#author stuff

There are so many of us on here--and I'm friends with quite a few of you--but we lack the networking and communication that used to make book twitter so valuable, both as a community for the writers, but also for readers.

And tbh, booktook and bookstagram have nothing on what booktwit used to be like. I want the coordination and group organization back. I want group calendars that show when X book was coming out so you could support it (or avoid clashing your launch with someone else's if your genres were too similar.)

for @steddiemicrofic march 2026 prompt, "short"

Rating: T | WC: 321 | ao3 Tags: eddie has a crush, flirting, short shorts

“Jesus Christ…”

“Are you kidding me?”

“He can’t be serious.”

The boys’ voices all overlap, along with a subtle ringing in Eddie’s ears as he stares from the bleachers. With spring on the horizon, and the first warm-ish day upon them, Eddie and his friends decided to spend their lunch period lounging by the football field. They weren’t the only ones; plenty of other little pods of Hawkins High students are scattered about.

Eddie isn’t concerned with them. He’s far more interested in the figure who just jogged out onto the track in the single tiniest pair of running shorts Eddie has ever seen.

“Eduardo,” Gareth says, clapping to get his attention.

“What?” Eddie snaps.

“You’re staring, dude,” Jeff hisses.

Wait. Shit. I am. Eddie yanks his gaze away from Steve Harrington’s powerful thighs, the ones he so desperately wants to feel under his fingers, wrapped around—

“I still can’t believe you’re into that,” Gareth adds, shattering Eddie’s daydream. “What happened to standards?”

“Shut up, Gare. You had a crush on Tammy Thompson.”

“That was before she opened her mouth!”

“She sounds like a Muppet, right?” another voice puts in, and Eddie’s blood runs cold.

His head whirls around, and he sees that Steve has stopped to stretch just a couple yards from them.

Eddie eyes him, suspicious. Up close, it’s easier to see the smattering of moles and freckles dotted across Harrington’s legs, all the way up to the hem of those ridiculously short shorts of his. It takes every bit of willpower Eddie has to look him in the eye instead of watching the constellations on his skin shift each time he flexes a different muscle.

“You eavesdropping, Harrington?” Eddie says. He prays Steve didn’t overhear too much of the conversation.

Steve chuckles and shakes his head. “You guys are louder than you think.”

Eddie swallows. “You, uh…how much did you hear?”

The First Draft = This is the internal frame, metal beams and so on. This is what gives your story structure and represents the backbone of the book/novel/etc. you are working towards.

The Second Draft = this is when the overall outside frame starts to appear and the baseline shape begins to take shape here you generally see the outline of the structure. In a building, is when you start seeing floors being put up one by one and the shape starts to form as it goes up.

The Third Draft = here is where the walls start going up, room divisions take shape. Insulation is being put up and you still have some rooms that are not yet finished. You have not put a single item of furniture yet. The roof is either started or halfway done.

The Fourth Draft (and Probably beyond) = This is when you now see that all the drywall is done. Roof is finished and all you need to do is remove the drywall stickers. Here you also start moving to the final stages of improving the story. This process can take shape in many ways. It could include further edits, rewrites and more drafts.

The Final Draft = this is when you already have the house finished. Or the building is done. All you need to do now is furnish it. Maybe switch some rooms around. Polish the floors, sweep the carpets. Clean the windows. Throw out the trash. Make it look spiffy. Here all you do is move a few words. Go over final edits, mainly small things like punctuation that got missed, or changing a sentence here and there.

I would like to say that you don’t have to follow this to the letter. You may have rewritten your book/story twenty times and probably only reached Second Draft status. Or you rewrite it only twice and you’re already on Third Draft. Only you (and your editor, if you go that route) will be able to tell you how far along you are. Just because I put it up like that doesn’t mean is always like that.

This post is mostly made to tell you to not worry about your story being perfect the first go-around. It just needs to work and be out there. Once you get it out of your head, everything else starts to make sense.