#rae writes clonefic

[raemanzu]

In a shocking turn of events, I am actually working on original fiction today... but don’t worry I still have a goal to finish a draft of the next ltfad chapter in the next couple days.

[raemanzu]

Went through my AO3 inbox to try and catch up on replying to comments, and now I’m full of feels and having another moment of “how the heck did we make this fic and how the heck do we continue to make it this good” and I’m just... feels yeah

[raemanzu]

Update: draft two of chapter 47 is done, which kind of completely changed the emotional arc of it, hopefully for the better??? guess we’ll find ouuuut

[raemanzu]

Yesterday I finished draft 1 of chapter 47 and today I got 75% through draft 2 so that’s exciting

I need to sleep now cuz it’s 1AM..

[raemanzu]

2020 Fanfic in Review Meme

I stole this from @astriiformes

What fic did I disgorge from my brain maw this year? From quick glance at AO3, it looks like I wrote an april fools day chapter of LtFAD (the one where Cody has a nervous breakdown lol) and at least one chapter of Gospel of Crowley in 2020. I also wrote some cadet Codex one-shots, and a whole bunch of sidefic which sadly cannot be shared yet.

Takeaways from reflecting on your kick-ass writing, or kick-ass lack of writing, during a year more focused on survival than perhaps any other:   I definitely did not write as much as I wanted to in 2020. I got run over by the train of feels that was ff7 remake and, rather than start any actual shareable fic of that, just RP'd a bunch. I'm kind of surprised at how well my NaNoWriMo-ing of sidefic chapters went in November, and I'm glad I was able to get so many raw words down, but things immediately ground to a halt after that because of life stuff. I guess my takeaway is that sometimes long periods of having very little to do isn't actually the ideal state for my writing brain. I tend to be most productive with actual fanfic when I have an appropriate balance of non-writing activity going on in my life that occupies some of my time but not too much of my daydream brain.

But also I guess I take away that sometimes it’s a good idea to just do what feels inspiring in the moment even if it can’t be shared with anyone or isn’t the current project most people are waiting on, because it gives space to play and refresh those creativity muscles.

Most surprising fic you wrote this year: Well, probably sidefic since hardly anybody gets to read it (yet) and it intimidates me, so I'm surprised I got so much done in november lol.

How you’ve grown as a writer this year: Ummm. I'm not sure I can point to any one thing except maybe having less crippling guilt about not writing? I'm doing better at focusing on the joy of it instead of wrapping my identity up in it so much.

What’s coming in 2021: Okay here's what I HOPE to accomplish writing-wise this year. As a minimum. -Catch up to current ltfad chapters in the sidefic -Get most or all of the Rex chapters written to the end of book 1 -write a few more chapters of Gospel of Crowley -I NEED TO WRITE ANOTHER BLYLA ONE SHOT I miss them -At least 1 or 2 more Fox Territory chapters

[raemanzu]

was tagged by @tearlessrain to do this "what do your OCs smell like" ask meme soooo ummmm this is probably gonna be super random so bear with me

1. First one that comes to mind is Tiras, who is one of my favorite super problematic RP characters hahaha... he has had a very weird and dramatic past (like, ex-serial-killer bad) but now he copes with his issues by doing copious amounts of surfing so he always smells like sea water and sunscreen.

2. Sabriel is another RP character but he's much less problematic than Tiras, especially now that he's evolved into a soft domestic gay, he probably often smells like dishsoap, herbs, flour/sugar and aromatics like garlic and onion because he cooks a lot. But he also brushes his teeth multiple times a day so he also smells like toothpaste.

3. Maze, who is the most Bro-y RP character we have, doesn't have a specific smell from external activities clinging to him like the previous two I think, but he has the odor of a Guy who uses reasonably strong body wash, but thankfully not Axe. He also likes dairy a LOT so I imagine him smelling slightly like a mild cheese sometimes lol.

4. Last I checked in with him Adriel was using orange and vanilla scented bath products but it's been a while, so idk now, but he does do a lot of art with traditional media, so I would guess his hands at the very least probably smell like colored pencil wax or paint at times.

okay let's see, do I have any non-RP characters who I could talk about... Clone Wars OCs maybe

5. Green... sadly, he smells... sick. You know, like, faint whiffs of acidic smells, sweat, etc. Because he is a very sick boy. And I'm sure he also smells like whatever medicine he takes to try and manage it :'( We like to joke about his electrolyte freeze pops so ofc that makes me think of something cherry or grape flavored lol

6. TL-89 smells like metal because he is a droid

7. Pretty much all of the other clone OCs just smell like all clones would smell I imagine, which is probably standard-issue GAR soap, sweat, and whatever material their undersuits are made of, plus dust/pollen/whatever from whatever planet they were on last, since they all eat basically the same things and so forth. I know that's a boring answer but I stand by it lol. Idk human body odors are really hard to describe ok?

OH! Except the medics. Who probably smell like alcohol because of constantly sterilizing things.

8. Now I'm wondering what Kaminoans smell like. My brain is throwing the scent of a mostly-clean fish tank or pond at me, like, there's definitely stuff growing in there, and you know it could smell gross if it got more pungent, but it smells kind of nice right now. So I imagine maybe Kaminoans smell sort of like that, faintly, in terms of natural body odor. I can't decide if Sa Eno would ever let her body odor get to a point of detection by human/clone noses though... on the one hand she does seem the type to forget to bathe/whatever Kaminoans do while obsessing over her science projects, but on the other hand, Tipoca City is so clean and sterile I find it hard to imagine any kind of unkemptness being tolerated.

9. Wikker probably smells somewhat like a rat when he doesn't bathe because... I mean... he's a ranat. But he's pretty hygienic, so...

and that's all I can think of off the top of my head at the moment, because my brain is telling me it's time to sleep xD

EDIT: Here’s a bonus RP character!

10. Asa is a punk-turned-hipster-on-the-surface who runs a coffeeshop/tattoo parlor in Oregon so he smells (you guessed it) like coffee. I love him because on the surface he seems like his entire personality is this harmlessly attractive androgynous late 30s business owner who occasionally dresses up like a woman (but usually soft fem not drag) but there’s just something unsettling about him even if you DON’T know that he keeps a gun in the back room and a knife on him at all times just in case he ever meets the man who took half his family from him :)))

[raemanzu]

It’s nice when the ridiculous disappointment of “this first draft is okay but not perfect” is immediately followed by the absolute THRILL of "but now because of Cal’s magic editor brain and a deep discussion of clone psychology it’s going to be SO MUCH MORE PAINFUL AND AMAZING”

[raemanzu]

me: I'm gonna write a feelsy one-shot

one-shot: -becomes too long and needs to be split into two parts-

me: this is fine, I can handle that, more feels

two-shot: -morphs into three-

me: oh.. o-oh um, well, I guess--

trilogy: -requires a prequel-

me: -sweats-.... o...k.....