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I'm about to post the final chapter of my novel-length fic -- my very first multi-chapter fic! My best friend had such fun writing a multi-chapter fic that I wanted to get in on that action, too: people reading along, getting invested in it, saying what they thought would happen and hoped would happen. Crossing Stars is an extremely complex fic, interweaving large numbers of characters, timelines, and fandoms (a big part of why I'm so proud of it!), so I rather hoped to have readers along the way to help me keep track of everything, say whether they'd like more follow-up on one part or another ... but no. :-( One person apparently read about a half of it and then never commented again, and another person recently commented on the third-to-last chapter, but otherwise, the few comments I got were spam. (The spam comments on AO3 are a new thing! And ugh.) So I ended up being basically on my own all the way through. JUST LIKE MY CHARACTERS! Well, so it goes. I was bummed about that ... but I am incredibly proud of the fic.

The irony in how unpopular it is is that as I was writing it, I thought it's one of my more crowd-pleasing fics?? At least, according to the usual standards: lots of action, high body count. I guess there's no real romance, and it gets a little technical at times, but people like time-travel stories too, right?? But alas, this did not translate into readers.

I have a few theories about why people weren't reading it. The main character (an OC -- another thing people usually avoid) is fifteen or under for the entire fic and is infatuated with a grown man member of her team. She's in the body of a grown woman and can thus (try to) trick him into believing she's also an adult and into having a relationship with her, an effort which persists throughout the fic -- is indeed a focal point of the fic -- and has repercussions for the plot and for all the characters unto the end, but he always senses something is off and nothing ever happens (except she steals a couple of kisses). I certainly understand people avoiding an unfinished fic where they think something underage might happen, because it would not be at all surprising on AO3 if someone posting a WIP suddenly sprang underage content on the audience, not having tagged for it before the chapter in which it happens, and readers don't want to get invested in a fic they might suddenly find themselves turned off by and unable to finish. So maybe once the fic is complete and they see there's no tag for underage, they'll give it a chance where they were afraid to before. I hope so.

There are also the people who just don't read WIPs until they're complete, which I also get, since the number of abandoned WIPs must be legion. My fic in particular is one where everything leads up to the end, where all the plot points and themes aren't fully realized until then, so getting invested in such a fic would be especially bad while there remains fear it will never be finished.

Also, I didn't realize until I'd already written most of it that all three of the main fandoms (Travelers, 86, and Classroom of the Elite) are essentially dead fandoms, sigh. Just my luck. They are not dead to me; they live on very brightly inside me, but I guess most people lose interest shortly after a show is no longer releasing new episodes.

It's also occurred to me that maybe people think it's gonna be one of those fics that throws a million shows in the tags that are barely actually touched on in the fic? I've never really gotten what's going on with those fics. I've tried to read them before to see what they did with a tagged character I like, and in the couple I did try to read, they like ... passed by in a hallway or had a single line, lol. I don't get it! Unless it's like I felt in my teens about the real people my friend and I had an 'oral tradition' of ficcing about, where I was thrilled by the idea of them simply being present and making a little fun cameo. Is that it? Or is it maybe that they're throwing in a hint of every show they can think of so they can include it in the tags in hopes of getting more readers? Seeing the tossed-off cracky quality to those fics I did try to read, I don't think that much thought went into it, lol.

In any case, Crossing Stars is not one of those kinds of fics; the three main fandoms and the three main characters are all a very fundamental part of the fic. Natasha, Bucky and Steve from MCU also have a pretty important part, although much smaller, as the main characters' senpais. Finally, the My Hero kids have a small but important role as their kohais, as I needed literally a hundred kids fighting against impossible odds, a fandom where putting the kids in such a situation wouldn't be off brand lest I traumatize the fans of some lighthearted fandom with my very dark fic lol, and My Hero fit the bill perfectly. I don't want to trick anyone into reading the fic thinking it's a My Hero fic, because it isn't, but those characters are also present so I've got to tag for them. But I did include the show listing in order of importance to the fic in the tags.

