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bellamioneotp · 4 years

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Bellamione Fic Master List

Making a list of Bellamione fics to guide the poor innocent souls into temptation organize stories based on AU type.

DARK AU’s

Bellatrix isn’t a bright ball of sunshine, but rather than have a story where she becomes a better person, Hermione becomes like her, or even joins her side. This AU type isn’t limited to only that, but also to general dark themes in the story such as violence, war and ‘wtf this is so wrong but yet I can’t stop reading’.

Reign Down Like wow. A whole world built around what if Voldemort survived and used Hermione in his evil schemes and had Bellatrix engaged to her. Very detailed and the author doesn’t hold back on aspects of the new world that can be somewhat unsettling. 25/10 this will leave you wondering just how sexy dark magic can truly feel.

The Dark Corners of the Earth This one is dark in an entirely different sense. Bellatrix and Snape are pitted in an ancient war against one another and Hermione is caught in the middle. The romance moves a bit too fast paced for me but the lore and detail in this will have you really thinking this story over the next few days, trying to figure out just wtf is going on. 45/10 will have you hoping your nightlight can keep Cthulhu away.

Haunted This story won’t leave you haunted, but it is pretty good even with it’s short chapters and all. It tells the story of Hermione sort of losing her marbles but I won’t get into too much detail. Just read it for yourself; it’s a quick easy read. 10/10 is poetic as fuck.

I Dream of Sin Takes place in a sort of canon world in which Hermione is an American teen being bullied. You can imagine how well that goes for the bullies especially when she learns she has magic and is taught by Bellatrix herself on how to use it. It gets progressively darker each chapter. 16/10 don’t want to mess with magical nerds ever.

For whom the Bell Tolls is an interesting look into how Hermione’s actually a death eater and Bellatrix is not. While Hermione is not bat shit insane, she is a murderer and Bellatrix is the sane one. Nice to see things switched up. This story is not necessarily as dark as the others but it gets brownie points for making the usually good Hermione evil right off the bat. 9/10 come to the dark side, we have cookies.

Staring at Nothing is just...wow. A very powerful one shot about Hermione’s descent into darkness as told by Harry’s perspective. 10/10 for who needs friends anyways, when you’ve got black leather.

Visions of You in which Hermione is a depressed youth after the war and has to deal with hallucinations of Bellatrix. Hermione isn’t dark here so much as she is gray type, and the story has a permeating tinge of sadness to it, given the circumstances. 8/10 for maybe Bellatrix isn’t a hallucination?

Deep Below what’s more awful than being accused of Harry’s death? Being falsely accused of it, and having to deal with trying to prove your innocent. This is a situation Hermione ends up in. But will she get out of it? 8/10 for this gets deep.

How to Love Bellatrix captures Hermione and sort of indoctrinates her into the world of darkness. Hermione is mad at first, but then she realizes how sexy Bellatrix is and is like, ‘alright fam, sign me up’ and boom Bellamione. 8/10 you love this story but not it’s update schedule.

TIME TRAVELER AU’s

Basically, what it says on the tin. Someway or another, Hermione goes back into time to stop Bellatrix from ever becoming evil. Drama and romance ensue.

Future Shocks A good time turner fic with a more modern take on war. It’s pretty long and it is the slowburn of all slowburns. But it’s a very interesting story and the ending will have you definitely shook. 8/10 will shock you awake from that boring lecture you’re reading fanfic in.

Time Heals all Wounds Hermione gets sent back in time to ‘redeem’ Bellatrix but not in the gift card way, more like saving the future type way. They end up, you guessed it, falling in love and changing the future somewhat. 6/10 is a young teen romance that will have you reliving your adventures as a young sapphic witch.

Mirror, Mirror Not exactly a time turner fic, more like a parallel world, I suppose. Hard to explain but has good amounts of mystery and trying to understand what is happening. Focuses more on Bellatrix’s POV which is a nice change of pace. 8/10 will have you looking in the mirror and summoning Bellatrix like she was Bloody Mary.

Let the Light Come and Take me A time turner fic that ends up with Bellatrix time traveling but to the future and the chaos her arrival there causes for those who are acquainted with her devious ways. Looks at the growth of our two ladies relationship into something more. 5/10 if it’s not slowburn romance is it really Bellamione?

The One Within the Other this story is about, you guessed it, time travel! Hermione goes back on purpose to stop Bellatrix from achieving her evil potential and in the process love blossoms. 7/10 for never enough time to read Bellamione in peace!

Caught in the Time series this is a series of three full length stories about Bellamione stuck in different times and universes. So much happens in them it’s kind of hard to summarize so the best thing to do is read them. 8, 8.5, 7/10 I’ll let you figure out which score goes for which series.

Just say When started off as a time turner story but then it ended up becoming something more of an espionage tale. It’s a good read and interesting to see how Bellatrix aims to save Hermione from a dementor’s kiss (spoilers!) in order to save their future together. A good mix of romance and action. 8/10 The name’s Black. Bellatrix, Black.

The Broken Wand It all starts with a wand and then before you know it, boom, time travel happens. Featuring Loki and adventure all around, this fic has interesting plot points to keep you engaged despite the slower update times. 7/10, will break your wand too.

Hourglass basically, a young Bellatrix is brought into the future and consequences abound from that mishap. The plot is a bit wonky and there are some logic mistakes, but if you can get over it, it’s a decent time travel story. 5/10 for it must be canon that Bellatrix has a lovely hourglass figure.

Times they are a Changing where Bellatrix travels back in time to save her wife, Hermione. Nice to see a story where Hermione isn’t the one doing all the saving. Unfortunately there’s only six chapters to this story and it’s unlikely it’ll ever get finished but it’s a nice fresh concept. 6/10 for that’s how many chapters there are.

Destined in this one, Hermione experiences some wonky times after the battle at the department of mysteries. Hermione has to find a way back home, but perhaps she might find love along the way? 10/10 for this is destined to be an interesting read.

HEALER AU’s

Let’s be real, Bellatrix has got a lot of problems and these authors try to solve them, with sex. And you know, medical help. But sex definitely helps a lot.

Portrait of a Tragic Woman Not a typical healer type au, because Hermione is a therapist whose helping Bellatrix with her mental disorders. Focuses a lot on the relationship between the two and really makes you try to figure out what exactly is up with Bellatrix and what is her past, etc. The ending chapters will leave you shooketh and wondering what even is real anymore. 50/10 because it feels like an acid trip, man.

The Healer is only one chapter but still worth a read. Hopefully the author will have some time to get back to it because it has a huge potential. 6/10 because I need some healing.

1k is a one shot, featuring Hermione as a therapist and Bellatrix as her patient. Can’t say too much without spoiling it, but despite it’s short length, the author paints a vivid look into Bellatrix’s mind if she was just an insane muggle. 1k/10 because that’s one patient I would never like to meet.

Darkness Underneath I mean, Hermione runs a team of healers, so technically it’s kinda a healer au fic, right? This story looks more in depth at the Death Eaters and dark magic surrounding them. 9/10 is that a dark mark or are you just happy to see me?

TEACHER AU

We all know this is the holy grail au of this fandom and yet there’s only a couple of long stories for this. Someone, write some more!

Fractures A long fic, that has a sequel. Basically, Bellatrix is Hermione’s teacher during a very trying time for Hermione when a competition goes very wrong and dark truths are revealed. Lot’s of action, Bellamione interactions, and overall interesting plot. 8/10 will leave your heart in fractures when you find out the sequel is unfinished.

In the Dead of Night Hermione asks Bellatrix if she can teach her some.....magic and things end up becoming very magical indeed. Bellatrix is the teacher in this story (because who wouldn’t want her as a teacher). It’s a WIP with only a couple of chapters out. 7/10 time to learn some real lessons, Granger ;)

Just a Brand features not only Bellatrix as a professor, but a magical soul mate bond between Bellatrix and Hermione that leads to much deliciousness. There’s a lot of chapters to this story but they’re pretty short. An updated and revised version can be found on a03 for those who like longer chapters. 7/10 Bellamione is branded on my soul.

It Just Felt Right is another fic with Bellatrix as the professor. Hermione starts off hating her and then it evolves into liking Bellatrix. The fic leaves off before any real progress can be made so if anyone is up for reading an unfinished fic from 2012 then go for it. 6/10 for this story feels right but not write because it’s abandoned :(

CRIME AU

Because there is never enough crime involved even with Bellatrix, these authors amp up the trouble and make it double. And gay. So very gay.

Two Sides of the Same Coin where Bellatrix is basically an auror. It’s only five chapters and it hasn’t been updated in a long time but it’s an interesting concept worth checking out. 9/10 wish there were more sides to the coin.

Murder Most Horrid A crime story, where Bellatrix is a magical cop and Hermione is a murder suspect. Bellatrix interrogates Hermione by banging her and then the two of them proceed to basically get married the day after. A bit ooc for Bellatrix but very in character if you consider this world not from the canon. -89/10 for how badly your vision will deteriorate if you try to read this all in one night.

The Mysterious Department Technically Bellatrix and Hermione are both magical detectives and they go and solve crimes and shit while also possibly trying to prevent the world from ending. You know, just casual stuff. 10/10 for the perfect crime, would commit again.

Darkness is Falling A story that has Hermione as an auror who replaces Bellatrix’s old partner. They butt heads, they solve cases, and naturally, begin to fall in love. 7/10 for this case is closed.

Some Things Aren’t Seen Hermione investigates Bellatrix’s crimes and past and ends up over her head. There are two follow ups to this finished work, all in the same vein. It’s all a good bit of fun watching Hermione try to take on the criminal Lestrange. 7/10, no, this has no relation to the musical Wicked.

SOUL MATE BOND

In one way or another Bellatrix and Hermione have a special bond in between them that destines them to be together. Angst, love, friendship, all abound in this au type. Features a combination of other factors thrown in, but the stories put in here are largely advertised in the blurb as more focused on the bond.

Lotus Flower Hermione finds out after Bellatrix’s death that they are bound together and that because Bellatrix is dead, Hermione is dying as a result too. This begs the question, will Hermione go back in time and save Bellatrix, or will she willingly submit to the bond’s curse? 8/10 I think we all know what Hermione chooses.

Our Mercurial Selves ever wonder what it would be like to have a murderer share your mind? In this one, Hermione and Bellatrix can communicate telepathically with each other, creating a bond that draws them together. Features evil schemes by Voldemort, a flying horse, and Narcissa beating the ever loving shit out of Bellatrix for even daring to breathe in Hermione’s direction. 9/10 will leave you with warm fuzzies for the Malfoy family before the ending crushes you.

The House Ring Bellatrix sends Hermione a magical ring that engages them and basically makes them wives. Prophecies abound about how Bellamione is meant to be the one and only true pairing. 7/10 for that ring better come with diamonds.

Demons AU

As if Voldemort isn’t scary enough, there are demons and scary things in this au type that will leave you and Voldemort both calling for mommy.

Unsteady Precipice technically also a time traveling fic, except Hermione ends up in an alternative universe. where she tries to change things from happening in the canon world like they did. But will it work? Who knows! Only a few chapters are out so it’s hard to tell where this story will go, but one things for sure, it’ll be good. 9/10 if you don’t pray after reading this the demons will get you.

A Demon in the Mist is also about, gasp, demons! Dangerous things are afoot in this story and Hermione is caught in the middle of it all. It takes part in the same universe as the caught in time series by the same author, but with slight alterations. Unsure if the story will be finished as the author has contemplated leaving fanfic writing. 7/10 can you find the demon in the mist?

MAGICAL CREATURES AU

Technically a category, right? Let’s pretend it is, because there are some stories out there that pit our two ladies as other than human and it’s fun to read about it.

As we Chase the Sun Very Black family centric and features Bellatrix as a big fluffy wolf. What’s not to love? Cuddles, and hair balls, and good times all around. 9/10 would tame that wolf.

