Now that it is spooky season, it is time to unveil my new AU:

Going Forth By Day

Jesper is a mediator—a liasion between the living and the dead. But Wylan, the ghost haunting his bedroom, doesn't seem to need his help. Which is a relief, because Jesper is ready for a fresh start. But on the very first day at his new school, it becomes immediately apparent that getting that fresh start won't be easy as easy as it seems...

A.k.a. the Six of Crows x Mediator AU that has been haunting me for the better part of a year.

Sleep No More Fic Inspiration

I was tagged by @jackwolfes to share some of my fic inspiration. So, here, have a collage of locations featured in Sleep No More, my ongoing NYC Wesper AU. The quote is from In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound. I am (no pressure) tagging @cameliawrites, @endoftheworldhere, and @crowpricorn to share some of their fic inspiration.

And since I don't have another chapter ready to go this weekend, check out a sneak peak of Chapter Eleven under the cut! It should be ready to go next weekend. 💕

Handbook for the Haunted

Part I: The City

Her mother lit the first candle while kneeling in front of the altar of Sankta Margaretha. The delicate flame flickered in the darkness, the shadows caressing each careworn line of her face. She murmured quiet prayers, her face contorted with the all-consuming grief of a mother. Kaz knew he should avert his eyes, but he had always been an unrepentant thief. So he studied her face greedily, searching for traces of Inej. He found an echo in the stubborn set of her chin. But her dark hair was streaked with silver, her brown skin etched with years of laughter. 

Suddenly, Kaz could look no longer. 

Bhavna Ghafa may have been blessed with a long life, but her daughter died days before her sixteenth birthday, her skin adorned with a garland of purple bruises. Her daughter died behind the bars of her gilded cage, strangled amidst swathes of cheap silk. In the hours before her death, Inej Ghafa had clutched his coat sleeve, her kohl-rimmed eyes alight with wild hope. But the following nightfall, she had been little more than dark smoke, curling on the horizon. 

Read more here.

Hello Anon!!!

Thank you for the ask!!! <3 My priority at the moment is finishing Sleep No More. I actually wrote a good chunk of the next chapter this morning! :-) As for my other future WIPs in order, I have:

Then whatever catches my fancy, I suppose! :-)

(More Than) Six Sentence Saturday

I am currently working on the sequel to one of my first fics for the Six of Crows fandom, Ghost Girl's Guide to Ketterdam. It is very dear to my heart, and tonight I feel like sharing a snippet:

This fic is going to destroy me. But maybe we can all be sad together once it is ready to go. :-)

One day I will finally write my Alys Van Eck Legally Blonde AU. And that is the day you will know I have finally gone off the deep end.

Chapter Six - The Train

Jesper waited until he could hear gentle snoring from the next room before he slipped out of his bedroom window onto the rickety fire escape. From there, it was an easy drop to the sidewalk below. His sneakers slapped the pavement as he landed on both feet. On the ground, he took one final glance up at the window, shoving his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. Then he hurried down St. Nicholas, careful to skirt the rustling bags of garbage piled along the curb. He hopped the turnstile at the subway station in one fluid motion, before quickly descending onto the platform for the Brooklyn-bound A train. 

His knees bounced restlessly as he waited for the train, remembering hours earlier when he had returned from his court-mandated shift at the community garden to find his window ajar. Frozen in the doorway, he stared and stared at the neatly folded note placed on his bedside table. Blinking, he had slowly shut the door behind him. Then he had opened the note to see an unfamiliar address scrawled in spidery handwriting. There had been no signature, but no signature was necessary. Jesper would recognize that handwriting anywhere. His hands had trembled when he tucked the letter in his pocket, understanding the unwritten message. 

Kaz had finally found a lead on Wylan Van Eck. 

Read more here.

I am going absolutely feral over two paragraphs I just wrote that I cannot wait to share with the world (hopefully) this weekend.

🦋what are you most insecure about when you post a fic?

I am always so very worried about typos. Because as soon as I hit publish, I always find a million typos. It doesn't matter how often I've read it beforehand. Also, I am also so nervous that people won't like it? Or that I'll let people down because this chapter isn't as good as the last? I have to really remind myself sometimes that, at the end of the day, it is all fanfiction. It is meant to be fun.

🌻what makes you want to give up on writing? what makes you keep going?

