#since I started reading FrostIron fics

[girlcalledwhatsername]

Is it just me or

#like i first learned the word in school ages before i got into this but I've started seeing it so much more #since I started reading FrostIron fics #frostiron

[vilyanenyavilya]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

tagged by @xottan. thank youuuu

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

14

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

734,739.

Thank Checkmate for over half of that.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

MCU, mainly frostiron

4. Top five fics by kudos

Checkmate (Chess and Chocolate Chip Pancakes in Stark Tower)

Mischief Meets Hawk

Variant Friends

The Firefly Light In Your Eyes

The Sorcerer Next Door

5. Do you respond to comments?

yep, when it gets to a back and forth I love it!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Mischief Meets Hawk, but more bittersweet because I skipped over what would have been the angstiest part. It’s just what happens when a god (Loki) becomes best friends with a human (Clint).

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

They tend to be happy, but I’ll say Checkmate since it took 409,963 words to get Tony and Loki there. So much happened to build up to the ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Had two comments that I would count, one was more just mis-understanding and one was the type of thing you delete and block the user.

9. Do you write smut?

I write more love scenes than pure smut and other scenes that cut away. Though that might change in the next fic. Firefly’s probably the most smutty.

10. Craziest crossover?

Nothing published, but in my head there’s a Leverage and Avengers + Loki crossover where the Leverage crew is pulling a job and keep seeing weird stuff happen around them. They just want to steal from the rich person and fix something for one or a couple people while at the same time the Avengers are dealing with something huge.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope. Would be fun! Someone ask!

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

Yes, back in SGA days.

14. All time favorite ship?

Frostiron, to no one who follows me’s surprise. I just love them.

15. What’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Look Question List, I’m really trying on Lost in Time, okay? I have two lovely people reading it for me right now. It’s been two and a half years since I started the draft, but I am determined to start posting.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. It will just flow out, especially between Tony and Loki.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions, especially of location and setting. I have to go back and fill in. It’s my least favorite part. Can’t I just do plot and dialogue and everyone know what I pictured in my head?

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Google translate is a wonderful thing. In Love Language Barrier I used it for Norwegian and a Swedish speaker said it was readable. It was integral to the fic concept, otherwise I use a little here and there if it’s appropriate. Mainly for sweet names Loki calls Tony.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

SGA

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ahhhhhh at the moment Checkmate or Mischief Meets Hawk. Checkmate because it’s my big fic and Mischief Meets Hawk because it spontaneously happened after I watched Hawkeye and needed to put Clint with Loki on an adventure.

-

tagging @poetic-fiasco if you want 💚📚📚📚

#my fanfiction #frostiron #mcu fanfiction #mcu fanfic #ao3 #ao3 fanfic #ao3 fanfiction #fic writing #frostiron on the brain #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #tony stark fanfic #tony stark fanfiction #clint barton fanfiction #Clint Barton fanfic

[mcfiddlestan]

Ship it/Don't Ship it

Frostiron, WinterFrost, Winteriron, Pepperony. (The last I'm grinning evilly at because I will look forward to the angry discourse. LOL)

FrostIron

Ship It (I SHIP IT HARD.)

What made you ship it?

Around the time the first Avengers movie came out, I was just dipping my toe into Tumblr and Twitter fandom. I found and started following a ton of RP accounts on Twitter. And since RDJr is my favorite ever since Weird Science, there was a lot of Iron Man fanart on both of my dashboards. Shippy fanart started to slip in -- and while Stony was very prominent, so was FrostIron. My love for Loki had already started to bloom (plus, I was fascinated that IRL British Ginger Dork could, with a little hair dye, become My New Favorite Villain), and seeing him constantly paired with My Favorite New Hero -- and there was A LOT of very cool art --made me go Ooh. Plus, I befriended this awesome Tony RP writer who had an awesome RP thread with a Loki, and that, plus all the fics I started to read, just plunged me, heart eyes first, into SHIPPING IT HARD. I watched the movie 10x in the theatre, started watching all the interviews with RDJr and Hiddles, and eventually, I read a college au (that I loved) and decided I could totally write them even tho I hadn't written anything in a couple years. Thus, Dark Side.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Besides the whole enemies-to-lovers thing? And besides the fact the ship was comprised of two of my favorite actors (at the time)? I mean, their whole dynamic is not so secretly my ideal relationship. The sarcastic barbs lobbied back and forth that rests comfortably atop the sexual tension the ability to keep up with each other is flamed on by. The intelligence that kind of quipping and humor requires -- and let's face it: someone is always hotter when they can stimulate your mind and your body. Add in the bonding that can happen over the shared Terrible Paternal Relationship and The Trauma That Makes Our Humor So Great and how they can heal each other, the debate between science vs. magic, and how they're much more alike than one would think. The fics that explore how discovering how much they have in common and how they learn to see each other in a different light (whether superhero and supervillain or not) are some of my faves and an element I often insert in my own fics. IDK, I just love them.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Not really? Any gripes I have are more with authors' characterizations of them. I don't go telling anybody they can't write them the way they choose, tho. I just nope out of fics that have anything I don't want to read. And then I write my own. :D

WinterFrost

Ship It

What made you ship it?

Similar to FrostIron, I discovered WinterFrost through mostly RP. But probably what made me fall head over heels for this pair was dipping my toe into RP myself. The friend whose Tony Stark I loved mentioned in convos that they wanted to start RPing a Bucky but wanted him paired with a Loki. They asked me if I wanted to try my hand at RP, so I did. This was about 6-7 months before CA:TWS was released, so there wasn't much if any, WinterFrost content yet -- and it was actually still called Lucky at the time. Anyway, Bucky was post-CATFA, and my Loki was post-Avengers (we mutually decided to start there instead of post-The Dark World). They randomly met and organically began to fall in love. The truth is, this ship is special to me bc, as we wrote Bucky and Loki falling in love, we were falling in love. So, it's all kind of woven together with my own love story. Kind of bittersweet now.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

There is a bit of a dark element to WinterFrost that I'm kind of drawn to. The RP was the only place I ever really explored that (kind of) -- although I did have an idea to turn my PWP WinterFrost into a serial killer AU. I eventually abandoned that idea. For a lot of reasons. By dark element, I mean the darkness in both characters potentially being compatible and flourishing. Bucky as the Winter Soldier was almost devoid of emotion (except when he saw Steve, in the movie at least); Loki, in contrast, was highly motivated by his emotions but kind of let himself get battered and embittered by them. At least the way I wrote my Loki. Beyond that, there is a great capability for them to bond over their trauma (again, similar to FrostIron). There is no bigger troll than Bucky (c'mon, he grew up with Steve Rogers, ffs), and Loki would relish in the chaos Bucky would cause with his commentary. I feel like there's a mutual mending they can do for each other. Loki can help Bucky battle his demons -- as a demon slayer himself -- and Bucky can show Loki a love like he's never known.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Nah. Similar to FrostIron, it's down to characterizations. I'll literally read anything about these two.

WinterIron

Ship It

What made you ship it?

I was already into FrostIron and WinterFrost -- and RPing both. So it was kind of like, "I ship Tony and Loki and Bucky and Loki, why not Tony and Bucky?" I RPd that for a bit, too. I haven't read or written a lot of this ship, so I'm not sure what I like beyond it being two actors I love, two characters I love, and liking that they could both find a little bit of happy with each other. Also, it's interesting to think about the internal crisis Tony would endure for falling in love with the man responsible for his parents' deaths.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I honestly have no idea. Like I said, I haven't really dug deep into this one yet, like I have FrostIron and WinterFrost. It's definitely one of my smaller ships.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

No, but I wish people would leave WinterIron shippers alone. Way too much hate flung at this ship and the people who write it. It's annoying.