Sing to me Your Insanity in which Hermione and Bellatrix are both sirens and will basically die if they don’t do the ol’ frickity frack. This is a long story and the slowburn feels like hellburn but it’s worth the read. 56/10 but you will need earplugs so those sirens don’t seduce you too.

Metamorphosis in which Bellatrix is also a wolf and doesn’t like being stuck with Hermione but gets used to it and basically they’re house wives of London and don’t know it. 8/10 for your mind with undergo metamorphosis from slightly obsessed with Bellamione to even more obsessed.

This Poisoned Blood of Ours vampires, vampires everywhere! Two parts to this series and features a confused Bellatrix and a changing Hermione. 7/10 do you think vampires like steak rare?

Cursed Doll Pretty self explanatory title. Someone ends up as a doll and shenanigans ensue. Won’t say more because it’s only two chapters, but it’s well written and worth a read. 10/10 Chucky? Is that your sister?

Liquid Measure these chapters are thicc boy. Only two chapters but such a good set up and everything. I hope the author is able to update at some point. 10/10 makes me thirsty for more!

My Demons in the Dark Hermione is a ghost. That’s it, that’s the plot. Boo/10 for this not so spooky spirit.

#Harry Potter #Harry Potter Books #Bellamione #Hermione Granger #Bellatrix Lestrange #emma Watson #Helena Bonham Carter #Bellamione fic recs #Fic recs #all gay stories #vampires #wolves #witches #time turner fics

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electricshoebox · 3 years

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writing tag

Tagged by the lovely @adventuresofmeghatron, thank you!

Tagging: @junemermaid, @molliehaswords, @desynchimminent, @valkyriejack, and @mercurymiscellany, if you’d like to do it!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

39. Holy shit.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

533,274 words. Holy shit.

3. What are you top 5 fics by kudos?

How to Share a Bed Without Killing Each Other: a Love Story (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, 5 Chapters, Complete) The trials and tribulations of literally sleeping together.

Rivers in the Sand (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) The Hissing Wastes unsettles Bull’s memories, and when he and Dorian are trapped together by a fallen pillar, Dorian helps him deal.

a soft place to land (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) When a letter from his father sets him off, Dorian turns to Bull for a distraction.

Always Good at Bad Ideas (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) Bull gets injured fighting a dragon, which leaves Dorian frantic enough to blurt out the one thing he was trying to keep to himself.

Flashpoint (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) “One time he got so excited he set the curtains on fire.”

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, always! I’ve seen various opinions on whether authors should, but to me, engaging with and getting excited with readers is half the fun and half the point. I also just really want people to know how much it means to me not only that they read, but that they take the time to leave a comment. Comments are hard to write. I completely sympathize with that, sometimes you just don’t know what to say or how to say it, and I absolutely don’t begrudge anyone that doesn’t. It just means a lot to me when people do, even when it’s literally just “This was cool!” or something, and I want them to know that it’s appreciated!

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

Hmmm. I guess that sort of depends on your definition of angsty. None of them have directly tragic endings, it’s just not in me to write that way, but I have one or two with open or less definitely, obviously happy endings. The rarepair DA2 oneshot I wrote for Merrill/Orana, Counting the Cost, has the most open ending, left completely up to interpretation. The Inception AU DAI fic I wrote for Dorian/Bull, In the Shadow of Dreams, has what I think of as an optimistic ending, and less a happy one. I tried to end that one with more romance, but it just didn’t fit the tone of the rest of the fic, so a quiet ending that signals a road to recovery was what I chose instead.

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

Most all of my oneshots have pretty happy endings. I guess I’m tempted say A Line in the Sand, my Deacon/MacCready start-from-scratch slow burn novel, just because it goes from antagonists to lovers and has the longest road with the most earned happy ending. I feel like the long struggle to get there makes it feel happier.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really. Instead I’m sometimes tempted into AUs based on other media, but not full blown crossovers with actual different characters meeting. Even then, I’m really picky in what I enjoy. I’ve only written one, the Inception AU for Dragon Age that I mentioned above. Honestly, it requires no knowledge of Inception at all. I really just stole a bunch of concepts from it and then made my own modernized Thedas around them.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Thankfully no! I’ve received one or two kind of odd comments, but otherwise I’ve been very lucky and everyone’s been really nice.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Hell yeah! I’ve written many kinds, really, whatever I feel like or whatever fits the fic. I’ve done plenty of your typical smut. I branched out into light BDSM with several of my Dorian/Bull fics, as well as waxplay and praise kink. I’ve also done some roleplay in the vein of “established relationship pretending to be strangers meeting at a bar” for Deacon/MacCready with By Any Other Name.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! Two of my Dorian/Bull fics, Wishing Stars and No Patron Saint of Silent Restraint, both by the same lovely person: landanding on AO3. I don’t think I stopped flailing for a solid day when I got the request for permission either time.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not since pre-AO3 days, beyond collaborating in a tabletop setting. I’m not completely opposed to the idea but it would have to be someone I felt really, really comfortable with and with whom I have really good communication. I’m really particular about my writing, and I’d need to know someone’s emotional comfort level with trading and changing and even eliminating ideas.

13. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Oh god that’s honestly really hard. I’ve written the most for Dorian/Bull and that ship will always have a special place in my heart. But I did write my first full-length novel for Deacon/MacCready, and they’ve already got me in the middle of my second. So they’re the ship that taught me I could do that, and they’re my beloved rarepair. There are a few more I absolutely love, but I think those are my top two right now.

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

Definitely Uprising. It was the first time I tried longform fic, and it was meant to be an entire retelling of DA2 with Velanna as the Justice-bearing character, rather than Anders, because after learning the developers almost took DA2 in that direction, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I had a lot of plans for it, for how Justice might develop differently, for what it might have looked like if elves had been more of the battleground issue instead of mages vs. templars, for some angsty bittersweet long distance Nathaniel/Velanna and some complicated Fenris/Hawke and Merrill/Orana. But I drifted away from Dragon Age fandom in interest a long time ago, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get the steam back for it. I’m proud of how far I did get, though.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I feel pretty confident with dialogue, I can usually make a scene flow with it pretty well and I spend a lot of time trying to be meticulous about character voice. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on my descriptions, which I appreciate and wouldn’t have considered a strength, but my readers have been kind. I think I’m pretty good at including body language, too, though maybe to a fault.

16. What are you writing weaknesses?

Much as people have been kind on the feedback, I really feel like action scenes are a weakness for me. I don’t enjoy writing them and I struggle a lot to make them feel like they’re flowing over just bulletpointing. I also feel like I struggle to make them exciting. I feel like I struggle with exposition scenes as well, and keeping them interesting over info-dumping.

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

I’m generally in favor of including them, but with the caution of doing thorough research if it’s not a language I speak. I shy away from it if I can’t be completely sure it’s accurate, because I don’t want to risk putting off a native speaker reader, or saying/doing something offensive. I’d expand that to include anything about another culture, really. For example, I’ve been slowly picking away at writing a Fallout fic for my Sole Survivor Anthony and Preston, and part of what has been slow going is just making sure I’m getting Anthony’s culture right. His parents immigrated from Vietnam, and I want his experiences with them and with his culture to be as accurate and respectful as possible, not falling into any stereotypes but also being allowed to be complicated.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Depends on what we’re measuring. The first fandom I ever wrote fic for of any kind was Sailor Moon. The first fandom I actually put fic on the internet for was Lord of the Rings, on good old fanfiction.net. The first fandom I published on AO3 for was Dragon Age.

19. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

God this is such a hard question to answer, my feelings on my writing change so often. I think it’s hard for A Line in the Sand not to be my favorite for the reasons I’ve already mentioned, it’s my first successful novel-length fic, I accomplished a lot with it and learned a lot from it, and it’s a rarepair I got to kind of develop from scratch in my own way.

But if I look back at my whole repertoire so far, just to branch out from the usual answer, I’d say I’m also really fond of To Have and to Hold, which was the first time I ever participated in a minibang, or really any kind of writing challenge. It’s a Dorian/Bull established relationship fic set during Trespasser, and it’s kind of a meditation on Dorian’s past and present and how they’ve shaped his feelings on love and commitment and marriage, all while he’s trying to decide his future. I’m proud of how it came out, and I think my Dorian voice still holds up okay. Plus I had two incredible artists working with me who put together stunning work for it, and how could I not be super grateful for that?

It’s funny, most of the top ones up there for kudos are ones that I don’t personally think are my best, it’s a lot of my very early offerings for Dorian/Bull that I think I could improve on a lot of if I tackled them now. I’m grateful people like them but I feel like they’re more an accident of timing, being published early in the ship’s popularity.

#writing tag #writing memes #my writing

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trashynyland · 4 years

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Alright, someone asked about this and I'm here to give.

There's not much to the HermitFamilyAU. I'll try and go in order in a way from oldest to recent characters that have been created so far.

Grian, mute avian hybrid. 23 but acts like an excited 10 year old. He communicates in bird, sign language, writing and charades. Only Mumbo, Iskall and Xisuma can understand Grian's bird talk (he'll chirp, squeak screech and squawk). He's a bundle of joy, really energetic, he loves to cuddle and he's usually always happy. He'll tend to stick by Mumbo's side a lot. He has the habit of sitting on people's shoulders, it helps him with his height dysphoria, makes him feel taller which makes him happy. He loves to build with his legos since he isn't allowed out of the house unless he's with Xisuma. He was abused by his parents who cut out his vocal cords with a knife at age 9. He's lived in the hermit household for 5 years. He has a feather shedding habit which Doc despises (that's what earned Grian the name "Feathers"). Grian and Doc have a love hate relationship but mostly, Grian loves being a little shit to Doc and annoy him. Grian can easily get sent into a panic attack if someone touches his neck without permission. He has trust issues and won't let anyone he doesn't know near him.

Mumbo, human but has the power to generate Redstone dust from his hair (like King Sparklez but he can generate the dust with his hands). He's 24 and a nervous wreck. Mumbo always needs an explanation to things he doesn't understand, if he doesn't get it then he'll try and figure it out himself. He's very shy around others he doesn't know and has a horrible stuttering habit when he has to talk to people he doesn't know. He loves hanging out with Grian (his comfort buddy boyfriend) and loves to help the little avian. His legs got shattered and ripped from a piston malfunction that he was trying to fix, they had to amputate his legs from the knee down. He's got Redstone prosthetics that are powered with Redstone (made by King Diamond). He has no recollection of his past, all he knows was that he showed up on the Redstone King's doorstep at age 7 and was adopted by the king. Mumbo's father is King Redstone (or CaptainSparklez) but Mumbo lives with Xisuma since Mumbo himself isn't found of the Royal lifestyle. But he works for his father and helps around the castle from time to time. Started living with Xisuma at age 19.

Iskall, slime hybrid. He's 27 and a comedian. He acts like a crazy uncle, loves to make inappropriate jokes but also acts like the 2nd father of the house. He loves to jokes around and pull pranks. He's very kind until you hurt his family in any way. Again, acts like the second dad of the house because things can get too crazy sometimes. When he was 16, he was shit in the eye by a blast spell which caused his eye to never grow back. Instead of getting an eye patch or a regular eye prosthetic he asked Mumbo and Doc to make him some kinda cool looking eye instead. He was abandoned by his mother at age 13, was taken in by Xisuma at age 15. He has abandonment issues.

Xisuma, Archangel hybrid (four wings, halo and 6 eyes. 4 of the eyes and the halo only appear when X uses his powers. Two of the wings get hidden beneath the top two wings.). He's over 1000 years old (but 38 in human age). He absolutely loves adopting and it's his horrible bad habit. He's been banned a few times from adoption centers because the guy can't control himself. Because of this, he's been named the "Caretaker" and "Dimensional Adopter". He's a Warrior (meaning he goes out to different dimensions to help out others in corrupted dimensions) but he's also a coder and hacker. He loves his family and would do anything to protect them. He was banished to the world Palace Concy at age 17(human age) and has lived there happily ever since. In his old world, he use to live in the heavens which had thin air. Since the air is much thicker on the ground and too much for him he wears a ventilator to help him breath better. He also can't die, he can respawn which he finds unsettling. When he dies he respawns in his bed. He's a bottom, he's gotta admit that and his husband is Doc (someone he first saved when he became a Warrior). Most of his scars on his body (including his "X" scar on his face) we're given to him by Doc himself on accident. He's a dad of the hermit household.

