#I am not willing to admit how many unfinished fic wips I have

[enigmaticagentalice]

I was tagged by the wonderful @bloodlnthemoonlight to share part of a WIP fic, and since I have...many...I thought I’d throw a curveball and pick something from one of my most obscure niche pairings, which is Lin Beifong/Kya from The Legend of Korra :D

***

“So what did Bumi say?”

“He doesn’t know,” said Kya wearily.

“Really? You didn’t tell him?”

“Tenzin, we’re not twelve years old anymore, it’s not like we constantly trade secrets behind your back. Much. Anyway, you know he’s probably gonna be insufferable and claim he saw it coming all along.”

“So only I know?”

“You and Korra and Ikki. I’d guess Asami. Oh, and the rest of your family now, after that little scene, so probably the entire of air temple island by tomorrow. So enjoy that sense of superiority while you can.” Kya yawned widely. “You know, I really didn’t think everyone would be that interested.”

“And here I thought you waterbenders were supposed to be intuitive,” smiled Tenzin. “I’m sure Ikki is picking out your wedding dress already.”

“She did seem pretty thrilled about it,” admitted Kya. “Even Korra said she thought we make a cute couple. You should have seen Lin’s face; I don’t think she’s been called cute in her entire life.”

Tenzin let out a half stifled snort of laughter, and Kya grinned.

“For what it’s worth,” she said, “I’m glad you know. And I’m glad you had your total freak out while Lin wasn’t here, because she would have kicked your ass up and down the island.”

“I don’t doubt she would have tied,” said Tenzin. “And for what it’s worth, I’m glad that you’ve finally chosen someone who I can at least approve of in principle. Not—” he added hastily “—that it’s any of my business to approve or not, I’m sure. But Lin is a dear friend and an admirable woman, and if she can persuade you to stay here in Republic City then that can only be a good thing. I know we’d all like to see you more often.”

Kya shrugged. “Well I can’t promise that, but Lin can be very persuasive when she wants to be.”

Tenzin made a face, visible even in the lamplight. “I’d really rather not hear about that.”

“She does this thing with her—”

“Kya!”

They were both laughing now, and Kya impulsively threw one arm around her brother’s waist and gave him a friendly squeeze. “I missed you,” she said.

“I missed you too,” said Tenzin.

***

I tag...anyone who reads this! Share a fic excerpt and tag me in it because I’d love to read it :D

#my fic #fic wip #The Legend of Korra #kyalin #Lin Beifong #Kya #I am not willing to admit how many unfinished fic wips I have #but it is a number over 100 lol #mostly Kane/Abby from The 100 #a lot of really old Giles/Jenny fic from btvs #and a lot of Cassandra/Varric from Dragon Age #those are the main three folders anyway #probably because they're the ones that need the most FIXING because canon is MEAN #but there's also a little Picard/Crusher...a little Phryne/Jack... #the odd Lucian/Jean and a few Haymitch/Effie scraps... #some Patrick/Shelagh from Call the Midwife... #even some old Sasha/Aleksis from Pacific Rim if you can believe it #just hundreds of thousands of words of Forever Unfinished Fic #Alice is secretly a big sappy romantic pass it on

[mostweakhamlets]

Fears: Millennial AU WIP

A very rough WIP for my millennial/vlogger AU. It’s very rough and will be on AO3 after polishing! NOT A BBC SHERLOCK FIC. 

Summary of AU: John Watson starts making video blogs about Sherlock Holmes after he gets no credit in the Jefferson Hope case (from the novel A Study in Scarlet). Holmes, however, has failure after failure without proper support from the police and without enough experience. They’re just millennials killing the police industry. But really, they’re poor and young. Someone help them. 

It’s meant to be a late-coming-of-age AU set between the seven year gap in canon--before the The Sign of the Four and after A Study in Scarlet. 

