wrote_and_writ | Entries tagged with fan fiction

Listen, I don’t want to jinx things, but even if something happens tomorrow, this has been the most productive autumn I’ve had in a long time. Sure, I’d rather be living somewhere close to my friends, somewhere with a Starbucks where I can write, but honestly, getting into a writing routine has been so good for me in general. And if I may brag a little, my current NaNo word count is 28,019 words. Initially, I set a goal of 20,000 but I decided to throw in for the whole 50k. As I mentioned, I’m not writing one long story but rather using the Jiang Cheng Love Month 2020 prompts as my framework. I divided it out into four, week-long stories, with a 2-day bonus story at the end of the month.

This week, I’m writing my fave OT3, MingXiCheng, in a modern cultivators AU. I am diving deep into as much fluffiness as I can. I just really want nice, comforting stories, like a warm bowl of soup with fresh bread. Since I still feel the urge to apologize for writing fluff, I’m still working out internalized nonsense about the value of such stories, but that is a thought for another day.

For today, here’s a lil snippet from the current story, Take My Hand and Set Me Free, from an upcoming chapter.

“I never slept with Lan Xichen!”

“Yelling is forbidden—“

“Shut up, Lan Wangji!”

Wei Ying grabs Wangji’s wrist and kicks Jiang Cheng’s shin under the table. “Xichen-ge is honorable, and he appears to have learned from Nie Mingjue’s obvious failure in communication. He’s not gonna try anything without talking to you first.”

“If you stop avoiding him,” Wangji adds, though his expression suggests he would very much like Jiang Cheng to keep ignoring his brother.

So the world continues to be a Whole Lot, eh? I have the attention span of a gnat for things that really matter, like my job and my health, but writing is going pretty okay. I would say well, except it’s a new week. I’m at about 17,000 words for my NaNoWriMo/Jiang Cheng Love Month. I think I mentioned I was breaking my work up into week-long stories, and the first week story felt really good. Basically, my goal for all the stories is to let my boy Jiang Cheng process his shit and get loved and loved in return.

For this week’s story, I’m building from the bones of the modern high school AU WIP I had going on. I deleted it from AO3 but saved a copy, so if you were reading that, you’ll recognize bits in this new story. I don’t have any energy to go into greater detail, but please enjoy this snippet and have a wonderful week.

“I am worried about you,” Wei Ying says, though he is much subdued. “Huaisang said —“

“Huaisang has a big mouth,” Jiang Cheng mutters.

“Was he lying?” When Jiang Cheng won’t respond, Wei Ying throws a french fry at him. “Jiang Cheng, was Huaisang lying about Wen Chao and his fucking minions messing with you?”

Another week down. Huzzah. (It’s fine. I’m tired. Teaching is hard. Writing is SLOOOOOOOOW.)

I’m picking away at my Guardian Week fic (long past the due date, but I WILL finish it). Here’s a snippet from the next chapter. I’m having fun repurposing minor characters from the drama for minor characters here.

“You’re certain?” Zhao Yunlan asks again.

“As certain as we can be,” Zhu Hong replies, with much more patience than Zhao Yunlan deserves. “Lai Su fell out of favor with Ya Qing, so his access to information is limited to the few friends he has left. But he says he heard it from someone who heard it from Li Yan who saw the cloak.” Zhu Hong reaches across the table for Zhao Yunlan’s hand. “It’s the best we’ve got.”

“Do you trust Lai Su?”

Zhu Hong snorts. “No. Not a bit. But we pay him well, and I trust his self interest.”

Zhao Yunlan sighs. “I suppose that’s good enough.” He squeezes Zhu Hong’s hand. “Alright. Round up the troops. We’ll leave in half an hour.”

Happy September! We're two-thirds of the way through the year. Probably. Who knows what time even is any more? While I generally have to think really hard about what day of the week it is, the checklist I made for GYWO has been really helpful to at least give me some proof that time still moves and I'm doing things. I've almost met my goal of writing 240 days this year. Some days, I only manage to eke out a paragraph or two, some days I just write out plans for a story.

At the end of August, I'm at 192 days of doing something related to writing. Last night/today/again, what even is time?, I hopped on

undeadrobins's 50 Kiss Prompt List, so I think that will be a fun way to see the year out. You can check out the series here if you're so inclined. It will be multi-fandom, based on my whims, just like all my writing.

