Kate Marley Writes (Or Does She?)

Fandom: Hetalia Pairing: PruAus (Austria/Prussia) Characters: Austria, Prussia Rating: M TW: throwing up (but it’s not described in detail); a quick non-descriptive scene containing citrus fruit

Summary: Prussia invites Austria to his flat for the first time after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. He is self-conscious because his shabby flat could never live up to Austria’s standards…

Also available on AO3.

Fandom: Hetalia Pairing: PortVene (Nyo!Portugal/North Italy) Characters: Nyo!Portugal, North Italy Rating: G

Summary: At the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon, Italy learns how painters of the Portuguese Renaissance see Portugal. He doesn’t quite agree…

Written as part of a holiday gift exchange for Feli in the Historical Hetalia Discord server.

Also available on AO3 and ffnet

Fandom: Hetalia Pairing: PruAus (Austria/Prussia) Characters: Austria, Prussia Rating: M TW: allusions to citrus fruit (but there are no actual citrus fruit); drug mention

Summary: Prussia is on Christmas furlough. Set during WWII (quick historical reminder that during that time, German federal states were disempowered).

Written for bee as part of a holiday gift exchange in the Beilstans Discord server.

Also available on AO3 and ffnet

Fandom: Hetalia Pairing: SpAus (Austria/Spain) Characters: Austria, Spain, Belgium, Augsburg, Swabia, Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire, Saxony Rating: E

Summary: 23 October 1520. Spain and Austria get married. The Imperial Estates and their guests while away the evening with music and courtly dances, celebrating both the union and Charles V’s crowning as “elected Roman emperor” in Aachen Cathedral. But what is expected of the newlyweds? And what is in for them on their wedding night?

This story has been written for Hetabang 2020. It’s a collaboration project with @aph–lietuva who was my Beta and who created wonderful art for this story that you can find on her tumblr. With her permission, I also inserted her art into this tumblr post. It’s been a pleasure working with you! ❤︎

Also available on AO3 (see the link in my profile).

Fandom: Hetalia Pairing: AusTurk (Austria/Turkey) Characters: Austria, Turkey Rating: M

Summary: It’s 1924 and Austria and Turkey address the historical baggage between them in an unconventional way.

Also available on AO3 and ffnet (see the links in my profile).

Fandom: Discworld Pairing: Havelotta Characters: Havelock Vetinari, Lady Margolotta of Uberwald Rating: T

Summary: “Missing Scene” from Unseen Academicals

Also available on AO3 and ffnet (see the links in my profile).

—

Sometimes Margolotta couldn’t let things go. Not after Havelock had allowed this awful cook … no, she corrected herself, awfully annoying human being, but, if you took Havelock’s word for it, rather excellent cook … to stomp into his office just like that, without any proper audience!

“Did you know that this … this person told me to my face—vell, vithout knowing that I vas actually me, but still to my face—that everyvun in this city knew I vas your squeeze?”

Havelock burst out laughing. He cut himself off when he saw the expression on her face and put a hand on his mouth, doubtlessly to cover a grin. When he had schooled his expression back to a faint smile, he turned to her and said:

Fandom: Discworld Pairing: Havelotta Characters: Havelock Vetinari, Lady Margolotta of Uberwald Rating: T

Summary: A young nobleman visits Lady Margolotta of Uberwald on his Grand Sneer. She finds him quite … interesting.

Also available on AO3 (see the links in my profile).

Fandom: Hetalia – Axis Powers Pairing: SpUK Characters: England, Spain Rating: M

Summary: A storm is closing in on the English Captain Arthur Kirkland, privateer, and his hostage, the Spanish captain Antonio Fernández Carriedo.

Also available on AO3 (see the links in my profile).

Fandom: Hetalia – Axis Powers Characters: Czechia Rating: G

1991

Czechia stood at the foot of the metronome in Letná Park, overlooking her city.

The Golden City, they had called Prague; City of a Hundred Spires; the Capital of the Realm—deliberately leaving out which one, the Kingdom of Bohemia or the Holy Roman Empire.

The years of the First Czechoslovak Republic had been good, too: Independence after years of humiliation in the Habsburg Empire, and Prague had become the capital once again.

