Sarah's Blogs - Choose your own adventure! 1) @sarah-sandwich-writes: my writing blog where I share writer trials, tribulations, and triumphs! For both my original works and fanfic. 2) @sarah-sandwich: The whole enchilada. The novels, the fic, and the tomfoolery. Come watch me eat mayonnaise out of a jar in between promoting my books, raving about Spider-Man, and reblogging... basically everything. Check out my website at sarahbelisa.com and sign up for my newsletter! You can find me on AO3 as Sarah_Sandwich
Red, like my bleeding heart in your hand - Buy Red Here - 25k novella prequel (the childhood years) - Follow Nash, his sister Jo, and his best friend Teddy in Deliverance, TN as they take on bullies and grow together, only to be ripped apart before they reach their potential
Blue, like don't forget about me - Buy Blue Here - 65k queer romance - Twenty years after Nash and Teddy lost touch, they reunite at a funeral and find all of the too-big feelings from childhood are still there, bubbling under the surface
Violet, like these delights - 56k~ (revising) sequel to Blue - Jo's POV, coming of age in your 30's - A month before her brother's wedding is called off, Josephine Owens thinks her biggest challenges are accepting her return to second fiddle and making friends of her new teammates on the Vervain Creek roller derby team. So you could say orchestrating the downfall of the man stalking her family will be something of a surprise.
Woolen Hollow - Drafting Percolating Drafting - fantasy, magic systems, found family, accidental chosen one. A story about choice and that weird forest kingdom cult that thinks Midge is the chosen one
Hot Air Balloon Town (working title - percolating) - In a small town famous for their hot air balloon museum and annual festival, a young woman decides she's going to break the world record for highest altitude in an open basket. However, the ghost in town is complicating things.
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FanFiction
Spideypool (Peter Parker/Wade Wilson)
Paradise (spread out with a butter knife) - 72k - slowburn soulmates au where friendship is magic (or the one where Peter and Wade are literal soulmates but don't realize it for literal years because they're literal idiots)
The Little Barnacle - 3k - Peter panics and botches Wade's proposal by proposing first like the babbling disaster man he is. He also turned out hella aro and this was his choice.
GwenMJ (Gwen Stacy/Michelle Jones)
michelle.mp3 - 32k - Michelle breaks up with Peter and retreats to her grandma's house in the country to lick her wounds and meets Gwen, her insufferable neighbor who also happens to be the drummer and songwriter who upended her perfectly adequate life and is apparently back for more.
Gen Fics
Iron Imposter/Hometown Hero - 71k - Harley-centric, trans!Harley, canon compliant, post NWH - During the Blip, when Rose Hill was on the brink of blinking off the map, Harley Keener donned his homemade Iron Man armor and began stealing whatever his hometown needed to survive. They called him a hero, even when he pointed out that stealing ain't exactly hero work. Now, five years after the blipped have returned, things are still dire. He can't slow down. He can't take a day off. And he can't let anyone know how close he is to slipping and bringing all of Rose Hill down with him. It all unravels when Harley nabs a charity donation from under Spider-Man's nose and the hunt for the Iron Impostor begins.
Curative Kisses and Magical Mishaps - 1.7k - Tony Stark-centric - Morgan gets hurt and Tony makes it all better. Or: The one where Tony's life is so full of people who love and cherish him that I've erased Endg*me from existence and this is the canon now ✌
Parkner (Peter Parker/Harley Keener)
*deep breath*
Freak Out 'Verse - 317k - It starts with a kidnapping, evolves through a summer romance, and ends with a portal to another dimension, team dynamics, and... shit tits? am i reading this right? ...really? Yeah folks it says shit tits what the fuck
Peaches 'Verse - 90k - It starts with Abbie and Harley. It starts with leaving. It ends with Abbie and Harley and Peter and May. It ends with a room and choosing to stay.
The Distance Between (You and Me) - 29k - Harley struggles to get a grip on his PTSD while his kidnappers are still out there, the board of directors at Stark Industries are looking for any excuse to deny him his future right to inherit the company, and his "bodyguard" drives him up the fucking wall.
For the First Time, Eye to Eye - 47k - Peter and Harley have a lot of shit to work through and Harley's family reunion (while they pretend to be boyfriends of five years rather than workplace rivals), is not the time or place. And yet...
Lemon Boy - 117k - Post-Endgame (sorry) Harley takes in Peter as a roommate to help with expenses while he remodels his deceased uncle's house. Both grieving in their own way, they eventually learn to see the other clearly--through the mask and despite the barriers.