Doc, creeper human cyborg. He's 40 years old and a cranky guy. He tends to put up a touch guy act but in reality he's just a soft teddy bear. He'll only show his true softness when alone with Xisuma or playing with the kids. He's caring but will act like he doesn't give a shit. Parents call him Soccer Mom because of how prepared he is and how much he helps his kids but also because he tends to pick fights with the entitled parents who thinks their kid(s) are better than everyone, "News flash Christian! They aren't special!". His prosthetic arm, half head and neck, part of his chest and half is heart were all designed by King Diamond and Doctor Joe Atlantic(they also got some help from Prince Stampy). In Doc's old dimension he use to be a creeper that couldn't explode (which hunters found amusing so they'd pick on Doc and give him scars, basically abuse him). One day he fell in love with his world's Cub who later ended up turning him him an and forcing him to become his science experiment. Once he was deemed useless, Cub put him up for auction which Xisuma ended up buying him and taking him home. Doc has major trust issues with everyone and still doesn't trust Xisuma's 3rd new adoption, Cub Issatic who's always on edge and thinks someone is after his blood (character Cub is still a wip so this may change later on). Doc is surprisingly actually a cuddly type of hybrid. He loves to cuddle alone with X when they get the chance. Doc's husband is Xisuma. Doc is the mom of the hermit household.

Tango, very energetic guy, he's a Telikiantors (a mythical creature created by me the artist, there's a post I made about them but to be short, they're forest creatures that are like SirenHeads but don't eat humans unless provoked by them). Tango is a hybrid version of a Teli. He's 6 years old and still waiting for his future surgery to get on his mouth tail so he can start eating from it again (in his old home it was damaged). He loves to pull all sorts of pranks and is the house's little chaotic demon. Even with no arms, he can't be stopped. He use to be owned by an old woodworker who used Tango as his personal slave. Since Tango was young at the time and didn't know any better and was a child he'd always fool around and didn't listen. This angered his old owner who cut off Tango's arms off and cut his tail mouth so he couldn't eat. Xisuma stumbled upon him one night when the Archangel got lost on a hike in the woods. X saved him and adopted him at age 3. Even though Tango went through that torture he's still bubbly and doesn't have much trama. He's more unsure about things and will asked about them.

Impulse, he's a God actually who was the son of a lightning goddess and ocean god. He's currently 5 years old. When he was born his eyes were completely gold and blue but after his mother and father forced him to use his magic he went blind. Since he was only 3 at the time his eyes were still sensitive and not use to powerful magic or anything bright. His mother was frustrated with him that he couldn't summon up lighting or water so she summoned up some lightning and struck it right in front of Impulse which caused him to go blind and his eyes to lighten up a bit. When the parents left to argue after the situation, that's when Xisuma jumped into the dimension to save Impulse and take him away. Originally his eyesight was supposed to be fixed and he was supposed to be sent back to his home world but he refused the care and refused to leave X's side. He's very scared of powers and when people raise their voices. He's shy and fragile and can easily get overwhelmed by things. He has some sensitivity issues, where when he's so overwhelmed by something he can easily fall into a panic attack. Doc, as a Christmas gift, gave him two shovels that have turned into his comfort item. They help conceal his magic so it doesn't get too out of hand when he gets overwhelmed, upset or angry. He usually sticks by his brothers Tango and Zedaph's sides but when he's not with them then he'll be hanging around his dad, mom or one of his siblings while on a child leash (he doesn't mind the leash and actually loves it since it gives him comfort. He's still not use to being blind and all).

Zedaph, he's a witch, that what everyone knows so far. He's 5 years old and has a teddy bear attitude, his personality is very fluffy and caring. He loves the world and the world loves him. In his old dimension, he was a rich witch's slave and was forced to do dirty work. His owner once had enough of him one day when he accidentally dropped her food and his owner blasted his arm off. Because of the traumatic experience, Zed prefers to keep his eyes shut in fear of having to go through something terrible and scary again. His old owner sold him off to Xisuma who took him in and adopted him. Zedaph's powers are unknown because they haven't yet activated. He's been labelled as a witch for now because of the place he came from and his low power levels. His favorite person in the world his his Uncle Stizoom because of his fluffy hair and tail. He loves to curl up in anything soft and fluffy because of how comfortable and safe it makes him feel. It's the reason why he owns a large Wooloo plushy.

Cleo, a very rare zombie eel siren. She's 31 years old and doesn't like speaking. She likes to stay mute unless talking to Xisuma or False. Nothing seemed to be wrong with her old dimension same with her except that she was always bored. Pirates and fishermen always tried to catch her and at first Cleo loved to prank them but as she got more and more bored she started letting them capture her and sell her at black markets, auctions, sold to royals. She always knew how to escape and she found it fun at first but soon grew bored of it all again. It was always the same routine. Xisuma found her while he was wondering her dimension in a black market. He asked her if she wanted to join him but of course she said nothing. Xisuma ended up buying her and bring her home with him. Cleo has never tried to leave or escape since (except to False's bedroom to sleep with her).

Ren, dog hybrid who has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). Since he has many different identities all have different personalities (check out his character sheet for more details on all the identities). But mostly Ren is in charge and upfront to control the body, he is the main host after all. Ren is the definition of the one crazy uncle. He's comedic, crazy and loves to put a smile on others faces, he's also very playful. He can get flustered easily if someone dominates him (either in bed or at his own games like flirting). Ren and the body are about 21. In his old world he was abused a lot, mostly chained to a wall in a basement his entire life. He was abused a lot by his owner alpha and many other bad things. It's where a lot of his trama comes from. He one day ended up escaping but fell through a dimensional portal and ended up in Palace Concy. He was found in the woods passed out by Slime n Bone podcast who were taking a vacation with the Woodworks family in the Kosikians Sky (mt. DeathLoxes) mountains. He's was taken to Xisuma after the podcast group couldn't figure out how to help him since Ren wouldn't say anything and just shake in fear in the corner. He was taken in by X which Ren is very greatful for. Ren is scared of everyone since he's an omega and comes from an omegaverse, he thinks an alpha will come and hurt him again. Ren has a huge crush on Iskall and even though he knows the man likes him back he's too scared to ask him out. Ren loves to hang out with Grian, Doc and sometimes Iskall when he isn't blushing nervous. Very cool dude.

Bdubs, human but is immune to explosives but can still get stabbed. He's 19 actually and has a big habit of getting into trouble with Impulse and Tango. He works at an explosives store in town, helps out the construction crews when they need a certain area exploded and loves to volunteer at the firework stands that pop up during July 1st "Redstone Founders Day" (Bdubs favorite holiday). He's enthusiastic and doesn't mind teaching kids about explosives and safety in his spare time. He loves causing trouble when he can but he also loves helping out others with decorating. He's got a side job he's made "Bdubs Interior Design" and usually many people hire him for help. He use to live in a HermitCraft world when he decided to leave one year and stubbled upon an Earth dimension which he was then used as a bomber during the everlasting wars that were going on. He was one day capture and take to Palace Concy by Lunch Army and was then later adopted by X. During his time on the Earth War he gained black smudge on his face that X has found won't come off so it's become part of Bdubs skin basically. Some have called him blackface and think that he's being racist but he's not. He's just got some black smudge on his face that is unremovable. He's bubble and loves to make others smile when having a bad day. He doesn't really have any trama except for being weary of portals. He's got a crush on Keralis but won't admit it.

Keralis, human. He's 18 (looks 16) and a punk. He's mean and bitchy to everyone and doesn't let a single soul through his walls (he doesn't let others see his emotions and what he's really feeling). He love to break the law and pick fights. He works with "Brtakis Construction Company" which causes him to travel from home a lot. He's very strong and can pack a punch. He's a warrior so that's why he's got his own special weapon, he's not allowed on any dimensional missions but he's allowed to kill Alumas (soul takers) when they show up. In his old dimension he was a homeless immigrant who lived on the streets of New York (where he earned his punk attitude). He was saved by Xisuma one night when he was about to get killed by a gang group, almost got shot in the head. X had offered him a home but Keralis denied his offer. It took 5 years of constant saves and denied offers until one year he almost committed suicide he finally opened up to X and accepted his offer with a wailing sob. He still keeps his punk attitude because he grew up with it but also because he finds it cool. He also kept it because of Doc, Keralis wants to be just like the guy. All smug and strong. Doc is the person he looks up to, his idol in a way. His trama? He gets scared and panicked when left alone and he can't go near any big cities that are similar to New York.

Wels, avian hybrid mixed with an angel hybrid. He owns a halo that's cracked and shattered but only appears when he's angry. He's got beautiful golden wings that goes along with his ruby red hair. He's 15 but a secret Drag Queen at night. He loves to entertain people and put on a show, show off what he can do. He loves the stage and to him it's his home and life. (Idk how to explain it but he's just like the YouTube Wels but gay). He owns two Drag Personas, Cherry Rider who's his usual sona he dresses as who can be a wild ride. Cherry is an encouraging fool that will try and help anyone build up their confidence to do anything that their heart desires to do. His other persona is HelsKnight, Hels is a naughty bad fool who, for Wels is his way of getting his anger out in style and in a safe way. He'll preform and have a happy attitude when Cherry but have a dark and naughty~ attitude when being Hels. Because of X's worry, Wels has paired up with Doc on the weekends to do drag but pairs up with Skeppy during the weekdays for drag. Since he's young he still needs parental vision. Not much about his past except for being an orphan all his life and getting bullied at school and at his orphanage for being gay and loving to cross dress. When Xisuma adopted him, Wels hid his love for drag which ended up causing problems because when Cherry Rider first appeared on TV Xisuma fell in love for her and was horrified when he found out the drag person character was his son. After a bit of awkward talking and drag performances from Doc for X, Xisuma got over his silly love crush for Cherry and told Wels that he accepts who he is and will always love him as family. Xisuma told him that it would just be a bit awkward for awhile because X still had to get over the fact that his favorite drag queen he had a crush on was actually his adopted son. Doc helped both X and Wels after the reveal. Wels grew more confident and stopped hiding his drag cross dressing side (while his father Xisuma got over his crush and dropped it entirely but he ended up crushing on Wels' drag performance partner Skeppy). Wels still has a small fear of being himself in front of others but has overcome most of that fear because he knows his family has got his back (especially his over protective Dadsuma who would kill anyone who hurts his family and his Docmom who will murder any parents that talk his son down, "I'm lookin at you Rebecca! Your daughter is a lesbian and will never be straight you blind fu-"). Wels has a small crush on Biffa (an orphan friend of his that lives on the other side of the world (Biffa is still being developed) who Xisuma is thinking about adopting.

Jevin, rare blue slime hybrid. He's 1 year old and there's not much to him. He's a happy a baby who has a weird love obsession life with the Jello food. Iskall loves to take that and tease his baby brother with it (like stabbing his lil brother's jello in front of him and watching him cry about it, Iskall just finds Jevins whole Jello obsession hilarious). Xisuma actually found Jevin in a basket by his tracker right before he was about to work on his farm fields. Jevin will usually be hanging out with Iskall since he's also a slime and the hybrid connection helps them work better with each other. But also since Xisuma and Doc have no idea how to take care of a slime hybrid since they're hard to come by in Concy and there's not many books about them, so the two husbands let nature take it's course with Iskall since it looks like he knows what he's doing.

NPC Grian or Rustie, he's a demon but apparently can change into a robot? He's an interesting type. He's 25 and a cheerful man. He works in architecture, both with planning out the building and how it will look along with the construction. He also works at a bookstore named "BookRook". He's sweet and kind but will snap your neck in you make him angry, a smile with a dark atmosphere like aph Russia. He loves his kids but if he finds Grain making anY MORE ROBOTS THEN HE'S GOING TO-. He love to volunteer for events and he loves his husband Zoom. He was found by Zoom in his old dimension where Rustie was still locked and hibernating in his closet. He would have taken his robot brother with him but Robot Grian was in horrible condition and... dead so there was no use of him. Rustie owns a nice little rustic cabin in the woods beside a like with a great view. He and Zoom built the house and nother are proud of their work and family.

