TheDruidOcelot's writing corner

This is where my writing discussion lives. ------------------------------- Including but not limited to OC discussions. --------------------------------- Header Image and Background both painted by me. (Realized I forgot to mention that previously)

[druidocelotwrites]

Pinned post-

I, Druid, the author, am only to be referred to with he/him pronouns.

Sometimes I refer to myself in the plural. Don't worry about why. It's nobody's business but ours.

Yes. I DID GET THAT CHAPTER DONE. (I am VERY proud of myself)

In regards to "The Drive" as a series and its narrative focus. (a quick bird's eye overview below the cut)

I spoke about this at length when I still had a twitter account, but as that has been deleted, I should probably reiterate the entire situation here, where I can easily direct people.

First, and what I consider most importantly- -----------------------------------------------------

C'oshta's childhood, trauma, and internal turmoil are in a number of ways ways directly informed by and taken from my experiences as an adoptee, and my PERSONAL FEARS about the kind of person I would be if it were not for the sheer amount of therapy I went through after my divorce.

He is NOT a self-insert. However, he does have quite a lot of "me" in his narrative dna, as it were.

I am aware that the overlap between adoptee trauma and indigenous pain and suffering is quite high, because of the systems that cause both, and inform the way people cope with terrible systemic situations. (especially regarding alienation and self-harming coping mechanisms)

I am not saying that indigenous people can not see their peoples' pain and suffering in C'oshta's experiences. If an indigenous person sees themselves or their family within C'oshta, that is okay.

That just is not my focus or intent.

Second-

Yes, he is a terrible person, thank you for noticing. Yes that probably DOES say something about my own personal fears and trauma, but this is not about me, and he is, I would like to reiterate, not a self insert.

Third-

If anyone takes offense to me, a trans man, writing a fic series in which a trans man initiates PiV sex MORE THAN ONCE, you can just block me. I (used to) tag things*, if you have a problem with it, that's a you problem not a me problem.

Fourth-

Yes, he bottoms. No. I don't think that's a problem, if you think it is, just fucking block me, as above. Some gay dudes are bottoms. Some gay dudes who are trans are also bottoms. I am a queer trans man who prefers to bottom and does not hate PiV. Please take your moralizing about what trans people are allowed to do elsewhere, this is not the space for that discussion.

and Finally-

And to reiterate something I mentioned elsewhere. Yes, I am fine with fanart. Yes. I am fine with people writing fanfic of my fanfic. (just tag me about it) Just no generative AI, please.

There are, however, some fun side things for people who like the fics. 1- I have a BUNCH of playlists made for characters and their relationships to each other (sadly, on spotify, but if I ever get around to moving them somewhere else, I will ABSOLUTELY update those links.)

C'oshta/Zenos:

The "Fray"list:

C'oshta/G'raha:

C'rhinh's playlist (about his older brother)

The sin eater bad ending playlist:

The Playlist about what that voidsent did to C'oshta and C'rhinh's mother.

The devastatingly far too long combined playlist. Because sometimes you just need 30 hours of music.

And for my fellow tea nerds. Yes I DID create a series of fandom blends on adagio entirely around the fic series. No I do not make money off of any of it. Yes I did it entirely so I can drink C'oshta themed tea. No I will NOT be gatekeeping it from anyone who wants them. (Yes I did make the tin art or did the photoshopping of various things for the tin art.)

Coshta Tia themed blends (The Drive) Tea Blends by N J Pardalis

Yes I did make you read quite a bit of annoying bookkeeping before getting to the fun things (playlists and tea). Tl;Dr- The fic is not dead. I have just been wrestling with a few annoying scenes to the point of driving myself up the wall over it. The problem is my perfectionism.

EDIT to add: My Ao3 is here, forgot to mention that in the pinned. Whoops. Everything is archive locked, so just keep that in mind.

*I no longer tag things, because too many people kept screaming and starting temper tantrums about what trans men are allowed to write, and personally, I think all varieties of fancops and antis can go screw themselves. (Throwing temper tantrums about what trans guys write makes you one or both. Please go fuck yourself with whatever instrument you prefer.) I switched to Open Doors-Style tagging, and I put the detailed information in my authors notes and summaries because fuck you that's why. It didn't matter that I tagged shit, it didn't matter that I have every reason to write what I write, people just want to narrow out what trans men are allowed to write and participate in until they have nowhere left to participate and nothing left to write. Fuck you, I do exactly what I want. And that's writing a trans man bottoming, block me if that bothers you.

