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❓No dumb questions amnesty - can you explain this [line/dialogue/moment from the story]?

🏴‍☠️ Were there any points in which your characters tried (or succeeded) to commit mutiny against your planned plot? Where did they most want to rebel?

🥇 What scene were you most excited to write? Did it end up being the one you enjoyed writing the most?

🙏 Was there anything your character(s) really really really wanted to do? Did you let them?

🍆 What scene do you think was the hottest? What scene do you think your readers thought was the hottest? Are they the same?

🔮Have you imagined what happens to [character(s)] in the future? Or does the story only exist to you as a moment in time?

🔎 What detail(s) in the story are you particularly captivated with? Is there any behind the scenes info or backstory?

🧭 What was the key choice or decision you had to make for this story? If you had chosen differently, what would the story have turned into?

📖 Could the story have been a different length? What would you have included/removed?

🫂How would the story have changed if you wrote it for [this pairing] instead?

💭 If you could wish into creation a transformative piece for your story, made by a real human who isn’t you, what would it be? Art, video, sequel, podfic, etc.

📋What was your main goal for the story and/or writing experience? Do you think that you achieved it?

🎤 Do you think the story was written in your typical voice? Why or why not?

👉👈What two stories have you written that are most similar? Why?

👈👉What two stories have you written that are most different? Why?

"You know this girl, sir?" "For my sins," Robert grumbles, placing his hands on his hips, "Yes, I do, she's my-" "He's my dad," Liv says, suddenly, looking back at the officer. "You said you wanted to take me down to the station to call my parents, well, there's no need now, because he's my dad and he's here, so." "Is that right?" the officer sneers at her, the grip on her wrist not loosening at all, and Robert reacts before he thinks it through. "It is, actually," he says, stepping closer to the two and letting the frustration of the morning seep in to his voice, "and I'd love to know what the hell you think you're doing manhandling my daughter like that?" Liv learns to rely on Robert

AO3 link

thank you @ggee-xx @stuckinanothertimezone @nerdyfangirl76 @jackiemerrick @aaronsugdens @jonathan-harks @barnbert @capseycartwright @sugdendeeznuts @illbeyourreasonwhy @mellaithwen for the tags <3

trying to squeeze in some writing whenever i have free time which is suddenly never because my work hours take up my whole day now and it's summer so suddenly i have a social life but have a little tidbit from my romcom event fic

Paddy goes weirdly silent. He tilts his head slightly, narrows his eyes as he looks Robert over, who squirms a bit under his gaze. "Are you alright?" he asks after a beat, which catches Robert by surprise. "I'm grand. Why are you asking?" "I dunno. You've got this … energy about ya, you feel a bit on edge. Has something happened?" Robert thinks about the letter. All the emotions it brought to the surface, how they're still storming in his chest even days later. The longing, the regret, the resentment and the anger, the love that stubbornly refuses to die out. He almost tells Paddy about it, is halfway through opening his mouth before he catches himself. It had felt so natural to do it, something about Paddy's general demeanour making Robert feel comfortable enough to even consider sharing. It's fucking scary, is what it is. "Nothing's happened," he says dismissively. "Besides, this whole evening's about you, so don't turn this around on me." "Alright," Paddy says slowly, clearly not entirely believing him. "But you know you can always talk to me, right? I'm here for ya."

This week doesn't bring joy, but I had a short but nice writing session with 'get somebody to be your always', so here it comes.

“Will be a second, mate.” a disheveled bartender who looks barely over eighteen murmurs apologetically, and Aaron nods at him, embarrassed by a surge of annoyance he feels. He needs to get a grip. He needs to calm down, so maybe then he will start sleeping through the nights properly and stop acting like an idiot. 

Aaron is an idiot and he is selfish, and he can’t help himself - he turns around, and his stomach drops while his heart swells and jumps into his throat.

The chair Aaron has left maybe three minutes ago is now occupied by some bloke wearing a green button up and a charming smile. His hair is dark and soft-looking, and he’s leaning towards Robert with his elbows resting on the table, and something swirls in Aaron’s, hot and dark and paralysing. 

His blood thuds in his ear, the pulsing of his own heartbeat mixing with music, and Aaron can barely hear through it, barely registers the bartender tapping his shoulder, gesturing at the ready pints. The glasses are cold and slippery, and Aaron’s fingers feel weak and unsure in the way he isn’t used to. 

He doesn’t know what to do. 

