#i'm not gonna overthink this or edit it i'm just gonna post and have done with it

[jobey-wan-kenobi]

further adventures in beatles astrology

So another cool thing about Paul’s chart is how the planets are all clustered into the upper half: 

These top-heavy charts indicate someone who is expressive and status-driven. They are highly motivated to achieve and maintain a good reputation. They tend to be involved in their communities. Take it too far and they can be shallow, but in general they are the backbone of a functioning and healthy society. Makes sense for Paul, right?

That kind of chart is really something I haven’t seen a lot. Part of that might just be that people who are looking for readings tend to be more introspective, but even in celebrity charts I’ve seen a lot more bottom-heavy than top-heavy charts. Like, say, John’s: 

See how most of John’s planets are on the bottom half? Only Moon (☽) and Mercury (☿) are above the axis. These bottom-heavy charts mark people who are more driven by authenticity than status. They are less likely to be interested in public recognition, rewards, and honors (sometimes, even a steady paycheck isn’t really worth it for them). They tend to be very private, introspective, and they have idiosyncratic personal standards. Take it too far and they can be solipsistic and antisocial, but in general they stand for the right and duty to determine for ourselves whether or not we are living our best lives—and anyone who tries to weigh in can go hang. 

John’s chart is bottom-heavy, Paul’s is top-heavy—I think this indicates one of the major things that drove them apart. Different values. Different sources of validation. John sought fame, sure (his Moon up there explains a lot of that—the Moon has a lot to do with our emotions, desires, and dreams), but, once he actually got it, he sure got tired of everything except the money in a hurry. His chart totally makes sense for a househusband stay-at-home parent “watching the wheels go round and round.” Whereas Paul is still going strong five decades later; even when disgusted by the press he still kept trying to win them over and correct the narrative and play their game. 

So John’s chart has almost the opposite energy to Paul’s, but it is quite similar to Ringo’s, which is bottom-heavy to the extreme: 

Remember the outrage when Ringo announced that he wasn’t going to answer any fan mail anymore, ever, period? That is a move totally predicted by this chart. Its extreme “lowness” indicates someone who is concerned with their own habits, family, friends, passion projects, and daily routine far above anything else. (Also, bless him, Ringo has most of his planets in house 5, the house of creation, pleasure, and fun. “I just wanna boogaloo!” Indeed.) 

So you may be predicting that George will be in the same vein as John and Ringo. I did too, but we are wrong. George has a very balanced chart, planets spread out all around his zodiac: 

I was surprised at first, but this made a lot more sense when I thought of George’s life as a whole. As a Beatle we saw him uncomfortable and cramped—by the fame, by the rules and structure, by the “drag” of touring and interviewing, by his flying phobia, by his creative dissatisfaction, by his deteriorating relationships with some people (John cough Paul cough) to whom he would have once been so close. So he became very withdrawn and kind of passive-aggressive. (He’s also super Water-dominant, so that’s on point as a coping mechanism.) But outside of his Beatle phase of life... think of what we know of him as a schoolboy. Independent, a rebel, a social leader. Also someone who valued his friends fiercely and wasn’t afraid to show it (like headbutting the classmate that he so quickly decided who wasn’t worthy of Paul). We also see all this again in the Traveling Wilburys phase (the way he’s remembered to this day for what a great hugger he was...) In short, his chart argues that George is a pretty well-rounded person, not given to extremes of ambition or privacy. Does it check out? I think so.

#adventures in beatles astrology #beatles #paul mccartney #john lennon #ringo starr #george harrison #natal charts #this is an olllllld draft lmao #i'm not gonna overthink this or edit it i'm just gonna post and have done with it #beatle analysis

[downtowndrain]

archer in pomas is so funny bc there's a huge discrepancy between his dialogue/the game's plot and his voicelines. a lot of his dialogue he's talking about giovanni having returned and team rocket being back. for example, these dialogue lines that i posted abt the other day. specifically: "But he [Giovanni] returned and is once again Team Rocket's boss. Our organization has been reborn- stronger than ever!" because well. obviously giovanni has returned and team rocket is revived. this is a fact.

but a lot of his voicelines are about him resurrecting team rocket or some shit. as though his voicelines take place pre-pomas?? you can listen to all his voicelines here, but to point out a few:

"I'll use this power to resurrect Team Rocket." "It won't be long until I resurrect Team Rocket." "I will do whatever it takes to regain Team Rocket's former glory." "One day, I will restore Team Rocket to its former shining glory, just like the stars in the night sky." (lmao archer what) "After our boss is back from his solo training, Team Rocket will regain our former glory."

as you can see. he's talking like giovanni isn't back yet, despite him clearly having returned. like why. (also the last one is interesting to me bc it refers to the original giovanni. i'll talk about it more at the end)

i think rationally it's probably just a mistake, or maybe they recorded his voicelines way in advance or some shit and hadn't realized where they were going with the plot yet. idk. but it's kind of weird bc the other executives' voicelines don't have this issue. in fact there's multiple lines that directly acknowledge that he's back and they're currently under his leadership:

Ariana: "All of my strength exists to serve Team Rocket and its great leader." (the great leader presumably being giovanni obv) Petrel: "I can't believe Giovanni is in a place like this! Life sure is full of unexpected surprises."

i think it's worth pointing out that the giovanni on pasio is not actually the giovanni from this world, which he talks about in the mewtwo legendary adventure ("So this is how it's gonna be, huh? I guess I'm doomed to be a criminal no matter which world I find myself in.") this makes the archer voiceline i pointed out earlier a bit weirder, since it actually acknowledges the original giovanni. i think it's one of the few instances where he's actually acknowledged LOLL

that being said i don't necessarily think that's related, especially since in the dialogue i linked at the beginning, archer clearly considers the pasio giovanni to be his leader. still cool to think about tho

anyways i just thought this was interesting, & whenever i hear archer say one of the voicelines i pointed out earlier, it's always a little bit jarring to me. bc bbg team rocket IS back. what are you talking about. but yeah, regardless of whether this means anything or if i'm just overthinking it, i wanted to share this anyway so <3 love yall bye

edit oopsie: obv the otherworldly giovanni is similar to usum. and so this giovanni never experienced the disbandment of team rocket/hasn't yet done so. so that's why archer's voiceline has to refer to the og giovanni. this is further evidenced by giovanni acting surprised that team rocket was disbanded in the mewtwo legendary adventure. idk if this is obvious but i think it's important to mention LOL my b

#is this coherent at all #archer pokemon #i doubt this means anything but i still like to think abt it #also i am so obsessed with the fact that pasio's giovanni is not the mainline games' giovanni #i think about that a lot

[elizmanderson]

Hi again. You made a few posts about first drafts being ridiculous and cleaning them up later. And I desperately need more writers talking about the writing process as they are writing it (like 'making of' posts/ videos, any creator who does those gets me obsessed with them)

Anywho, I was wondering how your revision process looks? How different is your first draft from your last and how did you make the decisions of what to cut vs what to expand on?

I know for myself, my MC is a constant-overthinker and all of faer POV is stream-of-consciousness, and fae goes on a LOT of unnecessary but characterizing tangents that I don't know how to work with, given the corner I wrote myself into.

TLDR - Any info about your revision process would be much appreciated.

Thanks :)

hello and thanks for asking!

first of all, in case anyone is curious about the original post, it's here. also, there are many ridiculous things in this draft of NettieWIP, but that post was brought to you specifically by this line that I wrote even though it's completely tonally wrong for both this book and this character lmao

okay, revisions. this is gonna get long, but I'm breaking it up into sections that will hopefully be helpful.

general process

so the first thing is, my revision process and how much I cut or add is different for every project. but here are some general principles I follow. keep in mind that ymmv with any and all of these! you have to find what works for you. this is just what works for me.

1. finish the draft first

I will never finish a draft if I'm focused on editing while I go. I've been hardcore resisting with NettieWIP because I keep having ideas about how to make it better mid-draft. but I know if I don't finish the draft as-is, it's not going to get done.

2. let it breathe before diving in

sometimes I have the urge to rush right into revisions after finishing a draft, but I do force myself to wait at least a month or two before returning to it. it gives me the emotional distance I need to be able to make decisions about what to cut, no matter how much I like things that don't serve the story.

(again going to have to fight this urge hard with NettieWIP in particular lol)

3. read it before diving in

the one thing that stays consistent from project to project is that I always do a full readthrough before I start revising. highly, highly recommend this regardless of what else works for you! reading through my entire manuscript gives me a big-picture view of the whole story and how all the parts work together (or not), as well as what the problems are.

note: when I do my readthrough, while I do make general notes of my thoughts, I do NOT focus on line-level details or edits. which brings us to...

4. fix big things first

okay jk actually this stays consistent from project to project, too. when approaching revisions, I always start with the biggest changes and work my way down. line edits are the last thing I do, because I figure it wastes my time and energy otherwise. what if I put all this energy into line edits or scene-level changes only to cut half those lines or scenes later when I make structural changes?

5. this is the time to plan!

I'm a plantser, which is somewhere halfway between a plotter and a pantser. while the amount of planning I do before a first draft varies, I always dedicate time to planning before revising. the exact process varies, but it's kinda like this.

read the entire manuscript, making note of plot holes and problem areas

brainstorm potential fixes and where they might fit in

write an outline, synopsis, chapter map, whatever (for me it's usually either a synopsis or chapter map because I simply cannot with outlines)

6. start rewriting

...and as discussed in a different post earlier, I always start the new draft in a new document! you never know when something from an earlier draft could come in handy.

7. use beta readers

I typically do a second draft on my own, because I typically have at least some idea of what needs fixing when I'm done with a first draft. I bring beta readers in once I hit the point where the story's cohesive but I know more work needs to be done, but I'm not sure what that work is.

you specifically asked how I decide what to cut vs. what to expand on, and beta readers are one important way—especially for what to expand on. while I have a habit of overexplaining in many areas, things in my head frequently fail to make it onto the page.

