Day 8: Favourite Trope To Read Or Write And Is There A Difference In Reading Or Writing That Trope.

Clarke

Looking forward to a The 100 « Puppy Episode »

Ya know, an episode similar to the one on Ellen when Susan and Ellen kiss for the first time.

Scene Clarke and Bellamy have an intense moment, kiss and then pull apart with a funny look on their faces followed by this dialogue.

Bellamy Ummm

Clarke: Ahhhh

Bellamy: Did you feel anything?

Clarke (shaking head): Nope. No spark.

Bellamy (nodding): Yep, none.

Clarke (shrugs shoulders): Cool. So about those plans We are about to change 20 times in the next 42 minutes ....

Yes yes yes! Thank you!

Recently Updated Works-in-Progress Clexa Fic Recommendations

Howdy Clexakru! For our next installment of Clexa fic recommendations, I am focusing on Recently Updated Works-In-Progress. The majority of these fics have been updated within the past couple months. There are so many great WIP out there, so this is Part 1. I may do another list that focuses on those WIP that have been updated in the past 6-months or so (cause writers have lives too and shouldn’t be overlooked just because they aren’t able to update sooner). Without further ado:

A Crown Seldom Enjoyed by @onemilliongoldstars: Oh hell yes the Game of Thrones crossover you never knew you needed (well that’s a lie, we have all been secretly pining for this fic). This author’s writing style is beautifully romantic but completely realistic. It is soft when necessary but strong when it matters. It is, in one word, enrapturing. I tried to wait till this was complete so I could binge it, but I couldn’t wait. It was totally worth going to bed at 3am to finish it.

Earning it Back, Heart Upon the Southern Ground, and Behind the Stars by @sassymajesty: Guys, I don’t know how to explain to you in words the extent to which I love this author’s writings. The angst, the slow burn, the fluff, the angst, the love, the heartbreak, did I mention the angst? Jesus the last update of EIB was perfection but I am so scared of what lies ahead. When reading these fics I am always reminded of the saying “nothing worth having in this world comes easy”.

For Madi by thelovelypintobean: Fair warning, this is a Bellarke engagement but a Clexa endgame (OK OK STOP YELLING, HEAR ME OUT). Bellamy and Clarke have a kid together, Madi, but Clarke is in love with her best friend, Lexa. Bellamy proposes and Clarke says yes “for Madi” (Hey, that’s the title of the fic!). What I really like so far is that Lexa and Clarke don’t fight their attraction, like in so many fics. They are magnets that can’t help themselves when they are alone. Chapter 2 is a little messy with a bunch of new characters but keep going because it is shaping up to be a good ride.

My Heart is the Hardest to Break by @jazzyjazzin: Lexa tutors Clarke and in return gets tips on how to make a girl fall in love with her (as if anyone wouldn’t just fall in love with Lexa at first sight). Of course, Clarke is oblivious as to where Lexa’s true feelings lie. This has been such a roller coaster of emotions and the payoff has been worth it. I can’t wait to see how this ends.

Except You Love by @theproseofnight: I’m going to need a broom to sweep up my broken heart after reading this one. Clarke and Lexa break up after a once-in-a-lifetime romance due to opposite responses to a tragedy. The emotional breakdown this author creates is captivating. The layered details of the before, during, and after break-up scenes are reminiscent of the style of Lover in Low Light (for those who know their Clexa fic history, you know that is not a compliment to be taken lightly).

Battle Lines 2 by @gorgondrifter: This is a sequel to Battle Lines (hence the “2”). I tell you, I just adore this series. Battle Lines starts right after Clarke and Lexa do the naughty but Lexa doesn’t die. There is loads of love and pining between the two. I really enjoy the exploration of the “what if Lexa didn’t die” canon divergent stories and this one always puts a smile on my face. The writing style is fast-paced, gives just enough detail to keep you interested, and has matured over the course of the series. Give this a shot.

