I write stuff

32 / fic writer / anxious mess currently writing: paper men • masterlist

[ambrossart]

welcome to my blog

hey, thanks for checking out my writing blog! here's some useful information to keep in mind as you browse my page.

my writing

i currently write for the bowers gang and eddie munson. my stories tend to be long, detailed, and very character-driven.

writing dialogue is my favorite thing in the world. 🤩

update frequency/schedule

my writing process involves a lot of prewriting, drafting/redrafting, and editing, so my updates are probably slower than most of the other writers here. i try to update monthly at minimum, but honestly, i have no problem taking longer if it means the end product will be better.

smut/nsfw content

currently, none of my stories contain smut/nsfw content. some stories may contain sexual content, but there are no explicit sex scenes. i may be offering this in the future, and if i do, please respect the posted warnings and DO NOT INTERACT if you're underage.

requests

i do not take requests. i'd never be able to keep up with them if i did.

taglists

unfortunately, i no longer do taglists. if you want to stay updated on my fics, you can follow me and/or subscribe to my posts.

important links

masterlist

ao3

wattpad (wattpad is dead to me)

about me

you can call me andrea, if you'd like. i like horror movies, anime, turn-based rpgs, and otome games. i struggle with anxiety and writing helps me temporarily escape it.

thanks for taking the time to read this! ❤️

-a. m. brossart

this goes without saying, but please don't copy/repost my work anywhere without my permission. also, reblogs are always appreciated and help immensely :)

[ambrossart]

Meet My BYOK :)

So after my Freewrite flop, I told myself I wasn't going to keep wasting money on distraction-free writing devices. They were all cool, sure, but they never felt… right to me. I don’t know how to describe it, but I've always had a hard time fitting them into my natural writing workflow. I figured they just weren’t for me.

Then I stumbled upon this lovely little device: the BYOK, which uniquely allows you to write with whatever keyboard you want. After some thought and research, I pre-ordered it months ago, and it finally arrived last night.

I sat down with it this morning, just to test it out, and ending up writing almost 500 words! It was so smooth. No input lag. No fussing around with some lousy built-in keyboard. It felt no different from writing on my laptop, and that, I now realize, is so important for me.

Best of all, it syncs directly with their Studio app, which I’ve already been using for the past 6 months now. I wasn’t sold on it right away, but I’ve really come to love it. There’s a space for all my notes, series planning, a wiki for my worldbuilding. It has everything I need in a simple, clean workspace.

The device and app work seamlessly together. I can start a draft on the BYOK, sync and continue it in Studio, and vice versa. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for in a drafting device.

I’m really excited to see what I write with it. 😊

[ambrossart]

Hey! Coming here from AO3, just found your Eddie fics and I wanted to say you are a phenomenal writer. It's been too long since I can't put a fic down and it's suddenly 4 am on a tuesday night. I don't know if you plan to continue that specific story, but please don't stop writing because you are incredible. Its not just the flow and style, you have an unique way to carry the feelings into the reader... and make everything so believable! Also, the Gareth bonus is so fun to read...

Ah, you also made me realize I like Journey and I don't know how to feel about that.

Thank you so much! Your comment means a lot, honestly.

Dancing with Myself was a very personal project. I put a lot of myself into that story, so I'm glad it left an impact on you. Since the main story is done and Post Prom is done, I've taken a more laid back approach to the series. I work on it here and there whenever inspiration strikes, and if it results in a finished product, then awesome, I’ll post it. I have another series that is higher priority at the moment, so that’s where most of my attention is.

And you should feel no shame in liking Journey. Steve Perry is the king!

[ambrossart]

Stupid question but why in chapter 26 when patrick sat next to evelyn in the cafeteria in front of everyone why didn't evelyn even think about Henry at all and that he could see them and get the wrong idea ( which he did since patrick also touched her and ruined everything because of it ) i kinda don't understand this part Evelyn thought about Steph and turned back to see if she was watching but she didn't think about henry at all in that moment ? Or did she panic because she didn't know what to do ? I thought the first thing she will try to see if henry was watching because she knews henry will get angry and might have lost his temper and hit patrick ( yes henry didn't hit him but could have )

This is absolutely not a stupid question. In fact, I’m sure a lot of people are wondering the same thing. Now, my memory is still a bit fuzzy (I’m in the process of fixing that), so I apologize if I get any of the small details wrong, but I believe there are a couple of factors at play here.

