Rules: Write the latest line from your WIP and tag as many people as there are words in the line you want!
Tagged by: @mymostimaginaryfriend | Who still believes that I will finish one of my many QOTS WIPs (and who I do owe fic because I told her I would finish one if she called her doctor about getting the vaccine and she did and now she’s invincible).
The last QOTS fic I was working on involved a baby and a winery, so:
She’s particularly enamored with the one they settle on; being so close to the water as it is, quiet and isolated from the summer tourist traffic.
And just for kicks, here’s the James x Javier x Teresa one that I still dream of:
It had, in the end, been what cost him the only true friend he’d had at the time.
01. wip, “dearly departed,” spn, deancas: Despite all this, and perhaps in keeping with his own preference for following through on his habits, he has never once stayed for Open Mic Night. It’s not as if he has anything against it in theory, he just never felt especially compelled to do so. And he was never a big fan of crowds generally.
“You should think about staying tonight,” Meg advises, sliding his third cup back over the counter. “I’ve heard this guy before, he’s good.”
02. wip, “the apportioners,” og: Case in point: Never betray a demi-god. Particularly one so unbelievably busted. Who would go so far as to force her to watch the other demi-god she is almost certainly (and regrettably) falling in love with, commit one more atrocity. To force her to watch her son die. Again. To force her to watch him choose between her and his family. Far, far more trouble than they’re worth. And sure—sure. She is angry. She may well always be angry. And yet. There’s the kitchen. The small, warm kitchen with the cream-colored tiled floors, inlaid with red grout. Where Edie makes too much bread and Estelle stores her spelled sourdough starters. Where Greg made her a cup of chamomile tea and described the unique softness of Clemente’s thread—how it curled and straightened and existed. And so she refuses. She refuses to do what some other irreparably broken version of her friend has expected her to do.
So. She lets him go. Again.
>> 02. first lines of my last 20 10 (20 is just... so fucking many; if you wanna do 20 be my guest but i have shit to do today) fics
01. wip, “dearly departed,” spn, deancas: Creative writing is so not his forte and really, what’s there to say about The Lodge that hasn’t already been said? A revolving door of adjectives that infect the collegiate discourse every few years—when some starry-eyed freshman sees the tall, thin door frame in all its carved, unknowable glory and gets it in their sweet, sweet head that surely no one has ever thought to opine on the virtues of a local, now-legendary establishment that seems to have haunted Main Street since long before time began. So, what is there to say that hasn’t already been said?
02. complete, “untitled,” spn, deancas: The two of ‘em establish the somewhat rude habit of bailing during get-togethers without telling anyone. They stop answering their phones at any point before noon shortly after that. He’d call it a side effect of New Couple Syndrome (NCS), but it’s something they continue doing long after any reasonable person would call something “new” (and honestly, he’s not even sure you could say it was “new” when it was new, technically).
03. complete, “untitled,” spn, deancas: There’s a fucking manticore in Memphis. Seriously. Human face, body of a lion, the whole freakin’ nine.
“Certainly one of the more… imaginative of God’s creatures,” Castiel muses, “albeit, unsustainable.”
04. complete, “herbalist’s guide to skyrim,” star wars, reylo: Rey Kenobi really needed to get in the habit of bringing dates to restaurants she had no emotional attachment to. She had already lost an unacceptable number of extremely dear favorites that had been there for her when she’d had less than nothing and now? Blighted by the memory of mediocre men who she knew she had given far too much power. She knew she had an association problem, okay? She and her mildly overpriced therapist were working on it. Had been working on it. For a while. She really missed the dumplings from Hunger Pang.
05. complete, “a grief observed,” star wars, reylo: The presumptive triumph inherent to the return of the self? Painfully short-lived. It is brief and blinding and there is a feeling akin to invincibility singing in his veins. A humming that echoes in the gruff tenor of what could only be his father’s voice. How it must have felt when the heroes made yet another daring escape—against all the odds. The euphoria that occurs when you have begun to think that maybe, just maybe, you’ve finally won. It makes the loss so much worse than he could have ever imagined. Not when you’ve gotten so close to having everything you never even knew you wanted. And that’s half the battle, isn’t it? Knowing what you want. Like it’s easy.