(I think this is because things are obvious to me bc I thought them up. but readers cannot see inside my head, so they may be confused or think a character or plot point is underdeveloped even though I have a lot more information about it mapped out internally.)

if readers feel like information is unnecessary or overexplained or like I'm patronizing them, that's a potential area for cutting. if readers are confused, lack insight, or feel like a reveal came out of nowhere, that's a potential area for expanding. that said...

parsing beta feedback

while outside feedback is important, it's at least equally important to be able to decide what feedback to listen to and what feedback to ignore! not all feedback is good feedback. and even feedback that's technically good may not be good feedback for your story.

for example, I had feedback on the manuscript that's now on sub that was drastically different than the rest of the feedback I received on that same manuscript. I love the beta who gave it to me and I respect their opinion a lot, so I took this feedback seriously. but I couldn't make it work, felt deeply frustrated, and spiraled a bit over my ability to write a book even though it was far from my first.

then I got into Author Mentor Match which I applied to mostly because I need some guidance re: this feedback. my mentor basically said, "I think this is good feedback, but I think it would change this book into a pacier, more action-packed book. and I don't think that's the kind of story you're trying to tell."

and my mentor was right! I think this friend and I are simply interested in different kinds of stories. so as much as they love my stories and as great as they are at giving feedback, their feedback may not be a good fit for me.

usually, I like to look at patterns of feedback.* the more readers agree that a plot point is weak or a reveal doesn't have enough build-up, the more likely it is that I really do need to worry about that.

BUT if a single reader's feedback makes me go oh and I really vibe with it, that's also good feedback to listen to! as long as you know what the heart of your story is, you can follow feedback that helps your story do more of what you want it to do and do it more effectively.

*in my experience, patterns are most helpful when your readers share aspects of your identity. for example, I'm neurodivergent and queer. when most of my readers were neurotypical and straight, I'd get told "this doesn't make sense" "no one thinks/feels like that" "this is unrealistic." and I'd be told that by multiple readers, so I'd decide that meant I had to change the story, even though something deep down told me I was wrong about that, that my betas were wrong about that.

now, most of my readers are neurodivergent and/or queer, so they understand when my characters do or think or feel certain things. and at the very least, they never tell me a character is being "unrealistic" or assume that characters' feelings aren't based on things I have really felt. so particularly for marginalized creators, patterns of feedback may NOT be helpful if your readers do not share your marginalization.

examples of changes to my drafts

cutting and combining

The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher was drafted over a year and a half as part of a last man standing-style writing challenge, so the first draft was 160,000 words. it was pretty obvious I'd have to cut SOMETHING, since I was planning on querying agents.

(recommended for adult fantasy if you're seeking trad pub as a debut author: 120k max word count. better to be lower if you're writing contemporary fantasy, while you can be on the high end if you're writing epic fantasy. other subgenres may fall in between.)

I cut...a lot, in some cases through actually cutting while in other cases combining things. for example, there's a scene now where a dragon attacks Detroit while Our Heroes are delayed there. It used to be separate scenes: Edna & Co. delayed in Detroit, with not much happening except the reason for the delay, and a later scene where they came across a random dragon attack elsewhere. additionally, the secondary antagonist runs around with an old friend who used to be two separate characters: the character he is now, and another old friend of theirs who was just sort of a generic asshole who didn't serve much purpose in the story.

thanks to cutting and combining scenes and characters this way, the story moves along faster, the stakes involved in those scenes and characters are higher, and everything is more tightly tied together. when I finally queried, Remarkable Retirement was down to just 98,000 words (published at 99,000 words).

similarly, in the book now on sub (Buried Things aka GroundskeeperWIP), I cut most of a short chapter from the antagonist's POV. I tried it as a prologue but didn't like that I don't do prologues in general although I know some folks love them, then tried moving it later but didn't like that either, and finally ended up just using bits of it that I felt were particularly useful in a chapter focused on a different character. I also cut a chapter from the POV of a friendly ghost/wingman from beyond the grave (but have it saved in case a future editor's like "you know what we need—")

worth noting that Buried Things wasn't massively overwritten. I think the longest draft was 104k or 106k, while it's on sub at about 90k (and the entirety of the last 4,000 words I cut from it was through line edits, not plot changes). however, both chapters stalled the story without adding much. what they did add, I was able to incorporate into other chapters instead.

expanding

while Remarkable Retirement's need for cuts was more obvious, some things were also expanded upon, especially with my publisher! my editor felt that the romantic subplot needed a little more build-up—not in terms of what happens or how it happens, but in terms of making it clearer why these two people start to have those feelings. similarly, a friend who read Buried Things thought it was great overall but that a particular character wasn't fleshed out enough.

in both cases, I think it was that instance of "things in my head do not always make it onto the page." when my friend had questions about the character in Buried Things, I had answers; those answers just weren't on the page. same thing with the romantic subplot in Remarkable Retirement. so it was a matter of taking what was in my head and making sure it actually came across on the page, although in other cases I may realize I don't already know that stuff and need to brainstorm to develop it more.

both together

in the case of NettieWIP, even though I'm not done drafting yet, I already know some stuff I'll need to cut and expand on! I find I'm repeating myself a lot in this draft, plus it's very dialogue heavy. so I'll need to cut back on some themes and emotions I keep bringing up, as well as trim down the dialogue and let the murder investigation not be entirely conversation.

conversely, there's virtually no setting description or atmosphere, so those are things I'll want to expand on in revisions.

tl;dr: in conclusion

okay this got really long because if you get me talking about writing it is impossible to shut me up, but here are the major takeaways for everyone playing along at home:

my general process: (1) finish the draft; (2) let the draft breathe; (3) read the entire draft; (4) focus on big-picture changes first; (5) plan your revision/rewrite; (6) rewrite/revise; (7) use beta readers

knowing the heart of your story helps you figure out what to cut, what to keep, and what to expand on

knowing the heart of your story helps you figure out what feedback might be useful and what feedback might not be right for this book

it can also helpful to look for patterns of feedback, but this is mostly helpful when your beta readers share your identity, particularly if you are a marginalized creator

thanks so much for giving me an excuse to drone on and on about writing your question!

#answered #writing tips #writing process #revision #writeblr #e's writing #the remarkable retirement of edna fisher #groundskeeperwip #nettiewip

[buildarocketboys]

🕯️🛼🎲🍄

i did get your ask too i'm gonna write the 50 words then post it <333

Yaaay thank u ily!!

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

Like. 2. Haha. I like *writing*. I don't like planning *or* editing.

Actually there is an exception to that - I really enjoy editing other people's work! I'm just too close into mine to do it properly, and also it always makes me realise how flawed it is and how much better it could be if I had the time/brainspace to actually rewrite it rather than making minor line edits 🥲 c'est la vie I guess. Not looking forward to editing my Tangled AU, although Anni is gonna beta for me which should make it easier!

🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

Done this one already so I'll do the one I'm hopefully gonna write next:

🍆🤏🙅💦😵

🎲 ⇢ what stops you from writing more in your free time? 

Idk, my brain? Also not having enough of it lol. I think I'm doing pretty well atm - and on that note, I'm gonna go finish my Tangled fic off now!

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

Ooh I find generalised headcanons for RPF ships really hard (because they're kind of different in every fic I write and they're, like, real people so having a headcanon that, idk, Patrick is bi or something feels a little too close to YOU'RE GAY AND THAT'S FINAL 😅 although maybe I'm overthinking it) but here have one from my Tangled AU specifically, under a read more in case people don't want to be spoiled because it's maybe my favourite thing I've come up with for this fic:

Patrick's magic is in his voice (hence why his hair has healing power when he sings) but though he's been writing songs for years, he can never get the lyrics right. Then he meets Pete, and Pete shows him his lyrics, and they fit his music PERFECTLY, and the magic is somehow enhanced by the combination of Patrick's music and Pete's lyrics together

#foliejpg #asks #ask meme #my writing

[swanhookheart]

Thoughts on AI writing, the WGA strike, and ways to help

This whole post is a hot mess, but I think it communicates the point I'm trying to make so I'm gonna hit "publish" and call it a day, peeps!

In the last four years, I have worked as a writing tutor, a teaching assistant for first-year composition, an embedded tutor for ESL writing workshops, a reading partner, editor-in-chief of my school's literary magazine, and as a freelance college essay coach. I'm also a novelist (unpublished but working on it), a poet, recipient of my community college's 2021 Outstanding English Student Award, a voracious reader, and in possession of a two-year degree in Creative Writing (four-year Berkeley literature degree coming in Spring). I guess you could say I like words.

I could go on for days about all the reasons I hate ChatGPT being used as a writing aid (especially by students—ffs, pls don't make me have to report y’all for academic dishonesty; it will be a shitty experience for both of us), but here’s one I really care about: vulnerability.

As it is, ChatGPT's ability to generate prose rivals my own at about age eight (that is, it looks like a thesaurus vomited all over the page and still struggles to spell the word "fluorescent" when prompted—fuck that word, to be fair). But let's envision a world two, maybe five, years down the road where AI is capable of generating a flawless sentence. It's well-structured, the grammar checks out, everything's spelled right, and the words the algorithm has chosen work to communicate its thoughts. Even then, AI wouldn't be able to replace or compete with even the most inexperienced writers among us. Why? Because, in my opinion at least, imperfections are what make art, art.

Any time I get the urge to overthink something I've created or edit it to the point of unrecognizability (which is often; I have OCD, fam!), I like to think of this sentence in Latin:

perfectus est.

To those who have not subjected themselves to completed 2 years of Latin, this might look like it'd translate to "it is perfect", but the actual, direct translation beside the adjective "perfectus, -a, -um" in all my textbooks and dictionaries has been, instead, "finished, completed". Proper classicists can feel free to correct me here, but the original Latin doesn't seem to carry with it quite the same connotations of quality or superiority that we have in the English word "perfect", and that's low-key fucking inspirational. I think about it like this: things can be "perfect" without being flawless. They only need to be done, and "done" leaves a lot more freedom for self-expression. If just being "done" makes something "perfect", then whatever peculiarities that piece possesses are also perfect. This makes total sense in my mind, but I feel like I'm on the verge of having a stroke trying to articulate it.