Pepperony

Don’t Ship It

Why don’t you ship it?

Honestly? It's because of Gwyneth Paltrow. I don't like her, as an actress, as a personality, as a hawker of vag candles -- whatever. I never liked her portrayal of Pepper. And don't come for me, y'all, bc believe me, I know how this sounds -- but I thought she looked too old to play Pepper. Yes, she was only 34, and RDJr was 43, and that's an age gap in itself (and coincidentally, Leslie Bibb was 35, which btw she does not look older than GP and...yeah). I think I felt the way they were portraying Tony Stark's womanizing ways it didn't make sense (to me!) that he'd go for someone closer to his age and stick to younger women. (Blame my brother. He's been dating girls my age and younger since high school. His first son's mother is my age. She was 4mo along when we graduated from hs. He dated a slew of girls near or around my age well into his 30s. His second son's mother was 6yrs younger than me. He's gross, I know. I tell him all the time.) Anyway, I love Tony and Pepper's dynamic in the comics (the few I've read), and when I RPd a Pepper (I did not use GP; I used my idea of a perfect Pepper: Jessica Chastain), I was told the way I wrote her was closer to comic!Pepper than MCU!Pepper, which I gathered was a good thing. People often misunderstand that my distaste for Pepper has nothing to do with the character herself. I LOVE the character. I think she's a badass, and I think she's the best working partner Tony could have -- which is why probably why I always writer her as Tony's closest confidant. But I also think they did Pepper a disservice by casting GP.

What would have made you like it?

A different actress, lol.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

Like I said, I love the character of Pepper. She's a great foil to some of Tony's more grandiose ideas and she has a way of handling him without him realizing he's being handled. Maybe I'd ship it if she didn't start out as his secretary? There's something very creepy about a relationship between a boss and a secretary to me. Idk. As Besties, I love Tony and Pepper. Beyond that? No.

Don't come at me yall. @mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea made me say all these things. LOL (jk ily!)

Thanks for asking!

Ship It/Don't Ship It

#ship it/don’t ship it #frostiron #winterfrost #winteriron #not tagging the other one bc i don't tag my hate

[thespacelizard]

for the fic writer asks: 41, 64, 76 (surprise me)!

41 - Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

i re-read my faves semi regularly. i've read my favourite labyrinth fic like four times. i often go back to things as comfort fic, tbh - so im more likely to re-read things that aren't angst or drama heavy.

most frequent ones i've re-read are probably that labyrinth fic (My Fine Feathered Friend, by Lixxle); Squirrelythief's Powerplay series (drizzt/artemis d/s, at least 50% responsible for Obedience); and Off The Record AKA the frostiron fic i own an actual physical copy of and which is responsible for the 80k frostiron fic i wrote.

…i'm sensing a theme here.

64 - Something you love to see in smut.

good dirty talk. it's hard to write, hard to pull off without sounding ridiculous, but good dirty talk is chefs kiss. especially if it's in-character, which is even harder.

76 - Did you have any ideas that didn’t make the final cut of [Fanfic Name]?

since you gave me a wild card, i'm just gonna throw a bunch out here:

in the original 'bring your boy to the brink', when Rizeth is asking for Shen's thoughts on the book he's reading, I had a whole bit after he kissed Ashenivir where Shen then mouthed off in his next comment and got spanked for it. I had to cut it because it undermined the whole point of the fic being 'Ashenivir gets his first real on-page punishment'.

the first few attempts at Homecoming had a lot of false starts. I didn't know whether I wanted them all over each other immediately, or for Rizeth to cut Ashenivir off from jump. There's a version where they went straight to Rizeth's quarters, and there's a version that basically became For Want of Attention, where Rizeth was avoiding him for weeks.

in arc 3 i so badly wanted Ashenivir's attention bratting to be in front of like. Lyzira or someone, so she could be like 'wow Rizeth you've chilled out letting him backchat you like that', with Rizeth internally being like 'i am going to put him over my knee i swear to Mystra'. but it didn't work with the tone, and so sadly we didn't get Ashenivir publically bratting at his Master :( (it's fine i can put it in arc 4)

#obedience fic blogging #i dont have any major major things that i ended up cutting #it's usually minor stuff. major things mostly get nixed in the planning stages #i am also a big fan of reusing cut stuff anyway. like i did with FWoA

[ipcearn]

9 people you want to get to know better!

(let's see if I can get 9 people together)

Tagged by @lollaika

favorite color: depends a bit on what it is applicable to, but a bright, poisonous green, or a rich purple

currently reading: I am bouncing a bit between fics, but prominent are two right now: one is a reread of Al Rigore Di Tempo, a Detective Conan ShinKai Sentinel & Guide AU, and If You Had This Time Again, a FrostIron Time Travel Fix-It (which I am always weak to), a fic I have started so many times but never have seemed to be able to finish despite how much I adore it; when it comes to books: Harrow the Ninth WHICH IS AMAZING, I just got a bit distracted during my read/listen so I haven't gotten aorund to finishing it yet

last song: I believe that is Who Am I? by Kode, it's definitely the one I remember right now

last series: I have been making my way through House MD, something that had been a highlight of my childhood, since it was the one day of the week I was allowed to stay up an hour longer when it was running but that I had never sat down to watch from start to finish

last movie: Barbie which I watched with @lollaika in the cinema and which was a shit ton of fun

currently working on: the very self-indulgent Fallout 4 AU that I am working on for the wip tagging game (which @artemis-the-changeling picked for me to work on), but also the black sails Jack witch!AU which is very near and dear to my heart

Let me look through my mutuals: @artemis-the-changeling, @letitrainathousandflames, @bloooorb, @virifanboy, @mothdustmouth, @dont-mind-the-mindless, @ruensroad, @theardentone, @chani

can't believe I got 9 people together, obviously feel free to ignore, tagging games should always come with no pressure

#ip got tagged

[hawkstincan]

okay, this is a long time overdue I guess, but I finally feel like I need a pin post. about me, this blog, my ships and all these jazz 

I came here from a space similar to a livejournal. so this blog is just a blog about whatever. if I feel like posting my old drawings, I will be posting my old drawings. or some whining about irl. or about a movie I just watched.

quite obvious english is not my first language and if i’m making little sense or some stupid mistakes it must be because of it.

that's also the reason why I am usually so slow with replies. it’s scary to communicate in my first language and even scarier in english. I am bad at communication altogether if I’m honest. but I'm trying to do my best though (on AO3 too).      

I do not let go of a fandom I once loved. I just can’t even when I want to.

I’m open for requests right now. BUT it is a slow and may take me literal YEARS.

I’m always back and forth.

I’m very attached to the voice of a character. I don't like dubbing. no matter how good it’s done. I want to hear original voices. if I watch anime it’s always with subs. I usually fall for the characters with unusual or distinctive voices or intonations or speech patterns. 

and don’t get me started on singing! I'll never shut up! I LOVED ALL MUSICAL EPISODES I’D EVER SAW! ALL OF THEM! 

Glee? i was ecstatic xD

I prefer to read low rated fics. I’m not that interested in sex scenes and high rating is almost always is about sex. so why bother and waste my time on something I'm not really interested in? I will read explicit and mature rated stories from the writers I love. because I have been reading them for years and I know I love their writing. though I most likely skip pwp. 

