#was fun but challenging drawing the same character from different povs and trying to keep him consistent

[thewormdraws]

sanji from different straw hats povs

[jules-makes-stuff]

Been seeing ppl on reddit argue about magic in fantasy for a while and I don't want to lose 3 hours bickering over there but I have *thoughts*

By now hard and soft systems are pretty well known but people ague againt hard systems because it "takes away the, well, MAGIC of magic". I think people aren't considering tone and the overall goals of a work and are conflating personal taste with truth again.

In my mind it really depends on the above though. Say you are Hoffman writing The Golden Pot. You want your work to be dreamlike, ethereal, like a half remembered song. Everything operates on dream/fairytale logic and emotion is reality. You should absolutelt NOT explain magic. It should be a strange force adhering only to narrative and emotional forces.

If you are writing a magical realism piece, like One Hundred Years of Solitude, the magic again is there to emphasize the absurdity of reality people at the time faced. Explaining anything takes that away. Same with horror or something like Metamorphosis. You don't know why this is happening and that means you cannot stop it or it doesn't matter how it happened, only the consequences.

Then there are more classical fantasy stories like Lord of the Rings. Magic is something ancient and grand and mysterious.... and none of the hobbits have it besides stray magic items. That is what people miss, I believe, when using this example. Gandalf isn't our pov character. Most characters there do not have magic or only have limited magic w very specific limitations, tools essentially. So we can follow along and anticipate how these will be used. There is big, scary, unknown magic, but it is usually something used by the opponents or characters that come in and out of the narrative. And I think that's a good balance! Its fine that we dont know the science of magic, because we understand enough when we need to, we can make predictions and there is enough wiggle room for something like Gandalf the White to happen. A looot of fantasy had followed this setup: the mc has only a few well defined spells and magic items, the world has more deep magic.

But, I personally do like harder magic, if the mc is supposed to be a wizard (or the equivalent). I would call most battle shonen hard magic (I think this is where ppl might want to kill me) becauss in a good battle shonen we know what everyone can do and we can plan along with the characters and predict how the fight will go. When a problem is solved in an interesting way we can go "I should have seen that comming!"

In BAD versions people yell really loud and whoever yells loudest about friendship (once we wasted enough screentime to call the third act done) wins. And this here is my problem. Because I have seen stories where characters do the same with magic and it breaks my immersion. When magic used by the mc can suddenly do anything and everything what is the point? I'm no longer following a story w interesting twists and turns, Im waiting for the author to say "ok thats enough we can push the win button now". And listen, obviously its a made up story, none of this is real or matters, but its the authors job to keep the illusion alive that it isnt.

This is different from creating a mcguffin that can do anything once and having a quest about it, there getting the item is the challenge, not using it.

And a system being hard doesnt mean we need to know the science behind it, just that we need to know what it can do and the limits. In avatar they can manipulate the elements w martial arts. Period. Why? How? The spirits said so. Most ppl fuck up hard magic imo by starting to write a thesis about magical physics or overcomplicating it instead of taking 1 simple idea and exploring all the cool things that it can do. Witch Hat feels super magical and yet all there is to magic is drawing magic circles and we actively learn how to draw them in the series and the way the characters problem solve w magic and their try-fail cycles are super fun!

The point of this ramble is that I need structure that fits the narrative goals of the work. If we're doing a dream like narrative throw away explanations. If Im a wizard playing mind chess w other wizards you better tell me what chess pieces we have.

[laximpulsion]

Director's Cut Commentary, Ch. 2-6 oh, she's the one i should hate

Since I'm just about at the end of what I had originally planned for this story i thought it might be an appropriate place to pause for some reflection... more under the cut because it got kinda long and i dont want to inflict blog-length posts on your dash without warning lol

So I thought this was going to be just like, some la-di-da high school romcom AU that would never get very feelings-y or anything, and i CERTAINLY did not expect to have actual character development lol. but it got kinda real??? I mean obviously compared to other things i've written it's still pretty la-di-da and im not planning on having any big-time angst, but i've ended up really invested in it and enjoying a lot of the turns it's taken for both fatin and leah.

i think i've said this before but i'll say it any chance i can get... i have loved getting to show this from both of their POVs; i think it's worked out well and it's been such a great, rewarding challenge to weave the story together through both of their eyes. i love that i get to draw parallels between how and what the two of them think about each other, and i like getting to dig into what moments cause shifts for each of them; what do each of them fixate on; how do they interpret the same event differently... it's been really fun.

and just in general i cant overemphasize how much fun this one has been to write. i almost always enjoy writing, whether it's angst or fluff, whether it goes slow or quickly, even when im feeling uninspired/stuck, it's satisfying to just get some words down. but theres a difference between enjoying it/finding it satisfying, and like, literally being entertained by it. and this one i am just...having FUN! and it's awesome. i think it also helps that my frame of mind going into it was that i wasn't going to take it super seriously (vs. my s3 fic which i am arguably taking TOO seriously and need to loosen the fuck up about) so it's easier for me to roll with the punches when things get off track.