Art, for me, is never about the completed piece itself. It's the quirks, it's the process, it's the slight imperfections—like finding out 14 years after starting my fantasy series that the surname of one of my main characters is slang for "severe diarrhea" but being too committed to the name at this point to change it. It's the brushstroke in a painting that doesn't quite stay in the lines or the musician’s voice cracking as they sing through an especially personal set of lyrics. Some wise person once gave me a variation of this advice, and I’ve just kind of run with it ever since: the little details in our creations we convince ourselves are flaws are, more often than not, just spaces where our humanity is seeping through. They’re not bad. They’re just instances of us, as creators, making ourselves vulnerable in the name of our craft. Whether it's in a writing workshop, therapy, school, or anywhere else, I think we all feel a bit self-conscious or even uncomfortable any time we have to share pieces of ourselves with others. Baring our souls is scary. But I like to think humans are generally good at heart, and the kinds of things they typically have to say in response to these instances are designed to enhance the bits of humanity they find in our works, rather than erase or destroy them. So, making choices as artists that force us to feel vulnerable and get us out of our comfort zone because we think we’re “not doing it right” are not just welcome experiences to those intent on growing, but essential. And AI cannot do that. It can't feel, it can't think, and so these moments of vulnerability never occur. The opportunity to generate real, human connection has been lost.

The human brain is a remarkable thing. It’s "trained", as it were (in the same way ChatGPT is trained), to think the way it does not just because it's consumed a lot of other people's material, but because it's experienced a lot in its own right. We've all experienced love, we've mourned, we’ve endured trauma, we’ve laughed to the point of tears, we've left the fucking TV remote in the refrigerator again dammit, and all of these things affect how we relate to the world and to certain topics we may write about. We’re not even touching on how neurodivergence and other brain stuff can further change how we experience life; there’s even more variety to be found when factors like that are taken into account, but I'm not trying to write a dissertation here. As the products of all these influences, our brains make very intentional choices when we write (even when it feels like we're just slapping stuff on a page and hoping it sticks). The formal features of our prose are all going to be dependent on a combination of things we’ve done, felt, and read.

I mean, I guess some might want to use the Infinite Monkey Theorem (the idea that, if you leave infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters for an infinite amount of time, they will inevitably produce a finite number of texts, including the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, an infinite number of times) to argue that writing is actually more formulaic than artistic and so maybe utilizing these algorithms is totally fine. I guess the algorithm is being compared to infinite monkeys here. I don’t know. I’ve gotten hungry since sitting down to write this silly blog post and so I’m getting a little distracted. But humans aren’t alive an infinite amount of time, and the brevity of our existence necessitates a certain urgency in what and how we write—an urgency that leads us to conclude it’s better our work be flawed but out there than faultless but stuck inside our heads. So we write. We write good shit, we write bad shit, we buy a copy of Scrivener or MS Word, we join Tumblr dot com and publish all kinds of silly memes and dick jokes, and we get a world full of funky, crazy, chaotic art that reflects our funky, crazy, chaotic selves. Our humanity seeps out with every word we commit to paper, and we let it because it’s better to live in a world filled with jagged edges and mismatched hues than it is to live in one created by something that is literally fucking incapable of feeling.

You might think this is a great blog post. You might think it's garbage. You’re valid either way. But AI couldn't have written it. It’s full of tiny little pieces of me that just kinda slipped their way in as I was writing. It’s not super polished. It’s a bit all over the place because oh my god I’m craving a cookie but want to finish writing this before I leave my desk to go and get one. No matter what anyone’s thoughts are on my particular voice, though, I think we can all agree that it exists. It exists because I write often—daily, if I can—and because I feel, I think, I am. Those things come through, and they’re what make this a semi-coherent (I hope) blog post as opposed to a smattering of random words ChatGPT probably couldn’t define for you at gunpoint. Whatever you think about this post, AI couldn’t have written it and that’s the point.

This is just one of the reasons why I support the WGA strike and will continue to do so for as long as it takes the union to get the deal they deserve. I am not and will likely never be a member of this union, but the work they’re doing with this strike to push back against AI and its wildfire-like proliferation across creative industries is essential. Algorithms simply cannot do the work that humans do—not today, not ever. Not because they’re not advanced enough, but because vulnerability is what make art, art. Connecting with other human beings—which is all any of us ever really hope to do with our art anyway—requires that vulnerability.

I’m just some random dweeb on the internet, seeing marginalized workers struggle because a bunch of crappy billionaires don't want to come to the table and feeling like shouting some words into the void about it. Maybe nobody will see this post, and that’s okay. But maybe they will and I can do some good with it. I haven’t got a lot of money to help (I’m in my broke college student era). But donations to the Entertainment Community Fund are being accepted and these funds go back into the hands of union (WGA and SAG-AFTRA) members as hardship funds if they need financial help during the work stoppage—this is my understanding, at least; pls correct me if I’m wrong!

Link below:

If you can’t donate, please reblog. I know it would mean a lot to me if I were in their position.

#writers strike #WGA #support the wga #Chatgpt #artificial intelligence

[branmuffins22]

Moots said they wanna hear about WIPs and I feel like I gotta get this brainrot out anyways so HERE I GO

I've only got three projects I'm actively working on right now, all of which are Owl House fanfics, although I've got ideas here and there for other things (video games I might've made if I weren't so burnt out, ttrpg characters that might need their own goddamn settings and stories to themselves, a Code Lyoko fanfic, music (mostly loads of disconnected song lyrics), 3D avatars, etc).

The Owl House fanfics in question are three(-ish?) fold:

Theseus Who?, a mostly-canon-compliant 5+1 post-titanification headcanon compilation that DOESN'T just let Luz keep her titan form (mostly it's just a bunch of changes along the lines of when Hunter's eyes changed color after Flapjack saved him). - It's actually sort of a tie-in to another, bigger fic I'm writing that's gonna be point 2, so you can assume anything mentioned in this one will happen throughout the timeline of the next one as well. - I've currently already got the 5 written, so now I just need to buckle down and finish the +1, unless I decide to do another sweep of edits (I think the excessive parentheticals might be too excessive). - - I only started it like a week ago, and I've been waiting for motivation to strike again to let me finish it for like half that time.

Masha and the Very Normal Nocedas, a mostly-canon-compliant sorta-multimedia veesha longfic based on the dramatic irony of Masha slowly driving themself nuts trying to piece together what the Deal is with Luz, Vee, and the rest of the Nocedas. - by "sorta-multimedia" i mean its got plaintext segments describing the story, journal segments of Masha recounting events as they remember them and trying to organize their thoughts, chat segments when the characters interact over text, and possibly more if I feel the Need. - I've only outlined the three prologue chapters and the following intermission, only have snippets and vague ideas for scenes for the main bulk of the fic itself, and have only actually written two of the prologue chapters and the intermission. - - won't start posting it until I at least get the third prologue chapter done, so I've got a usable buffer. Hopefully that'll be sooner rather than later.

The Overthinker AU (or "The Artificer AU"? name is also very much a work in progress), a canon rewrite that I think I'll actually split into a bunch of shorter "episodes", so I can appropriately tag each one, rather than tagging one monolithic fic with Everything Under The Sun. The basic premise is "what if The Owl House, but there's more time", both in the meta sense of "not bound by the 20-minute TV episode format" and the diegetic sense of "the broad-strokes plot of the show will happen over a longer in-universe period of time" (though I'm a bit stuck on just how much more time I want to give em). - for the most part, I wanted to put more emphasis on Luz's magical development, and extrapolate a somewhat wider magic system out of what we see in the show, but I also want to go into more detail on how her actions affect those around her, even outside of all the friends she makes (stuff along the lines of the little things the crowd mentioned while protesting Eda's petrification at the end of season 1). - I'm almost (reluctantly) thinking of pulling a Grapes of Wrath with it, structure-wise, by having main plot/character development chapters alternate with shorter intermissions focused on magical exploration, worldbuilding, and so on. - this project is currently just the scribblings of a madwoman in my private discord server and three wildly unfinished fics in my google docs folder - - one of these fics is Something Like a Bible, which is essentially a condensed version of the entire broader project, boiled down to bare plot and occasional commentary. Like a series outline and a plot synopsis rolled into one, though perhaps not quite the series bible it claims to be. - - - honestly I REALLY aughtta work on this one some more, just so I can get most of the Big Ideas out of my head and share them with people. - - the other two fics are currently untitled snippets of scenes from the project, one a sentimental/instructional note from Eda to Luz, and the other sort of a ragefic twist on the ending of Thanks to Them. - this project is gonna include tons of ideas from and allusions to other fics which inspired it/me, such as The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled by IdeaHunter, All that's at Stake by The_Lampman, and Decorative by TheTokenAro, to name a few. - I could make a whole post about this project on its own (and in fact, I have before), talking about all the little changes I'd make, the developments I'd include, the more sweeping changes, the additional themes I'd toss in, and so on, but there are some I REALLY don't think fit well into the "rambling tumblr post" format (and/or just don't want to spoil yet), so I shall Abstain (for now :P).

#toh #the owl house #fan fiction #fanfic #barely-tamed ramblings of a madmind #moots eat up #timestamping Saturday August 26th 2023 (at 11:02am PST) #in case you wanna yell at tumblr for not putting this in your feed until days later #like they have with all my other posts in the last month-ish for some reason

[pleuvoire]

hi!!! 💖 What do you like most about your own writing? 🖊 Post a snippet from a current WIP. 💻 Do you do research for your fics? What’s the deepest dive you’ve done?

thank you bunny!!!