Evil Xisuma or Stizoom(Zoom), a Strider hybrid but fluffier. He's 27 and has a very gentle heart. He loves nature with a passion and Rustie tends to find him curdle up in his flower beds quite often. He likes to bird watch and plant flowers. He's a five star chief for "Blossburgi Restaurant" and a karate teacher for "Hightri's Karate". He hates the cold and loves to cuddle up with Rustie during the cold seasons and Rustie finds it adorable. Luckily, the two own a nearby hot springs so when things get to cold, Zoom will go hang out in the hot springs for awhile. He loves animals, all kinds. In his old dimension he was always forced to be near creatures and he always hated the small to so little space he always got. Xisuma found him and took him in for all awhile until Zoom found and fell in love with Rustie. His husband is Rustie and they both love each other very much. Very cute :3.

HermitPets, they're more used and made for a different AU of mine but in HermitFamily they're more background characters for sorts. Not much.

HermitFamily house, huge house I mean huge. It's a mansion that's up in the Stonety Mts. It sits in a large valley surrounded by mountains. The valley is actually a farm the the hermit house owns. They grow crops and sell it the small nearby town they live by named "Vellenture". Their house, in the back has a large poor (more of a lake and it's for Cleo) but it attaches to a nearby forest. The house itself, on the outside is a creamy white and on the inside, many colors. (I'll have to draw it out for a better explanation but basically the house looks like Grian's mansion but a creamy white and rustic grey.

#hermitfamilyau #hermitfamily #hc abouts

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sysba · 3 years

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if you're still doing the reviews, could you do greenwarden?

but of course! there’s no limit, I’ll just do them whenever someone asks ❤

𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕟𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕟 | my review

GENRE: supernatural horror

STATUS: open WIP demo

VAGUE PLOT: the main character is a monster hunter (who works for an organization) and that’s all you need to know.

SETTING: small town, southeastern United States

CW WARNINGS: graphic descriptions of violence, gore, and body horror; the main character is mentally ill, suicidal, and self-destructive. [please read the full warnings list at the beginning of the game]

TUMBLR BLOG: greenwarden-cog

COG FORUM: >>> link <<<

↠ Main character customization:

gender (male / female / nb; trans / cis / intersex)

trans, nb and intersex characters have the option for top surgery

sexuality (straight / gay / bi / ace)

physical appearance (hair length & colour; eyes; height)

personality (arrogance vs humility; apathy vs empathy; stoicism vs charm; recklessness vs caution)

weapon of choice

smoker/non smoker

eating habits

↠ What I liked:

some of the most ‘technical’ aspects are very cool; for example, being able to choose if your character had top surgery, or being able to select your ROs’ gender singularly (beforehand or upon encounter)? love that!

the setting. not only as a personal preference (i do love this supernatural hunter on the road kind of thing), but because the author has a very descriptive kind of writing. every word, every pause, it’s all carefully crafted as to give you the best reading experience. instead of immerging yourself in the story, the story wraps itself around you. there’s honestly an amazing feeling to it, especially when you can sense what the character is feeling and experience it yourself. greenwarden is basically the written equivalent of a 3D movie!

similarly, the plot is exciting (to say the least). I just can’t wait to see what happens next.

the main character, aka the tracker. there’s a roughness to them that makes them such an interesting character. you can tell from the start they’ve been through hell, and you get to shape how they react to their trauma (which is depicted extremely well and is never overlooked or mocked). there are other aspects about the character that i won’t spoil but just know that they’re a freaking badass.

because of the tracker’s ‘internal’ struggles, the romance is particularly uh, flavourful... i don’t wanna get into specifics but trust me on this. high quality romance. again, don’t wanna influence your choice but *one* romance in particular had me weak to the knees. chef’s kiss, really.

↠ Recommended if:

if you like dark stories. greenwarden isn’t for everyone, it’s crude and angsty and violent... it’s spectacular, but you have to makes sure you can handle it. read the content warnings, take a break if something is triggering you and make sure you’re comfortable with what you’re reading. this is actually important for every piece of content you consume, but I’m stressing it because gw is a story meant for a more mature audience.

if you like the horror genre. and I’m not saying this in a “scaredy cats don’t interact” way. I’m not particularly brave when it comes to horror movies/stories, but greenwarden is a great addition to the genre. if you happen to appreciate horror, you can’t miss this story!

that said, if you don’t mind being scared a bit... like I said, greenwarden is very immersive. there are scenes where I was like “oh shit this is creepy af” and I got genuinely unsettled, which was cool but also, I get it’s not for everyone!

if you like more ‘active’ plots, which include violent combat scenes, dramatic plot twists and things like that.

since because of the plot I think it’s inevitable that someone might think of the show Supernatural, I’m telling in advance: think early seasons, first or second. that’s more or less the general vibe. but make it gayer <3

OVERALL RATING: 9/10. recommended but read the warnings. excited to see what happens next!

<<< LINK TO THE GAME >>>

#cryptikoh #answered #myreviews #greenwarden

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vixensheart · 4 years

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3, 11, 25 ~~~

3. What is one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (Consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway.)

H okay so for pretty much any fic idea I have, I always have a scene or two in mind when starting and I work my way to them. In both Penguin Shit and SitS respectively, I’ve hit at least one of those scenes. (Bakugou’s Trial for SitS and the gift shop storage room scene in Penguin Shit.) But there are. More of course, lol. I do have other fic ideas sitting on the back burner that each have their own anchor scenes....

Here’s a little of one of such things hidden away in my WIPS:

~Also under a cut because this made the post huge~

Distant jinging had Izuku stirring.

“I know, I know, Mitsuki. I’m getting Izuku now.”

He blinked, gaze coming to focus in the shadows of his bedroom. Izuku scrunched his nose. Light spilled from the hall, alongside the noises of someone stirring around. He rubbed his eyes and sat up.

“I...yes...no, I- look, it doesn’t matter. We’ll come to your place and figure things out from there. I know. We will.”

His mother’s voice drifted to him, rousing him towards wakefulness. She sounded...worried. With furrowed brows, Izuku slid off the bed, his bare feet hitting the cold wooden floor and making him shiver. He crept to his doorway, pulling open the door and peeking out. Inko stood at the counter, phone in hand and back turned. Izuku heard her sigh, a heavy sound, and watched as she tossed the phone onto the countertop. “Mom?” he said. She turned, worry lines etched into her features. Izuku felt his heart jump. ��What’s wrong?” he asked. “What’s going on?”

Inko tried to smile, though Izuku could still see it wobble. She hesitated, then sighed. “Izuku, honey, I’ll explain on the way, just- pack a bag. We’re heading to the Bakugou’s.” She turned and began rummaging through their cabinets. Izuku could only stare.

“We are?”

“Yes! Now please, Izuku.”

So many questions sprung up at once. Izuku glanced from his mother’s frantic movements to the alarm clock on his nightstand; it was nearly one in the morning. He hesitated. What on earth was so important that they had to leave now, of all times? He had school tomorrow, he was supposed to be sleeping right now. What would he even pack? He looked back to his mother, who was accruing a pile of things on their messy kitchen counter. Cans of soup, towels, knives? Something akin to fear crawled in Izuku’s belly. He turned to stare into his bedroom.

Messy sheets, and peeling posters, a forgotten glass of water beside an All Might alarm clock, and stacks of books on the floor. There was a pile of dirty laundry beside his closet, and his forgotten schoolbag at his feet. It was a room he’d known all his life. Izuku shook his head and stooped down, scooping up his bag. He debated on tossing his books, but decided against it. Instead, he grabbed another set of clean clothes and stuffed those inside. He grabbed a jacket and slung the bag onto his shoulders before hurrying into the living space.

The television was on. Inko stood in front of it, her back to Izuku, outlined in the flicker of the rapidly changing scenes scrolling across the screen.

“...outbreak reaching new levels of severity. We’ve received news that those affected by the mysterious infection display aggravated levels of aggression. If you notice anything unusual among your neighbors, please, do not interact! Contact local authorities at…”

“Mom?”

Inko whirled around. She was curled in on herself, an arm hugging her middle, her free hand hovering close to her face. “Oh, Izuku.” Inko clicked the remote and the television blinked off abruptly, leaving the two standing in the shadows. Inko threw the remote towards the couch and lurched forward, grasping his hand and tugging. “Come on, let’s go.”

They tugged on their shoes, grabbed their things, and scrambled out the door. Izuku watched his mother’s hands tremble as she locked their apartment door.

“Missus Midoriya?”

They both whipped around. Their neighbor, Shindou, stood by his door. Inko relaxed. “Oh, Shindou-kun. You startled me.”

“Sorry,” he said, seemingly sheepish. “Can I borrow your phone? Mine doesn’t seem to be working. I was trying to call my parents, and, well…”

“Of course.” Inko pulled out her phone and handed it to him. Izuku shuffled in place. He stared down at his red sneakers and fought back a yawn. It had to have been nearly two in the morning, now. Getting up for school tomorrow was going to really, really suck. That was, if he was actually going tomorrow. Izuku frowned. High school was far from amazing, but he hated missing his studies. It felt wrong.

There was a sigh. “Damn, nothing. It’s like the line is dead.”

“I’m sorry, dear,” Inko murmured. “It was working a little while ago.” She paused. “Why don’t you come with us? The Bakugou’s have a landline, maybe that will work.”

Shindou’s shoulders slumped, and he smiled, grateful. “Yeah, okay, thanks.”

Distant sirens blared, cutting into the silence. It wasn’t uncommon to hear ambulances or police cruisers whizzing by, sirens loud and lights bright. But paired with the urgency of his mother ushering them down the staircase, it was unsettling. They weren’t the only ones descending in the dead of night, either; each flight they travelled down, they were joined by other patrons carrying belongings and whispering amongst themselves. Izuku felt a little sick.

What was happening?

Outside was worse.

People were running down the sidewalk. A whole fleet of police cruisers whizzed past. Izuku thought he could taste smoke in the air. There were screams. He met his mother’s gaze with wide eyes, and she reached out and grasped his hand. “Come on, let’s go.” The three of them took off running down the street.

Chaos was everywhere.

At the corner, flames lit up the night. The local bakery. Izuku loved to stop there some mornings to get fresh bread or donuts. Army jeeps crowded the streets, military men and women swarming. They shouted directions, blocked alleyways. Izuku shuddered at the gleam of their weapons. “Keep running!” Inko yelled. “We’re almost there, just another block!”

Then, a loud, animalistic snarling caught Izuku’s attention. Someone, a man, leaped at them from the shadows. He tackled Shindou to the ground, eyes mad. Time slowed as the crazed man lurched forward and bit the junction of Shindou’s neck and shoulder. The scream of agony he let out pierced Izuku’s ears. He ripped his hand from his mother’s and grasped fistfuls of the crazy man’s shirt. “Get off of him!” he screamed, throwing the man off Shindou and onto the sidewalk. Inko was already hauling Shindou to his feet.

“Izuku! Come on!”

So yeah, lol. Maybe I’ll get around to actually writing that one, eventually. Maybe.

11. What do you envy of other writers?

Oh boy. Gosh, there’s a lot, lol. Style, the effortless way some of y’all stitch a story together. Tone. Some stories are just stunningly poetic and it physically hurts that’s how pretty they are. (Looking at you and Fire & Brimstone, Ama. That story??? Is STUNNING????? I love.) Or like how other writers just always know what’s happening and have every detail planned and I’m over here like

Planning is hard, y’all. But yeah. I have a lot I’m proud of, of course, but man. If I could inject Ama-level world building into my veins I’d be superman.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

Hmm... I think. Probably getting to share the wild ideas in my head with anyone who cares to enjoy them. It’s nice, being able to make something that brings joy to someone else. I do also love inventing scenes and capturing details, too. Very satisfying stuff. THANKS FOR ASKING <#

#ask me anything #ask away 👀#ask game #kat rambles #adventures in writing

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dontcallmecarrie · 5 years

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Hi! What would your take be on only Tony remembering the future from your AU By Myself But Not Alone. Like nobody remembers. And JARVIS goes Skynet just by listening to Tony? So, like what kind of damage/changes would he do to the world? Also, love all your WIPs and AUs! Thanks!