speaking of which... things got off track! little miss leah rilke refused to cooperate with me, which is such a bizarre sensation because i know i'm the one writing her, but it really feels like a couple times this fic she has literally just rebelled against me. the first was when fatin presented the revenge scheme; i intended for leah to hop right on board but instead she got worried about it being traced back to her. which i think makes sense because the way she's been this fic is very concerned about what people are saying/thinking about her. the other time just recently happened while i was writing the next chapter and now it's leaving me kind of at a crossroads wondering if I want to stick to my original plan or go with what Leah seems to want me to do lol.

and obviously the first time leah went rogue I adjusted the story so that they don't do a really big revenge scheme, and i dont regret that, i think it makes sense and i have one more revenge plan related plot beat that i think will wrap it up nicely. so honestly im thinking I'll just adjust things again...because it kind of feels like this is what's supposed to happen anyway, like, i'm letting the characters call the shots instead of trying to shoehorn them into my own plotlines. maybe? something like that? ok, this is getting a little pretentious lol sorry...

what else...mmm...i think thats actually all for now! until next time...

EDIT: oh yea actually i have more. i had to "kill my darlings" a couple times for this fic, i.e. get rid of a scene/plotline that i really liked but that i just couldnt justify keeping after i decided to go in a different direction. i'd never had to do that before and it's harder than i expected it to be! the first one was that i changed the party scene, which was not a huge tragedy bc i think it was the right choice but there are a few lines/ideas from that that i was sad to lose. i'm making myself feel better about it by tacking it on as a bonus chapter at the end so at least i didn't write it for nothing lol. the other one i'm even more bummed to let go of because it is so dumb and messy and i love idiots and mess, but if i go in the direction that leah seems to want me to, i don't think it'll make sense to keep it. i am optimistic that i'll be able to work the general idea into another fic, but it won't be quite the same. so maybe i'll offer that one up as another bonus chapter.

[sicktember]

As a reader I'm all about the "moar cake" philosophy, the "lets read the exact same thing but slightly to the left" or scouring an author's page and hoping they've written more exactly like what I just read. But as a writer I get stuck when I feel like what I'm writing is "too similar" to something else I'm working on (probably because I'm spending days, sometimes weeks thinking about the same idea). Any suggestions on keeping things fresh while writing for a month long challenge like this one?

Awesome question! As a writer it is hard to keep things fresh and be inspired when content is so similar. Some things that we think helps are:

Try out a different POV or character pairing. Writing a character you’ve never written before is always a fun challenge and pushes your creative boundaries.

Write from life experience. Using real life situations and ordeals makes for a unique idea that only you can write about.

Use influences from other media (books, movies, music, etc.). Shuffle that playlist and pick a song to draw inspiration from!

Talk it out with a friend! Get their opinion or perspective. A fresh mind might be just the ticket!

Or collab! It’s a whole new experience working together with another writer to form a story, and it’s really fun to see each other’s creative process.

These are just a few ideas of ways we keep things interesting in our writing. If anyone has their own tips or tricks for keeping things fresh, please share to help out some fellow writers!

[tsarisfanfiction]

I’m amazed at your writing speed! You keep pumping out excellent fics to such a variety of topics. I loved the crossover, even from just a one piece fan’s perspective. Outside POV is fascinating and often hilarious, and you did a great job with a single scene. If it tickles your muse, could you give us another story for “Are they bothering you?” for Jean Bart?

Scam (Tales From The Heart)

Fandom: One Piece Rating: Gen Warnings: None Characters: Jean Bart, Penguin, Shachi

Aah, thank you!  I’m glad you liked the crossover fic - it really is just a glorified outsider PoV fic if you’re a One Piece fan, but that made it all the more fun to write!

Ooh, some Jean Bart.  Been a while since I’ve written him but I think I can give this a go... and how about some more outsider pov to go with it?

Random Question Prompts.  Alternatively, I’m still doing: Drabble Challenge: 1-150 (feel free to specify a fandom/character) or Send me ✨ and a character/ship for a songfic drabble

They were bickering like children.  He crossed his arms and huffed at the pair of young men standing outside his store and arguing over whether or not they should go left or right.  The red headed one was strongly advocating for left - the one with the hat was insisting they should go right.

Personally, he didn’t care as long as they stopped blocking the entrance to his store - and preferably took their argument out of reach.  It wasn’t even an interesting one that dropped names, just a simple “Left!” “Right!” “Left!” “Right!” with neither of them looking like they were going to back down any time soon.  Just like children.

They weren’t local, which meant they were probably pirates.  There was no insignia to declare their crew, but this deep in the Grand Line, pirates were the only visitors they got.  Well, and Marines, but Marines always wore those blue and white getups, and this pair were in differing shades of grey.  Definitely pirates.  The same crew, too, if he wasn’t mistaken.

