Title: I’ll Be Pink 4 You
Fandom: Friends
Author: veronyxk84
Characters: Phoebe, Rachel, Ross, Chandler, Monica, Joey, Janice, Gunther, Estelle
Rating: G
Content: 9 icons with 9 character from Friends wearing something pink.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created for fun and no profit has been made. All rights belong to the respective owners.

Challenge: #476 - Pink by fan_flashworks



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( SHOW: I’ll Be Pink 4 You - 9 Icons )
 

The Writing Excuses podcast is doing a series on voice (first, third limited, third omniscient), and mostly their discussions have been great. I've enjoyed them a lot. But I found today's episode on second person (2ndPOV) unsatisfying. They got distracted talking about video games, TTRPG, online recipe essays, and Youtube influencers, and when they did discuss fictional prose, they seemed to think the "you" character had to be a reader stand-in. (Or maybe I misunderstood? Quite possible!) Anyway, now I'm itching to procrastinate on my story talk with like-minded souls about the joys of second person.

Note: If you not into 2ndPOV, that's totally cool. Each to their own! But please don't chime in to tell me or explain why; I'm not interested in defending it today.

( Rambling, so much rambling. )

ION, Andrew sent me a link to Secrets of Writing Snappy Dialogue (Banter) (Youtube video). At first I was resistant, but then I watched it and now I'm overhauling my 4k fic AGAIN. This is killing me, lol.

Seen floating around DW, and because I've yet to see a fic meme that I said no to:

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

30 on AO3.

(Another 14 or so are still floating around out there NOT on AO3, but in older archives or print zines. I keep meaning to import some of them.)

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

171,170

3. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. More Than One Prison - Oz - 45 kudos
2. TIE: Two Truths and a Lie - Oz - 41 kudos, and Expecting the Unexpected - Star Trek: Enterprise - 41 kudos
3. Zero-Sum - Oz - 26 kudos
4. Poison in Their Blood - Forever Knight - 21 kudos
5. Dust to Dust - Forever Knight - 19 kudos

4. What fandoms do you write for?

Since I got back into fandom two years ago, pretty much entirely Forever Knight. I dabbled with Oz in a couple fics, but all my current projects are Forever Knight.

Before my 15-ish year fandom hiatus, I wrote for a bunch of fandoms, but mainly Oz.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Usually. It’s nice to acknowledge someone taking the time to leave a comment. Also sometimes chat in the comments about the story. Occasionally though, I forget and then realize later, but, idk, it feels weird to leave a response “late.”

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Talking only of the fic on AO3, ummmm… not sure. Several have angsty endings. Not sure what makes one the “angstiest" though. I can't answer this one.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don’t really seem to do fics where everyone is happy by the end. I favor “hopeful and bittersweet” endings more than ones that are “happy.”

I guess I’d have to go with Squid Pro Quo, an absurdist Forever Knight story in which Nick befriends a giant tentacle monster lol.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, thankfully.

9. Do you write smut?

No, but I have one in the works 😏.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No. I did a stealth crossover many, many years ago (the crossover reveal was basically the punchline of a short story).

The challenge with crossovers is you have to find people willing to read two different fandoms. And since I already write in such a teeny fandom, I’m not sure there’d be much appeal. (Though I still have it sitting in the back of my find to do an FK/What We Do in the Shadows crossover lol.)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Only Forever Knight fans will get what this means, but yes, because I was an active writer in a Forever Knight faction war back in the 90s.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

In my Oz fandom days of yore (like 20 years ago omg), the toxic canonical pairing of Beecher/Keller was definitely my jam.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

None. I do not doubt that I will finish the WIPs that I want to finish.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. This comes the easiest for me, and I think I’m pretty good at it. Most scenes I write start with the dialogue.

I think I also can construct interesting endings.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Describing action. Unlike dialogue, this does not come to me easily. My brain is not great at “spatial” things. So it takes a lot of effort for me to describe scenes that have intensive action. I can picture the action in my mind, but I struggle with articulating what I’m visualizing. Because of this, I spend a lot of time drafting and fine-tuning this kind of thing when writing.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

When reading, I don’t like it if the meaning is not made immediately apparent by a translation or context unless it’s a commonly known word or phrase, e.g., no one needs to translate "bon jour", or unless even the characters aren't supposed to know what the words mean like as a plot device to keep information from the characters. I never go to endnotes to look for translations. I just forge ahead and assume it wasn't that important.