[warnings: mention of severe mental health issues, mention of suicide. Thus the cut.]

O.O

…um, friend, that would be a very, very dark AU and would run entirely counter to the entire premise of By Myself But Not Alone. I haven’t had much time to read fanfic for the MCU [classes and trying to write = not much time for other stuff], but if I understand correctly, dls’ If You Had The Time Again is probably what you want? Since it looks like it’d be an awesome time travel fixit to read?

Because otherwise…yikes.

See, here’s the thing: the entire premise of the AU is built on the ‘mass time travel’ thing. That’s the fun of it, for me; playing with the butterfly effect as the fixits come crashing together, seeing the balancing act the time travelers have to do throughout their quest to avoid the Bad Ending. Bucky waking up after the train is essential for this, Nick Fury and Maria Hill both going ‘oh fuck what year is it’ is also key, etc.

At its core, By Myself But Not Alone is meant to be a fairly fluffy AU, meant to be a respite from the way the MCU’s just gotten darker and edgier over the years. It’s meant to have all the self-indulgence I couldn’t work into TWiFFON, with as many ‘team as family’ tropes I can cram into it.

I mention this, because what your ask is suggesting is something that runs entirely counter to that.

Especially because it’s about something that comes up in the original outline, something that would catapult this AU into far darker territory.

[Here’s where the warning comes into play, btw.]

Because if Tony were to wake up alone, there’d be no one to save him, in Afghanistan.

Tony gets his memories in 2008, when he sees the bomb with his name on it— only, where he’d expected to see his past flashing before his eyes, instead he sees his future. Sees a very bleak future with very little support, sees trauma after trauma in a world that did its best to break him. Even if the prospect of Thanos terrifies him to the core about the Earth’s safety, it’s not enough, not right now.

Because everything he’s seeing is telling him that if he let things play out, then it would’ve still all gone to waste, would’ve still ended in failure despite his best attempts, and…in that moment, Tony can’t bear it.

In one life, Tony would’ve ducked for cover, when he saw the bomb. Here, all Tony sees is an out.

The world’s better off without him in it, anyway.

Long story short, the only reason Tony survived in the main timeline is because Stephen Strange is the Time Stone’s favorite person.

Originally, before I realized just how sad I made myself, By Myself But Not Alone would’ve just resulted in mass mourning because now everyone’s seeing just how much Tony shaped their timeline. Would’ve seen a world without Iron Man, without privatized world peace, without a champion pushing for a better future despite all the challenges he faced.

This is why there’s so, so many regrets, when word gets out.

This is why Peter Parker doesn’t forgive the Avengers. Why Loki takes a vindictive glee in giving the Avengers hell afterwards, why Thor’s stunned into silence and then starts to distance himself from the rest of the team. Steve feels the most guilt, because he never got the chance to apologize for Siberia; the SHIELD crew just exchange looks of quiet horror and resignation, when they see the headlines after Obadiah Stane vanishes, and then again as the world starts to lose its original, fragile hope because they’re doing their best but Iron Man started an era this world would never see.

Bucky’s equal parts grief-stricken and pissed off, when he sees the fallout of Tony’s death. He’d been so, so meticulous in fixing the timeline, only now it sometimes felt like they were back to square one because apparently Tony’d been even busier than they’d all known.

They still all fight the good fight, of course, but…there’s a more painful edge to it now. Where before, it’d almost been like a game with friends, now there’s ringing silences where they were used to snark, cold ashes where they’d remembered a roaring flame.

Tony Stark’s loss is a devastating blow, and that his legacy was the one to fill his role is but a cold comfort. Literally, because JARVIS is fucking frigid to the Avengers, and that he apparently now commands a robot army is something that unsettles them and leaves them all with so many questions because what.

No, seriously, what the hell, why hadn’t Tony told them he could’ve basically made Ultron back when he was a teenager, if they’d known about his other AI they wouldn’t have given him shit for Sokovia—and then Loki snarks about victim-blaming and that shuts them up even as Spider-Man gives him a shameless thumbs up before swinging away.

…aaaand I just made myself sad again, dammit this is why I made a fix-it in the first place.

So, yeah.

Stepping back, this is why it’s a mass time travel in the first place; otherwise, if only Tony’d returned, there wouldn’t be nearly as much grief otherwise. Like, sure, it’d be sad, but if no one remembers a better future then it’s just an absent ‘okay that happened, moving on now’ fleeting thing, instead of a bone-deep grief that rocks everyone to their core because they know the sheer potential this world had, and knowing it would never happen here makes for a raw sort of agony.

…um. That came out a lot more bitter than expected, sorry. And I’m still sad, so here, have another moment of the fixit:

The Ancient One, Wong, and Mordo were all very surprised when Stephen had bolted out after his fight. While they’d anticipated the regular jitters novices had after their first encounter with death, he’d seemed far more distraught than that— but in a very different way.

Not only that, but he’d left via a perfectly-formed portal.

Something strange was afoot. His reaction alone had been very odd, when he’d seen them; he’d blanched, then looked around as if seeing everything for the first time, and then— he’d left.

He’d left, and they didn’t even know where.

What had he gotten himself into?

“Sorry, I just need to check on something. Be right back,” he called before they could even reach him, and then the man who had been struggling with magic in combat not the day before had confidently thrown himself into the portal he’d made with an absent gesture.

“What books did he get his hands on?” Mordo asked warily, and Wong just shook his head.

“Not the ones that would’ve resulted in that.”

“He hid his path,” said the Ancient One, and they both jerked their heads sharply towards her.

“You mean—”

“He hid his path as easily as Kaecilius did, and I…there’s time magic involved.”

“But the Eye—” Even as he spoke, however, Mordo felt it, as something pulsed three times, and then yet another portal opened…only for its source location to shift across space and time in a way a master would have been loath to attempt.

“Stephen has a lot to answer for.” The Ancient One said with a slight frown, and Mordo readied himself as a very wild-eyed Stephen threw himself through before it closed behind him, clutching at a—was that Tony Stark?

“What have you done?” Wong exclaimed even as he moved to help with the man currently going through a panic attack.

Mordo’s moved to help as well, but his attention was caught by the familiar gleam of something gold around Strange’s neck. That couldn’t be right—

“You have the Eye,” the Ancient One said with a raised eyebrow, even as she too moved to approach them. “The Eye that we personally ensured was secured during the Zealots’ attack. Stephen, what have you been up to?”

The man in question didn’t answer immediately, more focused on checking over the man under his care with all the speed and efficiency that reminded them all of his past as a doctor. Once he was sure the stranger— Tony Stark? But how?— was relatively unharmed, only then did he draw himself up, and look them in the eye evenly.

In doing so, the Eye of Agamotto was put into full display, gleaming almost tauntingly as his shoulders squared and his cloak settled itself.

In that moment, Stephen Strange didn’t look like a novice newly-inducted into magic, didn’t look like a man who’d just had to fight for his life for the first time. No, instead, he met them all with the ease and grace of a seasoned Master of the Mystic Arts, and an enigmatic smile.

“That is…a long story, my friends. One best told over a long drink.”

#I got an ask!#Naught replies #replies #Naught rambles #By Myself But Not Alone #behind the scenes mini fic #behind the scenes #bonus content #meta #My writing #My fic

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camwritesbooks · 5 years

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↝ NANOWRIMO 2018 WRAP UP; Cursed Queen

Okay, so this is ten days late, I’m sorry. The past few days have been a much-needed chance to get back some energy and sort out my headspace. But here I am now to talk about how happy I am with how NaNoWriMo went this year! As some of you will know I set a goal of 20k words and didn’t *quite* make it (but that was a very specific choice made with my mental health in mind, I may add). However, I did get 18.5k, which is more than I’ve ever written for a WIP and the most I’ve got down in 2 years. My plan from now on is to attempt 10k a month and finish Cursed Queen by the middle of next year. I’m not sure that will happen, but I will try.

This November, I made some great strides with Cursed Queen and my WIPs in general. I sorted out the overall plot of the first book and fleshed out the main characters as well as creating some new ones! I’ve just fallen in love with my shiny new OCs including Sasha, Petro, Mira and more. I’ve also come to adore the villain, Kaliannisse, and all her evilness. I just can’t wait to keep writing more of her (including the novella I have planned that tells her backstory). Del and Merrin and Kieran have become so much more precious to me too.

Thank you to all those who have supported me, left comments on my NaNo updates and shown me and my blog love recently, especially during this past month. I doubt I would’ve managed to get this far without the continued kindness you guys give me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Below the cut I’ve put the *entire* first chapter, not something I’d usually do, so uh... check that out if you want! I know it’s a bit shit, but it’s the start and I’m proud of it!

wip(s) page • characters • intro post • del & merrin edit

Read the (totally unrevised and kind of crappy) Chapter One below ↴

chapter one; Del

I can smell smoke. Somewhere in this forest, something is burning. There are a lot of things it could be. A lightning storm raging on the other side of the nearest hills might have set a flame, or perhaps some fire bubbled out of the earth in the valley. Either way, it’s not a good thing.

I follow the trail back around, skirting the cliffs. I have a slightly unsettling feeling that I’m not alone in the forest, except that’s impossible. Nobody ever comes up here. Still, I swear I can hear what sounds like bracken crunching under feet some distance behind me.

“Merrin?” I call into the forest. My brother is the only one who might be out here, though even he doesn’t know how to get to this side of the plateau. Besides, he’s busy preparing for this evening. There’s no reply – all I can hear is the faint rustlings of wind in the trees. I probably imagined the footsteps. My nerves are just high because of the council meeting tonight.

I pause, resting a hand on the stone cliff beside me. The smell of smoke is growing stronger. If there is a fire, it could be close. After a moment of hesitation, I break into a run. The trees melt into a blur of brown and grey around me as I follow the track I’ve followed so many times back to the village. Wind rushes through my shoulder-length curly hair. Scrambling over smooth stone, I cross the crevice that cuts the plateau in two. I run and run until I’m gasping for breath. I stumble out of the trees and onto the wide open land of the plateau. The edge of the cliff is within sight, and beyond it is the mountains – two great ranges coming down on either side and converging in the middle, all of it lit up by golden late-afternoon sun. From up here, they seem so surmountable. I look out behind me and in the far distance I can see a small plume of smoke rising above the rocks and trees. There must be a fire somewhere. It’ll probably burn out before sunset though, so I’m not really worried.

I follow the curve of the plateau, breathing in deeply as the wind buffets me. Everything is beautiful up here, in this moment. I can pretend that I’m not hungry and slightly ill and that the people down in our village are all slowly dying. From here, I can see all the world I’ve ever known – the mountains, the valley, the great cliffs of the plateau. I can try to imagine what lies beyond the snowy hills or behind me, on the other side of the cliffs. I have only ever seen desolate tundra in that direction, but I can’t believe that it goes on forever.

Two or three years ago, I discovered a way from the smaller part of the plateau – the part the rest of the village knows of – and the forest-covered stretch of rock and earth beyond it. A deep ravine between the two sections, but I found a place where the walls of the trench caved in and you can get across safely enough. I didn’t tell anyone about it because there was little over there worth gathering, so it didn’t seem unfair to keep it as my place. If I did speak of it, the village leaders might not even let me go there anymore, saying I was too weak and thin to make it anything but a danger to me.

I close my eyes for a moment, trying to think forward to the rest of the day. The town council. The ceremony. I have a nasty sinking feeling in my stomach every time I think of it. Within a few hours, I will have nothing or everything. Merrin will have everything – the town leaders like him. But they never really liked me.

