Sat 22nd July

Have to go into hospital today to see if they can find room to fit me in after last appointment cancelled. No update as a result

Update Health:

I am not in a good way right now, struggling to breathe, doctors failing to diagnose, and the chance of things getting worse - as they have been. I don't want to sound alarmist at this stage because it could all blow over, but after being in a car crash in Jan, and now this, there's always the chance anything could happen. As such, if I ever disappear for a long period - say, two weeks - without posting here or anywhere else then it's a safe assumption that something has gone wrong medically. I may be in hospital. Or worse. Basically, I'll always have the guts to tell people If I was quitting writing or what-have-you, so please take any long absences as a bad sign. If this account was ever hacked on the other hand, I'd obviously post an update on my p a tre on and make a new account, so have a quick check there if in doubt.

Here's hoping this message will never become necessary, and yet who can say? We all die eventually.

I Did Not Review your Story:

I do not often write reviews on other stories (I only do when I really like what you've done) and would NEVER write a "guest review" on another story. If you believe you have received one from me and it is NOT from a signed in account, then it is fake. It is someone writing a fake guest review and typing my name into the box at the top. It is also likely inflammatory, insulting and written by a troll with nothing better to do than try to implicate me. Please ignore or delete such stupid reviews. Or better yet, don't react at all and give the worthless troll any attention. They've been spamming them for almost a year now.

I also don't write guest reviews on my own stories, and certainly not telling my reviewers I hate them or their comments. It'd be a bit weird for me to do that, wouldn't it?

I have never written a negative review of a story because if I don't like a story, I stop reading. I don't stay to the end. As such, any negative or insulting reviews seemingly from me are fake.

Fake Accounts

This account is my only real one. I do not write on Wattpad, SB, SV, AO3 or anywhere else. Any site claiming to be me is either fake or an account posting my stories there because they feel they should have more reach. One of those is more acceptable than the other as you might imagine. I don't mind if you read my works on other sites, but please don't accept anything they might say as coming from me. Similarly, I do not use social media and have no FB, Twitter or w/e pages.

Hi All,

Coeur here, nice to meet you. I'm a writer in England who enjoys the RWBY archive, as well as a few crossover archives. I'm an active writer, with experience in the magazine industry - and hope you enjoy my work!

If you would like to support me, then my P a treon link is below. Just so you know, my fanfiction is always free - and being a supporter on my P a treon does not give you access to any extra fanfiction. That would be illegal. What you get is lessons, articles on how to write your own story (that can be fanfiction or original work, I have students of both) - and also access to me for any questions or advice you might need. As well as any original work of my own unrelated to fanfic. If in doubt, feel free to PM me to ask.

If you want to donate towards me as thanks for my fanfiction, then that is very kind of you. But the P a treon itself is dedicated more towards becoming a writer. The reason I include it here is quite simple... why should you trust a teacher, if you are not certain how well they can write?

I use my fanfiction to promote my P a treon.

Check me out, and if you can spare even a dollar a month - it will mean the world to me!

P a treon - Links to said site do not work, and in fact the word appears to be banned - even if what i offer on it isn't against the terms and conditions of this site.

Either way, you will need to close the spaces on the below and write it into your browser.

P a treon . com (slash) coeur

My Goal as a Writer here

To write consistently good stories, showing improvement on each fic. I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder, something I worried about when writing “One Good Turn” – thankfully I think I have proved not to be, with the release of Professor Arc. But I want to take it further, producing a third, and even a fourth and more – high quality fics. This will become increasingly difficult however, as I explore more adventurous pairings.

Eventually I hope to run through most of the female cast. I am not a fan of the Yuri/Yaoi pairings, though can happily read them. My problem simply stems from a lot of them featuring very unrealistic romance, i.e. Characters only seem to fall in love because the author wants them to, no desire, no build-up, etc... I will consider writing one after the Jaune pairings are done, we shall see.

Since I get a lot of questions - and I mean a LOT - I've decided to put some FAQ here on the ones I get asked most often:

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I run a story idea by you?

I’d ask you not to. Story ideas are very personal, and I think there is not so much a right or wrong answer when it comes to fanfiction. There are many right and wrong answers when it comes to writing a good story – especially an original story – but that’s not for here.

Mostly, I lack the time and, since I am a writing teacher part-time, I would put far too much time into each and every request, losing hours of my time.

How do you write so much and so often?

Hard work is the only answer here and there are no shortcuts. If you become more experienced, and the only way to do this is to write a lot, then you’ll start to write better first drafts. When you write better first drafts, you can write faster as I do. My stories are certainly not perfect and the simple reason for this is because I cannot go back and edit chapters. Often, I have a single day to write, proof and publish a chapter for you all.

In terms of how much I write, I have to make sacrifices. I don’t watch TV. I don’t use social media. I limit time playing games or such. It requires discipline.

Can I come to you for writing advice?

I’m afraid this is something unlikely to get a response from me in a PM. My time is very limited due to my writing, my job and the lessons I give to paying customers online. If it’s a super short question I may answer it if I have time, but I won’t look over people’s work for them as I simply don’t have the time.