There was a distinct lack of blood lust in the air, or any other strong negative intent.  Just a pair of pirates who were probably going to be snapped up by bigger fish before much longer if they kept that attitude up.  Only the powerful pirates in this sea could get away with drawing that much attention.

“Are they bothering you?”  A deep rumble came from behind him - above him - and the only thing that stopped him squeaking as he turned was years of serving pirates in the store.  Like sea kings, they were - any sign of weakness and they’d bite.  He’d seen it before.

“They’re standing right outside my store,” he snapped, trying not to wilt at the humongous man standing there.  Not a giant - or if he was, he was a small one - but an oversized human much like Big Mom was rumoured to be.  That comparison alone would be enough to make all but the bravest vendors quake in their boots.

And if that wasn’t enough, he knew the symbol that man was wearing all too well.  A crew from the recently-dubbed Worst Generation, captained by the newest Shichibukai - who had earned that place, if the News Coo was to be believed, with a demonstration of why the crew held the name they did.

The Heart Pirates.  One hundred still-beating hearts, all belonging to big names, delivered straight to the new Marine HQ.  It took a special sort of insanity to pull that off, and the idea that that crew, complete with the Surgeon of Death himself, were on the island was a truly terrifying one.

Still, if he said yes, there was a reasonable chance that the noisy upstarts - who were clearly nothing compared to Trafalgar Law’s crew - would be forcibly removed from their location.  That was a plus.

“It’s just not good for business,” he added, with a huff to sell it.

The pirate grinned; each of the huge man’s teeth was the size of his own fist, he was sure.  “What’s in it for me?”

“Fifteen percent off anything you want,” he offered.  The grin widened.

“Fifty.”

“Twenty.”

“Forty.”

“Twenty-five.”

“Thirty-five.”

“Thirty.”

A hand the size of a briefcase was shoved in his face, and he shook it firmly.

“Thirty,” he repeated.

The Heart Pirate moved, approaching the still-squabbling duo.  Next to him, they really did look like children.  He wasn’t a cruel man, but he had a business to run and a fleeting temper.  Besides, no-one lived on the Grand Line these days without some day-to-day pirate violence.

Except... there was no violence.

“Penguin, Shachi,” the man rumbled.  The two younger men stopped instantly.  “Straight ahead.”

Straight ahead?  He couldn’t mean-?

In unison, both of them turned and headed straight for his shop.  They were grinning - far too comfortably for being confronted by a Heart Pirate...

Who had known their names.

Inside the shop, their grins took on a predatory edge, just like a sea king’s.  Or a powerful pirate’s.

The ginger one’s sleeve slipped down, exposing his shoulder for just a moment.  It was long enough for the Heart Pirate’s jolly roger to grin out at him.

“Good work, Jean Bart,” he said, and there was no edge to that grin any more.  Just pure predator.  “So.  Thirty percent off, wasn’t it?”

[entity9silvergen]

Mosaic (Disenchantment Fanfiction)

Summary: We are just mosaics of everyone we love and that mosaic shows everyone we love how beautiful they are. Bean doesn’t think she can love like everyone else but maybe that’s okay.

Fandom: Disenchantment 

Word Count: 2K

Characters: Bean

Relationships: Bean/ Mora, Mentioned Bean & Everyone, Mentioned Odval/ Sorcerio, Mentioned Zog/ Oona, Mentioned Zog/ Dagmar

Warnings: Internalized arophobia, first person pov, some self-deprecation, sex mention, drug mention, mention of interspecies relationships in fantasy setting 

Other Tags: F/F, Mentioned F/F QPR, Reflection/ Self-Reflection/ Internal Thoughts, No Dialogue, Queerplatonic, Aromantic Character, Aromantic Homosexual Character, Arospec Character, Queer Themes, Unreliable Narrarator, S3E6, Oneshot, AroWriMo 2021

Author’s Note: My friend sent me the line “I am a mosaic of everyone I’ve ever loved” about twenty minutes after I watched “Final Splash.” I’m working on the prompt for Week 2 of AroWriMo rn but I had to drop everything and write a short fic about this. Again, I didn’t really use the prompt but it kind of fits with week 1’s prompt romo/loveless & future. 

I’m headcanonnoning Bean as aro or demiro/ greyro. I think in the show it was implied she never experienced romantic attraction prior to meeting Mora because she likes women and I don’t want to erase that in any way but Bean still gives off a big aromantic bisexual homo(queer)platonic vibe.

_____________________

My name is Princess Tiabeanie of Dreamland and I’ve never loved anyone.

I mean, I love my dad and my friends and all that but I’ve never loved loved anyone. Is that weird to say? That makes it sound like I don’t really love my dad and Elfo and Luci and everyone. I probably shouldn’t say that then because I actually love them a lot. They’re my everything. 