I climb down the crumbled part of the plateau cliff, following the path carved there by hundreds of journeys. From this side I can see my village with its dark-tiled roofs and great town hall in the centre. A part of me doesn’t want to go back tonight, and I’m almost thinking of just turning around until I spot Merrin standing at the base of the cliff, glaring at me. His arms are crossed.

“Hey,” I say sheepishly as I land on the flat ground.

“Where’ve you been? The council meeting is about to begin,” he says. I shrug. “I was… around. I couldn’t deal with everyone staring at me.”

“They were staring at me and Sasha too, and Lorrie and he’s not even a part of it! Father was worried about you – people were saying you weren’t even going to show up.”

I feel bad for considering doing just that. “Of course I was,” I say. “I couldn’t miss this.”

“You know nothing bad is going to happen, right?”

For you, no. The story’s very different for me. There isn’t honestly much between me and Merrin, but that’s not how the town leaders see it. Sasha’s their golden girl, but they love Merrin too. Who they don’t love, is me. I’m too thin, too sick, too slow. Anything I do right is never enough. Which is why tonight, at the town council, Merrin and Sasha will be made full citizens of the town – adults – and I won’t.

I follow Merrin back towards the village, lurking behind. The streets are empty, which tells me I’m later than I thought. Sasha is waiting for us outside the town hall. She doesn’t have anything to worry about, the town leaders like her.

“What took you so long?” she asks, grinning.

“Sorry, sorry,” I say, throwing up my hands. “I lost track of time.”

“No issue, nothing starts till we go in,” says Sasha.

Merrin gives my hand a quick squeeze. “Well, shall we?”

I enter alongside Sasha, tucking my hair behind my ears nervously. Sitting at the great table at the end of the room is the town council, the rest of the town crowded around in the hall. The town meeting happens once every moon but today will be a special one because the ceremony is happening today. Me, Sasha and Merrin. Next year it will be Lorrie and possibly me again, if I don’t pass today.

“Ah,” says Ren Bell-Lu, the leader of the town council, as we enter. “Here they are.” I don’t like Ren very much, he was never kind to me.

We follow Merrin to the front of the crowd and people move out of our way. Silence falls over everyone. My father meets my gaze as I pass him and I look away quickly, feeling a heaviness on my shoulders. I don’t want to disappoint him.

Ren leans forward as we arrive before the table, smiling. “Sasha, Merrin and… Del,” he says, disapproval on his face as he says my name. “You are brought before the council today to be judged. You have all reached the age of eighteen and are now given the chance to be full citizens of the town. Are you ready?”

The three of us nod.

Ren raises his hand, making the sign of our village – palm facing the sky; middle, ring and pinky finger together and index finger curled up to meet the thumb. “Then, we shall begin. Merrin, step forward.” My brother steps out from beside Sasha, hand on his heart. “Merrin, do you accept the responsibilities of adulthood and swear to uphold the traditions of this town, forever and always until your death?”

My brother grins as he speaks. “I do.”

“Do you stand by your name?”

“I do.”

Ren dips his head and Merrin returns the gesture, stepping back into line with Sasha and me. My hands are shaking as Ren’s gaze moves to Sasha.

“Sasha, step forward.” Sasha moves towards the table, her long blonde hair swishing. “Do you, Sasha, accept the responsibilities of adulthood and swear to uphold the traditions of this town, forever and always until your death?”

Sasha’s eyes sparkle. “I do,” she says solemnly.

“Do you stand by your name?”

“From this day forth, I wish to be Sasha Blue, if you will grant it,” Sasha says. A flurry of whispers rushes around the room. I can’t remember a time in my life where someone requested another name. Of course it would be Sasha. I suppose she deserves it.

Ren looks surprised but recovers quickly. “Due to invaluable service past, present and future, we grant you this name. You are now Sasha Blue.” He and Sasha nod to each other before she steps back into line.

Ren’s gaze moves to me and I feel my cheeks burning. “Del,” he says tightly with none of the respect he showed Sasha. “Although you have proven herself to be a competent member of this town, we do not believe you are yet ready to be a full citizen.” I cringe. “I’m sure,” he continues, “by next season, you will be successful.”

But you hope I won’t be. Horror and shame melts over me. I can’t bear to look at Merrin or my father, fighting to keep the tears out of my eyes. I saw it coming, but some part of me didn’t want to believe it.

Ren looks away from me as if I never even existed. He starts going on about the crop yield this month and I try to merge back into the crowd.

Sasha follows me, furious. “How can they do that?” she hisses. “It’s completely unfair!” “Yeah,” I say dejectedly, staring at the floor.

“I wouldn’t have taken another name if I knew they were going to do that to you,” she whispers. I shake my head. “No, you deserve it. It’s a lovely name.”

Ren seems to have stopped talking and chatter begins to sprout up around us. “Thanks,” Sasha says, “I’m glad you like it.”

“How did you choose it?” I ask, trying to direct the conversation away from me. I just want to pretend that none of what just happened took place.

She shrugs. “It’s not that deep, I just like the colour blue.”

Liz Bell-Lu, Ren’s wife, appears at Sasha’s side, who happens to be her niece. Like Ren, Liz was one of the lucky few people who received a second name. Ren Bell and Liz Lu married several years ago and have ruled this town ever since.

“Ah, Sasha, congratulations on the name!” she says in her usual simpering tone. “Del, I’m sure it’ll be your turn next time.”

I do my best to force a smile.

“All you need,” Liz continues, “is just to put on a bit of weight, dearest. You are such a skinny little thing.”

Sasha looks embarrassed but I shake my head at her. The last thing I need is to be on Liz Bell-Lu’s bad side.

“Well, we’ll see,” I reply with as much charm as I can muster.

“Your mother was quite the same, if I remember correctly,” Liz goes on, completely unaware of herself. “Thin as sticks and always rather ill. I’m surprised she lived long enough to bear a child!” She laughs as if making fun of my dead mother is somehow an appropriate thing to do. Sasha grabs my arm and drags me away with a hasty, “Let’s go talk to Merrin!” We make our way across the room. “I’m so sorry for my aunt,” she says once we’re out of Liz’s hearing.

“It’s okay,” I say.

“It isn’t, though. Nothing tonight is okay.” Sasha sends a death-glare in the direction of Ren, who’s speaking with another member of the town council.

I sigh. “Look, I’m sure they’re right and next year I’ll join you and Merrin as full citizens. It just wasn’t going to happen this year.”

“Excuse me everyone!” calls out a voice and the room falls silent. Standing on the elevated platform before the town council table is Vrin, the oldest person in our village. He’s one of the most knowledgeable people in the town and spends his days transcribing old texts and tutoring children. He taught me how to read and write which I’m decent at, but he also showed me healing herbs and survival which I took to immediately. He taught Merrin and Sasha too, though unlike nearly every adult I know, he always liked me best.

“My good friends,” he says, raising his arms. “It is with the greatest joy that I announce to you that I have finally completed the translation of the old books.”

The crowd applauds – this has been Vran’s project for years.

“Aha, thank you,” Vran says, smiling, “but that is not all I have to say. I discovered in the texts the existence of another town – a city – beyond the mountains to the north.”

What? A heavy silence falls across the room.

“I will read to you the passage, if I may,” Vran continues, squinting down at some papers he holds. “We passed by the city of Veneficia on our journey into the continent. We were greeted warmly by the High Empress, who provided us all with rich meals and supplies for the road. This place is heavenly – the streets are lined with strange shops and market stalls. The people here are endlessly kind to us and I am honestly sorry that we must leave soon. I hope one day we shall return. The city is located at the west end of the mountains ranges and we aim to move only eastwards from now on.” Vran looks up, clearly delighted with the effect he has had on the room. “That is the final entry in the book we found underneath the floor of this very hall. Somewhere, only weeks away, is a city of people who could help our town,” he continues, punctuating each word. Whispers start up throughout the crowd.

“You think it’s true?” Sasha murmurs to me.

“I don’t know, Vrin’s pretty smart so I can’t imagine he’d get this wrong,” I say, not taking my eyes off the stage. I’m grateful to Vrin for finishing his translations coincidentally at this time to take the focus off me. Besides, this is the first time our town has had something actually newsworthy to talk about.

Ren steps back up onto the stage, raising his hands for silence. “Vran and I have spoken extensively on this matter and we agree that while our town is one of beauty and tradition, we would do well to remember that a hard winter is on the horizon. If we can find this city, it might be of great advantage to us. Before I continue, are there any questions?”

“Who wrote the book?” calls out someone.

“Someone who was a part of a group travelling in these parts. We know very little of them, but they are a trustworthy source,” Vran answers.

“How do we know this city is still around, if it’s even there in the first place?” asks Kit, who’s a few years older than us.

Ren and Vran share a quick look. “We don’t,” says Ren, “but if it is, the resources there could save lives. We will not be abandoning our home here, only looking for some stability. We will be sending around 7 or 8 members of the town on a journey to find the city. And that is why we’re here today.” His eyes scan the crowd and rest on me for an uncomfortably long time. “Em will be leading the group and will take Orla and Gram with her. Petro too will go.”

I look around to spot the people he mentioned. Em leans against a table, grinning, her lackeys Orla and Gram standing to the side. Petro is expressionless, standing in a corner with his arms crossed. I’m not surprised they chose Em, she’s one of the most respected young people in the town. Petro is a bit of a strange choice, but maybe he put himself forward.

“As for the other places in the group,” Ren continues, his voice hardening, “there will be some places for volunteers. However, I think it only fair that people get the chance to prove themselves after past failures.” He looks at me. “For this reason, the fourth member will be Del.”

My heart stops.

Thanks for reading! I hope you all have a good day and a fulfilling 2019. The future is bright <3

#thank you all again!#and sorry for the crappiness and unedited-ness of the chapter #nanowrimo 2018 #nano update #cursed queen #del #merrin #<3 #queue

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emjayrey · 6 years

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20 Questions Tag

tagged by @mercurialscoundrel. Thanks for the tag! Sorry it took so long. I’ll tag whoever wants to answer these questions. (I feel like I’m bothering you by actually tagging you and I can’t remember who likes to be tagged if any of you do lol)

1. Is there any scene from any piece you’ve written that actually scared you? If so, describe the scene.

I’ve never been a person to get scared from reading a story. Maybe I’ve just read too much Stephen King. Who knows. Umm... most unsettling thing I think I’ve written is maybe the prologue to my WIP, The Risks. It’s an encounter between my OC and the first infected person she sees.

2. What genre do you feel most awkward writing?

Smut stuff, but we’ll get into that in one of these other questions.

3. How many different types of writing do you write? Types of writing include novels, short stories, poetry, song lyrics, etc.

I write novels. I’ve written a couple one shot fanfics too, but that’s just for fun.

4. How old were you when you first started writing?

I can’t remember a specific age. I know I was in elementary school. I got a journal for Christmas once and was going to write a story about a ghost and I titled it Gost in bold letters on the front then realized I misspelled it... yeah. that story never happened.

5. How confident are you in your writing?

*squirms uncomfortably*

6. Have you ever written and posted anything that was very personal to you?

My new WIP, Amelioration is going to acknowledge some things that are personal to me. I think it’s going pose important questions. It might even be a bit controversial. I’m having a hard time getting into it though, probably because it’s pretty different than what I’m used to writing. It’s got some fantasy elements to it and lots of world building which is going to take some planning and I’m more of a pantser so...

7. What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve always just really enjoyed reading and writing and any English classes throughout school.

8. Which of your OCs do you relate to the most?

Probably Claire. We’re very similar. Except she’s just meaner.

9. Have you ever written self-insert fanfiction?

I can’t say that I have.

