#i haven't really done anything close to original main characters in a fanfiction setting for a WHILE

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

Bound by Choice - Chapter 1

A/N: I need you all to trust me. Yes, I am aware this is utterly self-indulgent and that I have four other books planned out after this one, one of the future books being already outlined and ready to write. I know this is not what I usually write, but, again, I need you all to trust me.

Plus, this was really, really fun to write and I started it when I was in my Peak Pokemon Submas Obsession about a year or two ago now, so it's some of my favorite writing in a while.

Fandom: Pokemon (Black & White, All Media Types, Legends: Arceus)

Characters: Original Character, Kudari | Emmet, Nobori | Ingo

Rating: Teen Audiences

Summary: Andy has always been afraid of pokemon and what it is that they’re able to do, which makes their life rather hard considering they’re twenty-two, live in Unova, and work in Nimbasa City; which is known as the battle capital of their region. Their closest friend and semi-adopted mother being a former gym battle leader also didn’t tend to help matters.

A panic attack on a subway car they thought was empty, however, leads to them meeting the infamous Subway Bosses and learning that pokemon, while terrifying, weren’t the monsters they had grown up believing them to be. Getting sucked up into the lives of the two Subway Bosses and their best friend Gym Leader Elesa might be even more terrifying than the pokemon, however.

AO3 Link: Bound by Choice, Chapter 1

Chapters 2-5 Immediately Available on Patreon

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Chapter 1 - Andy

It wasn’t the lack of noise to show the office was empty that had alerted him, or the way his head jerked up from a half-asleep state for the third time, or even how all light in the office had switched from sunny filled glass windows to cheap, flickering overhead lights. No, what alerted Andy to the fact that he had stayed far too late for the third time that week was the slap to his back with the annoyingly bright and cheerful accompaniment of, “Andy! Do they got you pulling doubles again? And on a Friday no less!”

“No, Anthony,” Andy said, forcing himself to not push the words through gritted teeth as his back stung from the ‘friendly’ slap. Anthony wasn’t even a bad person! He was just vaguely dick-ish like every other office coworker who didn’t want to be there. “I’m not pulling doubles. Just finishing up some sheets.” 

“Man,” Anthony sighed, Andy closing his eyes and just barely resisting the urge to groan. That was Anthony’s ‘nostalgic’ sigh. “I wish I had the energy you kids have today.” 

I’m twenty-two, first of all, Andy resisted the urge to scream. And second of all, you’re only seven years older than me! Why in Arceus’ name-?! Andy pushed the thoughts away, focusing on the fact that he was definitely treating himself to something sugary and unhealthy for how much resisting he was doing when it came to maiming his coworkers. 

As it was, Andy simply began disconnecting from his station, nodding and humming in all the right places as Anthony began yet another one of his monologues. If nothing else, Andy could at least be satisfied with the fact that he had finished inputting all the data into the National Dex that his team was supposed to have finished that week. A quick look at his xtrans showed that mercy did indeed exist in the world. If he booked it, he’d make it just in time to grab one of the last trains of the night back home. 

Standing up, and taking a minute to let the wave of dizziness roll through him that came from sitting in a chair for six more hours than he had wanted to, Andy looked to Anthony. The man was still talking. “-really, at this point you might as well just transfer to the night shift with how often you’re here- Hey! We could be desk buddies!” Ah. Anthony was attempting to lead him into the realm of eternal torment. Not today. 

“Something to definitely talk to Lindy about!” Andy fake chirped, pitching his voice into something as cheerful as he could manage when it was almost ten at night and he had clocked in at nine that morning. “For now, though, I should probably get going before they nag at me about overtime. You know how they are.”

Andy faked a laugh, nodded along to Anthony’s own joke that was basically a rip off of his own, and slowly backed away with his bag. The second Anthony turned to bring someone else into the conversation, Andy booked it. 

There was a time Andy would have felt bad about that, but as it was, he could only feel tired relief as he made it past a gauntlet of elevators and into the locker rooms. It was his only safe haven as the night shift workers had already clocked in and all the day workers were long gone. Like he should have been. 