They had started putting aside money every week to make sure they had enough to keep little luxuries in the apartment. They found the cheapest wine that they both liked and always kept at least one bottle in the fridge, opening it when they had particularly rough days.

"I don't know what I'm doing anymore."

The best way to open to one another was to be a little tipsy. Holmes especially found it easier to talk after a couple glasses of wine.

"Scotland Yard is always a step ahead of me, and they keep taking credit for my work."

They sat across from each other, curled up in their chairs. It was nearing midnight. The sky was dark, and the television was on a late night news channel that was repeating the same depressing news from that evening. Watson could have been asleep already, but they had an unspoken agreement that they had to stay up for each other during these nights. It was cathartic to be up so late in their quiet apartment when the rest of the city was still running like it had all day. It gave Watson a sense of security and growing camaraderie. Maybe a little youth, too, which too often felt like it was slipping from his fingers at the end of his 20s.

"They'll have to stop someday," he said.

"What if they don't? That's what I'm worried about. What if I'm constantly losing credit for work."

They would hardly talk about these times, though. It was too sensitive, and the conversations could only exist in these conditions. But at these times, they let go of whatever they needed to.

"I want to hear that you're scared."

Holmes looked up. His eyes were glassy and didn't understand. Didn't want to understand. He built up so many walls Watson knew from the first day they met. It would take work to break them down to see the vulnerability that he knew Holmes had. It would take time. Holmes was so afraid of looking powerless. Revealing his worries deepest fears would unravel everything he had crafted for himself. To protect himself. From the manipulative eyes of criminals and police offers. From anyone who could break him down for their benefit.

He looked at Watson almost like a kid.

"Tell me that you're scared," Watson repeated.

"Why?"

"Because you need to hear it from yourself."

Holmes rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious. When was the last time you admitted you were scared of something?"

"Fears are for children."

"Sherlock, you're never going to outgrow having fears."

He pressed his knuckles to his mouth.

"I'm afraid still," Watson said.

"I don't mean that no adults have fears," Holmes said. "I mean that I don't have fears because I'm not going to waste my time excessively worrying about things that may or may not happen and that may not even be in my control. I deal with things as they happen. I worry as they happen. I won't waste my time with hypotheticals."

"That's bullshit. You have to be afraid of something. Everyone is. You can't control it."

Watson leaned over to pour more wine in his own glass. He sat back and watched Holmes. The more he drank, the harder it was for him to hide from Watson.

"I'll tell you what I'm afraid of."

Bargains worked sometimes.

"I think I know what you're afraid of."

"What am I afraid of?"

"That you've wasted time. You tried a military career, and that didn't unfold like you wanted it to. Now you're struggling to find a practice to work in, and you're uncertain where to go because you're worried you're going to get stuck in a career you settled for."

"That's generic. That could be anyone about to turn 30."

"Is it wrong?"

Watson sighed. "No."

"See? Fears are pointless. You're not going to get stuck because you spent years studying to be a doctor, and now that you are one, you're either going to be consumed by regret regardless of your career path or your going to be satisfied because you learned how to take care of people and see them in a different way. It's a gift, John. But the fear of living in constant disappointment isn't going to help you. Almost everyone else has that fear, so the herd mentality drives to think that there's a much higher chance of it happening that what there really is."

Holmes was clever, and his words brought an odd comfort to Watson. But the self-righteousness of it made Watson dismiss any truth he said.

"I'm afraid of becoming an alcoholic."

Holmes bit his lip.

"One of the first things you knew about me was that my brother was an alcoholic," Watson said. "In my first year of university, I had to take a psychology class. My professor told us that addiction is genetic, and ever since then I've been afraid that I'm going to be an alcoholic like my brother."

"And other family?"

"My dad. When he was younger."

Holmes was quiet. Sometimes it took him a little time to process heavier emotional conversation. Watson was patient. He knew that silence wasn't an indicator of anything bad.

"I'm afraid that dropping out of university was an irreparable mistake."