One time, I was walking down Elf-Ally and this elf was sitting on the side of the road with some chalk. I feel like elves would really like chalk but I’ve never seen any of them use it, not even Arto, except this guy. I’d never seen anything like it before so I asked what he was doing and he said he was making this mosaic to show his love for this other elf he liked. I didn’t really understand it so he explained it to me like this: we are just mosaics of everyone we love and that mosaic shows everyone we love how beautiful they are.

I still didn’t get it so I just laughed at him and he got kind of upset and threw a piece of chalk at me. It didn’t really hurt but Luci was with me and the elf started throwing stuff at him and you know how Luci gets when he hits his nose so we left. I couldn’t really forget what that elf said though. 

You see, a mosaic is a mix of a bunch of little pieces taken from different things that all come together to make one thing. There’s this mosaic at the church and it’s pretty freaking ugly but the mosaic this elf was making was just so beautiful. He used so many colors and he drew all these little pictures and hid these words I didn’t understand in them. I’d expect it to be all crude and gross like those scribbly pictures Derek would draw when he was younger that Oona pretended to love but it all came together so well. It didn’t even look like separate pieces. It was just one.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The influences of countless parts of my life, weaving together into an insanely complex mesh- That felt like me. I always felt like something was broken in me but maybe I’m just a mosaic. 

I think my dad made me who I am the most. Even if he wasn’t really present most of my life. Sure, we don’t see eye to eye sometimes but I think we’re better because of that. He made me strong. His actions guided me into becoming the woman I am today. He taught me how to keep fighting. Literally and figuratively. He taught me to keep my head up and he taught me how to stab people. It’s pretty cool. I remember this one time as a kid he took me out to the courtyard, stole this guy’s knife, and taught me how to use it. I think I still have the knife actually. I don’t stab people with it anymore though.

(I hope he’s okay. He hasn’t been the same in awhile.)

My mom… Well, I don’t really love her anymore but I did for a long time. She was… How do I put it? A constant in my life. Even though she wasn’t there. What I felt towards her, it kept me together for a long time. When I had nothing to fall back on, I always had her memory. Until she tried to take over Dreamland, obviously. Now I just say she gave me my love for alcohol and that’s pretty sweet too. 

(I still miss her. I bet she’s dead.)

You know those pictures where the guy has an angel and demon on his shoulders telling him what to do? That’s Elfo and Luci, and it’s literal for Luci. And maybe for Elfo? He did go to heaven that one time. It can be kind of annoying to hear them bickering all the time, especially since they almost never want the same thing, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Elfo keeps me safe and Luci pushes me to be more than I am. They make life fun. Fuller. Less lonely.

(I’m scared they might leave someday. I wouldn’t blame them.)

I don’t really like Derek but I still love him. Maybe a little less since he tried to burn me at the stake. Maybe a little more since he chickened out at the last second. And a little less because he still went through with it. And maybe a little more since it was an accident. We have a complicated relationship but he’s still my little brother, as weird as he is. He reminds me of what I have to fight for, if that makes sense. I don’t really see him as the future of Dreamland or anything but he’s still a little kid and I can’t really help but have a soft spot for him. Don’t tell him I said that.

(I wonder if he’ll keep me around when he’s king. I’d be lying if I said I was surprised.)

The same goes for Oona. I never liked her but I think I love her. Especially after she tried to save me from my mom. And since she became an epic pirate. She’s awesome. She’s the mom I always wished I had except she was actually there the whole time and I didn’t realize it. I’m happy with how things turned out though. I don’t regret it. Plus she’s got great taste in drugs. I still steal them sometimes.

(I don’t know if she loves me. Maybe she did once but not anymore.)

I kind of hate Odval and Sorcerio in a weird way where I like them at the same time. They’re not really family but always been there. Like they’re kind of like second dads to me. Second dads whose the sex lives I know way too much about. My gay polyamorous uncles? But they kind of care under all that court properness and tradition nonsense so they’ve kind of wormed their way into my heart. They’ve always made my life difficult but I don’t think I would be myself if I wasn’t challenged so much.

(I think they’d rather have me gone. They don’t hide it every well but I can pretend.)

I’m going to be honest, I was really bummed when Pendergast died. We were kind of the same age and he hung around the castle for most of my life. And my dad trusted him so we actually did stuff together sometimes. A lot of adventures that never really went anywhere. He could be kind of a stick in the mud but he never really minded that I’m a girl and let me tag along on crusades and helped me get better with weapons and stuff. And Pendergast was weirdly loyal to Dreamland, even after Dad forked his eye out. Or was it spooned? I don’t remember. Some kind of eating utensil. I wasn’t there when it happened. But it was nice knowing I could trust him. He could be kind of fun though when he was off-duty. Total lightweight though. He threw up on one of those little guys who carries dad’s cape once. 

(I wish I’d known him better. I really miss him but I can’t tell anyone since Dad gets set off by anything that even reminds him of the guy.)

