Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for a fic title? One fic per line, ‘A’ and 'The" do not count for 'a’ and ‘t’. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.
tagged by: @starsfromuncle ^_^ thanks, looks fun :D
A - Accessibility Review
B - Bad Decisions and Catharsis
C - Cassandra
D - (Don't You) Forget About Me
E - Electric Connection
F - Face Blind
G - Geometry
H - The Hanahaki Incident
I - Inevitable
J - The Jedi in the Carbonite
K - Keep You Safe (With Me)
L - (Letting Grief) Run It's Course
M - Marshmallows and Hallmark Movies
N - (Not Quite) The Apple Pie Life
O - Observations and Offers of Help
P - (Predestination) Paradox
Q - The Queen's Frost
R - (Re)Learning to Breathe
S - (Survivor's) Guilt
T - Taken on Faith
U - Unpacking the Accelerator (The Broken Pedestal)
V - A Very Snart Haunting
W - (Why Won't You Respect) When I Say No
X -
Y - You Must Live (For Me)
Z -
(Bonus # - 31 (Or More) Flavors )
Final tally - 24/26 (25/27 if we include fics that start with a number)
Total Fic count - 682
Only missing X and Z, so clearly I should rectify that sometime soon, lol
Tagging: @shrinkthisviolet @the-devil-in-the-details-666 @sophinspace @strivia @vexic929 @ageless-aislynn and anyone else who like to play :D
I would love to know your headcanons for Ralph Dibny please!!!!
He's face blind - I've written a fic for this headcanon already so you probably remember that one. Comes from the bachelor/bachelorette party episode where he doesn't recognize Frost looks like Caitlin with different hair color/eye color until Frost's hair changes back into Caitlin's. From there it snowballed into this big thing and honestly I love the idea that this is a disability that his powers cannot fix and probably something he really struggled with in light of his job. Both from an internalized ableism getting in his way and also him finding alternative ways of recognizing people when he's tracking them down.
He is, in fact, still fat and struggling with how he feels about it. Ralph can hide this with his powers but when he doesn't focus on his ideal appearance? It takes a long time for him to finally be comfortable with his real appearance and weight and stop hiding, but his friends - and Sue - I think would help him with this once they realize what's going on with him.
He also has some EDS like symptoms caused by his powers that Caitlin's serum helps with but doesn't totally eliminate.
He's a film noir buff and this started when he was a kid. His mom would take him to see old movies at the theater and he fell in love with the genre. Which is why Picard is his favorite Star Trek Captain.
After the incident where the little girl got hurt and Ralph blamed himself in S4, Ralph would often visit the children's hospital as the Elongated Man to do balloon animals with his arms for the kids amusement.
He's got sisters. The show tries to say he's an only child I think? (When his mom shows up?) But he is way too good at figuring out what's really up with Frost and Caitlin's miscommunications to be an only child, this is a man who grew up with squabbling sisters and learned how to interpret what was really going on with them
When Frost was world traveling with Blaine, she met up with Ralph and Sue a few times. I think Ralph actually would get along well enough with Mark... but not necessarily think Mark's good enough for his bestie.
The real reason Ralph doesn't show up in S9 and Sue does is because he can't bear to see Khione there and not Frost or Caitlin. I think he regrets not meeting Khione after Caitlin is restored.
He also regrets not being at Frost's funeral even though there was no way he and Sue could have made it on time.
No one tells Ralph about Caitlin being restored until he shows up to visit his new niece - though in fairness he probably arrives within a week or two of Nora being born so they didn't want to explain everything over the phone.
Ralph crochets, mostly small things like mittens and little granny squares and sometimes hats, but he's also got a few really warm blankets that he made from a bunch of granny squares he combined. He will also to amigurumi kits and donate the finished dolls to the hospital for kids to enjoy.
Ralph and Sue meet Bruce Wayne on their travels. Ralph is very aware that Bruce is Batman and that Bruce has no reason to know that Ralph knows (which, he knows Kate is Batwoman so Ralph totally knows who Batman is). Ralph absolutely refers to Batman as 'that bat furry from Gotham' to Bruce's face just to see if Bruce will get twitchy about it. Bruce... does not like him. Sue found the whole thing hilarious.
Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers.
Let’s spread the self-love 💖
And don't worry, no pressure if you don't feel up to it or forget it in your ask box to collect a little dust. 😉
🫶
1 please, I've been on my knees, change the prophecy an MDZS fic I wrote for an exchange. I really went wild with this one... I really liked writing it though and I'm pretty happy with the results!! I still want to expand on this AU more in future fics.
