switchbladeeyes | Recent Entries

Last night,

trillingstar, and I were discussing what we thought of the term "lover" because of this scene from Heated Rivalry when Ilya met Shane's parents after Shane's dad accidentally discovered they were Together (and poor Shane is a nervous wreck):

I think of it as a dated term. Mostly because I have never heard anyone in my entire life refer to their romantic partner as their lover. (Though I have heard it used as a descriptor by third parties. IDK how to explain it. Like, Oh, she ran away with her lover.)

Anyhoo, this morning, I woke up and was like, LOL, that would have been funny on Grantchester when Leonard (also a bundle of nerves) was set to meet Daniel's parents. Therefore:

The actual scene from Grantchester is also pretty funny:

And then, of course, I was like, that would be funny adapted to Heated Rivalry. So here we are:

MAYBE I'M UNHINGED BUT I CRACK MYSELF UP!!!

Life's been coming at me real hard these past couple of weeks so shout out to my emotional support OTP, Leonard Finch and Daniel Marlowe, because writing fic for them has been keeping me sane 👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼.

That time Daniel gave Leonard roses and then they watched Eurovision together 🥹.

From

snowflake_challenge:

Make an appreciation post to those who enhance your fandom life. Appreciate them in bullet points, prose, poetry, a moodboard, a song... whatever moves you!

This is such a nice one!

Shout out to the little slice of "Forever Knight" fandom here on DW and on AO3! I was so delighted to stumble my way back into the fandom a couple years ago after, well, decades. I surely do love chatting about the show and reading/writing the fic with y'all!

But an especially big shoutout to

thefruitbat, who has beta read soooo much of what I've written, not just for "Forever Knight," but also "Grantchester." Can't even say how much having that second set of eyes and added support helps!

"I said, brrrrrrrr, it's cold in here! There must be some trillingstar in the atmosphere!" I'm quite confident I would not have written so much fic these past couple of years if I hadn't found my way to

trillingstar's Discord server and started doing writing sprints with her and others, mainly

wawamouse, whose emoji game cannot be beat (thanks forever for 🥩🔨). Are we all writing in the same fandom? No. Am I even writing for the fandom the Discord server is focused on? Again, no. Are we still showing up to sprint, cheer each other on, and talk through any challenges? YES. It's awesome.

From

snowflake_challenge:

Challenge #9

Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)

I love me a canon divergent alternate universe (AU) fic. I'm not big on AUs where the setting changes (though, like anything else, there are exceptions), but I love it when a story tweaks canon and then spins off the story from there. It's such an interesting way to explore the characters and their thoughts and feelings as things unfold differently than they did in canon.

I'm particularly fond of the "# things that never happened" format (I think it's usually five things, but the number of things doesn't really matter), probably because it just gives me more fic to read in one little bundle.

I'm sure how popular that format is these days (maybe it varies across fandoms), but it had a heyday in the early to mid-2000s, a peak fannish time for me.

I've written a couple canon divergent AUs in the past couple of years for "Forever Knight" (FK) fandom, both relating to the series finale "Last Knight" (because of course they do; I think every FK fan fic writer has probably dealt with that absolute gut punch of a series finale in their own way). Specifically:

Five Ways "Last Knight" Didn't End. Exactly what it says. Five ficlets set during "Last Knight" that tweak events to lead to different outcomes.

Dust to Dust. Completely sidesteps "Last Knight" and replaces it with this instead, picking up right after the penultimate episode, "Ashes to Ashes."

I certainly hope to write more canon divergent AUs because I love them. Because my current fannish writing obsession is "Grantchester," I have a WIP for "things that never happened on a weekend in Brighton" that explores what might have happened if poor, sweet, confused, closeted, and scared Leonard Finch hadn't turned down Daniel Marlowe's invitation to go to the seaside town of Brighton (a queer hot spot) during season 2.

In another fandom, Oz, I have a canon divergent AU rec that, in my mind at least, is legendary in the fandom:

My Wife and My Dead Wife. A completely AU season 3 (written before season 3 aired) that incisively and brutally tackles the whole Thing (with a capital T for sure) with Vern Schillinger, Tobias Beecher, and Chris Keller. (If you're unfamiliar with Oz, be forewarned, nothing in Oz is for the faint of heart.)

Have you ever written a canon divergent AU to tweak a piece of canon and replace it with what might have happened instead?

Happy New Year! 🎊

Time for one of my favorite fannish events, the Fandom Snowflake Challenge (

snowflake_challenge), running through January!

Challenge #1

The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

Hello there! I enjoy writing fan fiction and chatting about fannish interests.

I only participate in low/no pressure fandom events and the Fandom Snowflake Challenge meets that requirement. 😁 I particularly love it because it provides a great opportunity to see what fun, creative, and interesting stuff folks are doing across all kinds of fandoms.