“‘Oh, Andy, I have my bachelorette party tonight! You just have to cover for me!’” Andy mocked under his breath, tugging and pulling his lab coat off of him — Why did they even use lab coats? They worked in data entry! — before tossing it into his too-small locker. “Pretty bold to have two bachelorette parties in the same month,” Andy grumbled, pulling at the tie around his neck.

A quick tug of the clip-on tie and the blue fabric soon followed his lab coat, Andy happily grabbing and squirming into his worn, familiar blue and white hoodie that already made him feel more his age of twenty-two instead of thirty-five. The next time he was given a job recommendation, he would sooner change regions. 

Throwing his satchel around his shoulders and pulling on his old black-and-blue hat he had found in a thrift shop advertising some pokemon tournament from years ago, Andy shot a glance towards the clock in the room and booked it back to the elevator. The trains — especially those of Gear Station — waited for no man. 

Thankfully he made good time through the rest of the building, stepping out of the elevator and onto the bottom floor when the reverabting bark of a Houndoom had him feeling like his heart was about to throw up, give out, or both. He knew — he knew — that the Houndoom was tamed and registered and belonged to the security guard behind the desk who was quietly hushing him, but that didn’t mean anything. 

It didn’t mean anything because as always — as always — he heard his mother’s words whispering through his mind, sharp and cold and so, so true.

Pokemon are dangerous, darling. You’ve seen how much harm they can do, haven’t you? Your friend, Mandy? She was out of school for two weeks because her Houndoom burned her… and they can do a lot worse than that. 

“Evening, Andy!” The guard called — Rupert, if Andy could remember right, which he wasn’t sure that he could. “Don’t worry about the gruff old boy here, you know how he is.” 

“Right.” Andy snapped out robotically, trying to tamp down on his shakes as the Houndoom looked at him and remember, darling, Pokemon are dangerous. You can never trust a creature that could hurt you so easily. “Have a good night.” 

Getting out into the main roads, Andy closed his eyes and took a sharp breath. The Pokemon in Nimbasa were never wild. They all belonged to trainers that could recall them and hide them away in pokeballs. Andy wasn’t in danger in a city this big. He wasn’t.

But what if a Pokemon disobeys its trainer? They warn young trainers all the time, after all, that’s why the Gym Challenge is so important. You can never trust a Pokemon, darling, not even a trained one. You should only fear them-

“Not the time,” Andy muttered forcefully, pushing the old thoughts and memories out of his head as he sped walked towards Gear Station. Every cry and scuttle of a pokemon that he heard had his heart rate ramping right back up, already on edge from something like a Houndoom barking at him. “Not. The time.”

He was getting better, as Lenora liked to point out. Andy didn’t always flinch when pokemon were near him, after all. He sometimes could handle being right beside them and not even feel his heart race! It was just… the bigger pokemon that still set him back. The dangerous pokemon. The battles… 

“Almost home,” Andy cut his thoughts off before almost shoving his glasses off his face with how hard he rubbed at his eyes. It, surprisingly, did nothing to help the headache that was forming. Damn screens. “Almost home and then I can sleep all weekend.”

Getting into Gear Station proper, and with his heart still racing more than he would have liked, Andy did his best to block out anything and everything that had to do with pokemon and battling. Considering he was in Gear Station which was home of the Battle Subway, it was harder than he would have liked. 

Still. He was nothing if not stubborn. He managed to focus on the sounds of the buskers over those of pokemon cries. He managed to keep his gaze on the ground, eyes skipping to the shoes and looking away quickly when seeing paws, claws, or tails. It was when he was passing by one of the battle cars that he resorted to burying himself in his xtrans, muttering under his breath as he flipped open the screen to the keypad and began drafting a message to Lenora. 

The woman may not have been his mother, but she sure acted like it when worrying about him. It was nicer than Andy would admit to most times. Still, a message letting her know that yes, he was on his way home and no, he had not been mugged and left for dead by Team Plasma holdouts was in order. 