[straight-to-the-pain]

I think the idea of chemical restraint is underused in whump. Is your prisoner causing you too many problems? Fighting? Hurting themself? Why not drug them! Plenty of various substances to choose from all with their own fun side effects and consequences. Can’t plot an escape plan if they can’t think straight. The fear of the unknown horrors held in their captor’s needle. Fighting with their own mind and body.

[druidocelotwrites]

Just a handful of C'oshta Gposes

[moonlitmonocerus]

For the ones that need it today

[dr-gaytorius]

1st base: raw ethically dubious fucking

2nd base: exist in a public space together

3rd base: you witness me have a real, candid emotion

4th base: I reveal an aspect of my tragic backstory to you

[olderthannetfic]

I'm cackling at this response to the writeup about fanfic.lol. It's not wrong, clearly. It's just funny because I think some of these types think they're AO3's biggest fans/core audience/etc. and yet those of us who built AO3 in the first place are some of the most gung ho about the idea of multiple archives. I'm not even planning to use any of the others, but their existence is a good thing. And, at this point, AO3 does not need any defense or any more users.

[adrianfridge]

Height gap romance except the shorter one is frequently depicted in situations where they are contextually taller. The taller one sitting while the shorter one looms over them. Both of them lying in bed with the taller one’s head pressed to the shorter one’s chest. The shorter one straddling the taller one’s lap and leaning down for a kiss. The taller one on their knees as the shorter one tilts their head up. Please, it makes me go feral

[gatesofminrathous]

there will never be anything as funny as the mutual disbelief between long form and short form fic writers about each other's style.

short form writers look at people writing 100k+ fics as though this is some sort of talent given as part of a fae bargain, that the commitment required shows some sort of ungodly mental fortitude.

meanwhile long form writers look at people writing 1000 word one shots like god I would cut off my left nipple to be able to say anything concisely. i would love to play with multiple ideas. free me from the shackles of this child I have birthed. i love them but I now must take them to t-ball and doctor's appointments and they're going to destroy everything I own.

[cnc-pet]

okay now I'm just thinking about being a vampire (or werewolf or any creature with a dangerous bite) and having a gag forced on me that holds my mouth open, but shows off my fangs.

Thrashing against my restraints, growling and snarling and trying to reach my mouth to pull the gag out so I can bite down on my captor, but they just coo and tell me how pretty my fangs are on display for them

[villainwithacrush]

[ghosthorse-tracks]

Lesser-known steps of the writing process:

Finding all the paragraphs where you used some hyper-specific word more than once

Rearranging paragraphs that you swear you wrote in the right order but turned out to be totally backwards

Going for a walk, coming up with the perfect line, and forgetting it as soon as you get home and open your laptop

Creating a separate document where you can dump all of those nice sentences that no longer fit in anywhere

Waking up in a cold sweat because so-and-so was supposed to be barefoot but never actually took his shoes off

[nat-20s]

gotta be honest I think a REAL juicy dynamic is when someone has a True Love and a Soulmate and they are two different people

[nat-20s]

see this person is the love of my life I would follow them anywhere every day is brighter for having them in it. and THIS bastard shares a soul with me we'll find each other in every universe and understand each other in ways no other living being could. neither of us are particularly thrilled about this

[ontologicallyeviltortureprincess]

Being a Sword does have some overlap with being a Guard Dog but there's some important differences. A Guard Dog can go off leash. A Guard Dog needs to be trained, and rewarded, and serves out of love or duty or force or something. A Guard Dog is fundamentally a living animal that acts in a specific way due to its instincts or its desires or its sense of love and loyalty. A Sword might have all of those things. A Sword might feel love, a Sword might hate, a Sword might want affection. The fundamental difference is that it doesn't matter what a Sword feels or thinks. It's a Sword. It doesn't matter if it hates you. It doesn't matter if you love it. It cuts just the same.

[possessable]

also facades and false identities are so fun . many such variations.

someone accidentally slipping further into a facade than they intended . someone purposefully retreating further into a facade . someone accidentally dropping their normally impeccable facade for a moment . someone purposefully letting their facade down as a taunt or mockery or in a genuine way because they're finally in a situation where they don't need the facade anymore . someone whose facade really is just a tool that they have complete control over and it never falters or fails . someone whose facade is the opposite and they're having a really bad time trying to maintain their facade or trying to maintain their true self under the facade . many such good options. all fun.

i love you facades and false identities and presentations of the self and separation of aspects of the self and

[fadedashtray]

*flirting* do you want to help increase my pain tolerance?

[the-bar-sinister]

"The idea made me horny" is a good enough reason to write anything.

[sephirthoughts]

that’s why i’ve ever written anything

[pinkfilm]

it’s like no one wants to fucking take their bloody hands and cup their lover’s face, making a streak of red on their cheek with their thumb before passionately kissing anymore