#the reason i started writing for f1 in the first place and quite honestly the reason i even made it through last year | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

selfinsertmadness · 1 month

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i have a really cool prompt

hope you like my idea,

could you perhaps write a story about the current logan situation with loganxy/n ??

i love your blog soooo muchhhh

Logie and the Australian car incident

pairing: AstonMartin!y/n x Logan Sargeant (can be read platonically or romantically)

author's note: I haven't written any fanfic stuff in literal years (middle school me is quacking) but I tried my best with that one. Looking forward to any suggestions or critiques you may have :) (insert obligatory English is not my native language here) (please send promts!!!!)

The day starts off as any other day on a busy race weekend would and you are busy running around the Aston Martin garage making sure everything is in order before you return to your place at the back of the garage. You let your gaze sweep over the garage one last time before getting out your work phone and texting your boss, Lawrence, that everything is in order. The cars seem good, the mechanics had no complaints and Lance and Fernando were reasonably happy with everything. A satisfied smile washes over your face, your job was busy but reasonably easy, as the team caretaker your sole mission was to make sure the team was happy, the drivers taken care of, and the PR supervisors were not losing their minds running after their drivers while also texting Lawrence even the most minute details about his son and the other driver.

It seems quite redundant to you, but Lawrence Stroll pays well and who are you to turn down a job as a glorified team nanny.

You take a seat at the back and watch the first practice session absentmindedly, letting your gaze wander down to your phone occasionally, and scrolling through Twitter, scoffing at all the hate towards the current grid. It never ceases to amaze you how people can be so hateful, but then again, some people are just unhappy about their own lives. Looking up at the screen you watch a Williams car hit the wall on the right before sliding across the track and grinding its way to a stop on the left barrier. You gasp as you jump up, the rest of the garage wincing in sympathy as the car finally stops. You quickly turn to a mechanic nearby. “Who was that?”, you ask a little panicked as you watch the red flag fly and a driver in a Williams race suit climb out of the cockpit. “Albon, I think”, the mechanic replies helpfully as you try and suppress a relieved sigh. You still feel sorry for Alex but simultaneously thanking your lucky stars that Logan was not the one in an accident this time.

When Logan first got signed by Williams you both were ecstatic, you had met years ago when your parents had taken you on a vacation to Florida where you met Logan and you’ve kept in touch ever since. You had already been working for Aston Martin when Logan started in F1 and the fact that you could spend a lot more time together now served as further motivation to both of you to give it your best. You quickly shoot him a text, knowing he won’t be responding until later, before sending your boss a quick update and making sure the crash had not affected your team.

You honestly had forgotten you texted Logan in the first place as you watch the cars head out for the second practice session, Alex staying back in the pits, watching his teammate drive. You smile as you send Logan some memes you had found on twitter, knowing he would have a laugh once he got back to his room after the strenuous practice sessions of the day. Aston Martin, for once, had no major issues you had attend to and you could lean back and relax, as much as one in a Formula 1 garage can relax, in your seat while harassing the Aston Martin Instagram Admin with Memes you think they should be posting asap.

As the second practice session ends you help the team pack up and prepare for the next day as the drivers attend to their media duties and you stretch in relief as the first day of the Australian Grand Prix comes to an end. After having everything sorted you get out your work phone and sign off for the day before taking out your personal phone and responding to some texts before checking your chat with Logan, seeing that he had read your messages but not responded. ‘You ok?’, you send him before shrugging off any worry you might have. Surely, he was just busy, after all, he was the only Williams driver that would be starting on Sunday. You really wouldn’t want to be in his shoes, the weight of the entire team and all the fans’ expectations resting on your shoulders. You might have a lot of responsibility but at least you were free of the expectations fans place on the drivers, mechanics and team principals.

You quickly slip into the shower of your private hotel room, a perk you were eternally grateful for, and put on some pajamas before order room service. You had earned it after all and looking after your figure was thankfully not a concern you had. ‘Ignoring your bestie? That’s not how I know you Loggie!’ you text Logan as you open the door for the food you had ordered and sit down before digging into the pepperoni pizza you had been craving for a week.

You startle as you hear a knock from your hotel room door. You shoot a quick glance at your phone, 11pm. You quietly approach the door and look through the peephole cautiously. Who would disturb you that late on a race weekend? Looking through the hole you see Logan at the door, his face unusually pale and his expression unnervingly neutral. Quickly you reach for the doorhandle, pulling the door open. “Logie? What got you a-knocking that late?”, you ask jokingly but the lighthearted smile on your face quickly fades as he stands on the swell of your door like a man lost, his eyes suspiciously watery. “Oh dear”, you mumble as you quickly pull him into your room and heard him towards your bed, letting him sit down before standing before him and looking at him with a stern expression. “What’s wrong?”, you ask, concern written all over your face.

He sighs, falling back onto the bed. “They’re taking my car.”, his voice sounds wobbly as he explains. “Who is taking your car?”, you ask, your voice confused.

“James. He said Alex has a higher chance of scoring and I get it, but I tried so hard, you know? They said they trusted me, and I was ready to proof how much I have improved and now I can’t drive at all. I didn’t crash the car! It’s not my fault! I didn’t do anything…”, he rambles, his voice flowing between sadness, anger and betrayal before ending in defeat. You look at him, he still has his upper body lying on your bed, his feet dangling off the side as he continues explaining what had happened. Quietly you sit down next to him on the bed and gently stroke through his hair as you let him talk out his frustrations. “y/n? What do I do now?”, Logan asks as he looks up at you, his eyes still wet but trying his hardest to not shed a tear.

“I will put the fear of God into that good-for-nothing son of a bitch.”, you explain very matter of factly. “I’m gonna walk down to the Williams hospitality and I’m gonna scream at your team principal!”, you declare with a huff as you get off of your bed and towards where you kicked off your shoes when you came back from the paddock earlier that night.

“Y/N, do NOT do that.”, Logan warns as he gets up and grabs your hand. “That is just going to make it worse.” “Okay but it’s also gonna make me feel a lot better ‘cause who does he think he is? Taking your car and giving it away. I’m gonna make him regret this entire week” you say angrily as you look up at him with determination and the wrath of someone who’s best friend was just wronged in your eyes.

“Please don’t”, Logan asks with sad eyes, gripping your hand even tighter. “Please just stay with me tonight, I feel sick. I just want to cry.”, he admits to you as you feel your resolve break. “But- “, you trail off as you watch him stand before you, his hand still tightly gripping yours. You sigh in defeat before squeezing his hand. “Right but only ‘cause you asked me to, if it was up to me…”, you stop, leaving the threat hang in the air of your hotel room as you head towards the small desk. “Pizza”, you declare as you shove the leftovers of your pizza into Logans hands. “My TV has Netflix, what do you want to watch?”, you ask as you throw yourself into the hotel room bed and turn on the flatscreen TV hanging opposite it.

Logan lets out a surprised laugh and sits down next to you, the pizza carton still tightly in his hands as he gets out a slice and lets you choose whatever show you find on the homepage. The evening continues in relative silence as Logan finishes the pizza and you sit in the bed, leaning onto each other. “I’m still sending him negative vibes, like spiritually”, you grumble as he giggles before slipping off to sleep for the night.

#logan sargeant #f1 x reader #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #x reader #logan sargeant x reader #f1 x you #f1 x y/n #f1 x oc #first fic in a long time #ls2 x reader #ls2

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chibrary · 3 months

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source: motorsport-magazin series: f1, 2018

Charles Leclerc showed an impressive rookie year in 2019. The Ferrari junior lived up to his early praise in the Sauber. Before the season finale in Abu Dhabi, he is just two points behind Romain Grosjean in Haas with 33 points. Enough to oust Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari in 2019. The young Monegasque and the Iceman swap cockpits. Questions about Ferrari’s future and about his future teammate Sebastian Vettel were not allowed in the interview. Motorsport-Magazin.com and Leclerc still had plenty to talk about.

If you do well, this will be our last interview. So you’re under pressure! Charles Leclerc: Why?

Because Ferrari drivers usually don’t have to speak 1:1 to writing media from Germany. Charles Leclerc: Oh, okay.

I don’t know if you remember our first interview. Last year in Abu Dhabi when you were driving F2. Charles Leclerc: Wasn’t that earlier? After an FP1 outing with Haas maybe?

You seem to have a good memory. I didn’t count the media rounds, just the interviews. Charles Leclerc: Then it’s true!