Dodging the influx of people — because Gear Station, one of the biggest parts of Nimbasa City, even when it was so close to closing, was never not busy — and doing his best to avoid eye contact with any trainers or pokemon, Andy just made it onto his train before the doors were closing shut behind him.

“Cutting it close,” Andy muttered to himself, lightly rolling his neck and getting a few cracks out before collapsing onto a blessedly empty set of seats. The train car was fuller than it normally was on a Friday night heading towards Nacrene City, but all Andy cared about was that he was sitting down, his tired eyes were finally shut and resting, and the familiar overhead announcements all blurred together overhead. 

And then, of course, the pleasant greetings and reminders faded for, “And remember that the Battle Subway tracks run every day except Sunday and Wednesday! Detailed schedules for the battle cars can be found all across Gear Station or-”

Andy, deciding that when it came to pokemon and battling he did not want to think about it, dug out his headphones. He crammed them in before he even had them turned on, the sounds of the announcements already muffled.

Familiar motions had his blessed, wonderful xtrans playing his usual music set, an alarm ready to go to wake him up for when he would definitely pass out on the train like he usually did, and his emails from the Nacrene City Museum and Lenora pulled up. He was almost certain he managed to get a full two sentences in about the de-extinction program Lenora headed when unconsciousness hit. 

⁂

Andy startled awake by choking on an interrupted snore-turned-grunt as his back hit the seats of the bench he was sitting on, one earbud falling out as he blearily looked up at the ceiling of the subway. His first thought was that it was remarkably clean for being a subway car. His second thought was that the sudden stop of the train must have meant they were at one of the stops along the route — possibly his. 

“Okay, okay, I’m up,” Andy mumbled to himself, grateful his earbud headphones were the ones with a cord that rested around his neck. He did not want to have to go digging for a lost earbud- Ah, announcements. 

“-thank you for riding on the Yellow Line with us today and welcome to Gear Station. Please remember to take all belongings, items, and pokemon with you and have a safe journey to your next destination.” 

“Yellow Line,” Andy muttered, looking around the now empty car with utter bafflement. It wasn’t like the Gear Station trains to get their announcements mixed up and wrong. They must have, though, since Andy had boarded the Orange Line. “Weird.” 

Bringing up his wrist to check the time, Andy blinked at the empty screen of his xtrans, remaining black even as he prodded at the power button and tapped the screen. His xtrans was dead. Huh. 

Standing up, Andy shifted his satchel to rest more comfortably on his shoulder as he peeked out the door and looked at the outside of the train. Instead of a long, orange line that stretched out around the entire train, it was yellow. 

Another look around showed Gear Station, the normal Agents waiting to take tickets or standing at the counter no longer there. Stepping back onto the train, Andy slowly sat down and looked to the scrolling bulletin board above the doors to the next cart. It read their location, Gear Station, and the time, 9:48pm. 

“Huh. Alright.” Okay. Things were lining up and starting to click together. Andy had not boarded the Orange Line, but rather the Yellow. With how he had been avoiding the pokemon and trainers, he must’ve mixed up his trains since they sat right next to each other at the station. 

Another glance down to his xtrans, still dead, revealed why he must have not heard his alarm or any music, now that he thought about it. His xtrans had died due to a low battery. He vaguely remembered making a mental note to charge it before he left work. He hadn’t. Hence, no alarm to wake him up when he had drifted off.

Alright. That meant he was alone at Gear Station, which sat in the second busiest city in Unova, at night. It also meant his xtrans was dead and he had no way to contact anyone and, with the late night, he was most likely stuck there until morning. He had probably already missed the last train to Nacrene City. 