I can’t read d/s. even when it’s just undertones. freaks me out. just… not my thing. I tried several times.  

What I mostly read at the moment:

flaffowverse

coldflash, awww, my first otp ever

flashwave, Len must be a good friend

coldflashwave, harrisco, hartmon, goldenvibe, heatfrost (if I remember correctly)

I can read mostly any other ships if they are not breaking up coldflash, and from some writers I can read ships even when they break coldflash up (that’s very rare and new for me)   

marvel

ironwinter, ironhawk, Phil/Clint, clintasha, winterhawk, pepperony, frostiron, ironstrange

I’m a big Tony and Clint lover, if they are there and happy I most likely read and be happy with it.

merlin bbc

merwaine

just merwaine. because i saw Gwaine and was done. Gwaine stole my heart from his first appearance. 

9-1-1

buddie

come on! they should be canon by now! 

buffy the vampire slayer 

spuffy

i was into spuffy before i even saw the show. i went and watched it because of spuffy 

person of interest 

rinch

I never thought I'd be reading anything in poi fandom… I was so wrong xD 

teen wolf

steter, sterek

Stiles was the best thing in that forsaken show. don’t get me wrong — I love it. I just know it was never near perfect. or even good after season 3

our flag means death

blackbonnet

mha

bkdk

anything nice and fluffy with Tokoyami 

knb

all of it i guess? i’m in the fandom since 2015 and i think i read all the ships there at some point xD 

reborn

… let’s say Varia and Gokudera

spn

destiel

cas’s confession brought me back to watching after… long pause

star trek

sponse, spirck

that’s all I can remember right now. i’ll update it if something comes up

hanibal

hannigram

i had zero chances there. they are just that good

ted lasso

tedependent

god help me i though i was out of the woods with this fandom. but those two are so good together! James Lance is something else <3

#long post #about me #about blog #pin post #requests are open #VERY SLOW REQUESTS

[muse-of-gods]

Hey! Thank you for that lovely ask! Now I want to know what your experience has been like for ten years in the Loki fandom! Were you active throughout? What are some changes you saw along the way? Im also curious to know if you've seen a visible decrease of people in the fandom? I've only been back for about a year and some change, and I can DEFINITELY see the difference between 2012 and 2023, but I think thats just obvious lol have there been other changes in more recent years? anyways, all my love to you!

Thanks for that interesting ask 🤗💙

I fell in love with Loki in 2013 when I watched the first Thor movie on TV and have been an active fan ever since. I didn't really engage with fandom apart from reading fics on ao3 until 2018, so I don't really know what changed. Although I'm sure that less fics are published now for like frostiron. And I also see less engagement when I post a frostiron moodboard... But I think the Loki show definitely brought in new fans!

And I have also gone through a lot of changes! I started out shipping Loki with Thor and then slowly went over to shipping him with Tony and that kind of stuck with me. But I still love Loki, especially the one from the 2011-2013 time sooo much! He will always have my heart! 💙 Same for frostiron! Most of my favourite long plot driven fics are frostiron and I always come back to them for a re-read. 💙

Thanks for the lovely ask and for sending me down memory lane 🤗💙

#i could talk about loki for hours #i cant describe my obession when i first discovered him #and how that obsession is still ongoing #my phone background has been lokis face for 5 ywars now 🤣 #i love him #ask #💙💙💙 #musings #loki

[superheroesandstardust]

If it hasn't been done already, I'd love to read a fic tackling "what if Loki was in Age Of Ultron?"

Hear me out:

Starts out like your typical Loki-lives-in-Avengers-tower-as-punishment type of fic. Loki works towards being redeemed, eventually becoming an Avenger, etc etc.

All the while, Loki is joining the group on their raids for the scepter, each visit a reminder of the terrors of that day: what Thanos did to him, what he in turn did to others, and the damage that's being done in the aftermath.

Finding the scepter and realizing it was used to experiment on people and suddenly Loki realizes that he cares about what happens to Midgardians he doesn't even know.

Tony wanting to use the scepter to make Ultron, but hang on? We just stole it back from people who were using it for their own experiments and you want to do the same? I may be new to this whole hero business, but that seems awfully hypocritical to me

Maybe there's some frostiron tension in that scene who knows

During the scene where Wanda puts all the Avengers in their worst fears, she actually gets to Loki, and suddenly he's living out all his worst moments. Learning he's jotun, the battle of New York, every time he's lashed out as his brother, all moments pointing to the idea that he's a monster who's undeserving of forgiveness. That the other avengers may have done bad things, but they can grow from it, while he's got evil written in his very dna. Suddenly he feels like he's hanging from the bifrost again, just wanting to let go and rid of the world of the darkness coursing through his veins.

But then here comes Clint to guide him back to the Quinjet, and both the god and the archer lock eyes, and Loki let's out the tiniest "I'm sorry." Clint just nods back but from then on they have a kind of understanding.

(and maybe they become good friends later on)

Ultron trying to get Loki on his side since he comes from the mind stone and has therefore been in Loki's head.

"You once said that humanity was made to be ruled, that they crave subjugation. They have been made impure by their weakness. As a benevolent god king, you could be the first to set them free from it"

We all know that Ultron has a weird obsession with the religious parallels and it would just increase with talking to a literal god I mean c'mon

Loki meeting Clint's family

"one Barton is enough. Now you're telling me there's a third mini Barton on the way?"

For all his complaining though, he's actually scared of being around the kids. He already hurt Clint. He doesn't want to hurt his family, too.

But just as he's about to sneak away, using "I should see what my brother is up to" as an excuse, Laura sits down with him and helps him see how far he's come. And now as he glances at the kids, and sees the new life growing in Laura's body, he's once again reminded of what he's fighting for. And maybe he begins to believe that he can start over, defy what people may expect of him, and just be who he wants to be.

Watching Vision wield Mjolnir and all Loki can think is "another one? 😔"

But Vision and Loki actually get along because Vision, having momentarily been a part of Ultron, understands the motives and understands the darkness, and that makes his choice to be good all the more impactful.

(I'm not saying that Thor's goodness is surface level, but he is very flashy about it, and like Tony says, "I don't trust a guy without a dark side")

Loki and Vision definitely have philosophical discussions on their down time

At the end, Loki helping evacuate civilians and feeling like he's actually doing something good for a change.

Magic wielding alongside Wanda (the most powerful magic users periodt)

Fighting side by side with Thor, even if it means there's a chance he might get vaporized with the city when it comes time.

Maybe this whole thing is a Loki x Reader fic? Maybe it's not.

#i know there's definitely a lot more to be done with this but those were off the top of my head #and I'm not an author so that's the best I could do #if someone has written a fic like this though please send it to me I beg you!!! #loki imagine #loki #age of ultron #Avengers #avengers au

[not-close-to-straight]

Saturday!

Fic Updates!

Valentines Day Fics-- I know it’s a week past Valentines Day, but this list of absolute shenanigans deserves a re read. 

Posh-- some Ironhawk ridiculous romance 

Lassos and Lilies-- Updated to Chapter Six! Hoping to be back on a regular schedule now that life is getting back to normal again! 

Upcoming Things!

I changed the order of a few things on my 2021 WRITING PLANS POST and I’m sure more things will change as the year progresses, so keep checking back at it. Switched out a Fake Dating fic for a Selkie!Tony fic and it’s going to be amazing. 

Next up we have a Broken Wings Bonus Chapter: Frostiron and I’m super excited to peek back into our favorite poly-verse since the family is getting bigger AGAIN and this time around we get to meet the Queen Mother Frigga and Valkyrie. 