💖 What do you like most about your own writing? - my grasp on characterization and dialogue ^u^ also worldbuilding and action scenes but i don't get the chance to flex those nearly as often

🖊 Post a snippet from a current WIP - for you my doctor who friend you get a piece from the kamen rider kuuga x ninth doctor crossover i still need to get back to

“You can’t just stop meeting people and having new experiences when something bad happens,” said Godai, and gestured airily with the bottle. “I thought that, for a while there. But it wasn’t doing me any good. And what doesn’t do me any good doesn’t do any good for anyone else, either. So I went back to the usual. Traveling. Going out and seeing the world. Even if I’m just running away from it all, it's better than nothing, right?” The Doctor thought about that. “Even if it isn’t,” he said, “what else am I going to do?” “Mmm… hide away from the world forever, maybe,” said Godai, an easy speculation as if he were floating guesses for which team was going to win the soccer game currently playing on mute on the bar’s television. “I tried that, for a bit. I don’t recommend it.” “Yeah?” said the Doctor, and looked at him closely, making eye contact. His next words felt like a test, probing the limits of the intriguing human he’d found himself talking to. “If I hid away from the world forever, I would probably become very dangerous.” Godai smiled gently and sadly at him. “Yeah. That’s what I eventually figured out was happening to me, too.”

i've never written nine before and i don't feel very confident in my attempt so i'm gonna have to put this fic through some tough editing if i ever finish it but there's a bit of rough draft for you >.<

💻 Do you do research for your fics? What’s the deepest dive you’ve done? - i don't generally bother to research on specialized topics like science or business etc, because i don't really bring up those topics in fic, however i do try to do cultural/locational accuracy research for asian media fics and sometimes i can get a bit overthinking with that. deepest dives i can think of were when i looked up the menus of various restaurants in suzhou for a scene in the wangxian demon au fic, and comparing train lines out of tokyo and their various junctions for an earlier draft of yuutaku elopement fic (and i didn't even end up needing that info for the final draft lol)

thanks for the questions!! ^_^

#ask meme #gotyouanyway #✉️

[sparkagrace]

Hi Tejodore, my love 💕💕💕 I’m just dropping by because it is lane lines SEQUEL DAY 🥳🥳🎉🎉 I cannot wait to read it, because I know it’s gonna be absolutely amazing. I love lane lines SO MUCH, and I hope you know that, so I feel so blessed that I’m (we are, I guess ) getting even more of this little verse 🥰🥰🥰 I’m so freaking proud of you for doing this and getting so far already, and so in awe of you that you managed to write this while also blessing us with so many other incredible fics this year. You’re brilliant, honestly an inspiration 💕💕. I hope you are proud too, because even if this is just the start of it, is an achievement in itself - and if not, I will bully you until you are (lovingly, of course). Not only are you a brilliant writer, you’re also a wonderful person and an amazing friend, and you deserve everything, I love youuuu 💛💛💛💛 (and I’ll probably be back to scream at you after every chapter drops, just so you know).

ps. don’t worry too much, just listen to Tabs.

Mayaaaaaa 😭😭😭 How are you so sweet and encouraging? You have such a huge heart and I'm so blessed that you're kind enough to share it with me 💗

Thank you so much for this kind and lovely message! I'm terrified but you have been so supportive and excited for this fic, that I'm so excited to share it with you! 😘

It's been a year in the making so I can't believe that I'm finally going to start posting. It feels far too early yet also far too late and also exactly the right time! I'm a mix of emotions today (namely fear) but your support and friendship means everything to me 💖💖💖

I promise that I will step away from my editing (overthinking) and listen to @teenytabris, who's there to lovingly slap my hands away from the keyboard and reassure me every time I want to cut words again 👀 She is the best and you are the best too! I couldn't have done this without either of you over the last few months 😘😘😘

Me @ you constantly:

#maya 💖💖💖 #treading water #beautiful humans #lanes lines series

[liminalpsych-in-teyvat]

…I have written ~32,000 words of a single story in the past month. I haven't done that since high school.

Wait. No. Holy crap. I take that back. I stalled out at 25,000 words during NaNoWriMo in high school in I think 2003 or 2004, and that was the farthest I got in a month's time. So this is the most I've ever written in such a short time. But I haven't written this avidly, this many words, this consistently since high school, at the very least.

(oh no I adhd'd in the morning when my meds were half kicked in. That's always a mistake of uncontained rambling. I'll be surprised/impressed if anyone actually reads the rest of this post; ...actually I'm going to put it under a cut because it just got out of control)

It's such a nice feeling! I had given up on writing fiction for a long time, especially after working in residential treatment (2008-2010) when I just. Stopped reading fiction and stopped writing it, because I felt like I "should" be spending my time on "productive" things instead whenever I had time to write (it felt like a trauma brain, survival mode kind of mindset; I was pretty shut down and dissociated).

And when I tried to write any time after that, I got blocked too from overthinking it, knowing just enough about psychology to feel like I was Doing It Wrong with character portrayals, but not knowing enough to do it "right" or for it to flow more naturally. 13-15 years, a graduate counseling degree, and 8 years of post grad experience in the counseling field later, that's not a problem anymore, and not even a stress point.

It's been interesting trying out different approaches to writing. I'm not doing pure discovery writing anymore (aka seat-of-the-pants writing aka pantsing, not having any outline or any solid idea of where you're going, discovering as you write); I've outlined more for this story than I ever have. I'm doing more editing than I did when I was younger (I'm gonna blame adhd meds for that one, thanks adhd meds, you're the best!).

I've also been using a thesaurus for the first time in my life as a writer, which is just embarrassing. It's because I haven't used my extensive vocabulary nearly as actively, not unless it's psychology related. So while I know a lot of descriptive words, I don't have easy access to them. I'll be like "…all I can think of is this direct/simple word, but it's not the Right Word, I know the right word exists but I can't remember what it is, it's kind of like this word but not quite" and so I have to look up synonyms until I stumble across the word I was trying to remember. 9_9 I'm sure it'll come back as I read fiction more and write more.

(Possibly some of it is the head pressure/health issues? Because I'll lose words when I'm having really bad symptoms, and lose a sentence halfway through speaking. But that feels different. Pretty sure this is just because of atrophy from not writing prose for so long, and for not reading fiction nearly as voraciously as I once did.)

(But I hadn't realized I could lose access to my vocabulary from disuse. It makes sense, because I certainly have lost access to the Spanish I was once fairly fluent in. I can still understand a good amount of Spanish when I hear it spoken or read it; I just can't spontaneously access the vocabulary to speak it anymore.)

but man. you definitely get more hits and comments on AO3 for fanfic in a larger fandom like Genshin Impact (65 million active players in March 2023) than in a tiny one like Arthurian literature (20 gay people on Tumblr, that's it, that's the fandom. ...this is hyperbole, but only barely, we might be up to 40 gay people on Tumblr by now with all the Reddit refugees).

and very likely you get more hits for Explicit rated fic / erotica than for non-erotica, but I'd have to post a general audience fic in the Genshin fandom to find out. (I definitely can't say it's porn without plot, the label I used for this fic before I figured out a title was "Kushiel's Impact", basically sex-and-trauma-and-sexual-trauma political intrigue story.)

#writing #fanfic #genshin fanfic #on writing #amod #a matter of duty #my writing

[fromaliminalspace]

For the gif makers ask meme... 14, 16, 34, and 48?

[ask meme link]

14. How long does it usually take you to make a set

for real, while technically i can make a gifset within a day or a few, i have a nasty tendency to procrastinate everything, literally everything, even stuff i actually enjoy. and when i do get around to actually making sth i overthink it. sometimes for months. yup. lbr overthinking (alongside chronic lack of spoons) is the main reason i create stuff so rarely and post it even rarer even if i have it finished for a while. i'm trying to improve, okay..? just gonna kick myself more often into calling things finished and posting them, i literally have dozens of gifset ideas waiting to be executed, several art wips (as well as finished pieces), two videoedit ideas, and quite a few k words of both fic and meta… the tricky part is just to get around to all of it

16. How long have you been making gifs

oof lemme see… in June 2020 i made my first gifs that weren't completely horrible cuz before that i was using merely a phone app for this with video editing software (this and this were made this way). and then in February 2021 i finally figured out what was missing from my PS and preventing me from editing gifs there and fixed it. so yeah, i've been relatively new to this, i guess..? though ngl the experience of very spontaneously making two videoedits before trying out proper gifing was a nice starting point

34. A set that took you a long time/was really hard but you’re really proud of how it came out

hm the stardust one is the first that came to mind even though it's more the case of "it didn't receive as much attention as most my other cql gifsets but i'm still quite fond of it" rather than it being particularly time/effort-consuming. not to mention that i'm hardly ever actually proud of anything i create but well, that's just my brain cockroaches messing stuff up. back on track, the WWX gifs in the trust parallel set were a pain to edit but eventually i ended up learning new tricks while groping my way around it so i'm not complaining

okay, if i were really to pick a gifset i'm proud of that'd be the ripples one, no doubts (gonna add the link once i actually finish and post it, i promise). it's the most advanced technically (don't even ask me how long i've been nitpicking it from all directions and how i'm still tempted to drop the current version in favor of approaching it from a whole new direction bc surely it can be done way way better if i just go nitpick it some more! ya know, the usual overthinking) and it's sth very personal to me thematically. the underlying meaning of it is too closely related to liminal spaces (or more like what i simplify as "liminal spaces" as i suspect my own understanding of this concept in general can differ quite a bit from that of other people) so putting it into actual words gets tricky. but this kinda comes with the territory so nothing unusual

48. How would you describe your giffing style

ugh honestly idek if i have one..? for real, i don't think there's anything about my gifs that makes them stand out much. at least there surely isn't anything that i deliberately make sure to integrate every single time (maybe i do unconsciously though, who knows). so i feel like it's more for others to judge ¯_(ツ)_/¯

what i can say is that when i do make gifsets i apparently tend to illustrate some narrative parallels or sth with them..? or just combine scenes with a quote that strikes me with fitting vibes. or both. also i like to have fun with the colors and lighting and use adjustment layers quite heavily (but gotta admit it's hardly an option to halfass this if i wanna my Yi City gifs to look vibrant and alive enough). i suppose alternative subtitles to all my cql sets are a feature of my so called style as well since i always translate them myself instead of going the easy way and copying any of the already existing ones. which is also fun! even if, well, adds to the amount of time and spoons i put into it but what can i say, it's a matter of habit by now

#Liam whispers into the void #the void whispers back to Liam #ebonykain #ask games #creativity #gifing #yeah i'm still (somewhat) alive here #me? replying to an ask game for once? more likely than you think #and than *i* think tbh #should do sth about the other ones as well actually but hopefully i'll do it sooner rather than later #also feeling like this came out longer than anyone would probably wanna see so sorry for that i got rambly #but this doesn't look long enough to warrant the long post tag. correct me if i'm wrong though #anyway thank you Ebony for sending the ask and prompting me to at least *think* in the creative direction! it's really appreciated💜 #ngl was considering posting this once i post the ripples gifset but knowing me this can get postponed for another year so NOPE #now or never #should finish that one as well though #upd: feels ironic to answer a gifmaking meme and not know how to properly add someone else's gif to the post #i thought it'd look right once i hit post but no. not enough at least #looks like i gotta settle at this cuz i can't think rn of how else to do it

[the-missann]

The stress of posting a story is still weighing on me and on this particular day, I'm feeling it in the form of restlessness.