That meant he was stuck. He was stuck. He felt lost. He absolutely felt overwhelmed. There were no buses that went from Nimbasa to Nacrene, especially not this late at night. He didn’t have the money for any sort of cab service or hell, even a hotel room. He doubted his workplace would let him crash there for the night. He didn’t even know anyone in Nimbasa, let alone have anyone to trust to crash at their place for the night and-

He heard the cry of a pokemon from somewhere in the station, something large and loud and almost angry-The last coherent thing Andy was really aware of was his breathing speeding up, those familiar whispers seeping into his head and you really can’t do anything right, can you, dear? If you run off on your own like that, all those pokemon are going to just gobble you right up.

#pokemon #submas #my writing #bound by choice #original #whew i'm a little nervous about this one actually #i haven't really done anything close to original main characters in a fanfiction setting for a WHILE #and people who know me know 'Andy' is just a spruced up self-insert lmao so uh #i hope you guys enjoy it!

[that-wildwolf]

I was tagged by @crescentbunny and I'm not tagging anyone in particular because I never really have a good grip on who's already done a tag game and who hasn't...

Anyway! Here goes :)

How many works do you have on AO3?

I write lots of one-shots, so this should be around thirty... Yep, twenty-seven.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

Where do you check that? You can check that???

*spends approximately 10 minutes going through AO3 settings they didn't know existed*

Cool! A lot of features I didn't know about. Anyway, um. Yes. My total word count is, for the moment, 471,674 words.

Wow. I. Um. Almost 500K words. But—and this is extremely important—I feel like this graph contains some vital information:

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Wow. Okay. I'll do this in chronological order because I never really counted.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Inheritance, Assassin's Creed, The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Attack on Titan, Fallout, Sarah Jane Adventures, Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, Steven Universe. I don't think I missed anything...?

That adds up to 13.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Of course I do! I thrive on feedback! Not implying that my entire self-esteem hinges on the approval of strangers on the internet, but comments are the best fucking thing ever! Instant serotonin for a whole day! Of course I'll reply! I love getting into little conversations with my readers, too!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Wow. I'm usually more of a happy ending kind of person, but A New Quest (which I wrote at the super proud age of 11) did end with half of the main characters dead and a memorial service for them as the last scene, so... You know. If you consider that angsty, then sure.

Fun fact: Crossing A Line was actually originally supposed to end with Shepard dying! The last chapter (which to me still feels a bit out of place) was rewritten completely. I'm glad I changed it, though. I'm having a lot of fun with the sequel!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

A month ago I'd have said Waiting Between Worlds without second thoughts—does it count as a happy ending when the whole fic is just a happy ending?—but it's just been going downhill the last three or four chapters. Pretty much every one of my one-shots in the When I Need You series. Also, Crossing A Line, I guess, now that it has a happy ending.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I... really don't. I'm wildly ace, all my sex knowledge comes from smut and porn and I'm pretty sure that if I were to actually write the adult stuff, I'd either go way overboard and make it too obscene to read or end up with something completely dry and clinical and unreadable too.

When there's sex scenes in my fic, I usually leave them implied. I say the characters had sex, but I never explicitly write the actual sex. I don't think I'd be good at it. (Actually, I've tried plenty of times and I know I'm not. It's the dirtiest, kinkiest filth you'd ever see and I'd really recommend against reading it.)

I do like writing the pre-chorus to sex, as it were, though. The sensual foreplay to the sexual foreplay. The soft or heated moments leading up to the act. I've even gotten comments about my lime being "extremely hot despite not being smut" and I'm more than happy with that description.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the strangest one you’ve written?

I used to write crossovers. Now I only sometimes write AUs based on a different fandom, like a Shakarian Kimi no Na wa!AU.

The strangest crossover I've ever written? Don't know if any of them were strange. I had The Wolf Among Us/The Walking Dead crossovers and Doctor Who/Sarah Jane Adventures crossovers, but both of those pretty much exist in the same universe already, so... No. No weird crossovers.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

God, I hope not. At least none that I know of.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. Plenty. A lot. I'd wager around 4 out of 5 comments on my Shepard Twins fanfic are negative. I haven't updated the fic in a while, but that doesn't mean I'm not writing anymore. I have around 50K words' worth of WIP of it. So no, the hate comments don't bother me. (A lie: they bother me a lot. They even make me cry, sometimes. But they're not gonna be the reason I stop writing a story I enjoy.)