Aaron’s gaze trails the line of Robert’s shoulders, notices that the sleeves of his shirt are now rolled up, and his mouth burns bitterly. He can’t see Robert’s face, and for one insane moment Aaron debates just staying back for a while longer. But then, the bloke leans even closer, his smile flickering with something warm and intimate, and Aaron feels insane with the need to drag this man as far away from Robert as possible.

tagged by the lovely @ggee-xx @stuckinanothertimezone and @nerdyfangirl76 thank you all my darlings <33 feels like i haven't taken part in these for ages and i've missed it haha

Robert doesn’t say a word the entire journey up to the Professor’s house. Jack is purple in the face with his rage and Robert understood that he needed to shut up after Jack yelled it at him. It’s late. John and Victoria should be asleep and Robert should be getting his goodnight kiss right about now. Instead, they’re corralled into the car in their pyjamas, nevermind the shivers wracking their small frames. John seems perfectly content, kicking his feet against the passenger side seat and blaming Robert when Jack snaps about it.  “Robert, you look after your siblings. I’ll be back in a minute.”  Jack slams the car door. Robert flinches. John puts his hand on Robert’s knee. “Do you think he’ll kill her boss?” He whispers. Robert shakes his head. Victoria starts crying. Robert wants to cry. He puts his hands over his ears. John fusses over the baby. Robert watches their dad. He’s peering in windows and stomping toward the door.  “Mum won’t like this,” Robert announces, “Nope,” John doesn’t sound like he cares one way or another, “There’ll probably be blood everywhere.” “Shut up, John, no one’s going to die.” “You don’t know that.”

thank you to @ggee-xx @stuckinanothertimezone @nerdyfangirl76 and @jackiemerrick for the tags xxxxxxx

little short one today:

"Okay, so what were you trying to steal?" he asks, facing forward.

"I wasn't… lipgloss." Liv sounds defeated and glum, and Robert glances over at her.

"Lipgloss? Do you even wear lipgloss?"

"No, but…" she looks down at her lap and picks at a loose thread in her school jumper. "Gabby said I should… you know, try something different. She said that boys like it."

Robert nods slowly, taking this in. "So, you skived off school to come and unsuccessfully attempt to steal a lipgloss that you don't even want?"

thanks for tagging me @thatnervouswreck, @barnbert, @jonathan-harks, @aaronsugdens, @jackiemerrick, @stuckinanothertimezone, @ggee-xx!

Robert had never planned to show Aaron any of the letters. He wasn’t entirely sure why he’d written them in the first place - a coping mechanism, he thinks, a way to survive the harsh reality of prison and make sense of what his life had become, Robert hunched over a table in the library, scribbling furiously.

He was surprised, sometimes, that the letters had survived his time in prison. Everything else - the pictures, the tiny fragments of home he had managed to take with him, they had been destroyed, right alongside the person he had been before he had been sentenced to life, with a minimum term of fourteen years.

In the Isle of Wight, Robert had kept them hidden in the library, tucked in the sleeve of a hardcover book that no one ever checked out, the library the only place he could have a brief moment of reprieve in that one single, horrific year he’d spent on the island.

The library had been smaller, in Hotten, and it had felt like more of a risk. Robert had decided to tuck the letters inside of his pillowcase, the crinkle of paper as he turned his head in his sleep an odd comfort as he tossed, and turned - a reminder, somehow, that Robert had once had a life outside of the claustrophobic walls of HMP Hotten.

If Kev had noticed the letters, he - surprisingly - didn’t comment. Robert wondered, sometimes, if Kev had some level of self awareness and he knew somehow that the letters were a part of Robert’s life he wasn’t privy to. Kev had his secrets, Robert knew, and he never asked - it made Robert feel as though he was entitled to a few secrets of his own, if he didn’t ask to know Kev’s.

When he’d left prison, Robert had left with a meagre selection of items - the two battered paperback books that Aaron had sent in with his bag, when he’d first been arrested. There were the four books that Vic had sent him, when Robert had allowed her to contact him again, her various birthday cards and letters tucked into the well-worn covers of the thriller novels she’d painstakingly picked out for him.

thank youu for the tags @ggee-xx @stuckinanothertimezone @nerdyfangirl76 @jackiemerrick @aaronsugdens @barnbert @sugdendeeznuts 💖 I've had Rob and Sarah on my mind lately instead of any of the fics I Should be writing so have something I definitely did not just type up directly into this post what do you mean

Robert opens the door, and she fully intends on easing into it, on asking for a favour and maybe calling back to the day that started all of this; instead, the moment their eyes meet, she bursts into tears.

"Sarah?" he asks, concerned.

"Can I ask for something?" she manages through her sobs, "And can you say yes?"

"Of - of course," he says, troubled even as he pulls her over the threshold and into his arms. "Anything."

She draws back, takes a deep breath and does her best to calm herself down and steady her voice, before asking, "Can I come live with you?"

Robert stills. For one terrible, terrifying moment, she thinks he's going to refuse.

But then he shakes himself and pulls her back into his arms.

"Sarah, I thought you were about to ask for my help burying a body," he says on an exhale, rubbing soothing circles across her back. "Of course you can come live here."

She lets out a shaky laugh, bringing a hand to wipe at her eyes. "If I did come to you for help burying a body," she says, her voice almost light if not for the lingering wobble to it, "would you still say yes?"

"Of course," he replies without missing a beat, his teasing grin audible even as she can't see his face. "Anything for the mother of my favorite niece."

