If You Outline Your Fics, How Do You Go About It? Or Do You Just Write It Out Without A Specific Plan?

In a Cat! Stan au where Stan is some kind of small to mid-size wild cat, I imagine Ford would be in firm, firm denial that Stan wasn't just a feral cat while Fiddleford is pleading with him to send Stan to a reservation or something. Like, on his knees begging while Ford is just calling his idea insanity because, obviously, Nikola isn't a wildcat! Ford, 12 PhDs, would notice!

Fiddleford would like Nikola more in this AU, though, because I think with Fiddleford being raised on a farm, he'd know the wild/domestic division very well and would not expect good pet behavior from a wild animal. He would be annoyed as hell at Stan's innocent act with Ford tho.

I imagine if Ford realized Nikola isn't a house cat would end up with Ford 1) thinking Nikoka has been illegally smuggled into the US and 2) debating the ethics of keeping a wild animal just to decide it's okay because Nikola has obviously been around humans too much to take care of himself, and so Nikola needs Ford, and no reserve or zoo could do it as well as he can. Obviously. (Ford is 100% delusional.)

This can become even funnier if Ford finds Stan's car, realizes Nikola is comfortable there, and convinces himself Stan is the one who smuggled Nikola in the first place lol. This would lead to both mushy feelings as Stan, his brother, meets his beloved cat and angry feelings because Stan, his brother, yanked his precious cat from where he belongs; poor Nikola >:C Ford being protective of Stan from Stan is adorably hilarious to me.

If Ford never accepts this, I imagine him denying Stan's wild status even when Stan reveals his identity, and it becomes a running gag in the family. Ford is the only one who truly doesn't think Stan's a wildcat, but everyone else refuses to give up on the joke, and it drives Stan mad. Especially if everyone else was a big cat lmao.

Also, while I've imagined stan as, like, a black-footed cat or Asian wild cat, I now realize it would be even better if Stan was, like, an ocelot or a serval, something so obviously not domestic, yet Ford is in denial anyway.

Sorry about this being so long, I like to talk lol.

In an Au where Stan is a small wild cat breed, Ford is 100% in denial about it. Now, he isn't an expert on wild cats, so at first he just has no idea, except that if Stan is any breed that's very obviously exotic this becomes hilarious. Fiddleford is pulling up all kinds of books and articles about whatever kind of wild cat Stan is, and how he needs to find some kind of expert to take care of him, but Ford is looking away. Nikola is a sweetheart and loves him and is very obviously a house cat!

Fiddleford also excuses all of Stan's behavior as that of a wild cat who isnt suited to living a domestic life. Except that Stan is very much not like this with Ford, so whats up with that?

Ford lives in denial until they find Stan's car, and Stan gets very cozy with it. Then immediately he 180's into 'of course Nikola is a wild breed, and i bet Stan is responsible for this poor creatures poor socialization. Now he's too used to humans to ever go back to the wild so i might as well keep him :)" This is now just another one of Stan's mess's he's cleaning up, and there's no reason to look further into how Nikola got here or where Stan is now :):)

Then 180's again when its revealed to be Stan. No way Stan's a wild cat, that's his brother >:(. His brother couldnt be a wild animal. (This has nothing to do with jealousy, Ford just knows his brother). Ford was right all along, Stan's a house cat and nothing else >:(.

Basically no one is ever going to be happy with Ford's opinion on what kind of cat Stan is. He's determined to be difficult.

Were you ever nervous to write/post your stuff? If so, how did you get over it?

I was nervous to post the first few chapters of How to Cat Burglar a Family, because it was my first fic, then nervous to post Special Delivery because it was my first non cat related fic, but after that not overly. I know a lot of writers talk about having unfinished WIP they don't post, but I don't have anything unposted except for the next part of Gravity Falls 2012 cat shorts because I'm still deciding what I want to do about Bill.

That's because after I wrote and posted everything I got nervous about I remember that I can do whatever I want, and that if no one else likes it that's OK, because I write all of this for me. Plus the likelihood of me getting attacked or facing consequences for a bad chapter are like. Nothing. So far all that's happened is people talk to me about my own aus more, which is great, as I have no one irl to do so. The relief of finally seeing each chapter off is greater then the nerves of if people will like it.

I guess the best way to say how I got over it was that I took my nerves and crushed them to the ground. Life is what you make of it and putting yourself out there can be fun. This isn't something I recommend for everyone, as it's a skill I hardened over years of severe social anxiety and emotional control over my very bad temper. At one point I just learned how to bundle my feelings and crush them (which, again, don't recommend for everyone. It's a process learning when and where to do this)

collection of posts for a very specific dynamic

If you outline your fics, how do you go about it? Or do you just write it out without a specific plan?

God I wish I could just START writing my fics, but no I am nothing if not a well planned bitch

First, I write stuff out on paper. This makes it’s easier to go back and look at my own writing, but also paper has? Less high stakes for me? If I type something it feels like I HAVE to go in that direction, but when I write on paper I can just scribble it out or turn to the next page. This step is where I’ll write whatever comes to mind that I might want to add, usually out of order. I guess you could call this brainstorming? But I don’t usually cause to me brainstorming is JUST in my head, and this is on paper. That’s another thing, GET THE IDEA OUT ON PAPER because youll be super excited about a certain dialogue line or plot line, and if you don’t write it out you will forget. So step one is filling pages and pages of my favorite, designated ‘Brain Dump’ notebook (mine has mushrooms on it :) )

Then, actual outline. This is also on paper for me, where I’ll write out any big plot lines or bits I’ve come up with in the first step, and try to fit them in an order that makes sense. This is simultaneously the easiest part and the hardest, because I’m someone who wants smoothness in my writing in terms of how stuff flows together, so I’m ver particular about what stuff goes where. If I’m doing an outline for a WHOLE fic, each little line is most likely a chapter, or important chapter moments however, and this is important, I make up an outline for every chapter I write. That way I can go into detail with what dialogue goes where, the blocking of how the characters are, etc

Then it’s first draft time!! This parts fun. This is where I write BADLY. I basically just throw everything at my poor google docs until it sticks, and I try not to stop, so there’s no going back and spell checking, or finding a better word. If I write “says” or “he shivered” eight times in the same paragraph it DOES NOT MATTER. I’ll be back later. This draft is the shittiest possible version of what I want to write.