They so rarely talked about Holmes dropping out of school. It never seemed like a big deal to Watson. When it came up for the first time, he had just shrugged and said, "It doesn't work for everyone."

"I could have had a degree in forensics and maybe have the Yard take me more seriously. And maybe have more resources or connections... and maybe be more successful by now."

"Do you think you would have worked for the police?"

"No!"

The somber moment was lost, and Watson broke into a smile at Holmes's disgust.

"So if you were still going to be an unconventional detective, why go about getting there in a conventional way? I'm sure you've taught yourself more than you could learn in a classroom. Besides, degrees don't really mean anything. They're just paper that says you satisfied requirements. What matters with a degree is that you learned something. And I think that you've learned plenty--and about things that the Yard knows nothing about. So why should the paper matter? The Yard'll realize that you're valuable to them and that papers don't mean anything."

Holmes's face was red from either the wine or Watson's compliment.

"What happened tonight?"

"Lestrade doesn't want me involved in his new case. I think promotions are being decided soon, and he doesn't want anything interfering with his minuscule chance of becoming a DCI."

"He'll get over it when he doesn't get promoted."

"But it'll still be my fault somehow." Holmes drained the last of his wine. "If something goes great, the inspectors get the credit. If something goes wrong, it's all on me. The only time they were almost willing to give me credit was when you made a video about the Jefferson Hope case."

"Really? That worked?"

"You didn't realize that when it became popular, the Yard would be in hot water for not giving me credit? It was hilarious. You scared them."

Watson straightened up. "I scared them?"

"It was almost a PR scandal."

"What if I uploaded more about your cases?"

"Do what you want."

"They might get a little more attention drawn to you rather than the Yard."

Holmes was drowsy from the wine. Watson could tell by the way he sank back into his chair and grinned.

"You can always come with me when I go out for cases. If clients don't mind, you can sit in on meetings. And maybe an appearance at Scotland Yard would bully them into letting me in on more interesting cases."

"Alright. I'd love to. I'm not doing anything else with my time."

"We can split the pay 50/50."

Watson would have done it for free. "We'll talk about it later. You don't make enough to split it."

"But either way we'll be partners."

The word made Watson's heart swell.

"Partners," he echoed.

He left his unfinished wine on the coffee table and walked to Holmes. He offered a hand and helped Holmes to his feet.

If their drinking sessions didn't end with a resolution, they would normally drink until they could come up with a superficial one under the deceptive haze of alcohol. It wasn't a bad way of coping. They never thought of it that way because eventually the need for drinking lessened. Eventually they were able to sit together and talk over dinner or in front of a camera if it was entertaining.

Eventually they were closer and warmer.

#millennial au #aka vlogger au #aka someone please help them au #sherlock holmes #pls look through the millennial au tag on my blog if you'd like more #this is gonna get zero notes #this is my first sherlock holmes fic since i was like 13 #oh god #it's been seven years #but listen #they're just young adults trying their best and they deserve something for that #millennial killing the police business #i'm trying to make holmes softer in this too #like still bad at some social things #but still soft #he'll drink wine with his roommate at midnight if they're having bad days #but will also roast watson #my fics

[jaerie]

Annual Writing Self-Evaluation

*All answers should be about works published in 2017.

unofficially tagged by @allwaswell16​ 

1. List of works published this year: In the order that they were posted

my sins i’ll claim, i’m not immune to shame

fur up in flaimes

pink skin

i’m kinda into it

i’m gonna pay for this

1st of the month

let’s try that again

but she doesn’t know who i am

all over me

maybe i’ll try falling up

out of the wild

hoping to find the respect i deserve

cute for a girl?

christmas is cancelled

closest it’ll get

anon work no i’m still not telling what it is haha

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

Maybe “but she doesn’t know who i am” because of the imagery of it.  When I first started writing seriously in high school my absolute favourite thing to do was write short descriptive passages and I’ve found it to be a strength of mine.  I still tend to look at things I’ve written with more of that as my favourites. 

