Hello all, this is ostensibly my writing blog, though most of what you’ll find is things I’ve reblogged to use as references for writing or interesting ideas or pictures that I liked the vibes of. Things I post (both random thoughts as well as random snippets) will be tagged with “words from the nerd”, and posts regarding my various fics will be tagged with both the fic title and its abbreviation if it has one.
Feel free to ask me questions about my stories, but be polite.
List of things I’m working on under the cut, stories linked are to the versions of them on AO3 so you will need to be signed in to read them as I have them locked to registered users. Please read the tags as some of these are fairly mature.
Current WIPs:
Shrinking Violets — MHA, Shinzawa-centric, omegaverse, underage arranged marriage (but nothing happens between them for a while) - feel free to ask me worldbuilding questions about this for my worldbuilding doc :3
Venus Conjunct Pluto in Scorpio — Hannibal/MHA fusion; ShinzawaMic with Hizashi as Hannibal, Shouta as Will, and Hitoshi as Abigail for a lovely little Murder Family <3 Very slow burn and does not stick to Hannibal canon except for some spots where it does. Can be read with little to no knowledge of Hannibal as a whole.
Color Seeping Through My Cracks — MHA, Yakuza soulmate AU, ShinzawaMic. Yakuza duo ShinMic find their soulmate in barista/waiter Aizawa and take in him and his totally legally adopted daughter.
Turning Tables — MHA, Shinzawa, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat. Seriously. Read the tags. Teen serial killer Shinsou gets kidnapped by more experienced (in every way) Aizawa.
In the drafting stage:
Parallelism — OC-centric, my Stargate OCs from SG-13 (Muki, Tyler, and Kira) get reincarnated in MHA and make friends. Worldbuilding abounds.
Elf!Shinsou/Naga!Aizawa oneshot
Canon divergent soulmate AU with EraserCloudMicShin
On the back burner (projects I intend to get to once I finish at least one of my current fics):
Schismatic — DCMK, originally KaiShin, now (maybe Kai)ShinHei. Set after Movie 13, my first attempt at writing dark!fic. A member of the Black Org finds out Conan is Shinichi and tries to protect him in dubious ways. Gotta figure out where I was going with the end of the plot (bc I have the middle plotted out) and write that.
Shadow Bride — RotG, BlackIce with genderbent Jack. AU where she and Pitch meet a couple hundred years ago and become friends, then eventually a couple. Finishing up the last few chapters.
A Wonderful World (of Magic) — Hetalia/HP, England becomes the History of Magic teacher during Harry’s sixth year, not HBP compliant. No longer write for either of these fandoms, but I have a rough outline of plot points and how it was going to end so I’m going to flesh that out for basically a summary draft of how the story ends.
SG-13 proper — Stargate SG-1/Atlantis, my OC team and their hijinks, mostly set during/on Atlantis. Might possibly rewrite it as a whole, might just write the parts that are vaguely referenced in Parallelism bc it’s changed plots so many times over the years with so many fandom crossovers and now I’ve swung back around to it being fully Stargate focused and all three of my characters have gone through a lot of development and I want to share that with everyone <3
On the counter, off to the side (who knows when this will happen):
The Universe of the Four Tanteis — DCMK/Fushigi Yuugi, members of the Fushigi Yuugi cast get reincarnated as DCMK characters. Gotta slap together a rough outline of where I remember the story going so I can post that and be done lol
In the Arms of Death — DCMK, veeery vaguely remember the plot I was going for with this one, I want to slap together an outline for readers and in case anyone wants to adopt it bc I think it’s a cool concept.
Hope’s Child — RotG/HP crossover, Bunnymund adopts Harry, JackBunny. I don’t write HP anymore but I have a sort of vague idea where everything was going for this fic so I might put together an outline for readers or just put it up for adoption ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Houseguest — RotG, pre-movie Tooth finds an injured Jack and takes him in. Apparently I started drafting a second chapter for this? Might finish it.
Stop Poking Logic-Shaped Holes in my School! — DCMK/HP, was pending a rewrite but since I no longer write HP I’m waffling on what to do with this. Pending decision.
A Beautiful Relationship — DCMK, KaiShin and HakuHei, a continuation years later from my oneshot A Beautiful Friendship. Might continue this, might post an outline; haven’t decided.
Love in G Major — Hetalia, USUK, PruCan, Giripan and a host of other ships, Nyotalia human high school AU. Had a vague idea of some plot points so might post that in case someone wants to adopt it.