Who else is there? That’s right, Mertz and Turbish. Turbish and Mertz. Two peas in a pod. Plus Mrs. Mertz. Don’t get me wrong, they are idiots. Totally incompentant. It’s a wonder they’re still alive. But they’re sweet. And they try. They’re not good at anything but they try. Sometimes I don’t want to try but they tell me I always can.

(I’m waiting for the day they realize they could have a better life. It’ll be weird not having them around the palace.)

I even kind of like Merkimer. As a pig, not a human. God, he was an awful human but he’s a funny little pig. He lets Luci ride on his back sometimes. Both of them like it way more than either of them will ever admit. It’s cute. I think they’re friends. If they’re not, Elfo and I will start plotting until they are. Or maybe not. A Luci-Merkimer friendship might be too much for Dreamland to handle. They’re kind of a lot, even on their own. Merkimer always kind of had a big head and it only got bigger when he accepted his new life. It’s actually kind of inspiring how happy he is now. 

(I don’t want him to change but he already has. It makes me sad sometimes.)

And Bunty. Oh, Bunty. And Stan! The world doesn’t really deserve Bunty. Stan does though. I think they’re the ones who taught me what real love is. Bunty always showed me love as a kid, she was like the second mom I never had but actually did have because Oona was there. But she gave me something neither Oona or Dagmar could. I didn’t really understand it until I saw her and Stan and their family together. I still don’t. They’re really sweet.

(I’d give them everything. I know they just see me as some spoiled princess though.)

I want what those two have. Or what Odval and Sorcerio have. What my dad had with Dagmar or Oona. What Elfo’s had, and Luci’s had, and Derek’s had, and the knights have had. It feels like everyone’s had that kind of deep love at some point except me. I didn’t even realize until I was talking to Mora. 

I’ve had the chance to have it. Merkimer, that brother of his I accidentally killed, that one time Pendergast made a pass at me, that Steamland guy… I don’t think any of it really would’ve worked out though. I’ve had a lot of things with guys and there’s been kissing and touching and I’ve always enjoyed it but I think I always knew it would never go anywhere. That it will never go anywhere. And I can’t even blame my dad because it’s all me. It’s always been me. And I’m okay with that? Maybe? I don’t think so but I’m not really good at understanding my feelings. It’s just another thing on the pile of things I won’t work through.

I think I understood what I had with Mora though. It wasn’t… romantic but it felt like it almost was. We just… clicked. It felt right. She was tough and funny and she didn’t hold anything back. She followed her dreams and didn’t let the world get her down. That one night we had together, I felt like we were alone in the world.

Mora gave me the ocean and the stars.

She was beautiful. Maybe that’s what was missing? None of the guys I ever screwed around with were beautiful. Not like Mora was. Not like a woman can be. I really felt like this was it but there was still that disconnect. Like something was there but not quite. Like something was missing. I don’t know what it was.

But then she just left. I had that dream and I just felt so happy. I’d never felt happiness like that. And I never felt pain like the pain I felt when I woke up and the necklace was gone. I definitely would’ve cried if Elfo wasn’t there. I might’ve actually cried a little bit. It’s kind of hard to hear anything when Elfo’s sobbing. Some of those tears might have been mine.

Did I love her? I don’t think so. Not like Elfo loved that boat. It wasn’t romantic. But it was real. It gives me hope. I don’t think I’m capable of the same kind of love everyone else seems capable of and that’s not even a slight at me. It’s just reality. But what I had with Mora, however brief and imagined it was, tells me that’s okay. I don’t need the kind of love everyone else has. Not when I have so many others in my life.

Still, I hope I see her again, even for a second, just to feel that kind of happiness again.

I think that’s what that elf meant when he said we are just mosaics of everyone we love and that mosaic shows everyone we love how beautiful they are. Mora was beautiful and she didn’t see it but maybe she would if she saw how I looked at her. 

Stars and the ocean, I’ll never forget them. They’ll be a part of my mosaic forever.

Other AroWriMo Fics By Me, Posted on Ao3, Posted on FFN

[winterironspiderling]

Sorry if you’ve answered something like this before but, do you have any tips of writing slow burn, and just writing in general? Lol thank you and love your work!

No worries! I’m always down to talk about writing. Thank you for your kind words. :)

To write a slow burn, you will want to start with the main pairing as strangers, acquaintances, or even enemies. You could also start them as friends, but if you begin with the two having a close relationship already, it would be hard to draw that out because friends to lovers basically only adds kissing and physical intimacy, but if you start from the very beginning/first meeting you have more time to develop the relationship, which will take more words, and make the burn slower.

No matter what level of relationship you start the pairing at, there has to be a reason why they can’t be together yet because if you start with no obstacle, it will be hard to justify why they aren’t together. Obstacles could be the characters are in other relationships, one or both might have just gotten out of a bad/abusive relationship, they’re in a bad place mentally/physically, and distance or other characters are keeping them apart. This also gives you something to overcome not just in the relationship, but for the individual characters and their journey, and it adds depth to the plot. And the richer the plot, the more you can draw it out and slow down the burn!