First part of March we’ll be heading back to the witch/familiar dynamic with Magic and Magnolias Verse: Spideypool and I am ridiculously ready to introduce you guys to dragon!Wade and healer!witch Peter. 

Then I’ll get to write a Thunderiron D/s fic which promises to be EXCELLENT. I’m still a little iffy on my D/s writing but I’m getting more confident and I have a whole list of ideas and scenes for this one!

Reminders! 

I am pretty full for Commissions this year, but I also stretched my writing schedule out to accommodate me working full time. I’m dropping to part time starting at the end of March, and I’ve had a couple cancellations for stories already so if you have an idea for a commission or want to be put on the waiting list, it never hurts to just email and check. 

My KOFI PAGE is still open, I’ve just been too busy with *gestures briefly at everything* to update! Hopefully with my work schedule lightening up I’ll have time to start creating monthly supporter content again! Stay tuned, because I have a STACK of short story ideas that will be posting up there! 

Personal Stuff

I am recovering just fine from my surgery, I appreciate all the check ins and messages I’ve received! I have a three week post op appointment this week and should be cleared for light exercise and living a little outside of my full body compression gear so everyone keep your fingers crossed!

#Mocha the Dog has been having some health issues lately-- before Christmas she fell and hurt her hips pretty bad and needs help walking and earlier this week I had to take her in to get a mass cut from her throat. She’s recovering okay but she’s also thirteen years old so I’m trying to prepare myself for an inevitable (and very difficult decision) most likely coming sooner rather than later. #Misha the Cat is very stressed out about her friend being hurt. 

I hope everyone is doing alright, I know we were really looking forward to 2021 being better than 2020 but this is just like, 2020 the Sequel right now?? 

Stay safe and stay warm! 

#ncts personal #fic updates #spideypool #winteriron #ironhawk #frostiron #thunderiron #stuckony #commissions #kofi page #mocha the dog #misha the cat

[izhunny]

AO3 Writer’s Tag Game

Tagged by @teadrinkingwolfgirl and @missarisanitewrites

[and a couple others (whose tags I didn't save)] on very similar tag games, which I combined and I'm sorry this took so long to get to, but thank you so much!

How many works do you have on AO3?

9 (but one of them is a collection of 20 flash ficlets from prompts that can each standalone as a story on their own in the same pocket universe)

What is your total AO3 wordcount?

305,410 (published as of September 2021)

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

2 and a smidge? (more coming)

MCU

Only You (1994)

& a haiku or 2 for SPN

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Closer to the Heart

Just An Old fashioned Love Song

After Ragnarok

A Stolen Exchange

Trapped Together

(I am not popular, LOL.)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes, absolutely. Because I like connecting with readers, building up our community, and those wonderful souls who comment with kindness deserve a kind response.

What is the fic you’ve written with the Angstiest ending?

Don't Fall Away (as a sort of open-ended, who-knows-what-comes-next quality to it, even though the major theme is resolved. That's as angsty as I’ll get.)

Do you ever write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Apparently, yes. Don't Fall Away. (so far, gimme a minute)

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yep.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep. uh, what kind? 

Romantic? Satisfying? Silly? Emotionally charged? LOL.

Mostly I write explicit M/M, but also some F/M, but I think maybe this question is really asking about handling purple prose or strange/vague euphemisms for genitalia or actions. 

Frankly, I use the words: cock, balls, ass, n*pples, lips, and clit shamelessly whenever needed. I probably do wax a little poetic for what the participants are feeling/thinking whilst getting down and dirty. It always feels a little mechanical to me, but I keep trying, hopefully improving. I hope the reader can envision the enjoyable sex the characters are having without it detracting from the story when it happens, because it's both necessary and gratuitous to each instance it occurs. And my characters always have the good sex. 

But I'm thinking I should really write a sex scene equivalent of "it's like pizza; even if it's bad, it's still pretty good!" because it would be funny to have mediocre sex in a fic for a change instead of an Earth Shattering Bang, and I like humor a lot. Humor always has a place in the bedroom. Even the fictional ones.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep.

(The plagiarism was super easy to report and get removed from AO3. Bless the AO3 Abuse support team.)

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. Not yet. I could be talked into this with the right person and subject matter.

What’s your all-time favourite ship?

*sighs deeply* Frostiron has been my chosen ride or die OTP since around 2013. And I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

I am a ship and let ship soul, though. I've read enjoyable fics with every possible MCU character pairing published through about 2015-2016. Same goes for Hiddleston (and Hiddleston characters) and add your plus one or more combos (OFCs, OMCs, reader inserts, self-inserts, crossovers, free-for-alls, etc. I kink shame no one, even if they run up on a squick of mine, that’s my issue and not anybody else’s). I head canon a whole lotta love for shipping with lots of fandoms I don't explore overmuch. We should all ship all the ships we want. (Han/Leia and Westley/Buttercup are my original canon OTP ships.)

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

First fandom I published for: MCU

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

All of the ones from a flash fic prompt list which includes:

Wish Granted

Trapped Together & especially

A Stolen Exchange  because I didn't have plan before I started publishing from the prompts. I had to fly by the seat of my pants for each piece, had no idea if I could let it end up without a proper ending or tied up loose threads. ASE is a collection of writing exercises (write quick-under 2 hrs, publish quick-within 24hrs of taking on the prompt, 500 words or less). It really built my confidence in my ability to tell a story. Two of the prompts were written on the same day, the other 18 were one per day, all of them related, and tied up with a neat little explicit bow on chapter 20.

Feel free to ignore the tags, my lovelies: @writernotwaiting @rabentochter @jaybarou @later0varies @pedeka @whovianfloozy @geminiloveca  @prudenceevenstar @maeve-curry-writes @silverdrip @securitybreach @the-haven-of-fiction and this is open to any other writers who wish to play. 

blank list below the cut for copy/paste ease of play

AO3 Writers Tag Game Tagged by:    Thank you! How many works do you have on AO3? What is your total AO3 wordcount? How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Do you respond to comments, why or why not? What is the fic you’ve written with the Angstiest ending? Do you ever write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve ever written? Have you ever received hate on a fic? Do you write smut? If so what kind? Have you ever had a fic stolen? Have you ever co-written a fic before? What’s your all-time favourite ship? What was the first fandom you wrote for? What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? tagging:

#tag game #fic writers tag game #ao3 tag game #long post #fic writers #an au where hunny actually speaks her mind

[justsomeoneunordinary]

Dark Fic Recs

@rhodee asked me for some dark fic recs and since this is one of my favorite tropes, I know quite some. I wanna make clear from the beginning that those are dark fics. Means stories with fucked up/morally dubious/voilent content. And not salty “Team Cap was mean to me, so I become evil now” kind of fics. If you’re interested in the latter, I am the wrong person to ask.

Some of them are much darker than the others, but you should read for each one carefully the tags and/or the Author’s Note, since some have special twists in the end that aren’t mentioned in the tags.

Basically: know your limits.

Dark!Tony fics (my personal preference)

Faster, Colder, Sharper by Penned (WinterIron)

Tony is kidnapped by Hydra. When the team gets him back, he has changed far more than they suspect. More than even the surface shows.

Bucky though, he notices it all.  

A de-aged Tony fic with Bucky as a caretaker... of sorts.

Radioactive by Valmasy (WinterIron, Series)

The pain is all-encompassing. It’s all he can think about. It’s all he feels. It’s all he breathes. It’s all he lives. Like a barbed net, its sharpness swallows him whole, over and over and over. Tony’s mind tries to hide, tries to save itself, but the pain finds him even then. It burns away at his resistance until all he is crumbles, until he’s nothing but ash and dust.