06. complete, “a super solid history of the “good old fashioned lover boy(s),” c. the beginning (or there about) to now-ish,” good omens, aziraphale x crowley: Perhaps one of the cruelest tricks that God has ever played (and the list was indeed long) was in allowing angels to believe they were incapable of love. There is some amount of debate as to whether or not this was entirely by accident. She was a busy woman after all━perhaps that was why it, the question of whether or not angels were truly capable of love, had slipped through one of her metaphysical cracks (of which, admittedly, there were many). Those who managed to refrain from falling had quite an easier time believing this particular theory to be very much the case. A largely unspoken, slightly offended, “She would never,” followed by an affirmation of the belief in the long held assumption that they were above such things anyway, so really, what did it even matter, and can we please return to the task at hand?
07. complete, “first family,” ouat, captain charming: If the chronically thin, awkward, and punk-ass 15 year old version of Killian Jones could have, somehow, opened a portal in time and space; a feat which might have allowed him to peer into the future in an attempt to witness what it might hold, he would have likely imbibed several ill-advised shots of cheap bloody rum, and then quite dramatically flung himself atop the rumpled sheets of his perpetually unmade bed. If the younger Jones had even an inkling of the type of life he’d be living as a 35 year old man─with a full time job, a mortgage, a husband, one wildly photogenic dog─he would have done everything in his power to steer himself off such a disturbingly clean-cut, well-behaved course.
08. complete, “untitled,” ouat, captain swan: Rather predictably (and not without a somewhat inevitable feeling of frustration), Emma Swan was one of those people who had never put much stock in the notion of “vibes.” She had a “freaking superpower,” according to Ruby, which allowed her to suss out the truth about people, but as soon as Ruby suggested that the same might be true of certain places, Emma had chuckled, as if it was some unheard of thing.
09. complete, “untitled,” ouat, captain charming: In the end, he’d chosen the place because to be quite bloody honest it was precisely where you might expect the writer of an obscure indie mag to live. It was an older building (a suitably generous designation), tucked in between the modernist monstrosities of the last 20 or 30 years. Replete with gorgeous, if not ill-kept, accoutrements framing the windows; crumbling steps and a brick exterior in varying shades of red and orange. The aesthetic was rounded out by the kind of neglectful landlord you might expect, a horrid man who frequently enjoyed reminding his tenants that he lived, “out of state,” and they’d have to, “be patient.”
10. complete,” untitled,” ouat, captain charming: There’s an old adage about assumptions that Killian Jones finds physically repulsive. It is so unerringly awful, in fact, that he won’t even deign to repeat the thing in his own head. You know what it is, it’s not as if he needs to speak the actual words. And regardless of the fact that there’s this old, tired saying about assumptions, people still do it, and he’s done it, and ya know what? It kind of worked out in his favor, so, take that.
Do you need silence or sound when you write? If the latter, do you have specific writer playlists?
If there’s (1) thing to know about me and my process it’s that I don’t have one. Which is weird, because in most other aspects of my life I am incredibly devoted to routine and consistency. But when it comes to writing there’s really no predicting what will work. Sometimes I’ve needed total silence, other times I’ve been able to write full essays with a movie on.
However, I do create themed playlists all the time. I def made a few for CS, CC, and some original stuff.
definitely didn’t expect to write good omens fic this year.
30. favorite fandom to read fic from this year
this was such an intense year re: major life changes, so i spent a lot of time watching, listening, and reading things i used to spend a lot of time with, as such, i really enjoyed re-reading old dramione fics (and finding some new ones); it brought me great joy! the writers in that fandom are some of the best i’ve encountered in my many years.
