#ema replies

40 is ALL about the field of fucks being barren AND LOVING IT

I’m so done with so! many! things! Why am I still menstruating? It’s been thirty years of this shit. When will it fucking end??? A question for the ages. I’m ready for my pantsuit and corvette, Mr. DeMille.

fluidfyre

I turned 40 this year too! Very much excited for people to stop treating me like a child. But I'm not holding my breath. direct people to me if they need someone to sexualize

Anything But Holiday! I’m still working on this one, but I have SO MANY PLANS. 

This is where things fall apart, which is one of my favorite points in a story, especially a romance. Here’s the snippet from the start of the next chapter (so you’ll probably see this again):

In the morning, Elle was wrapped up in Troy’s arms, his chest pressed to her back and the feeling of safety he always brought enveloped her.

Good Lord, she loved this man.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this, not when she had so much to do, and certainly not with someone like him. Someone white, mixed up with her uncle, and going to be hurt by what she had to do. Not following through wasn’t an option at this point, she had too much riding on it. All her careful plans and dreams would fall apart if she just were content to stay here in Troy’s arms, carefully skirting her uncle and pretending like her Sweet Jack’s  memory meant nothing.

She wanted her daddy to be proud of her, even if it wasn’t something she’d ever hear him say.

Not A Word is a sex trope bingo square fill! It’s Mia Shepard/Zaeed fic during ME2. I’m not very far in it, so the snippet is just the first few lines:

“You make a sound and it’s game over.”

Pies and Family is from my modern AU for Phedre Trevelyan/Cullen! It’s the story where she meets his family. The story where he meets hers is far longer, and something I actually sketched out a few years ago, but haven’t sat down to write yet.

Here’s a snippet!

@swaps55 replied to your post: “Fic Ask meme: B, F, L, and letter of your choice!”:

Thank you! I love that little detail where Sebastion changes direction away from the Antivan wines. So simple but such a great visual.

Heya! Thanks for the ask.

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

Oh goodness, probably too many of them to name. I feel like there’s always some detail that I put in, and then once it’s written, I forget about it until I re-read it.

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

This is from Dynamics and Control, which features Melissa Hawke and Sebastian in Starkhaven. Isabela has a hangover and has requested both wine and dirty books from Sebastian, which Melissa has gone to get. I love this because it’s an AU, but this dialog is in character, flirty, and provides backstory while being amusing.

“I’ve read them all, so you’re welcome to them. If you borrow one of my favorites, please bring it back. Winter can be quite depressing here without them. The wine, I can arrange to have brought up once we find some books to her taste and some discreet wrapping.”

“Nothing Antivan,” Melissa directed, and so Sebastian bypassed most of the shelf he’d been heading towards. “Not the wine or the stories, sadly.”

“Whyever not?”

“Her late husband was Antivan. Their marriage was almost as acrimonious as their separation, but not quite.”

“He’s dead now, since you said late. Did she kill him?” he asked.

In answer she didn’t say anything, but turned pointedly away from his gaze.

L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

That just depends on the story. I’m not super patient when it comes to fic, usually just once if I have something ready to post. However, I have rewritten things that aren’t working, chapters that I’m stuck on a number of times to make them work.

Letter of my choice: O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?

Hi nonny, thanks for the ask! G. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

Mostly in order. I outline and I know where I want to go most of the time, so it’s easier if it’s linear. Sometimes I write the ending so I can know where I want to go if I have a more vague outline or if I’ve drifted far from where I meant to go.

H: How would you describe your style?

I think of it as HFN or HEA most of the time, with little angst. I’m not sure that’s a style, but I tend towards happy endings, quick dialog and details with lots of research to flesh out the worldbuilding or background information.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

One night stand to lovers. I love that one.

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

2. Their emotional/moral weak spots -- Troy’s all in for the team, even if the team is just him and Elle. It makes him morally flexible and can tear him apart when he wants to be more upright and steady. It also heightens his sense of betrayal, because he’s personally offended by dirty cops that try to work under his nose. In his universe with Elle, Troy still feels betrayed by Dexter because he didn’t know Dex had become a CI while he was working with the Saints. I have so many thoughts that tie into this narrative, like Dex knew about Troy and Elle and that Troy was a cop, but thought Troy was going to choose to save Elle over anyone else in the Saints, and he wasn’t exactly wrong there.

11. Bad or petty habits -- Troy loves, absolutely loves keeping up on gossip. He doesn’t spread it, much, but he loves knowing things. He thinks it’s from being undercover and having to keep an eye on people to maintain his cover, but he was pretty nosy even before he was picked to go undercover.

14. Ingrained habits/forces of habit -- He tries not to swear as much, but he dislikes people don’t swear. He sees it as dishonest, and feels fake when he tries to stop himself. The smoking goes without saying really, and he’s always going to quit tomorrow.

18. Things they’ll never admit -- He liked Johnny’s hair better with the blonde tips. Also he was really, desperately lonely when he was a Saint, and that’s what leads him to Elle in my stories. Outside of their canon, it’s what makes him willing to go back to the police, because he could never let himself truly belong to them.

21. Turning points in their life -- I have many thoughts on this too, like Troy had a defining moment in high school. It’s not something that happened to him, but it was ultimately a tragedy that made him reframe his world, and he decided that he wanted to do something good for people as a public servant. Later on that purpose is what he called on when he wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing undercover. 

Knocked me for a loop, whoo!