Put in the Work - 55k - Rated M - fka the nasa au, now with minimal nasa (sorry). Harley built his whole life around two things: his daughter and his career at NASA. It's nothing but bad luck that he's laid off at the same time Hazel is pushing for independence. To cope, he falls back on his usual stress-relief, hotel sex with a hot stranger, but bad luck arrives in threes and it's definitely bad luck to fall in love with your one-night stand. If only he had a friend to vent to other than his sister, his daughter, and his strange quasi-friendship with Spider-Man via twitter…
another time, a difference place (I have loved you before) - ??? - Rated M - In-progress (I'm posting as I go for once) - Endgame parkner fix it fic. Peter and Harley were together inside the soul stone. Unfortunately, neither of them remember anything and these frequent bouts of deja vu are getting weird.
Parkner One-Shots
Heart (in hand) Home (in you) - 2.5k - Harley-centric sick fic
An Insignificant Problem - 1.2k - De-aged!Peter; Fed-up!Harley
Wouldn't Dream of It - 2.3k - Harley-centric alien goo induced trip down memory lane
The Human Kind - 3.7k - Spidey and Laddie play hide and seek :) (mind the tags!)
Undercover? I thought you said under covers... - 3.7k - what it says on the tin ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Peter, no - 3.4k - Peter is an awful outdoorsman. Harley is in love with him.
Rhythm and Blues - 1.3k - Flash POV! He's stuck late at school and sees something he isn't supposed to.
No Need to Rush - 5.3k - It's simple: Harley loves Peter. Yet complicated: Peter loves Harley.
Second Chances for Second Guessers - 3.7k - Peter is a flighty little whimp afraid of falling in love
Pete, I'm Fake Drunk and Wanna Go Home - 2.9k - Peter needs a night off and Harley has a fool-proof plan to make him take one
The Devil is a Hopeless Romantic - 2k - tried to write angst. it's only okay
Completely and utterly devoid of sex appeal - 1.7k - Peter has the hots for Harley when he wears a certain outfit. Unfortunately it's his work uniform. And they work together.
Fake Romance Crap - 3.4k - sure he fake married me an hour ago, but do you think he likes me?
Apeshit - 2.1k - A Freak Out 'Verse one-shot written for the prompt: You know what, maybe they ARE tired of being nice. Maybe they DO wanna go apeshit.
adventures with hair dye and feelings — In Space! - 8.7k - 5 times Harley and Peter don’t kiss +1 time they do (in space!) Written for the combined prompts: 8) every single kiss so far has been a disaster but it's really funny and 46) don't have a one night stand with your coworker on the spaceship
Come on, take a joyride - 6.8k - 5 times Harley takes Peter for a ride +1 time Peter takes Harley
Free Pass - 9k - Rated E - a smutty New Year's Eve one-shot that got plot in it somehow...
Baseball Smut ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - 2.4k - Rated E - Baseball uniforms are sexy, okay?
Seasons of You (remember remember remember me too) - 3.8k - Peter buys his first Christmas present in five years and Harley has a lot to learn, but he's off to a pretty good start. Or, the one with mittens and canned stew.
Coming Up...
Your Mom Freaked Out - ??? - An addition to the Freak Out 'Verse that occurs sometime before the final scene of You're Freaking Out's epilogue. Harley gets blasted with temporal rays when Peter and Tony's time machine experiment goes wrong. It's just his luck that he wakes up handcuffed with Officer Benjamin Parker sitting at his bed side...
Spider-Man 4: Bring it on Home - ??? - Peter/Michelle - Sequel to II/HTH - Michelle POV (maybe with some Peter POV too--i'll decide when I actually get to writing it hah) -- Inspired by the events of Iron Imposter (Hometown Hero), Peter sets out to Boston get his friends back. Meanwhile, Michelle is trying to solve the mystery of why she and Ned have gaping holes in their memories. Ned has it worse than she does and has the therapy and medical bills to prove it, which is all the more reason for her to get to the bottom of this before his episodes get any worse. She's positive she could have solved it by now if not for the universe throwing constant distractions in her face--like the cute guy that recently started frequenting the shop where she works. And what the hell is Spider-Man doing outside of New York? One mystery at a time, Em. You'll figure it out. You always do.