Cardgate — YGO/Stargate crossover, I know I have like half a chapter in a notebook somewhere that I never posted, so I think I’ll finish that chapter and then post an outline lol
Relics of the Tau’ri — Hetalia/Stargate crossover, might post an outline of where the story was headed.
Magical Cicadas — Higurashi/HP crossover, Higurashi characters get reborn as HP characters. I have a chapter or two of this in a notebook somewhere that I’ll post once I find it.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
i DO believe that a good writer can make mischaracterization work. oh there's a character who doesn't normally cry? figure it out!! disect the character. make the situation cryable for them. make that character cry ugly tears even if it goes against their very nature. YOU CAN MAKE IT WORK!!!
A great piece of advice I've seen is "Don't fixate about what the character would never do. Think about the circumstances that would drive them to do this, even if they wouldn't normally."
hey boy don't kill yourself. green's dictionary of slang is available online and allows you to explore 500 years of english vulgarity. you can search by part of speech, source, time period, etymology, and usage. there's a whole category for gay slang. they even have specific citations listed so you can see the exact context for yourself. boy did you know that in 1927 "to kneel at the altar" was slang for "to sodomize"
Princess: an effeminate and relatively youthful male homosexual or lesbian (1931-4)
Daffodil: effeminate young man (1925)
To throw a fuck into: to have sex with (1919)
Top sergeant: a masculine lesbian (1939) [‘she takes command of the girls’ privates’]
Lily: penis (1919)
Wolf: sexually aggressive man (1847); a homosexual top (1918)
Soul kiss: a deep kiss, involving putting one’s tongue into one’s partner’s mouth (1907)
Tom: a lesbian (1909); [in 'old tom'] prostitute catering to lesbians (1966)
Church mouse: a male homosexual who frequents crowded churches in order to fondle any potential sex partners. (1941)
Discover one's gender: to accept or acknowledge one’s homosexuality (1941) / Lose one's gender: To return to living as a heterosexual
Minty: a masculine lesbian (1941)
Also a lot of early 20th century vulgarity is recorded in Letter from My Father, which is a collection of letters published by a man who's dad was, in short, a major slut and human disaster who wrote about his sex life for his son. It's insane. You can find copies of it online & it's a wild fucking read (literally!) and I think a really interesting look at the life of a person who goes against our stereotypes of what people in the past were "supposed" to be like.
Anyways feel free to add y'all's favs to this post. & if you use this for gay historical fanfic please share with the class
#OH THIS IS EXTREMELY EXTREMELY HELPFUL#writing#resources#saving for later#maybe i should move my 1920s story from '25 to '27 because..... bro..........
note for writers: these are dated to the first time they were recorded, not necessarily to their first use. I imagine for many of these, they came about naturally through spoken language before they were written down anywhere. This is especially true of more underground slang because it's probably being recorded (in ways we still have) the least. So if you wanna use a term but it's a little off date-wise, give yourself some wiggle room.
also gonna take this moment to highlight two more i found recently:
Best boy: a sweetheart, a boyfriend, a husband. (1893) [w the obvious equivalent term 'best girl']
Honeydripper or honeydrips: a sexual partner (1917)
Like. Honeydripper?????? That's so horny I can't stop thinking about it. We need to bring THAT back
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Genius Things to Do When You’re Stuck in Your Plot...
Make a fake conspiracy board connecting every character like you're solving a murder. Use string, post-its, color-coded chaos. Even if your book isn’t a thriller, this helps you spot secret relationships, hidden motivations, and “oh crap, this character actually caused that moment three chapters later” reveals.
Write a therapy session transcript for your protagonist. What would they say to a stranger? What wouldn’t they say? What does the therapist pick up on that they don’t? (Also: gives you instant internal conflict fuel.)
Record a fake podcast episode where your villain is a guest. The topic? “Why I Was Right and Everyone Else Is Just Soft.” Let them monologue. Let them get unhinged. You’ll learn so much about their worldview and how they justify their chaos.
Assign zodiac signs to all your main characters and write how they’d react to a haunted house. Not because astrology is the answer—but because forcing your brain to imagine characters in weird situations unlocks surprising truths. (Your Scorpio would definitely flirt with the ghost. Your Virgo brought sage.)
Write the worst possible ending to your story on purpose. Like, make it hilariously bad. Deus ex machina, everyone dies, aliens show up—it doesn’t matter. Sometimes mocking your plot actually helps you figure out what doesn’t work so you can reverse-engineer what does.