1) At this point in the story, Evelyn and Henry’s relationship is shaky at best. They’re not dating. They’re barely even friends. Are they even friends? It’s all very unclear.

Evelyn is uncertain of Henry’s feelings toward her. Last year, she assumed they had mutual feelings for each other, so she acted on those assumed feelings, and it kind of blew up in her face. Evelyn doesn’t trust her gut anymore, so all she can do is take Henry’s words at face value.

He’s not interested. He made that painfully clear.

So why would he get jealous over Patrick?

He doesn’t want her anyway.

2) Henry’s jealousy has never been a factor in their friendship/relationship/whatever you wanna call it.

Evelyn’s personality, as well as her position in student council, has her interacting with members of the opposite sex on a daily basis. It’s never created any problems with Henry… at least to her knowledge. Since he’s never directly confronted her about it, it’s not really on her radar as something she needs to worry about. Evelyn’s a professional. She would expect Henry to know that.

3) The Manda Bosch of it all.

By this time, Evelyn is still reeling from the recent rumors about Henry and Manda. For all she knows, Henry has completely moved on and is already sleeping with other people. Older. Prettier. People.

Why would he care about Patrick?

4) Out of sight, out of mind.

Henry’s sitting a lot further away than Steph Price is. Henry sits all the way in the back of the cafeteria. Evelyn sits up front near the faculty table. Steph is somewhere in the middle. Steph is sitting closer, so Evelyn just happened to focus on her first. It’s that simple.

To my memory, Evelyn just did a quick peek over her shoulder. Probably to gauge if anybody was paying attention, not Steph specifically. (Evelyn is a public figure, after all. She has a reputation to protect.) She noticed Steph first because a) she’s closer and b) Steph’s rage was the loudest in the room. Henry was smoldering, sure, but most of his anger was being internalized at the moment. He was equally as confused as he was angry. Steph was just plain angry.

5) One crisis at a time, people!

Patrick’s unexpected arrival forced Evelyn to go into triage mode. He’s ruined her lunch meeting and made all her friends uncomfortable. She’s overwhelmed and extremely pissed off. Right now, her first and only priority is getting Patrick the hell outta there.

She doesn’t have time to worry about Henry’s feelings.

… especially when he never seems to care about hers. 💅

---

I could go on, but the whole Patrick situation does become a major topic of conversation between Evelyn and Henry. And not just the jealousy thing. 👀

[ambrossart]

I’ve reimagined the Mueller house to more closely resemble its depiction in the novel.

I’m probably the only one who cares, but if anybody re-reads Chapter 12 (after I finish rewriting it, that is), they might be a little thrown off by the sudden description change. Or maybe you won’t even notice. 😂 It’s such a minor location, but I can’t help but obsess over these silly little details.

Additionally, I’ve found new faceclaims for some of the characters, but I’m too lazy to gather all those pictures right now. Maybe in another post.

I’m also in the process of finding new faceclaims for the Bowers Gang. While re-immersing myself in the story, I’ve realized I’m no longer imagining them as their film portrayals. Except Owen. He’s always going to be Patrick in my mind (and I’m still annoyed the movie turned him into a generic bully, but I digress).

So far I’ve got Henry recast and kinda Vic, but Vic’s is more like a random picture from social media, and I’d much prefer to find an actor.

if anybody has any suggestions, I’m all ears. 😊

[ambrossart]

Look what I did!

I don’t know how much I’ll use this, but it’s kinda neat.

[ambrossart]

Following your last answer : could things have ended better for Evy and the shirts in the hallways ?

Like, you stated Henry didn't actually want the money so, is there a perfect world where Henry didn't leave the hallway mad to try to burn the shirts at the junkyard, (and not beating up Richie) ?

Honestly, things could have ended better if she never tried to approach Henry in the first place. It wasn’t necessary. That situation would have worked itself out on its own. 