Attack dog by salytierra (Stony)

Steve doesn't swim in self-delusion. He knows that he is sick and that his owner is even worse. He is aware of it every time he rips some nameless guy’s throat out and feels the crunch of bones under his fingers. He is aware of it every time the rush of adrenaline at seeing life slip away from a stranger’s eyes hits him and gets him bothered and panting in ways that have nothing to do with physical exhaustion.

But it  feels so good…

His owner’s approach is less personal. His shots fall clean and take out several foes at a time, his figure elegant and so graceful he looks like a god among savages. He is power incarnated, cold and burning like a sun at the same time… and Steve tries not to focus on him when they are fighting together, least his knees go weak and his technique falters. It’s fine though. They will go home afterwards and his owner will fuck him on the hard floor, with most of their gear still on and a vicious grip in his hair.

Anatomy of a Moral Man by ShyOwl (Stony, WIP)

At a young age Tony understood he was not meant to be a hero and the world, he believes, is far better for it. With his rule now set in stone, his life is finally settling down. That is until something was found buried underneath the ice.

Tony may not be a hero but that did not stop him from falling in love with one.

In Restless Dreams by charocalwinter (WinterIron, WIP)

When he discovers what he believes to be the truth about his parents’ recent deaths, a powerful and morally ambiguous Tony Stark sets out to get his revenge on Steve Rogers. How does Bucky Barnes fit into this feud and why isn't anybody giving him a pair of socks?

“It isn’t often that Tony Stark finds himself unsure of anything, but this situation has him doubting his every thought, his every move … with Rogers comes James, and that boy is muddling Tony’s mind.” ~ interrupted excerpt from ch 4.

A Pound of Flesh by jellybeanforest (Stony)

To save Bucky, Steve volunteers to work off his debt to the Carbonell crime family. Unfortunately, he is unsuited for the role of enforcer, unable to beat and murder those in the same position as Bucky. He is brought before the mob boss, Tony Stark, who demands his pound of flesh in the wake of Steve’s failure. But upon seeing the attractive blond, Tony proposes alternative employment, one that won’t require him to harm others: Becoming his kept man.

“This isn’t an offer I make often, so you should be flattered – count yourself lucky, even – that I am extending you this rare opportunity.”

“To be raped repeatedly?”

“To have a second chance to work off your debts after you failed so spectacularly the first time. But I don’t have to. I could just use these knives I’ve brought along, carve up that pretty face of yours like a Thankgiving turkey, which would be a shame, really. Then I suppose I’d have to pay a visit to your little friend. This entire exercise has been a waste of my valuable time… perhaps I’ll take an arm for my trouble,” he muses. “So, tell me, Rogers, is Barnes right- or left-handed?”

It’s an offer Steve can’t refuse.

Take Away (everything I am) by salytierra (WinterIron)

“Everyone I kill deserves to die.”

“True. But try to explain that to Captain Justice and Faith.” He takes a gulp of the scotch right out of the bottle and flops down on Tony’s lap, straddling his hips. “He cares too much. You and I? – We do what needs to be done.”

Tony circles his waist with both arms and pulls him closer, opening his mouth when Barnes offers him the bottle and swallowing the bitter liquid dry.

“Nobody ever believed I was able to care. So why should I?”

“Coming from somebody who is expected and probably should care more but doesn’t really give a fuck? – I’ll drink to that.”

Operant Conditioning by dracusfyre (WinterIron, Series)

In which Tony is HYDRA and Bucky’s handler.

in another country (people die) by pprfaith (FrostIron)

“The world is not your playground, Stark!” Fury yells at him one time, after he maybe brings down a building or two and Tony just laughs because, seriously, yes it is. 

on the bleeding edge by esama (Pepperony, WIP, abandoned (still good tho))

Tony Stark goes back in time and becomes a super villain. 

Almost Perfect by One and Five Nines (Obani) (Stony, Comic)

A powerful enemy invades from an alternate reality, but the only thing he really seems interested in is Steve Rogers

Eventually by One and Five Nines (Obani) (Stony, Comic, WIP)

Tony is godking of the wasteland. Steve is not.

Victim!Tony fics

Deliver Us by romanoff (FrostIron)

Loki comes back for revenge. Tony Stark is his captive.

“Why,” he tries, voice failing “do you want me.” He coughs into the ash.

“A king needs an advisor. A king needs concubines. A conquering king must learn the ways of the natives or risk expulsion,” he wipes blood from the sceptre with the end of his coat “and I’m rather fond of you, I think. Even in the face of death you use your wit, you charm with your tongue. It reminds me of myself, maybe, one or two millennia ago.”

Terms & Conditions by Penned (WinterIron)

Tony Stark is desperate and trusts too easily. Bucky Barnes takes advantage of that.

A mob AU with no powers, featuring a very dark, very off-kilter Bucky.

(reverse) Kidnapping by AngeNoir (WinterIron)

Tony Stark is wallowing. He has a right to - he's just finished the funeral preparations for his parents in New York. He didn't expect them to live forever, but still...

And then he falls asleep from his bender.

And wakes up in a nightmare.

(Is it a nightmare?)

Anything (and Everything) - remix by Penned (WinterIron)

The Soldier will do anything to make Tony happy, with or without his explicit consent.

Heavily inspired by Shi_Toyu's  IronWinter Holiday Exchange fic "Anything." This is a much darker version of that story.

like flowers soaked in monochrome by deathsweetqueen (Stony)

Steve Rogers woke up to a world where everyone he loved and knew had forged on without him. But this world, it's nothing like he's used. It wants something brutal from him, something unforgiving. There are so many compromises to make. There are too many monsters behind kind smiles.

But if it means keeping Tony safe, if it means protecting him, he's willing to do whatever it takes.

He can't be soft.

After all, the weak are meat; the strong do eat.

Sins of Omission by Kiyaar (Stony, WIP (tbh I still haven’t started reading this story, but the tags and summary sound perfect!))

A Post-Civil War, Pre-Secret Invasion AU where Steve is dead, Tony's a mess, and everything sucks.

In which Tony deals poorly with Steve's death, falls off the wagon, sees ghosts, and misses a lot.

Oh, and the Skrulls are about to invade.

That’s it. Read all warnings carefully and enjoy!

#fic recs #winteriron #buckytony #stony #stevetony #frostiron #lokitony #pepperony #only one pepperony tho :( #dark fics

[mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea]

Fic Writer Questions

I was tagged by @mcfiddlestan so yay! Fic-y question thingies.

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

57. About to be more than that, though, because I'm working on several next parts to several series, and I assume they count that as individual works.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

324,681. Again, that's about to go up several times.

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

Well, that gets fun because what I have on AO3 is mostly Marvel-related with one tiny Hannibal ficlet, one Bill and Ted, one M*A*S*H (that was by request and likely will never be a repeated fandom as much as I love the show), one Zohra Greenhalgh (Contrarywise and Trickster's Touch). Now, what I've written in the past as a fandom was Jay and Silent Bob, and that will NEVER happen again. But yeah, mostly it's Marvel and mostly these days Avengers-related with some X-Men still thrown in for flavor.

4) What are your Top 5 fics by kudos?

Hey Jealousy 378

Far away you were made in a sea just like me 354

(Mis)Understanding and a No-Good Woman 300

Saving the Future...Again 294

Supernaut 283

Yeah, I'm not that popular.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I respond to all comments I get. I know that for some people it takes a lot of guts to comment, and I think that needs to be acknowledged, even if it's a simple thanks.