She’s New by @artsy-polarbear: Ah, did you think I would forget about this one? Hell no! I am adoring this take of a nerdy, lonely Clarke and a popular, outgoing Lexa. This is refreshing compared to how most fics imagine the two characters. However, many of the qualities we love about the two remain. We still have protective Lexa and oblivious Clarke. I read this one with a never-ending smile on my face.

Sleepless in Seattle by @lorig11: Do you want to laugh out loud on the metro and have everyone look at you like you are crazy? Do you want to have to stifle a laugh behind your hand while sitting in a quiet doctor’s office? Well have I got the fic for you! I freaking love the fun, witty style of this author’s works. If the humor brings you in, it’s the deep, well-written connection between Clarke and Lexa that makes you stay. The last update had me throwing a temper tantrum like a child who just got told pizza was not a vegetable.

Devotion to Duty, Stellar Collision, Polis Tattoo, Breaking the Ice, Titanic: The Untold Story by @thessclexa: Is that 5 WIP all updated recently?! Yes, yes it is! And the best part? They are all amazing! I honestly cannot tell you which one is my favorite because they are all so different and amazing. Spend a Sunday binging these and it will be a Sunday well spent (or just blow off work to read them, like I did).

Closer by @rivertalesien: Clarke is an escort and Lexa is one of her clients. What happens when identities are discovered and feelings develop? There is an intelligence to this writing that I haven’t seen in awhile. The author requires the reader to pay attention to time and place as the story unfolds. I am enamored by that author’s phrasing choices, such as “sensual carnality”. Clarke’s switch from soft to dominating beautifully reflects her internal battle with her feelings.

Heaven Sent by @effortlesslyopulent: Clarke was sent down to Earth many years before the Ark crashes. She and Lexa marry and rule together. Now the Ark has crashed and Clarke’s loyalties are tested. Oh how I adore this fic! As the angst grows, Lexa and Clarke’s love grows with it. For anyone who has been asked to choose between family or the love of your life, you will relate to Clarke’s “decision” in the latest chapter.

Show Me Your Colors by CommanderHearteyes071215: Clarke teaches at Arkadia HIgh and Lexa is the new teacher. Lexa is cold and stand-offish but Clarke is determined to get to know her. Guys, the banter between the two is fantastic. Their favorite thing to say to each other? “I hate you”, “I hate you too”. They are both oblivious to their mutual love but they aren’t fooling those around them. This has been such a fun and easy read.

Everything Is The Same As It Was by @aphrodites-law: One day all 7 billion people on earth vanish - except for Clarke. At least, that’s what she thought until she was staring down the barrel of Lexa’s gun. It is so Clexa that is would take the end of the world for them to find each other. This is a slow burn, fluffy fic about two sweet souls just trying to find something worth living for. A comforting-type of fic.

Lancelot by @almostafantasia: Kingsman/Secret Agent AU. Lexa is a British secret agent (oh yeah she has a British accent in this one; you’re welcome) and Clarke is the President’s daughter. During a mission gone wrong, they both find themselves instantly drawn to each other. This fic is filled with lighthearted Anya bantering and action-packed scenes. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the ride so far.

Well, that’s the list for now. If there are any lists you would like to see in the future, drop me a line. I have some ideas lined up already. Until next time, remember to spread the love to all our amazing authors.

Let’s talk about our Vice President

With Kamala Harris making history as the first Black, Indian, and female Vice President of the United States, thus becoming the most powerful and highest ranking woman America has ever seen, there’s been more disinformation about her swirling on the Internet than ever before. Some of it is misguided – people who believe the sourceless accusations they read and think they’re doing good by spreading it – but a lot of it is intentional, malicious. 

I think it’s worth examining our Vice President’s record based on context and facts. We owe it not just to ourselves but to those around us to have a nuanced and accurate conversation about those in power that relies on data and expert information, not simply blog posts of unqualified armchair pundits who say what we want them to. 

