me: *writes 1st chapter of a fanfic*

comment: i can’t wait to know what happens next

me: hahaha me too! *sweats* me too

Author Spotlight: @ceeainthereforthat​

Every week we interview a writer from The Magicians fandom. If you would like to be interviewed or you want to nominate a writer, get in touch via our ask box.

First things first, tell us a little about yourself.

THE DREADED QUESTION! I’m a novelist, in my public persona, and so I literally write all day long.

How long have you been writing for?

For years, but it was off and on until 2014, when I suddenly just started writing all the time. I started with fanfiction, I wrote original stuff, and I’ve recently come back to fanfic after being on hiatus for a couple years.

What inspired you to start writing for The Magicians?

I got into the fandom late–my first live episode was 4.11–and I never saw a season finale that so desperately needed to be erased by as much transformative fiction as possible. I was so upset. I went into reading fanfiction to help me move away from the heartbreak of 4.13.

And fic is infectious. Once I started reading stories, I started getting an idea for one. And one day I just dashed off a really short scene of queliot thirst, thinking, I’ll just get this out of my system. But it didn’t work that way, and now I have a universe alteration timeline 41 story set in an alternate first year at Brakebills that’s pushing 70k and it’s not done yet.

Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write? What it is about them that makes them your favourite?

I am really torn. Do I love writing Quentin, who resonates so deeply with the part of me that doesn’t realize that getting out of bed every day is an act of bravery? I love writing Quentin, because I feel like his headspace is so familiar–but since I’m in control of writing it, I can write these moments where Quentin comes up against his monsters and persistent feelings of self-doubt and show how he resists them by having faith in the people around him.

…Or do I love writing Eliot, who resonates so deeply with the part of me who went through growing up with people who were hostile to who you were, who you loved, how you were different, and how he walked away from all that bullshit and never looked back, and made himself what he wanted to be? I want to clutch Eliot to my chest because he seems like the typical queen bee meanie at first, and he’s good at saying, “I don’t care” while at the same time doing things that show that no, he cares a hell of a lot, but he’s not going to get hurt again if he can help it–but since I’m in control of writing it, I can write these moments where Eliot walks up to what he fears most, and instead of slaying the monster, he embraces vulnerability and the risk of hurt in hope of something incredible.

WHICH DO I PICK? HELP

Do you have a preference for a particular season/point in time to write about?

So far I have been writing about the very beginning. First year. Season One. Where it all started, but different. Writing for The Magicians is a surprise for me because I’m usually writing Alternate Universe RomCom fics, but all my ideas are much more closely related to the Magicians TV universe than I usually ever write.

Are you working on anything right now? Care to give us an idea about it?

Oh boy. Two things! The first one is Enfleurage, the story that was supposed to just be a little flash/slice of (horny!) life between Quentin and Eliot,  but wound up exploding into this plotty epic fantasy. I didn’t know what it was going to be when I started it, and so it starts out feeling like a flirty romance fic, and then I found the plot and went, “oh well, I guess I’m writing a longfic.”

The other is a series of incredibly porny short stories. The series is called Hedonism for Beginners, and like Enfleurage, it was just supposed to be this simple one-shot. And then I wrote a sequel. And now i have a short list of stories that happen next in the series. I started working on a new story really recently, and … it seems to want to have a plot. But I think it can progress gradually with each story I write.

How long is your “to do list”?

That’s it. I don’t have any more ideas for Magicians fic. *knocks on wood*

What is your favourite fic that you’ve written for The Magicians? Why?

Enfleurage and Hedonism for Beginners are the only fics I’ve written for the Magicians. I think I’m always going to be fond of Enfleurage, because it came in a time in my life where I needed to prove to myself that I know how to write a story, and I can trust my characters and my own sense of story to tell something that will keep people entertained.

Many writers have a fic that they are passionate about that doesn’t get the reception from the fandom that they hoped for. Do you have a fic you would like more people to read and appreciate?

There aren’t as many hits on Hedonism for Beginners when you compare it to the audience for Enfleurage. I know that’s partially because I locked the series away so it can only be seen by logged in members of the archive, and that a lot of people who enjoy the fic on Ao3 don’t actually have accounts there. I think it might also have a narrower audience because the sex is explicit and the story really revolves around writing the smuttiest smut I can manage, ha! and so that probably limits the audience too.

What is your writing process like? Do you have any traditions or superstitions that you like to stick to when you’re writing?

My writing process is all over the place, and it depends on what i’m doing. Usually I outline but for the Magicians fics I’ve worked on so far, I’ve been working without much of an outline at all, just seeing where the characters and my understanding of stories takes me.