2. Blue my ATLA OC fic. It was the first fanfiction I ever published and it's my longest multichaptered fic! it's still kinda rough due to me writing it from ages 13-18 (ish, idk exactly) it's still something I look back on fondly and had fun writing.
3. Ethereal my XMen OC fic. I still want to come back to this at some point because I love Marianne, I love the arc I'm slowly working out for her, and I looooove all the relationships between her and the other characters.
4. my heart is a stone, my body is not my own because it was one of my first published dark fics and I love that for me. the writing experience was fun too and I love telling people how I wrote it (I saved several different copies on ao3, google drive, and my notes app, and would copy and paste the newest addition into each copy so I could keep writing it wherever I was whenever the mood struck).
5. Sparkling Cyanide because I love a role swap au and I love Donna and Ten.
Talk Shop Tuesday - what's inspired your latest WIPs?
I think inspiration comes from everywhere, and sometimes I don't remember every little thing that comes into it, but I do have an answer for my still untitled, hopefully for Gen Work June Iris Fic:
The first part of the idea was pulling from the Flash comics again- Barry's original origin story essentially being a comic nerd got the same superpowers as his favourite superhero and no hesitation deciding to follow in his footsteps is one I really do enjoy, and I like the later additions (I want to say it's in Williamson's Flash run but I could be wrong) that Nora was the one who originally got Barry into comics.
And things get a little wobbly after COIE- Earth-One and Earth-Two merge so Barry and Jay's first meeting has to change, and it shifts to Keystone disappears at some point in history and Barry helps bring it back, which is something I can use in a TV Flash fic.
So this is actually a post-Crisis fic, although it's set when Barry and Iris are children, and that part is being used to keep s1 of the Flash mostly the same but also to bring in Jay as the first Flash with a reason he's not involved in s1, so he very much needs to have disappeared long enough ago and be unknowable enough he's considered an urban legend rather than a historical figure who could explain Barry's "Man in Yellow". Which is easy enough- Jay fought in WW2, we'll just say he helped around Keystone some, then went off to war, and Keystone disappeared late 40s at best, so it's one of those redacted there's a million conspiracy theories things rather than something people in Central know about and can easily point to to explain Barry's story.
(And, of course, the Flash ends up as a comic book just for Barry and Nora)
(I also probably need to consider when Superman comes onto the scene now- Supergirl establishes him as an established hero when Kara arrives on Earth at 13, presumerably then 2 years after Nora's death now Kara and Barry are on the same Earth, so that might end up as a plot point)
So that's part one of where the idea came from.
Iris' role is I think, as its heart, rooted in Enid Blyton. Children solving mysteries isn't exactly an uncommon genre (Angus McDonald from The Adventure Zone possibly also has a part to play), but Blyton's books are the ones I remember reading growing up that are still usually the first that come to mind (there being some adverts about with the Famous Five in them helps with that too). Well, Blyton and Scooby Doo but I have actually already got a Flash Scooby Doo inspired AU.
It's very much a this would be an easy fic to write for Barry, but I think I want to keep it Iris-centric, and I want to make it a child Iris first discovering a love for journalism (though she reads this as mystery solving and still ends up the answer is she wants to be a detective like her dad). It's easy to explain why she would start solving this mystery- Barry is her best friend, she wants to help him- but I think the reason it stalled for so long is I need her to fail. And that's easy to explain too, she's ten-years-old, how is a ten-year-old going to solve a 50-year-old mystery alone.
But I did get stuck there until the other day where I was flicking through notes and odds and ends I have that I haven't finished trying to find something that I can repurpose as a fic for Gen Work June since it's already the 10th and I haven't actually got one yet (I've been busy, but I run the event, at the very least I need to do one thing). And it would be easy to say it's a platonic story about Iris and Barry as kids, but it's canon Barry already had his crush at this point, and I want something that is purely platonic.
There were actually three options here- there is a librarian mentioned at the start of this fic named Ms Rose. She's actually Rose Canton- who originally appeared in Flash #89, a comic reprinted in the 80 Years of the Flash book- and idea one was this is Iris meeting this old librarian who helps a little to help Jay (and Alan).
Option two was a very brief Mrs Joan Garrick was a reporter at one point and an Iris and Joan fic might be fun.
Option three- the one I think I'm going with- is this is how Iris meets Linda, this is both of them getting into journalism together, this is Iris making a new friend (at a time when I think she's probably not got many because she's so determined to stick with Barry), and this is a story about two children becoming friends and discovering a shared love for something that later will be important.