While I have a lot of interests, I only participate actively in a couple of very tiny fandoms (at present, mainly Forever Knight and Grantchester).

But I enjoy reading about what other people are doing fannishly even if I'm not otherwise involved in fan fiction or communities related to other fandoms. So what I hope to gain is learning about and exploring other people's fannish interests as well as sharing my own. 😊

two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Less fic completed this year than last year, but still quite productive for me with six total.

I only posted one Forever Knight story this year. I certainly wrote a lot for FK but only managed to finish the one. This was due to a combo of:

my FK WIPs skewing longer (so they're taking longer to finish), and
me getting swept up in writing fic for another fandom, Grantchester (I mean, why write in one tiny fandom when I could write in an even tinier fandom)

Anyhoo, drumroll, here are all the fics I completed and posted in 2025:

Forever Knight

Unpacking (rated Teen)

Set shortly after the events of season 3's "Sons of Belial," Nat and Nick finally deal with the emotional aftermath of the time in season 1 when Nick turned Nat's brother into a vampire.

This fic is for you if you're like, ohhhh yeahhhhhh, that was kind of a big deal and a resolution would be nice.

Grantchester

11 October 1955 (rated Teen)

When we first met the character of Daniel Marlowe in season 2, he was the prime suspect in the death of 15 year old Abigail Redmond. He had nothing to do with it, but nonetheless still played an unsavory role in her sad story.

In this fic, set a year and a half later, those events continue to haunt him. He can't quite seem to let her go, or is it the other way around?

This fic is for you if you enjoy exploring the lingering guilt of a good person who did a bad thing.

-----

The End and the Beginning (rated Mature for a couple brief descriptions in a make out scene, but it's not a spicy story)

The nascent romance between Daniel Marlowe and Leonard Finch in season 2 was repeatedly stymied by Leonard's outward ambivalence about the relationship stemming from Leonard's internalized homophobia. Everything between them crashed and burned when Leonard caught Daniel with another man. But that wasn't the end of the story.

In this fic, set near the end of season 2 through season 3, events unfold from Daniel's point of view.

This fic is for you if you enjoy stories that explore and fill in gaps in canon.

-----

What Happens Now? (rated Explicit for sexually explicit scenes)

Outside the Chapman wedding reception at the end of season 3, Leonard, at long last, accepted his feelings for Daniel. He kissed him and went home with him. This story goes into their first night together and the morning after.

This fic is for you if you enjoy love finally, finally requited.

-----

Struggling a Little with the Subtext (rated Explicit for a sexually explicit scene)

At the beginning of season 4, Leonard recited an original poem at the church fete. The poem was a tad... suggestive. In this story, Daniel clues him in to that fact.

This fic is for you if you enjoy lighthearted smut.

-----

Worth the Risk (rated Explicit for a sexually explicit scene)

In season 10, Daniel took a long trip to reconcile with his parents. Upon his return, he told Leonard that it went extremely well, but then also revealed that he had lied to his parents about the nature of his relationship with Leonard. (You know, "roommates.") That hurt Leonard deeply leading to an argument later that night. This story picks up at the end of the argument, carrying the characters beyond what we saw on screen.

This fic is for you if you enjoy stories with reconciliation and makeup sex.

-----

That's it.

As for 2026, we shall see.

I want to finish at least one of my FK WIPs. I expect I will finish more Grantchester fic because I've been bitten by the Grantchester bug and don't see myself giving it up anytime soon.

From

thefridayfive:

1. If you had to participate in one Olympic event, what would it be and why?

Well, considering I would absolutely lose any Olympic event, I have to base this on how fun it looks. Slalom kayak looks fun and unhinged. No idea what's going on when I watch it, but I'd have a good time.

2. What is the one song you always sing along to?

It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), the slalom kayak of songs.

3. Do you wear a seatbelt in the car?

Of course.

4. Car, SUV or truck and why?

Kayak. Cooler. Zero emissions. Super fun. Granted, not convenient for commuting or going to the grocery store though.

5. Are you a good/bad driver? Explain.

Good. Not sure what there is to explain. I pay attention and obey traffic rules. I do not treat the roads like I'm in the slalom kayak event at the Olympics.

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

The last two Forever Knight episodes I went through were fairly meh. So I found myself pleased to get to "The Fix," a much better episode (on the vampire side of the story, at least; the cop side, not so much).

A cure! At last! But... not really. Ups and downs. And Nick eats another guy's lunch. Rude!

( Read more... )

Seen making the rounds in a bunch of journals...

Go to your Works page on AO3, look at the tags, and see what the answers to these questions are.