Reggie and Vic were already highly motivated to have this situation end peacefully: 

1) Vic promised Evelyn that he would talk to Henry about returning the shirts. He said he would handle it. 

2) Reggie stole the shirts in hopes that it would “break the ice” with Evelyn and Henry and force them to start talking again. (I love Reggie so much. He’s the only normal one.)

3) So those two would’ve tried their best to persuade Henry to give the shirts back, a process that involves subtly nudging him in the direction they want him to go while leading him to believe he’s the one coming to that decision on his own. Henry has to feel like he’s in control at all times. 

4) Of course, Henry doesn’t need nudging. He doesn’t need convincing. He was always going to give her the shirts back. He just needed time to think about the best way to go about this. 

Does he drop the shirts off on her porch and leave without saying anything? 

Does he call her and ask to meet? 

Leave a ransom note?

He knows they’re going to have that “talk” eventually, so he has to decide if he wants to get it over with now or continue to put it off until he can’t anymore. 

He needs time to weigh his options. 

Of course Evelyn doesn’t know any of this. Plus she’s… Evelyn, you know? She likes to jump in and get her hands dirty. 

Now this situation wasn’t guaranteed to end in disaster. If the rest of the gang hadn’t shown up, Henry would’ve never felt the need to use all that false bravado in the first place, so things could have ended peacefully right then and there. 

Before spotting the rest of his friends, Evelyn was preparing to leave because she could tell Henry was not being receptive to their conversation. I could see Henry potentially stopping her and dropping the asshole act, or I could see him letting her go and then we’re just back at Scenario 1, where Henry holds on to the shirts until he comes up with a game plan. 

Anything would’ve been better than what ended up happening. 

Tldr; Best case scenario would’ve been Evelyn staying out of it entirely. Second best would’ve been them keeping their conversation in the hallway private. 

[ambrossart]

Did Henry really want the t-shirts' money, or was he just being an ass for the love of the game ?

“For the love of the game” 😂 Yeah, that’s a great way of putting it.

I mean, obviously Henry was never actually going to take Evelyn’s money.

He knows Evelyn has the money even if she says she doesn’t. Evelyn has money saved up from babysitting and tutoring. It’s her college/travel fund. Evelyn’s definitely mentioned this to Henry at some point, probably multiple times.

He knows Evelyn is never going to give him that money. That money is very important to her.

He doesn’t want that money. He’s just putting on a show.

Even if she did give him that money, he would just give it back later and be like, “Yeah, you’re welcome. Now shut up.”

Henry’s not interested in her money. He’s not interested in her shirts. All he wants is for things to go back to normal… without addressing what happened.

The shirts could have been that olive branch, but shit got wayyy out of hand.

TLDR; Henry wasn’t actually going to take Evelyn’s money. He was just being a dick.

[ambrossart]

Good News for Paper Men Readers!

I'm going to be returning to the series earlier than expected.

I've hit a snag in the latest DWM one-shot. I've been trying to work my new ideas into the current plot, but it's just not fitting. And I figure I could spend another few weeks fiddling with it, wasting more time OR I can set it aside, let it breathe for a bit, and work on something else. And I'd much rather spend my time working on Paper Men because that series is still unfinished, and I know people have been waiting a really long time for an update. DWM is technically done, so I'm not gonna stress myself out over bonus content.

So that's it. Just wanted to give a little update. Now I'm gonna go re-read some key chapters while listening to the PM playlist. I got some new songs I need to add.

[ambrossart]

Writing Update: 2/28/2026

DWM

I’m still working on the next one-shot, but it should be finished sometime next month.

The general plot of this one is simple: it’s the MC’s first day of high school and her first time seeing Eddie since their big falling out. They’re both heading into this day hoping to reconnect and move on from what happened, but obviously… it doesn’t go the way either of them planned.

There’s a lot more I want to do with this:

I want to show more of the MC’s anxiety. All the Eddie stuff aside, the first day of school, especially high school, is an extremely stressful day for her. She’s in a new environment, surrounded by all these new people, and there’s a lot of uncertainty about how her school year is going to go. She’s not excited; she’s full of dread and unease.