In Abu Dhabi it wasn’t quite sure whether you would drive for Sauber in 2018. The only thing that was certain was that you wouldn’t have a chance to drive victories in your rookie year in Formula 1. Back then you said it would be the same as with Alonso with Minardi. Do you think you’ve achieved something similar to what Alonso did this season? Charles Leclerc: Puuuuh… I’m honestly really bad at history [laughs].I can’t really remember what people thought of him back then. But I’m happy with my season. I don’t want to compare it to anyone else’s season. It would strike me as rather arrogant to say that it was similar to Alonso’s. But yes, I’m satisfied and I can definitely say: I never expected that we would be so strong and that the progress over the year would be so big.

Without comparing yourself to anyone else in the field, do you feel that you and the team have achieved something extraordinary this season? Charles Leclerc: I think it was a special season. If we look at where the team has been over the last year and where we are now - it sure impressed some people in the paddock. Formula 1 is a tough sport and the level of competition is very high. All teams work at a very high level. To see the progress we’ve made over the season is impressive.

We have a driver ranking, one by the users and one by us. You’re currently in fifth place… Charles Leclerc: Who are the four in front of me?

Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen and Raikkonen. Charles Leclerc: Yes, I saw it. I check a lot of media [laughs].

You secured your place in the last few races in particular. At the beginning of the season things weren’t going so well. What was the issue? Charles Leclerc: I didn’t have much experience, I didn’t do much testing. So I had to learn everything during the race weekends. It was not easy. For me that is clearly the reason for the problems at the beginning of the season. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted from the car and gave the engineers the wrong direction. That was bad, but together with the engineers we finally found the right way. As soon as we implemented that in the car in Baku, we made a big step forward.

It seems to be a pattern in your career. You were anything but confident at last year’s Formula 2 tests, and at the start of this Formula 1 season too. Need some time to get started, but then you really get going? Charles Leclerc: I think one of my real strengths is understanding what the problems are and then improving them, whether it takes time or not. Of course, at the beginning of the season I had the three bad races, that felt like a lot. But then, looking back, three races doesn’t feel like much for a car that’s so different. So I don’t really know. You can probably judge it better from the outside. From the outside it’s clearer if it’s fast or too slow. But in the end I’m happy with my season.

What was the biggest difference for you compared to all the junior series? Charles Leclerc: Definitely the power and the downforce, that’s very different. It’s like a jump from two, three junior categories. Quite large. Then all the systems in Formula 1 that you can control via the steering wheel. In the smaller categories you can change these systems, but after a session. You come back to the pits and talk to the engineers. In Formula 1 you have to do everything yourself, corner by corner.

Did you know that your teammate Marcus Ericsson is a career killer? Kobayashi, Nasr, Wehrlein… Charles Leclerc: [grins] I saw that a few times in the media too. Every teammate of Marcus… yes, but I don’t believe stories like that.

So you weren’t afraid you only got one chance? Charles Leclerc: Oh no, never. Never.

Because you’re so confident? Every racer somehow thinks of himself as the fastest, right? Charles Leclerc: I wouldn’t say that. At least not in my case.I never thought about ranking the drivers and determining who is the fastest. I honestly believe that anyone can be the best driver in the field. For me, the one who has understood best how to maximize his potential is the best. That’s the most important thing for me. Sure, some riders have more talent, but in the end someone who works hard can get there.

I think it’s more about understanding how to reach your own limit. This is particularly important. So ranking is very difficult. I think you can do it for a season, but ranking a rider as a whole is very difficult. Every driver can be as good as anyone else if he finds his limit. The only thing that counts is how long you ride at this level. So I don’t really focus on the others. I just focus on myself and try to get the maximum potential out of myself.

How much of your potential have you already shown? Charles Leclerc: There is definitely a lot more to do. There is always more that you can use. But for the first season, apart from the first three races, I’m pretty happy.

What was the key for you this season? Charles Leclerc: [thinking] Probably managing a whole weekend, with FP1, FP2, FP3, qualifying, Q1, Q2, Q3, and then the race. This is very different compared to what you are used to from the other categories. It’s a weekend that builds up very slowly and it’s very important to work your way through all these sessions to be at the top at exactly the right time - in qualifying.

Is there a single scene that you remember in particular? A real key moment? Charles Leclerc: Probably the call from Maurizio that I will be driving a Ferrari next year. That’s something I’ll always remember.

And on the route? Charles Leclerc: Hard to say. But in any case, the duels with Fernando taught me a lot about racing.

As a driver, you learned a lot in 2018. Would you say that you have also learned a lot as a person? You seem to have a decent standing in Formula 1 for a rookie, for example when you heavily criticized Kevin Magnussen. Charles Leclerc: Maybe it’s the image I’m giving. But the most important thing I think is that I’m honest with myself. With what I think I prefer being like this to saying things in front of the media when I’m actually thinking something else. I’m not really like that. I just say what I think. It comes across as a bit direct to the media at times, but that’s my personality .I prefer to be like this.

That’s good for us! Charles Leclerc: [laughs]

Is there any weakness that you still see in yourself? Charles Leclerc: Of course. You always have weaknesses. To name one … what do I take … clearly experience, I’m still missing something, but I wouldn’t call that a weakness. But just overall as a flaw. Every time I have a problem I focus on it to get better. There is always something you can get better at.

We thought about it in the editorial office. The only obvious mistakes we remembered were spins in the rain. So you’re not a rain god yet? Charles Leclerc: [laughs] No, I think riding in the rain is my forte, which sounds strange. Just not yet in Formula 1. But I’m working very hard on it. It’s a very different feeling with the power steering compared to Formula 2 and GP3. There, or rather in all junior categories, the steering wheel is directly connected to the wheels, there is no power steering, so you feel everything. It’s different in Formula 1 and different teams also use different power steering. It really depends on the team. To be honest, in the rain I don’t have full confidence in the power steering that we have here. That’s why I had most of the problems - and I definitely had problems. But in all other series I was always strong in the rain. I just have to keep working and find that feeling in Formula 1 again. A few more kilometers and I’m sure I’ll find it again.

#series:f1 #format:interview #year:2018

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magicshopaholic · 1 year

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Hi! I just recently discovered your blog and I love the concept of a universe with interweaving storylines. It's so clever and unique. I wanted to ask, since you have such a huge number of fics, which one is your favorite? I also love the idea of original characters because that's quite uncommon in this fandom but reminds me of fanfiction I used to read when I was younger. What's your inspiration for the characters? Are any of them based on you? Can't wait to read more of your work :) - 🍓

Oh, anon. This is every author's dream question, istg.

First of all, welcome! I hope you enjoy my masterlist and future fics to come. My favourite fic: tough, but I'll probably say About You. It was a deeply personal one and needed to be handled just right, but I was really happy with the end product because it established a dynamic between Namjoon and Kaya that I can't quite put into words. It's not one of my more popular works and I can understand why, but it's definitely the one I'm proudest of.

This would probably be followed by The Fifth: Part 2 and You Make Me Live (honourable mentions to Double Take and In Time).

You've nailed my reasoning for going the OC route; my favourite thing about fanfiction in the days of yore (ie the 2000s and early 2010s) was the range of OCs and the excitement of making up your own. It limits my reader base but I can't imagine writing any other way.

Inspiration - this could be a long one. The first OC I came up with was Dilara, and she was supposed to be a protagonist for an F1 fanfic series I'd started writing (yes, shocker, I used to write F1 fanfic). A lot about her was inspired by another F1 OC I'd written, Tracy McNeil (a sports journalist), including the messed up family background and the lowkey insecurity coupled with the need to prove herself. Dilara is definitely far more of a romantic than Tracy, though, and I'd largely chalk that up to the support network she has that takes care of her and allows her to lead with her heart more.

Kaya was next - she's not inspired by anyone in particular, but I was thinking of what Namjoon would be like as a partner; after long gruelling days of arguing with the company, keeping the younger members in line, dealing with pushy journos, he would come home to the most comforting person in the world with whom he would be completely different, free to be himself, vent if he needed to, and show a softer side he'd keep secret from the rest of the world.

Lia was the third and she honestly came to life when I was working with the marketing team in my company and had a shit ton of work, and she was initially my outlet. She quickly moulded to Jungkook's character, though, and the dynamic we all know and love just fell into place. She arrives at the right time to pull Jungkook out of a bit of a low phase and is the right amount of opposite of someone else.

Nari and Sooah, an unlikely pair, came together for me because of another fic I'd written for a different fandom. It was the protagonist and her best friend, the former who was a bit of a party girl and was in a very messy FWB with the male protagonist, and the latter who was her taller friend who worked all the time and fell for the unlikeliest person she could think of without even realising it.

Miso and Chae were the last two. Miso was a bit tough, and is somewhat inspired by Marianne Sheridan from Normal People, just a bit, in terms of her being a bit of a loner and rubbing people the wrong way. Don't want to give too much away, but she could've only been written opposite Yoongi.