And when we look at the context and facts surrounding Kamala Harris, it’s clear that she’s on the right side of history. She’s someone who, despite the occasional misstep, has indeed made it her life’s work to reform the criminal justice system, to advance progressive causes, and to protect and defend the American people. 

First, let’s dispel the disinformation. The myth of the “SuperCop” that has been affixed to her represents a willful misinterpretation of the criminal justice system that is specifically designed to smear an accomplished and progressive Black woman. There are three common refrains here: first, that she locked up thousands of Black people for marijuana possession; second, that she jailed truant parents; and third, that she singlehandedly kept thousands of prisoners in jail to feed California’s prison slave labor complex. All of these are patently false:

As San Francisco DA, Harris and her office had a policy of refusing to seek jail time for marijuana possession, instead reducing the charge to a misdemeanor and directing individuals to drug education programs (this is in the context of a nationwide push for heavier drug sentences and tough on crime policies, mind you). The leader of the public defender’s misdemeanor division during this time says that Harris “was probably the most progressive prosecutor in the state at the time when it came to marijuana.”

Harris never – I repeat, NEVER – locked up a single truant parent. There’s no basis to this accusation. 

Under California law, state lawyers are not required to go to the attorney general’s office in cases involving prisoner release. The prisoners who were kept in jail were by and large involved in cases she was not aware of. In one instance, however, a member of her team argued against releasing prisoners because of its impact on the prison labor force. Harris, however, immediately rejected that argument and completely disavowed it. Not in 2019, not in 2020, but as soon as it happened.

So, the myth of the SuperCop that has dogged Harris is not based in reality. What, then, did she do with her positions of power?

Harris co-founded the Coalition to End the Exploitation of Kids, with the LA Times commenting that “whereas police focused on the crime of selling sex, Harris saw young girls as victims driven by economic necessity, drug addiction and domineering men.”

She led a state task force to address the crisis of human trafficking.

Harris launched the Back on Track program, which provided young, first-time offenders with an opportunity to pursue an education and employment instead of jail time.

As Attorney General of California, she refused to defend Prop 8, which declared marriage as between a man and a woman, in court, and when it was overturned she immediately ordered state officials to begin issuing marriage certificates to same sex couples.

As California Attorney General, Harris launched a first of its kind implicit bias training program for all law enforcement.

As Senator, Harris introduced a bill to provide the American people with $2,000 a month payments during the pandemic.

In the Senate, Harris introduced a bill to reform the broken cash bail system.

Harris introduced a bill to finally make lynching a federal crime.

Harris introduced legislation in the Senate to legalize marijuana.

Harris introduced a bill in the Senate to provide a refundable federal tax credit for renters who pay more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.

In 2019, Kamala Harris was ranked the most politically left of all US Senators.

Let’s be clear. Let’s speak truth. Not only is the mythology surrounding Kamala’s record based in facts specifically designed to smear her, but she has proven herself to be a progressive champion with a record of accomplishments. Is she perfect? Of course not. There are real conversations to be had about the efficacy of some of her positions, policies, and platforms. But we can’t have these conversations clearly or in good faith if they’re mired in lies. Kamala Harris is progressive. Kamala Harris has done good for the American people and will continue to do good. She is an ally to the progressive movement, and any attempt to alienate her, to other her, to dismiss her, does real harm to any agenda that purports to want to fix the broken systems in this country.

Harris is eminently qualified to be VP and President. She has broken barriers, worked to make substantial and substantive changes to the systems in our country, and dedicated herself to the continued pursuit of progress. This country, and the world, is lucky to have her in a position of leadership. And if your brand of political activism involves tweeting or posting lies about an accomplished Black and Indian woman, I’d humbly ask you to evaluate what it is you’re really interested in fighting for.

Day sixty-five (65/100)

of @the-wip-project‘s #100daysofwriting challenge

Q65: What else counts as writing for you?

A65: Art, especially sketching story locations, research in particular maps and historical events during the period the story is set in. Or, in terms of my clexa wip, verifying canon events versus where my plots diverge from it.