For tools I use a combination of scrivener and google docs. I’m really nuts about scrivener and I have an elaborate project setup complete with color coding and other bells and whistles. I write the first draft of a scene in Scrivener, and then I copy/paste it to google docs for alpha/beta reader feedback and do editing on it there.

I also track wordcount - I don’t try to make a wordcount goal every day; I’m just tracking the work I actually did that day so when I feel like I’ve been wasting time doing nothing I have proof that’s not true.

Do you write while the seasons are airing or do you prefer to wait for hiatus? How does the ongoing development of the canon influence and inspire your writing process?

I didn’t start writing these stories until hiatus (and i don’t know if I’m going to keep watching for season 5, I’m still really angry) but I think If I was still in progress on a long fic and the season started again, that’s cool, but I’m writing for what inspired me at the moment of that first spark of an idea. Maybe something in the new season will be pertinent and maybe it won’t. I guess I’ll know when I get there.

What has been the most challenging fic for you to write?

The stories in Hedonism for Beginners are the more challenging stories to write. I don’t precisely shy away from writing sex scenes, but I did kind of gloss over them a little, and I really felt like I wasn’t bringing everything to the page that I could. I’m talking about the more frank descriptions of the action going beyond metaphor and feeling cues into exactly what they did with the envelope (and getting more adventurous with the kind of sex i’m portraying,) but I’m also talking about getting more intimate with the person whose point of view we’re experiencing while reading–trying to get into the skin and mind and heart of the character, so we can see how that sex scene changes things for them.

It’s been beneficial already. I can see that they’ve improved me as a writer in general–that working on writing better sex made me use skills that apply to everything I write.

Are there any themes or tropes that you like particularly like to explore in your writing?

I think I’m not good at seeing the recurring themes and tropes in the things I write. But I haven’t ever written a story where nobody in the story falls in love. There’s always a romance in everything that I write, even if it’s not the main point of the story.

Are there any writers that inspire your work? Fanfiction or otherwise?

I think I gain inspriation from everything I read lately. Fiction, fanfiction, essays, non-fiction–it all helps to fill the well and inspire me.

What are you currently reading? Fanfiction or otherwise?

I’m not reading much fiction right now - I’m currently reading a book about city planning and how states try to make living spaces according to the ways in which they have attempted to make their citizens legible, through census data and other records, and how it doesn’t always work. After that I’m going to read a book authored by a member of the Black Panthers during the Black Power movement (it’s for a book I’m writing)

I’m having decision paralysis on my next novel to read. I’m really behind on novels, it’s really quite sad.

What is the most valuable piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?

Don’t hoard your best ideas. Use them right away, and clear up your brainspace to make room for another mind-blowing awesome idea. Another one will come - and the more you use your best ideas, the more excellent ideas you will get.

Are there any words or phrases you worry about over using in your work?

I’m overly fond of the word fingertips. I don’t know why.

What was the first fanfic that you wrote? Do you still have access to it?

um. I think it was for the vampire lestat? and I don’t have access to it any more.

Rapidfire Round!

Self-edit or Beta?

Both. Betas are really, really important.

Comments or Kudos/Reblogs or Likes?

I love getting comments on Ao3, and I love getting reblogs with tag comments on tumblr. Likes/Kudos are nice.

Smut, Fluff or Angst?

Can’t we just have it all?

Quick & Dirty or Slow Burn?

Both. Yes, both. both is good.

Favourite Season?

Season Three

Favourite Episode?

the same as everyone. 3.05!

Favourite Book?

Haven’t read them.

Three favourite words?

petrichor, somnolent, euphoria

Want to be interviewed for our author spotlight? Get in touch here.

Five @ Five @ceeainthereforthat

As a part of our author spotlight, we’ve asked each writer to highlight 5 fics and tell us a little about their experience writing (or reading) them.

How Easy You Are To Need by @ohmarqueliot

If he tried hard enough, he could almost pretend that he’d lost track of who’s moans belonged to whom. Almost. Before he’d fled the common room, Alice and Kady had been making out on the couch right beside him, grinding against each other, Alice’s hands gripping tightly at the back of the couch as she moved over Kady. Penny had Julia pressed up against the wall, one leg hitched over his waist and her hips rolling against his. Several others had been in various states of undress around the room, their hands and mouths and bodies all over each other, and Quentin had quickly given up trying to pry people off of each other.

Sure, I dig the sex pollen, even if it’s usually pretty dubious consent-wise. But even more, I really enjoy stories that take on the aftermath of the sex pollen incident–so I’m waiting for part 2 of ohmarqueliot’s story with anticipation. This story was so damn hot, and then the end of part one had me yelling.

Tomorrow Past Tonight by veganshailseitan

He places the tile with a more care than is strictly necessary –a second to compose himself before he meets Eliot’s eyes– and wonders, far from the first time since they’d gotten to Fillory six months ago, how his fingers would feel elsewhere on Quentin’s skin.