"Great-niece," she reminds him, pulling back just to see him grimace. She likes this bit they have going. "I'm your favorite niece."

OMG. I feel awful because I'm so behind on everyone's snippets. I'm so proud of everyone's offerings.

I've been dealing with so much personal drama so I've had to be offline most the time.

Thank you so much for the tags: @ggee-xx @stuckinanothertimezone @nerdyfangirl76 @jackiemerrick & @aaronsugdens💛

“So, your ex..” Robert began. Aaron could practically see the back of his head. Robert’s jealously reeking like a song he heard a thousand times, it was practically an earworm. Unlike Robert with his dastardly attempts at looking like he was auditioning for the apprentice , Aaron could place hands in his pockets and stomp along, kicking stones to give off the impression of a foul mood. “What about him?” “I’m just sayin,’ couldn’t be dealing with that accent for a long period of time. Talk about grating.” Robert mocked with a gentle chuckle. “Yeah, that’s why I broke it off. Couldn’t be coping with the need for subtitles when we were in bed.” Aaron immediately realised he massively overstepped the grounds in which, you were supposed to keep things professional with a boss. Robert wouldn’t have needed the mental imagery. He scrapped his thumbnail back and forth against his eyebrow and sighed, “sorry uh, too much,” Aaron mumbled. Aaron could see the little markings either side of Robert’s lips embedding themselves across the portrait of Robert’s face as he smiled widely, admiring the quip from Aaron, so much so it was making the colour of his eyes pop a beautiful morning winter sky.

Thank you for the tags @jackiemerrick and @aaronsugdens. There's other fic I feel I ought to be working on, but I've become a little bit obsessed with this little thing I started working on featuring my blorbo from 80's Emmerdale.

The young barista upsells her on her coffee. Where she was going to buy an Americano, she instead finds herself with an oat milk hazelnut latte and discovers she doesn’t hate it. In fact, along with the BLT, it might be enough for the 5 star review a woman who introduces herself as Nicola harangues her for. The blonde woman practically ran from the back and this doesn’t seems like unusual behaviour for her as no one else bats an eyelid. “Sandie Merrick? Well now there’s a blast from the past!” Sandie looks up from the card Nicola’s showing her with a QR code for Google reviews and finds herself face-to-face with Eric Pollard. The one person she was trying to avoid. “Have you been to see Robert?” he asks. The warm smile on his face is enough to bring all of misgivings about her plan to the surface. “Not another long lost Sugden!” Nicola rolls her eyes dramatically, lingering a moment before Eric gives her a look and returns to the back of the cafe with a huff. “He lives here?” she asks. The last she’d heard, no one had been in touch with him in years. She remembers getting a call from Jack’s wife, Diane, out of the blue. She told Sandie he’d died suddenly of a heart attack and did she have a current number for Robert? Diane had known it was a long shot but she’d tried calling him and it kept going to voicemail. If Robert’s nearest and dearest weren’t in contact with him, then Sandie, who hadn’t seen her brother in twenty years at that point, certainly couldn’t help. She put him out of her mind to save herself from losing her mind with worry.

new wip in progress where Seb is 15 during the Johnron of it all (making him Chrissie's son so he was like 9 when Robert went to prison) and hates that Aaron's getting married so conspires with Robert to sort it all out but also kinda hates Robert for abandoning him...

does that make sense?

anyway here's a snippet <3

if he was honest, Seb knew very little about his father. the last time he had called had been on Seb’s ninth birthday, six years ago. he hadnt said a lot, Seb remembered that much. just said how happy he was to hear his voice, how much he loved him, how sorry he was. Seb thought he must have been crying. he probably got that idea from Aaron though. Aaron, his dad too, he supposed, cried a lot. said it was good to cry, that it was good to feel things and crying was better than hitting no matter what Uncle Cain said on the matter.

Seb liked the Dingles, way more than he liked his mums family. there weren’t many of them left on his mums side, and they were all nosey and stuck up and refused to call him anything other than Sebastian. and any time he asked about his dad they rolled their eyes and shut him down.

the Dingles did talk about his dad. not very fondly, mind, but he didn’t mind that. he quite liked it actually. it felt honest. Aaron was diplomatic with it all, tried his best to be pleasant even though Seb learned pretty early on that any mention of his dad resulted in something getting broken when Aaron thought no one else was around. everyone else just cursed him out, especially Nana Chas, who Seb secretly hated because he thought she was mean, but he wouldn’t say that to Aaron because that would make everything ten times worse.

Aaron had a new man, and they were going to get married. dating had happened on and off. it was rare, maybe once every couple of years, but Seb always managed to put a pin in it. as a kid, he would make himself sick enough that Aaron had to skip dates until his bloke assumed it was an avoidance tactic and not a naughty little kid with an abandonment complex. as he got older, his plans got more intense. skipping school, day drinking, or, and admittedly maybe this wasnt his greatest plan, getting himself arrested.