Given my own personal preferences, when I put dialogue in another language, which isn't often, I provide an immediate translation in italics. Like so:

“Janette,” I whisper against her ear. “Qu'est-ce que tu fais ici?” What are you doing here?

“La meilleure revanche,” she replies, breathless, reminding me of our first night together a thousand years ago. The best revenge.

I only inject non-English dialogue very occasionally and briefly (not for the entirety of a scene, like the above was the only French in that scene). I only do it in Forever Knight fics because, canonically, it's just something a few of the characters sometimes do with each other. They'll slip between English and (typically) French, so I'll pop in a bit of French every now and then.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Forever Knight. Back in the 90s. I've come full circle lol.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

Of my old stuff, Two Truths and a Lie (Oz). Two characters trapped together, who have strong feelings for one another. They play a game that turns into a total mind fuck/power play because one is a psychopath. The other ends up just kind of having to accept it if he's going to carry on. A fave because I think I just really "got" these characters.

And of my new stuff, The Strangest Inklings (Forever Knight). Speaking of mind games and power plays, I had so much fun writing this one last year. I turned the tables on a character who, TBH, had it coming. I did not want the readers to see the twist in this story coming, just as the POV character didn't see it coming. Gotta say, the payoff was good in terms of feedback on that. A fave because it was just so dang fun to write.

Now that I've processed a bit, a few more random comments.

( Mostly about You Know and Who, obviously )

Every year it becomes harder to set goals, and yet again, particularly since I'm doing 25 Things in 2025, I wondered whether to bother, but 25 Things are short term, generally one-offs, and I don't think it hurts to look ahead and think about what I'd like to achieve in twelve months time.

So, lets go for a variety of goals:-

Goal No 1: Do a Themed Monthly Post
I've done this in the past, quite often with photos.  If anyone would like to suggest a theme, please do so, as I haven't yet decided on one.

Goal No 2: Accept the Unexpected
Now, I know the saying is usually, 'Expect the unexpected', but this is more working with the unexpected when it happens.  It's said that a battle plan never survives first contact with the enemy, but that's no reason to give up at that point.

Goal No 3: To Embrace My Personal Interests
Over the past few weeks I've been wondering why my daily To Do lists have had so much in the way of courses, crafting and writing, not to mention reading.  But it suddenly occurred to me, why worry about it - if I really didn't want to do as much, then I could cut back.  And if I do want to do all the courses/crafting/writing/reading&listening to books, then why not just enjoy it.  If it were impinging on other things then it would be a problem (I don't count dusting within that!), but it's not.  So what if I'm taking four online courses, stitching three or four different items, writing for three different challenges and have three books out of the library as well as the shelf and a bit of my own unread books - It's My Life!

Reading: Still working my way through The Spear Cuts Through Water--somewhere past the halfway point now.

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Watching: I finished my Guardian rewatch!

scruloose and I finished season 1 of Kingdom and did indeed opt to hold off on season 2 until after we finish season 2 of The Last of Us. (Is Kingdom complete at two seasons? Anyone know offhand? Fear of spoilers makes me not want to search up the info.) We also saw the season premiere of TLoU and the first episode of The Pitt.

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Playing: Because the evil 368chickens game keeps track and springs the number on you when you beat it, I know that when I finally rescued 368 chickens a few days ago it was after 454 tries. And for reasons that are not clear to me, the victory screen (at least in the browser version) also informs you that you can't play anymore and is all that shows if you reload. (There are ways around it, of course--incognito tabs, simply using a different browser, whatever--but it just seems weird to me. I have thus far avoided going back to it, but that just means returning to my default couple of games that I play endlessly when my brain is completely incapable of focus but needs to be doing something. >.<)

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Adulting: Mid-week, scruloose and I took the day off for my birthday and both dropped off our tax documents with our tax guy (bless our tax guy) and voted in the federal election at the Elections Canada office. I'm glad we got the voting taken care of so early--sounds like lineups for advance polls have been unusually lengthy this weekend (and here's hoping that's a good sign for the outcome!).

