#frenchroasted

F - The longest I’ve been in a fandom is probably Doctor Who. I started in 2005 and the last fic I wrote for it was in 2013. :D

A - I don’t really have an OTP at the moment (which is honestly such a relief), although I’m up for any combination of the prequel trio (Star Wars) right now. Although I’m just as likely pull up a gen fic. I’m  entertained by all of it. (If I was forced to pick just one, I’d go for an OT3 of Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme because I like them all.)

N - Three things I wish I saw more of in fandom:

1) I wish people would be able to disconnect meta from fanfic a bit more. Just because you write or read something doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what you believe about the characters or the show. It really is okay to be entertained by something you don’t think would ever happen in canon (or even would want to happen in canon.)

2) More fics where the third person who isn’t in the pairing doesn’t get bashed. Like I want to read more Anakin/Padme fics where Obi-Wan isn’t the cause of everything wrong ever. And more Anakin/Obi-Wan fics where Padme isn’t the shrew man wrecker who ~just doesn’t understand~. (I’ve not run into any issues in the very few Obi-Wan/Padme fics I’ve read.)

3) MORE FUNNY ANAKIN/PADME CONTENT. (Like ok, endgame strangulation isn’t exactly humor-inspiring, but neither is chopping off someone’s limbs and leaving them on fire, but I have no issues finding funny Obi-Wan and Anakin stuff.) LET PADME BE FUNNY!

Hey! So it turns out, running a bang during a pandemic is a very, very bad idea, especially when one has never run one before (oh, the lessons I have learned). It would have been nice if Mz. Rona had bothered to tell me her plans. Rude. I wrote a midpoint check in message that addressed pandemic concerns, which I proceeded to post in the Discord but not the Tumblr, which I THOUGHT I had done, because I am furloughed and my brain is mush. 

@frenchroasted, if you want to work something out, contact me through messenger on Tumblr (lilacsolanum or animorphs-mini-bang both SHOULD be open to non-followed blogs. I hope), e-mail me at [email protected], or message me through Discord at #LilacSolanum#9594. 

In the Missing Post That Never Made It To Tumblr, I invited anyone affected by the pandemic in whatever way, no explanation needed, to come talk to me about potential extensions. Only a few did, so there isn’t an overall extension, but I’ve offered to lower the first draft expectation to 2k, and would not expect a 5k limit.

This is in no way an attempt to pressure anyone to stay in. For a lot of us, this isn’t a change we can bounce back from, or gives us space to focus on fandom at all. But if anyone out there still wants to be involved, but got knocked off their ass for a while, don’t be shy about contacting me. 

kill, betray, have on your zombie apocalypse team

I would like to hold all of them tenderly and I just want that stated from the beginning. 

Kill: Weaver. Because shooting him point blank in the chest didn’t kill him, nothing will. Immortal sexy detective for the win!

Betray: Gold. He probably had it coming. He’d probably commend me for pulling one over on him. 

Have on my zombie apocalypse team: Rumple. He has magic. He zapped all the ogres out of existence, he could probably do the same for zombies. 

2. things that motivate you

Being well enough to write. I’ve spent so many years mostly being in too much pain to write, that when I get a window I’m determined to make the most of it. The only problem with this is that in the past few months I’ve hit on a combination of treatments that has left me actually well enough to write most days at the exact same time that a new obsess- fandom has happened to me, and now I’m writing like there’s no tomorrow. I’m not sure how many words I’ve written since the end of May, but it’s definitely somewhere north of 120,000.

Things that motivate me when I’m well enough to write? The characters. Digging down under their skin and finding out what makes them tick. This is what got me into this fandom in the first place. “How does Brienne feel?” was a question that I spent three weeks and 33,000 words trying to find the answer to, before I realised that I was actually diving head first into a new fandom. I felt so driven that I would wake up in the morning and think: “I can write some more of that today!”

4. name three authors that were influential to your work and tell why

I already answered this one for @nire-the-mithridatist, so I’ll just paste the answer I gave her:

* Robert Browning - more specifically, his dramatic monologues. I first encountered his poetry when I was 17, and the strength and individuality of the narrative voice in these has always stayed with me, particularly Porphyria’s Lover, My Last Duchess and the Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister (“Grr, there go my heart’s abhorrence, Water your damned flowerpots, do! If hate killed men, Brother Lawrence, God’s blood, would not mine kill you?” - just off the top of my head.) 

* Georgette Heyer - for the way she writes comedy into an otherwise serious drama. That sense that life is rarely one thing or the other, but a mix of both, and that it can sometimes change from one to the other at the most unlikely of moments. 

* JRR Tolkien for helping me realise at a very young age that fiction was for escaping the real world - and if I was going to spend time in a fictional world then I wanted that world to be speculative in some way. 

6. how did writing change you?

I started writing fic at a time in my life when a lot of things were changing for me. Many of those things weren’t very nice and they were beyond my control. I’d had to leave behind some of the key defining features of the person I was, and there was an empty space where those things used to be. Writing helped to fill that empty space, a bit. But it did more than that. In my younger life, I’d always felt torn between using words, and the world of literature, and studying history. I thought I’d left the literature side of me behind years before, but it turned out it was just waiting to reassert itself. I think writing also made me a different sort of reader than I’d been before. A more critical one, certainly, but also one who was a lot more aware of writing as something that was very consciously and specifically created by someone.