Even though I am knee deep in Tears of the Kingdom, it can't occupy me 24/7.... Well-

Anyways, in an attempt to calm myself, I'm gonna talk about my new story so I don't feel overwhelmed with not doing anything.

So, 👏, the name is normalities, I'm posting it on Wattpad (check it out here) and it's a coming of age, romance with an anxious girl who's trying to understand why she stands out so much when she finds herself no different than anyone else.

I don't know if I'll do this for every chapter, but I wanted to talk about why I wrote the story/chapter since there's always some big reason behind anything I do.

In this case, I decided to write normalities because it's very rare for media to get anxiety right. While there is no "correct" way to write anxiety, as it's different from person to person, most shows and movies have anxiety as the person who passes out when faced with a difficult situation. While that can happen, most people who have anxiety just wouldn't show up somewhere if they felt that stressed about it. At least, I wouldn't.

So, I wanted this story to better represent an anxious individual, to see the spectrum of how it can present itself. It's also to showcase that it's not simply "get over it" to overcome anxiety and it also doesn't get solved in one day after a inspirational speech lol.

The friend she makes is also very important. It's to give an example of how to respond to someone who has anxiety. Again, it's different from every person, but I tend to be more receptive when someone is patient and understanding. When someone realizes I talk like a cynic because I'm thinking of the worst case possible, and they don't take offense to my words, I'm the most calm.

In my experience, I overthink someone's reaction to what I'm going to say, but if I can voice my concerns and not hear "that's not going to happen, calm down" then that's all I can ask for.

I really enjoyed writing this whole story, but very specifically certain parts later in the story. Getting to write a character who actually shares my concerns and irrational worries was something I never thought I'd do!

Oh, and if anyone does check it out, for one thank you and I hope you enjoy reading ❤; but, while it is done, it's pretty much just a 1st draft. So feel free to leave some constructive criticism because I didn't have it beta read and there may be some things that are major issues. I wouldn't be opposed to editing them even after it's published.

But, I'll thank anyone who read this whole post!

Check out the story if you want!

#creative writing #writing community #writing side of tumblr #female writers #writeblr #women writers #writeblur #writers of tumblr #writing #original character #wattpad #wattpad story #wattpad series #new story #original story #novella #my story #anxeity #anxiety problems #anxiety struggles #anxiety is real #anxiety talk #anxiety post #anxiety awareness #anxiety disorder

[a-spell-a-rebel-yell]

be that as it May

hellooo, friends foes and strangers alike! using this title for a tumblr post for second time running and i'm actually early by one day (it's May 30th, so yep) genuinely proud of myself :) hahahaha

well, this post i think it's gonna be a monthly-journal-and-a-serious-note one... a word vomit guaranteed, so apologies in advance and bear with me. May was yet another rollercoaster but in another context i can't disclose yet (and not sure when i can let the secret out in the open or confirm/deny the rumors lol but for 2nd time: it’s not me getting engaged ok 🤣 i don’t even have anyone in mind) but yeah the highlight: not getting coldplay Jakarta ticket.

i'm so damn livid at so many things like 😭😭😭😭😭 first of all the scalpers deliberately buying the tickets just so they can resell it in exorbitant prices, the FOMO crowd for taking my spot as an actual coldplay fan (though i'm not nearly as mad as i am at the scalpers because well, they just want to see the band that i also happen to love), and the coldplay management team for planning a stupid Asia/Oceania leg tour route that doesn't make sense (who the hell decided to go for only a day at Jakarta then straight to Perth which is miles away and then back to Malaysia?)

anyways i'm counting on people suddenly having other events or important business to attend to so there will be tickets i can buy secondhand. not going to appease scalpers by panic buying i want to see them suffer a huge loss and will be rendered to resort selling it half price on d-day or something. i feel like i deserve the tickets so bad the concert day is literally eleven days before my birthday in November 😭 i know i can make it happen i WILL see my band like i did last time!!! 😤

the remainder of May is just me working on the project, preparing stuffs and literally running all over Jakarta to get things done, me overthinking, nothing new (read: clowning as always) not trying to be cryptic but just like coldplay said in Speed of Sound: "every chance that you get is the chance you seize." wish me luck, pals!

my Brisbane based cousin who's going to get married in August sent us the fabric needed to make the outfit for the special day and i'm getting even more hyped up!!! it's not me who's going to say my vows and tie my life to the other half of my soul but i'm super happy. can't wait for Bandung trip 2.0 yippeee

okay here we're entering the serious note territory... for once, for so long, i'm letting myself to just let go of the words. kinda sure some of you have probably caught on, or thought i'm a daft dimbo for this but yes: it's about him. on May 25th, two years ago i spoke to him for the very last time. full reassurance from my part to say that no, it's not about me not being able to move on or blah blah blah, it's quite the opposite actually.

writing this down, on here, feels like some sort of purge. it's not in a bad way either, i am glad i can finally talk about it openly, with no sense of remorse or regret or hatred or resentment. right now, after two years of as much space and time given to think and process it through, remembering him and the days that build the very core of memories i still keep in my mind feels like rereading my favorite book.

it's like me and him are just some other characters that i cheer and cherish for, i long and support and yearn for, and the story ends with a nice closure chapter. a complete book. to me personally, it's like reading Harry Potter. such a huge part of my life, yet i'm no longer there.

i no longer stutter or taken aback or get the chills whenever something in the present pulls me back into a particular memory of him. i embrace it with open arms and with a smile on my face. i reread my last letter to him and actually edited it (my editor self is just, you know, being an editor) i'm as unabashed and unbothered to open my old chats with him (i kinda cheated oops sorry if you read this lmao i just never feel the need to delete the chats because let's be fr i don't need to reread it, i still can recall what we talked about just from memory. that's me and my insanely biased brain, ha!) and actually laugh and cringe (mostly on my part, because it was so clear i tried to catch his attention by doing literally everything omg i was so embarrasing 🤣😭😂) (also for disclaimer, i never opened our chatrooms, not until this month, so i also kinda kept my part of the agreement) but it's fun nonetheless. nothing that happened between us will ever tarnish or alter the fact that i was genuinely happy and the joy filled memories will always be there.

it's a bit hilarious how my 'strategy' is to avoid him like a plague. left zero gap for any chance to even get a glimpse of him or his life. basically two years of absolutely nothing of him (except for some weird twist like how his mum and my mum are still members of the same whatsapp group, though they don't interact much) in a glance it does seem like i'm trying to run away from reality, but i swear it's just my way of dealing with problem at hand, since i suppose fourteen years worth of feelings can't be extinguished in a lazy attempt with feeble manner. yet that doesn't mean i'm gonna play pretend and fake an amnesia, i still think about him sometimes. i guess it's just part of being human, with weaknesses and all.

you've probably wondered, yes: i still do love him with all my heart. just in a different way, and for sure, from far away. see what i'm talking about? he's just like an endearing fictional character you have grown to love and will always be with you (yes i'm a huge Potterhead lol) it's platonic, sometimes familial love, just constantly running in the background. i always do that to the people i regard highly in my life, so again, nothing new.

i still count him as one of my selected few best friends though imprudent and tactless he can be because he sometimes is also the voice of reason to my farfetched always anxious self (also because he knows too much of my secrets thanks to me being biased and a pathological overshare-r) if God ever made destiny to make another funny turn, i would've liked us to be an actual, functional, supportive friends. long live the friends!

Nietzsche is right about without forgetting it's quite impossible to live at all, but i digress. if you’ve watched Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind, you’ll know what i’m talking about; i guess at some point things just don't have any explanation (yet) of why it happens ever so, you just carry on with it. archiving it somewhere in a vault.

so. even though i know he will never read this... hey you, i just want to say i'm so grateful to have you as friend, though things don't always go smoothly. honored to have been graced by your presence in my life, though just for a limited time as it is. i hope you're always happy, healthy, and loved!

phew, i got super emotional. maybe because it's been two years, i can't believe i managed to stand for what is right this long! (and will continue to do so) i am here from all the things i've gone through :) yet another coldplay quote because i just love this band so much, and i think this song is my song. please read the lyrics as you listen to it, best feeling ever.

it's cathartic, a form of healing, alleviating, to put these, all my feelings, out in the open. this is what i live with and it is my life. i'm content with how everything is going and i think it's all settled now, all good. now full throttle focusing on the project, if things go my way, i'll tell you guys all about it on my July post. see you then! 💙

#alhamdulillah #bismillahirrahmanirrahim #good things are coming our way #:)

[the-blind-geisha]

awww, that's so sweet! but tbh I don't wanna be just Pandemonium's anon for you, not when we used to have blog-to-blog relationship (does this even make sense?). Alright then, I shall make preparations to expose myself fully. But it has to be grand, it has to be breathtaking! So, we will see. Glad to hear that, then! You could say Cheshire is a different form of Emmett in a different universe!

Oh my God, no! Stay away from these pieces! They are ama-effing-zing. They don't need to be changed! <3 (my edits, on the other hand, could look better or maybe I could put more time into them xD)

Yes! Exactly that! At the same, I wonder if Nazarick's residents would be villains (at least, that fast) if Demiurge didn't kinda overthink what Ainz said about wanting "the chest of jewellery" or sth when they were looking at the night sky XD. Man, I absolutely love Demiurge for that, he's VERY intelligent, but sometimes, he can act a bit dumb? and overthinks everything? XD But I also absolutely love when he analyzes the supposed Ainz's plan and Ainz is sitting here being like "Yes, yes, good Demiurge, you saw through me (WHAT THE EFF DOES HE TALK ABOUT? DID I REALLY SAY THAT? AND MEANT THESE THINGS??)". Seriously, Ainz having to act tough and intelligent all while he screams inside because he's so lost with all stuff doing around is so effing good. But holy eff, Renner, that girl is just creepy. I didn't really know she wanted to end her self, but, considering her intelligence and people around her, I can imagine she would do that XD. And I really don't have a thing for yanderes, but at the same time, her character is just so great. Glad to see that humans in Overlord also have their twisted side. The way she manipulates everyone around her and the stuff she does later, in LNs is just *chef kiss* go slay queen, even if I don't really like you.