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( under the cut: fruit and meat consumption (separately) )

Fannish 50 Theme:
Favorite Male Character (2/5)

Character: Chandler Bing
Fandom: Friends (1994-2004)

So far I’ve always tried to alternate fandoms with every new Fannish 50 entry, but this week I’m doing “Fav Male Characters” and since last week I had Monica Geller for the “Fav Female Characters” category, I couldn’t bring myself to pick someone from my list who wasn’t the iconic Chandler M. Bing.

FANART (mine)

Why I picked this character (click on the arrow to read)

What’s not to love about Chandler?
He’s goofy, charming in his own impish way, equipped with endless buckets of witty sarcasm, and all around a hot mess with a good heart.

Chandler (and the whole gang from Friends) came into my life during the Covid pandemic, when I decided to start bingeing the show to pass the time with some levity during the lockdown. Which means that I first watched Friends about fifteen years after the series finale.
But it quickly became THE comfort show to which I always go back when I’m down, and that happened mostly because of Chandler (and, later on, because of Mondler).

The show often “mocks” Chandler for making too many jokes but I actually love that about him and I love his sarcasm too. If I weren't plagued by severe social anxiety, I think I would sound a lot like Chandler—because I always, ALWAYS, come up with some witty remarks… I just don't have the guts to say them out loud most of the time.

Something else about Chandler that often offers ground to his friends for mocking him, is his disastrous love life paired with his commitment issues.
Chandler’s on-and-off relationship with the iconic Janice is a leitmotif that keeps popping up for the whole run of the show in the most unexpected and fun ways—to the point that Monica comes up with the pretense that Chandler’s still not over Janice just to get rid of her (and Chandler plays along when he figures out Monica’s ruse). I know this doesn’t make much sense if you haven’t watched the scenes, but it’s hilarious (and also cute).
Janice wasn’t his only love interest before settling down with Monica, but they all ended badly… one way or another.
It’s remarkable, however, that out of all the friends (who once joked that Chandler would be the last of them to get married, if ever) he ended up being the one with the healthiest, longest, most stable relationship.

It was so satisfying to watch Chandler grow out of all his emotional hang-ups and commitment issues, step by step; he still messed up here and there (he was only human, after all), but eventually he overcame all his doubts and fears.
If you ask me, Chandler is the Friends’ character who got to take the best, most satisfying journey. I don’t know how to explain it, but watching his fictional journey gave me hope. It still does.

Thank you, Matthew, for giving life to Chandler.
May your Soul find peace, at last.

➤ Chandler Being Sarcastic For Almost 4 Minutes (Mashup) | Friends | TBS

In Loving Memory of Matthew Perry (1969-2023)

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My Fannish 50 Challenge
• Introduction
• Event tag
• Crossposting: Series on SquidgeWorld
 

The past few days have been semi less stressful than before, but mostly because it’s a bank holiday so nothing can really be done (so money still isn’t in and I don’t expect it to be until Tuesday at the earliest which I’m trying not to be frustrated about)

The main source of stress was yesterday morning cause my glasses have gone completely awol. I honestly have no idea where they are. The problem is I can’t remember if I took them off downstairs Friday night before bed (and so they’re somewhere down here) or if I took them up and they’re in my room. I had thought it was the latter but they’re not under the pillows or either side of the bed so I’m at a loss. (Mum looked too and had no luck either.) the only good thing is that they’re in the house somewhere it’s just… where. (I just hope Naryu hasn’t hid them she did that with mums before but not for awhile)

Thankfully mum knew where my old pair was but… they’re an old pair. They’re good enough that I can see but when I was on ESO last night I couldn’t read half of the in game text which is irritating (Especially when I was gonna get back to Stranger Things this week and I just know there’ll be subtitles.) If it comes down to it I might have to contact my opticians for my prescription and sort a pair out but… ugh.

