#meta and rambles

[greatandquestionablecontent]

Here it is! The epilogue and final chapter of Conviction! There’s an Afterword (chapter 66) and everything!!

[greatandquestionablecontent]

How much of Conviction did you plan before you started writing? Did you have an outline or did you just write what you felt like in the moment?

😅 Yes lol

Um so the very very first draft in 2018, I just did whatever I wanted until it stopped working and then I started over, did some scheming and plotting, and tried again. Rinse and repeat. By spring of 2018 or 2019 idk which now, I had the very very barest bones outline which I work off now (gavin goes to jail, they become friends, learn secrets, trystan goes to solitary, trystan comes back, they get gay about it, gavin goes home).

In November 2020, I had a solid outline and about 50k words of a previous draft. I started posting chapter by chapter on AO3. Along the way Ive done a loooot of stopping and plotting in more detail, but Gavin’s basic arc hasn’t changed.

I write what I feel like in the moment, which gives me a patchwork of some upcoming scenes that I then sew together by writing chapter by chapter. Some of the scenes, such as the epilogue or the scene where Trystan talks about killing Kosta for the first time or where he comes back from solitary confinement, remain fundamentally the same as when I wrote them pre-2020, although I’ve revisited and tweaked them many times.

The result is a massive Scrivener file with a ton of subfolders.

Thanks for the ask!

[greatandquestionablecontent]

It’s been a while since I updated y’all on my phone’s research rabbithole tabs situation. It got dire. I did a bunch of purging the other day and got my main tab group down from 500 to 359.

Here in an incomplete sample of my Wikipedia tabs I currently have open, out of order because tumblr made me rewrite this post a dozen times and wouldn’t let me link them

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy

General paresis of the insane

List of human disease case fatality rates

Cyopreservation

Suspended animation

Cold chain

Phases of ice

Timber rattlesnake

Snake handling in Christianity

Xingtian

Carl Tanzler

Foco

French invasion of Russia

Myriad year clock

Congregate care in the United States

Movile Cave

Nikko Jenkins

Semantic satiation

Xenophyophorea

Nuclear power

Palantir technologies

Dynastes tityus

Heliography

Eschatology

East India Company

Tanzimat

Edo period

Leprosy

Brazilian jiu-jitsu

Traditional Chinese timekeeping

[greatandquestionablecontent]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27131302/chapters/169832365

I just posted either the penultimate or third to last chapter of Conviction! Go read it and finally get some of the happy ending part of the #angst-with-a-happy-ending!

I'm still deciding if I want to include Chapter 65 before the epilogue, or leave that for book 2. If you're okay with spoilers and want to chat about it, I'd love input!

Thanks for being along for the ride, readers! And for those of you seeing this who haven't been along for the ride, it's not too late to start ;)

[greatandquestionablecontent]

Two new Conviction chapters posted in two days! 59 and 60! Tumblr isnt letting me embed links in text anymore for some reason 😓

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27131302/chapters/154839418#workskin

I now have ONE chapter left to write, plus some line editing and picking out a name for Cardean Genghis Khan, then I’ll be DONE with Conviction and ready to post the last few chapters, including the epilogue I’ve had written for years. I just need to write out Gavin and Ramsey meeting, judging the heck out of each other, and taking Cat to the vet. Essential plot stuff yknow.

And then I can go work on Eldritch Fracking story until I feel ready to dive into Coaptation (Conviction sequel).

If I finish Conviction in January of 2025 that’ll be so funny, since I think my very first Jail AU idea was in January of 2018.

[greatandquestionablecontent]

I can see yall enjoyed my journey through the cosmic horror tag 🥰

[greatandquestionablecontent]

Ok finally settled on a tag for my current WIP that I can actually remember, hence the reblog of things with #stop eldritch fracking 2k25, because tumblr won’t let me edit tags on mobile properly and I’m too lazy to go on my computer

[greatandquestionablecontent]

Terror Rewatch Thougghts: Episode 6

-“Leave it to you sir john.” So capt franklin was the one who packed all the party gear! That fits. He sucked in a lot of ways but he also definitely understood how to keep people’s spirits and loyalties up. Also he was a great sermon writer, frankly. Love that he packed such a huge variety of costumes and decor.

-Jopson and the captain 🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲

-Bridgens giving peglar time to process to get ready for the journey. I read some meta abt how in the book we learn Peglar is the smartest man Bridgens ever knew, but takes longer to read things and learn things. With that in mind, it adds extra meaning to Bridgens going to him with the Anabasis as soon as he hears about the journey. It’s warning your bro because he’s the first person you tell, but it’s also helping him prepare his mind in a way that works for him, because you know him, and you Get him.

-The fact that fitzjames never even tries on the dress. He thinks about it. He has a moment in the mirror with his imagination. And then chooses a roman soldier outfit instead, whoch is Manly and Warriorly. The first time I was confused bc ngl I’d seen the cross dressing memes and still could barely keep track of who was who so I was like wait hang on what? But I Get It now. This fits so much with what he says later about building a man to live inside of. It’s also heartbreaking that he didn’t let himself have that chance to dress up, and then never again could have a chance, for different reasons.

-(Also fitzjames’ hair bleeding from scurvy onto the femme mask. Does he know hair follicles bleeding is a scurvy symptom? Probably. I didn’t know that until I went down my research rabbithole after the first watch).

-I spent a huge chunk of the episode like “ok but at exactly what moment do u think the dr decided to set the carnival and himself on fire.” Have you been having dark thoughts? Do you feel like your mind is against you?

-PEGLAR AFTER THE FIRE SEARCHING DESPERATELY THROUGH THE PEOPLE SCANNING FACES AND THEN BRIDGENS GRABS HIM AND DRAGS HIM INTO A HUG.