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

That’s a difficult thing to answer since I tend to be very hard on myself, especially after things are posted.  A lot of my 1000 Reasons short fics I’ve wanted to go back and rework just because after the fact I wasn’t always happy with the full result even though I liked the fic as a whole.  

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

The way the yellow hued street lights illuminate the bricked exterior of buildings and the pavement in the dark of night looks the same no matter where you are in the world.  That’s what Louis was convinced of anyway.  Standing behind this bar after his shift, leaning against the textured wall near the dumpsters and smoking a cigarette, it could just as easily have been back home.  It looked the same.  It even felt the same.  The alleyway had the same deep jagged cracks running down the center, water pooling in the uneven sections of concrete from the light showers earlier in the evening, the slight stench of piss hanging in the air if the breeze kicks it up just right, the sour smell of garbage wafting up and spilling out of the dumpsters.  It was all part of the same scene, just a different location and Louis flawlessly transplanted right into it.

5. Share or describe a favorite comment you received:

Okay so I had so many I could put.  But I’m going to put this one because not only did I laugh but I feel like it sums up a lot of things I try to write hahaha

“You navigated the possibly awkward waters of this prompt perfectly.”

and also  “I secretly hoped they would do it in their wolf forms too hehe” because they definitely totally were untill I bailed on posting that scene at the last minute hahahahahahaha

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

Starting in August I spent over 50 hours in my car on various trips not counting the business trip to dallas... I was only home a day or two inbetween everything on top of work.  It was a really stressful and exhausting few months and very difficult to find the time but more importantly the motivation to write anything.  

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

I’m not sure that anything really surprised me this year.  I usually just let the characters go for it so I’ve been surprised many times but this year I think they did what I expected them too.  There were quite a few things that got unexpectantly dirty if that counts.  

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

Many ways, I think. Taking my time which helped many aspects.  Usually I’d have an idea and push to get it out there so I’d either have very short works that could have been a lot more elaborate or a lot of unfinished WIP because I’d pushed to publish but then later in the plot wanted to go back and rework things but couldn’t.  It has been increasingly easier for me to get higher word counts on things as well.  But all of it really because of taking my time, making myself stew on ideas for days or weeks and a little  more planning than I’ve ever done before.  

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

I have two really big fics coming up next year that I plan to take my time editing and getting feedback on.  I have a hard time with having things beta’d because my immediate reaction is usually always to say fuck it and delete everything, negate the whole work when something wrong with it is pointed out.  Its a reaction that still comes at me from school when you had to “peer edit” and other kids would just tear down your work because they thought they had to find something wrong with it coupled with the kind of comments people used to write with the LJ community.  Neither of them healthy opinions to rely on.  So I plan on getting past that mentality

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

My group chat has been great! I’ve always been a lone wolf writer in this fandom so could never bounce ideas off anyone or listen to other’s struggles etc etc.  Its been a very nice change :) 

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

A lot more than I’d eeeever be willing to admit to.  But mainly I’d say my “genderfluid harry” stories.  I’ve received a lot of rudely worded comments, long ass paragraph comments etc pointing out how I’ve mislabeled, mischaracterized, misrepresented, etc etc etc which have made me really uncomfortable about having posting them since Harry’s character is based on a real person who identifies themself as those things and all of that was taken into consideration when tagging and writing everything.  So that was the biggest thing from real life I’d say. 

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

Write for yourself and not what you think people want or how readers try to direct you to take it.  

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

My Alex/Louis fic 100%.  I wrote it for nano and am very proud of it so far.  I’m looking forward to making it even better before it gets posted early next year.  And my other big project that I can’t talk about yet for the ABO exchange also coming up at the beginning of the year. 

14. Tag three writers/artists whose answers you’d like to read.

I’m unofficially tagging any writer who reads this so I can see what their answers are hehe! 

#about me