Please understand that when I beta someone’s work, I can spend 4-5 hours on it. Such is not a simple or quick task.

Can you read through my story?

The answer is the same as the above, I’m afraid. Considering I spend a lot of time writing for the RWBY archive, I don’t spend much of my free time reading from it. This isn’t me disliking RWBY or the fanfics here, it’s just me not wanting to burnout or spend all my time drowning in RWBY content.

Can I use the fanart of your stories?

That’s a question for those who the fanart belongs to – not me. I have no control over their work.

My thoughts: I guess? But I’d do as I do and credit the artist in every chapter. It’s only fair and shows respect to the hard work they put forward.

How can I get people to draw fanart?

Again, that’s up to the talented people who draw them. All I can advise is to be a good writer and try to be consistent so that people will want to draw art of your work. I don’t believe I’ve ever asked anyone for art and most people choose to draw it of their own choice.

Why do you like RWBY?

In all honesty I’m not a fan of the plot or story of RWBY but find the lore and world to be very interesting. A world in which people have come to terms with being locked into small territories sounds like Attack on Titan, but with a strange, hopeful quality to it. I also like the idea of a world so pressured that they accept teaching and arming children to fight monsters.

The mix of risking one’s life to fight monsters and going to a school about it is interesting to me. Dystopian without being grimdark.

Why do you use Jaune as a protagonist so often?

Jaune is a common protagonist in my stories and some like to believe he is the only person I can write – which is strange. Perhaps my fingers explode if I write a different character. Ultimately, I like using Jaune because he fits my needs of a character, i.e. an individual with a “motivation”, an “obstacle” and a “conflict that comes from them”.

Simply put, a good character to me needs some goal they wish to achieve (motivation) and a reason why they cannot achieve this goal (obstacle). From the clash of these, a character gains conflict, and conflict drives a story. Jaune has these because his motivation is to become a huntsman and his obstacle is that he lacks the skills and forged his way into Beacon. At any point these could be discovered, and his dream could be ruined, which leads to conflict like shown in the Jaunedice arc of canon with Cardin.

Ruby, by comparison, lacks some of this because her dream is to become a huntress and she is accepted into Beacon in episode 1. Obstacle removed and Ruby doesn’t have any conflict after. She gains a brief one with Weiss over being a leader but… that’s fixed by episode 4 or so.

There are quite a few RWBY characters who don’t have a Goal and Obstacle, and some that never quite gain one. I could make one up for them and have in some cases (Captain Dragon and Stress Relief as examples), but Jaune’s problems are quite compelling and he fits well as an everyman who lacks a lot of the innate advantages and skills the rest of the cast take for granted.

Why does Blake feature so often?

Same reason as above. Blake has a strong motivation and obstacle in that she wants to escape her life in the White Fang, but the White Fang have come to Vale and threatened her new life, and Adam is after her.

This creates conflict and, in canon, you can see that Blake actually drives ALL the conflict of the first two seasons. The only time Team RWBY ever gets involved in the plot is when Blake and her White Fang issues come to the fore. From a purely literary perspective, Blake is just more interesting to me because she has her own conflicts and conflict drives a story.

So, are they your favourite characters?

Actually… no.

When I talk about characters being useful for literary purposes, that doesn’t mean I find them exciting. It just means that they are the most “useful” to me in terms of writing stories. If I based the answer on which characters I liked to see, watch or would like to be friends with, it would be Roman, Neo, Sun and Yang.

I find Blake quite the hypocrite – but that’s fine to me. I like it as a character flaw and find it delicious to write and read about.

There is a difference between "favourite characters" and "favourite characters to use in a fanfic".

Can I take something or use material from one of your stories?

Sure.

I have no problem with this, and a lot of people have done so. There are plenty of Professor Arc and Service with a Smile-like stories around – and a host of fics where people use the Arc family names and history that I came up with. All I ask is that if you do take a lot of material or it looks similar or has the same concept, include in an author’s note somewhere that it is inspired by me or my story. You don’t need to include it in the summary or anything, just a note near the start.

If it’s not and you’re just happening to write a story that is similar, etc, and it wasn’t inspired by me at all… then don’t mention me. Obviously. It’s perfectly reasonable for two different people to have a similar story concept. I’m hardly the first to write on certain topics and I certainly won’t be the last.

NOTICES

Hunter or Something

For those asking, I have mentioned this may times in all my other fics, but A Hunter or Something is on hiatus due to real life commitments that College Fool had. As the Director for that story, CF was responsible for planning just about everything, which means I CANNOT write it without CF's input. It is CF's story idea, not mine.

Although CF has now returned, despite still being incredibly busy, the slot used for Hunter or Something has been replaced with Relic.

Once a slot opens for it, it will be considered for becoming a live story once more, but I cannot offer any date or timetable for that. Until College Fool has more time to direct the story, it cannot be continued. It is CF's story, not mine. I cannot and will not continue it without CF's input.