I've never been so proud of a fic I've written. It's incredibly complex, interweaving multiple fandoms and timelines imo quite skillfully. It's got action and heart. It does justice to the amazing shows that inspired it. It covers 15 years of the main characters' lives, so you get to see long growth arcs for all of them. It was fun but challenging to write their characters at all those ages when people grow and change so much, taking into account that these are also highly trained genetically designed geniuses. It was so hard!! But so fun to write, and so personal to me. I went through probably the biggest transition of my entire life over the course of writing it. I started the fic during a trip that represented a big part of that transition, even though I hadn't been able to write in a long time (now that I can write again, I think all my creative energy was going toward manifesting my new life, but at the time, I believed I would probably never be able to write again, and this fic was the singular exception), and finished it only recently. The fic kept me company through what was ultimately a wonderful transition, but which was at times extremely grim and scary. At the end of the transition, I had to leave behind so much about the life I'd lived up to that point. That old life is the life I honored with this fic so that I could give it a good burial and leave it in my past. So I can't fully put into words just how much this fic means to me. Maybe in the end the fic will only have been for me. But it really is a killer fic that has in it so much I think would move a reader and that they would enjoy, so I really hope more people give it a try.
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Title: An Impossible Life
Fandom: Elementary
Word Count: 8,600
Rating: R
Characters: Sherlock, Moriarty, Watson, Morland, Gregson
Pairing: Sherlock/Moriarty
Warnings: BDSM, dom/sub, drugging and kidnapping, chained up, imprisonment, choking, erotic asphyxiation, autassassinophilia, bruising, scratching, praise, hurt/comfort, aftercare, suicidal ideation, healing, bottom Sherlock

Summary: Realizing Jamie Moriarty has escaped from her prison, Sherlock hunts her down and imprisons her himself. Chained up in a remote location, she's still somehow in complete control of the situation ... and of Sherlock. It is not possible for him to have a healthy, functional relationship with a murderous sociopath and he knows it well, but the fact remains, he has only ever been in love with her, and he always will be.


“Watson is the only person I can live with,” he said, looking out the window, missing Watson, their life together in the brownstone, the only real life he’d ever managed to cobble together. Well, it was Watson who cobbled it together. He just got to live in it there, with her. “But you’re the only person I can’t live without.”



Snowflake Challenge #10: In your own space, create a fanwork.

Well, the timing worked out perfectly for this particular challenge, as I just finished this Sherlock fic I've been working on the past few days.

The warnings are a doozy, eh?? Especially since I don't write anything remotely porny almost ever! (Although this one is more ... philosophical porn? Literary porn? Something like that.) I have a few fics that include sex, never particularly explicit, but gen is my thing. Sometimes, however, the story I want to tell has to include it, and in the case of this fic, some dark, dirty sex is the basis of what I felt, after watching Elementary for so-far 5+ seasons, might be the only thing that could cure poor Sherlock, or at least make him feel better in any measure. Plus, the whole Moriarty plot was sooo good. Would that the show had been seasons and seasons of just that! I looked it up and saw the actress doesn’t return to the show by the end, meaning I guess there won’t be any more Sherlock/Moriarty, sigh ... so I made some myself. Sherlock is always having BDSM sex with strangers in canon; I figured why not make it something that might actually touch him at his core and heal him a little?
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What a great idea for a first challenge--it's all too easy to write your intro and then leave it on your profile just like that forever, no matter how many things have changed!

My profile is up to date. I mention there that I don't have a show right now that's totally sucked me in and has me writing tons of fic for it. That said, I saw some truly awesome shows in 2022 that I'd like to make record of here, and so people can get a feel for the kinds of things I enjoy, including Link Click, Legacies, Raven of the Inner Palace, Shadows House, 86, Sumo Do Sumo Don't, ID: Invaded, Vivy Fluorite Eye's Song, Cyberpunk 2077, Blue Period, Akudama Drive, Moriarty the Patriot (I even wrote a nice, unpopular fic for that one, Evildoers), SpyxFamily, Bluelock, Andor, and Russian Doll Season 1. And how could I forget the greatness that is Prison School?? ;-p Truly, we were blessed with so much fantastic stuff to watch this year!