Chae, despite being my baby, was one of the hardest to create - although, once I did, I just connected with her instantly. I wanted to write Hoseok being the opposite of his sunshine self, and the person to bring that out would have to be a hell of a character. Their initial childhood meeting is inspired by one of my all time favourite movies, Flipped.

(While I don't think I'm anything like any of my characters, Kaya, Lia and I probably share some similar habits, primarily working a lot and being too tired for drama. Parts of Chaeyoung are also inspired by my teen years - I cringe so hard when I think of those days.)

#what a questionnn #took half my life but it was cathartic #thank you so much #notes🍷#🍓 anon #behind the idolverse

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f1 · 9 months

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Verstappens 0.8s margin over field pretty impressive admits Hamilton | 2023 Belgian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton described Max Verstappen’s margin over the field in qualifying as “pretty impressive”, as no one got within eight tenths of a second of the Red Bull driver. Verstappen will start Sunday’s grand prix from sixth on the grid as he has a penalty for exceeding his allocation of gearbox parts. Hamilton, who qualified fourth, will start third. The Mercedes driver said the session was “definitely very hectic” as the track dried throughout the three parts of qualifying. “It was very slippery at the beginning and difficult to see,” he explained. “[You’re] just maximising because you know that every lap is going to be faster than the next lap. So making sure you’re just out, that’s why we were at the end of the pit lane each session. The team did a great job in getting us out and quick turn-around. Hamilton was satisfied to qualifying third in mixed conditions “I was just head down, just maximising as much as I could at the end. At the end, still a good chunk off Max – pretty impressive, but I’m really happy with the result we got.” Verstappen said he took more risk on his final lap as the track dried out. “It’s more about not actually finding the limit, because then it’s very easy to make a mistake and hit the wall, it’s all about just trying to leave your margins and just build up to it, basically,” he explained. “But it seemed like it was a bit tougher today, I think also because the sun was out at one point, so the track was drying really quickly, lap after lap.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free “It’s quite hectic out there,” he added. “It’s still only one dry line, in some places you’re still not even doing the full dry line. So it felt alright but honestly I didn’t know where I was until I looked on the screens. Gallery: 2023 Belgian Grand Prix qualifying in pictures “But Q3 that final lap I think was very good. I just risked a bit more compared to all the other laps [when I was] leaving a bit of margin, which almost knocked me out in Q2. So it was tough out there today to get everything right.” However he believes part of the reason he ended up so far ahead of his rivals was that he completed his final lap in Q3 later than most of them, when the track was at its best. “Honestly, I do know that we have a very good car,” said Verstappen. “But I think it’s more just having a bit more luck with the line or the grip. I think if it would have been a full dry qualifying, I think the gap wouldn’t have been like this.” Verstappen said he took more risk at Bruxelles and the following turn of Speaker’s Corner on his final lap. “I was incredibly slow there before because I had a few moments,” he admitted. “I almost crashed in [turn] nine in Q2. “Even in Q3, my first run, I was very slow there. So then on my second attempt I just went a lot faster there.” Bringing the F1 news from the source RaceFans strives to bring its readers news directly from the key players in Formula 1. We are able to do this thanks in part to the generous backing of our RaceFans Supporters. By contributing £1 per month or £12 per year (or the equivalent in other currencies) you can help cover the costs involved in producing original journalism: Travelling, writing, creating, hosting, contacting and developing. We have been proudly supported by our readers for over 10 years. If you enjoy our independent coverage, please consider becoming a RaceFans Supporter today. As a bonus, all our Supporters can also browse the site ad-free. Sign up or find out more via the links below: Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2023 Belgian Grand Prix Browse all 2023 Belgian Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

#F1 #Verstappen’s 0.8s margin over field “pretty impressive”#admits Hamilton | 2023 Belgian Grand Prix #Formula 1

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hecohansen31 · 4 years

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It Was Fun Till It Lasted

Duncan Shepherd x F1 Pilot Female! Reader

(A/N): Hello there, lovelies!

I have been a bit silent the latest weeks, but I just got hit by the inspiration train as of lately (even more after all the F1 glory we have been getting) and I just thought about a small drabble, about Duncan in the race car universe.

Not as a driver, but more like a sponsor.

This is very PWP, even for my sentimental ass, so I do hope that you’ll like it, even though it isn’t the most perfect thing ever (just to warn you).

Also I just wanted to give @guiltyfiend a big shoutout because she has been a constant source of inspiration for me with various fics (‘Quid Pro Quo’ has been the main reason why for the existence of this drabble) so do check out her lovely fics!

I am also personally, maybe (since I don’t feel apprecciated in the other fandoms I am in) of making a few comebacks in this fandom, if any of you would like iit obviously!

So, please, if you want more, don’t forget to leave some kind of feedback I truly apprecciate it from the bottom of my heart and it’ll truly make my heart beat stronger and my fingers write faster!

Don’t ever ever forget to support your beloved writers with feedback, if you liked what they wrote!

Have a nice reading!

SUMMARY: Galas can be annoying things, but when an handsome fellow accidentally drenches you in champagne there are many ways your night might change.

WORDS: 5,4 K

WARNINGS: Mention of Sexism, Misogyny, Harassment On The Workplace, Inaccurate Portrayal of The F1 World, Inaccurate Way Of Cleaning Champagne From Clothes, Sex, Slight Dirty Talk, Mirror Sex, Oral Sex (Female Receiving), Sex Between Strangers.

You sipped slowly from the flute of champagne you had managed to steal, meanwhile your boss wasn’t looking, since you had been instructed to avoid getting yourself drunk till you got the trophy in your hand, to avoid replacing the ‘drunk Kimi meme’ in the F1 world.

But it was difficult for you, an introvert, to feel at ease in a room full of different people.

A few of them were gladly ignoring you, but more were looking at you like you were some kind of freak in a costume, which was probably the best description for being one pilot of the only all-female team existing in F1.

You had grown up with the myths of Ayrton Senna and Niki Lauda, thanks to your grandfather and his the passion for fast cars and elegant ones, raising you as some kind of substitute to him, who had never been able to race, having had various problematics with his own health.

An heartattack at seventy had taken him away, just as you signed your first contract with the F2.

You had been partnered with a male pilot, and although the car wasn’t the fastest, you had managed to become much better than your partner, eventually getting yourself fired because females, in a place like F1, couldn’t raise to fame, throwing you in a depression that had brought you almost on the verge…

… but then your newest F1 stable had brought you back, giving you a car that wasn’t definitely one of the best you could have gotten but it had gotten you through a nice first season, and you had actually arrived at the sixth position in the constructors’ championship, alongside your partner…

… who, right now, didn’t look less bothered than you, at this fancy party.

But Abigail could definitely hold the curious gazes better than you.

You might have needed something more than champagne to get through a night like this.

You had begged your stable director to just bring Abigail, the social butterfly out of the two of you, but he had just insisted that ‘having two beauties on his arm would have done him and the stable more good than just one’.

And aside from the blatantly sexist part of the comment, you knew he was right.

Sponsors had been rushing to you this season because the media had focused much attention on the importance of new female figures in races, but now that the novelty was rushing off a few had decided to let you go, so you had to grab a few new ones, convincing them through either the use of your talk and your feminine charm.

‘… I had almost thought that he’d ask us to sleep with the sponsors to get them to stay’ had commented Abigail, as you both set yourself up for the night, the elegant rented dresses waiting for you on the comfortable bed of the expensive suite of the hotel ‘… it was this close to becoming an episode of ‘Law & Order: SVU’.

And now Abigail was being her usual chatty with a few sponsors fawning around her, as you tried to down the flute of champagne almost as if it was a full bottle of vodka, something that you honestly missed and stared at the expensive drink in the glass.

If only your glare could turn it in something that would give you more liquid courage.

A few of the rookies had been tried to talk with you and you had been extremely happy to have someone approach you, but soon the chat had diffused itself and all the drivers had been called back by their own director, and you had found yourself alone, again, and with annoying stares upon you.

Many of the pilots from the other stables had tried to get you in bed with them, and you knew that there were various bets going on about getting you or Abigail to finally relent your ‘haughty pretenses’, not to talk about the fact that the entire media platform and magazines had been set up on you and Abigail, waiting for any false step of yours.

You had been dubbed ‘the sole chance for feminism to raise’ and everyone was waiting for you to fall.

To prove that F1 wasn’t female territory.

So, you had been rigorously swearing off any coupling with the other drivers.

The fact that you found it already quite difficult to combine your training and the various galas you had to attend with an healthy social life, certainly did help with the whole ‘chastity promise’ thing.

And you never regretted such a choice during the race season.

