the nobleman, Mister Gold. Unable to pay the debt by any other means, he promises his daughter, Belle, in marriage to Gold. Now, on the day of her 18th Birthday, the contract is to be honored, and Belle must go to her new home, Adelram Hall, and to meet her husband-to-be, Mister Gold, who has a reputation for darkness. - Posted.

Also, I still have 2 series awaiting their next works: Darker Hearts: an AU Wish!Rumbelle, and Thoughts On A Happy Ending: A Rumblelle focussed Belle introspective of the entire journey from season 1 through season 7. Nothing has been written for either just yet, so no change since the last update, but they are included in the writing schedule so maybe that will change.

All published works can be found on AO3 where I write as Eilinelithil.

Please feel free to ask me questions, anonymous asks accepted, I’ll talk about most things if you ask. If you want to ask the characters anything, you can do that too! You can also prompt me if you wish.

#rumbelle #rushbelle #current wips #wip #fic #ask me anything #send me asks #feel free to prompt me

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char27martin · 6 years

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Writing a Trilogy: Essential Tips for Crafting a Three-Part Series

By Dan Koboldt

Writing a trilogy or a multi-book series has numerous advantages, especially for writers of genre fiction. From an efficiency standpoint, it allows authors to tell multiple stories using the same characters and world. It also encourages reader loyalty, providing a built-in audience for each subsequent book. It’s no accident that most of the breakout bestsellers of our time—Harry Potter, Divergent, and The Hunger Games—come in series form.

In speculative fiction, especially epic fantasy, readers expect books to be part of a series. Many of them won’t even start a book until there’s a sequel or two. Series length varies widely, but there’s no format more popular (or more revered) than the trilogy. It’s certainly my favorite length. I credit that to a couple of seminal works in the genre that came in three parts: The Lord of the Rings and the original Star Wars movies.

Of course, declaring that you’re planning on writing a trilogy and crafting a successful one are not quite the same thing. Having just completed my Gateways to Alissia trilogy with Harper Voyager, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned in case it’s helpful to other writers.

BOOK ONE

The first book in a trilogy is usually the easiest to write, for a couple of reasons. First of all, you usually don’t have a deadline. That’s a wonderful thing, because you have all the time you need to get it right. George R.R. Martin took ten years to write A Game of Thrones, and it shows. The appendix alone would have taken me about five years to put together.

Book one also enjoys the benefit of a complex revision gauntlet before getting published. Given how long it takes most authors to break in, the revision period may last years. Writer’s groups, critique partners, literary agents and editors all get a crack at the manuscript. Hopefully, it improves at every turn.

[Online Course: Advanced Novel Writing with Mark Spencer]

If your goal is to pursue traditional publishing, then your first book needs to stand on its own as a complete story. You also have to write the whole thing before trying to get it published. Most agents won’t even look at a project from a new author unless it’s complete. These practicalities help simplify things when it comes to book one: You have as much time as you need to write it, and you can’t do anything with it until it’s done.

My Experience with Book One:

During NaNoWriMo 2012, I began writing a new project about a Las Vegas magician who gets hired by a large corporation to infiltrate a secret medieval world. It was my fourth NaNoWriMo project. After finishing the first half, I didn’t revisit it until the next NaNoWriMo a year later. As I neared the end, I began to fancy the idea that I might try to get it published. I knew very little about the industry then, so I dove into research. In 2014, I found an agent, and in 2015, we sold the book to HarperCollins. In between were many bouts of angst, interminable periods of waiting, and even the occasional flash of self-doubt. But I was lucky, and learned that The Rogue Retrieval would be published in early 2016. Then it was time to write book two.

BOOK TWO

The second book in a trilogy, by most accounts, is the most difficult. Writing book two means that you’ve sold the first novel, so now there’s a schedule to consider. Even if you don’t have a multi-book deal, most readers anticipate a sequel about a year after a book is published. In other words, you’re on the clock. And you have even less time to write, because you likely must devote some of your energies into promoting and marketing book one.

It does help that the characters and their relationships are already somewhat established. Yet many writers find themselves in a “sophomore slump” after the first book, and struggle to replicate the same magic in a second volume. When writing a trilogy, you need to continue the story from book one while escalating everything—conflict, tension and stakes—to pull readers along to the finale. Yet book two also needs to provide some satisfaction to readers. It requires a delicate balancing act, because you can’t get to the big ending until book three.