1. What rating do you write most fics under?

Teen and up (19 out of 35 works on AO3).

2. What are your top 3 fandoms?

i. Forever Knight (TV 1992) (14)
ii. Oz (TV) (10)
iii. TIE: The Dresden Files (TV) (4) and Grantchester (TV) (4) (I expect Grantchester will pull ahead by the end of the year)

3. What is your top character you write about?

Nicholas Knight (Forever Knight) (13)

4. What are the 3 top pairings?

i. Tobias Beecher/Chris Keller (5) (Oz)
ii. Leonard Finch/Daniel Marlowe (4) (Grantchester)
iii. Nicholas Knight/Lucien LaCroix (2) (Forever Knight)

One of these things is not like the others lol.

Beecher/Keller was my absolute toxic OTP jam 20 years ago. (Don't fall in love with a serial killer, mmmkay?)

Nick/LaCroix (not an OTP), also pretty toxic.

All four of those jokers have killed people!

Meanwhile, Leonard/Daniel, my sweet, wholesome, emotional support OTP from my emotional support murder show. Look, murder only happens around them; they're not committing the murders so it's fine.

5. What are the top 3 additional tags?

i. Drabble (7)
ii. Case Fic (6)
iii. Flashbacks (5)

6. Did any of this surprise you?

Not really, no. I still have a bunch of old fic floating around out there, but I don't think that would have made a big difference in these results even if they were on AO3.

Posting my

spook_me fic a little early, mostly because today is October 11th and the story is set on October 11th (though 70 years ago). My prompts were "ghost" and "graveyard."

The death of fifteen year old Abigail Redmond cast a long, long shadow across the whole of "Grantchester" season 2. The tragedies of her life, her death, and all that that followed spoke to the failures of the adults in the community.

One such adult was Daniel Marlowe.

Maybe that stayed with him. Maybe that stayed with her.

11 October 1955 (rated T; nothing above "show level," but be mindful that Abigail's story was a distressing one)

Every now and then, I do

thefridayfive:

1. What is your favourite fruit?

Mango

2. What is the last book you read?

Exit Strategy (Murderbot #4)

3. Do you like any of your school photos?

Yes.

4. Do you ever blowdry your armpits to get the deodorant to dry quicker?

Lol no. Is this a thing?

5. What was the last film you watched?

Casablanca

It was 102°F here today so physically I'm not ready to bust out the scarves, sweaters, and pumpkin spice. But emotionally, I am THERE.

PSL skelly understands.

I enjoy the fall very much and with it come some fun fannish challenges.

👻 I am looking forward to

spook_me for spooky and fun stuff with ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night. Since it's a zero pressure challenge, I'm sure I'll sign up this year once sign-ups open. Not sure if I'll keep plugging away with Grantchester or return to FK for it.

☕️ Meanwhile, another zero pressure option is this month's

trope_of_the_month, which seems like a fun one and appropriate for PSL season. Theme is "Coffee Shops." That sent me down the internet rabbit hole about Coffee Shop AUs. I'm more of a canon divergence AU kind of person. But I can also see the appeal, and never say never. For the challenge, it doesn't have to be AU though, that's just an option. Canonical coffee shops work too. Because a cafe featured prominently in season 7 of Grantchester, I'm noodling through what I might do with that.

🎃

thefruitbat reminded me about

ficortreat, a low pressure option for which you set the parameters of the types of "treats" you'd like to give out. I'm not planning to participate, but it's a fun concept!

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

I hath stolen this fic writer questionnaire from

maevedarcy:

Which of your fics is your pride and joy?

Uhhhhhhh... not sure! I still think Two Truths and a Lie (Oz) is the best fic I've ever written.

But I have a really, really big soft spot in my heart for the absolutely redonk crackfic that is Squid Pro Quo (Forever Knight). Not even close to the best thing I've ever written, but it has a colossal tentacle monster and I am just not sure anything will ever make me happier than that.

What are your top three most commonly used tags on AO3?

Counting only the non-character, non-ship tags: Drabble (most from like 20 years ago for

hardtime100), Case fic, and Flashbacks.

What’s something you learned while researching a fic?

A few things:

In the 1950s, KY was by prescription so... writing 1950s smut problems lol.

Also, unrelated, I learned that originally, female RCMP officers had very different uniforms than the male officers. The female officers did not like them and in the 90s, they were permitted the same uniforms.

I have learned a lot about the history and government of Renaissance-era Venice.

Is there a character or ship you’d love to write for, but haven’t yet?

Fleur from Forever Knight.

What makes a fic ‘successful’ in your opinion?

If I enjoy reading it. I do actually go back and read my own fics from time to time. Operating in tiny fandoms, my expectations for kudos/comments are low (though FK and Oz fans tend to be generous <3).

