I was tagged by @schrodingerspsycho to share some stuff about fan fiction, so I thought I'd share some details about some of the stories I've written. (this is a long post with spoilers ahead)
Fake it till you make it:
There were more obscure/personal references than I care to admit in this story. I put a lot of myself into it and pieces about my own family. For example, my Papa (grandpa) is a big fan of Argentinian Malbec red wines, which is why I had Gomez share a bottle with the girls.
I also enjoyed weaving in the twist of Joel being an antagonist that was hired by Morticia to give Wednesday and Enid a little push to admit their feelings. I admittedly didn't come up with that till the last minute, but it felt like a fantastic idea at the time and I was glad that it surprised my readers.
If I remember correctly, very early into dating my husband we used to brush a thumb over each other's earlobe as a subtle way to ask for a kiss, which was something I incorporated into the fic as a way for them to privately check in with each other before sharing a kiss. I put quite a lot of bits and pieces of my relationship with my husband and I into this fic, and do for most of my fics actually.
Silly but fun fact, I tend to write the girls falling into a relationship quickly because a) I am impatient, and b) because that was how my own relationship happened. We met and dated for maybe a month or so before we got engaged. He was there with me through my jaw reconstruction in the hospital, came with my to my Uni classes to make sure I was safe, and we just kinda... knew. We've been together for eleven years now, married for six years.
I always liked showing the difference of Wednesday being a little scared or concerned in situations to switch her normal speech pattern to use compound sentences rather than her usual long form of speech. It's a subtle literary way to emphasise the urgency of a situation.
The concept of Enid taking Wednesday's braids out when they are being intimate was something I also enjoyed weaving into the story, and into later ones too, where it represented Wednesday letting her guard down to be vulnerable with Enid.
As someone with ADHD who gets overwhelmed by loud sounds, Loops help me a lot with coping with that anxiety, which is why I incorporated them into the story. It made sense to me that Wednesday (Autism coded) would need a pair, and Enid (ADHD coded), as well as Pugsley (Autism coded). It's never really outright stated in my fics, but it also doesn't need to be. You can read between the lines, and as a Neurodivergent person myself, it often bleeds into my writing without realising.
In my fics, the wedding band always sits closest to the knuckle because that's how I wear my own rings.
Emotional Support Werewolf:
It's no secret I wrote this fic with my husband, and it was a labour of love. We weaved many little hints into things that later came back into being BIG plotpoints.
From the very beginning, Wednesday's scent was associated with petrichor and it was something Enid enjoyed smelling and relaxed her. It wasn't until much later that Enid realised it wasn't her scent at all, but what Wednesday's love for her smelt like. Because it had always been there, she didn't connect the dots until much later and it was a nice little reveal.
Enid having three distinct forms was something I've always kinda liked, but decided to give it deeper lore around it. The half shifted mode started back in Fake it, and has carried over into pretty much all of my fics as a protective display that Enid uses (more or less).
However, the Hellhound being the show canonical form for Enid as a 'battle mode' was very fun to play with. Especially with the blood moon aspect weaved in being hinted early on with Enid's eyes.
And Enid's eyes basically looked exactly like Eve's eyes in Underworld Awakening.
The stalker being someone insignificant and unknown was not a widely liked take in the story, but given the focus was mostly on the developing relationship between the girls, we didn't want to devote big chunks of plot to developing a character that was essentially just a means to and end for pushing them together.
I talked about it before, but I read a fic where Enid had a child young through less than pleasant means and decided I wanted to write my own story that was more wholesome and loving. Originally, Wednesday wasn't going to be the biological parent, and it was Marcus that was referenced. One of the reasons I changed this was because it still felt too dubious consent adjacent with Enid in heat, and the other was simply because I wanted my husband to read the fic and he refused unless only Wenclair are physically together (which I understand).
Ultimately, this was the best change I ever made to the overall story, and something truly beautiful came out of it (after a very painful editing process to fix what I had previously written with the already stated Marcus version).
Early into writing the story, I had a lot of issues and had to take breaks writing it because it's a very emotionally charged topic for me. Mr Wolf and I have wanted our own kids for a while and have had issues achieving that, so writing Emalie as a newborn was often quite difficult. It is easier writing the little Addams family now, and I am very attached to Emalie and the universe I have created around them.
There was also foreshadowing that Wednesday was Emalie's parent weaved in simply by how quickly Em took to her and how easily she was able to soothe her, when Emalie has traditionally been very picky about who holds her.
I didn't talk about it much, but I also did a tonne of research about babies and their developmental milestones and when they need specific things, like vaccinations, and how I could adjust some of these due to Emalie being a hybrid werewolf child of a blood moon wolf.
In the latter third of the story, I decided to delve more into Wednesday gaining more wolf abilities, such as being able to smell the difference in Enid and Emalie's scents, her ability to differentiate Enid's a little keener (especially since more nuanced emotions aren't something Emalie has presently) I stuck with the flower theme that has been in the story since the beginning when Emalie got her middle name of Rose, and bled into part of Em's scent having roses in it.
I mentioned it in a chapter note, but the seamstress that made the wedding dresses for the girls was a reference to Mr Wolf's grandmother who made my wedding dress, even in name sake.
A relatively unknown fact is that I also tracked Emalie's age based off the day she was born and kept track chapter by chapter.
The story title itself is a large giveaway as to what is to come within this story, but being along for the journey is part of what makes reading fanfics fun and enjoyable.
Somewhat known, but not as widely as I think, I write several chapters ahead of what I publish on AO3 so I feel a little less pressure, especially since on average a 5.5-6k chapter takes about three weeks to write.
I can't reveal too much about this ongoing fic since the plot is still developing, but there is a fully planned out plotline that I am using as a guide for major events, doing my best to stay on track and weave subtle references into what's to come.
I deliberately don't talk to Mr Wolf about the storyline because I want him to experience the story himself as he reads it, but he still sometimes asks me questions, which I tactfully answer with no to minimal spoilers.