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

I don't write a lot of angst, and usually by the end of a fic, I prefer to have it happy and not angsty. That said, I'd have to say that it's a toss-up between these small fics:

I know you’ll be a star In somebody else’s sky

Seemed like he knew me, he looked right through me

All the losing and the knowing

Sunset

Time After Time

I have angst in my stories. Some. They mostly seem to be sass and humor and romance and cuddles and sex and making out, but the angst is only a tool to keep the characters fighting and on their toes.

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

I've got several series going now, so I won't count them in since technically, none of them have ended yet. I thought about putting that Never Piss Off a Telepath; Or How Logan Opened His Mouth and Said a Stupid Thing just because that's one of my funniest fics, I think, but I would have to say that the happiest ending may be in Two Turtle Doves, which is a Charles Xavier and Raven Darkholme as children/brother and sister at Christmas fic, and the ending still really makes me smile a lot when I re-read it.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't yet, technically. I started an X-Men/Avengers/Wicker Man (1973 version) one after all of the Brian Michael Bendis AvX bullshit storyline, and I may eventually finish it. I was angry. I wanted Steve Rogers to pay. I lashed out in the fic. Or was going to. The other crossover I'm planning (and even hinted at it in Spinning on that dizzy edge (I kissed his face and kissed his head) will be a Tony Stark/Chris Knight (Real Genius) fic, taking place not long after Chris graduates and is working for Darlington. I've got another one in mind that I've made notes for that's an Avengers/Flash Gordon (1980 version with all the flash and color and Queen songs), and then I just finished watching Boardwalk Empire, so there's a 1920s Marvel'verse AU, though I guess that's not really a crossover.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Hahahaha! Funny you should ask. I received my first ever hate on To get it right even a little / and that little grudging and awkward the other day. In fact, the hate was the first comments I got. I've deleted it, and I did report it but AO3 couldn't do anything about it because the person who commented used a name but wasn't logged in, so they couldn't have their IP traced. But it was all full of "you should kill yourself" and "I hope you're raped" because they claimed to be a Stucky shipper (in fact their moniker was "stuckygirl") and that Steve and Loki were a horrible ship because Loki is just a nasty greasy villain. Blah blah blah. I was more amused by it than anything, especially since there's a chance that the person who commented was a stalker of one of my besties who keeps trying to lash out at them and may well have decided to lash out at me as well. Who knows? Who cares?

10) Do you write smut?

Oh yes. As much as I can get away with. Smut is life. Smut is harmony in the universe. Smut is KFC's 7 herbs and spices.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so. I have no idea how to figure that out.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, I don't know. How would I find that out?

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. I've rp-written before, but I've never co-written a fic.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

I don't just have one. Sorry. FrostIron, WinterFrost, FrostShield, WinterIron, Stucky, Stony, Scogan, IronDiamond, DiamondFrost, DashingFrost, DiamondClaws, and I may soon get to see how much I love DiamondShield.

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

That may be the X-Men/Avengers/Wicker Man one. I have to feel the anger to finish that one off, I think, and I've pretty much decided that neither Brian Michael Bendis nor AvX exist, so.

16) What are your writing strengths?

I think humor and sarcasm are two of my biggest strengths, to be honest. I didn't realize it till I started adding it in almost organically, and that's pretty much where it is for me. I'd say the ability to convey emotions, expressions, touch, and romance are right up there, too.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Well, outside of the writing itself, trying not to be discouraged by people's lack of comments and kudos on my fics to the point of not writing is a writers block-inducing weakness, but I think I'm getting over that mostly these days. Trying to find the right balance between explication, "showing," and description, though I've also recently decided that description is not a weakness because I want to make the settings pretty visual.

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

I think there's a fine line that this concept dances on. I LOVE to do it, but I also now want to make sure that it works smoothly into the story. I try and provide translations in the notes when I do it. I try not to overdo it, but I think it's necessary. It's the same thing as writing in accents. That's also dancing a fine line because you want to give a flavor of the accent, but you don't want to overwhelm the readers with dialect and accent. Not unless you're Stephen King and you've just written Dolores Claiborne.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Okay, the first fanfiction I ever wrote was when I was about 13, and it was a Children of the Corn Mary Sue. It was in pencil. Wrote it start to finish. And it has since gone to the gods in the circular altar.

The first fandom I consciously wrote for was Jay and Silent Bob, and yes, I still have those stories, but they no longer exist online since @jcrewguy blessedly took down his sites. Those fics will never see the light of day again because I don't like the movies anymore.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Nope. They're all my babies, and I love them equally. I can't pick a favorite.

Tagging: @scottxlogan @elvenferretots @mistressofmuses @izhunny @jcrewguy @chaotic-hypnotic-erotic @kleenexwoman and honestly anyone else who wants to do this.

#Fic Writer Questions #Tag you're it

[mcfiddlestan]

A Writer’s Ask Game

1 18 27 28 32 49

1. Do you listen to music when you write?

I used to when I first started writing. Mostly Christina Aguilera. For some reason, her music had the pen flowing, lol. But since the majority of my fics (like practically all of them) are either written around or directly based off a song, I usually listen to that song on repeat to sort of keep myself in the zone. All of my *NSYNC fics are titled after one of their songs. My first Frostiron series, the Picture Perfect series, are all titled after a song that somehow influenced the plot. Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson, Come Back to Me by Janet Jackson, and Ghosts That We Knew by Mumford and Sons. Even my first WinterFrost, Stay With Me was sprung from the Sam Smith song. Music plays a heavy hand in my writing. The fic series I'm currently working on came from We're A Miracle by Xtina, Lose Myself by JC Chasez, and unfortunately (Another Song) All Over Again by Justin Timberlake.

18. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about?

I'm not sure. I've collaborated before on RP stuff, but the writing and real-life feelings kind of blended. Even though I enjoyed RPing, relying on someone else's narrative causes me a lot of anxiety lol.

27.  Favourite line/scene

I can't even try to choose from my own writing! And I couldn't begin to pick lines from fics I read more than a decade ago. But some fave fics are Shades of Green, Off the Record, and Always Read the Fine Print.

28.  Favourite side character

Clint. Love him.

32.  Most difficult character to write

Anyone who isn't Loki, Tony, or Bucky. They're the three I've researched the most, comics and movie-wise, so I know them best.

49.  Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real?

Loki, Tony, or Bucky lol

Thanks for asking!

A Writer's Ask Game

#matbts #a writer's ask game #fic writer #asked and answered

[maxmagi]

Fic Writer Interview tag meme

Tagged by @avi17 (Thanks, friend!!) ❤️

Name: Uhhhh call me Max I guess?

Fandoms: Guardian / Zhen Hun, BBC Merlin, MCU (But like mostly FrostIron/IronFrost, sometimes Stoki), Mortal Kombat 2021, and of course Les Miserables (But mostly Enjoltaire). I haven't written for the FrostIron or Stoki and BBC Merlin but I read a lot of it, mostly because there's a huuuuuuuuuuge collection of really good fics in these fandoms.

I have some ideas for Guardian, but I can't seem to get a good idea of the plot every time I start to actually think about the story.

I've written for Enjoltaire and MK 2021 though (mostly Liulao as both romantic and platonic partners)

Two-shot: Hmmm I guess I have a few two shots.

Most popular multi-chapter: Probably The Night That Ends At Last, which was my first Enjoltaire fic, actually my first ever fic on AO3. It has 13 chapters and is unfinished. Last update was in 2018, and I don't know when or if I'll ever finish it because it's very melancholy...written during a very melancholy part of my life. Well, more melancholy than usual.