Anyway there’s also been Star Wars celebration but I’ve not been able to watch or properly able to catch up with the official streams. However there’s been some good things:

*The Mandalorian and Grogu is coming out next year (the title is so clunky though) and there’s gonna be Zeb from Rebels, a fight on an AT-AT and Sigourney Weaver is gonna be a New Republic commander and pilot
*There’s gonna be a new film in two years called Star Wars Starfighter, not much info other than it has Ryan Gosling and it’s set a few years after IX
*Other films are in development but I’ll believe them when there’s actual details
*The Hasbro panel announced new figures but not too many. There’s Dash Rendar (it still feels odd there’s a sudden big Shadows Of The Empire push) and stuff from Jedi Survivor including a two pack with Turgle and Cal (though his alternate head is…) the coolest looking thing is a furry bantha! (Still no Qimir figure though)
*Hayden and Manny were there and both got massive amounts of love which is so deserved
*The animation panel announced a new series, Maul Shadow Lord. A Darth Maul series was not on my bingo card but it does sound cool, though it’s another new Rise of the empire era thing.
*Theres a new Clone Wars era turn based strategy game called Zero Company which looks pretty cool
*Ahsoka season 2 is filming soon (damn why so long)but I love the idea of a Thrawn/Ackbar face off(and ahhh Loth kittens!)
*Visions was the only panelI saw and that’s coming in Octoberand the concept art looks so cool (and the was a clip of someone that’s very friend shape. The new volume has sequels to volume 1 stuff so I’ll have to rewatch them (and one is getting a limited series too)
*The next Fortnite season is confirmed to be a five week Star Wars one with Palpatine, Mace Windu, Poe, Phasma and Darth Jar Jar coming (at least) which is a crazy line up.I’m surprised they didn’t announce a Cassian cause surely there is one

I think that’s all the big announcements (and obviously Andor is coming this week and Tales Of The Underworld Star Wars day.)

Despite not fully being in the hype this time it has made me wanna get back to Star Wars stuff. I still have a massive pile of Star Wars books to get round to so I might actually pick one to read after the current books. (And even if not there’s a bunch of graphic novels that will be easier to check out instead.) There’s also Visions volume 2 and the other Tales Of The Empire stuff to watch so I might watch them (and Young Jedi Adventures and Bad Batch, fuck I’m so far behind). And the black series figures have made me wanna get back on Jedi Survivor which I might do this week if I’m not too tired.

But ahhhh Star Wars!

But of course last night was one of my other main loves, aka a new Doctor Who ep so thoughts on Lux under the cut.

( Read more... )

Today’s plan! Start The zresidence, have another root around for my glasses, watch Shoto’s spooky stream, Grace and then a Wendigoon vid (and maybe more who knows?) I also wanna see if fic brain will work and read the Stranger Things comic that came the other week but I was too stressed to read.

Title: Selmak’s War (Phoenix-verse)
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Category: Gen, AU

Summary: Separated from Jacob, Selmak forms an alliance with a disgraced Jaffa. When his host is taken by Anubis, Selmak must stay hidden, or die.

Link: Selmak’s War - all chapters on AO3


Chapter by chapter
Chapter 1: Jaffa Separated from Jacob, Selmak’s new host is a disgraced Jaffa. When Anubis attacks the planet where they are imprisoned, their attempt to escape does not exactly go to plan.

Chapter 2: Reunited The Tok’Ra are scattered following Anubis’s attack; as Daniel and Entar try to plan their next move Selmak finds his way to the Free Jaffa homeworld.

Chapter 3: Alliance Sam proposes a mission that might put an end to Anubis.

Chapter 4: World Enough and Time When the mission takes an unexpected turn, Daniel takes a risk with lasting consequences.


Sorry to take so long finishing this story. I really struggled with this last chapter. I always knew how it had to end, but it was hard to know how much of what’s in my head to include. I hope I struck the right balance.

Title: Colour blind
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 941 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 476 - Pink at fan_flashworks  
Summary: Ianto’s new wardrobe choices leave Jack feeling a little lightheaded.

Colour blind