10. What is your favorite piece you’ve ever written about?

Right now it’s probably my Zelink fanfic. Probably because it’s the only piece I've posted online and it’s gotten some love so I feel kind of confident about it. Otherwise, I think Amelioration will be best thing I write. (If I could just WRITE IT)

11. How frequently do you actually sit down and write?

Hahahahhahaa. Right now? Not very often. Doing this tag game is the most writing I’ve done in months. I really just have to be in the right mood, otherwise everything I write is shit or I just stare at the screen for hours on end. That may be a poor excuse, but I just can’t force myself to write if I’m not feeling it. Can’t do it.

12. How many hours at a time do you do research on your writing?

The Risks doesn’t take a whole lot of research unless I’m looking up things that would make people suspicious that I might be a murdering psychopath. Stuff about weapons and wounds and those kinds of things. Amelioration will probably take a lot more research. I hate researching.

13. Do you like to branch out in your writing or do you tend to stick to what you know?

I usually just stick to what I know. I’m boring.

14. What would your antagonist of your current WIP say to you if they saw you in person?

They honestly wouldn’t have a whole lot to say to me unless it was just some demeaning bullshit, because I really wouldn’t be worth their time.

15. Do you consider yourself your OCs’ god or just kind of a guiding hand (or other? If other, please list)?

I’ve never really thought about that to be honest. Maybe more of a guiding hand?

16. What do you think you’d be doing with your time if you’d never gotten into writing?

That’s a sad thought. Umm.. probably be obsessing more about movies and TV shows.

17. Have you ever written a smut piece?

Okey here we go. So for The Risks I need to write an intimate scene between my to main protagonists. And I’m finding it difficult. It’s kind of like a big deal in the story and I want to write it in detail without it sounding like a smutty fanfic. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some smutty fanfic, I just want my intimate scene to feel more smooth and professional like a Stephen King sex scene and not like E.L. James. Halp.

Also, tried writing smutty fanfic and I just don’t think it’s for me. I don’t mind reading that stuff but writing it is just so cringey to me. I cannot in all seriousness write those sorts of words in a sexual way without cringing. It’s just the truth.

18. What was the first thing you ever wrote about?

There’s only a few of my early pieces I can remember. I don’t remember which came fist. I wrote something about a world where people’s eye color changed with their emotions, a story about a girl who had different universes in her eyes. Neither of those stories made it very far.

19. What is the most creative creature you’ve ever created for world-building?

My stories don’t really include creatures unless you include the infected people in The Risks.

20. Tell me one random fact about your WIP that you have yet to tell your followers.

I can’t remember if I’ve said this before, but let me just start by saying that I picked out Claire Harrington’s name like 9 years ago when I started writing this damn thing. Now, in the past year I’ve started to add subtle hints about Claire’s dad. His name is Steve. He used to tell Claire stories about fighting a monster with no face. Anyone who hasn’t seen Stranger Things won’t get the reference, but for those of you who have, my totally canon headcanon is that Steve Harrington from Stranger Things is Claire’s dad. He moved from Hawkins in the years following his graduation to start over (forget all that crazy shit that happened), met Claire’s mom, got married, had Claire. And his “car accident” that killed him shortly after his divorce was actually planned by the government when he tried to go back to Hawkins. Ooooooh, conspiracies!

That’s all, folks!

#tag game #20 questions #questions #questions tag #writers on tumblr #writerblr

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lindwurmkai · 6 years

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I just figured out why most of the TLJ criticism bothers me so much … or one of the reasons, anyway. (I keep seeing it on Twitter without seeking it out.) A lot of it sounds exactly like the kind of writing advice I've always hated. I'd see an advice post and start reading it looking for tips, being a writer myself at least in theory, only to end up frustrated if not offended as a reader. Because I was being advised to stop putting things in my writing that I enjoyed finding in other people's work. Now, tastes may vary … but this was some supposedly "fundamental" shit. One time I actually left a comment expressing my displeasure and got a response that was just the height of male arrogance: "Well, you're free to enjoy whatever you like and I'm sure there are many others who don't mind those unnecessary details being put in, but it's still bad writing." (Paraphrased from memory but that was the gist of it.) Astounding. Absolutely incredible. By now I think that guy was coming from a mindset of literary analysis and had completely missed the memo that not every piece of writing in every genre aspires to be Literature™ - nor should it. And I see something similar in media criticism. It's as if people had learned an extremely formulaic, inflexible set of writing rules by heart and were now incapable of judging a story without measuring it against that standard. No offense to anyone reading this who may have criticised TLJ, too. I'm not talking about you, I'm not on here much anymore, I guarantee I haven't seen your post. 😳 I mean … "X arc was weak because it didn't contain element Y" makes it sound like you think of stories as math problems. There's nothing wrong with that if you're trying to write Proper Literature, but in literally any other context? Well, it's still not wrong, it's just … needlessly restrictive. If every story followed the same rules, we'd live in a boring world. You can dislike whatever you want, but I am tired of things I like being described as objectively bad. And by "things" I mean isolated qualities that stories can have, not entire books or movies. Qualities that contribute to my enjoyment being listed as evidence of low quality. I'm not even good at identifying those. I see the end product and love it for reasons I can't put my finger on except that something in it must have deeply resonated with me. When I read other people's responses, I sometimes get lucky and find words for my experience. Other times I have to figure it out on my own instead and by the time I can explain, everyone else has moved on. 😂 Maybe that's the heart of the matter. I process things intuitively, I don't give a shit if it's "good writing" according to some formula invented by neurotypical cis white men, lol. I'll consult writing advice when I'm struggling to advance a WIP, but it couldn't be further from my mind when I'm just part of the audience. Again … if you personally dislike a story and your dislike coincides with its failure to meet certain traditional storytelling benchmarks, that's cool. You can even say so without automatically making me feel bad, I swear. What's unsettling is when people put so much emphasis on the mechanics that you'd think they were trying to argue everyone else out of their enjoyment by appealing to logic. Sounds like "you only like it because you're too uneducated to see these OBJECTIVE FLAWS" to me. No thanks. Maybe you're lacking emotional experiences I've had that would allow you to connect to the material, or we're so different that what you see as a "lack of character development" is not an absence of anything to me, but rather a relatable experience that I'm thrilled to see in a fictional character at long last. That … wasn't … about anything specific. I think. Oh boy. (Ask me again in a few months.) I hope I've managed to convey I'm not talking about simple differences in opinion, nor about anyone on here. It was set off by strangers on Twitter and I've been telling myself to calm down, it's just a movie, except then it became apparent that my frustration had little to do with the movie itself. I feel better immediately. I always feel better once I've articulated the root cause of my problem. I'm also a little worried everyone's going to hate me now, but that's just my standard reaction to posting anything remotely controversial…

#long post #star wars babbling #weirdo chronicles #not sure if sorry

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bleusarcelle · 7 years

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Author ask Thingy

So, @goramidiot tagged me on one of these, and I had fifteen minutes free before an interview (yes, a 9 pm interview yey) so I thought, why not?

1) is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?

Well…I kinda have this one story that I deleted bc uh, it was about Klance coming back to earth but like, their relationship took a turn bc it was a new environment from where they established their relationship, so they go downhill from there but like, in the end they want to make it work.

So yeh. Posted it. Deleted it. Trying to edit so I can do their relationship justice, you know, like a good healthy relationship should be.

2) what work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

Hmmmmm. None? Like, sure, I have a couple where they might be lil cringy in the writing but that’s because I was still learning. So, I can forgive myself.

3) what order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

Fave scenes first and then chronological.

4) favorite character you’ve written

Lance and Keith. Neck to Neck.

5) character you were most surprised to end up writing

Pidge. I didn’t expected me to fall hard for her, man.

6) something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late/complicated to change now

Environment descriptions. Like, I usually focus on emotions and dialogue, what the character is doing and showing but damn, it’s a hard time for me to describe or find the time to put what’s around them.

7) when asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

I’m okayish. I don’t ger overexcited because then I would have to explain the plot and …yah know? Not a lot of ppl are accepting of stories of people falling in love, if you know what I mean.

Embarassed, tho? No. Never. I’m proud of my writing.

8) favorite genre to write

……….

Fluff.

Why are you looking at me like that, it’s fluff.

……….. and angst.

9) what, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

Life, tbh?

10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?

Background noise and people. Like, I usually write whenever I’m not overwhelmed at work, so I write in my office with chatter behind me or aimless music.

But like, when I acknowledge the silence when I’m alone? It’s a lil unsettling. I prefer to be surrounded by people but in my own world, if that makes sense.

11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?

Damn, dude, I really wouldn’t know?

Maybe the transaction from scene to scene? Character’s emotions?

TEXT FORMAT. OH LORD I HAVE CHANGED FROM MY EVIL WAYS AND FINALLY MANAGED HOW TO MAKE DECENT TEXT FORMAT.

And like dialogue, letting it be more natural.

12) your weaknesses as an author

I have no idea?? Why do I have to auto analyze myself, oh my god.

Uh, okay, let’s see, what do I struggle with? Forgetting details of the characters?

13) your strengths as an author

DIALOGUE. EMOTIONS.

14) do you make playlists for your current wips?

Nah, man, I suck at those.

15) why did you start writing?

I was reading some nature fics back in my day and I was like ‘ok but like, I think this would have been better’ and then I was like ‘……Imma make my own that fits my likes bc I wanna read that shit.’ And TA-DAAAAH.

16) are there any characters who haunt you?

Sonic the motherfucker.

17) if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?

My what now?

Is that like? Past me? Baby past me?

Sure okay: LET YOURSELF TO BE CRINGY. EXPLORE. FIND. TRY. AND ENJOY. SEE WHAT YOU LIKE AND WHAT YOU DON’T. MAKE MISTAKES AND LEARN FROM THEM. ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE CRINGY AND LAME UNTIL YOU FIND YOUR OWN STYLE. YOU GOT THIS SHIT.

18) were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? what were they?

Probably, dude, tbh. My writing style changed at some point but I can’t remember when or how.

Tho, one thing I remember seeing, it was a post, like some of those tips writing posts that said like “Write like you are telling the story to your best friend.”

AND BOY OH BOY DO I REALLY WRITE LIKE THAT.

19) when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

You ask the wrong person here.

I try not to panic, tbh, bc big fics scare me when Im the one writing them. Pace, transition, relationships, emotions, natural flow of actions and feelings. They are so complicated ya know?

So, I usually write down all the scene I WANT TO SEE IN THE GODDAM FIC, explaining a lil about them, like the meaning behind each of them between these [ ] and then I start making like the timeline with the scenes, organizing them and shit.

It took me a while to get the hangs of the timeline of the current multichip im making. It was….a trip.

20) do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts?

Both. Depends on how much time I have or inspiration.

I love it when I have long sit-downs, tho, they are interesting and like, really fills you with adrenaline. (because you think everything you are writing is amazing lmao oh just you want for the next day when you are editing, oh boy)

21) what do you think when you read over your older work?

‘Nice, nice, oh I like what I did there, ….okay was that really necessary? Oh no, that’s a 2012 old me, what is it doing here? ….ok that one was funny! I approve. Oh man, really? A typo? In front of my salad? …I’m honestly confused on why this has kudos….Oh god, dude, this is super angsty chill the fuck out, what the fuck……..oh wait it’s still my fic, alright then……….note to self, don’t be so dang angsty and people don’t have that many tears inside them, relax.’

22) are there any subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?

Any subject that I’m not familiar with, tbh? Not that I’m uncomfortable, per se, but I don’t want to write them in the chances that I might fuck it up.

If I didn’t live it? I don’t write it, simple as that tbh.

23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

Not really? Obscure? Nah, dude, I’m pretty basic, I just daydream a lot.

24) have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

Dialogue. And TEXT FORMAT.

25) copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of

I have over 100+ fics, bro, so like, I’m just going to use something from the last fic/drabble I wrote:

Keith doesn’t know what makes him pause but suddenly his eyes fall to the empty space on his right and then he frowns.

Where is Lance?

Why I like this part? Because you stablish a few things:

1) Keith senses something is out of the ordinary.

2) Automatically looks to the right where Lance usually is (ya know, right hand man, you see what I did there)

3) The realization that Lance is not there annoys him so you know that it’s not a common occurrence that Lance disappears.