Actual worst part of writing: plotting. It is my number one enemy and also my greatest joy. When I untangle my web of events, I feel like the smartest and most amazing writer in my bathroom (for that is where most of my great ideas are formed). But it's a painstaking process and oftentimes I don't even get the words on paper because suddenly I'm tired and can't I just have the story in my head? And then I start hating myself for being so unproductive. It's not good, so I try to just pants it sometimes, especially when I'm writing a fanfic. I need to just get it out there.

How do you choose your titles: They either accompany the idea or they come from songs. My recent MK fanfic titles were from songs. The Mortal Multiverse ones, Part 1 universe - since I started with A Thousand Lifetimes, I just followed that up with other "thousand" expressions/phrases. Part 2 universe where Liulao is a platonic bromance and the focus is on Earthrealm warriors, I went with a "champions" theme. I'm probably most proud of The Night That Ends At Last, though, because that title is from Red and Black, which the Les Amis sang in the café while planning a rebellion. The chapter titles were also from the musical.

Do you outline: I TRY. OH MY GOD DO I TRY. But then I lose steam midway, so for most of my fanfics I try to pants it. It's not perfect, but it does get things written and done.

Ideas I probably won't get around to but wouldn't it be nice:

- A Liulao longfic, either wuxia, xianxia, or xuanhuan, with maybe Chinese gods and mythology because I read one written for Weilan in the Guardian fandom, and it was beautiful. But I don't have the chops for it, and I wouldn't know where to begin so maybe not.

- An MK military post apocalyptic / special forces urban fantasy AU (think shifters or mutants) that will probably need an outline, and we all know that that will be the start of the end

- A Guardian post apocalyptic / special forces urban fantasy AU

Callouts at me: Gdmanit, get it done, jeezus christ!

Best writing traits: I dunno, I think I've got some good lines and maybe enough angst to keep readers going. When I try to be poetic, though, I feel like I'm just being corny.

Spicy tangential opinion: I'm usually a "Live and let live" person, but I don't like bullying. If you're gonna attack or bully me or someone I know, be prepared to be attacked back. I live by "Do unto others what you want others to do unto you."

Tagging: @willofyaoi @miraaksimp @lillikue

❤️❤️❤️

#fic meme tag #fic writer interview #fun!!!

[chrismerle]

FOR THE FANFIC ASK MEME THING (I finally picked beyond 'just... all of them?'): F, I, K, M, N, Q, S, T, V, W, X, and Y. WHICH ISN'T ALL OF THEM it's just... several...

(from here)

F. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

I’m working on a Final Fantasy XV AU, because that’s basically all I write for FFXV; I really love the building blocks it gave me, but I don’t like a lot of the architecture. Anyway, conceptually it’s a fairly standard ‘what if Ardyn wasn’t a villain?’ thing, and on the off chance it ever sees the light of day, it will be called There Is a Crack in Everything.

This is a really early scene.

Regis stepped into his study, and Ardyn scarcely gave him time to close the door before wondering, with a languid sort of ease, “For how long have I been Adagium?” He sounded as if the word tasted foul.

“Longer than I can be certain of,” Regis sighed, taking his seat at his desk, across from Ardyn.

“And I’ll be able to relax for...how long?” Ardyn wondered pleasantly, leaning an elbow on the desk and propping his chin in his hand. “Before those lovely toy soldiers of yours try to haul me back to my stone box, that is.”

For a moment, Regis was quiet. For a moment, Regis thought of his father. Mors would have reacted the instant he realized who Ardyn was, and Regis wondered how many of the Glaive would have died and what sort of enemy they would have created.

He thought of his son, just a few weeks old. Already, Regis knew he did not want to teach Noctis to be that sort of king.

He did not want to be his father.

“You may stay here, should you wish it,” Regis answered at last.

Ardyn blinked, slowly. His expression didn’t change, but his words seemed carefully picked for carelessness. “And no one will wonder at another of the bloodline suddenly appearing?” he asked. “Or am I forbidden from showing off?”

“We’ll say you’re my half-brother,” Regis answered before he was even fully aware he’d come up with a solution. “It won’t surprise many.”

Ardyn’s eyes narrowed. “You’re awfully eager to dub me family.”

“You already are family,” Regis reasoned. “It seems it’s time someone finally treated you as such.”

That, at last, seemed to unmoor Ardyn. His posture went rigid for a moment as his gaze went distant. Twice, he opened his mouth to respond, before closing it without saying a word.

It took him only a moment to gather his composure, though, before he cleared his throat. “I have to say, this is the most elaborate method anyone has ever used to call me a bastard. I suppose that alone means it’s worth putting up with it.”

Regis laughed before he could help it.

I like it for a handful of reasons. For one thing, I’ve successfully weaponized it (and a few other snippets of the same WIP) to make my friend Ala emotional. For another, I didn’t really see this dynamic between Regis and Ardyn coming. It just sort of happened while I was typing, but I liked it when it showed up. It felt natural for an Ardyn who hadn’t been driven mad by turning countless people into daemons, but who was nevertheless not the same gentle healer after 2,000 years of isolation.

I. Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

I got paid for years, plural, to write really bad porn about people who could turn into animals fucking. I have no shame left. I’ve had no shame since the first time someone offered to pay me $500 for smut.

K. What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

It is, again, related to FFXV. I wrote If the Ring Fits and Backed in Silver years ago, and ever since, I’ve tossed around the idea of writing another sequel for Ignis.

The only issue is that my idea for it would forcibly make him realize that the Prompto that had been in their world was not actually their Prompto, and had not been for over a decade. And it would be a conflict he’d have to grapple with through the entire fic, trying to decide whether to force that same replacement on someone in a different world or to just endlessly keep hopping from one world to another because he can’t return to his.

I’ve never actually written any of it, and the concepting never got beyond Ignis’s revelation about Prompto. But considering If the Ring Fits was 10,000 words long and Backed in Silver was 20,000, I can only imagine what sort of behemoth it would be.

M. Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

Like, WIPs, or things that I’ve pondered but haven’t started working on?

I’ve got a few WIPs. There’s the aforementioned non-villainous Ardyn AU. I’ve got another FFXV fic that’s been on hiatus on AO3 for legitimately over three years, and the next chapter is very nearly finished and I just...can’t seem to get there. I’ve got a Persona 5 new game+ fic in the works. That one’s fully plotted out already, and just the outline is like 15 pages long. Based on how the first chapter is going, each chapter will probably be anywhere from 10-20,000 words long. And I’ve got a melancholy immediately-post-season-two Mandalorian one shot in the works, spawned almost entirely so I could make Mando say ‘fuck.’ I know no one says fuck in Star Wars, but I don’t care. I will not say kriff and no one can make me. And I’ve got the Dragon Age uber fic that I’ve just sort of been plugging away at since Inquisition was released and none of it has ever seen the light of day, unless you count me shoving a few snippets at Siobhan.

Oh, and I’m rewriting an older Mass Effect fic.

For things that I’ve thought about but haven’t really worked on, they’re mostly more Dragon Age and FFXV. The “canon” stories for the two timelines not covered in the uber fic, and more AU nonsense spawned from ItRF and BiS.

N. Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

Like, finish one of MY fics? No. I would bite them if they tried. Hell, I love you and I would bite you if you tried.

Just, in general? At this point I would take a monkey paw-style deal to get someone to finish Home.