My heart lies in original fiction, so that's where most of my energy has gone creatively in the past year, but I did write some fic and make a vid this year:

FIC:

Evildoers, the aforementioned Moriarty the Patriot fic, which is a crossover with Elementary. Man, Moriarty the Patriot is a great show! Sooo, so good. It does, however, ship William Moriarty with Sherlock, which I am Here For! But in my fic, William instead despises and desperately wants to kill Sherlock, so I can see why anyone expecting any Sherliam vibes present in the show might be disappointed. Still, I love the fic, and I'm so glad I wrote it.

Beads Everywhere, No Thread, which I talk about in detail in this post. Here's the summary: Dean thinks Sam's a pretty normal kid. But when Sam begins to lose his connection to reality at age ten, Dean will do anything to get him back. Anything.

As I nearly always manage to do, much to my delight, I was also able to pick up a pinch hit for the SPN Summergen exchange. I'm betting this was the final year for that exchange, arguably the most venerable in all of SPN fandom. I've proudly participated every year since 2013! And even helped run it one year. It's one of the things I've most looked forward to every summer, so I'll participate as long as it runs, but if this was the final year, it ended on a high. I loved the prompt: "What if the sitcom bit in 'Changing Channels' had gone for a full (sitcom) episode?" It's an idea I've toyed with myself here and there, and this was the perfect excuse to finally write it. I confess one of my talents--try not to get jealous, here--is to be able to effortlessly come up with Three's-Company-esque innuendo, so that was the direction I took it. The commenters got what I was going for, and much fun was had by all. :-D Supernatural, The Sitcom.

Finally, I picked up a pinch hit for SPN ReverseBang, too. I should have included Travelers on my list of shows I enjoyed this year, because I did! But as it was far from my first viewing, I figured it didn't belong on my 2022-specific list. WHAT A SHOW. God, I wish that show would come back, and that I could write for it!! I HAVE LITERALLY SEASONS' WORTH OF IDEAS. COME ON GUYS. SOMEONE, FUND THIS WONDERFUL SHOW, LET IT CARRY ON! Anyway, so the artist I worked with was kind enough to let me write a SPN/Travelers crossover, and man, it was fun to write some Travelers fic; I might have to do more of it. PHILIP!! My baby!! You can read it here if you like: Savior to Savior, where Sam and Dean are hunting the Travelers! And the Travelers are surveiling them back. And something approaching a friendship between the two parties occurs ... temporarily.

VID:

"Midnight", song by Coldplay, images from Your Name. I was having a rough time when I made and cross-posted it here. I'd badly sprained my wrist (hence why I turned to making a vid! Because that was something I could do one-handed) and really wanted a response to this thing that I'd created and didn't expect one, and then everyone over at [community profile] anime_manga was so kind! I met some lovely people who became the core of my reading page here! I've tried to get more involved here ever since, but couldn't really find my way in, so that is part of why I'm doing the Snowflake Challenge. Also, that it just sounds super fun! I did it once on lj way back when, but to do it here on dw where it originates is already pretty amazing--I can't believe how much participation I'm seeing! So I'm happy it's underway and to be participating. Hurray, Snowflake Challenge!
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Title: Principle
Author: [personal profile] brightly_lit
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,700
Characters: Dean, OMC
Genre: gen, outsider pov, Winchesters versus law enforcement
Summary: It's never what a cop expects when they encounter a Winchester. Dead body, check. Highly competent criminality, check. Lecture on right and wrong? Uhhh ....