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

My very first fanfiction writing experience, actually. In retrospect, I think that worked out great, because that kind of cooperation made it easier to carry the whole thing through, get it to the end, and was a very positive experience - which is probably why I've continued to write fanfic.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Ahhh. Royai or Shakarian? Royai or Shakarian? Stupid, since they're almost the same relationship dynamic, but they're both amazingly written. I'm edging a bit more towards Shakarian, because interspecies stuff is always a bonus. Still, it's a close competition.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I wish! I've translated other people's fics, but I've yet to have someone do that for me.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I plan to hope to finish all my WIPs.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. This is going to come off as boastful, but I think I'm pretty good at replicating individual characters' speech patterns.

What are your writing weaknesses?

According to my beta, I use elispses too liberally. According to me, I have trouble with transition scenes. I never write in order, so I always end up with disconnected scenes I need to join into a chapter. And the join parts don't even come easy to me.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Not a fan. (When I write fanfics in Polish, I sometimes use English, but that's not the same because everyone in Poland knows English anyway.) If it's a made-up language in the fandom, I like to include some words every now and then in dialogue - especially when it doesn't translate exactly. I love spotlighting cultural differences. I actually learned a load of Jel words for my Murkmire fanfics.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Good times. Damn, that was a long time ago. *suddenly gets the overwhelming realization that they've been writing fanfic for the bigger part of their life* ...Wow.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Big Spoon/Little Spoon, a short Shakarian one-shot exploring the psychology of the Spacer background a bit. I also used lighting in a really cool way in this one! I'm really proud of it. Even when I call it "the Spooning As A Metaphor For Nationality Issues fanfic", I mean it in an affectionate way.

As far as non-one-shots go, I'm going with Crossing A Line. It's got it all: Enemies to Lovers, language barrier, interspecies awkwardness... Plus, writing from Garrus's POV is always a treat. I get to refer to humans as "aliens". What more could you want?

#tag game #writing #fanfic #fanfic writing #meet the blogger #aka #wild rambles #thanks for tagging me in this bunny it was a lot of fun! #my life #long post

[nothingbutfangirlsmut]

The Maze Trials: A Gally Fanfiction

Pairing: Gally x Emi(OC)

Summary: Emi, first girl the Glade has seen. Tougher than she looks and more than ready to prove it. Since day one her and Gally have been at each other's throats. Fighting constantly and not just with their words.

(Gally fanfiction which will include smut. It also has an actual story line. Think of it as an AU to the original Maze Runner. It'll mostly follow the main story line with some changes. Mostly focusing on Emi and Gally and their relationship.)

Chapter Eighteen

I was standing alone looking at all the monitors that had recently been set up. The images displaying the empty maze. I thought about everything that we had trained for. Everything we have been told. Is this really the best way?

"You okay?" A boy's voice from behind me made me jump.

I turned to see my brother. The only family I had. Aside from all the other kids here that I had befriended he was the one who truly knew me the most. My twin. He stepped closer to me stopping to stand next to me.

"What happens now?" I asked him quietly.

"We make the world a better place. It's up to us." He said with a small smile.

"Are you sure this is the right way? The best way?" I asked turning to face him.

"Emi, everything is going to be alright. We've all trained hard for this. We know what to do." His smile was warm and infectious.

I nodded then wrapped my arms around him to hug him tightly. I heard the door open followed by clicks of high heeled shoes. I knew who it was right away.

"Let's go you two" she spoke stiffly.

We both followed her threw the halls. We were almost to our bedrooms when someone grabbed me from behind. I screamed and kicked to get out of the hold. My brother whipped around and immediately tried to help me but she stopped him.

"Thomas! Tommy help me!" I screamed at him as my capture drug me away from him.

"Emi!" He yelled reaching out for me to only be pulled away from me and down the hall.

"What is this?" I shouted as I tried to fight against the hold.

