#heathersaid

Not gonna lie @heathersaid this one was my favorite! Thanks for the prompt.

2. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck this shit. Fuck”

From this drabble prompt list.

Katniss sat on the counter of the employee break room with one arm wrapped around her waist in a protective measure. She held her tea mug in the other, using it to gesticulate because she couldn’t find the words to tell Johanna how truly awful her run-in with their spawn of the devil manager had been, no matter how much her co-worker prodded.

The entire day had been a shit show, with the air conditioning in Katniss’s old car deciding to stop working on the way to the office. Not to mention she forgot her lunch and purse, and then, as the perfect, you should have brought along a jar of Vaseline because you’re getting the screwing of your life from the universe, the strap on her left sandal broke while crossing the parking lot. All of this was before Coin tore her a new one over what she called Katniss’s “mismanagement” of the marketing campaign- one she hadn’t wanted to work on in the first place. 

Everything that transpired had a hand in the mute episode Katniss found herself in the middle of. She was so done with this place. 

“Well?” Johanna prodded, staring at her expectantly. “Was Coin making the face that looks like an angry corpse?”

Katniss sighed before taking a sip of the tea in her mug and frowned- it needed a lot more sugar. “How about a recap tomorrow?” she offered. “I just can’t go there today.”

“Fine,” Johanna agreed, “but I’m going to want every detail, so you’d better be ready bright and noonish.”

“Details about what?” Peeta asked, entering the break room, brushing past Johanna as she backed out the door to get back to her desk.

“Shit day,” Katniss mumbled. Her cheeks felt hot, so she stared into the bottom of her mug until Johanna left the break room. She rolled her eyes but smiled down into her cup again. She glanced up at Peeta, and he winked at her.

Katniss and Peeta had been on more than a few dates recently, and since the relationship was new, they hadn’t let HR know yet because how awkward would that be if it didn’t work out? They were keeping things under wraps. Katniss didn’t think they could keep their relationship a secret much longer. Not with their chemistry or the familiarity between them that came with liking someone as much as she liked Peeta. 

“Sorry to hear that. Want to talk about it?” Peeta asked quietly, opening the fridge door and digging out his lunch bag before shutting it again and facing her.

Katniss shook her head. “No,” she murmured, watching Peeta set his lunch on the counter next to where she was sitting. He opened the bag and pulled out what looked like a giant sandwich on those homemade bread rolls he got from his family’s bakery. Without a word, he gave her half, and she smiled gratefully. She told him earlier she’d forgotten her lunch. He always offered to share his food with her, but today she decided to take him up on it, potential fodder for the office gossip mill if they were spotted sharing his food be damned.

Katniss was swallowing her first bite when Peeta wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and spoke up. “You know what always makes me feel better when I’m pissed? Letting out a string of swears. Even if it doesn’t fix your problem, a good, loud fuck is guaranteed to make you feel better.”

She laughed at the double entendre. “I wouldn’t know,” she teased before taking another bite of her sandwich. They haven’t had sex with each other yet, although god knows she’s thought about it often enough. 

Peeta rubbed the back of his neck, “I think it’ll do wonders for your disposition.” Before stepping closer, he glanced around the breakroom, making sure no one was paying attention to them. “Seriously, just let it all out,” he whispered, brushing her knee with his thumb.

“Fine,” Katniss said, catching his eye. “Fuck.”

Peeta squeezed her knee and grinned. “You’re damn right, fuck. Do it again.”

She had to admit it was a freeing feeling, so she tried it again with enthusiasm. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she said. “Fuck this shit.”

YOU TOOK THE PROMPT!!! OMG IT'S HAPPENING!!!!

Well that didn’t take long… me right now:

But hopefully soon:

I haven’t — yet. But never say never. I’ve only got a few cobbled together ideas about how they both use pathos and showmanship to make their way in the Games. Though there’s immediate connections to Katniss with her singing and all, I think Lucy Gray’s performative nature is far more in line with political Peeta. I’d have to tease that out more. She obviously also occupies the same “role” in the story as the love interest that the protagonist has a vested interest in helping.