We Were Gods (we were kids) - 100k~ - parkner childhood friends to estranged almost lovers to superheroes fighting on opposite sides to reluctant allies to lovers for real this time (this is the OG OG Blue like don't forget about me, back to its fanfic roots)
"One time a piano student asked me: 'Why play the piano if these days my tablet or smartphone can do it automatically better than me?'
He then showed me several apps that played music using scores.
I explained to him: 'Your cell phone always plays that Debussy score in exactly the same way. You, on the other hand, with your emotions and flaws, will never play the score the same way twice. You will not play the same way on a sunny day when you have just fallen in love as on a cloudy day when a relative has just died. Music is not just a score - you too are part of the music. Art includes you in the experience; your human imperfections are also part of the work.'"
- Nobuo Suzuki, Wabi Sabi: The Wisdom in Imperfection
You gave us SO many ideas, and now it’s time to let the community decide! 🍂
Here are all the September theme suggestions:
🍂 Silly-tember
A month of silly, goofy, unserious prompts. Awkward meet-cutes, drunk texts and phone calls, games, pranks, and general chaos.
🌧️ Sadtember
Cozy melancholy, nostalgia, rainy days, quiet moments, and that particular feeling of summer slipping away.
🌶️ Spicytember
Food, drinks, spices, seasonings, and herbs with a different ingredient inspiring each day.
🍁 Leavetember
Endings, comfort, change, and letting go. Perfect for the in-between feeling of seasons changing.
🕯️ Hope in the Bleak
The world is getting colder, things are fading, but there’s still something worth holding onto. Hope, resilience and small lights in difficult circumstances.
🌿 Scentember
A different scent every day — lavender, vanilla, cedar, cinnamon, rain, old books, smoke, perfume... scents that can evoke memories, places, people, and emotions.
🧸 Snugtember
Cozy vibes, relaxation, cuddling, comfort, blankets, warm drinks, and all the little things that make a difficult week feel better.
🔊 Soundtember
A different sound or onomatopoeia every day. From creak and thud to purr, crackle, click, and splash.
💧 Raintember
Rainy days, puddles, wet streets, umbrellas, reflections, muddy shoes, stormy afternoons, and everything that comes with getting caught in the rain.
So excited to share this illustrations I had the pleasure of creating for Bloomberg Businessweek for the article “The Steamy, Magical and Now Very Lucrative Romantasy Business” by Hannah Miller and Madison Muller.
Other people have said this in notes, but the Bulwer-Lytton contest involves writing the most absurd opener you can think of and submitting it to the contest. It's not a judgment like the Razzies or the bad sex in books award or something; it's a game. Diana Murtaugh of Baltimore is to be congratulated for this win.
Anxious characters don't need to say "I'm nervous" for readers to feel it. The body gives it away first, usually in small, easy-to-miss ways. Here's what to actually put on the page.
1. Fidgeting With Something in Their Hands A ring, a pen, the hem of a sleeve, doesn't matter what, as long as their hands need somewhere to put the energy. The specific object can say a lot about the character too.
2. Avoiding Eye Contact Not dramatic, just consistently looking anywhere else, the floor, a door, their own hands. It reads as smaller and more honest than a character announcing they're anxious ever could.
3. A Bouncing Knee or Leg Restless, repetitive, and usually something the character isn't even aware they're doing until someone points it out or puts a hand on their knee to stop it.
4. Picking at Skin, Nails, or Cuticles A little self-destructive, very believable. Great for a character whose anxiety runs deeper than the immediate moment, since this reads as a habit, not just a reaction.
5. Shallow or Held Breathing Breath that's too quick, too controlled, or just stops for a beat too long. Tip: this one works especially well right before a character has to speak or act, since the pause itself builds tension.
6. Repetitive Small Movements Tapping a foot, drumming fingers, clicking a pen. None of it does anything, and that's the point, it's energy with nowhere else to go.
7. Making Themselves Physically Smaller Crossed arms, hunched shoulders, pulling a jacket tighter. The body trying to take up less space says more than dialogue would about how exposed a character feels.
8. Touching Their Face, Neck, or Hair Self-soothing gestures that show up without the character clocking them, rubbing the back of their neck, tucking hair behind an ear over and over.
9. Scanning the Room or Standing Near an Exit A character who keeps track of every door in a room, or who angles themselves toward one without meaning to, is telling you they don't feel safe here, even if nothing's actually wrong yet.
10. Freezing or Going Rigid Not fidgeting, the opposite. Some characters go completely still when they're anxious, like moving might make things worse. This one's underused compared to the fidgety version and hits just as hard.