The ‘no sex’ rule helped you during the competition, keeping your mind in the game, but now that the driving season was ended and you were finally enjoying your well-deserved holiday, you couldn’t help but hate thoroughly the situation you had landed yourself in, only able to rely on your hand and a few interesting toys.

But otherwise, utterly frustrated.

And yet unable to come up with a solution on such a short notice.

Dicks didn’t grow up on trees, these days.

You just bumped in them, apparently.

Because, as you were halfway through having your second drink of the night, counting on the fact that the director of your stable was halfway through a successful talk with some well-dressed older gentlemen, hence making him quite busy already and unable to check up on you, you clashed against a wall.

A wall of muscles, at a second glance.

A breathing wall of muscles, at third glance.

But you were far more interested by the fact that the bump-in had just made you spill your entire drink on your Givenchy rented dress, the one that costed more than your apartment rent, something that made a loud ‘shit’ leave your mouth and making the ‘wall of muscles’ raise his head towards you, as he noticed the stain.

And then, when you noticed that ‘wall of musclea’ had a pretty face and an even prettier body, a softer ‘shit’ left your mouth.

What a way to make an impression.

“Oh Gosh, I am sorry!” American accent, no British accent.

That was probably where Mother Nature had drawn in blessing him with all the ‘fucking handsome man’ gifts.

His handsome face was elegantly touched up by high cheekbones and feature that had something of roguish matched with elegant traits and darker colors, making him stand out as someone who wasn’t definitely a pilot or a journalist.

Which was ideal for you.

Such an refined face was matched with an elegant tailored body, the suit definitely made for him and him solely, knowing perfectly how to highlight each and every trait of a body that was obtained through attentive work, a careful one that was meant to impose itself or pump his muscles with no aim, but to give him a lean appearance of power.

That definitely worked with you.

“… oh” brain to Earth, brain to Earth, (Y/N), say something intelligent ‘… it was an accident’.

Tell that to the lady that will want the dress back.

But for now, that wasn’t your main concern.

Which was the handsome man in front of you.

But you couldn’t just hump him right there, not only because you were pretty sure that it would have been described as ‘sexual harassment’, but all the spotlight was set up on you, hence all the cameras were focused on every little small mistake you could have done, intensifying them in a way that didn’t happen with men.

You had to be perfect, but even more than that.

You had to be the male everyone thought you were, although you lacked of the attributes.

So, flirting was considered a hellish sin.

“Gosh, I am… extremely sorry” he repeated again, as his eyes shared a quick glance with yours, and you just nodded your head as if you had to confirm to him that you had heard him clearly the first time, before ducking to the restroom, hoping to be able to scrub away the stain, at least to avoid its yellowish color on the stark white of your dress.

But before you could start raising the dress off your legs, where the stain was more evident, you were followed inside by the man, and before you could utter any protest, he caught the ones in your eyes.

“I swear I am not a creeper” he raised his hands as if to reinforce this “… I just… you shouldn’t scrub on silk, it’ll just ruin the fabric, just ran the water and then wait for it to dry, some alcohol and a bit of bleach might also help, the stain will come out, with a single wash… I swear”.

You had a million questions for the stranger, unsure if you shouldn’t have already screamed at him for having entered the ladies restroom, but you just assumed that he was the first handsome guy ever to come with a cute personality.

And good domestic knowledge.

That was meant to always do something to a lady.

“… thank you” you settled on uttering, comforted by the fact that the guy turned around to leave you some privacy, but you couldn’t just let go such an opportunity, even more when you were in some kind of secluded area, and he didn’t look like the type that had a secret go-pro camera under his clothes.

Some girl that you had once met in a bathroom at one of the races had turned out to have one, as she egged on commenting some shit over Abigail.

Unluckily for her, Abigail was in the other stall and she had flushed in the noisiest way the water, before appearing with some kind of triumphant aura around her.

“… can you please stay?” ‘people will probably doubt you on your “abilities” if you come out after five minutes’ you almost wanted to utter, as a test to know if he looked just like a sex god or he fucking was, although with the way his cheeks blushed of a light red, you simply bit down on your tongue “… just to help me get the stain off, properly… you seem to know much more than me about it”.

“Things happen in college” he commented, as if it was an explanation.

What kind of parties had he been in college?

You just remembered the rush to grabbing the cheapest and most efficient alcohol.

He reached out as kindly as he could to start on the farthest part of your dress, where it wasn’t straight up skin tight, gently dabbing it with a piece of paper you had handed him, the fabric destroying itself on the dress, but the stain became a bit less prominent.

Enough to pass as some kind of enrichment the stylist had done on the dress at the last minute.

You hoped you could make the lady that had rented it to you buy this shit off too.

Because you either managed to get the stain out or get yourself a sponsor for the new year, or you’d have had to probably start living on the road, with only a few shining trophies for losers, such as the one you were supposed to grab tonight, for ‘best promising team’.

As if there was some kind of competition, between your small team and various established ones…

“… what are you doing at such a party?” you knew that conversation during this kind of thing would have gotten it to seem less sexual than it truly was, and although you were as good at small talk as you were at handling a crowd, you did your best to sound as relaxed as you could be.

But your question still sounded like one out of a police interrogation.

“Friend of a friend” it was more like meaning ‘none of your business’ but kinder, and you couldn’t deny his own right to privacy “… by the way, I do think that I should give you my name… in case you want someone to curse for the dress, I am Duncan”.

“I am (Y/N)” you were glad when no light of recognition shone in his eyes, just as his hand lightly grabbed the back of your upper thigh, to make the dress adhere perfectly to your skin and dab the stain more properly, a light shiver at the touch made you understand how truly touch-starved you had been “… and you look as out of place as me in this fucking gown”.

“Don’t tell anybody, but…” and he lightly leaned in closer to you, enough that you could feel the strong but comforting perfume of his cologne, something that smelt extremely male and yet, you couldn’t detect a trace of toxic masculinity in it “… I have never seen a single race of F1 in my life”.

Just what you needed.

“… oh tell me about it” you played coy, as his hands raised up from your legs skillfully avoided your ass, instead choosing to grip on the outer part of your hip, handling you with care but a sureness that made you want to relent the whole ‘male image’ you had created around you.

What would you have given for a night in which you didn’t have to be the one in control, constantly checking every detail!

“… neither a fan of the whole race panorama?” he asked, as his eyes trained themselves on your stomach, barely covered by the white of the dress, showing him a bit of skin behind it, exactly as the absence of your panties, a crazed decision of Abigail, who had thrown away your seamless granny pants.

‘They might be protective when we race, but these are shit’.

You knew you shouldn’t have lied to him about not belonging in the racing setting, but you just wanted to have one night in which you weren’t the prodigy, the promise, ‘the sole chance for freedom to raise’.

You just wanted to be (Y/N).

“Definitely not”.

“Brought here by a boyfriend?” now he was scanning his own ground, and he had a small break from his cleaning duties, as you caught a glimpse of that damned profile, the kind of thing you saw on expensive old coins.

He was definitely some kind of emperor in his own right.

“Nope” you mumbled, before you gave him back his own same coin “… just brought here by a friend of a friend”.

He smirked at his words being spit back at him and you smiled almost foolishly.

You even let out a soft giggle.

How fucking long had it been since you had giggled?

And done it because you honestly wanted.

And not because you were forced in front of journalists or potential sponsors.

His hands were now on the side of your chest, against the slight hill of your bra (you could have forsaken panties, but you needed that support), his hands lightly tracing the ridge of the silicone part where the bra stood attached to your skin, sweaty due to the fact that you had been wearing the whole thing for five hours, before of the event.

“… and you had an idiot spill a drink over it, in the span of an hour” the words were meant for self-deprecation, but the smile that accompanied him was utterly confident.

Had you had panties, they would have definitely hit the ground soundly in that moment.

“… it could have been worse” you mumbled, just as your eyes twinkled with secret meaning.

‘You could have been a complete twat or old enough to be my grandpa’

“… you couldn’t have known how to get out champagne stains” you joked, settling up on a more PG-13 comment, unsure of what to do, since it had been quite some time since you had last flirted, and although his hand told you a story, you weren’t exactly sure if he had gotten all the clues of the game.

He laughed so brilliantly that also a light blush joined your soft giggle.

“Gosh, that would have been awful” his tone was joking, but his eyes were onto you, as they searched some kind of confirm in yours, and you just had to lean in to sign the deal, leaning down to kiss him.

You had never been one for one-night-stands and neither for quick fucks in a restroom, but with the way he lightly gripped you, making sure to position you on top of the elegant porcelain sink, careful to avoid the water: it wouldn’t have been neither.

And you were completely swept away.