Now, communism had taken its toll on Prague’s beauty: Decaying building structures; loose cobblestones with dangerous gaps…

She missed the way her city had gleamed in the late Middle Ages, proud and prosperous, just like her. She missed the years of emergence after her independence, too.

But now, the Velvet Revolution had kissed her city awake. Stalin’s monument was gone, the metronome in its place. Change was coming.

She hoped her city would change for the better now.

Notes:

This story was written for a drabble challenge on the Discord “18+ Hetalia Writers Inc.” The prompt was “Nostalgia” and the word count goal was 150 words.

The view from the metronome in Letná Park is really lovely. I spent a part of one of my first nights ever in Prague there, overlooking the city (and listening to Bon Jovi xD).

Fandom: Hetalia – Axis Powers Characters: Austria, Switzerland Rating: G

Someone shook Austria’s shoulder.

“Go away!” he grumbled drowsily.

The hand shook harder until Austria brushed it off.

He yawned and stretched.

His hand touched rock.

Ah yes. There was that.

“Get up!” hissed Switzerland. “I’ll never hear the end of it from Erika if I let you sleep!”

Austria sat up slowly, reluctantly opening the warm cocoon of his sleeping bag. The cold morning air made him shiver.

Wordlessly, Switzerland handed him a blanket. Austria wrapped it around himself.

On the horizon, a red ball rose into a clear sky.

It was beautiful.

Camping out under the night sky with Switzerland. Watching the sunrise from the top of a mountain.

Austria would never have thought that they could do this again someday, not after all those years. But here they were, all thanks to Liechtenstein.

Austria wondered if he was the only one who secretly thanked her for that.  

Notes:

This story was written for a drabble challenge on the Discord “18+ Hetalia Writers Inc.” The prompt was “Camp” and the word count goal was 150 words.

It is true that you’re allowed to stay the night on a mountain in the Alps as long as you don’t use a tent and take all your litter back home (at least in Bavaria and Austria; I’m not entirely sure about regulations in Switzerland).

Fandom: Hetalia – Axis Powers Pairing: PruAus Characters: Austria, Prussia Rating: G

Summary: Once the stores reopen on the 27th, Austria takes Prussia along on his yearly After Christmas shopping trip.

Also available on AO3 and ffnet (see the links in my profile).

Fandom: Harry Potter Pairing: Drarry (Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter) Characters: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, mentions of Dudley Dursley Rating: T

Summary: Draco and Harry are joking about the similiarities of Potions and Muggle chemistry while Draco is brewing some Pepperup potion.

Written for the Drarry Discord Drabble Challenge (May 2019, 394 words). Also available on my AO3 (see the link in my profile).

“This is so fascinating!”

“Huh?” Draco looked up from his cauldron. Harry was perched on the shelf next to the ingredients for Draco’s Pepperup potion, absorbed in the Muggle book he was reading. Replenishing the stock of his potions was one of Draco’s spring rituals, but Harry on his shelf was new.

“This book Dudley has lent me.” Harry held the cover so Draco could read it. He had made peace with his cousin at almost the same time as with Draco; only the latter had lead to so much more.

“Oh, on this subject that reminded him a lot of Potions when you mentioned it?” Draco brushed back the hair that had slipped from his shoulders and threatened to obstruct his sight. Where was his scrunchie again?

“Yeah, that. It’s just a basic introduction, but I’m enjoying it so far. Did you, oh Pureblood wizard, know there’s even a Muggle proverb that mentions chemistry? They say ‘the chemistry is right between two people’ if you feel a special connection to someone else.”

“Like in that Celestina Warbeck song?” Draco laughed. “I’ve got a cauldron full of hot, strong love / And it’s bubbling for you,” he sang. His hair slipped over his shoulders again. He searched the shelf with his eyes for something to tie it up with.

“You have hidden talents!” Harry grinned. “Anyway, I’m sure you’d like it; I mean you like potion-making as well.”

“I’ll give it a try.” Draco smiled. He would; Harry’s support for Draco’s hobbies and interests was too adorable to ignore.

His hair slipped forward again. Without further ado, he snatched his dried quill and used it to tie his hair into a bun. When he looked up, Harry was staring at him with hungry eyes.

“What?” Draco stammered eloquently.