No doubt Tuare wouldn't want the innocents to be hurt! She gives that innocent, heart-of-gold vibe XD. So yeah, she would definitely care. I think it's more about not wanting to be around humans right now, which is understandable. That's a bit funny too cuz when she's done with her training, she's supposed to be a head maid of human staff in E-Rantel residence XDD. But I can see her doing that because it would be considered doing it for Sebas. Which is mood, I'd also do everything for him (Tuare and me being besties, simping to the same man au <3) But IF Sebas and Demiurge shared a woman, oh man. It would be like having mean and soft dom in your bed XD Also, they would absolutely argue meanwhile, like about which thing to do next. Poor woman, I think the argument would be so serious, she would easily get forgotten XD

I don't exactly read LNs now but I know spoilers? And don't worry, Demiruge will have a bit of a spotlight soon. Well, at least I think so. <3

Oh, Leon and Claire huh? I see you're a person of culture as well (dang, I know a person who would absolutely love to talk to you about Leon XD). I also love RE but I've never beat RE 1 so I feel you </3 Not only it effing lags cuz my computer is shit, but also, the puzzles:tm: and having to go back all the time, is tiring me so much. XD The only game I nearly finished was RE5 and damn, I really enjoyed myself. (Also, Chris could strangle me with these huuuuge arms and I'd thank him lololo).

Not gonna lie, the ability to sense through anon sounds absolutely sick and I'm kinda jealous. But I'm glad you have that ability XD. Oh well, then, time to make preparations to show my true form! (or more like, new form cuz I made yet another blog!... and, yeah, im so damn stupid cuz I had no email left so I deleted the blog I used to post a fanfic for you... so don't change your account without telling me where are you going! cuz this time, I don't think I'll find you XDDD

hope you're having a nice but peaceful day! <33 - Pandemonium

I completely get it, hon. And tbh, it's just my autistic side showing, where everything has to have a place and everything in that place where I label you as 'anon'. X”D But, deep down, I know you're more than a gray-face. Trust me there. ♥ But oooh, you have my attention! :O

LOL kinda! I mean...Cheshire is going to be a lot more 'forward' when it comes to his Creator Demona; whereas Emmett was far more reserved in that thought unless pushed to be so. XD Maybe a reincarnation where they're not the same emotionally (and even physically as Cheshire is going to be a wink/nod towards the same cat idea of Alice in Wonderland LOL) but same in other ways. X3

HAHA. I mean... I do still have them on my PC and they've not be trashed. XD Promise. ♥ I never was someone to toss old art I couldn't stand. I just redraw them. X3 But I am glad you loved those pieces! (I still won't tarnish your edits either, my dear. =P So HAH!)

Oh yeah! The 'glittering box of jewels'? And Demiurge is like 'OMG, HE SAID WE CAN TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!' I swear, it makes me heckin' curious the flavor text Ulbert gave him to have Demiurge look for any and every sign of 'it's okay to take over the world'. X”D I think that's what's going on there where the devil is concerned. If you look under 'my screenshots' tag, you'll find a photo I took of where Demiurge does it again and at vol 15? I wanna say? Forget which one it was from... Ainz has caught onto 'that look' Demiurge does before he goes off the deep end thinking about Ainz's ideas. Ainz even told Demiurge to 'take a damn shower' in his head, basically. LOL

Omg, Renner is like...such a breath of fresh air where the New Worlders are concerned. XD All of the others are either boring or creepy in other ways (IE: hints of being child... 'lovers'... *shivers in disgust*) She's SO creepy too but in a good way! So I'll be happy when Ainz takes over the world and eradicates the idiots and gross people.

I can now see the 'Do it for him' meme with her looking at a collage of Sebas pics haha.

I'd gladly accept that dynamic! LOL

Ooh yes, the movie is going to be about Demiurge attacking Roble, so that'll be cool af!

//Grins big// Yessss. Also, I cannot get over Dead by Daylight Leon's moaning sounds of injury. X”D But the voice actor who did them had 'a good time' he insisted on Twitter... He knew what he was doing... the bastard. ♥

I am so glad you enjoyed one of the games from the series! I adore the series so much, and weirdly enough while it wasn't my first one, RE: Code Veronica holds a weirdly special place in my heart. Even if I never beat it either! I just really loved the atmosphere and everything. ♥

Bolder punching Chris Redfield. Heck yeee! ♥♥

Hah! Oh, when able, I'll tell you on DM how I got this 'super power'. XD It's too long a story to post here.

FOR ME?? Well, shucks!! I won't, I won't! I promise! ;^; I'll be super excited to read it whenever you post it! I know I will!

All my love, dear! I hope you're having a lovely day yourself!

#and yesss i get to have 2 days off in a row now #so i get to relax #it was a busy day but i'm home now #mod answers #anon #anon: P #anon: pandemonium

[thyandrawrites]

At this point the only thing that's motivating me to finish my wip faster is the fact that I wanna be free so I can finally reopen my askbox and have the "Dabi is confirmed to be Todoroki Touya" meltdown meta that everyone's lowkey been expecting of me, lmao

#I'm just being responsible #I wanted to reopen my askbox already but #I know that if I do #My already thin focus is gonna completely evaporate #Good news is that I'm finally touching on that final action scene that had me stuck #Hopefully it won't read too mechanic once I'm done writing the first draft and I can actually edit it #How does one stop overthinking their writing #I would be 2875 times faster if I didn't expect every line of mine to be perfect lol #Anyway #My dabi brainrot is not over #I just put a temporary lid over it lol don't worry #I have so many things about him I wanna say #I'll probably struggle to put them in a single post #Thyandra.txt #I know literally no one asked lmao #Spoilers #In better news the new chapters def provided writing inspo #I had way too much fun inserting a couple of lines in reference of the reveal #Lolol we stan a dramatic ass bitch

[clambuoyance]

it's always so fascinating to see other writers' thought process! you plan out so MUCH of your stuff, down to dialogue! i just make shit up as I go along and then edit if need be. it's a system that works for me somehow

like i have written a 70 thousand word thing and most of it was entirely unplanned. i started by going "hmm situation! yeah! and here's how it's gonna end i guess!" and then i made everything up as i went along, coming up with plot beats and character/story arcs as i wrote things down in real time

i'd write chapters in my head when i was out and when i got home i'd write something completely different because i very much am a stream-of-consciousness writer who writes what's on their mind at the time

and the thing is! the thing i wrote was good! even by my standards! there were several times i had to write around things i forgot (because i was posting it on a chapter-by-chapter basis) but other than that everything worked and stuff!

so i find it so cool that you plan everything out because then you REALLY have a sense of your story and stuff and i bet shit's a lot more meaningful (i havent read nothingbound yet because i don't usually read unfinished fics but i bet it's really good and you know i will be binging it when you finish it)

like if you planted something in chapter one about character A having a fear of heights and character B loving rollercoasters and later they go on an amusement park date, you might have planned that all out! for me it would be an "oh riiiiight i did that didn't i. time to work that into a later chapter i guess :)"

idk sorry for the long ass ask i just love seeing how other people plan shit out for their works and stuff

You're so right though, it's so interesting to see how different people make art/write stories. Honestly sometimes I wish I could just sit down and stream-of-consciousness this shit and come up with it on the spot, because I imagine I'd get a lot more writing done but I feel like I tend to overthink things. Lmao, whenever I write essays for school, my number one thing is making sure everything connects, so I guess that's just my brain. But sometimes i'm just so tired of trying to think of plot points that will happen ahead of time i just start writing and decide to fix it/refine it later. I do end up taking a lot out in the editing process, but i save most of it so i have a list of some deleted scenes saved.

It's also kind of like in animating, where you can animate pose to pose, with each key pose planned out, or animate straight to action going from one frame to the next, which is less restricting and more loose. There's benefits to both and some situations are gonna call for one or another, or both! :D

#very cool stuff #clam answers

[i-dont-want-your-hysteria]

Too Daze Gone (Joe x Reader)

(Happy birthday to me! You’re all going to suffer. This is a little something that I wrote over 2 1/2 years ago based on a concept that I thought of three years ago; one of the first ideas I ever had for a Def Leppard fanfic. I made some very minor edits to it ((since I’m not 17 anymore)), and honestly, this is still one of my favorite things that I’ve ever written. But I know you guys are gonna have my head for it later...)

Prompt: It’s December of 1989. You and Joe are recently married, the world has now officially entered the post-Hysteria era, and- well...

-----

December 1989

The soft morning sunlight was seeping through the plane’s window right next to you. Joe’s head was resting on your arm, and you used your opposite hand to stroke his hair soothingly. He had one hand on his stomach, along with his green eyes closed and shut away from the world. The plane was flying steadily now, but your minds were anything but steady at the moment. There was so much to say, but no place or time to say it. It was almost as if you two were having a telepathic conversation; there was so much thinking between you both, yet nothing was being said.

“You alright, Joe?” the voice of a London guitarist broke your attention from the window. He’d strolled over to the seats where you and the man in question were sitting, and let his concern get the better of him.

There was far too much concern going around today, so Phil's question was rather unnecessary.

“Oh, he’s fine,” you answered sweetly, knowing that Joe didn’t want to answer, and also not wanting to give Phil any hint to your invisible nerves, “He’s just feeling rather sick is all.”

Phil sighed, “Ah, yeah, the turbulence wasn't the greatest.”

You decided to go along with Phil’s theory of why Joe wasn’t feeling well. After all, it was believable.

“Yeah, we haven’t been awake that long, either. You know how he can be in the morning. He’s just sick of the day, really,” you lightly joked. Today was not necessarily a good day for jokes. There was a deep, underlying sadness beneath the surface of everybody's tone no matter how much they joked around.

“Oh, so he’s got morning sickness, I see?” Phil joked along, trying to lighten the universally tense mood, “Well, congratulations on the pregnancy, Joe.”