Do a “what if this happened instead?” daydream session in the shower or on a walk. No pressure. Just free-thinking. Let your brain go off-road. You might stumble into a better twist, or a softer moment, or a scene that guts you in the best way.
Write the one scene you’re most excited about—now. Even if you “haven’t earned it” yet in the draft. Screw linear order. Give yourself a jolt of joy. That scene might be the key to unlocking everything else.
Make your characters write Yelp reviews about each other. “One star. Always steals my fries. Would still die for him.” This is ridiculous, yes. But it will reveal interpersonal tension you didn’t know was there.
Tell your plot to someone who knows nothing about it—and see where they get confused. Your roommate. Your cat. Your reflection. If you can’t explain it out loud in 2 minutes, it’s probably too complicated. Simplify the heart of the story. Get clear again.
Write a flash-forward epilogue. Even if it never makes it into the book. Where do these characters end up? Who are they now? That can tell you where the real story wants to go—and help you figure out what’s missing along the way.
Creating characters is fun until they start making decisions without your permission. You sit down to write a quiet breakfast scene and suddenly they’re confessing childhood trauma, or worse, falling in love with the wrong person. You’re supposed to be the god of this story, but really you’re just the exhausted babysitter of a bunch of fictional anarchists.
✧ fictional therapy is either miracle breakthrough in one session or useless talking that accomplishes nothing. Real therapy is slow, frustrating, and occasionally revolutionary work that mostly involves crying about your childhood while someone nods supportively.
✧ First session: mostly paperwork and history-taking. Your therapist asks about current symptoms, family background, previous mental health treatment, what you want to accomplish. It's awkward and clinical. You're both feeling each other out, seeing if it's a good fit. You're not immediately trauma-dumping, there's a careful building of trust.
✧ What therapy actually looks like: sitting in a slightly too-warm office, trying to articulate feelings you don't have words for while someone waits patiently. Long silences where you're both just... sitting there. Your therapist saying "tell me more about that" seventeen times. Processing something for twenty minutes and suddenly the session's over mid-thought.
✧ Different modalities work differently. CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy): identifying thought patterns, challenging distortions, homework assignments. DBT (dialectical behavior therapy): learning specific skills for emotional regulation. Psychodynamic: exploring how past experiences create current patterns. EMDR: processing trauma through bilateral stimulation. They're not interchangeable.
✧ Breakthroughs are weird and unpredictable. You're talking about something mundane like grocery shopping or whatever, and suddenly you're sobbing because you connected it to childhood neglect. Or you have a massive realization... that takes six more months to actually integrate into behavior change. Insight doesn't equal immediate transformation.
✧ What therapists don't do: tell you what to do, judge you, act shocked by anything you say, share their own problems, hug you (usually), be available 24/7. They maintain boundaries. They might gently challenge you but won't berate you. Good therapists create safe space for you to figure things out yourself.
✧ ALSO: What makes therapy scenes work IS the resistance. Your character doesn't want to talk about the thing, deflects with humor, intellectualizes emotions, gets defensive. Show the frustration "I've been coming here for months and I still feel terrible." The tiny shifts in perspective that accumulate slowly. The transference (projecting feelings onto the therapist). The vulnerability of being truly seen.
⟢ "I did something." - "Scale of one to ten." - "Depends who's asking." "Me." - "Seven." - "Police." - "Four." - "God." - "Thirteen."
⟢ "We need to leave."- "Why." - "I'll explain in the car." - "Why." - "I'll explain in a different country."
⟢ "This is your fault." - "You literally came up with the idea." - "I have bad ideas all the time, you're not supposed to DO them."
⟢ "Okay hear me out." - "My lawyer has advised me not to hear you out." - "You don't have a lawyer." - "I'm getting one specifically for conversations with you."
⟢ "Nobody got hurt." - "Physically." . "Nobody got physically hurt." - "Yet." - "Nobody has gotten physically hurt yet, which is a win."
⟢ "I have a type." - "Yeah?" - "People who are bad for me and you specifically." - "That's not a type that's a pattern." - "Same thing."
⟢ "What's the worst that could happen." - "I have a list. It's laminated. I made it specifically for when you say that."
⟢ "Rate my decision making." - "Historically or right now." - "Both." - "Zero. Consistent zero across the board."
⟢ "You're the only person I trust." - "I dropped your birthday cake last year and told you it arrived like that." - "Yeah but you still got me a cake."
⟢ "I need your honest opinion." - "It's bad." - "You didn't see it yet." - "I've met you. It's bad."