The best anxiety tells are the ones the character doesn't notice themselves doing. Let other characters clock it before your character does, and it'll read as real instead of performed. Happy writing! :)
Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks?
Check out the rest of Quillology with Haya; a blog dedicated to writing and publishing tips for authors!
i just wanted to say ive been on tumblr too damn long and its abt to show but i dont think ive seen any dashboard event thats captured Black joy and spread positivity in a way that comes close to the old dashboard Blackouts as the MBC!! Its been so wonderful seeing everyones contributions and the community spirit. (for anyone not knee deep in tumblr lore, Blackouts were dashboard events where the only people who posted selfies that day were Black ppl and it served as a sort of visibility day? of sorts? youd see an increase in antiracist posts and donation posts alongside them as well but they happened pretty regularly. i was too young to remember who organized it if anyone but my impression was always that it was some kind of decentralized tumblr event). It made my heart happy I hope we see many more of these events in the future
I wish I'd been here for those. The way Black people got chased off this site... Digital razing of a Black community, truly.
But thank you! I think what would be more comparable, and what I really want nonblack people to be more supportive of, is Blacktober! The original event was cancelled due to- you guessed it- extreme antiblackness. But people still draw for it! There ARE Black artists still here, if you actually look for us!
So if you enjoyed the #MBC, you should follow the #Blacktober tag this year (you CAN do that automatically using Tumblr) and really share and support Black creators as they do the same thing! "I don't go to that fandom" who cares? Share because it's good art! We showed our love for Black character design during the MBC, let's show it for Black creatives, Black people too!
If you're a romance reader in the USA, this Saturday, August 15 is Bookstore Romance Day
It's a day for indie bookstores to celebrate that oft-slagged moneymaker of a genre and treat readers of kissing books very nicely. You can find virtual and in-person events across the country. Many stores are giving away free gifts or having big sales.
I'll be in Portland OR and online for several events. Come hang if you're in the area!
just finished this month's book club book, went skimming goodreads reviews afterwards as you do, got my breath taken away by this absolutely brutal ending to one of the multi-paragraph 1 star reviews
[image description: screenshot of text reading: i am so tired of absolutely 'head empty, vibes only' style of writing genre fiction. i'm sure the pinterest board for this was lovely. /end description]
*props up Fic in a Box with a stick, puts bait under it*
Here I am, once again trying to drum up participation for an exchange from my fandoms that don't do a lot of exchanges!
What is Fic in a Box?
Fic in a Box in some ways functions like a normal exchange, with matching by fandom and relationship. It has a higher minimum than most (10k), and a longer timeline because of it (the main deadline is October 25, though there are extensions available).
What sets it apart are two things: Mediums (you can just write fic or you can do a million other things, from art and podfic to logic puzzles and in-universe scientific papers) and swaps (meaning you can spread your 10k across more than one recipient if you want)!
Last year I wound up making seven fanworks in three different fandoms using five of the possible mediums in addition to straight-up fic. I will note (and this is why I'm posting) that there was NOBODY but me signed up for Check Please, For All Mankind, or Fawx & Stallion and only ONE other person signed up for Destiel! (There was SPN but mostly Wincest.)
This means I had no chance at all to create for OMGCP, FAM, or F&S. I did write a destiel fic, but more people signed up means more chance for me to a) receive one and b) find a prompt I vibe with (I got lucky with the one other person who requested it).
If this interests you at all and you have time to write 10k this fall (or two 5k fics, or an 8k fic and two drawings, or...), find the details under the cut!
Mediums
FIAB is actually lots of things in a box! You can fulfill your assignment with one 10k fic, but you can also split it up among many things - fic and other written fanworks, art, podfic, but also weird mediums like logic puzzles, spreadsheets, in-universe documents, and crochet patterns!
You can find a full list of medium rulesets here, these explain briefly what's required for a particular medium and how it's "scored" to count toward your 10k (if it's not something with a wordcount).
While you do need to know which mediums you're willing to accept for your request, you do NOT have to know which ones you're willing to create for your offer! As long as you're willing to write 10k of fic if that's the only thing your requester asks for, you're good. The one exception is if you want to be matched specifically on a non-fic medium (so take away any chance of being matched with someone who only wants fic), and that's done by emailing the mods. Otherwise, once you get your assignment you can create in any medium(s) your recipient asked for!