Your heart jumped and you forced a chuckle at the statement. You felt Joe’s heart jump, too.

“Thanks, Phil,” Joe cracked a gentle smile for him as he walked away. You could feel how forced the smile was as Joe slowly reached out and squeezed your hand. He was definitely more worried than you.

“Shh, I know. I’m worried, too,” you whispered to him so quietly that you could barely hear yourself, “But we’ll deal with this later.”

~18 hours earlier~

You weaved your hands together with the utmost anxiety as you waited for Joe to get back from a small trip to the supermarket. As you waited, there was no stopping the racing thoughts in your mind. Once one thought appeared and rooted itself within you, it was impossible to keep it from rolling into a snowball of others. It was driving you absolutely mad on the inside. Keeping calm on the outside, however, came rather easily. It almost felt like second nature at the moment. Of course, you knew that was all going to change the second Joe got back.

Everything was going to change the second Joe got back.

When he did come back, you immediately stood up and went over to him, trying to be casual and lighthearted.

"Hey! How was the store?" came the greeting from you. Your voice was nearly on the verge of breaking from the tension of the whole situation.

"A fucking treat," he grumbled sarcastically, putting four bags down on the table, "The whole bloody place was packed, the service was piss poor, traffic on the way back, you name it."

You kissed him on the cheek for a few seconds in consolation, quickly making his small dimple appear as a result. Normally, it melted your heart to see him smile, but this time, it made it almost vibrate with worry. It hurt to see him happy now, since you knew it wouldn't last long.

He turned and put his hands on your waist, "I suppose it was worth it to get back to you, though."

You wrapped your arms around his neck, quickly pecked him on the lips, telling him, "You're too kind. Now let's see what you've looted up on-"

Desperate to distract both of you from each other, you turned to the grocery bags and started to pull the items out. You did it in a sped-up manner to keep your hands from shaking too visibly. You had no idea when to mention what had to be mentioned.

"I'll tell you what," Joe spoke up, his annoyance still audible in his voice, "The service down there was so fucking slow. Took me a half hour to get four bloody bags worth."

"I'll say you took a while," you impulsively decided to create a segue- any segue- that may get you closer to your fated subject. You blurted out "You’re late."

As he continued pulling out the groceries, he cocked an eyebrow, and asked without looking at you, "What do you mean I’m late?"

"Just, you're late, that's all," you shrugged, the anxiety overwhelming you more. It was getting close to the subject now.

"I'm not late," he chuckled, still not looking up or fully understanding you. You both often liked to joke and tease each other, so this wasn’t anything strange to him.

"No," you stated calmly, going completely motionless with fear, “But I am."

He didn't completely comprehend what you had said. He began to put away the groceries and asked you obliviously, "What do you mean you're late?" Late for what?"

You pressed on, remaining rooted to a motionless state and staring at him, "No, Joe... I’m late."

"You mean that this month you didn't get your-" he started off normally, but then paused as the penny dropped. He froze, and dropped the can he was holding. Your heart sank in your chest at his reaction. Now was the time to talk about it, and you could sense it wasn't going to be pleasant. Part of you began to think that this is how it might end for you two.

He turned around, looking almost mortified and whispered, "Oh my god... are you...?"

"I don't know..." you were shaking now, "I'm just assuming."

For a moment you both stood there, staring at each other, lost for words.

Another impulse suddenly arose within you, and you blurted out again with a wavering and worried voice, "I-I hope I'm not, Joe, and I know you don't want me to be, either, because now is not a good time for this to be happening! You’re at the peak of your career, and we’ve got the new album on the way, then you'll be on tour again- and-"

"Hey, hey, shh," Joe moved forward and put his hands on your arms, "Calm down... it's okay, it's okay. First of all, who ever said I didn't want this? You can't just assume that I wouldn't be okay with it... and I'm not mad- really, I swear! Second of all, this isn't set in stone yet. We'll have to find out if you are first, and if you are, we'll... then we'll make it work out somehow. Don’t think too much just yet; try to relax.”

You blew out a shaky exhale and muttered, “Yeah, okay...”

“Have you been sick?"

"No, but something just feels... off."

"How late are you?"

"About a week..."

"Have you been this late in the past, but gotten your period anyway?"

"Yes..."

"Then we don't know for sure," he kissed the top of your head, embracing you and reassuring, “So what if you're late? That doesn't have to mean anything! I'm worried, too, but we can't just jump to conclusions like this. I wouldn't even put the stakes at 50-50 right now. All this worrying is probably over nothing. You could just be overthinking."

You turned your head and attempted to look up at him to say, "But this is a child, Joe... if there's even a small possibility that this child exists, we've got to assume that it does... we can't just ignore it for too long."

"You've got a point, you've got a point, but just for a second, genuinely consider the possibility that you're not-" he didn't dare say the “p” word, "-you know..."

You sighed into his shoulder, fighting back against tears that wanted to fall, "Okay, okay, you could be right, but there's so much that might have to be done- we can't just put this off..."

"We can until we know for sure," he suggested, "If it's worrying you so much right now, then I'll run out to the corner store and pick up a test. We can sort this out once and for all. How long did you wanna wait before taking a test?"

"I don't know, I don't know," came the drawn out reply as a few tears spilled from you, "Maybe a day or two or three, but I'm just getting so worried that it might be true, I can't wait anymore."

"Okay, then you won't have to wait anymore," he tilted your chin up to give you a quick and thoughtful kiss, then wiped away your tears, "I'll run to the store quick and buy us a test. Is that okay?"

"Yes, please just do it. I'm sorry- you just got back from the store and-"

He laughed and squeezed you tighter, swaying with you in his arms, "Ah, don't worry about it; it's a necessary trip now."

"You're taking this a lot better than I thought you would."

"What'd you think I was gonna do? Leave you?" he chuckled lightheartedly, though he guessed exactly what you were thinking.

You faked a chuckle in reply, "Yeah, kinda... I had a lot of time to overthink everything."

"Well, would you leave me? Especially if I were in your shoes?"

It was your turn to squeeze him tighter (and laugh into his chest), "Joe, if you were in my shoes, I think we'd have a real problem."

"Oh, I know, I know- but apart from that- would you leave me?"

"Of course not..."

"Exactly. You wouldn't leave me, so I definitely won't leave you. You know we've always looked after each other, and I still plan on holding up my end of the bargain."

He kissed you again, longer this time, before softly assuring you, “I love you. Don't ever think that I’d abandon you to raise a child on your own, cos' it'll never ever be a possibility. I'll be here no matter what. Positive or negative."

***

Positive or negative, indeed, you told yourself as you wearily gazed out of the plane's window. You still weren't completely sure how to feel about the outcome of the previous day, but- as you told Joe before- you had to deal with it later. There were more pressing matters currently at hand. Your previous issue could wait for an extra day or two. The more serious problem that you all were on your way to currently needed the most attention. This particular problem also seemed to outline a theme for the past 24 hours; accidental life or accidental death.

~17 hours earlier~

You both sat on the bathroom floor in quiet anxiety. Your hands were joined in a world of worry. At the moment, it was impossible to tell who was more worried, since neither of you could bring yourselves to speak.

The longest two minutes of your lives were currently taking place. The test was sitting on the counter of the sink, and neither of you were counting down to when you could look at it again. Every now and then, a reassuring thought would come to mind that you were all worked up over nothing. After all, Joe was right; you barely had any evidence other than the fact that you were late, so you couldn't just assume the worst. On the other hand though, you couldn't help but feel that there was some impending doom about to come, almost like you felt it instinctively.

With you both being scared shitless at the moment (and not even trying to hide it), you sensed that deep down, both of you knew what the result was going to be. Neither of you wanted to admit it, though.

A few rooms away, the phone suddenly sounded off, shattering the tension and making you both jump. It was almost like a form of divine intervention to prevent you from thinking any more. Almost immediately, Joe lifted his hand away and quietly said that he'd answer it. He stood up and left, leaving you alone with a possibly huge revelation sitting on the counter a few feet away. However, that would no longer be your biggest concern, for you could easily overhear Joe talking on the phone.

"'Ello?" he answered before pausing and replying anxiously, "No, I really don't have a minute... I can't say, but I don't have time to chat. You alright, mate?”

There was an unnerving pause before you heard Joe ask, "Why?"

There was an even longer pause before he spoke again. Your heart was pounding more. That gut feeling that your lives were about to change for the worse grew enormously without warning. On top of that, you suddenly realized that it had been well over two minutes at this point. Your future awaited you now.

"Fuck... oh my god..." Joe's voice was a lot more quiet now, "...oh my god, is he...?"

Now, you began weaving your hands together, slowly growing more and more impatient and worried.

"Dammit," Joe said a little louder, "We'll we've gotta go, then. We've gotta go as soon as possible. What about Rick and Sav...? Alright, then. We'll meet you there tomorrow morning- I've really gotta go and tell Y/N right now. I'll call you in a bit. Yeah, alright... just try and calm down, mate- okay? See ya, then."

As soon as he hung up, you heard him rush back to the bathroom.

"Y/N, he huffed before he was even in the room, "Y/N, something's happened and we’ve gotta-“

He froze in the doorway upon seeing you now standing and completely covering the test in your hands.

"No," he moved forward and put a hand on yours, "Please don't look at it yet; something awful's happened and I don't know how much sudden news we can take at this point. Did you look at it?”

You shook you head, not breaking eye contact with him, "No, but now I'm too scared to take my hands off. What's happened?"

He came right out with it, "Steve's been found unconscious at a bar in Minneapolis. They took him to a hospital, he’s in intensive care and... and he’s pretty bad.”

Right then and there, you dropped the test in your hands with a gasp. You were speechless, but part of you couldn't help but ask, "Is- is he gonna make it?”

You suddenly saw tears in Joe's eyes when he answered, "I don't know... he won't die unless we knock some fucking sense into him! That was Phil who just called, and he sounded scared shitless..."

"W-well what are we gonna do? Is anyone going to see Steve?"

"We are. Tomorrow morning we're flying out with Phil, Mutt, Tony, and Peter."

"Wait, what about Rick and Sav?"

"They both can't make it on short notice. We're gonna have to give Steve a beatin’ over the head from them.”

