pages inked

Hi, hello! 👋

So, I'm on chapter 7 (of 12!) of John Rich and The Big Picture, and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has read this work-in-progress and has paid the laugh tax. (You don't actually have to pay it!!!!! THIS IS FREE!!!!!)

Nevertheless, it's a huge help. You've basically taught me how to translate visual humor into comedic prose. That is, you've let me know what works. (The bees joke, for example, was something I almost didn't include because it was too weird.) So, thank you! I'm so close to finishing this novel (hahah before months of revisions lmao) and I could not have done so without your help! Yahoo!

link: John Rich & The Big Picture word count: 59k (out of 90k?) tags: enemies to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers, banter, snark, quipping, new york city, romantic comedy

Quick update. ✨

Hi, hello. 👋

So. I've been working on something a tiny bit different—a m/m novel. (Yes, novel. Not a comic. I know.) It's a completely separate story from Check, Please!, but it's got the same humor, pining, and feel-good vibes that make #omgcp what it is.

It’s about John Rich, a 28-year-old cover artist for The New York Review, who’s tasked with drawing the gorgeous but seemingly vapid action star, Tyler Hughes. Problem is, John can’t seem to draw this dude. Then of course, shenanigans.

I've posted the first five chapters on AO3, and I've been updating monthlyish? (Remember how I never had an update schedule for Check, Please! ya...) If you're into funny, feel-good, lighthearted gay romance, do give it a read. Absolutely, no pressure. Just wanted to share what I'm working on that wasn't superheroes or semi-autobio YA.

“I need you,” he says, and it gets through to the angel.

then the season gag reel comes out and the actors are fucking around and say “you’re my baby daddy” and “i love you too” and and trying to shove one guy’s face into the other’s crotch.

then the script for the episode makes the rounds and you find out the already devastating “i need you” was originally “i love you”

then you go to a convention and someone asks about chemistry between the characters and they call you a sick freak and put you in gay jail for having impure thoughts about the Very Heterosexual men on tv.

At surface level, this is concerning because they are awesome stories, and everyone’s life is made a little better when they find an awesome story.

On more serious levels, fandom is a wacky place, full of people doing wacky, occasionally damaging things to each other. Some of that has evolved, but some of it is the same as it ever was. History rocks because you can learn from the mistakes of others, and maybe hurt people a little less in the future. Fandom being a giant, convoluted web of passion, some history that could use sharing goes missed.

The two stories linked are from early 2000s Harry Potter fandom. The Ms. Scribe Story is a tale of one person’s aggressive use of sockpuppets to work their way up fandom hierarchy. The Cassandra Claire Debacle is about how the top name in that fandom hierarchy is a plagiarist.

They’re prime examples of fandom being fandom in intensely negative ways. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brand of fandom toxicity that isn’t on display in some way within these write-ups, and while that is admittedly sort of depressing, having things to point at that make you stop and think, “Wait, I’ve seen this before, this is not a thing I want to be part of,” can keep you out of some of the deeper fandom pitfalls.

JOHN RICH & THE BIG PICTURE ✏️