"Sorry, boss says it's time for you to join the others." The man said quietly.

"What does that mean?" I asked frantically as tears fell down my cheeks.

He let go of me to only turn me around so he could grab my arm.

"Don't fight me it will only make this harder." He said sternly.

He pulled me further down the hall. We turned a corner and that's when I saw them. All of them. All of my friends. They were each in their own tank like chamber completely emerged in water. One of the last tanks held Gally. He was trying to scream and beat on the glass. What are they doing? Why are they doing this? I thought they needed us?

I screamed for my life as I was drug from the hallway to the room across from the tanks. I don't want to die!

___

I jolted awake as the fear took me over. I was drenched in sweat. Why do these dreams keep happening? What the hell do they mean? That boy, Thomas, is he really my brother? My twin? Before I could ask myself more questions the morning bell tolled. I got out of bed feeling like I wasn't actually moving. I felt lost and confused. I dressed myself then went out for breakfast. Everyone was in an anxious mood. The box was suppose to arrive almost a week ago. Everyone started thinking it might never come back up. I tried to ease my mind as I grabbed some food from Fry then went to my usual spot between Gally and Newt.

"You alright? You look a little pale?" Gally asked quietly.

"I'm fine just a bad dream." I whispered.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked sweetly.

I just shook my head no. I wouldn't even know how to go about talking about it. How could I tell him about this. I had told Alby about my other dreams but this one was very different. The boy that I called my brother, Thomas, he wasn't in the Glade. How could I dream about someone I've never seen before or at least I don't remember ever seeing?

After breakfast Gally and I went to work on a few things alone. I knew he wanted to talk. He could tell something was up with me.

"Em, I love you. You know that right?" He asked watching me closely as we walked.

"I know. I love you too." I answered.

"Can you please talk to me about what's going on? Did I do or say something?" He asked stopping to look at me.

"No Gally, you haven't done anything." I gave him a small smile.

"Then what's going on?" He asked again.

I sighed as I turned to keep walking.

"I've been having these dreams. Well, they're more like memories. They are just messing with me." I explained.

"Dreams that are memories? Memories of what?" His face was scrunched up in confusion.

"Memories of us. Of all of us that are here in the Glade. We were all friends before this. They kept us all together since we were little."

Gally seemed to get tense. He started pacing in front of me.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" He asked harshly.

"I don't know."

"What was your dream last night?" He asked looking at me angrily.

"It was of me and this boy who I called my twin brother. His name was-" I was suddenly cut off by the box's alarm.

Gally and I shared a quick glance before running full speed to the box like everyone else. I could see relieved looks on most of the glader's faces. Gally pulled the doors open then jumped inside. I leaned over to see him grab the greenie's shirt.

"Day one greenie" he said then pulled him to his feet.

As soon as the boy was out of the box and I could see his face I felt like I was going to be sick. It was him. The boy from my dream last night. What the hell is happening? I watched as he pushed the other boys away then took off running threw the Glade. Most of the boys cheered as they watched him. I couldn't feel any part of my body. The boys around me started laughing making me turn to see that the greenie had fell head first into the dirt.

A few of the boys drug the greenie over to the pit to calm down while the rest of us started unloading the box.

"Emi, you okay? You don't look so good." Newt said coming to stand in front of me.

"I don't feel so good." I barely croaked out.

Gally had heard me and immediately came to my side. I pushed him away ignoring his and Newt's questions. I turned and ran straight for my room in the homestead. As soon as I enter the building I was stopped by Alby.

"Hey Emi, you alright? I was going to go talk to the greenie. You wanna join me?" He asked with a smile.

I shook my head quickly then ran for my room. I need to be alone. I need to get my head straight. I'm going crazy. I have to be. Maybe I was stung. I started tearing my clothes off as I checked every inch of skin I could see. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing. I huffed in exhaustion as I fell to the floor. Why me? Why is this happening to me?