To make the slow burn enjoyable instead of annoying or frustrating, try not to make overcoming the relationship obstacles or individual challenges “too easy” for the characters. They should have near misses and setbacks, or it won’t feel satisfying or intriguing when they finally get together, or oppositely, if it’s too hard and drawn out, and there’s one shitty event after the other, it will feel like okay!!! enough already!!! So try to space out good and bad events and keep it balanced. :)

Know when to time skip and when to accept that you just need to write an entire scene. Time skipping can rush character development and make the ending feel unearned, but writing every detail of the characters’ lives can get boring to read. When you need some exposition or world building and not just fun plot or explicit scenes try to use the seemingly mundane interactions to your advantage to further the plot, introduce characters, build character(s), build relationships, foreshadow, or make fun references to canon.

For an example of all of the above points, in my story Disorder, Tony and Peter have their first meeting, and what’s holding them back from being together is Peter’s age and his poor mental health and self-image. He has a lot of good moments and bad moments, and doesn’t just lose weight and gain confidence over night. I take Tony and Peter throughout a working relationship, then a friendship, and then the buildup of an intimate relationship, and when I’m not outlining every personal training session between the two, I’m building their relationships and friendships with other people and giving both of them a chance to interact in other spaces besides the gym. So Peter will be at school with Ned and MJ showing his sense of humour, interacting with Flash, and maybe mentioning the upcoming Decathlon ten chapters later, so that when I bring it up later, it doesn’t come out of nowhere. Then I might skip a week to the next lesson with Tony because if you’re reading a Starker story, obviously you want most of the interactions to be Tony/Peter. :)

Adding in more people than the main pairing makes for a well-rounded story because other characters exist and help make the main pairing who they are. (For Peter, I like Ned, MJ, May, Flash, and Mr. Delmar, and for Tony, I like Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Jarvis, and Nebula. Bucky is just a necessity for every story, also. ;) ) Making the side characters funny or interesting, or inserting running jokes about them will make the parts with those people more enjoyable to read, even if the pairing isn’t featured.

Short chapter length or transitional chapters are necessary, but can be tedious because you don’t want to have an info dump, but you don’t want to go through the pain of writing an entire interaction and scene just for the sake of increasing word count, so accepting that not every chapter is going to be the Best Chapter is important. If you need to get information across about the backstory, or exposition, you can have it expressed through dialogue, or do a little bit of info dumping at a time and try to weave it into other things, so it’s not huge chunks of info that can be boring or confusing.

Add a little bit of your own personality to the writing too. I’m not really a poetic writer, and I prefer to write snappy dialogue and let character dynamics do the work, but some people can talk about the flowering trees and the winding roads of the countryside. I don’t know anything about that lol, so when I try to write it, I feel silly and then the scene suffers because I’m not saying anything I actually care about. So write the style that feels most natural to you and it won’t be boring because you’ll be able to feel your energy in the story, and writers are what bring a lot of the emotion to the fan fiction. Every reader likes something different, so write for your own tastes and the people who like your style will stick around.

There’s a time and place for surprises or complications, but the type that you put into the story should be consistent with the expectations you and the readers have—whether you’ve stated these by your tags or the plot summary. Example, a coffee shop AU doesn’t turn into a sex worker AU, or soft, domestic Tony doesn’t turn into a dark stalker. Those are valid occurrences, but they’re so different that it’s not a fun twist for readers…it’s legitimately not what they signed up for. A surprise in Disorder that works is when you find out Tony’s own personal struggles during his POV with Rhodey. It adds depth to his character and another layer to his dynamic with Peter, but it isn’t shocking or contrary to what I’ve already written.

For most of Disorder, Tony and Peter each don’t think the other would be interested, or if they were, “not right now” or “not because of the age difference” etc... and I kept having them almost connect/admit it, but then I’d hold back. Knowing when and how I wanted them to get together from the very beginning helped with the slow burn as well because I had to think of how to get them from point A to B. I knew I wanted Peter to be at good place mentally, but not perfect, and I wanted May to be more accepting of the relationship, so it became a game of filling in the blanks instead of just starting a story with no end in sight, and then it feels difficult to give it direction.

Creating outlines and templates for a story helps me. Like a table that outlines which characters are featured in a chapter, and any major plot points, and just general info.This way when you go to write future chapters or edit, you don’t have to reread everything, and when it’s all laid out in front of you, it can be easier to be like, “Oh, this just happened in Chapter 1, so I don’t want another crazy event to happen in Chapter 5 because I want the energy of the story to be evenly spaced.”

Edit not just for grammar but for subtle mistakes like repeating a lot of the same phrases and words. I tend to overuse “just” and start a lot of sentences with, “well”, so I have to be careful of that. Also for continuity like if Peter is sitting down in one paragraph, and then you say he sat down in the next paragraph even though he’s already sitting...