He definitely passed the ‘kiss’ test.

His hand went through your hair perfectly, but careful of the small updo you had done, his fingertips lightly scraping the baby hair on your upper neck, in a way that kept you grounded, just as his lips lightly bit onto your upper lips, leaving you wanting for more, just as he backed away with a cunning smirk.

One that spoke of that technique never failing.

And before he could perform again that cocky enchantment, you kissed him.

Releasing on him entire months of sexual frustration.

And you had to say that you surprised him, enough that you were worried that your suddenness would have scared him, but he just needed to regain the control, before his hand without any care went to mess up your updo, in a way that instead of grounding and relaxing you, made you tense up, just as his hand splayed your knees wide onto the sink to have him come up between them.

And after the passionate kiss you had been sharing, you found yourself quickly locked, with one that gripped you by the hair against the cold mirror and another one splayed on your knee

The fabric of your silk dress lightly caressed the skin of your inner thigh, right as his elegant and expensive pants did the same with your core, making you feel that you shouldn’t have seriously worried about the ‘five minutes thing’, or at least you hoped.

But the package seemed fucking good.

“… so, would you like to have a bit more of help?” the way he pronounced the word ‘help’ sounded downright sinful and how could a girl deny him, as your own hands moved to gently tap on his sharp cheeks, the scratchiness of a cleanly shaved beard making you feel like this was all real.

“Just don’t get my dress dirty” it was a whisper, but your eyes played with the dominance you wanted to relent to him, and he just looked intrigued.

“Then spread your legs properly, little one” and as if under a spell they opened properly and let him adjust himself against them as his hands lightly raised up to collect the dress away from your legs, stopping right up on your hips and leaving a bit of dress to cover you, as if he had to leave you some modesty “… good girl”.

You purred at that, leaning in the light petting of his grip having become less pronounced as a grip and more a caress.

“… I saw you out there in the crowd and I wanted to buy you a drink, because you looked at unease as me, I thought that you could use that” he commented as his face lightly moved down to the crook of your neck, his nose making a teasing trail down your profile, just as his beard lightly scratched your skin, making it redden simply for his lips, before he covered it of purplish bruises “… I thought I had done the worst thing ever since with pouring a drink over you”.

“… couldn’t stay mad when you fucking looked like a sex god” you muttered unable to deny the truth, your body arching right against his as his hands, gently dragged he strap of your dress down your shoulders, revealing the awful skin-like bra, but he just seemed focused on your collarbones, his hand working slowly to ease the bra away from you, eventually dropping it onto the small tissues box over both of your heads, so it wouldn’t get on the ground.

An attentive gesture, exactly as the way he gripped tightly your breast, making sure that your nipples were lightly caressed by his thumb, right as he bit down on the softer flesh of your neck.

“I am glad that my good looks were of some use” he joked, and gently looked up at you “… and let me tell you, I have a tongue that will make you forget all about my clumsiness”.

“I do think that I deserve an apology” you muttered, as your eyes met again, your lashes cornering perfectly your hazy eyes, breathy and soft “… a vocal apology”.

And he simply smirked down at you, falling on his knees with a sound thud, as you pushed yourself further down the sink you were on, till you felt the painful dig of the faucet in your back, enough to make you moan in protest, but soon the look of wonder on his face as he unveiled the secret underneath your dress was definitely a relief against the uncomfortable position.

“… didn’t know that you were one of those girls that go without panties” he pushed a knee up on you to spread you further to him, as he took in the proper masterpiece that had been revealed to him down there, and his kisses moved up on your inner thigh “… look like the pretty girl turned out to be a bad bad girl, no wonder I am about to fuck you like a fucking bitch in heat in a restroom”.

And you blushed at the profane words.

But it was just more endearing for you as he pushed himself to properly settle against the nest between your legs, already oozing soft milk and sweet honey, his lips lightly pushing against your own, as he dragged the same beard you had felt on your cheeks against your cunt, the sensation making you hiss, right as again your lips came to soothe your ache.

The plumpness of his lips made you unable to stop yourself from moaning out loud, your eyes closing just as he delivered a slap to your thigh, a silent warning to keep your eyes trained on him and you did, as his lips sucked your softest piece in his mouth.

His tongue was instead a blessing inside of you and this time you were the one delving a bit of pain to him, as you grabbed strongly his hair, some kind of relief to keep you grounded as your body became like a cloud, weighted down just by the tension in your whole muscles.

“Fuck, you do know how to have fun” he mumbled tightly, as he released your cunt, something that made you protest loudly “… when was the last time somebody fucked you this good, (Y/N)”.

And before you could properly reply, his finger slipped inside you, making you hiss out at the feeling of being full, so unlike the stretch of your own fingers, so slight that now you needed a minute to calm yourself from everything, as you waited to answer his reply.

And he gave you a moment to breath, before his finger lightly probed further, reaching inside with a wayward gesture that made you choke up on your own words, as your back arched against the mirror and the hand that wasn’t in his hair gripped so tightly the sink that you were sure you had left an acrylic nail there.

“… a long time for sure” he smirked so devilishly that it broke you thoroughly.

And then his tongue matched his finger and before you knew it your floating was interrupted by your skyrocketing to the ground in a pleasurable trail that brought you back to all the earthly pleasure you could ask for, leaving you numb and tensed, your eyes rolling back as you lost sight of what was going on with you.

And then as you regained, your legs were slack over Duncan’s sides, his lips teasing again the skin of your neck, but no intention to punish you with any pain or tease you, instead there was a desperate soothing in his gestures, as you slowly came back to reality.

Fuck, you honestly should do this more.

Sadly, half of the guys that wanted a hook-up wouldn’t have ever done anything like what Duncan just did with you.

And would probably last five minutes, indeed.

“… was that enough of an apology?” he asked as soon as he saw that you had regained some semblance of calmness.

“Definitely yes” not that you could reply with much more.

Your fingers spoke louder as they went to his belt, undoing it with a bit of problem since you were slightly trembling, but he tried his best to let you do it, but before you could lower the pants, he gently grabbed your hands, something soft in his eyes, as he made you look up at him.

“We don’t have to do this…”.

“Oh, c’mon…” you mumbled, but his question was sincere and you couldn’t help but blush lightly “… I am pretty sure I want to do this��.

He mumbled softly, as he grabbed something from his back pocket, as you lightly lowered pants and boxers in one move,

And you weren’t disappointed,

He was definitely a big guy.

Larger than longer, with a light curve that made you painfully ache for having him inside of you, already half-hard, and your hand gently moved up and down on him, in a gentle foreplay that was completely uninterested about the knocking on the door, eventually dissipating in curses.

“… gotta be quiet baby” he commented, as he pushed his wallet on the side of the sink, getting a condom out of it, something for which you were thankful, because although you were on birth control, he was a complete stranger to you, and although the thrill of it just made it all just more daring, you would have preferred avoiding anything that might have given you an awful month “… I don’t know if you will, since I’ll make you feel fucking good”.

You just smirked at him, with a smile that told him ‘I can take it, sweetheart’.

And he just silenced it with pushing himself inside of you.

The penetration gave you an unpleasant stretch, and you needed a minute, as your whole body shifted against him, completely pushing himself in your arms, and to his credit he didn’t do much more than steady you, as he gave you the time to adjust yourself on him, till your whole body relaxed but your own insides.

Gripping him tighter.

Goading him closer and deeper.

And he gently set up a slow rhythm, making you feel each inch of him, till you were hypnotized with the way his hips moved against you, his upper body lightly stroking your clit, as wetness oozed down him, lubing him up, as he took up more speed and you found your back pushed against the mirror with such intensity that you were sure it would have been broken soon.

But you couldn’t give a fuck.

He gently pushed you in another position turning you around, so that you could face the mirror, meanwhile he took you from behind, the angle being deeper and the slight curve of his cock hitting the perfect spot.

And the fact that you could see yourself being fucked by him was only a bonus.

The way his face became so deformed by pleasure gave it all some kind of dreamish state, as the pleasure intensified desperately and you were there just on the right spot, but not enough stimulation was there for you, till he brought a finger in your mouth, and you sucked him inside, looking at the wanton expression on your face, before you closed your eyes.

And pleasure overtook you.

It didn’t take him too much time for him to finish alongside you, as his hand lightly went in your hair again, pushing as a way to grip on reality for a last time and your muscles spasmed around you, desperately and tightly in a way that almost made you wonder how it would have felt to have his seed on you.

And not in a plastic wrapper.

But for now that was all you could do.

Your legs trembled but he steadied you, something that definitely gave him more credit than you thought, expecting him to simply tug himself back in and disappear, maybe stand a bit next to you, to wash himself, but to his credit he gently handled you better, till you were again seated against the sink, the facet now digging painfully in you.