—

#nothingbutfangirlsmut #the maze trials #the maze runner #gally x reader #gally imagine #gally smut #gally #tmr gally #original character

[seyaryminamoto]

I've been browsing your blog for Sokkla research as I feel like it has similarities to what I'm trying to write with Azula and Soren. I haven't begun tackling Gladiator yet, as it looks a little daunting, but I feel I should since I keep hearing so much. I am a little hesitant over accidentally using anything you wrote for my own story. I'd be proud if I could make it as long and epic as yours. It's very personal to me. What motivated you to write Gladiator and keep writing for so long?

Yeah, I saw your post about your crossover ship having potential similarities with Sokkla and I agree that it would, since Soren shares a few traits with Sokka, character-wise. Admittedly, Azula interacting with a character like Soren would present quite a lot of fun possibilities, so it seems to be an idea worth exploring :)

As for reading Gladiator and accidentally using similar tropes… well, I don’t know if it will ease your mind much, but there are several tropes that I’ve run into in many Sokkla fics, mine, other people’s, just… lots of them xD and it’s not really a problem. Storytelling can lead to similar places, but usually, every writer handles their tropes and character development differently.

My plan for a certain, poignant scene in Gladiator’s 96th chapter was set in stone in my head back when I started plotting the fic (like I said in that ask I answered yesterday). The scene in question is one I depicted in some artworks for Gladiator’s second anniversary: Sokka defeats Azula in combat for the first time, pins her down, aims his sword at her, and they just stare at each other before things take a pretty heated twist...

A few months after planning this, I read another fic where practically the same thing happened between them (it’s a Spanish fic, I hadn’t tried reading it yet because it was incomplete, sometimes I still scold the writer in question for never finishing it), only, rather than it happening when they could no longer resist the attraction between them, it happened when they were barely getting to know each other: Azula followed Sokka into a forest clearing, where he was training on his own. Upon noticing someone was hiding in the bushes, he leaps at her and pins her down, aiming his sword at her as well. Of course, he freaks out upon realizing it’s her, she isn’t very happy, and no heated things happen other than a lot of blushing, especially on her part xD

So, as you can see, even if the trope is “Sokka holds Azula down, at swordpoint”, the context was entirely different, the outcome was completely different and heck, the wording and even language we used was 100% different.  I came up with the idea for Gladiator before reading Majesty, later on I found out that someone had written a very similar scene already (and it was a close associate of mine, no less xD). As much as I didn’t feel like I was all that original anymore… I didn’t change my plans because of that. As long as I didn’t pull a Cassandra Clare and copy-pasted the whole scene my friend wrote into Gladiator, where was the harm in trying my own hand at it? I wrote the tropey situation in my own way, with my own words, and it’s completely my own thing.

There was something else that happened with Gladiator, another friend read it and thought I was taking inspiration for my portrayal of Sokka and Azula from a couple in a TV show she loved. Turns out I’d heard about the show, but I hadn’t watched it until she nudged me enough to do it (no regrets!), and after watching it I understood where the similarities were, but the context was all different. More than that, a certain situation (Sokka admitting his love for Azula for the first time, she asks him to say it again) was close enough to what happened between the main couple in said TV show…

… But I actually had been inspired by another couple, in ANOTHER TV show, that had a slightly similar exchange too xD

Therefore, tropes are tropes. I’ve recycled so many tropes in so many things I’ve written that people could probably psychoanalyze me and figure out all my brain chemistry damn easily if they did. I tend to have a very particular structure when writing, too (the original story I wrote and finished had 3 parts, Gladiator has 3 parts too, to name the most superficial similarity only), and I’ve frequently explored similar topics in them. It’s hardly a crime to do it again, but as long as you do it in a unique way, there’d be no harm in testing how some tropes would turn out with Soren and Azula. It could be worrisome if you portrayed Soren reacting to events exactly the same way Sokka does, but that’s not very likely to happen. As similar as they can be, they’re also different in several ways and in the post where you compared them you seemed to see those differences pretty clearly.