Decide how you want your story to be regarding realism, whether it’s in the context of an AU or a canon-compliant story. Maybe you don’t care about being realistic to our universe, and maybe you want to write something completely off the wall. There should be some sort of structure and consistency with the characters so that the reader feels stable and like they can trust where you’re going. Even if you want to write a master/slave AU where Tony keeps Peter on a leash, or something like a body swap, there’s still things that you can do to keep it realistic in the context of that story. Like if Tony was portrayed as a very loyal and possessive master, he’s not going to be sharing Peter with someone later in the story, unless you’ve decided that him getting over that is necessary to the plot, and sufficient character building shows him slowly becoming more open. Or in a body swap, if Peter and Tony switch, they’re not going to immediately go and put each other at risk or use their bodies to betray one another.

So I don’t know what you’re writing, but no matter what, try creating mystery by leaving things unsaid/undiscovered, or raising questions within the plot for readers to find out later. You don’t have to give up everything right away! (I know it’s hard not to spill the beans, but it lets people figure things out on their own or wonder if you’ll mention it again.) (Make sure you remember if you’re doing this so you don’t accidentally create a plot hole.) An example of this in Disorder is raising the topic of will Peter go to college, or not. Eventually he decides. Another is why Tony doesn’t like to give cards in his gifts, and then eventually he gives one to Peter, and it makes it really special. <3

I hope this helps!

[emerald-amidst-gold]

Ngl whenever I see OC asks I'm tempted to just ask all of them lmao

Buuut, let's see... from the OC creation asks, maybe 12, 15, 19? And for the other one, 1, 8, 52, 69? For any OC you'd like ~

I’m not shitting you when I say, DO IT. 

It’s my favorite time of the day~! Do you think I’ll ever shut up? Not likely, so let’s gooo! >:D 

***

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

You know, I always think about this to be fair because it’s something that can be a bit of a block for me when writing any of my OCs since they’re all really different personality wise. Fane, in particular, is a bit of a challenge. Especially when it’s not his POV. He’s hard to explain at times, and it’s why I take so long to create one shots or chapters because I want to make sure I’ve been as clear as possible with him or how other’s perceive him. I have to think in my head, ‘How would such and such really feel about Fane’s personality? How would they respond to his outbursts or his views on the world?’ It takes a lot of reviewing banter from Inquisition and seeing how characters interact with one another for me to confidently piece together dialogue in regards to Fane, and at times, my mind wanders into non canon territory to where I then have to yank it back. Fane lets my mind explore, but the wanderlust gets to be a bit..much. I think so, at any rate. Lol. 

On a more personal level, Fane is also me, in a way. He’s a persona that allows me to express what I tend to go through mentally at times. While it’s a sort of comfort for me to get things off my chest through him, I also have to take a step back and breathe, especially if my mind that day isn’t in the best of places. I mean, I want to write during those times, but it can be incredibly difficult to formulate words with enough sensitivity so it doesn’t hit too hard for anyone else and come off wrong.

15. What is something about your OC can make you laugh? 

I’m gonna use Estoria for this because one thing I’ve created with her always makes me smile and giggle like a madman. That thing is, is the fact that she’s a flirter, but if it’s directed at her then she’s a bumbling fool. She’s all miss big bad mercenary elf until someone says, “You’re eyes are truly a delight.’ and then she just laughs nervously and nearly crumbles into a ball at their feet. 

And you bet your ass that Solas’s smooth talk kills her to where she actively has Cullen syndrome and runs away--tripping and stumbling over her own feet because she can’t. Then, when she does manage to get away she just sits on the floor and goes with all the enthusiasm of a teenager, “He..he thinks I’m graceful? He thinks I’m graceful!” Then she just rolls around on the floor, kicking her legs like a happy little flower. :3

19. What is your favorite fact about your OC?

That Fane has a sweet tooth. Hands down. Man becomes a literal puppy around cake, cookies, anything sweet. I have it in my fluffy little head that he swipes those things from Skyhold’s kitchen without anyone seeing because he’s embarrassed. He’ll try to be all sneaky and slick, but someone always stumbles upon him stuffing his face and then..well, you know. Fane becomes Aterian and Solas has to be called to tame a dragon before the walls come down. *smiles pleasantly*

1.  What is/are your OC’s nickname(s) and how did it come about?

We’ll go down the line for this one!

Fane is ‘Tempest’ due to his ‘calm before the storm’ demeanor when in battle. Varric gave it to him when he saw how fast Fane could move despite his size, and how hard he could hit once closing in. He’s literally a lightning bolt as he’s never in the same place twice and he does it all without batting an eye like how a real storm can destroy everything in its path, but when the clouds part, it’s calm, controlled without a shred of guilt towards the wreckage.

Estoria is ‘Snapdragon’. He adoptive father gave it to her as a sign of affection and to let her know that she is strong, even if the world believes she’s just a delicate little flower to be set on a window and forgotten. It also came about whenever he saw just how fierce a fighter she could be and how passionate she would get towards specific topics--’snapping’ like a dragon does with their treasure hoard or young. 