#bleu answers #I GOTTA GO THO #OKAY BYE THIS WAS FUN

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everlark-interviews · 7 years

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Interview with Everhutcher!

It’s been a while, but we have more interviews lined up, and we’re ready to tackle 2017 and get you the inside scoop on all your favorites, plus some newbies coming into the fandom! Reblog, follow, and get connected with the lovely folks in the HG community. Read on for all the juicy deets about @everhutcher!

Describe yourself like your friends would describe you.

Silly, weird, funny, compassionate. Honest. Loyal. Raunchy. A ball-buster. Someone with zero personal space. Good with details.

Raunchy? That’s interesting… How so?

Oh wow. I’ve just never had a filter. I think it’s a family trait. I’m from a large, loud Eastern European family where everyone speaks their mind, sarcasm is the norm, etc. As far back as high school, my friend and I would read smutty romance novels (mostly Jude Deveraux’s books) out loud at the lunch table just to make our male friends cringe. Totally juvenile, I know. I suppose if I psychoanalyzed myself I might see it as a way to explore sexuality in a safe way or something. Because I’m not nearly so bold in my actions in that way. But even now, I’ll see a double entendre in anything and won’t hesitate to point it out. Cards Against Humanity gives me life. I blame the inner 10-year old boy in me who giggles at inappropriate times. My own 10-year old son is far better behaved than I am in that aspect.

LOL! At some point our inner teen makes a reappearance.

What Eastern European country is your family from? Have you been there?

We’re Ukrainian on both sides of the family. I’ve never been there but it has been fun to connect with cousins from over there through social media. Some of them grew up in the Soviet days, so when I was a kid, we never really had contact with them.

Give me an example of everhutcher as a ball-buster…

It’s sort of just who I am… again, the no filter thing. I will say I don’t ball-bust in a super-aggressive or antagonistic way, because I know that’s how some people interpret the term. My brand is more teasing. My husband is 14 years older than I am, so the old man jokes are abundant. I’m always telling him at the store to ask about the AARP discount or I’ll remind him that when he was 18, I was in preschool. Just often enough to creep him out.

How did you end up in THG fandom?

That was definitely not a straight line between two points. I knew of the books for a long time, but never read them. I’d also seen THG and CF on DVD at the time they came out, and was entertained enough, but didn’t love them in the way I loved other fandoms like HP or Star Wars.

Then my stepdaughter sort of made me read the books right before MJ1 came out in theaters. She promised I’d love them. And she was right. I loved them and then my love for the whole franchise grew from there.

I can relate to that! It definitely ‘snuck up’!

Have you written for other fandoms?

To be honest, nothing has grabbed me the way THG has, so no.

I get it! Same here.

I guess one exception is that I took part in a RPF Secret Santa thing for JHutch fans. I was really satisfied with how the story turned out but I’m not as comfortable writing about real people, so I have not been compelled to do that since. Kudos to those who can, though.

So what drew you into writing fic?

The ending of MJ just left me unsettled and unsatisfied.

And although I understand that in a way, it was likely written in the way Katniss would have genuinely told it (i.e., not dwelling on details), as a reader I wanted more. So, I went in search of some insight into Suzanne Collins’ choices as a writer. Instead, I stumbled across fan fiction. I started looking for some good “growing back together” fics. And my love for the entire genre was born. Eventually I felt brave enough to dive in and write some of my own because I couldn’t get enough of Everlark in just about any setting.

What was it like for you when you posted your first fic for all to see?

The same as it is now: I hit “post” or “send” and I squeal and do a panic dance in my home office. I feel like I’m jumping off a cliff or something.

You never know how it’s going to be received. You don’t want to look or sound stupid (the story or yourself). You might think it’s the best work you’ve done but it’s a load of shit. You just never know what will resonate with people and what won’t. I mean, ultimately you can’t worry about that during the writing process; you have to go with your gut and let the story take you where it wants to go. But you just have to hope people will see something in it that they can relate to as well.

It really never gets any easier, does it? What was a pivotal moment for you in the books?

Arghhhhhh. I think there are so many people who are so much better at noticing details of the book. So many moments. I don’t know if I can classify anything as “pivotal” but I do think some parts resonate with me more than others. The entire sequence of Peeta’s time with the Star Squad in Mockingjay was particularly important to me as a reader, as I think it lends a whole sense of hope, which is so central to the series. In particular, I think the moment Peeta realizes the lizard mutts are coming and he chooses to protect Katniss by yelling for her to run... that, to me, is it. He has already chosen Katniss over Snow in that moment.

Such a good one! What was the hardest moment for you in the series?

I would probably say Everlark’s separation at the end of Catching Fire. I’m such a sucker for those two. Throughout that book they’re connecting in a way they never had before. And unlike the film, Katniss and Peeta are both aware of the other’s presence somewhere around the lightning tree in those final moments in the arena. They can each hear the other calling out. They’re desperate to save one another, and are so close to achieving that. You know, as the reader, that it’s not going to end well for either of them. And, of course, it doesn’t.

What’s the moment you hold onto from the series? That ‘Yes! This is why I love this series’ moment…

That has to be Peeta’s return to 12. As I said earlier, you have these pivotal moments in Mockingjay where Peeta chooses Katniss, in defiance of his hijacking, sometimes without really even being conscious of it. I always wonder what happened to Peeta during his time in the Capitol after Katniss’s trial. Was it a deliberate decision to return to 12? Or was it just instinct driving him to where he felt he belonged? Either way, he returns to Katniss and his first thought is to help Katniss heal. To show Katniss some beauty in the world. He yet again creates a thing of beauty - a simple flowerbed to celebrate Prim’s life - and says “I thought we could plant them for her.” Not me, but we. Even though Katniss isn’t involved in his project, he includes her. They are a team. He is with her, in whatever way she needs. It’s unconditional and pure and lovely to see this reborn in him. Wounded but not broken.

I think you did a lovely job of picking out the details!

What do you enjoy writing most? (Trope, canon/AU, etc)

I think modern AU is probably what comes easiest to me. For one, it’s fun to imagine Peeta Mellark alive and well and walking amongst us in the modern world just waiting for love - and who doesn’t want that? LOL. I’m a fairly open book emotionally, more like Peeta, so writing Katniss is a fun challenge for me. And in modern AU, there’s the added challenge in presenting Katniss as someone who stays in character, still finds it hard to open up, without the details of her life in canon District 12 at play. You have to get into the psychology of a modern young woman and the things which might affect her life.

Where do you get your inspirations?

Oh, man. So many places. I suppose, now that I think about it, a lot of of my fics start with real-life events. Some are sad, like the circumstances of a friend of friend which inspired my PiP fic Promise. Others are often inspired by the random convos I have over chat or text with other bloggers. Like, Drill and Fill started with me complaining to another writer about having to go to the dentist but that thank goodness, at least my dentist was cute, and the rest unfolded from there. I also love that there are so many prompt ideas out there, whether on Tumblr or elsewhere. I’m so grateful that someone might not feel comfortable enough writing a fic on their own, but still has a great idea they want to share with others to make the story a reality.

That’s a really great observation. Give me an idea of yours that you will never write, but you would love to read.

Oooooh. That’s so tough because I think, never say never. If it’s something I’d want to read, and it doesn’t already exist, then I generally wouldn’t hesitate to at least attempt to make it a reality myself. That’s why I started writing fic, not just consuming it. I had ideas that I wanted to share. So I’d have to dig deeper to find something I’d read but not also write.

What has been your favorite fic to write?

No fair! My fics are my kids! I love them all for different reasons LOL.

If two of your fics were drowning… see where I’m going with this?

Well, if I have to choose, I’d probably say Under His Wings. I wasn’t sure where I was headed with it at all. Usually I have a strong idea to jump start the process, and my struggle is to keep the momentum of the story going later on. In this case, I had a hard time starting this story, and it picked up steam as I went along. It sort of took on a life of its own very quickly. I think it’s probably my most moving story.

What is the most challenging fic you’ve written?

I tend to write very quickly once an idea hits me, so anytime I end up with a WIP it’s because the mojo isn’t there. I’m currently on the third version of a story that I haven’t published yet. It’s supposed to be part of @papofglencoe’s clearance condom series, which she started after I took a trip to Target while chatting online with her. Her Pumpkin Spice story was such a treat, and I really want to do something fun and sexy with all that inspiration. But if I force it, I know it won’t be as good as it might have been. So WIP it remains.

If you were stranded on a desert island with any THG character, who would you pick? Just one, now!

Peeta. Hands down. Or wherever the hands want to go. See what I mean about raunchy?

HA! Down is a start in the right direction, though, yeah?

We all have that fic that’s our go to - whether it’s our own or someone else’s - that we return to because we love it and know exactly what we’re going to get. What’s yours?

If we’re talking Everlark fic, I’d probably say The Bucket List by Meadowlark27.

Why?

Faith constructed such a beautiful and heart-wrenching story that made me cry several times. If Everlark fans haven’t read it yet, it has it all. Humor and angst and sorrow and friends to lovers, all my favorite elements. And the ending. Ughhhhhh. All the feels, for sure.

What’s your writing process? Some people like to write their stories all at once, then post weekly, while others like to take it one chapter at a time, where posting is more random. Where do you fall in that spectrum?

I’d like to have the discipline to be the former, but I’m definitely the latter. Once I finish a chapter I want people to see it right away. In theory I always think it’s going to force me to work more steadily, because then I can tell myself that people have read it and want more. In reality, life always seems to fill up my time. The older I get, the more of a procrastinator I seem to become.

I get it. Why is that??

Favorite Book? (non THG)

Probably the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I first read it in sixth grade, not understanding the historical context in which Tolkien crafted it. At the time I just knew it as a cool good versus evil kind of story. Now I have a much deeper understanding of the historical context, and as a history teacher it speaks to me on that level, for sure. Beyond that, the immense time and energy and effort Tolkien put into creating that universe is just astonishing. The man crafted an entire mythology that the world has embraced as readily as anything mythology of ancient times.

It is incredible. I completely agree, and I love the series!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I have to think about what spare time is these days lol. I suppose beyond work and family (my husband, son, two stepkids, daughter-in-law and any day now, a stepgrandbaby!)

Congratulations!

My fandom activities have filled most of my free time. Otherwise, I definitely have a love for genealogy. I’ll go through spurts where I’ll spend hours a day scouring records to add to our family tree. And I enjoy traveling. I wish I had more resources for that, but I try to get out of town every couple of months, even for just a night or two. Living in the Northeast helps, being so close to so much. I’m basically halfway between NYC and Toronto; I have a ton of family and connections in Philly so I’m always there, too. I just spent my birthday in Vegas and I really want to get back out to L.A. soon. Been an East Coast girl my whole life but I love California.

Favorite thing about Tumblr?

The friendships. They’ve gone so far beyond fandom it’s sort of astonishing. The ladies I connect with the most are just about the most open, take-me-as-I-am group of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. I have my group of girlfriends here in “real” life, particularly my friends from work. But my blogger friends are a constant presence as well. Maybe even more so, because you can always shoot off a text or a group chat throughout the day, come back and find someone three time zones away has weighed in on whatever was on your mind. We throw story ideas at each other, talk about our jobs and kids, nothing is off limits. And when you know most of you write Everlark smut you can’t really hide anything after that lol. They’ve become some of the best friends I’ve ever had.

Can you give some advice to new writers?

Just don’t be afraid to jump in and try something. Challenge yourself. There is a vast community of writers out there with a huge array of talents and strengths and styles. If you are worried about how your work compares to someone else’s, and allow it to make you hesitate to write, you’re bound to hold yourself back due to fear of failure. The only failure is to not let you idea come to life in one way or another. Put it out there and share it. Audiences are always going to be better off for it.

Thank you for taking time to talk to me!

You can find Everhutcher’s stories on AO3. Don’t forget to leave a comment! And stop by her ask box to say hey!

#everlark-interviews #everhutcher #peetabreadgirl #xerxia31 #burkygirl

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