I’m trying to work Eddie’s childhood into this a little more, specifically the relationship between his parents. It plays such a huge role in shaping how he acts and how he approaches his relationship with the MC, so I’m trying to find a way to work that into this story. I’ve almost figured it out, but it’s not quite there yet.

Paper Men

Once I finish the DWM one-shot, I’ll be focusing on Paper Men until Season 1 is finished, so there won’t be any switching back and forth.

Once Season 1 is done, I may just jump straight into Season 2 or I may write another one-shot to give myself a little break. We’ll see how I feel when the time comes.

Other News

I’m taking steps to further simplify my writing workflow.

I’ve gotten rid of all my character and location sheets. I didn’t delete them. They’re just archived.

I just realized I don’t need them, and I think they played a big part in my burnout.

I became so hyperfocused on the worldbuilding and the planning that I stopped focusing on what really matters: the writing.

Instead, I’ve decided to use mind maps, which I previously only used for plotting. Well, now I’m using them for everything. I’ve got maps of all the characters and locations, and I jot down little random notes as they come to me. Sweet and simple.

So now my workflow involves three apps: iA Writer for all my drafting, MindNode for all my plotting and worldbuilding, and of course Aeon Timeline to keep track of all the major story events.

It's working out really well so far!

Bonus picture of my current desk setup. I wanted it to be extra cute and cozy since I’ve been spending so much time here lately. 🥰

[ambrossart]

Excited to hear you're writing again! I'd love to learn more about Patrick's mom, if you have any headcanons or facts about her. It makes sense that Patrick is so out of control given how she is. Will Patrick's home life feature in Paper Men part 2?

Part 2 is all about Patrick (obviously plenty of other things happen too, but he’s definitely the focus), so yes, his home life will be featured pretty extensively. Even his dad will make an appearance.

For that reason, I don’t have too much to say about his mom at this time, but since you asked, I will take this opportunity to clarify some things just in case I gave people the wrong idea about her when she was first introduced.

Mrs. Hockstetter, whose given name is Renee in this fic, is not mentally stuck in the past. This isn’t like 50 First Dates, where she’s reliving the same day over and over. Instead, there are two things at play here:

She is in extreme denial about Avery’s death. Overcome with grief and guilt, Renee has convinced herself that her son is not dead—he’s just sleeping, always sleeping. She keeps his room just as it was when he died, and nobody ever goes in there… because the baby’s sleeping. 🤫

She tends to lose time because she gets lost deep inside her thoughts. It may be a few minutes, a few hours, or even a few days. And when she finally reemerges, there’s always a period of disorientation. Once, she got up and started making dinner at three in the morning. Patrick, of course, was unfazed by this and simply sat down to eat. He never minds and just goes along with it.

She never leaves the house. Her ex-husband still supports her financially because he feels guilty about abandoning his family. There’s a lot going on with the Hockstetters, and most of it's not very pretty.

Sorry I can't expand more on this topic, but I'll be returning to Paper Men very soon! First, I need to purge all my thoughts into this Eddie Munson one-shot because my brain won't let me move on until I get everything out.

But when I do come back, it's gonna be a fun time. Guaranteed.

[ambrossart]

So a lovely reader on AO3 recently shared that they headcanon the DWM MC as looking like Alia Shawkat, and now I'm fully subscribed!

I love it. I love everything about it. 10/10. No notes.

Also, I'm writing again! My writer's block is officially gone, and the words are finally flowing.

I'm having a lot of fun with this one-shot. Maybe a little too much fun because this is turning out much longer than I originally intended. I can't help it. There's too much to explore here, and I can't hold back. I won't hold back.

I don't know what I'm saying anymore...

Okay, bye! 👋

[ambrossart]

Writing Update: My Plan for 2026

Hello, my lovely readers,

As you all know, 2025 was not a good year for me creatively, but I’m not going to dwell on it or beat myself up over it. What’s done is done, and now it’s time to look toward the future!

