Tag: maggie’s writing progress

AND OH MY GOSH. Newton would be distraught if he thought he didn’t deserve Hermann’s sympathy, the love of his life has a chain around his neck and he’s holding himself partway responsible for it and he can’t even promse that he won’t be forced to hurt him more in the future. I’m SO UPSET for them both 😂

On top of that, Newt ghosted Hermann and has been avoiding him. He can’t have failed to learn from his secretary and the receptionist that Hermann has tried and failed multiple times to contact him. Also Hermann was furious when he saw Newt Drifting with Alice. 

As far as Newt knows, Hermann was there to confront him out of anger of breaking off their engagement (partially true) and is now a prisoner who just had his whole life and career taken from him, with a death sentence hanging over his head either from the Precursors or from the end of the world. And he actually asked Newt if he was a willing accomplice, which indicates to him that Hermann had so little confidence in him  that he truly thought he’d help destroy the world willingly. Then Hermann goes completely silent and won’t talk to him for three weeks… 

Yeah, Newt is feeling like the villain right now and while he knows he didn’t ask Hermann to come there so that at least isn’t his fault, it’s hard to be defensive about his own tough situation or even acknowledge it to himself when Hermann is in chains and that was the best case scenario, and it could still take a turn for the worst. 

So yeah, I’d say “distraught” is a pretty good word for it.

I’m so worried for Newton because at least Hermann still has control over his own mind and at least he can plan to escape. Newton can’t even let himself consider it without risking everything.

DING DING DING, and there we have the tragedy of the whole set up in a nutshell!

Yeah there’s going to be a pretty running theme in The Prisoners’ Dilemma (kidnapping au) of how Hermann and Newt are both prisoners in different ways (hence the placement of the apostrophe in the title) – Newt has full autonomy of movement, technically. At least he can leave the apartment and talk to other people, browse the internet, or go shopping. But his thoughts are entirely imprisoned, he has to work to do the Precursors’ bidding, and if he steps one toe out of line beyond daily routine, he’s either frozen or punished.

Hermann can’t leave the apartment, but at least his mind is his own. He has the solitude and freedom of his thoughts. And honestly? From where Hermann is standing, he got the better deal. He has not illusions that they’re both captive here, that Newt is his cellmate and not his jailer. Of course, Newt’s wracked by guilt over the whole situation right now and in a very dark place, so he doesn’t always see it that way, especially now that he’s forced to collaborate with the Precursors. It’s going to be very interesting what happens next in the story to address this… :3

Weird, random observation but it’s always interesting to see what personality slips into the non-personality of the narrator with certain writers. Like, even if the narrator is meant to be neutral and purely observational, a little bit of the author slips in if the POV isn’t rigidly couched in the character, and even then stuff can slip out. 

Sort of NSFW example, but sometimes I see the word “filthy”, used in a positive light, as an adjective in smut fics. I’ve never used that word when I write smut. I think in part because I’ve legitimately never seen sex as a transgressive act, or in any way “dirty” or even particularly perverse. The thought is as bizarre to me as seeing the act of dancing with someone as any of those things. So my narrator voice, and my character internal monologues, just never use this particular adjective to describe sex (and by the way, when writing sex, you use every adjective you can, man, because writing sex is hard and there’s only so many words we have without getting repetitive that don’t sound either clinical or silly). The idea of sex as filthy, even in a fun way, is so foreign to me that it doesn’t make up a thought process of my characters either, even when it might be IC for them to think that way.

Every writer has their biases based on their demographics and world view. I’ve seen many writers claim that this particular work or voice has no POV or agenda, that it’s purely neutral, but that’s not the case. Even so simple as what is considered “normal” defines the voice of the narrator and character as separate from what someone very different from you would consider “normal” – i.e even what is considered a “normal” house or a “normal” beverage is unique to the author and character and can be revealing. 

No need for writers to get too tied up in this, especially if it slow them down, but it can be interesting to note and of course it’s always good to have self awareness.

My instinct not to woobify Newt because even at rock bottom he’s a sarcastic little shit who is always down to fight and has zero self preservation instinct vs. the fact that the Kidnapping AU legitimately puts him in a no-win horrifying scenario that would break the strongest person and there really is no room for jokes and sarcasm because he could be forced to kill the person he cares about most with his bare hands if literally anything goes wrong and he has zero leverage to prevent it… Go!

For the fanfic asks – 11 and 13 😘

11. What kind of relationships are you most interested in writing?

Oh man, wanna hear my ridiculously specific type?

“Good person is forced to turn evil in a way that brings them in direct confrontation with the things they hate/fear most about themselves and/or the enemy they’re face (or both), and the snarky person who is their soulmate willing to go into hell to save them from this but who goes through a crisis of their own in the meantime” 

It’s like every long fic I’ve ever written since high school, to an embarrassing degree. 

Another way to say it than doesn’t necessarily require mind control or baleful polymorph or whatever and can just be a ship that appeals to me would be “mutually saving soulmates.” IDK, I just like characters who complete each other (though the thing they complete about each other doesn’t necessarily have to be wholesome, they can bring out the worst in one another if that’s what fulfills them, y’know. I don’t judge). 

13. Name three favorite characters to write.

Thorin Oakenshield – my sad King Under the Mountain who I kinned so hard I finished my first novel for him and like 40 other fics (80+ if you count drabbles). Basically writing this character made me write enough that going pro actually seemed feasible.

Newt Geiszler – Man I have just an absolute blast with this guy’s voice. Like it’s the first character where I’ve been able to cut loose and just let every intrusive thought I have while writing become part of his dialogue/internal monologue and boy is that freeing. 

Londo Mollari – God he was the most difficult voice I’ve ever written in my life, but goddamn if I didn’t learn how to write distinct character voices from writing him. He’s so friggin’ smart in the show (Babylon 5) like literally everything he says is either deeply insightful or hysterically funny, and trying to capture that voice in just regular dialogue would literally give me headaches. But damn. Damn if it didn’t prep me to write other distinct character voices

1 for the fanfic ask!

  1. What made you start writing fanfic?

Heh, I think I first wrote fanfic before I knew it was fanfic? When I was 12 I found myself wanting to re-write stories like Sword of Shannara or Phantom of the Opera to alter perceived injustices in the story, bring certain characters back to life or re-frame the narrative. It wasn’t until I was 13-14 that I learned these types of stories were being written by other people too and it was called fanfiction. My first published piece was a Harry Potter fanfic which was basically just putting a meta theory of mine into prose. I think I was 13 at the time? Anyway, the rest is history since I never really stopped writing it ;P

Imma loop “how to save a life” by The Fray while VERY DRUNK and recovering from VERY SERIOUS LIFE TALKS WITH MY FATHER about the fact my life is in CRISIS RIGHT NOW try to write the next chapter of the Kidnapping AU while also PROCESSING LOVELY THINGS people have said about ch. 3 while casually weeping into the soda water i’m drinking to attempt to sober up and this is why I rarely post about IRL things on my blog guys this is it, this is what i’m protecting you from