Just some Fic Thoughts

A place to share some idea, find inspiration or even just chill

[mochacoffee]

not to be emotional on main but fanfiction is a gift and it’s so fundamentally human to tell each other stories and i am deeply grateful to have that in my life. thank you all for adding so much emotion and meaning to the world with your words

[calypso-mary]

I have started posting my addition to the Stucky Big Bang 2021 run by @stuckybangs! @reebmiester has done some excellent artwork for this story (including the lovely header!), and I'm so excited to share this story with y'all!

Title: Hope's a Hammer (we might just get away with it)

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Summary: A blazing agony of ice and bone shards crowd out every rational thought in his mind. Every thought except one.

I have to get back to Steve.

Or, Bucky wakes up after crashing into the Arctic. His first thought? Steve’s still out there, alive. And nothing is going to stop Bucky from finding him.

Some Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, WS!Steve, Captain America!Bucky, Established Relationship, Devotion, Codependency, Protectiveness, serum induced bond shenanigans, WW2 Era, Pre-War Flashbacks, Modern Era, Recovery, Top Bucky, Bottom Steve, Dom/sub Undertones

Here is Chapter 1 of 4 ❤

[calypso-mary]

Here is Chapter 2 of 4 ❤

[exuberantocean]

When reading fanfic keep in mind that for professional literature: 

Short story: under 7,500

Novelette: between 7,500 and 17,500

Novella: between 17,500 and 40,000

Novel: over 40,000

Fics over 40k are literally a novel written and shared for free.  If you have written a 40k+ fic, you have literally written a novel.

[queenofcringe]

Princess Mononoke but Tokyo Revengers

[allukay]

tonight the music seems so loud

i wish that we could lose this crowd

maybe it’s better this way

we’d hurt each other with the things we want to say

we could have been so good together

we could have lived this dance forever

but now, who’s gonna dance with me?

please stay

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Writing advice #?: Have your characters wash the dishes while they talk.

This is one of my favorite tricks, picked up from E.M. Forester and filtered through my own domestic-homebody lens.  Forester says that you should never ever tell us how a character feels; instead, show us what those emotions are doing to a character’s posture and tone and expression.  This makes “I felt sadness” into “my shoulders hunched and I sighed heavily, staring at the ground as my eyes filled with tears.”  Those emotions-as-motions are called objective correlatives.  Honestly, fic writers have gotten the memo on objective correlatives, but sometimes struggle with how to use them.

Objective correlatives can quickly become a) repetitive or b) melodramatic.  On the repetitive end, long scenes of dialogue can quickly turn into “he sighed” and “she nodded” so many times that he starts to feel like a window fan and she like a bobblehead.  On the melodramatic end, a debate about where to eat dinner can start to feel like an episode of Jerry Springer because “he shrieked” while “she clenched her fists” and they both “ground their teeth.”  If you leave the objective correlatives out entirely, then you have what’s known as “floating” dialogue — we get the words themselves but no idea how they’re being said, and feel completely disconnected from the scene.  If you try to get meaning across by telling us the characters’ thoughts instead, this quickly drifts into purple prose.

Instead, have them wash the dishes while they talk.

To be clear: it doesn’t have to be dishes.  They could be folding laundry or sweeping the floor or cooking a meal or making a bed or changing a lightbulb.  The point is to engage your characters in some meaningless, everyday household task that does not directly relate to the subject of the conversation.

This trick gives you a whole wealth of objective correlatives.  If your character is angry, then the way they scrub a bowl will be very different from how they’ll be scrubbing while happy.  If your character is taking a moment to think, then they might splash suds around for a few seconds.  A character who is not that invested in the conversation will be looking at the sink not paying much attention.  A character moderately invested will be looking at the speaker while continuing to scrub a pot.  If the character is suddenly very invested in the conversation, you can convey this by having them set the pot down entirely and give their full attention to the speaker.

A demonstration:

1

“I’m leaving,” Anastasia said.

“What?”  Drizella continued dropping forks into the dishwasher.

2

“I’m leaving,” Anastasia said.

Drizella paused midway through slotting a fork into the dishwasher.  “What?”

3

“I’m leaving,” Anastasia said.

Drizella laughed, not looking up from where she was arranging forks in the dishwasher.  “What?”

4

“I’m leaving,” Anastasia said.

The forks slipped out of Drizella’s hand and clattered onto the floor of the dishwasher.  “What?”

5

“I’m leaving,” Anastasia said.

“What?”  Drizella shoved several forks into the dishwasher with unnecessary force, not seeming to notice when several bounced back out of the silverware rack.

See how cheaply and easily we can get across Drizella’s five different emotions about Anastasia leaving, all by telling the reader how she’s doing the dishes?  And all the while no heads were nodded, no teeth were clenched.