Swaps
Unlike most exchanges, you don't have to make the whole 10k for one person! Just like with mediums, you can - every recipient has to be willing to get nothing but one 10k fic as a gift. But you can also browse through the other requests and swap out your assignment in 1k increments, so if you want to write 8k for your main recipient and then swap 1k to Person A to do art for them and 1k to Person B to make a puzzle for them, you can do that!
All you do is browse the requests, then make a list of the new recipients you'd like and the maximum you're willing to give them. You don't have to specify fandoms or mediums - which means even if you only offer fandoms A, B, and C for your main signup, you could ask for people offering other fandoms in your swaps! This is useful if, say, there are fandoms you're *only* willing to do art for but you want your official offers to be mainly for fic.
You are not guaranteed to get any of your swaps, so you might still wind up writing one 10k fic (or two 5k or whatever) for one recipient. But you might wind up with up to 10 recipients (if you want that many)!
If all this intrigues you...
You can read the full rules on Dreamwidth (warning: it can be overwhelming! I recommend learning about nominations, mediums, and signups first, and then once you've got your head wrapped around that, worry about swaps), and there is a very friendly newbies discord server if you have questions! (I am also willing to answer questions, BUT I have only participated once so I am very much not an expert.)
If you're curious what the non-fic mediums wind up looking like, you can look at last year's Reading Lists - they're conveniently organized by medium. You can also see the awesome gifts I received last year as well as... well, I am realizing now that I never made a post with all of my FIAB creations in one place so here they are by fandom:
Untamed/MDZS
Their Song (60k, incorporates in-universe Reddit posts as a medium)
Its sequel, /r/OurSong SCREAMING SOBBING THROWING UP WANGXIAN CONFIRMED (1.7k, medium: Reddit posts)
An MDZS cryptic crossword (medium: cryptic crossword)
All of These Words Whispered In My Ear (9.2k, medium: epistolary)
Supernatural
All You Have Is Your Fire (5.5k, Charlie + Cas, incorporates in-universe tumblr DMs as a medium)
Tear Down the Mountains, Stop All the Rivers (7.8k, destiel, just a straight-up fic)
K-Pop Demon Hutners
Zoey's Turtle Crunch - medium: art
Here is the current tagset for this year - if a fandom and/or relationship/character you'd like to request or create for isn't on there, now is the time to nominate them! (Nominations close Tuesday the 11th) Read the nomination guidelines in the rules post to make sure you do it right (the easiest way is via google form rather than AO3).
Nominations close Tuesday, August 11 at 10pm EDT, and then signups will open the 16th!
(If your desired fandoms/characters/relationships are already in the tag set here, don't worry about nominations! But you can only offer/request things that are in the tagset when you sign up.)
"You should create for yourself" and "it's okay to feel discouraged when creating your own original projects if no one interacts with them" are two sentences that should be able to co-exist with each other
On the one hand, you should kill that capitalist in your head that tells you to make art only for the enjoyment of other people. On the other hand, it's totally fine to be disappointed that you spent hours or even days on something that only got 4 notes. You can feel both ways.
listen i'm not here to tell you how to live your life nor how to title your novel. but can we please move on from a blank of blank and blank. we have so many a blank of blank and blanks. the shelves are full of a blank of blank and blanks. it's enough. can we do something else now
AO3 creators... have you ever posted something you didn't want associated with your main account?*
Yes - created a separate account
Yes - posted anonymously
Yes - orphaned it after posting
Yes - posted it under a different pseud (but clearly linked to my main)
Yes - Multiple of the above
No - I don't have fanworks I feel that way about
No - I do have fanworks I feel that way about but don't post them at all
I didn't know about these options and am going to go learn a thing
Vanilla extract /answers please
Remaining time: 3 days 4 hours
*Could be something kinky, dark, "weird," off-brand in some way, etc! But I'm not talking about "I split up my different fandoms into different pseuds" or something else where it's purely an organizational preference.
There's a comic on ao3 i really really like. It reminded me a lot of my childhood trauma and I enjoyed reading it because i could relate to the protagonist and emphasize with him.
So when the author had said that the comic was based on their trauma and that they were warming up to talking about it, i swear I almost cried.
Because, that is the same reason I got into fanwork creation, specifically fanfics. It was a comfortable and open place to express my trauma how I wanted through art.
This is what i love about fandom. The connection, the care, people expressing themselves how they want. Its amazing really...it is.
I really love seeing people expressing their trauma in ways I can also relate to...reminds me im not alone. Shows me that writing for the reasons I want to write and reading what I want to read is a good way to connect with people too.
thank you for sharing ♡
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ @sarah-sandwich-writes - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