⟢ "Why do you even keep me around." - "Honestly? Entertainment. And you're warm in winter."
⟢ "I wasn't thinking." - "First time for everything." - "I resent that." - "Statistically valid though."
⟢ "On a scale of fine to not fine." - "Remember that time in Prague." - "We don't talk about Prague." - "That fine."
⟢ "Nobody panic but." - "I'm already panicking." - "I haven't said anything yet." - "I know you. I'm getting ahead of it."
⟢ "Promise you won't be mad." - "Absolutely not, that's a trap and I won't fall for it."
⟢ "I have good news and bad news." - "Good news first." - "The car is fine." - "And the bad." - "Define car."
⟢ "You're my emergency contact." - "I know." - "You're listed as my next of kin." - "I know." - "You're also listed as my therapist, my lawyer, and my spiritual advisor." - "I know." - "Do you want to talk about that." - "Nope." - "Cool."
⟢ "I'm a responsible adult."- "You once called me crying because you got your sleeve caught in a door and didn't know what to do." - "I was panicking." - "For forty minutes." - "It was really stuck."
⟢ "I regret everything." - "No you don't." - "No I don't but I feel like I should." - "Same honestly."
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
I genuinely cannot explain to a non-writer what it feels like when a chapter suddenly clicks. it's not satisfaction. it's not relief. it's this horrible specific feeling like you just remembered something you never knew. like the story was already there and you finally stopped being in the way of it. i don't know what to do with that feeling. i just close the laptop and stare at the wall for a bit.
A non-writer asked me "but where do you get your ideas" and i genuinely did not know how to explain that it's not a place. it's not a website. it's not a folder. it's that i was on the bus and a woman was holding a paper bag very carefully and something about the way she held it made me need to know what was inside and then i needed to know why she was sad about it and then there was a whole person and then there was a whole story and the bus had already stopped and i missed my stop. that's where.
⟢ "I did something." - "Scale of one to ten." - "Depends who's asking." "Me." - "Seven." - "Police." - "Four." - "God." - "Thirteen."
⟢ "We need to leave."- "Why." - "I'll explain in the car." - "Why." - "I'll explain in a different country."
⟢ "This is your fault." - "You literally came up with the idea." - "I have bad ideas all the time, you're not supposed to DO them."
⟢ "Okay hear me out." - "My lawyer has advised me not to hear you out." - "You don't have a lawyer." - "I'm getting one specifically for conversations with you."
⟢ "Nobody got hurt." - "Physically." . "Nobody got physically hurt." - "Yet." - "Nobody has gotten physically hurt yet, which is a win."
⟢ "I have a type." - "Yeah?" - "People who are bad for me and you specifically." - "That's not a type that's a pattern." - "Same thing."
⟢ "What's the worst that could happen." - "I have a list. It's laminated. I made it specifically for when you say that."
⟢ "Rate my decision making." - "Historically or right now." - "Both." - "Zero. Consistent zero across the board."
⟢ "You're the only person I trust." - "I dropped your birthday cake last year and told you it arrived like that." - "Yeah but you still got me a cake."
⟢ "I need your honest opinion." - "It's bad." - "You didn't see it yet." - "I've met you. It's bad."
⟢ "Why do you even keep me around." - "Honestly? Entertainment. And you're warm in winter."
⟢ "I wasn't thinking." - "First time for everything." - "I resent that." - "Statistically valid though."
⟢ "On a scale of fine to not fine." - "Remember that time in Prague." - "We don't talk about Prague." - "That fine."
⟢ "Nobody panic but." - "I'm already panicking." - "I haven't said anything yet." - "I know you. I'm getting ahead of it."
⟢ "Promise you won't be mad." - "Absolutely not, that's a trap and I won't fall for it."
⟢ "I have good news and bad news." - "Good news first." - "The car is fine." - "And the bad." - "Define car."
⟢ "You're my emergency contact." - "I know." - "You're listed as my next of kin." - "I know." - "You're also listed as my therapist, my lawyer, and my spiritual advisor." - "I know." - "Do you want to talk about that." - "Nope." - "Cool."
⟢ "I'm a responsible adult."- "You once called me crying because you got your sleeve caught in a door and didn't know what to do." - "I was panicking." - "For forty minutes." - "It was really stuck."
⟢ "I regret everything." - "No you don't." - "No I don't but I feel like I should." - "Same honestly."
Writing advice from someone who's read way too much fanfiction!!