For a moment he wants to ask him… something. If Eliot feels this tension between them. If he wants to do something about it. Or maybe just do Quentin. But how do you ask out someone you live with, and work with, and eat and drink and spend all your time with?

“Thanks,” he swallows, mouth dry, breaking eye contact after what he hopes was a normal amount of time.

He tries not to think about it for the rest of the day.

Ho damn this fic. This fic is the reason why I started writing Hedonism for Beginners stories–I made the terrible mistake of reading this fic while I was stuck waiting for a flight in an airport, and there were people all around me and listen I fucked up, okay? I should have bookmarked it and come back to it later but instead I devoured the whole thing while worrying that someone could see what I was reading out in public.

But I was also in deep admiration for the craft in that story, and I was left feeling like “Why can’t I do that? what am i doing with my sex scenes? How do I put both the erotic, full on horny on the scene, and keep the emotional resonance there, and how do I get explicit without being indelicate–what do I need to learn?”

Routine Maintenance by @messier51

Routine maintenance is not exactly a simple task–the mechanical parts, the spellwork, and the user all need to be balanced and attuned. Mostly, Eliot’s wings are in superb shape. Fillorian Royal couriers often carry the most precious cargo and are popular targets of bandits and thieves. Despite this, they are the most efficient and safest way to move important documents and small items around the world. So they’re well-compensated for their work.

“It looks like your scapular bearings are worn down a lot more than they ought to be, can I take a look at you?”

“Sure,” Eliot says, starting to untie his shirt. “How do you want me?”

Eliot Waugh: Flirt of the Century. Angel of the Crown. Client.

“You can leave that on for now.”

I really love this story so far. Its worldbuilding is marvelous to me, and the promise of a plotty, twisty adventure has me wishing I had all the story right now…and the UST is making me smile. If you’re looking for a fic that reads like a fantasy novel that reads like fic, then this one is the story for you.

Enfleurage, by @ceeainthereforthat

“Drink it,” Eliot says. “It can’t go back in the bottle, can it?”

Quentin lifts the glass and lets it hover just in front of his nose. It’s like perfume, a forward, complex fragrance that carries the terroir of the land the grapes bloomed and ripened in. 2009–a near perfect year for French wine, and this one a sterling example of a tiny village in his favorite region.

Eliot watches him breathing in the bouquet, waiting for him to lift the glass to his lips and drink. The smooth glass tilts, and Quentin’s tasting the first notes of plum in the second before—

Oh. Oh. Quentin holds the wine in his mouth and closes his eyes as sunlight caresses his face. The wine unfurls into round, earthy tannins, soft dusty violets, the power and delicacy of grapevines that were old before he was born. He opens his eyes and Eliot’s studying him, a tiny, secret smile as he reaches out and caresses Quentin’s cheek.

“Thank you,” he says. “That was exquisite.”

Quentin swallows his wine to a rolling, prismatic finish. “You knew. You knew exactly what this bottle was worth.”

“Every cent,” Eliot says. “I wanted to watch you enjoy it.”

“Enjoy it?” Quentin asks. “It’s–sublime. I’ve never had anything like it.”

“If you’re like that with all your first times, Quentin Coldwater, I’m going to find a new one for you every week.”

This is the first of my Magicians fics. It’s in progress, and so far it’s 70k and about 2/3rds done, and I’m hopelessly in love with it. I never planned on writing such a long story, but it is what it is, and following the characters into this timeline 41 story is wonderful.

Videotape #1, by @ceeainthereforthat

“You can say no to anything,” Eliot says. “You can ask me anything you want.”

Quentin pushes his hair out of his eyes. “Does the camera work?”

“Yes.”

“Is there even a VHS in the cottage?”

“There is.”

Quentin stares at it for a long moment. “Do you want to keep the tape?”

“Only if you’ll let me.”

Quentin looks over the whole scene, and his tongue darts out of his mouth to lick his lips. “What do you want me to do?”

“Whatever you want. I have an interview I’d like to do while you do it.”

“Okay,” Quentin says. “Yes. Yes to all of it.”

This is the second of the Hedonism for Beginners series. It’s partially inspired by a 30 year old movie starring James Spader called Sex, Lies, and Videotape. I thought it was just going to be the sequel and I’d be done, but in writing it, I realized that it really was going to be a series, or perhaps more accurately, a serial where Q and El explore their desires together and inevitably catch feelings. My slogan for this series is “All sex! No disasters!” so it’s not going to be a twisty dramatic thing like Enfleurage, with each of the stories focusing on the sexual adventures of the characters.

– The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ( for @ellotwaugh  <3)