I still need to work out exactly how to get from the point I've stalled at to a whole fic, but I think that's where the most important source of inspiration, the one that helps with writing literally everything, comes in: I'm going to go hang out in the woods with my dog and see what happens.
5+ Headcanons for an AU where Shmi Skywalker lives???
Okay, before I do I must first rec three fics.
The Desert Storm by Blue_Sunshine - An Obi-Wan time travel fic where Shmi joins the Jedi Order. Amongst many other changes. It goes the route of Obi-Wan taking his younger self as a Padawan, which is a fun choice.
Jedi Shmi AU by MirandaTam - An AU where Shmi goes with Anakin to join the Jedi. This is the only one of the three recs that focuses specifically on Shmi and her character development is quite lovely.
Hedge!Jedi AU by Dandalf - Another Obi-Wan time travel fic where Obi-Wan trains Shmi as his padawan and decides to challenge what it means to be a Jedi along the way. By the time this plot hits the events of The Phantom Menace it's a very different ballgame than what Palpatine was expecting.
Now that's done :D
There are a lot of places to potentially split off from from the canon timeline and therefor save Shmi. But I think I'll go with the place where she died.
While injured, Shmi is not deathly injured by the Sand People. She rescued one of their children a few years ago and so it turns out they kidnapped her to protect her from a nearby Krayt Dragon that's moving territory. It's a big misunderstanding and Anakin and Padme arrive in time to join Cliegg to retrieve Shmi and between Anakin's experience's learning negotiation with Obi-Wan, Padme's years as Queen and Senator and C3-PO's understanding of the Sand People's language, they're able to clear things up and bring Shmi home peacefully.
There is still the problem of the Krayt Dragon, however, it's threatening both the Sand People's village and the Lars family farm. Anakin and Padme wind up helping fight the Krayt but of course only after Anakin and Padme have a blow up argument about it and Shmi gets to give Anakin sage advice about respecting Padme's choices even when he disagrees with them. Even if he and Padme were in a relationship, he would never have the right to dictate her choices for her.
The fight goes fairly well butttttt Cleig gets his leg ripped off. Padme insists on taking him to a medical facility and to pay for his care using one of her aliases for when she needs to travel incognito. Shmi goes with them, of course, and Owen and Beru stay behind to mind the farm.
It's on the medical facility that they get Obi-Wan's message to relay to the Council. Padme and Anakin go to help him and events go largely as canon did. But Shmi and Cliegg are at the secret wedding. Padme offers Shmi and Cliegg help settling on Naboo and they accept, extending the offer to Owen and Beru as well but since Beru is part of the network that helps slaves escape they choose to stay behind. But now they have a safe place off world not too far away that they can now send escaped slaves to recover and build new lives without fear of being re-enslaved.
Palpatine is, of course, upset that Shmi didn't die as he'd forseen and Anakin didn't get that first short lived fall to the dark side, but Anakin's still breaking Jedi rules and Palpatine figures he can work with that. But he does intend to find a way to get her killed off. Just in case.
Naboo therefor gets targeted for a bio weapon as the war picks up - the one from the Clone Wars show. It's stopped in time but it's not the only threat Naboo faces. Several attempted Separatist invasions, etc. Shmi becomes very interested in the personhood of the Clone Troopers and becomes a loud voice for a group dedicated to freeing the clones. Cliegg is proud of his wife, supporting her as she becomes a bigger name in the universe. The mother of the Hero Without Fear but also The Mother of Freedom as her work and visibility and speaches helps lead to slave revolts in nearby Hutt affiliated worlds. Worlds that then join the Republic or the Separatists.
She also makes inroads towards freeing the Clones. The Senate very much doesn't want to let go of their ready made army, but provisions for clones to safely retire as civilians with pay when they can no longer fight in the war are made and retirement options for all clones after the war are on the debate table.
(Cliegg - *heart eyes after Shmi stabs a would-be assassin* That's my wife, she's amazing.)
When a few of the clones learn about the chip in their heads, instead of going to Coruscant, they go to Naboo. To Shmi. And they're able to tell her what's going on while she hides them and gets word to Anakin and Obi-Wan.