Read more... )
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Title: Revelation
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4,200
Characters: Sam, Dean, Mary, Lucifer, original hunter characters
Genre: gen, hurt/comfort, intense angst, some humor, heroism, badassery, family feels, the consequences of growing up without a mother, hunter gathering
Summary: It's a good thing Mary hasn't asked her sons much about what they've been up to while she was dead, because they'd just as soon she didn't know about most of it, especially Sam. Maybe she wouldn't want anything to do with him anymore, if she knew. Unfortunately, it's no longer his choice.

"Sam really didn't want their mom to know Sam had been some kind of freak who had visions and was the devil's chosen vessel, that they'd both spent a great deal of time in hell .... Looking back, there was very little to go on the list of 'things you want to tell your long-lost mother about.'"

Spoilers through 12.6.


I LOVE S12. I've often felt inspired to write fic, watching this season, but never so much as watching 12.6, which included or hinted at things I've always wanted to see in canon: mainly, for Sam and Dean to finally get some of their due from other hunters for all their amazing accomplishments, and for Mary to get to know about them too, so this fic is putting all of that that I wanted to see into a story, plus more. I hope you like!

Read more... )
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Title: Consequences
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,200
Characters: Sam, Dean, Cas, OCs
Genre: gen, humor, kids, fluff, bunker
Summary: Soulless Sam got around quite a bit, and never faced a consequence ... until now.


I think we can all use something to make us smile this week ....


Read more... )

Pie fic!

Sep. 5th, 2016 01:41 am
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[livejournal.com profile] toratio and I were chatting on my silly post about keeping time via pie flavors, and she wrote an awesome fic! Go check it out: Slice of Life.
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Title: Trouble
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,800
Genre: gen, angst, hurt no comfort, wee!chesters, wee!chesters fending for themselves, school, bullies, outcast
Characters: Sam, OCs
Summary: When 11-year-old Sam gets to stay home alone while Dad and Dean are on a hunt, he's thrilled to get to finally live like a normal kid, staying out of the trouble that always seems to come with being a Winchester, but things never work out as planned.


Read more... )
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Title: Bloom, bear fruit, sleep
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Rating: PG
Word Count: 700
Genre: gen, ptsd, angst, hurt no comfort, confusion, memory recovery, remembered/implied violence, character study
Characters: Bucky
Setting: Between Winter Soldier and Civil War.
Summary: Contemplating the life cycle of plum trees, Bucky struggles to understand his own, and to figure out how to live in a normal world.


Ripe plums appeared at the market in late summer. All of the stone fruit did. Strawberries arrived sooner. The long days of winter with only a few oldening apples and pumpkins made the first appearance of strawberries so welcome, it seemed almost magical. Almost impossible.
Read more... )
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Title: Process of Elimination
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Fandom: MCU
Rating: PG-13 for movie-style violence and disturbing concepts
Word Count: 3,700
Genre: gen, bromance, intense angst, hurt/comfort, abandonment, suicidal ideation, homelessness, remorse, badassery
Characters: Bucky, Steve Rogers (Captain America), Sam Wilson, OCs
Summary: At the end of Winter Soldier, Steve said he was going to look for Bucky, and that's what he's doing. Little does he know, Bucky also went looking for Steve.


Read more... )
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Title: Red Rover
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Fandoms: SPN and MCU (Winter Soldier) crossover
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1,700
Genre: gen (but shades of Sam/Bucky crept in), badassery, "us against the world," angst, new connection/friend, loneliness, show-level violence
Characters: Sam Winchester, Bucky Barnes, Tim, Reggie, other SPN hunters
Summary: After the events of "Free to Be You and Me," Sam continues working at the bar. A customer comes along with whom Sam feels something he's seldom felt in his whole lonely life: a real kinship.


Inspired by this glorious work of art by [livejournal.com profile] amberdreams:



You can find her whole art post here.

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Title: Life Is What Happens to You
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Genre: gen, awesome brother Dean, brotherly feels, hurt!Sam, emotional h/c, angst, a little humor, resolution, Stanford references
Characters: Sam, Dean, OFC
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2500
Summary: An old college friend comes upon Sam and Dean looking rough after a hunt. Dean doesn't understand why Sam seems so ashamed of what he's become.