Just like that, you forgot all about the test on the floor. Steve was dying, and that was enough to flood your mind. You wanted to cry, you wanted to hug Joe, you wanted to scream, and most of all, you wanted to see Steve and sob your brains out to him.

"He's never gonna get better, is he?" you quietly asked, not particularly looking for an answer. Joe shrugged and sighed, running his hands through his hair.

He coldly chuckled in a quiet voice, "Not unless we keep drilling it into his head that he's gonna kill himself!"

Hanging your head out of astonishment, you sat on the counter, realizing that this was the biggest blow to your lives since Rick’s accident.

At least, it would be until you saw the result of the test on the floor.

"Joe..." you whispered to him, staring down at your hands, "Should we look at the test? Should we wait until we get back?"

Joe did nothing more than stare at you, frowning nervously. He moved his own hands forward, placed them on top of yours, and took a deep breath.

“We’re only gonna be more worried if we wait... so we might as well settle things now.”

Joe slowly got on his knees, and felt on the floor for the test without looking at it. When he located it, he rose back to his feet, and brought the test forward. He kept it covered with all his fingers wrapped around it to conceal the verdict.

Blowing out a trembling breath, you looked at him as he did at you, and he gently unfolded his fingers from the test. You both simultaneously looked down to see the clearly marked result. In that second, you were fairly certain that life would never be the same.

In fact, you were positive.

***

“Now is literally the worst possible time to talk about this, Joe,” you whispered again so no one else on the plane could hear, “It can wait a day or two. We’ve got to worry about Steve first."

Joe nodded a little, agreeing with you, “Okay, I suppose it can wait.”

“Don't stress yourself out so much; it's literally making you sick. Besides, I’m the one who’s supposed to be sick,” you chuckled, “That’s not your job.”

“Oh shut up,” he laughed a little, “It really is the turbulence… and the fact that Steve’s… and you’re… and I’m surprised you’re not this overwhelmed.”

You sighed and turned your head towards the window, “Yeah... I’m really surprised, too. This is gonna be one hell of a story to tell this kid when they’ve grown up...”

“I feel sorry that their story had to start out like this,” Joe put another hand on top of your already joined hands with a guilty exhale, “With such bad timing...”

As you watched the illuminated clouds move on by the window of the plane, you couldn’t help but think that things truly would be okay at one point: like that maybe this wouldn’t be such bad timing after all. Things would all work out eventually. How far away that merciful checkpoint was, you’d never be able to guess.

***

Later that day, you found yourself sitting in a circle of people in a rather pleasant-looking and sunlit room. For such a nice day that it was, nothing about the day seemed to fit the mood the weather provided; the universe simply wouldn’t allow it. Now was the time for the serious matter you came for; you were desperately trying to help Steve.

“Steve, you’re scaring the shit out of us,” Phil read bluntly from his letter to his best friend, trying not to let soft emotion seep into his tone. He knew he needed to be stern, but caring towards him.

The whole time he spoke, you wanted to devote all of your attention to him and Steve, but soon found that you couldn't. The constant thought of your unborn child was first on your mind, and although you didn’t want that taking over your thoughts, it was beginning to eat you alive. You almost felt like you couldn't hold the secret back any longer, despite only knowing for a day. In any other circumstances, it would have been so much easier to keep it secret. Today, however, was the worst possible day, with the worst possible scenario.

Every now and then, Joe would look over at you to see how you were doing, and turn back to not be conspicuous to everyone else. You could practically sense his growing worry. Going on in this manner for so long was starting to make your own unstoppable thoughts bubble to the surface. You couldn't hold out for much longer, and was even starting to think outside the box about your while situation. Was being with child really a problem? Did it have to be a bad thing right now? Could you actually find a way to rip some positivity from it all and shed some light on this situation?

That's when it hit you.

When Phil was done his speech, some silent tears were shed by everyone in the circle (including Steve). Near silence commenced afterwards (which only reminded you that there was no distraction from your thoughts now). You reached out to Joe slowly, and took his hand in a tight grip without looking at him. While you felt his eyes on you, you didn't dare look at him.

"Has anyone else got something to say to add onto that?" Peter softly asked, looking around the circle. Your heart began to pound; an opening for you was coming.

Phil slowly began to comment, looking at his feet, "Well, there's nothing I can say to get the point across any more. We can beg and plead all we want but the point still stands, Steve. I know you're not a fan of us guilt tripping you to hell- but we don't want to beat you up; that’s not what we came here to do. We love you, mate... so it doesn't matter whether or not we guilt trip you by saying we're worried sick, or- or..."

"I'm pregnant," you stated simply, closing your eyes and squeezing Joe's hand. While you didn't see it, you felt Joe inhale and look at you instinctively. For the single day that you were aware of your condition, you and Joe had feared the "p" word, and avoided using it at all costs.

Phil didn't entirely comprehend what you said, and kept talking on, "Exactly, even if we said that-"

"No-" you sat up in your seat and opened your eyes, now shaking again, "I mean... I'm pregnant."

You looked over at Joe, who seemed tired, yet understanding. Your eyes went down to his hand as you corrected yourself, "We're pregnant."

All eyes were on you now, but no one had any inclination to speak for a moment.

“Are you serious?” Mutt broke the silence in astonishment, “You're fucking with us right now, aren't you?"

“She’s not,” Joe shook his head, still fixing his loving eyes on you.

Steve looked at Phil and stated coldly, "I thought you said you guys weren't gonna make stuff up to guilt trip me."

"Does it look like I'm making this up?!" you snapped at him, anxious and shameful tears brimming your eyes. You looked around at everyone, landing your eyes on Steve.

"So you're serious?” he asked softly, frowning as he flicked off ashes from his cigarette, “You really are pregnant?”

You nodded, trying to hold yourself together.

“When did you find out?” Peter inquired gently, coming off as the most calm member of the group.

Your voice began to break as you told him with a sad chuckle, “Yesterday... we were waiting for the result of the test right when you called, Phil...”

Phil's eyes lit up at your statement, and he apologized, "Oh- fucking hell... Joe... you even said you didn't have time to talk... and what I said on the plane this morning- must've only made things worse... guys, I'm so sor-"

"That wasn't your fault, mate," Joe smiled sadly, "There's no way you could've known."

"It was just bad timing," you stared at Joe's hand in yours, feeling him shaking as well.

No one spoke for a while after that; no one could think of the right thing to say. It seems you both had scared them all into silence (even more than Steve had). Everyone in the circle couldn't speak because they no longer saw you and Joe the same way. A minute ago, you were still Y/N and Joe. Now, you were mum and dad. The others didn't know how to speak to those strange new people just yet.

“Well, congratulations, for one thing,” Tony broke the silence with a soft smile. A few muffled chuckles and agreements went around the circle, but it wasn’t what you or Joe wanted to hear.

“No, no, that’s not the point,” you threw your hands out in frustration, “We never even planned on telling anyone today! Don’t you guys see how suddenly life can come and go? Twenty-four hours ago Joe and I didn’t even have a child, and now we do. Twenty-four hours ago, we didn’t even think that there was a possibility of you dying-“ you pointed at Steve, giving him your own furious input, “-and now there is. It’s just all so surreal, but no matter how bad the timing of your life is, there’s always time to fight for survival. And that's exactly what we need to get a grip on right now.”

Steve put out his cigarette at this point, looking as if he were genuinely listening to you now more than ever.

“And I guess timing was a real bitch to us today,” you put a hand on your abdomen for the first time since you found out, addressing Steve directly, “But I’d say now you’ve got a little bit more to fight for. Just think about this whole situation; it’s not exactly a tale to be proud of. If this story keeps getting worse, and this is how it ends for you- I don’t want that to be the story of Uncle Steve. I want our child to be born into a world where you're thriving- where they... where they actually have an Uncle Steve."

You had hit a nerve (or a soft spot, to say the least). Before you even realized exactly what you had said, everyone in the circle was crying, including you and Steve. Joe looked at you with his face smothered in tears, but smiling, no less.

The seven of you remained like that for a minute or two, absorbing what had really hit everyone hard, and quietly crying your brains out.

Steve didn’t raise his head to ask you with heartfelt astonishment, “...Uncle Steve, really?”

“C’mere, you fucking idiot,” you sprang to your feet at one point and rushed over to him, taking him in your arms as he stood to take you in his without the slightest bit of hesitation.

“I love you so much, Steve,” you sobbed into his chest, “And I will always care about you. You mean so much to me, and I know you’ll mean so much to the baby, too.”

One by one, everyone else in the circle joined in the hug, each of them murmuring their love to Steve in their own affectionate way. Once you were all broken up, Joe embraced you himself and kissed you over and over again.

“Hey, back off from her,” Mutt teased, “Haven’t you done enough?”

“I still can’t believe you knocked her up,” Phil sighed with happy disbelief, “That’s something we only ever joked about!”

“Yeah well, it doesn’t have to be seen as a joke anymore,” Joe put his hands on your hips and smiled, tearing up all over again, “I’m gonna be a dad...!”

Peter chimed in, “Now that’s a bit scary.”

“It’s not scary,” you chuckled, stroking the back of Joe’s head, “It’s exciting! Timing is a bitch... but I think I’m ready for anything time can throw at me, now.”

Reaching that point of acceptance was a day-long journey that you thought would never have a final destination. All was nearly well in that moment where you and Joe hugged with a seemingly-changed Steve standing by. Right then and there, the future seemed bright for everyone; including your unborn child. An eternity went by in those two days you were gone for, and even though the next day you found out that your test result was a false positive, and Steve only lived for about another year, that false positive seemed to be just what you all needed to keep the world at bay.

The end

#*dances with an umbrella as your tears rain down on me* :3DD #your tears are the best birthday presents i could ask for #def leppard #def leppard fanfic #def leppard x reader #joe elliott x reader #original content #i honestly don't know if I'll ever write anything that can top this as far as a one shot goes #phil collen #steve clark #peter mensch #mutt lange #i thought of this when I was into Leppard for like 2 months #maybe less than that #also the pic of joe on the right really makes me fEEL THINGS #yes i stole the title of this from a Billy Squier song #i started writing this on august 13th 2018 and finished it on december 9th 2018 #I wanted to post this in december 2020 but I was taking a hiatus