#elephantwrites

Thank you for the asks!

Link to the ask post here

14. what’s your worst writing habit? 

I write almost entirely on my phone these days bc I dont have a desk and when we moved last it also took ages for me to dig out my good computer and then I didnt set it up 🙈. So this leads to terrible typos and more grief than necessary when it comes time to add the html and css in the AO3 window. I need to properly get a desk or keep my laptop plugged in nearby so its easier to use.

And then my other worst habit is retelling a description I used like a paragraph ago or leaving a sentence with a missing linking word or missing its last word I have no idea why my brain never catches those in edit.

I love when I have betas but my fics are so long I feel bad asking anyone so! up they go with their typos! 🤣

23. 19. how do you deal with writers block?

Mhmmmit depends on the source of the block!

1. A scene is not working / I hate it. I scrap it and stew about it and think about what I really want/need to achieve and if i can rework any of the bits or if they can go somewhere else.

In the Upheaval Divination Trial (which is almost finished) there was a "watching memories like a movie" effect going on and I hated ittt but i also really liked the flashbacks.

So I saved the parts i had written to be a future bonus scene or oneshot but in a perspective that worked for them and then I sulked around for a week with a red pen and a physical notebook and rebuilt the bones of the trial that way (im a way better brainstormer on pen and paper. something about it frees my brain up. driving does that too but then i have to scramble to get the new ideas down lol)

2. Then theres the kind of block that is mental exhaustion. usually after I post a chapter that was really hard or if alot has been going on irl or, increasingly, if i am feeling wicked bummed about AI.

in those cases I just need to put writing down until I feel better. If it is a real life thing I just focus on that/recovering from that. And I let my brain enjoy some kind of story i dont have to create.

(And by put writing down i mean completely - no open docs, no notebooks, no computer out).

I wind up enjoying lots of video games or reading other fics. Give that about 2 or 3 weeks and the motivation to write starts to come back!

Thank you to @go-tell-the-bees who made these cover images for my big Agatha fics as part of a commission. Coven of the Covenless for the three smaller canon divergence stories and Undying Heart for the post-show sequel! (Series here)

Chapter 19: Once Upon A Dream

The coven complete the divination trial, and reunite with a familiar face. Evanora struggles to reassert control over a doubtful Wanda.

💜💚💛🩷🧡[💙] | ♠️📓💔 | 💜💙🩶💚💛🩷🧡

YOU PICKED THE DEEP LORE YAY (From this ask game)

To do this properly I think you would need to bring in elements of Medieval era Japan which I know VERY LITTLE about except the basics of the Shoguns holding a lot of power within the country even though there was still nominally the emperor. So I would start by making the senshi samurai and Usagi their hidden heiress who trains alongside them.

SO with the caveat that I am actively resisting my impulse to spend a few weeks just doing research for this - here's 5 Fun Facts that would happen in a Sailor Moon Medieval AU:

I think Mamoru should be like either heir to a rival Shogun or the imperial prince who moonlights as a Samurai because I do so enjoy maintaining the Silver Millennium implication that their romance is FORBIDDEN teehee.

Usagi. cannot ride a horse. Has fallen off or been bucked by the calmest creatures. Once attempted the classic horsedrawn archery and managed to shoot her own horse in the ass.

Minako is the stand-in heiress. A ploy to protect Usagi. However she is also having an extensive on-again-off-again secret romance with Rei and this leads to hijinks. Especially when they get caught.

Chibiusa would still show up from the future. the 20th century rather than the 30th century for peak cultural references and historical allegories. Chibiusa can ride a horse perfectly.

I'm REALLY trying to make this one chapter and it is REALLY fighting me. I might cut it before the smut (I KNOW I KNOW) but I want to really savor that scene and not have it feel crammed in at the end. We'll see how it feels.

In the meantime have a couple snippets.💜💚 |💜💔

Thank you for the Asks!!!

Link to the Fanfic Asks Here

2. Which of your fics is your pride and joy?

(This feels like choosing between my children lmao)

Universe to Mend, Edens Deception, Unbroken, Undying Heart - really most of the novel-length ones that I have managed to complete! Those are the ones I'm proudest of and enjoy going back and rereading!

Now, that said I definitely have an extra special place in my heart for my Agatha series - which was finished! - And then I had to go thinking "lets make a sequel." lmao.

I was so happy with the series that I got the series so far bound and I love being able to read those books in print right off the shelf at home 🥰.

5. What’s something you learned while researching a fic?

A smattering of eclectic things I've learned from fic research:

You cannot get your dry mummy wet or it will break. not even a little bit.

Very similarly u cannot carry your dry mummy out of the cave on a tarp even if ur careful - it will break

The sailor moon characters live in a wicked rich part of tokyo. like i know Ami's mom is a doctor but wtf. How does Makoto afford to live there. Were her parents rich???