Since part one of a trilogy usually ends in a triumph, part two often features the antagonist’s devastating counterstroke. Look at The Empire Strikes Back, the second movie in the original Star Wars trilogy. The plucky rebels have won a major victory, but they still face a powerful enemy. This becomes apparent almost right away with the Empire’s destruction of the rebel base. We love the heroes, but they’re facing setback after setback. The wonderful dramatic tension that results from this is something to emulate when you’re writing a second installment.

My Experience with Book Two

I had a reasonable idea for my sequel’s plot direction. The Rogue Retrieval is about the magician’s first mission into the secret medieval world, and ends with his corporate employers planning a second one. Second book, second mission. Piece of cake. I started on October 1st, and had more than half of it written by the end of November (thanks to NaNoWriMo). That gave me December and January to write the rest. The Rogue Retrieval was published on January 19th, which kept me incredibly busy. Still, I managed to get the manuscript out to my critique partners by the end of January. They worked quickly, so I had it in my editor’s hands by early March.

Everything had gone reasonably well. I thought I’d dodged the second-book blues. And then I got my edit letter. My editor said that he enjoyed the manuscript, and with a bit of polishing it could be a good book. But he also thought it could be a great book, if I was willing to tackle some major revisions. I was willing, of course. I want every book to be great. That edit took almost three weeks and nearly killed me, but when I started getting reviews for The Island Deception, I knew I’d done the right thing.

BOOK THREE

Now we come to the third volume, the return of the king. Or the Jedi. In a trilogy, book three is the end. And in all of fiction, endings are everything. That may be why writing it can be so taxing. You face the same time crunch as before—now exacerbated by your promotional efforts for book two—and there’s all this pressure to get everything just right. You not only have to bring the story to its conclusion, but also deliver on the promises you’ve made to your readers. Some of which you may not have realized you made.

By the time you’re writing book three, people have read book one. Maybe even book two. Your series belongs to them, too. They’ll be leaving reviews, commenting on social media, and sending you e-mails (whether you like it or not). Maybe their favorite character is one who’s going to die in book three. Or they ship two characters who don’t end up together.

There is no way to satisfy everyone. Just look at how fans of the show LOST reacted to the series finale. Some of them loved it, and others hated it. There is no magic formula for writing book three of three. You simply write the best book you possibly can, and deliver an ending that satisfies the questions raised in books one and two. If you manage to do that, you’ve done your job as an author.

My Experience with Book Three

For me, the third book was the hardest to draft. Part of that was due to the timing: I didn’t have a NaNoWriMo to help me get down those first 50,000 words. I knew the broad plot direction—the battle for the pristine medieval world has begun, and everyone must choose a side—but the execution was challenging.

Even when I thought I was done, I wasn’t. My editor pointed out that I raised a question at the very end. I saw it as leaving things open for future stories. He saw it as diminishing the reader’s sense of satisfaction. He was right, of course. I tied up that dangling thread and ended the series in a way that felt just right. The World Awakening was recently published in February 2018, and I think my readers will be happy with how the story ends.

IN SUMMARY

If you’re writing a series—especially a sci-fi or fantasy series—the trilogy is a wonderful format. It provides a natural story structure to which genre fans are already accustomed. If you give each book a satisfactory ending, maintain the tension, and deliver on the story promises, you’ll have done your part to entertain your readers.

Dan Koboldt is the author of the Gateways to Alissia trilogy (Harper Voyager) and the editor of Putting the Science in Fiction (upcoming from Writers Digest Books, 2018). As a genetics researcher, he has co-authored more than 70 publications in Nature, Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, and other scientific journals. Dan is also an avid hunter and outdoorsman. Every fall, he disappears into the woods to pursue whitetail deer with bow and arrow. He lives with his wife and children in Ohio, where the deer take their revenge by eating the flowers in his backyard. Find his fiction works at HarperCollins, Amazon, iBooks, Kobo and Google Play.

The post Writing a Trilogy: Essential Tips for Crafting a Three-Part Series appeared first on WritersDigest.com.

from Writing Editor Blogs – WritersDigest.com http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/questions-and-quandaries/writing-advice/tips-for-writing-a-trilogy

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eirian-houpe · 4 years

Text

Working Wednesday (On Thursday)

Forgive me folks, I was hurrying to finish my Monthly Rumbelling fic yesterday and didn’t get to this. Here is the state of my current WIPs.