Step two of first draft is when I’m DONE, I have the bare bones of my draft, and this is where I go back and ask myself if I really deserve to know how to type. I’ll sew up any glaring plot holes, spell checking, rewrite verbs and whatnot to not repeat, stuff like that. If I read the whole thing and decide I don’t like this particular part, I’ll delete it and rewrite it.

Then it’s onto my favorite part, draft two. This is REWRITE TIME. not edit, rewrite. Thats the best writing advice I’ve ever gotten and I can ever give. I pull up two screens, slap my draft 1 on the the first screen and open a new doc, and rewrite the entire thing. Why? Because as im retyping this is when I add prose, and fix the flow, and add more angst in or better word choice or whatever. This is where the LENGTH of whatever I’m writing comes in, I’ll usually double whatever I have for the first draft, on sheer added prose and grace notes alone. This part is immensely satisfying, and it takes the longest by far. I do this for every single chapter of things I post on Ao3

Draft three is usually my final draft. I copy and paste draft 2 in another document, and I’ll read through again for any typos and mistakes and fix those. This is PROOFREADING, plain and simple, and it’s so important. I usually don’t fix much in this stage, but I do read it outloud (quietly to myself or maybe my dog) to see if it sounds right.

And thats it! Usually, at least with Abandon My Eulogy each chapter takes about two weeks, and by two week I mean I spend a week thinking about it not actually writing and then outline, first draft and correct that in three days. Draft two takes. So long, but it’s worth it

‘Sorry I went off on a ramble there

i like to think ivo was going through it on that planet

It’s Stan’s 2nd time in prison and he is bored.

The food is edible, his cellmates are quiet and polite and even the guards treat him with the bare minimum of respect.

Needless to say, Stan hates it. 

Boredom means Stan has time to think about what could’ve been if he had been smarter, better and more like Ford.

If Stan had just known how to fix Ford’s project, maybe he’d still be someone worth keeping around.

With nothing better to do, Stan one day decides to visit the prison library and finds a few boxes full of engineering textbooks abandoned in a corner.

What if Stan could’ve fixed Ford’s project. Could it even have been possible?

Stan swallows hard and picks up the first book.

Meanwhile on the other side of the continent.

“Oh no no no.”

“What is it Fiddleford?”

“I donated the wrong books! All my notes and corrections were in there…”

Stan snorts as he keeps on reading. This McGucket fellow was hilarious.

The book by itself would’ve never kept Stan’s attention, but the notes, snarky remarks, blueprints for villainous contraptions and death rays? Now that’s the stuff!

Over the next months Stan devours one book after the other and when he finally gets released he’s allowed to take the boxes with him as a thank you for fixing and improving the prison’s new experimental computer system.

***

A couple of years later Fiddleford opens the door to a little robot stomping around on the front porch. Mechanical legs on a toaster body with googly eyes that Fiddleford suspects can see more meets the eye.

He kneels down to inspect the cute little fellow when it suddenly notices him, vibrates and starts to talk.

“THANK. YOU. FOR. THE. BOOKS. NERD.”

Fiddleford has no time to figure out what that means before a book shoots out from the slot and hits him right in the head.

“HA. HA. HA.”

The little bot laughs and explodes into fireworks.

Fiddleford watches the show in amazement and inspects his present.

Beginners Guide to Mechanical Engineering

But not any guide. His guide. The one he carried with him throughout college and kept improving upon whenever he could. 

Only now there are more notes added. Corrections to his corrections, complaints about his design choices and disagreements with his theories.

Oh, it’s on!

***

It takes a few days to find the person behind the little prank, an anonymous entrepreneur who is said to be self taught and on the verge of reinventing the world of computers and robotics as they know it. 

Things that people have also been saying about Fiddleford himself.

Fiddleford laughs in delight. He always liked a friendly competition!

So he sends his new rival a little killer robot of his own as a greeting.

***

If Stanford had known what asking his old college buddy to help him out with the portal would entail he would’ve thought twice about inviting him.

It’s not like he isn’t happy for Fiddleford. He clearly found a like minded individual with the same passion for destruction as himself but would it kill them to keep it quiet for once? Stanford is doing important work here!

[Besides if Stanford wanted to he could totally build robots as well. Better ones even. Fiddleford shouldn’t spend so much of his free time fighting with his rival when his best friend was right here!]

Stanford sighs as yet another explosion causes the ground to shake and feels something push against his leg. 

It’s a little possum-like robot bringing him a bottle of water courtesy of Fiddleford’s rival.

Apparently this mystery person felt bad about destroying Stanford’s house one time too many and gifted him this little helper as an apology.

Try as he might, Stanford is unable to hate the thing and lets it climb onto his lap.

“At least you want to keep me company, hm?”

He strokes the fake fur carefully and the robot rumbles in contentment. It feels nostalgic and he knows Stanley would’ve loved it.

Maybe Ford should call him.

When a fic doesn’t fit my head canons but it’s well-written

You cannot give up just yet. Get up.

This.

🕯️...