Salamanders mate by leaving lil packets of spermaphore stuck on the ground for the other one to find and shlurp up (totally oversimplifying) So add that to your considerations about whether the babies were Janeways idea (obviously someone chose to do the schlurping lol)

Warp speed is a lie and stardates are SCREWY AF 😭😭😭

Dont give yourself tarot readings for research if youre also bad at shuffling cards or u will pull the most cursed combinations 💀

Desert aquifers can be deep af. like thousands of meters in places. I mean how tf does it get down there?!

(And tell us why you've chosen those!)

Thank you for this ask! I am going to endeavor to give you all some recs with some range!

My Recs.

1. Songbird and the Reaper

This is a WIP and only the first chapter is up but once I finish Upheaval it's where im going to be spending time. It's an Agatha All Along / Hunger Games crossover except instead of pitting Agatha and Rio against eachother as fellow tributes in the Arena, it pits them against eachother and the system in positions that would be analogous to the power imbalance they have in the show. The first chapter imagines Rio as a first year games maker in the 2nd Quarter Quell and Agatha as a volunteer from 12.

Why you should read it: If you enjoy complex capitol citizens, deep diving into the corruption and devastation and exploitation that we know happens to the victors but dont ever see the curtain pulled back fully in HG canon. And if you like Victor Agatha and Junior Gamesmaker Rio flirting by discussing Agatha's murderous cleverness while descrating Rio's boss's desk (i havent posted that part yet but it is written and you can look forward to it!)

Why I am reccing it: I have planned to carry the story forward from the 50th through the 75th games to show Agatha as a mentor and Rio eventually as a head gamesmaker-by-day-rebel-sympathizer-by-night as the games become more and more corrupted and controlled by Capitol Elite. It will feature lots of other marvel/agatha characters as tributes, mentors, other victors, and some as corrupt sponsors. I want to use it to explore the stories of victors and mentors and to do a spin on the hunger games ending. And it will also have the tragedy of Nicky but with a fun surprise twist, which I'm very excited about.

2. Afterimage

An early Voyager oneshot. told Non-linearly about a what if the future Chakotay left his own message for his past self in Timeless.

Why you should read it: If you like really angsty J/C and explorations of how different versions of us can understand their counterpart very differently based on the experiences they share.

Why I am reccing it: cuz I had done a really fun thing where i tried to start and end each sequential scene with the same line so that the future would feel a bit like it was echoing into the past (like an "afterimage" that leaves its impression on your eyes after you stop looking at something)

3. Let's Do the Warp 10 Again

This is actually a collection of works in 1 AU universe that started with @maliciousalice and @baylardo 's artwork. It's a world that asks what it would have been like for Kathryn and Tom (and the triplets who dont get abandoned in their "natural habitat" this time) if the doctor had only been able to partially revert their bodies after Threshold. It's been a wicked fun idea. it's comedic at turns and serious at others and explored a lot about how it feels to be different from all your peers and to be very changed by your experiences. It inspired me to write about the art and it inspired other people to write about the art and eventually, after we had all had a roaring good time collaborating and improv-ing off each other's ideas we thought "we should put all these fics in a collection with links to the art." So we did.

Why You should read it: cuz it's a delightful bunch of stories.

Why i'm reccing it: cuz it brought me some of the best fandom friends i have 🐸❤️

4. Playing with Fire

This was one of my more experimental Kinktober entries. I cannot verify the fireplay safety protocols so don't try it at home. Its plot with smut!

Why you should read it: As much as it featured kinky sex, the story is much more about Tuvok and Kathryns friendship(with benefits) and their grief over T'Pel and Mark and later Kathryns guilt and how that impacts their play for better or (mostly) worse. It has one of the most brutal scenes i've ever done (when Kashyk arrives) which was also fun.

Why I am reccing it: Cuz it was my first foray into Kathryn/Tuvok and I think also one of my first into a poly dynamic that was deeper than a threesome.

5. Backseat Driving

A purely comedic sexy fic. Soft on the sex and high on the comedic. Sailor Moon's Haruka/Michiru/Setsuna trying to have perfectly reckless fun on their ride home and being interrupted by the Goddess of Love who will stop at nothing to get concert tickets.

Why you should read it: if you enjoy flustered sapphic thruples and agree not to try this on your local interstate.

Thank you for the asks!!!

🦄 Is there a new POV you'd like to try writing?

Narrative POV wise. i feel really comfortable with limited third past tense. i kinda want to do more with sprinkling in in-universe pieces of text (like news articles, text messages, etc)

I think what I most want to explore is unreliable POV characters where the audience knows the truth the whole time and slowly the curtain obscuring the pov characters perspective is drawn back. Or a character where the audience learns something along the way that the character themselves has been avoiding or running from and it changes how the story conflict appears.

💖 What is your primary writing goal for this year?

I think my goal is just to enjoy myself. but if i have time and feel good about it I would also like to:

Finish Upheaval

Update my oldest WIP (Age of Aquarius 2) and my second oldest WIP (Euridice)