“The hair at the nape of your neck,” Harry murmured, stepping behind him. A jolt went through Draco when he felt Harry’s breath at the junction between his skull and his nape. Feeling Harry’s lips made him shiver. When Harry pressed up against him, biting and sucking gently, Draco needed to hold on to his cauldron because his legs were giving in.

“What was that proverb again?” Harry chuckled. Draco whirled around, giving in to his urge to kiss Harry.

So you’ve found the writeblr community and want your content to be seen and spark interaction. In my experience, these are the things that can really help or hinder the beginning of your writing blog. A little effort can go a long way here!

Consider making a separate blog just for writing

This isn’t necessary, a lot of people will be a combo writing+art, writing+fandom, writing+sims, writing+whatever, but it’s something to think about if your organization’s a bit disastrous and the tags are messy or if you simply don’t want people who check out your writing to know about your fandom ships from 2014. If you choose to make your writing blog a side blog on the same account as your primary, be aware that you will send any asks from your primary blog and will follow from the primary blog. Consider putting your primary URL in your writing blog description and vice versa so people know who’s interacting with them.

Change your icon

Seriously. That little orange and green default sphere thing? Change it. And change the default url you were given upon signing up to something custom too, ideally to something writing related so people know what your blog is about at a glance (I’ve heard not everyone gets a default URL upon signing up. I did, it was something about a “tenacious flamingo” plus two other words I forget, and had to change it manually). A lot of bots and inactive blogs keep the defaults and you might just get looked over because this website is crowded and people aren’t patient enough to investigate. Even if it’s a nonsense url, even if it’s just a royalty free picture of a daisy, make your stuff custom. Also, don’t let your blog be blank.

Get familiar with the tags commonly used in writeblr

Especially starting out, tags will be your best friend. It’s how you’ll find people, and how people will find you. Cogesque has a post about commonly used tags, but the ones I find most useful for me are #fiction #writers of tumblr #writeblr #my writing #original writing #original characters.

Make a writeblr intro post

Talk about yourself as much or as little as you want, but at the very least you’ll want to let people know what they can call you - this doesn’t have to be your real name. Talk about what you write, what you plan to post, talk about what kind of blogs you’d like to follow and request (in the post) that they interact so you can find them. Ex. “If you’re writing an urban fantasy with queer characters and/or if you post writing tips, please interact with this so I can follow!” I’ve seen it recommended that you @ writeblrs you like in your intro post, I’ve seen it said that doing that’s annoying, so I’ll leave it up to your judgement about risk vs. reward on that one. @cogesque has also talked about what’s good to include on an introduction post.

USE YOUR TAGS ON THIS INTRO POST OR IT’LL GET LOST IN THE TUMBLR VOID!

Follow writeblrs

I’m sure this is something you’ve already thought of and done, but I may as well reiterate. Explore those tags above and follow writers. Writers that are at the same stage in writing as you, writers that have been here for years, writers who are just starting their first draft of their first novel, writers that are on draft five of several different WIPs at once, writers that have seven published novels, just find writers who post content you like and follow them.

Stop being self deprecating

I know it’s tempting to call your writing garbage, or to be loudly and constantly insecure on main, but start banishing that stuff from your post rotation right now. I know it can feel dishonest to not post about how “bad” your writing is, especially if you genuinely aren’t confident in it, but I promise someone out there will like your writing and if you tell them it’s bad before they decide for themselves, they’ll take your word on it. Pretty much everyone here has a case of impostor syndrome when it comes to being a writer. Fake your confidence if you have to. That’s a perfectly okay thing to do. If you can’t fake confidence, at least avoid self deprecation.

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Part two: The Easy Stuff

Part three: The Slightly Harder Stuff

Part four: The Big & Scary & Sorta Necessary

Fandom: Harry Potter Pairing: Drarry (Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter) Characters: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, minor Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom Rating: T Warning: mentioned potions abuse (not by the main characters)

Summary: Malfoy only ever talks about his work … or does he? Harry is investigating.

Also available on my AO3 (see the link in my profile).

Fandom: Harry Potter | Fantastic Beasts Pairing: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald Characters: Bathilda Bagshot, Rita Skeeter; Bathilda reminiscing about Albus and Gellert Rating: T

Summary: When Bathilda Bagshot realises Rita Skeeter has dosed her with Veritaserum, she sees only one way to protect her most precious secret.

Also available on my AO3 (see the link in my profile).