Analysis of more of the chips, as some do survive extraction, make the Jedi aware of Order 66 and various other orders, which implicate Palpatine. They have to be careful in confronting Palpatine about this, because if he gets a message out to the clones - many of whom are still chipped - then they could turn on Jedi unaware of what's going on as there are a lot of troops out of contact and of course they have to be stealthy about de-chipping to avoid Palpatine or Separatist notice. It's not clear if Palpatine is a Sith or if he's just a Sith's puppet. And Anakin wants to believe that Palpatine's just an unknowing pawn but with his mother still around he's a lot more stable and not as close as he was with Palpatine in canon since... well... Shmi does not like the man. At all. It's awkward.
Eventually the Jedi get a plan together and right as they're about to go for it, Palpatine is kidnapped. He tries to get Anakin to execute Dooku like in canon and Anakin's tempted. But. He spares Dooku.
So Palpatine shoots Dooku in the head. Summary execution, one of the legal war powers he has as Supreme Chancellor. Which Anakin was not aware of and is appalled by.
Anakin is now convinced that Palpatine is a Sith Lord and forces the issue rather than go anywhere with Palpatine. Since Anakin is insisting that he and Obi-Wan and R2's deaths are noble if it means a Sith Freaking Lord goes down with them, Palpatine has to drop the mask and peace out with his secret getaway ship.
Anakin and Obi-Wan land the ship a la canon but of course it's a new ballgame. Dooku is dead, Grievous has been located, and Palpatine is accusing the Jedi of treason, enacting Order 66. Some clones are still chipped and some aren't - the de-chipped clones are thankfully including those on Coruscant and they help the Jedi flee, saving the majority of those still in the temple from non-clone Republic forces that turn on them because their Chancellor said so. It's anarchy in the senate as Bail and Padme try to fight for the Jedi and of course Palpatine 'regretfully' reveal's Padme's treasonous ties by marriage to the Jedi and she's arrested.
Anakin nearly falls confronting Palpatine to save Padme. But ultimately it's Padme and Obi-Wan - and though she's not there in person, Shmi - who pull Anakin back from the brink. They all manage to escape, barely, learning of Grievous' death and the Separatists surrender. The Republic becomes and Empire and the twins are born.
Though the Jedi Council is very much not pleased with Anakin for hiding his relationship, there's precedent for Jedi being married and not leaving the order. And he's proven able to resist the temptation of the dark side that possessive attachment brings, so they don't kick him out of the Order. Admittedly does not hurt that this is an all hands on deck situation. The Order needs to find somewhere safe to set up shop where the Empire cannot find them and continue trying to save the clones... and now the entire galaxy from the Sith.
Known supporters of the Jedi - like Shmi and Cliegg - have to disappear real fast too, joining the Jedi in their exile. Owen and Beru, having helped free Tatooine from the Hutts and joined the Republic reactivate their position as an escape outpost. Now for Jedi, Clones, or sympathizers looking to escape the Empire.
Palpatine - Ah yes, I'll just kill Shmi Lars, no big deal. Should be super easy, there's a war on after all.
Shmi - *Plot armor, impossible to kill now, this is a Shmi lives fic*
Palpatine - Well this is just utter bantha shit. Why are there now TWO impossible to murder women providing moral guidance and emotional balance in Anakin's life????
Talk Shop Tuesday - any there non-DC things you're going to write for this year and if so, what are they?
I've been writing a few essays lately! Which has meant less time for writing any kind of fiction, so my only real plan is get Snowest v Zoom finished (I am at a slightly stuck point, but I may have figured it out? Possibly, I'm not sure yet). I don't even have a fic for Gen Work June yet, though I'm thinking I can reshuffle an old Iris West, ten-year-old detective half a fic.
But it's looking like August will be a very busy month for me and I do love doing Writer's Month, so it will depend on the prompts but I'm leaning to possibly some more poetry this year? Maybe some original fiction. The drabbles last year were much more achievable because they were all short and I could write them quickly, so sticking to short things regardless of what they end up being is going to be easier, but trying something a little different sounds fun too.
I'm also kind of tempted by a modern day Dracula retelling where Lucy is filling in Jonathan's spot going to Romania and meeting "the mysterious count" leaving her girlfriend Mina worrying terribly (with a few other twists along the way, obviously)
But I think it would take so long and I'm also tempted by modern day Dracula that is entirely told in Jonathan Harker's increasingly bizarre recipe blog (probably actually published as a recipe blog that starts really normal here's how law studying is going here's a cheap and easy student recipe, oh look first work trip, here's some Hungarian recipes, and then it goes fully into Dracula, complete with periods of no posting for months while Jonathan is convalescing), but that would be an incredibly time consuming project I don't really have the time for, so I think that one will be staying a day dream.