─ .✦ If your villain monologues for more than two paragraphs, your hero should've escaped by now or at least checked their phone. Real people don't wait politely for evil speeches to finish. They interrupt, get bored and say things like "okay but can you get to the point I have dinner plans."
─ .✦ Stop having your characters look in mirrors to describe themselves. Your protagonist doesn't wake up and think "I looked at my reflection and saw my shoulder-length auburn hair and piercing green eyes." They think "ugh I look like death" and move on. Find literally ANY other way.
─ .✦ If every sentence in your action scene is the same length it reads like a grocery list with violence. Short punchy sentences for fast moments. Longer flowing ones when they catch their breath and realize oh god that hurt. Variety is your friend and so is rhythm.
─ .✦ Your character can cry without it being beautiful. Let them be UGLY. Let their face get blotchy and their nose run and their eyes puff up. Let them hiccup and gasp and wipe snot on their sleeve. Crying IS GROSS!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
From an RPG perspective, I've been struggling for years to explain that "playing a character in a myth" and "treating a mythic world as if it were real" are two fundamentally different things. A part of this frustration is that I want a whole lot more of the former and a whole lot less of the later.
So, I'm sure scholars probably have a more technical definition of "myth" than I'm using. I'm primarily talking about when elements of a story are meant to be received and processed emotionally rather than logically.
For example, we might have a character that wears jade armor and sits on a throne of ruby. Now if your mind starts thinking things like what the implications are for the culture and economy of a society that uses jade for armor and ruby for furniture design then you're thinking in the wrong direction. Same if you start thinking about the actual real world properties of jade and ruby and what you could possibly make with such a large and plentiful supply of it.
No. Just. Stop. Don't do that.
Instead, be *emotional*. What *feelings* does such an image/character invoke you. Disgust at their opulence? Awe at their power? Respect for their commanding presence? Fear? Now have your character react *to that feeling*. What emotion do YOU want your character to reflect back.
In an RPG, your character TOO is a pile of evocative aesthetics in both image and action. Do a thing that will evoke a feeling IN ME as a fellow player at the table. You can't control WHAT feeling I have, but you can do something evocative, "logic" of the situation be damned.
i kinda see what you are getting at, hopefully. i think it's really mostly about being impressionistic, isn't it? my mind immediately drifts to pulp fantasy, to which such "loose" imagery seems to be very important. i personally don't get much from it mostly because i'm not that great at visualizing. i could never really get into howard because of it, for example. would you say this generally applies outside of fantasy roleplaying, though?
Pulp fantasy (and actual mythology) is where you see it at its boldest. But I'm not talking *purely* about visuals it can apply to "entities" whose only "logic" is their symbolic/metaphorical place in the narrative.
You see this a lot in standalone horror novels that don't get caught up in their own "lore." My absolute favorite example of this is "The Library Policeman" by Stephen King. The creature in that book and how it "works" is wholly defined by the scope of the protagonist's personal trauma. It does not "exist" nor has "logic" independent of the protagonist's emotional journey. Sure, it all makes "sense" in that story but trying to tease out the creature as an independent entity with a consequential "existence" simply falls apart.
I would also point to something like Frank Miller's Sin City stories. The characters are BOLD archetypes with no substance behind their evocative presence. Senator Rourk is a complete tautology. He is a Senator because he's rich and powerful and is rich and powerful because he is a Senator. Things happen because Rourk wants them to happen. By what means? What's the power structure propping him up? Who are his allies? Who are enemies? What is the network composing his wealth? These things are not only unanswered, I would suggest they are UNASKED. It simply doesn't matter. Rourk might as well be Zeus.
It is that element of UNASKING, I am focusing on.
This is one of the reasons film franchises begin to lose their luster because later films are often built by asking questions the earlier films not only didn't ask, but were never designed to answer. "Fandom" may be clamoring all the time for "answers" but they're always disappointed when they get them and for good reason. The questions never should have been asked in the first place.
I'm usually a huge fan of fantasy/sci-fi logistics, groundedness, biology, etc., but this is also how you get people constantly trying to "solve" vampires by saying "well they drink blood so that means they are scientifically hematophages and there is no problem with them drinking blood of any animal because other hematophages can drink the blood of any animal" and "if it's transmissible by bite that means it's a virus or bacteria that causes a mutation."
No, this was never a legend meant to operate on a 21st century biology, the blood is blood but it's also life, and so on.
Sometimes the answer isn't "it's magic" because the author hasn't thought about it, sometimes the answer is "it's magic" because the author has thought about it.
*smashes fictional characters together* @stargatenerd - Tumblr Blog | Tumlook