What makes you happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers, or Tumblr asks?

New fic comments, 100%. (I don't actually know what "Tumblr asks" are to have an opinion about that.)

Does anyone you know in real life know you write fan fiction?

Yep.

Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

No, but now I feel like I should.

What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

A Grantchester "Christmas episode" fic. They only ever did one set at Christmas and I would enjoy that kind of thing again.

Do you ever prep your fics with outlines or warmups before you start writing, or do you just dive right in?

I'm all over the place in how I approach things.

How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

3.25 million times. Plus one more time. Plus again even after I post it.

A character you enjoy making suffer.

Well... I really hated Thomas Monroe from the Forever Knight episode "Faithful Followers" and enjoyed having a giant squid shove him in its gaping maw.

A character you want to protect.

Leonard Finch (Grantchester). At all costs.

What is your favorite fic to get comments/messages on?

I don't have a favorite per se. It is fun to get comments on the really, really old stuff though.

What fic took you the longest to write?

Dust to Dust (Forever Knight). It was a long story so it took me a while to write it. Off and on, over a year. I have another I've been working on (again, off and on) for over two years, but I swear it shall some day see the light of day.

If you're like me and enjoy low-key fandom challenges,

1character looks to be a fun one. (Thanks

trillingstar for sharing about it.)

You claim one character, pick a theme set (each set contains 50 prompts), and write 50 sentences inspired by the prompts in the theme set.

You can kinda do whatever you want with it. Write a story that incorporate the sentences. Or just write a single sentence for each prompt, not connected to any story. Sentences can be in any order. Once you claim a character, you get 3 months to finish.

Straightforward, low presh, my kind of thing.

And BTW, no one has claimed any FK characters yet.

I'm back with more "Grantchester" fic, still messing around in earlier seasons of the show.

Until it happened, Leonard and Daniel getting back together after season 2 wasn't necessarily a given. Probably wasn't even likely.

(From the characters' perspectives, that is. From a meta perspective, their arc followed the classic "boy meets ~~girl~~ boy" trope.)

In season 2, the two met and started seeing each other socially. While Daniel made repeated romantic gestures and saw them as dating, Leonard kept pushing back, trapped in ambivalence about their relationship because of his fears and anxieties about his sexuality. Daniel became increasingly frustrated with Leonard's behavior.

Despite Leonard's reticence, the audience (but not Daniel) learned that Leonard was, in fact, falling in love. Alas, because by the time Leonard seemed ready to stop friendzoning Daniel, he discovered him having an assignation with another man. At that moment, Leonard revealed the depth of his feelings to Daniel, and walked away with a broken heart.

Season 3 then saw Leonard's internalized homophobia ramp up drastically, resulting in more than one sad event. But, by the end of the season, he found a measure of self-acceptance that led him to rekindle a relationship with Daniel on unquestionably romantic terms.

Everything that happened over this span of time on the show was 100% Leonard's story.

I thought it would be interesting to tell Daniel's story, to dive into his head and describe events from his perspective, starting with the weekend getaway to the seaside town of Brighton that Leonard refused to take with him, and ending with them finally getting back together.

This fic gave me the chance to flesh out what Daniel was up to, how he was living his life, what he was thinking and feeling during certain canon scenes, and, with respect to season 3, to introduce more of a progression between him and Leonard than we saw on the show.

(Also: some #Justice4HilaryFranklin. Because I wish the show had given us more closure with her.)

The End and the Beginning (rated M)

fan_writers is a new community for meta about writing. Pretty neat!

The community posted a poll about how people approach writing and their processes. I thought this was the most interesting poll question:

I never really thought about this before. So I enjoyed contemplating my own process and reading the comments to learn about how people's creative brains work.

Where do you fall on this, friends?

Current Mood: curious

Haven't done one of these in a minute. From

thefridayfive:

What is...

1. one place you volunteer (or would like to)? Why?

I would like to volunteer as a docent at the local art museum. Because I love it there, especially the modern art wing, and I love learning about and discussing the art. (I have looked into it. They don't take new volunteers often.)

2. one book you'd like to see made into a movie? Why?

Maybe "The Square of Sevens" because I love historical dramas and this one has a lot of twists and turns that would be fun to see play out on screen.

3. one creature (living, extinct, or mythical) you'd like for a pet? Why?

Since the creatures don't have to be real, I'll go with a porg from Star Wars. 100%. Because they're adorable.

4. one place on Earth you'd like to visit? Why?

Iceland. I love Icelandic history and literature. For years, I regretted not going when I lived on the East Coast and it was a much shorter flight. Someday!

5. one talent or skill you'd like to develop? Why?

Not sure. I'd say I'm already working on the things I'd like to develop so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