The reason I recommend having it be one of these boring domestic chores instead of, say, scaling a building or picking a lock, is that chores add a sense of realism and are low-stakes enough not to be distracting.  If you add a concurrent task that’s high-stakes, then potentially your readers are going to be so focused on the question of whether your characters will pick the lock in time that they don’t catch the dialogue.  But no one’s going to be on the edge of their seat wondering whether Drizella’s going to have enough clean forks for tomorrow.

And chores are a cheap-n-easy way to add a lot of realism to your story.  So much of the appeal of contemporary superhero stories comes from Spider-Man having to wash his costume in a Queens laundromat or Green Arrow cheating at darts, because those details are fun and interesting and make a story feel “real.”  Actually ask the question of what dishes or clothing or furniture your character owns and how often that stuff gets washed.  That’s how you avoid reality-breaking continuity errors like stating in Chapter 3 that all of your character’s worldly possessions fit in a single backpack and in Chapter 7 having your character find a pair of pants he forgot he owns.  You don’t have to tell the reader what dishes your character owns (please don’t; it’s already bad enough when Tolkien does it) but you should ideally know for yourself.

Anyway: objective correlatives are your friends.  They get emotion across, but for low-energy scenes can become repetitive and for high-energy scenes can become melodramatic.  The solution is to give your characters something relatively mundane to do while the conversation is going on, and domestic chores are not a bad starting place.

[porcupine-girl]

I actually first learned this lesson when doing improv. Always have your character doing something, but don’t make the scene about what your character is doing. Come in and start putting groceries away and confront your roommate about sleeping with your boyfriend while you’re putting the groceries away. Be working in a clothes store folding shirts and be reunited with your long-lost cousin while working. Etc etc.

And then much later (partially bc I started writing regularly years after I started doing improv but even then it took me way too long to figure it out) I realized this can be applied to writing, and it’s great. Anytime there’s a long dialogue scene and it feels flat, rewriting it so they’re doing something else - something that on the surface is totally unrelated to the conversation - is a sure-fire way to make it more dynamic and open up whole new avenues for conveying thoughts and feelings to the reader.

[guuj]

Thinking about how utterly nightmarish soulmate AUs are. There is a physical mark carved into your person as a constant reminder that on your own, you are not whole. In our world, the human body is a complete and individual thing, but in soulmate AUs, you are forcibly tied to someone and a timer counting down to when you will meet is embedded in your skin and you cannot get it out. You can try desperately to stay alone or love someone who is not your soulmate, but the clock will not stop ticking and fate will not change. The most momentous occasion in your life is meeting someone else, an occasion burned into your skin. This is a horror story.

[sleepy-skittles]

I love fanfic as an art form. I love that it’s a relatively accessible and low-pressure way to try new things as a writer and figure out what works for you. I love how a fic can sometimes be a love letter to a friend, or to a fandom, or to a character. I love that it’s free and available for anyone to read. I love how supportive and wonderful fanfic readers can be. And, most of all, I love that fanfic is inherently social. I’ve made so many friends through writing fic, and I really value the way that it makes it easier to build a community.

[pharacts]

Takemitchy, starting today, you’re my friend, all right?

[fic-thoughts]

We are back with more stray Tokyo Revengers thoughts. I have this wild scene of Hanma and Takemichi becoming friends in the wildest of ways. Like Kisaki kidnaps Takemichi and Hanma is supposed to watch him but really they bond over what an absolutely wild plan Kisaki has? Like how did he see this actually working out??? Takemichi is just a tired 26 year old going through puberty again and Hanma is bored and finds Takemichi fascinating. Whenever they are in the background of some epic meeting or fight sometimes they just chat and catch up. Like hey man whats your crazy boi been up to? Sometimes they just exchange looks like: this mf am I right? Sharing looks like Jin from the Office.

[fic-thoughts]

Okay I am having a lot of thoughts about Tokyo Revengers so here I go again on my own. I have this fun thought that Takemichi got kidnapped one time by a rival gang, you pick your own favorite, and he just made friends with his kidnappers. He is so pathetically likable and nice and oblivious and he just has a certain charisma. So Toman comes rushing to his rescue but by the time they get there Takemichi is just chilling, watching TV and eating snacks with them. 

“Oh, hey guys what are you doing here? Kidnapped? Oh no really it was a misunderstanding, these guys are great!”

[fic-thoughts]

Back at it folks with another Tokyo Revengers pitch. Set some time after Mikey forms Kanto Manji Gang and his former Toman friends, Takemichi included, try and convince him to stop and come back to them. It ends in a pretty one sided fight until Mikey asks Takemichi to come with him. To join and stay with him. Takemichi thinks he can be a better influence this was (shockingly it doesn’t work) and agree to go with him and leave the others behind. Essentially it starts to corrupt Takemichi and him and Mikey just start to feed into an even more codependent relationship as the new gang gets darker. Here we have that sweet sweet devotion but also the “what if i made him worse” just vibing. I might write something for this. Will keep yall posted if you want.