The Library Beneath the Clock Tower: AU Cursed Storybrooke. (Inspried by/based on The Bookshop on the Corner: A Novel, by Jenny Colgan)

Storybrooke has no library, and neither does Belle, not since the library where she worked in Boston discovered her past as an inpatient at a mental hospital. Taking her future into her own hands, Belle travels to Storybrooke where her intention is to open up the town library, but all does not go according to her plan. Obstacles and false starts, and diversion along very wrong pathways interrupt her journey toward fulfilling her dream, as well as taking her rightful place and becoming a part of the Storybrooke community. - This is my Camp NaNoWriMo project and I have lost count of the number of words I’ve written, in total so far it’s been about 37,000 words.. Chapter 21 has been posted

All Our Past Mistakes: AU Non-Cursed Storybrooke

Disparate Pathways: AU and Remix of Witness Protection, which was written for the 2019 RSS.

Scattered: AU OUAT, where the curse didn’t quite happen the way it did on the show. (It went ‘wrong’)

What the Actual Fuck! : Sutherelle fic

Breathe: Rushbelle. As the Lucian Alliance attack Icarus Base, Doctor Rush makes the decision that dialing back to Earth is too dangerous, though that may not at all be his reason for attempting to dial the ninth chevron, persuaded by Eli, and by something Belle had said to him previously, he substitues Earth for Icarus, and the connection is made. In spite of hurrying to urge Belle to the 'Gate room and through the 'Gate, neither he, nor anyone else believes that Belle actually made it on board Destiny... - Part one of the We Three series. Nothing written since last week.

Prima: April Monthly Rumbelling. Woven Beauty

Detectives Weaver and Rogers stumble upon a crime at a local theater where they meet the Prima Ballerina, Anabelle French in the process of apparently committing agravated assault with a deadly weapon, but as Weaver investigates, he discovers there is far more to it than a simple crime, and he is forced to run to a place of safety with his suspect in tow. - now posted

All published works can be found on AO3 where I write as Eilinelithil.

After today, I hope to get into a routine where fics will be updated regularly in a kind of rolling wave. I still have to work out the details of that.

Also Please feel free to ask me questions, anonymous asks accepted, I’ll talk about most things if you ask :) want to ask the characters anything, you can do that too! You can also prompt me if you wish.

#rumbelle #sutherelle #wip #current wips #ask me anything #send me asks #fic asks

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eirian-houpe · 4 years

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Working Wednesday On Saturday

What can I say? RL got in the way of everything that helps sustain me as who I am. It’s been two weeks since the last working Wednesday was posted. Sorry. Anyway, here is the state of my current WIPs.

The Library Beneath the Clock Tower: AU Cursed Storybrooke. (Inspried by/based on The Bookshop on the Corner: A Novel, by Jenny Colgan)

Storybrooke has no library, and neither does Belle, not since the library where she worked in Boston discovered her past as an inpatient at a mental hospital. Taking her future into her own hands, Belle travels to Storybrooke where her intention is to open up the town library, but all does not go according to her plan. Obstacles and false starts, and diversion along very wrong pathways interrupt her journey toward fulfilling her dream, as well as taking her rightful place and becoming a part of the Storybrooke community. - 5,330 words written since the last update - which is almost 2 chapters. I hope to get one edited and posted later today. This is my Camp NaNoWriMo project, so there will probably be lots of updates very soon.

All Our Past Mistakes: AU Non-Cursed Storybrooke

Disparate Pathways: AU and Remix of Witness Protection, which was written for the 2019 RSS.

Scattered: AU OUAT, where the curse didn’t quite happen the way it did on the show. (It went ‘wrong’)

What the Actual Fuck! : Sutherelle fic

Breathe: Rushbelle. This is still in the planning stage and will be a rewrite of SGU, as a sequel to Chosen, But Not Wanted. - no change since last update.

Gilded: March Monthly Rumbelling. Rumbelle Slight AU.

Belle has been taken to the castle of her future husband to begin her new life; a life she does not want. The Dark One is also trapped within the castle, and wishes for release. Can they free each other, and to what end? - Posted. This was 9,122 words in the end.

Mistress: Rushbelle. This was a ‘drabble’ prompt given to me by @jackabelle73 that I got a little carried away with and wrote 1,068 words instead of 100. That tends to happen with me.

Rush got sent for refreshments, and got a little sidetracked. When Belle catches up to him, she's not at all pleased. A one shot in the Chosen, but not Wanted universe.

April Monthly Rumbelling is in the planning stage, I have a feeling that this is going to be my first attempt at Woven Beauty. Boy, am I ever embracing things I wouldn’t ever have expected myself to try.

I also need to catch up on the StayHomeWriMo prompts. My plan is to try some linked drabble/double drabbles, but... well - see above!

All published works can be found on AO3 where I write as Eilinelithil.

Also Please feel free to ask me questions, anonymous asks accepted, I’ll talk about most things if you ask :) You can also prompt me if you wish.