Sometimes, I have a really hard time entering into a scene? And then I'll stop writing for days. Weeks. Because I just don't know how to start. But what keeps me going is when the story starts to fall into place. And then of course, hearing from readers is always an additional delight. It makes me so very happy when people tell me that my writing connected with them in some way.

🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?

Ghost Girl's Guide to Ketterdam has easily been the most challenging fic for me to write. When I started writing last February, I was in a very lonely space? It was the dead of winter. So long, dark nights. And I was mourning, in a lot of ways, everything I had given up to be where I currently am. And I think that fic was, in many ways, my own exploration of mourning. I found myself unable to write so many scenes because I could not get through them without crying. It is probably my least popular multi-chapter fic, but it is easily the one that is closest to my heart.

Six of Crows Fanfiction Masterlist

In honor of one year of writing in the Six of Crows fandom this February, I've decided to make a masterlist of my writing. 💕 Thank you for all of your encouragement this past year. Thanks to so many of you, I have been able to reconnect with something that brings me so much joy!

Kanej 💕

Ghost Girl's Guide to Ketterdam (11K words, rating: M) - Wandering through the streets of Ketterdam, Inej Ghafa haunts Kaz Brekker ― a ghost story told in three parts.

Sankta Margaretha and Other Tales of Sorrow (18K words, rating: T) - When his daughter was stolen from beneath his nose on the outskirts of Os Kervo, Samir Ghafa lost his faith in the saints. After a letter arrives, his hope is rekindled.

Between the Lightning-Bug and the Lightning (11K words, rating: T) - Kaz Brekker attempts to learn Suli.

Ten Minutes in the Life of a Pear (9K words, rating: T) - Four meals featuring the Ghafa family.

Love's Austere and Lonely Offices (18K, rating: T) - In the moments after the birth of his son, Kaz Brekker reflects on what it means to be a father.

People of the Air (2K, rating: G) - Inej panics when her son crosses the high wire for the first time.

Laughter in a Bottle (1.6K, rating: T) - It took two weeks for Inej to finally summon the courage to ask Kaz the question that had been plaguing her since that morning at Fifth Harbor.

Handbook for the Haunted (WIP, 8.6K so far, T) - Mourning the death of his brother, Kaz Brekker thinks he understands what it means to be haunted. But when he starts catching glimpses of a girl long dead, he realizes how very little he understands about life and death. Companion piece to Ghost Girl's Guide to Ketterdam.

Wesper 💕

Sleep No More (51K, rating: T) - Modern AU. When Jan Van Eck's attempt to murder his own son fails, Wylan must learn to disappear into the the streets of the city that never sleeps. But Jesper Fahey doesn't plan on letting Wylan fade away quite so easily.

Pas des Deux (10K, rating: T) - Wylan Van Eck hasn't always hated Nachtspel. In fact, he used to love listening to his mother read the story of the Soldier Prince. His father ruined those memories. Can Jesper convince Wylan that there is still magic left in this world?

Sipping the Effervescent Sky (WIP, 7K words so far, rating: T) - Jesper Fahey is kidnapped en route to the venue on the day of his wedding. Although it is not the first time he has been held hostage, he is obviously quite annoyed by this turn of events. However, if the explosions are any indication, his fiancé might be even more annoyed….

Found Family & Gen 💕

Musée des Beaux Arts (25K words, rating: T) - Six portraits of life and death in Ketterdam featuring the interwoven stories of Wylan Van Eck and Kaz Brekker.

The Language of the Waves (1K words, rating: G) - When Inej returns to the shores of Ravka to spend a summer with the Caravan, she makes an odd request.

Escapology (2K words, rating: T) - Modern AU. The Crows sign up for an escape room. That's it. That's the fic.

WIP Find the Word Game

Find the word! @bee-a-lover tagged me and gave me the words angel, cat, run, squish, and cough.

cat: from Love's Austere and Lonely Offices

run: from Love's Austere and Lonely Offices.

Unfortunately, angel, run, and squish don't appear in any of my current WIPs. Since, I don't have any of those words, have a bonus snippet from the next chapter!

@youareiron-andyouarestrong (and I think several other people) have tagged me recently in the "latest line tag game," but I've been suffering from writer's block. But now I have something to actually share from Sleep No More, which is my modern wesper au. Enjoy!

Tagging @ptork66, @endoftheworldhere, and anyone else who wants to share!