But you were definitely sore in more pleasurable places.

He gently got you back in your dress, adjusting your bra on your sweaty skin, too sensitive for the powerful orgasms you had felt, his silken touch making goosebumps appear on your skin, as your nipples lightly peaked and he couldn’t stop himself from gently sucking one after the other in his mouth, as you moaned almost as a protest.

“Don’t start something you won’t finish” you warned him, as his eyes twinkled with teasing happiness.

“… I would… but I do think that people need this restroom” and he was right, since you felt somebody halfway through calling the security and you shouted out calmly a soft ‘sorry, I just stained my dress and I am trying to get the stain away’ “… but if you want, I can… leave you my number, for more fun…”.

Which you were tempted to take, honestly.

He was handsome, he had a good dick game and he was definitely respectful of boundaries.

But you knew these things always got too complex for you.

First of all because had you given him your number, you would have to admit the truth and secondly as much as you were free right now a partner that was repeated a few more times was dangerous, because feelings might be developed.

“… I…” but how could you let down a guy like this.

“… you aren’t the type” a sad smile appeared on the man’s face, no hard feelings for sure, but definitely uncomfortable at your rejection and you couldn’t help but simply nod “… got it, well it was fun till it lasted”.

And to his merit he didn’t do anything that might have been rough against you, choosing to instead smile politely as he cleaned himself a bit, before he exited with one last look at you, as if to check if you had changed your mind, but you simply stood painfully uncomfortable off the sink as you dabbed a bit more the stain.

“… thank you for the suggestion and…” ‘…the fucking amazing sex’.

“You are welcome”.

And with that he disappeared from the restroom, as you thought he’d disappear from your life.

The only trace of him was the faint stain on your dress and the slight blush on your cheeks as you joined Abigail again.

‘… somebody got lucky’ she simply muttered, as she twirled her glass, another one in your hands, as your eyes searched for Duncan, he joined a few of the investors, but your eyes diverted immediately from that sight, worried the connection might be seen and questioned ‘… at least one of us got laid tonight’.

You simply elbowed her, as you smiled lovingly at the sponsors.

But you definitely felt rebirthed after the restroom session.

Maybe you were wrong about not seeing him again.

Not that you hadn’t to wait much to meet him again.

That morning you had been asked to take part at a reunion of the stable, alongside a few sponsors that you had found at the latest event, it was a way to get them to know the ‘talents’ they’d fund, and as you expected old and older people to approach you, you were surprised to find Duncan standing there.

Hadn’t he been a complete stranger to the F1 platform?

And as your grew nervous and more nervous, your stable director came up to you and Abigail, slinging an arm over you both as he moved to get you and present you to him, making you blush as much as he did, but he was extremely professional.

You couldn’t, when you discovered he was your newest sponsor.

‘Girls let me introduce to you both our latest sponsor’ your boss commented softly ‘Duncan Shepherd’.

And he was Duncan fucking Shepherd.

The heir to the Shepherd foundation.

What the fuck had you done?

---

Duncan Shepherd (I don’t really have a taglist anymore, so if you are interested on being there for Michael do let me know, and I’ll add you, if I ever think about writing something for him again!):

@blakewaterxx, @melodylangdon, @avocodys, @ahsbitch, @littlegirlsdontplaynice, @accio-rogers

#Duncan Shepherd #Duncan Shepherd Reader #Duncan Shepherd x Reader #Duncan Shepherd x Female Reader #Duncan Shepherd Fic #Duncan Shepherd One Shot #Duncan Shepherd Smut #Duncan Shepherd Moodboard #Duncan Shepherd Writing #Duncan Shepherd Imagine #House Of Cards #House of Cards Imagine #HOC #HOC Imagine

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ajoblotofjunk · 4 years

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Hi! I've been reading you on Ao3 & wanted to tell you I'm SO impressed with HFoG. I have LOTS of things to say: mainly I was floored by how well you handled so many storylines/arcs while still keeping it clean & basic + tropey & never dumbing down complicated characters thru so many words! I think you outline but wondered if you could share more about your process? I'm in the midst of an 8book graphic novel script & the way you stuck the landing gives me hope! I am a huge fan of all of your work

Hi! Thank you for your lovely comment. 😊 I’m happy to talk about my process.

The way all of my stories start is an idea - sometimes a song will inspire me, sometimes a photo, sometimes a prompt, sometimes a “what if?” question. In HFoG’s case it was the video for Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire,” where I wanted to write a story where Jaime was the rich car owner and Brienne was the mechanic.

This gets long (SURPRISE) so the rest under a cut to save your dash. This is certainly way more than you wanted to know but hopefully there’s something helpful here. Hee.

Once I get an idea, I start expanding on it in general terms before I start writing - is Brienne his personal mechanic? (At one point she was, for his many, many cars.) Does she work at a garage? Why does Jaime have a car like this and why does he bring it to her? Etc. This is where my initial idea will often undergo the most changes and certainly for HFoG that’s what happened. I don’t really remember why I shifted to F1 - I wasn’t even an F1 fan when I thought of the idea. 😂 I’d watched some NASCAR growing up, but I didn’t want him to be a NASCAR driver and the more I looked into F1 as I became attached to the idea of Jaime as a racecar driver (oh I remember now! He was an ex-driver in initial renditions of the idea, and then I thought it would be great for Brienne to get to actually be a part of the racing world which is why I made him a current driver), the more I realized it fit him perfectly.

Once I have a solid enough idea to get me at least a few chapters in, I start writing, usually with only a vague idea where I want to end up (and often that idea is “they’re together and happy,” because I’m writing romances at their core). HFoG was quite different even from the start because I did so much research to get familiar with F1 that it bred all sorts of new ideas and plot changes even pre-writing. In my very very first version, the story was just a single year and Jaime got the championship and Brienne was happy as his Mechanic and they ended up happy together at the end, which would have been a perfectly lovely story! But once I realized I wanted to include Jaime’s hand injury, that changed a lot of the story and I did some brainstorming work and ended up having a pretty significant outline even before I started writing.

HOWEVER. If you look at even that outline now it’s SO DIFFERENT from where HFoG ultimately ended up. The first six months were the same, but everything after that was changed. Which I think is the fundamental key to how I write: start out with a really strong backbone (Jaime and Brienne falling in love while working together in F1), start writing, discover what the story is as I go along, and continually think about and update and add to my outline as I figure out what I’m really doing. So it’s like half-planning, half-discovery.

In the original version of hand-loss HFoG, Jaime goes to Tarth in August but they don’t have sex, he crashes in September but he’s wounded like Robert Kubica and doesn’t lose his hand. Brienne ends up convincing her dad to start a team so Jaime can race and they don’t actually get together until the middle of year two, and then Jaime ends up winning the championship that second year.

The reason I changed all that was because as I started writing the fic I wanted more for both Brienne. Jaime, too, but he had a rich emotional plot to support the love story and I wanted Brienne to have that, too. I knew the story was going to be long (70-90k I thought; my longest fic before this was 70k and that felt like a damned novel to me!), and to support that length I wanted Brienne to have her own dreams and personal plot. Everything from the first August and after was something I struggled with CONSTANTLY even while I was writing the story. Brynn can attest to this - I sent her SEVERAL emails wailing and gnashing my teeth and changing my mind constantly about what I should do and where it should all go. I honestly don’t think I felt confident about it until I was actually writing the second year. I second guessed myself repeatedly.

But. I started writing with the original outline because I felt confident about the first few chapters and I trust myself enough now that I know the story will reveal itself if I keep working on it. I had this happen just yesterday with my JB Fic Exchange story, which FINALLY re-settled itself in my head after I kept writing even though I knew what I was writing wasn’t going to be it - that happens a LOT for me, actually, which is also why I write ahead for long stories, because I know things are going to change and I’ll want to go back to earlier chapters to add in moments to support later chapters and changed plots, which I can’t do if I’m writing as I go. Do I flail and freak out every time that I have no idea what I’m doing? Absolutely. Heh. But so far my brain has not let me down. Often I just keep relentlessly writing even though it all feels awkward and weird, because once I stop and re-read and determine WHY it’s awkward and weird, that tells me what I should be doing instead. I’ve thrown away SO MANY words, but they’ve all needed it.

My outline for HFoG was by month, with the idea that each month was a chapter. This is pretty typical for me when I do finally expand on my idea into an outline. All of my multi-chapter fics end up with at least a brief outline with vague, high-level ideas of what I want to happen in each chapter (plot, emotions, romance, whatever), and often one or two specific events or lines of dialogue that have come to me. I don’t write ahead, I write all in a row because of the discovery factor, but when I do get struck by a flash of a scene, I write that down for the chapter I think it’s going to be in.