(for anyone who isn’t Jim, Home is a nuTrek Jim/Spock fic that I think I was in high school when it was published. I graduated from college over five years ago.)

Q. How do you feel about collaborations?

Mixed feelings. I’ll take feedback, assuming I’ve offered the mic for it. I’ll prattle on about whatever I’ve got cooking. I’ll ask for ideas or suggestions. But when it comes to the actual writing of it, I’m a control freak. So, people are welcome to help me gather up the building blocks, but I’m gonna wind up doing the actual building myself.

S. Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Overly elaborate AUs.

T. Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

That thing fandom does where if they’ve decided a character has anxiety, then it does not matter how that anxiety presents itself in canon, in fanon they are a weepy, shy introvert who can hardly string a sentence together because they’ve polymorphed into a shivering puppy.

V. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

Does it count if I just say I wanna rewrite a series as a whole? There’s a FrostIron series I read ages ago before the MCU made me wanna gag, and at the time I LOVED it. And then not that long ago I went back and read it again, and it felt like I was saying goodbye to it because oh my god it was unbearable.

Loki was NEVER FUCKING WRONG ABOUT ANYTHING, unless he wasn’t in the room, in which case Tony picked the slack about not ever being wrong about anything.

W. Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?

More specific. Not this past Christmas, but the one before that, I was doing some Advent Drabbles for one of my roleplay blogs, so I was open to drabble suggestions anyone wanted to see. Like 70% of them were just one or two words and I’m just staring at my ask box like ‘thanks, I hate it’

(Kudos, though, to the random stranger who gave me a very specific, paragraph-long prompt for a Spider-Man (PS4) fic.)

X. A character you enjoy making suffer.

...All of them?

Y. A character you want to protect.

I guess Din Djarin.

I mean, he still falls into the above ‘all of them’ but when I make him suffer it’s more related to exploring something that happened in canon, rather than me directly causing it.

#Ask #digitalmoriary #Meme #fanfic #writeblr #writblr #long post

[kimikotsuki]

Fandom discourse and culture has changed a lot over the years and I always try to err on the side of caution whenever possible.

The reasons writers create and share their work are varied and diverse: maybe they're trying to improve their writing and welcome advice, sometimes it's all about the ~ S Q U E E ~ because you loved the show/character and wants them in more situations, sometimes the reason is the ~ R A G E ~ about the direction canon took and you plan to murder it and use it's blood to re-write the story; this is more an illustrative than exhaustive list and sometimes there'll even be multiple reasons at once of course.

And sometimes, those reasons do not match or go well with any type of criticism, even well intentioned, constructive ones.

I saw an post on Tumblr that ilustrated very well another reason why one shouldn't simply assume that con-crit is welcome: if you go watch an amateur performance (in the most literal sense of the word of non-remunarated, regardless of quality of performance), one won't immediately presume afterwards to go to the artist and start critiquing it.

At the same time, I wholeheartedly think that one of the most wonderful, unique possibilities of fandom is the capacity for collaborative work between the authors of a story that is being posted as it's written and it's readers, culminating in an end product with quality that ends up being more refined than otherwise it would've been.

That type of interaction is even sometimes one of the main reasons people write fics, to not only create something, but also to share the act of that creation.

That works almost like making all the readers of a fic into beta-readers and can be a wonderful thing, but the post argued that the work done by betas is analogous to editing in published works, and that such a relationship is based on built trust, so while yeah, that dynamic between writer and all their readers could work, assuming and simply barging in is generally more harmful than productive.

When I adopted that new reasoning, I debated whether or not I should then mark all my bookmarks on AO3 as Private and make them inaccessible to anyone else, but in the end opted not to, mainly because even though I mainly write them for my future self, I also feel other readers can benefit a lot from knowing how the experience of someone who liked a work enough to rec it went, specially if while reading that fic they stumbled upon things they didn't like.

If there's one thing I learned from over 15 years of reading fics is that my tastes change over the years, and sometimes it's not even about the quality of the writing itself or even the progression of how polemic subjects are treated at any given time, but rather the moment that I am in changes how I receive the same work, such that tagging a certain work as one worth reading again later with no contextual information on the vibe I was riding when I did that will inevitably lead to a disappointment that is frankly an overreaction on my part.

That happened somewhat recently with a Frostiron fic I read a long time ago, in a moment where I was squeeing like crazy over the pairing (and it was a work of squee, so we matched really well) and it got on my list, but years later, when I was feeling nostalgic over the pairing and went to read my list of besties, the expectation I had was so great that the dichotomy between my experience back then and the one in the re-read were terribly big, even though it was a well written fic, squee and all, and the only real difference was that *I* wasn't squeeing over the pairing anymore.

And at the same time, I found that, in a way, this managing of expectations I do primarily for myself when I create a rec with the bad points of a fic that I loved can also be helpful for others, because even if it doesn't fit 100% since we're different people, I always thought the best recs I've always found were the ones that stated what were the cons of any given story, because those cons might not be something that bothered me like it bothered them or it even might end up being somewhat bothersome to me, but the pros outweigh them and, because I went in expecting to find those things, there's no disappointment in it, so they end up bothering me a lot less then it could've.

The other reason I eventually settled on not making my bookmarks private was actually because of those authors that seek improvement and welcome constructive criticism from all the readers who are invested in their story and value their thoughts and experiences while reading their work, because while yes, better to err on the side of caution and not go offering advice and opinions were those are not wanted, if we let that completely rule everything we do in fandom there will be a lot of loss in regards of this constructive, dynamic and interactive aspect so characteristic and wonderful to this type of media.

I know authors can have access to the bookmarks made of their fics, but unlike comments, it's not quite a space exclusively dedicated to them or even for interactions between reader/author.

In a lot of aspects, I'd even go as far as saying it's a space primarily for readers: it's not something that will culminate in a email sent to the author's mailbox, it serves mostly for filtering and ordering purposes (like when you're looking for fics to read and apply a filter to show only fics with a certain number of bookmarks or to order the fics shown from the greater to the least number of bookmarks) and also so readers can, reading these bookmarks, have a better idea on what's to expect from a work from different readers with different personalities and world views and ways to pereceive what was written.

And since it's a space the author *can* have access to *if* they want, it's possible for them to look at that place to see that con-crit while, at the same time, not being a place where that con-crit will get shoved in their faces if they *don't want it* and as such it seemed to me to be an overall respectfull and good compromise between those two points that seemed very important to me, and one of the only way I've found of making it known if that type of interaction is welcome, I'd be happy to head over to their comments and talk there.

If I'm marking it as a rec and commenting, I'm doing it because I think that fic absolutely is one of the best stories that I had the pleasure to read; however, the number of characters allowed in a bookmark rec are limited, so if I end up putting into it anything besides an incoherent keyboard smash, those things are going to be whatever points I feel are very important to keep in mind whenever starting to read it so that reading experience is the most enjoyable possible both for my future self who's going to look at that besties list and decide on what to read again as well as first time readers who might have seen the rec and will go in knowing somethings that, by their nature, don't tend to be things we tag for; they will have mostly what amounts to con-crit, so if you welcome this type of interaction or if the rec I made is bothering you in anyway, I urge you to get in contact with me through the fic mail I linked in my AO3 profile.

This post is getting linked there because the profile section doesn't allow enough characters for everything that I had to say about the subject.

As soon as I see the email, I'll either be happy to either tag the bookmark as Private so it won't be visible to anyone but myself if it bothered you or head over to your comments section so we can talk better about the points I raised if this type of interaction is something you welcome.

#fandom discourse #ao3 stuff #fandom culture #bookmarks