I don’t know. It’s really late. I think I’ll leave this question here. It was definitely more thought-provoking than I expected!

8. what time are you most productive?

*looks at clock* Nocturnal hours, thy name is Luthien!

I am more productive in every way late at night. This is for a lot of reasons, including that at certain times of the year the weather during the day makes me quite unwell, and I often don’t really bounce back until about midnight. This means that the wee small hours are the best time of my day, so... I make use of them. My body also doesn’t like staying in one position for hours, so it usually takes me most of the day to recover from lying in bed asleep, so, again, evening and night are my productive times.

I have written A LOT of fic after midnight over the years. ;)

And now it’s getting too late even for me, so I think I’ll retire to bed and consider the words I’m planning to write tomorrow. :)

She:

Chases the boys

Loves the boys

Gets kisses from the boys

Loves Raleigh The Most

Makes new friends everywhere she goes

Is sweet and fearless (except for the hair dryer nonononono not good)

Seems to have snake hunter instincts, not birder or mouser.

Peeps and trills a LOT

Says happy things like “Mmmmh” and “Ehhhh” while she purrs and gets snuggled

Lies on a shoulder

Lies on another shoulder

Lies on lap

Lies on chest

Lifts front leggies up in the air and asks to be held in that way

Loves all soft blankets

Still VERY small

Has grown into ears

Has tiny nose

Has long long feets with good beans

Gets very sad if she thinks she is alone

She’s doing REALLY well.  I’ll try to get some nice pictures of her soon.

She has an appointment on Nov. 7 to get spayed and have her broken tail removed.  I’m very nervous, she is still SO small, but I trust my vet team, and I know that it’s necessary.  I wish it wasn’t, I wish she could keep her tail because it’s getting VERY pretty, but she doesn’t have more than minimal control over it and we keep stepping on it or almost closing doors on it, so it really does have to go.

Belle pulled a face as she found another blob of frosting in her hair.  Her idea of letting a class of six-year-olds decorate gingerbread houses had seemed a good one.  Certainly the children had enjoyed themselves, but then Emma Swan and Neal Gold had squirted frosting at one another, the others had thought this a great idea, and Belle had been caught in the crossfire.  Parents were now starting to arrive to take their children home, and she wanted to sigh in relief.

A tapping sound came from the corridor, and Belle felt herself blush a little as she recognised it.  Mr Gold had come to collect Neal, then.  She had been looking forward to seeing him all day, but now he was here she was starting to think that perhaps it would have been better if she hadn’t been hot and bothered and covered in frosting.  The man was always immaculate, and she seemed to lose what little coordination and grace she possessed whenever he was around.

He smiled at her when he entered the room, dark eyes crinkling at the corners, and she felt her heart lurch.  He was wearing a fuchsia silk shirt beneath a black suit, and the colour gave his skin a warm hue.  His eyes swept over her, brows rising as he took in her appearance.  Belle’s blush deepened.

“Miss French,” he said.  “I - see you’ve had your hands full with these little monsters.”

“I’m not a monster,” piped up Emma, tossing her blonde hair.

“No, you’re a poop-head,” said Neal, and stuck out his tongue.

Emma looked down her nose at him.

“My gingerbread house is prettier than yours.”

“It is not!”

“That’s enough,” said Gold.  “Neal, why don’t you carry the gingerbread house out to the car?”

“Can I go to Emma’s for dinner?” he asked, and Gold shook his head.

“We haven’t arranged anything with her parents,” he said.  “And besides, would you leave me eating dinner all alone?”

“Ask Miss French to dinner, then,” said Neal, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.  Mr Gold glanced at Belle, then looked away again.

“I’m - I’m sure Miss French has better things to do than eat dinner with me,” he said, after a moment’s hesitation.

“I’d like to say that was true,” said Belle.  “But I’m afraid the most exciting thing in my near future will be showering to get this frosting off.”

Mr Gold cleared his throat, and she was surprised to see a faint blush in his cheeks.  She wondered what he was thinking.

“You can come over after that, then,” said Neal.  “Papa can share dessert with you.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to steal your Papa’s dessert,” said Belle, ruffling Neal’s hair.  “I’m sure he’s been looking forward to it all day.”

Mr Gold smiled, his eyes gleaming, and she badly wanted to kiss him.

“Well,” he said.  “Perhaps another time.”

“Friday night?” offered Belle, and his eyes widened.

“I - uh - yes, alright,” he managed.  “Friday night.  I’ll - I’ll get a sitter.”

“I’ll go to Emma’s,” said Neal.  “If you’re gonna kiss and be gross I don’t wanna be there.”

Wriiiiite it!

Either the fic then the title, or both at once. Sometimes I get a concept that comes with a title, but I’d count that as being simultaneous, not the title coming first. I’ve only had a handful of times that I’ve had the title come first - once with my Maleficent fic, a hundred years or more, which was a title I’d wanted to use for a while, and a couple of times on original/unposted stuff. Usually the hardest part for me is coming up with a title after the thing is written!