âïž Welcome to the world of "Starf*cker" - a Bay Area Sports auâïž
(you can read the prologue HERE)
This fic has been plaguing my mind for the past few weeks and Iâm so excited to finally start posting!
Premise: Mack chose soccer over hockey at 15. Everything is on track: first overall draftee to San Jose, working hard at preseason to secure a contract, getting integrated â the last key is smiling pretty for social media, and going to a Sharks gameâŠ
Regarding the arc: it will not just be a getting together story, it will encompass their whole trajectory from meeting to first time (part I), and until a very public relationship (part II). Just so you know. Part I and Part II will each be around 10 chapters, 5k words per chapter on average. It will mostly be Mack's POV (and by that I mean I, the telepathic fly, will be employing my telepathy on Mack) but there will be occasional Will perspectives too!
I'll be posting snippets probably in the middle of every week from the upcoming chapter (Tuesday/Wednesday) as well as rundowns of our star-studded Quakes cast, as they will serve as crucial (and hopefully entertaining) side-kicks for this adventure. #friendship and whatnot.
But I need a bit more time to assemble a full fact sheet, so until then...
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đ INSPIRATIONS đ
(I always like to cite, I'm an academic by trade)
âšNeurotribes: the history of autism, by Steve Siberman
This book was essentially the kickstarter to the fic, inadvertantly (see: author's note for prologue). I thought I knew a lot about autism (I didn't spend exorbitant amounts of money on a psychology degree for nothing) but the way Silberman extracts singular cases from history and the beautiful language he uses really enhanced my understanding. And it taught me some insane vocab. Like the word "florid". And "whetted".
References to facts and familial patterns I learned will be made (first by Josh (OC), then more when we meet my revived version of Anton Celebrini who stayed alive in 2008 for the sake of the story. #rpf)
RIP Steve Silberman. As an openly gay man who was fascinated by autism, you would have loved Starfucker (this is a joke!)
âšThe Promised Land - by @alltimecharlo
I have done much glazing of alltimecharlo on this account and I will persist. If you couldn't tell, I am probably the biggest alltimecharlo fan of all time.
The way The Promised Land Relates to Starfucker, is that the entire premise kept echoing in my head while brainstorming. Starfucker would not exist without this predecessor that I've read like three times.
The Summary for Starfucker was almost a mirror of (and simply played in my head like a broken record as):
At the 2023 NHL Draft, Will Smith of Boston College is drafted 4th overall⊠by the Los Angeles Kings.
as in
At the 2026 MLS Draft, Macklin Celebrini is drafted first overall... by the San Jose Earthquakes.
But I didn't want to plagiarize.
The careful construction of a story that is just-about detached from reality but still includes real people (and a lot of research) is done so brilliantly in the promised land (and more currently in Cast No Shadow!). I highly recommend.
âšalso important: anywhere you want me
this is not just an alltimecharlo stand account i promise!
I've read this fic five times (and I don't even typically like age gaps like what), no one in the history of fics has ever combined comforting fluff with smut so perfectly. Whenever I think about what feeling I'm trying to emulate I think of anywhere you want me!
âš "For Crying Out Loud!" by FINNEAS
Basically, this whole story was inspired by the song "Cleats" (and by Bet On It from HSM2, true story). It's about a girl, but oh well, resonates with me.
I mentioned this when I shared this fic in an early state with @0rdinaryth1ngs (the angel) and they said they really liked the whole album. So I listened to the rest of the songs and fell in the love with the vibes and certain lines ("do you think I'd even leave a mark?" and "I wanna feel like this till i feel alright"). And of course, the opening song: Starfucker.
Therefore this album provided the title of work, the title of every chapter, and inspired so many little actions and dialogue, you can definitely spot easter eggs in there, and I am planning to incorporate more (e.g. "tears in your eyes, brush them aside") as I keep listening to the album over and over, and it keeps inspiring me.
âš as for other Mack soccer aus: i have deliberately not searched for any while writing because i have chronic and debilitating self-esteem issues and i would only think about how bad my own writing is, if I read something else that's similar! but please feel free to send recs my way, I want to read them once i complete this story!
âšmy own experiences as a nominally amateur but spiritually competitive football player (it will always be football I just use soccer for the sake of geographical consistency in the fic!) as a mid fullback. going deep in that area for terminology.
âšmy girlfriend who inspires me to write because she tells me I don't need to write for anyone else but myself but i still write for her and she tells me canadian skating lore okay i'll stop
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That was my little inspiration dump, hope you found it at least moderately interesting, enough to tide you over until Wednesday and Saturday.
love from kitchen sink :)
