Exchange fic — I signed up for Seasons of Anime 2019 Exchange, and, when I received my assignment, got the most exciting and fun idea. I’ve been working on it pretty obsessively since then, often to the point of it overshadowing other things I want and need to work on XD It’s a long time since I’ve done anything like this; only the story prompts I’ve been attempting for the last few years come anywhere close.

Of course the subject matter in this exchange is limited, since its theme for the year is 90’s anime and even then the list of series is pretty short. And it was a bit of a jolt to my heart when I saw that the person I was assigned to write for will accept RK fic. I think if they’d asked for Saitou & Sano, I wouldn’t have been able to resist writing it for them; as it is, I just had a moment of grief. Anyway, in general I wish there were more series I knew in the exchange. I wish it weren’t just anime. But whatevs. Having fun still.

The fic I’m writing is GW; I think it’s safe to reveal that fact. And you know what? It’s nice to be back with the boys. I should consider picking up some of the ideas I had during my GW heyday and working on them at some point. You know, in the midst of the 80,000 other projects I have going on.

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Aku Soku Zan(za) — So now we’ve gotten into the trainin’ when it’s rainin’ segment, which hadn’t actually ended when I stopped forward progress and started rewriting this story. It’s a big part of the developing relationship, and a major setpiece in the story in general. But now I feel like the physical details of the setting itself not only make more sense, but are a lot clearer in my mind. Before it was like, “There’s a hill with a field behind it, I guess,” whereas now it’s a bit better decorated and something you might expect to find between two buildings.

And of course we’ve also reached the realization that Saitou and Tokio are married and Sano wasn’t aware of this. I always thought that was a funny moment, and it certainly accomplishes a lot in the ongoing triangle drama. How will things straighten out?? Only those that read the original (and I, of course) know.

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Blood Contingency part 24 — As I mentioned before, readers must have been aware this scene was coming. Like Sano’s death, Megumi’s death was an obvious step in the Meiji era half of the story, and therefore one I had to strive to make significant in its details and what else it accomplished besides the main event. So we have Saitou being emotionally supportive, Sano having vampire angst, Megumi being a total badass, and some important information for the murder investigation. I think I succeeded pretty well!

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Haute Coauteur — The complete lack of comments I get these days (do you know that the last comment I received on this site was four months ago?) means I’ll never know whether anyone recognizes the mild pun in this title, or whether they all think it’s a typo of sorts. I’m so pleased with it, too. Anyway, Harley and Ivy are definitely a DC OTP for me, and I wanted to show women supporting women and Lois being a badass like she is. I maybe made Clark a little too clueless, but that may happen again and I’m not sorry XD

Of the Same Opinion Still — And speaking of DCAU fic. This came up in rotation, and I wrote the second scene, which is just a conversation between Lois and Batman. It’s a very important conversation, though, that sets up the major conflict of the story, and some aspects of it were a little tricky. It’ll probably change a lot before the story’s done. I was very excited to get back around to this fic!

TLY — The second book progresses apace. I’ve written the part where a solution is presented to a major problem in the scenario (in fact, one of the biggest conflicts in the first book). My girl is more than pleased. I’m about to get into a scene that will introduce the at-home storyline and hint at the psychological conflict in this story. No serious snags so far, except that I think the first scene probably drags and will need to be chopped in half or so eventually.

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To Rise Unseen — You know I thought my first Harry Potter fanfiction would get a little more attention? Given precedent, I don’t know why I thought that, but I’m still a little surprised that it only has 13 hits on AO3. I also thought my Monthly Story Prompt project would be more successful; again, I don’t know why XD

Anyway, I’m pretty pleased with this one. I wanted to make the reader go, Oh, man, she’s not going to say Peter went over to Voldemort because he had a crush on a Death Eater, is she? *groan* and then pull out that bit at the end like, Nope, Lila is as poor a friend as everyone else and Peter knows it. Not sure how well that worked, but I still like Lila as an illustrative tool. I believe I conveyed Peter’s frame of mind fairly well. The story was meant to explain, not excuse, and that, at least, worked. I think. Kinda fun writing Harry Potter fanfiction, too. I loves me some Harry Potter.

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Voice of Experience — And this story I did not expect, in any way, to get nearly as much attention as it has. I guess Sofia the First fanfiction is a desperate niche still going through its active phase. Actually, I suspect it’s the “Anna/Elsa” tag that brought all the visitors, but still. At this time, 277 hits, 31 kudos, and a bookmark on AO3. Somebody even commented, which knocked my socks right off. Joy to my life! But I seriously spend too much time talking about the response to stuff I write instead of the stuff itself.

It honestly surprised me that nobody had written a story like this yet. It seems so blatantly obvious an idea, I figured everyone watching the show must have thought of it. I guess this is not, in fact, the case! I was disappointed, in the series, that we only got to see Olaf and not Anna (or Elsa, though she’s not a princess). I really liked the episode with Olaf, but I would have loved a visit from Anna. So I wrote one instead, and used it to further my OTP because everything in my life has to point toward the OTP.

I wanted to preserve the softness and sweetness of the series even during the adult section where the implications are far less childish. I wanted to put Anna into a somewhat awkward position in that she sees the possibility of romantic love between two sisters in the future, but isn’t sure whether that will come to pass or whether this puppy love with fade away with time. I wanted Sofia to give reasons for wanting to dance with Amber that imply her interest won’t fade away, and have the adult section indicate that they’ve only deepened. I wanted the final section to be ambiguous — is it child Sofia or adult Sofia asking Amber to dance? Does adult Sofia have the courage to take this step? And is that adult Amber blushing and seeming pleased? I think I did well with all of that.

I have more Sofia the First ideas in mind (all of them Amber & Sofia, of course), and will work on at least one of them soon. I’m starting to develop a bit of a rotation in miscellaneous fanfiction one-shots, though, and the next fandom in line right now is Miraculous. Also, Castlevania may join the lineup soon too. But I promise there’s more coming eventually for my beautiful little girls (who won’t be little in any of the planned stories XD).