I hope you're all having creative successes, however small they might be, because we need every bit of creativity and joy we can get.

Most days, I’m only vaguely aware of what day of the week it is. I’m still feeling both utterly unmoored and permanently anchored. It is somehow August. I should be getting ready for the next school year, but since I’m pretty certain now my dreams of getting back into my classroom in time to start the year will not be coming true, I’m wholly unmotivated to make any lesson plans at all. I’m experienced enough that I can put together a unit in about a day, so I’m waiting to see what my schedule will be like, who my students are, and where they are in the curriculum before I do anything. Normally, I love the vast possibility of a new year, but this year, the best I can manage is “meh. We’ll read some stories and write some essays and learn some vocab and it will be whatever.”

Oh! I did manage to consume the new season of The Umbrella Academy and I’m almost caught up on the new season of Tomb Show, plus I finished season 3 of Medical Examiner Dr. Qin, mostly because Liu Haikuan is gorgeous and I love him.

July was a better month than June for my GYWO challenge. I’m ahead of the goal by about 20 days (I’m doing the habit tracker goal of writing 240 days this year), so I could just slack/rest, but I don’t want to lose the little forward momentum that I have, so I’m going to work on my sangcheng/Yunmeng bros modern AU fic and a Guardian fic (loosely inspired in structure by

starandrea Untamed AU — not in content but in the slice-of-life daily story, although I know I won’t manage to get something written and out everyday.

To that end, here is a little bit of my Untamed story, back with Brotherly Feelings (as was the original intent of the story before Nie Huaisang muscled in).

“So what are you kids into these days besides video games and rock music?” Wei Ying asks with a broad grin and broader gestures.

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes, but a bit of ice forms in his heart when he realizes Wei Ying isn’t just being his normal, ridiculous self. He realizes that his brother doesn’t actually know what he likes, what he does in his (limited) free time. His response is frosty when he says “I’ll take you to a shop.”

I actually managed to post a small update to a fic I started back in May! 😮😮😮 It’s not great, but it’s also not terrible, and I’m going to just take that small victory.

In the mean time, I’m rolling around in The Lost Tomb world, trying not to think about work as it gets close to August, finishing up an online class, and generally Fretting About Things.

My local Starbucks has put out its outdoor tables for the first time in months, and I went out today and sat and wrote a bit. I can stay nice and distant from other people and feel a bit more normal. Not being able to go to cafes has been the toughest for me because I have spent the last 15 years or so training myself to work there. Home is too quiet, naps are too tempting, but go sit at a Starbucks, anywhere in the world, and I have an almost Pavlovian response to write a few things down. I’m hoping to get my mom’s bike fixed up so I can ride down in the morning, treat myself to a coffee and a bit of a sit, and then go back home — get some mental and physical exercise.

In the meantime, I’ve had an idea for a Guo Changcheng-centric fic about his first full, “normal” year at the SID, after everyone finds the Hallows, defeats Ye Zun (I don’t have the energy to save him, too, not in this story), and get on living because nobody else dies. Below the cut is a little snippet of part of that fic.
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Ah, time. What even is it any more? As I was falling asleep last night, I suddenly felt that I had missed Sunday, but it was only Saturday.

Another week of not really finishing anything, writing wise. I’m getting into The Lost Tomb reboot and watching the original series, which I enjoy. I’m crocheting. But my heart wants to write and my everything else is not cooperating.

Normally, this is the time of year where I’d be making plans to go back to work, but I don’t know what that will look like, so it’s really hard to plan. It’s hard to be excited about school, too. I refuse to teach in the US anymore. I’m not cannon fodder.

I feel like I’m sitting on an airplane that’s stopped on the runway. We can neither take off to go somewhere, nor can we get off the plane and make other plans. Sitting there, crammed into a too-small seat, unable to do anything besides watch TV and crochet. -_-

Anyway, I’m still working on a sangcheng fic, in bits and pieces, and I think I have the general emotional shape of it, but I haven’t managed to write the plot.

“Do you love me, Huaisang?”

Huaisang sighed. “After all these years, Wanyin? Does it really need saying?”

“Answer me, please.”

“I would pull down the heavens for you, Jiang Cheng.”

“That’s not the same thing as love.”

“Isn’t it?”

Jiang Cheng picked up the letter and stood. “The Yunmeng Jiang Sect accepts your proposal,” he said, not meeting Huaisang’s eyes. “You will receive a formal acceptance letter within the week. I’ll go now.” He turned and picked up his sword.