However, I think it is important to mention that I have had to set boundaries for myself around how much time I spend on research, e.g., how much research do I actually need in order to write the story versus how much information am I taking in because I am curious.

“Caroline Ouellette and Julie Chu, who were on-ice rivals for years and former captains of the Canadian and U.S. women's hockey teams, celebrated the birth of their first child last week.”

fanfic recommendation for someone who never read a fanfic?

Hi! Ok that’s a cool challenge. Please keep in mind that I’m leaving a lot of great fics out, some because it’s humanly impossible to remember everything and others because I refuse to make a list the size of the bible. Anyway, I hope you like my suggestions ^-^

If you don’t mind a bit of sexy times:

more women than warriors (modern au) by steklir is possibly my favourite fic of all time

in love and war and politics (modern au) by centuriesofexistence is hands down one of the best Clexa fics there is

what heart’s ease must queens neglect (modern royalty au) by thrace is just absolutely brilliant

blood rush in he hazy glow (modern au) by firetestsgold will always be a favourite of mine

oh you’ll find me between (the devil and the deep blue sea) (pirates au) by orangeyouglad8 is an awesome story with pirates and treasure hunts and mysteries ahoy

broken wands (fwb au) by smallamountsofmonster is one of my favourite HP au’s ever

she got me up all night (all i’m singing’ is love songs) (modern au) by mostlyunstablefangirl is my go-to happy one-shot

fight me series (modern au + canonverse) by fairytaleslayer is a beautiful second-person series of fics, two au and one canon

a pleasant undoing by mopeytropey (modern au) is one of those fics that I love, when the characters are roughly my age and I relate (and it’s simply amazing)

touch or carry (modern au) by paintthebrain has Clexa as beach volleyball players - need I say anything else?

suburbia (modern au) by raspberrytree has confident, sure of herself Lexa and it’s both sexy and fun

what is this feeling? (HP au) by aiscrimson is a soulmates au in the HP universe

“i found love” series (modern au) by crumbleduppieceofpaper wrecked me when I read the first one and is now patching me back up

black magic (magic au) by paintthebrain is awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome - awesooooome

two’s company series (modern au) by careyelizabeth is a wonderful ballet au

mystic coffee (magic au) by blindwire is magic, coffee shops, magic tattoos, tiny pet dragons, cool Clarke, and Lexa is glasses all wrapped into one

lifetimes (royalty au) by 8hedaofhearts8 is one of the most underrated fics there are - I love it to bits and pieces, it’s easily a top-5 of mine

if you don’t mind a lot of sexy times:

open windows, open hearts (modern au) by Sheisme is one of the hottest clexa fics out there

loving you in the light & dark series (modern au) by Tanagariel is one of the first I ever read

bare my soul (modern au) by Tanagariel was one of the first to explore the theme and it’s great

you’re fired (so yeah you win) (modern au) by LaFlashdrive was THE smutty fic in its time

this is heaven in hiding (modern au) by orangeyouglad is sexy, ridiculously well written, and fun

the whore’s queen (royal and medieval au) by w0rldofmy0wn is my current obsession

bought, owned, earned series (modern au) by sassymajesty is hot as hell and hits you hard on the feels

fearless. (modern au) by lordvoldyfarts is possibly the best road trip au ever

if you prefer your fics smut-free:

six (mythology au) by LingeringLillies is a beautiful, beautiful take on the Hades/Persephone story

habromanic (modern au) by alittlesoulcarryingacorpse is a sweet and witty one-shot

greencard (modern au) by coeurdastronaute (x and x) is heartbreaking but bloody fucking beautiful

the lay of looking-glass land series (canonverse) by KL_Morgan is a fantastic take on azgeda!clarke, it’s honestly so so great