Title from this quote: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." -John Lennon


Read more... )
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Title: Catching Up
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Rating: PG
Genre: gen, both funny and dark
Word Count: ~1,300
Characters: Dean, Sam, Walt, Roy

Summary: "When I come back, I'mma be pissed." Those were Dean's last words before Walt and Roy killed him, and Sam too. He's pissed, all right.


Read more... )
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Title: Night Closure
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Rating: PG
Genre: gen, humor, badassery, very slight casefic, brothers on the road together
Characters: Sam, Dean, OMC
Word Count: 1,250
Summary: Something's off about the construction worker stopping traffic in the middle of the night on a mountain road all by himself in the middle of winter. Very off.



Read more... )

Fic: Troll

Oct. 5th, 2015 08:38 pm
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Title: Troll
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Rating: PG
Genre: gen, casefic, humor
Characters: Sam, Dean, the thing they're hunting
Word Count: ~1000
Summary: Sam and Dean hunt a monster they never have before: a troll.


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Title: Blood in the Water
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Rating: PG
Word Count: 300
Genre: gen, angst, alcoholism, 10.7 episode tag
Character: Dean
Warnings: heavy angst, alcoholism
Summary: Drunk Dean starts thinking about things he usually tries not to.

This is an early Christmas present for [livejournal.com profile] a_starfish, who made me this incredibly beautiful art for "In the Garden of Eden." (If you haven't already seen it, go look at it now now now!!)

I loved this sea-themed art of hers from the first moment I saw it, the whole metaphor of it, as well as the amazing scope of such a massive conceptual piece, so I wanted to write a fic to go with it. Hope you like it, dearie!


Dean's heartbreaking description of the end he imagines for himself to Cole in 10.7 helped this fic go where it did, as well, so I suppose it's also something of a 10.7 episode tag ...

Read more... )

Fic: Boxes

Oct. 16th, 2014 08:49 pm
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And another 10.2 episode tag! 150 words again, since I can’t seem to write less.

Title: Boxes
Warnings: horror (probably only PG-13), but gen
Summary: Sam knows exactly where Dean fits into his life, now.

Read more... )
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Title: Hotel Blues
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Rating: G
Word Count: 500
Characters: Sam, Dean, hotel clerks
Genre: gen, slice of life, humor, brief outside POV
Summary: The hotel room was nice ... too nice.


Read more... )
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SUMMERGEN IS HAPPENING, and I get to mod! *evil cackle* Only two days left to fill out the form--signups close Friday evening. Summergen is glorious--all gen fic, all summer long, only 1,000 word minimum, some of the greatest writers in fandom participating, anonymous until the end, working from a prompt set we do our best to cater to your preferences--it's so fun!! You can participate, or you can just join/follow the comm and read all the wonderful stories that come out of it.

Any o' yous guys out there who have been thinking about trying an exchange, or who write gen fic, I highly recommend this exchange. Lo all those months ago when I first dipped a toe into reading fic, the fic rec page I found had a ton of fics from summergen, which was my first glimmer of a desire to become a part of fandom, so truly, I have summergen to thank for bringing me to you and all this fandom wonder.

Here, a beautiful pic for you to whet your appetite for Sam and Dean in the summertime ...


clickety-click on the pretty pic!
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Title: Backgammon
Author: [livejournal.com profile] brightly_lit
Recipient: [livejournal.com profile] zelda_addict
Rating: G
Genre: gen, humor, brother time
Characters: Dean, Sam
Word Count: 290
Summary: Dean finds some games in a room in the bunker and convinces Sam to play them with him.

I promised the person who guessed all the code names for bands in this fic a congratulatory drabble (more like a ficlet, as it turned out), and this is it! [livejournal.com profile] zelda_addict, you rock! I deviated slightly from your prompt, hope that's all right.

Read more... )

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