#rumbelle #rushbelle #woven beauty #current wips #wip #stayhomewrimo #camp nano #jackabelle73

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eirian-houpe · 4 years

Text

Working Wednesday

Here is the state of my current WIPs.

The Library Beneath the Clock Tower: AU Cursed Storybrooke. (Inspried by/based on The Bookshop on the Corner: A Novel, by Jenny Colgan)

All Our Past Mistakes: AU Non-Cursed Storybrooke

Disparate Pathways: AU and Remix of Witness Protection, which was written for the 2019 RSS.

Scattered: AU OUAT, where the curse didn’t quite happen the way it did on the show. (It went ‘wrong’)

What the Actual Fuck! : Sutherelle fic

Breathe: Rushbelle. As the Lucian Alliance attack Icarus Base, Doctor Rush makes the decision that dialing back to Earth is too dangerous, though that may not at all be his reason for attempting to dial the ninth chevron, persuaded by Eli, and by something Belle had said to him previously, he substitues Earth for Icarus, and the connection is made. In spite of hurrying to urge Belle to the ‘Gate room and through the 'Gate, neither he, nor anyone else believes that Belle actually made it on board Destiny… - Part one of the We Three series. Nothing written since last week.

May A Monthly Rumbelling - I’m just getting together ideas for this right now. I can’t decide which prompts I want to tackle, but I /am/ going to try for a slightly lesser word count this month, and maybe that way I’ll be able to write to more than one of the prompts. Last month was another mammoth 12K fic, and was supposed to be a one shot, but I have had a request for a continuation of the story, so we shall have to see if inspiration strikes for that. I suspect that any second installment would be mostly smut.

All published works can be found on AO3 where I write as Eilinelithil.

I do have a schedule for writing (and posting) the fics, but a) this week has been about taking a breath after camp, and b) stuff has been busy at work, so I’ve only just made a start on that today.

Non-Rumbelle, I have a massive Tolkien fic in progress that I haven’t updated in like... forever, and folks are wishing for more. Having learned that maybe chapters don’t all have to be 25 pages (in MS-Word) long, I might be able to get some of this updated too. It’s on the schedule.

Also Please feel free to ask me questions, anonymous asks accepted, I’ll talk about most things if you ask. If you want to ask the characters anything, you can do that too! You can also prompt me if you wish.

#rumbelle #rushbelle #sutherelle #current wips #wip #ask me anything #send asks #send prompts #feel free to prompt me

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eirian-houpe · 4 years

Text

Working Wednesday

Here is the state of my current WIPs.

The Library Beneath the Clock Tower: AU Cursed Storybrooke. (Inspried by/based on The Bookshop on the Corner: A Novel, by Jenny Colgan)

Storybrooke has no library, and neither does Belle, not since the library where she worked in Boston discovered her past as an inpatient at a mental hospital. Taking her future into her own hands, Belle travels to Storybrooke where her intention is to open up the town library, but all does not go according to her plan. Obstacles and false starts, and diversion along very wrong pathways interrupt her journey toward fulfilling her dream, as well as taking her rightful place and becoming a part of the Storybrooke community. - This is my Camp NaNoWriMo project and 11,640 words have been writen. Chapter 20 has been posted

All Our Past Mistakes: AU Non-Cursed Storybrooke

Disparate Pathways: AU and Remix of Witness Protection, which was written for the 2019 RSS.

Scattered: AU OUAT, where the curse didn’t quite happen the way it did on the show. (It went ‘wrong’)

What the Actual Fuck! : Sutherelle fic

Breathe: Rushbelle. As the Lucian Alliance attack Icarus Base, Doctor Rush makes the decision that dialing back to Earth is too dangerous, though that may not at all be his reason for attempting to dial the ninth chevron, persuaded by Eli, and by something Belle had said to him previously, he substitues Earth for Icarus, and the connection is made. In spite of hurrying to urge Belle to the 'Gate room and through the 'Gate, neither he, nor anyone else believes that Belle actually made it on board Destiny... - Part one of the We Three series. Chapter 1 now posted.

Prima: April Monthly Rumbelling. Woven Beauty

Weaver and Rogers stumble onto a major crime, while investigating an attempted agravated assault, and Belle, it seems, is the guilty party - No change since last week.

I still need to catch up on the StayHomeWriMo prompts. My plan is still to try some linked drabble/double drabbles. However, I did post a short story on Tumblr, called Before.

All published works can be found on AO3 where I write as Eilinelithil.

#rumbelle #rushbelle #woven beauty #sutherelle #current wips #wip #ask me anything #send asks #fic asks #feel free to prompt me #i should be writing

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