In my last update, I mentioned pivoting away from Paper Men for a bit to work on another Eddie Munson one-shot. That’s still the plan: write something super simple to get into the flow again. And I’ve been wanting to write this particular one-shot for a while now, so I’m pretty excited about it.

This past month, I’ve been rereading/editing the main story and previous one-shots. That should be done by the end of the week. For Christmas, I bought myself a new Kindle, and my first purchase on it was Flight of Icarus, which I just started but am very much enjoying. It’s given me a lot of ideas and inspiration.

That being said, here’s a breakdown of my plan for early 2026:

January - Begin drafting the new DWM short. This will be the one that covers the reader’s first day of high school and her first time seeing Eddie since middle school.

February - Finish said one-shot AND resume working on Paper Men.

March - Have, at minimum, a decent-sized preview ready for PM.

My New Year’s resolution is to obliterate this writer’s block and simplify my writing process. No more being tempted by fancy new apps. I sold my Freewrite because I barely touched the damn thing. From now on, I’m taking a more minimalist approach: two apps, Aeon Timeline for my plotting and Ulysses for my writing. That’s it.

Thank you so much for all your support during my hiatus. I appreciate it more than I can say.

Wishing everyone a happy holiday and a wonderful new year! ❤️

[ambrossart]

Rereading papermen and I love how Paul may not particuarly see him and Evelyn as friends but still sat her down and made her watch the star wars trilogy 😭 like okay we love a dedicated king

Oh yeah, he definitely saw it as his civic duty to educate her, and Evelyn probably talked through the whole thing, asking question after question until she drove Paul insane and made him regret ever inviting her. 😂

Jokes aside, I do enjoy their relationship a lot. Their exchanges are some of my favorites to write. Paul may not agree with Evelyn on a professional level, but he does respect her and care about her as a friend, which is why he warns Evelyn to be more careful around Henry. That moment when Henry grabbed her was terrifying for Paul. She may not have felt like she was in danger, but Paul has no idea what’s going on with them. All he saw was some crazy guy assaulting his friend, and he was powerless to stop it. He was genuinely scared for her. 

Could you imagine if he ever found out the truth? 

[ambrossart]

I was the one a while back who recommended I Bet on Losing Dogs by Mitski for Paper Men’s playlist and to this day every time I listen to it I think of Evelyn and Henry

I absolutely love that song, so thank you for suggesting it!

And I feel the same way about "Who Knew" by P!nk. Every time I listen to that song, I think of Henry and Evelyn, and it makes me so sad. Same goes for U2's "With Or Without You." I can't hear it without picturing Evelyn crying in the senior locker area.

[ambrossart]

i kind of lost interest in the IT universe for a bit and fell off keeping up to date with all the fics, but now with welcome to derry being out i am fully sucked back in and i am SO excited to re-read Paper Men!!!

That’s good to hear! I hope you have fun rediscovering all your favorite fics 😊

[ambrossart]

Will we get some scenes with only the BG in the future ? Like we got in the car/the junkyard with the shirts ?

Can we see them having teenage fun ? Being happy and all, or the only relevent scenes are them (Henry) being angry or them (Belch) doing damage control ?

The thing is, they’re not happy. Not any of them. The gang’s friendship has become incredibly strained over time but especially over the last few months.

When they were younger (like 7th, 8th grade) they had tons of fun together. They were a bunch of assholes, sure, but they enjoyed each other’s company. But then Henry started having more good days than bad days. His behavior made a lot of the boys uncomfortable. Peter left the gang. Gard and Moose moved away. Then Patrick came along and completely messed up the dynamic. There’s a lot of tension now that wasn’t there before. Lately, they’re acting less like friends and more like four guys who simply tolerate each other. And sometimes they can’t even do that.

Maybe they’re outgrowing each other or, at the very least, outgrowing Henry. Reggie and Vic have their own lives, their own friends. If Henry doesn’t want to grow up and get his act together, then maybe they should go their separate ways. Because this shit is getting old.

So, no, you probably won’t see very many scenes of them having fun together like they used to. Will they still have scenes together? Of course. Will there be moments of genuine bonding? Sure. But more often than not, there’s going to be a lot of tension present. That’s just the nature of their current relationship.