Therefore, I don’t think there’s any real harm in trying your hand at certain tropes and situations. If the context is different, if there’s logic to what you’re writing, and of course, as long as you write it yourself, there’s absolutely no need to worry about repeating things other people have done before.

That being said, don’t feel pressured to read Gladiator at all. I’m glad people have recommended it, but I understand if it feels not only daunting but that maybe you won’t be sure what to write if you see all the stuff I’ve done so far. Gladiator is many things, and one of them is my playground for testing Sokka and Azula’s relationship in just about every way I can xD it’s so long that I’ve been free to play with all sorts of possibilities with them, to fulfill all my shippiest wishes for these two. Therefore, if you’d rather be true to your own ideas and not get too influenced by it, it’s absolutely understandable not to read it until you feel comfortable about giving it a shot (presumably, once you’ve plotted plenty of own story and feel like you won’t be at risk of taking too much inspiration from it).

As for what motivates me… well, I guess there were many factors. One of them is that Gladiator was an idea worth digging into, with so much to explore that I was completely overwhelmed by the possibilities and I got completely caught up in it. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted the story to exist, so I decided I needed to make it happen. As it’s practically a full re-write of ATLA’s storyline, I had a chance to just… handle everything on my terms. And that meant the developments I didn’t like from the show could change: I could improve on things I thought needed improvements, I could add things that I felt the show needed, and so on and so forth. There were nearly no limits, really, and as I was absolutely lost in the beauty and glory of my OTP, I couldn’t help myself and I decided to dive right in.

It helps a lot that Gladiator’s kind of a multi-faceted thing: as I’ve been developing my art too, whenever I was bored in class I’d sketch things related to it and then, if I had a chance and the sketch was good enough, I’d finish the art digitally later. I have a lot of music that inspires me, so sometimes I just sit down, listen to it, and I let myself evoke scenes that I want to write or draw. Fact is, the whole fifth anniversary project was a mix of art and music: the songs that inspired many arcs of Part 1, along with images that referenced them.

Lastly, though… I generally know where Gladiator’s going, so I don’t usually reach a point where I’m like “Woah I have zero plans for what to do next”. I plot things for the story whenever I have nothing to do (when I’m traveling places, when I’m showering, when I’m waiting for something? Just, whenever, wherever). If an arc isn’t shaping up to be particularly fun, I try to figure out what to do to make it more interesting and appealing for me to write. Whenever I come up with something I’m hyped about writing, it helps me keep on writing until I get there. Sometimes that’s also a curse because I go overboard and write like… 12K in a single day because I am that hyped about whatever I’m doing :’D happened a couple of weeks ago xD

Anyways, always try to fulfill your own needs with your story, first and foremost. Sometimes your public won’t be 100% receptive to your ideas, but sometimes they’ll actually want exactly what you’re putting out there for them. The magic of fanfiction is that, if someone doesn’t like what they’re getting, there’s absolutely nothing to stop them from taking to writing a story they do want, right? So, why should we try to please other people instead of writing what we’d want to read?

Make your story something you can revisit and smile about, make your story something you can find value in, regardless of whoever tries to undermine it. Make it yours, make it everything you want it to be. Want humor? Set up humorous situations (I mean, your lead couple would be Azula and Soren, humor’s basically guaranteed xD). Want tragedy and angst? You can have it too. You really can do anything, as long as you make up your mind to get it done. Figure out what it really is you want to write, the key scenes, the development you’re looking for with your main characters, come up with plans on how to get them where you need them to be, and once you feel you’re in solid grounds for it, feel free to start writing and always keep on looking forward to the big things you’ve wanted to write for your fic.

#crackship-azoren #I've always thought the most important advice is to write what you want to read #because so many people are so busy trying to please an audience #they start privileging the wrong things over what really matters (shock value over storytelling for instance) #stories will have conflict and tension and big moments and small moments #let your own ideas be your guide though #no one will know your story better than you #if you don't write what you want to read #there's a pretty big chance no one else ever will #... this got long #oops #well not as long as other things I've answered at least #if someone wants a read more let me know...