@soft-october-night tagged my personal (@starlessness) in this meme but it is fanfic heavy so I’m gonna play over here. btw, @soft-october-night is my co-host on a new podcast (about fandom) we’re slowly but surely producing, so watch this space! xo
Username: okay, so obvi, my handle on tumblr is hencethebravery, which is from a line of dialogue in interstellar. my handle on the archive is inaccessible rail (strangetales), which is a user handle in atwood’s oryx and crake trilogy.
Fandoms you write for: i have previously written, but no longer write for... sons of anarchy; teen wolf; the 100; heroes; doctor who; harry potter. i have most recently written for... once upon a time; the punisher; queen of the south. i’m not including good omens in here yet because it’s not quite finished. hopefully in the next couple weeks.
Where you post: on tumblr (@hencethebravery) and the archive (linked above).
Most popular one-shot: according to archive stats, my most popular one shot was a sons of anarchy fic, “late august,” which featured my main (and ultra rare) pair. i have no idea why.
Most popular multi-chapter story: again according to archive stats, “once upon a coping mechanism,” which is technically multi-chap, but not really, as they’re all independent ouat fics linked in a singular post. otherwise it’s probably “the spooky truth with dr. jones,” which is a cs black tapes au that i’m still ridiculously proud of.
Favorite story you’ve written: as mentioned above, “the spooky truth with dr. jones,” is definitely one of my favs. otherwise it’s probably a captain charming fic, like “hated day,” which was devastating but also an experience to write. i will say that i’m not generally for the tragic gay trope, so most of my cc content is FLUFF, but just not this one, which i was kind of coerced into writing.
Story you were nervous to post: i think there’s a degree of nervousness when i post anything, but i remember being particularly anxious about my first cc fic, “beloved,” or one of my first smutty cs ones for sure.
How do you choose titles: like a lot of fic writers probably song titles. i’ve also been known to use a poetry or prose excerpt. i also started posting with no title at all, which was v emily dickinson of me.
Do you outline: uh... not totally. it depends on the story. a character study doesn’t really require an outline; something that’s more plot heavy (ew) usually requires a vague outline at the v least. honestly, most of my best writing occurs as i’m writing it, which sucks, but seems to be the case.
How many of your stories are complete: i have at least 30+ complete works uploaded to the archive.
How many of your stories are in progress: this is a vicious question. the answer is a lot. i have a lot of stories in progress. i’ve had a captain charming fic in progress for about 2 years and haven’t touched it in ages, but would still like to finish it at some point. i also have 2 queen of the south fics i’d like to finish, and as i mentioned, a good omens fic that’s almost at 3k and nearly done. this also doesn’t include original unfinished content, of which i have at least 2.
Coming soon: see above.
Do you accept prompts: so long as it’s a fandom or a pairing i’ve recently written for, absolutely! i do still have some sitting in my inbox though, so i generally don’t make any promises.
Upcoming story you’re most excited to write: i’m v excited about this good omens fic and my as yet titled novel about the house and the maybe lesbians. i can’t tell if they’re lesbians yet. initially they were always gonna be bi at the very least and all of a sudden it’s like they’re not sure so i’m not sure. whatever. it’s about fate and magic millennials.
Tagging: @distant-rose @justanotherwannabeclassic @jump-on-winds-back @phiralovesloki @academicpunk and whomever else would like to participate!
spooky truth spooky truth spooky truth spOOKY TRUTH // so like, obviously I've got more than a soft spot for all of your CC fic and it's incredibly important to me because it's what flung me head-first into the trash bin. But spooky truth was my first real experience with your writing and I just remember how much it blew me away the first time. Your style and pacing and what you focused on and what you didn't--it was so poetic and I just fell hard in love.
THANK YOU! I really enjoyed writing Spooky Truth, and I was always so happy that you liked it as much as you did, esp since I love ur brain. Sigh. Remember when I could write? xo