in the shallows (canonverse au) by blindwire is my favourite role reversal fic

falcon (modern au) by anonbeme is the age gap fic you’ve all been looking for

light a thousand fires under me. (modern au) by sovereignchicken is a beautiful high school au that deals with peer expectations

hooked on a feeling (HP au) by onebigroughdraft is my favourite bundle of joy

love remember me (sweetly and tenderly) by betteronpaper is, like this friend of mine’s other fics, ridiculously well written and beautifully bittersweet

special category: comedy

the 300 (modern au) by bucklethorpe is pure hilarity and beautiful fluff

the business of caring (modern au) by coldmackerel is simply hilarious

it’s called contraband for a reason (prison au) by coldmackerel can’t be described

–

I apologise once again to everyone whose fics I forgot to include or decided not to - I do love them.

Beautiful

A song from Lexa to Clarke!

I haven’t slept at night, I should have stayed to fight, Stayed with you. I know you’re not the enemy You seen the good that’s left in me I should have stayed with you.   You said we deserve better than this, I guess we do. But how can the leader of the ground, Love the leader of the sky crew.   May We Meet Again, When I can trust my heart and not my brain, Be safe and rescue your friends, Then maybe we can meet again.   So if you go to the Capitol, Maybe we can forget it all, And you’ll stay with me. We won’t have to be warriors, We can let down our barriors,   And you can stay with me.   You said we deserve better than this I guess we do, But how can the leader of the ground Love the leader of the sky crew.   May We Meet Again, When I can trust my heart and not my brain, Be safe and rescue your friends, And may we meet again. May we meet again.

I agree with all of the above. There is also a fantastic app for ao3 for Android. If you would like an invite, I also have two available!

ARCHIVE YOUR FIC ON AO3 FOR ETERNAL GLORY

It physically pains me to see people post awesome fanfiction to tumblr and nowhere else. Tumblr moves so fast! By tomorrow people who didn’t look in a tag at the right moment won’t know it existed. By next week even people who did read it won’t be able to find it back to reread. Finding anything on tumblr via search function is practically a fluke. For all intents and purposes, your hard work has a halflife of about a week at most.

PUT YOUR WORK ON AO3 WHERE IT CAN LIVE ETERNALLY, I BEG YOU

People who come into that fandom in a month, a year, even a decade will be able to find your work!

People can bookmark it!

People can rec it to others!

People can reread it into infinity! (and people like me can do that and comment every time!)

You can get comments & kudos until the endtimes because people will keep finding your work! (seriously I still sometimes get new people finding and loving my work from ~2013)

And best of all, people can SUBSCRIBE to your work so they will get email about new chapters and stories! (I’m seeing people do manual ‘Tag you in the next chapter’ lists and seriously, physical pain, this wheel has already been invented and it is rolling beautifully)

PLEASE LET ME BOOKMARK YOUR FIC I BEG YOU

“But I need an invite for AO3!”

Yes, and the waiting list is currently 2-3 days. That’s hardly worth not doing this for, right?

“But I only read fic, I don’t post it”

here is a post on why having an account just to read fic is also very worth it!

Lately I’ve been the tumblr person who jumps onto people who post cool fic to tumblr and going HEY HAVE YOU POSTED THIS TO AO3, YOU REALLY SHOULD, HIT ME UP FOR AN INVITE CODE and I hereby invite all you fellow fic readers and posters to join me into spreading the good word.

Please reblog this and tag your favourite fandoms and pairings! Spread this post to the people who need to see it! Save great fic from the tumblr void!

It was so nice to see Clarke happy! I think she smiled more in this scene than in the all the episodes since 3x07 combined.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Day Thirty-six

of @the-wip-project‘s challenge

Q36: The relationships you write, what kind of power-dynamics do they tend to have?

A36: In a romantic pairing, one character is 100% smitten and the other is not. (Unfortunately, I experienced this quite a bit before I met someone who was equally into me as I am in them. I guess this trope is a bit of a loose tooth for me that I like to wiggle from time to time.) By the end of the story, though, this pairing is over.