[fic-thoughts]

Update I wrote a small drabble for this. I might develop it more after I finish my current takemikey fic because I really wanna explore a dark relationship between these two

“Come with me,” he said in a rush, like he was still second guessing his offer even as he said it aloud. Takemichi’s eyes widened as he stared at Mikey who stood so close to him, still keeping a firm grip on his forearm. Like Takemichi was the one running away. Takemichi could hear pained grunts in the background as Draken and Mitsuya had recovered enough to get closer and hear them.

           “What?” Takemichi breathed out.

           “Come back with me. Stay with me. Forget everyone else and just stay with me, please,” Mikey asked, his voice had a note of pleading and desperation in it that Takemichi had never heard before. They had all come here to bring Mikey back, to pull him away from this new darker gang and what seemed to be the brink of darkness if the stories were to be believed. It had been a Hail Mary try to begin with. Mitsuya and Draken were sure that if Takemichi came with them then the three of them would be able to talk some sense into Mikey. It had gotten a rough beating for Mitsuya and Draken, but now Mikey was looking at him with those eyes. The eyes he could still get lost in and never seemed to want to find his way out.

           “Takemichi don’t listen to him! Get back!” Draken called from behind him, ever the worried. Always trying to keep him safe. Like Takemichi didn’t throw himself into danger. Takemichi turned his head slightly to look at his friend who was walking towards them with a limp and a fast developing black eye. As he studied his friend’s concerned face he felt the grip on his arm tighten and there was the slightest tremor. It was that tremor that really made up his mind. Catching Draken’s eye, Takemichi gave him a sad, sorrowful smile.

           “I’m sorry,” Takemichi said and now the grip on his arm was painful, definitely going to leave bruises, but he ignored it and pushed forward. “I’m sorry, Draken,” He apologized again before turning back to Mikey who had a spark of hope in his eyes. “But I’m not leaving him again,” Takemichi said, looking Mikey dead in the face. Mikey pulled him into a tight hug that he swore felt so grateful he almost cried. When Mikey pulled away he had that dull, passive look in his face again.

           “Don’t follow. Leave us alone,” Mikey said, gaze flickering between Draken and Mitsuya. The both looked at a loss as to what to do as Mikey wrapped an arm around Takemichi’s shoulders and lead them both away into the dark of the night. Somehow their plan to rescue their friend had made them lose another.

[fic-thoughts]

Back at it folks with another Tokyo Revengers pitch. Set some time after Mikey forms Kanto Manji Gang and his former Toman friends, Takemichi included, try and convince him to stop and come back to them. It ends in a pretty one sided fight until Mikey asks Takemichi to come with him. To join and stay with him. Takemichi thinks he can be a better influence this was (shockingly it doesn’t work) and agree to go with him and leave the others behind. Essentially it starts to corrupt Takemichi and him and Mikey just start to feed into an even more codependent relationship as the new gang gets darker. Here we have that sweet sweet devotion but also the “what if i made him worse” just vibing. I might write something for this. Will keep yall posted if you want.

[fic-thoughts]

Alright folks back with more Tokyo Revengers takes because my heart is so full for Takemikey right now. So Takemichi decides he needs to start his own gang to act as a foil to Mikeys new one after Toman disbands. Not an outright challenger but just like keeping them in check kind of? But to do this he cant have anyone looking for him so he fakes his death. The news of his death sends Mikey into a spiral and it just all goes to hell from there. Folks…its about the devotion.

[fic-thoughts]

Alright folks Im still on Tokyo Revengers for anyone who has stuck with my changing fandoms this long here is another take. I need Takemichi and Kazutora to be best friends. Best. Friends. Like maybe they meet accidentally when Kazutora gets out of juvie and they just develop a friendship before Takemichi even knows who he is to the rest of Toman. He gives Kazutora some much needed emotional support and just invites him along to more things. So one day he just walked up to hang with some of Toman with Kazutora in tow and its get heated but Takemichi stands by his friend. I need this people.

[iwhumpyou]

One of the best tips for writing descriptions of pain is actually a snippet I remember from a story where a character is given a host of colored pencils and asked to draw an egg.

The character says that there’s no white pencil.  But you don’t need a white pencil to draw a white egg.  We already know the egg is white.  What we need to draw is the luminance of the yellow lamp and the reflection of the blue cloth and the shadows and the shading.

We know a broken bone hurts.  We know a knife wound hurts.  We know grief hurts.  Show us what else it does.

You don’t need to describe the character in pain.  You need to describe how the pain affects the character - how they’re unable to move, how they’re sweating, how they’re cold, how their muscles ache and their fingers tremble and their eyes prickle.

Draw around the egg.  Write around the pain.  And we will all be able to see the finished product.

[fic-thoughts]

Okay folks now that I have finished my big boy fic for Haikyuu there is a new fandom Im into and sharing thoughts on. Thats right its Tokyo Revengers AU time. Former contract killer Takemichi AU. He is so unassuming that people never suspect him and always underestimate him. He was sent to kill Mikey (gang boss leader ofc) but they end up falling in love and now they are the most dangerous couple you never wanna meet. Takemikey has taken over my brain so here we are.