What’s important for my process is that those scenes can be moved to wherever they need to go, and are often changed by the time I get to them. I do have things in in the final version of HFoG that had been in these early outlines, but not in the place or exact way I first wrote them down, and that’s because as much as I do outline, I have to tell the story I’m actually telling, and that will sometimes wind to places I didn’t expect as I’m writing it. So the outline guides me, but I don’t bind myself to it so tightly that I can’t be flexible when the story demands it. I also re-read the story a lot as I write (or at least the chapters nearest the chapter I’m working on, once it gets to a certain length), because that will often help ground me in where I’m going, too, by remembering where I’ve been.

One of the toughest parts about HFoG as I got deeper into it was juggling secondary and tertiary characters and when to use them and how. Jaime’s and Brienne’s arcs formed the backbone of my outline, but as I pulled in characters, I knew I wanted them to intersect with J&B throughout, usually in support of J&B’s storylines but with the weight of having their own lives going on underneath. To help with that, I had a list of characters who had recurring roles in the story and when I started each chapter, I would go through and remind myself of if I wanted/needed them to appear and what their purpose was for doing so (and a little about what else they’d been up to, so I could throw that in for color - like Pod finding a girlfriend; that had no “plot” effect, but it gave Pod, a character i care about, happiness and was something I could refer to in other scenes just for depth and emotional weight).

As for sticking the landing - I had tremendous anxiety about just that for weeks, most intensely the weeks I was writing the last chapters and right afterward when I was going to post them. I worried people would hate the final confrontation with Tywin, that they’d want more or something different, and in that case it was very reassuring to have Brynn, who was the only one who’d read the ending at that point, to talk me through it. I would HIGHLY recommend a beta who is good at the things you are not, by the way. I can’t tell you the number of times Brynn would make a point about the emotional arc of a scene and remind me to take a step back and look at how the characters were feeling in the moment, and that consistently made the story so much better.

SO. In summary my process is: initial idea; expand on that idea enough I can start writing (which sometimes involved lots of research); outline if I need it but not required as I write the first chapter or two; definitely need an outline after that, organized by chapter, with high points of plot and emotions and whatever else I already have in my head; use the outline as a lamp to illuminate the story I’m telling; keep writing even when it all feels wrong, knowing I will get to the right path EVENTUALLY, and update outline accordingly; lots of freaking out to a sympathetic and smart friend; side-notes about non-main characters so I don’t completely forget them/develop new plot points/expand on existing plot points because of them; hope it all works out in the end. Heh.

Hopefully there’s something helpful here. If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! And best of luck on your own big project!! It’s a ton of work but the rewards are great in the end. You can do this!

#heart full of gasoline #my fic #writing life #asks answered #sellastella8 #long text post #i have a lot to say!!#hee

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jimhalpertfromdandermifflin-blog · 5 years

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Why the current season of Formula 1 might become the most interesting for last years

Hi, everyone and I congratulate you with the start of a new season of F1!

Formula 1 has had an incredible start with Australian Gran-Prix that gives us a lot of topics for discussions.

On the one hand, the race in Melburn has shown us that you should never ever follow the results of pre-season tests in Barcelona because Mercedes always has an ace in the hole. This paradox happened 4 years in a row! Nevertheless, I always believed that the Red Cars may come back in the championship fight. And I still hope that it’s going to happen in this season. And, honestly, do we have any choices, except keeping faith in that?

However, I decided to have a discussion about a much more positive issue. After a couple of days of the reflection about the results in the tests in Barcelona and the results of the Gran-Prix in Australia, I entirely consider that we are going to see one of the most interesting season of the Formula 1 for long years.

I have a 3 significant reason why it is true:

The fight of the silver arrows

Since the end of last season, when it became obvious that Esteban Ocon will lose the status of a Formula 1 pilot for this season, a huge pressure began on Valtteri Bottas, from the media as well as directly from Mercedes boss Toto Wolf. It's unsurprisingly for everyone that most people didn't believe in Finn from the beginning. To be honest, I'm too.

Notwithstanding anything, Valtteri Bottas astonished each fan who doubters on Bottas’s skills. Finn has won the race and performed the fastest lap of the race.

But it's not that he was fast and ahead of Lewis in the first turn(the reigning champion had problems with the bottom, which radically affected his pace).

I consider that the most important thing is what mood and mentality Valtteri has for fighting in this season.

Bottas is motivated and sporty angry as never he was. I am convinced that he will fight for the title until the end.

The fight for the 4th place of the constructor's championship

The battle for the position “The best in the Formula 1.5” promises to be extremely exciting. Haas, Renault, Alfa Romeo, Toro Rosso and McLaren (6 teams!) have approximately the same racing pace.

Australian Grand Prix proved it all over.

Qualification. From the 15th place of Kvyat to the 5th place of Grosjean in the 2nd segment of qualification the interval is only 0.9 seconds. For comparison, there were more than 1.5 seconds between these positions last year.

Race. The fight of Hulkenberg, Raikkonen, Stroll, and Kvyat, and the containment of Dany by Pierre Gusley’s car made the race really exciting.

I will say that for me, Haas and Renault look like favorites, but I would not hurry to write off the rest of the teams.

Alfa Romeo has a wonderful pace and very suitable atmosphere for the debutant inside the team. Antonio Giovinazzi will not be pressured from the partner and he should not prove his worth in comparison with him. After all, his partner Kimi Raikkonen. Therefore, I think the Italian is able to quickly roll in and also bring points for the team.

Toro Rosso also has no problems with the tempo, as Dany Kvyat proved by holding back the more powerful Red Bull. You say that it is almost impossible to overtake in Albert Park and you will be quite right, but the fact that Toro Rosso is competitive will not cancel.

Maclaren. Norris's terrific qualifications, but a rather dull race and really disappointing weekend for Carlos Sainz. I think McLaren has a pace, but there are also problems with stability, which, in my opinion, is quite fixable. I believe that McLaren will be in the fight.

The fight of debutants

The fight of debutants Alex Albon, Antonio Giovinazzi, Lando Norris and George Russell promises to add even more intrigue to the season.

Who will be higher at the end of the season? Cars Toro Rosso, Alfa Romeo, and McLaren are comparably fast and we will wait for which of the riders will surprise us more. Albon and Norris have already managed to retrain his teammates in Melbourne but quieted down during the race. As for George Russell, I personally feel sorry for him. The current champion of Formula 2, extremely talented guy is in a completely uncompetitive team, and the only opponent for him will be his partner Robert Kubica.

Instead of conclusion

I clearly understand that Albert Park is a very specific track for setting up the bolid, so the current situation is not final and I very much believe that the Red Empire will strike back. Well, we'll see it in Bahrain. In the meantime, you can subscribe(if you want), I will continue to talk here about Formula 1 and what surrounds it.

See you later!

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hilmihisham · 6 years

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#96 : Full of nothingness but not really..

Hmm, well first of all, Selamat Berpuasa to all that celebrates it, I guess.. It’s already Ramadan after all. It is a month to celebrate, I believe - we fast, we do tarawih, we do more ibadah, and so on and so forth - so in a sense, we do celebrate this month full of blessings in one way or another.

Also, since I finally finished with all my finals and projects (class related), I guess I can finally write once more over here.. Yeay for that, no? Hahaha..

(Well, surely it’s a yeay for finishing another semester hahaha.. Not graduated yet tho so that’s a bit sad tbh)

Testing my new keyboard too, in a sense.. While I do have been using it for quite a while, typing some codes and projects intensely on this keyboard, but using it for writing does give a different sense to it.. How? Well, I can’t really put it into words honestly.. maybe it’s just me.

Giving this keyboard a bit of an introduction, it is a keyboard made by a crowdfunded company Lofree. You can read more about the keyboard itself if you just search for Lofree Four Seasons Mechanical Keyboard (yes, I got a thing for mechy keyboard now) but long story short, they used Gateron Blue switches (and not Cherry MX. Feels alright, although sounded just a tick lower than Cherry MX Blue) and made to looks exactly like an old typewritter.. I never use a typewritter before so I don’t have any experience to compare but these rounded keycaps does take a while to get used to (around 20 minutes to me tho haha) and after I did got used to it, writing on a normally-shaped keycaps does feel slightly weird for whatever reason lol. And what makes me getting one of this is that it can be use via bluetooth! Yeah I already have 1 mechanical keyboard but that one is wired, so it’s a good enough reason to get another, no?