Oh hello! I hope you all had a lovely and relaxing weekend. If you aimed to be productive in any way, I hope you are satisfied with your progress. I’m binge watching dumb UFO shows at the moment because I can put them on in the background. Anxiety is still far too high, but I did manage to get some writing I’m proud of (or will be once it’s edited). However, they’re pieces for exchanges and other people, so I can’t share any snippets of those. I have made some progress on a sangcheng piece that I still have good feelings about, although it’s got a long way to go. It’s a post-drama relatively canon-compliant story that takes place roughly 10-15 years after the show ends. I hope I can actually finish it because it will end up being longer than things I normally write, and I would like to meet this challenge.

Anyway, here’s a little bit of actual prose that may or may not end up in the story.

Huaisang’s solution was elegant. Of course it was.

Jiang Cheng sighed. “I don’t suppose you’d tell me how long you’ve been working on this particular scheme?”

”Since Wen Qing died,” Huaisang responded immediately. He set his fan aside and calmly sipped his tea while Jiang Cheng fought to get control of his expression.

Words continue to be difficult and elusive. However, my star blanket is coming along nicely. I have THREE more weeks of school, and I am ready to be done! I hope that with some rest, words will be a little more cohesive. I’m still writing a bit every day, but it hasn’t amounted to anything substantial.

This Nie Huaisang/Jiang Cheng (The Untamed) fic is what I worked on a bit this weekend before quitting to crochet and watch Netflix. It’s a lil sexy, so I’m putting it under a cut, just in case.
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I haven’t managed to finish a lot of things recently, but I’m still managing to write almost every day, so huzzah!

Here’s a little Guardian snippet for a new WIP that will have cuteness and humor.

Shen Wei heaved a deep sigh as he unboxed yet another smug, cream-and-white cat figurine, the vermillion dot between its eyes glaring at him, a symbol of his continuing failure.

“Here,” he said, handing it across his desk to Jiajia. “For your girl gang.”

Jiajia laughed nervously. “Wha—girl gang? Professor Shen, I have no idea what—“

“Jiajia,” Shen Wei said wearily, “Do you want it or not?”

The screaming comes from work — I was supposed to teach a live lesson when Teams just...died. Gremlins in the internet. I “fixed” it by uninstalling and reinstalling the app. Feelings and tech problems and aoifha[ohaepuhqeoiaoj

Which brings me to my Sunday Snippet, a modern Xicheng story that is percolating, a slice of life thing. Lan Xichen is an art teacher and Jiang Cheng does...something. Anyway, this is one of the stories I’m working on right now.

“Well. You know how middle schoolers are,” Xichen began, as he rubbed a hand along Jiang Cheng’s spine. “Disgusting little monsters, the lot of them,” he said, voice full of fond exasperation. “Dana noticed a rather suggestive drawing scribbled on the wall outside her classroom. It was about a foot off the floor, so she had a pretty good idea who the culprit was. She had set Asher Jenkins out of class earlier in the day for some minor infraction. She didn’t think much of it. She didn’t even write him up.”

I’m still working on that lil h/c Guardian fic. It’s not going to be an epic, gourmet feast, but it will very likely make a nice snack. People like Hot Cheetos and Twinkies and those jars of salsa con queso, right? I mean, they buy it and eat it. I hope that when I’m finished with this fic, it’s the equivalent of a nice “fresh” salsa, the kind you buy in the refrigerated section. It’s not Pace (which is also fine), it’s not homemade or from that great little taco truck, but it’s not too shabby.

A haha, the snippet. Yes.

“Li Qian called me,” he said after a long, uncomfortable silence. “Have you eaten anything?”

“Yunlan, I—“

“Anything at all? A snack? I know you had breakfast.”

“Yunlan, I just—“

Zhao Yunlan held up a hand. “Nope. I don’t need any excuses, Shen Wei. No explanations. Just a simple yes or no — have you eaten since breakfast?”

“No.”

I swiped these from

naye because they seem like fun, and I’d definitely be interested to know what all y’all’s answers are.

1. Why did you start writing fanfic?

2. Why do you write fanfic?

3. How do you choose fandoms and why do you choose them?

4. Do you have themes or plot devices you return to?

5. Do you have any pet peeves?

6. Which story/stories are you the most proud over and why?

My answers are under the cut! ( Read more... )