What I have done is written several short stories where Lucy Gray’s ghost becomes a sort of lifeline to Peeta during his captivity and hijacking, if you’d care to take a gander

But of course! ;)

9. what's your writing process like?

Chaos.

Lol, I'm gonna focus on longer onsehots and multi chapters because for me, drabbles are usually just word vomit. Okay so I feel like my writing process generally takes one of two paths. Path A starts with one vivid image or scene in my head, then a second one, and when I start seeing connections between those two and a third image or scene, I know it's time to either start writing and see where we go, or start outlining. (Unmasked, Break, Spellbound all started this way)

Path B will start with the actual writing -- usually to fill a prompt, but sometimes because of a bit of inspiration from a picture, something someone says to me, a song I hear, a snippet of dialogue. And that is chaos writing. It's like a fever or a frenzy that I can't walk away from.

Path A is more rare for me but it usually turns into something workable, whereas with Path B, it's hit or miss. Since I start with the writing, it usually ends either with me pounding my head on the keyboard partway through and then going "Ugh this sucks why am I doing this?" At which point, I shelve it. I am ashamed to admit how many fics like that I have. Sometimes I come back to the idea if I find a better angle from which to approach it (Spellbound was like this. Until I hit on the shapeshifter and Haymitch as a ghost aspect, I couldn't get it off the ground. Maybe Tomorrow was also a shelved idea until the efe prompt had me seeing it from a completely different approach).

OR, if I get to a point where I cannot stop writing and cannot keep up with the thoughts and plans in my head and the characters feel alive and out of my control, then I know... I've got a good one. When that happens, I'll usually stop myself where I think the first chapter would end and circle back to planning or outlining. (Pure my friends. And the latest one Where the Stars Crumble... started like this. Also a ton of my older, unfinished fics that haven't seen updates in 7 years started this way. They're on hiatus because of a computer crash years ago ate a bunch of things and I never really recovered from that loss so I moved on to other stories).

Usually the writing frenzy is the opening of my fics. Sometimes, that initial frenzy of writing is actually in the middle of the story (Outside Chance, 9000 r.p.m., and Lay Me Down, Let Me Dream started with me writing somewhere in the middle).

Once I'm going, I leave myself open to changing directions, altering the outline. I am not a stickler for "this is the way I planned it so this is how I'm going to write it" because when I try doing that, I wind up hating it. There's a few dead fics in my folders that died this way (anyone remember the stripper!Peeta drabble I wrote eons ago that I said was going to turn into a multi chapter but never did? yep this is how that one died. I tried to force it into the outline and it didn't work).

Outlines will take different forms for me. Some of them are highly organized, bullet points with bits of dialogue, scenes sketched out, setting details etc etc divided by chapter. Sometimes they are a summary dump in a google doc that may or may not actually get used ahahahaha. Sometimes they are post it notes on the wall that I move around until I like what I see. More often, they're a blend of two of those, and that gets deleted as I write a chapter, and whatever is left in the outline when I finish that chapter gets moved to the document where I'm writing the next chapter.

And all of this is a really long winded way for me to say that my writing process is flexible, whatever is working. Or as my fiction writing professor keeps saying... whatever is in service of the story.

15. How do you think your writing as improved over time?

Answered here! :)

17. What’s the best engagement/interaction/feedback you’ve received from someone who’s read your work?

Anything that makes me see my own writing in a new light or when people tell me that I made them feel something in a visceral way. I live for that.

I'll confess to shamelessly adoring it anytime someone tells me they think I could turn something into a really good original work, because that is what I someday want to do... write originals.

Also... there are a few people I now consider my friends or internet pen pals because they started commenting on my fics and at some point the conversation shifted away from fanfiction and writing.

Thanks for the ask, love!

05: What is your relationship status?

Single!

10: When was your last physical fight?

Couple months ago in Las Vegas.

20: Where was the last place you snogged someone?

I don’t remember.

60: Do you wanna get married?

more than a n y t h i n g.

Besides have babies.

Thank you!! Happy to say that it has been absolutely wonderful 🤗