(Welp, that’s too long for a keyboard description.. For those that haven’t any interest in mechanical keyboard in a slightest, sorry)

If you wanna buy this keyboard right now, I suggest maybe not ‘coz the current price is damn crazy expensive.. I was lucky to pre-order it back when they still campaigned this on Indiegogo (had to wait for around 6 months to finally get it tho).

Right, enough about keyboard.. Hopefully there’s still people reading up to this point tho (still doubt anyone reading even one word of this text post in the first place).

Ramadan during (almost) Summer is hectic tho.. Long duration is one thing, but sleeping time is another.. Maghrib starts at around 7.50pm, then all stuff and shenanigans, solat, terawih, (proper) dinner, yadda yadda and by the time it’s all done, it’s already 12am. With Subuh starts in just another 4 1/2 hours, I then had to make a decision whether to sleep (and possibly miss sahur) or not.

Right now? Hmm it’s 2.21am as I write this and currently watching F1 (Practice session at Monaco GP)..

I actually dunno what to write tho hahaha..

Oh well.. with nothing worth to write about, I guess let me just dropped some bombshell to end this lah..

Living alone is tough.

Responsibility is something that you can’t run away from, and everyone does have it no matter who you are and what you do (you could forgot it sometimes tho and holy cow how that will eat you after).

I am quite sad.

I probably will pick those up in another day (or as always, I probably jinxed it up in this sentence)..

Only time will tell..

#text

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chibrary · 1 year

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title: "interview charles leclerc: keine fragen zu ferrari und vettel (charles leclerc interview: no questions about ferrari and vettel)" source: motorsport-magazin author: christian menath format: interview (german) season: 2018, f1

Charles Leclerc showed an impressive rookie year in 2019. The Ferrari junior lived up to his early praise in the Sauber. Before the season finale in Abu Dhabi, he is just two points behind Romain Grosjean in Haas with 33 points. Enough to oust Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari in 2019. The young Monegasque and the Iceman swap cockpits. Questions about Ferrari's future and about his future teammate Sebastian Vettel were not allowed in the interview. Motorsport-Magazin.com and Leclerc still had plenty to talk about.

If you do well, this will be our last interview. So you're under pressure!

Charles Leclerc: Why?

Because Ferrari drivers usually don't have to speak 1:1 to writing media from Germany.

Charles Leclerc: Oh, okay.

I don't know if you remember our first interview. Last year in Abu Dhabi when you were driving F2.

Charles Leclerc: Wasn't that earlier? After an FP1 outing with Haas maybe?

You seem to have a good memory. I didn't count the media rounds, just the interviews.

Charles Leclerc: Then it's true!

In Abu Dhabi it wasn't quite sure whether you would drive for Sauber in 2018. The only thing that was certain was that you wouldn't have a chance to drive victories in your rookie year in Formula 1. Back then you said it would be the same as with Alonso with Minardi. Do you think you've achieved something similar to what Alonso did this season?

Charles Leclerc: Puuuuh... I'm honestly really bad at history [laughs].I can't really remember what people thought of him back then. But I'm happy with my season. I don't want to compare it to anyone else's season. It would strike me as rather arrogant to say that it was similar to Alonso's. But yes, I'm satisfied and I can definitely say: I never expected that we would be so strong and that the progress over the year would be so big.

Without comparing yourself to anyone else in the field, do you feel that you and the team have achieved something extraordinary this season?

Charles Leclerc: I think it was a special season. If we look at where the team has been over the last year and where we are now - it sure impressed some people in the paddock. Formula 1 is a tough sport and the level of competition is very high. All teams work at a very high level. To see the progress we've made over the season is impressive.

We have a driver ranking, one by the users and one by us. You're currently in fifth place...

Charles Leclerc: Who are the four in front of me?

Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen and Raikkonen.

Charles Leclerc: Yes, I saw it. I check a lot of media [laughs].

You secured your place in the last few races in particular. At the beginning of the season things weren't going so well. What was the issue?

Charles Leclerc: I didn't have much experience, I didn't do much testing. So I had to learn everything during the race weekends. It was not easy. For me that is clearly the reason for the problems at the beginning of the season. I didn't know exactly what I wanted from the car and gave the engineers the wrong direction. That was bad, but together with the engineers we finally found the right way. As soon as we implemented that in the car in Baku, we made a big step forward.

It seems to be a pattern in your career. You were anything but confident at last year's Formula 2 tests, and at the start of this Formula 1 season too. Need some time to get started, but then you really get going?

Charles Leclerc: I think one of my real strengths is understanding what the problems are and then improving them, whether it takes time or not. Of course, at the beginning of the season I had the three bad races, that felt like a lot. But then, looking back, three races doesn't feel like much for a car that's so different. So I don't really know. You can probably judge it better from the outside. From the outside it's clearer if it's fast or too slow. But in the end I'm happy with my season.

What was the biggest difference for you compared to all the junior series?

Charles Leclerc: Definitely the power and the downforce, that's very different. It's like a jump from two, three junior categories. Quite large. Then all the systems in Formula 1 that you can control via the steering wheel. In the smaller categories you can change these systems, but after a session. You come back to the pits and talk to the engineers. In Formula 1 you have to do everything yourself, corner by corner.

Did you know that your teammate Marcus Ericsson is a career killer? Kobayashi, Nasr, Wehrlein...

Charles Leclerc: [grins] I saw that a few times in the media too. Every teammate of Marcus... yes, but I don't believe stories like that.

So you weren't afraid you only got one chance?

Charles Leclerc: Oh no, never. Never.

Because you're so confident? Every racer somehow thinks of himself as the fastest, right?

Charles Leclerc: I wouldn't say that. At least not in my case.I never thought about ranking the drivers and determining who is the fastest. I honestly believe that anyone can be the best driver in the field. For me, the one who has understood best how to maximize his potential is the best. That's the most important thing for me. Sure, some riders have more talent, but in the end someone who works hard can get there.

I think it's more about understanding how to reach your own limit. This is particularly important. So ranking is very difficult. I think you can do it for a season, but ranking a rider as a whole is very difficult. Every driver can be as good as anyone else if he finds his limit. The only thing that counts is how long you ride at this level. So I don't really focus on the others. I just focus on myself and try to get the maximum potential out of myself.

How much of your potential have you already shown?

Charles Leclerc: There is definitely a lot more to do. There is always more that you can use. But for the first season, apart from the first three races, I'm pretty happy.

What was the key for you this season?

Charles Leclerc: [thinking] Probably managing a whole weekend, with FP1, FP2, FP3, qualifying, Q1, Q2, Q3, and then the race. This is very different compared to what you are used to from the other categories. It's a weekend that builds up very slowly and it's very important to work your way through all these sessions to be at the top at exactly the right time - in qualifying.

Is there a single scene that you remember in particular? A real key moment?

Charles Leclerc: Probably the call from Maurizio that I will be driving a Ferrari next year. That's something I'll always remember.

And on the route?

Charles Leclerc: Hard to say. But in any case, the duels with Fernando taught me a lot about racing.

Charles Leclerc: Maybe it's the image I'm giving. But the most important thing I think is that I'm honest with myself. With what I think I prefer being like this to saying things in front of the media when I'm actually thinking something else. I'm not really like that. I just say what I think. It comes across as a bit direct to the media at times, but that's my personality. I prefer to be like this.

That's good for us!

Charles Leclerc: [laughs]

Is there any weakness that you still see in yourself?

Charles Leclerc: Of course. You always have weaknesses. To name one ... what do I take ... clearly experience, I'm still missing something, but I wouldn't call that a weakness. But just overall as a flaw. Every time I have a problem I focus on it to get better. There is always something you can get better at.

We thought about it in the editorial office. The only obvious mistakes we remembered were spins in the rain. So you're not a rain god yet?

Charles Leclerc: [laughs] No, I think riding in the rain is my forte, which sounds strange. Just not yet in Formula 1. But I'm working very hard on it. It's a very different feeling with the power steering compared to Formula 2 and GP3. There, or rather in all junior categories, the steering wheel is directly connected to the wheels, there is no power steering, so you feel everything. It's different in Formula 1 and different teams also use different power steering. It really depends on the team. To be honest, in the rain I don't have full confidence in the power steering that we have here. That's why I had most of the problems - and I definitely had problems. But in all other series I was always strong in the rain. I just have to keep working and find that feeling in Formula 1 again. A few more kilometers and I'm sure I'll find it again.

Menath, Christian. "Interview Charles Leclerc: Keine Fragen Zu Ferrari Und Vettel." Motorsport-Magazin. November 18, 2018. https://www.motorsport-magazin.com/formel1/news-251777-formel-1-2018-interview-charles-leclerc-sauber-keine-fragen-zu-ferrari-sebastian-vettel-2019/.

#format:interview #year: 2018 #series:f2

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