Mhairi is ‘Snow bird’ or ‘Fawn’. Courtesy of Varric and Dorian! Snow bird is Dorian’s nickname for her and it’s mainly due to her proclivity towards ice magic. Fawn is Varric’s choice due to how wide eyed and curious Mhairi is, like a newborn fawn discovering the world for the first time.

8. How does your OC talk/what does your OC’s voice sound like?

This is Fane’s. Fane’s, Fane’s. Only because I have so many thoughts about his voice that I have to try to explain it! All right, so his voice is deep, obviously. However, it’s gruff, it’s tired, and it rumbles like the softest of thunder. You can take the man out of the dragon, but you can’t take the dragon out of the man. He always has a slight growl to his voice, even if he’s not irritated. He does have an accent, more or less along the lines of what the game gives us, but it’s deeper, has more timbre and husk to it. It drops dangerously low when he’s furious--almost warbling with the natural growl. It jumps a slight octave when he’s flustered--sometimes cracking on specific syllables. When he speaks Elvhen though..well, let’s just say Solas has an existential crisis to where he blanks for a good twenty seconds because how the words just roll near perfectly from a deep, deep, near criminally seductive grave. It’s a good time. *waggles eyebrows*

52. What are some of your OC’s motivations?

Oh god. Well, it is time to try and explain why Fane does the shit that he does! Namely, why the hell he supports the destruction of the Veil, even if he knows it could kill people he loves.

One: Fane is heavily devoted to Solas. Centuries of bonding and losing each other does that, after all. He strives in every fashion to lessen the burden on Solas’s shoulders because he’s seen it happen before. He’s seen and felt Solas practically scream for an end. So, he refuses to abandon him again to that torture, even if he has to bloody his hands from those he had come to consider friends. It’s a difficult road for both of them, but Fane tries to keep a tiny shred of hope in his heart that everything will be okay in the end--that they’ll be okay. He just wants to protect Solas with everything he has, even if it brands him a monster. So, in a way, Solas’s continued presence motivates Fane to keep pushing, even if it’s indirectly.

Two: Fane is passionate towards his kin. He wants to free them from the world they are forced to endure. Another reason for why he supports Solas beyond their close bond. He knows that dragons are needed for the world to survive. So, the thought of his kin being able to show what they are truly made to do is what guides him to endure a lot of the heart break and a lot of the words that are eventually hurled at him. It doesn’t make fighting them any easier though.

Three: Fane is heavily mired with family or those he considers family. He took Mhairi’s place in his father’s experiments because he wanted to protect her, not himself. He throws himself in front of blades, magic that’ll make him ill, and kin bearing claws just to keep those close to him alive because he can’t stand the thought of their eyes going dead and grey. He doesn’t want to kill; he wants to preserve, even if eventually, he’ll have to turn his back because of necessity.

69. What is your OC’s favorite kind of weather?

Fane likes snowy, cold, frigid weather. He was a snowy dragon. Who lived on mountain. Had ice in his lungs. Boy melts in the desert, trust me. Besides that, he just likes the way the world looks when its blanketed with snow and ice. It’s still and quiet. Those aren’t things he’s used to, so he greedily indulges in them when they’re present.

Estoria is the opposite. She loves the heat, but primarily she loves rain. She’ll stand out and just look up at the sky with a huge smile on her face--completely unconcerned that she could get sick. All because it reminds her that the world is still moving along, even if the people in it believe it’s not. It’s still growing, flourishing, thriving, and that gives her comfort and joy.

***

Wowee! That was a lot, but damn was it fun! Thank you for the ask, as always! I can ramble, ramble, ramble like my life depends on it! XD 

[bakersimmer]

Sim This In Your Style Challenge by @geeky-simz

1) my version 2) original by @geeky-simz

Original post HERE 

Are you familiar with the, draw this in your style challenge? In case you aren’t, an artist will usually create a random character or an OC and other artists will create the same exact picture in their own style, showing versatility.

Tag people to create the same sim in their style. Keep it going to see different variations of the original sim from other peoples pov. Don’t claim the OC as your own if you’re tagged. Always give credit to the creator.  Have fun with it, be creative but also try to be as accurate as possible with the entire look of the character. Do a side by side so we can see what the real picture looked like

@simsucculent @mangogarden @simmsys @therealmortimergoth @baked-tofu @ladykendalsims @deforestsimmer

[thetypedwriter]

The Ruin of Kings Book Review

The Ruin of Kings Book Review by Jenn Lyons

Boy, oh, boy, was this a wild ride. 

Those of you who have been following me for a while know that I occasionally delve into adult fiction here and there. I mainly stick to my vegetarian course of YA novels, but every once in a while I can’t help but  pick up a slice of bacon, or in this case, an adult fiction book.

Or, even more specifically, I suppose it would be more accurate to say that it’s adult fantasy instead of fiction. High fantasy at that, which is characterized by a whole new world with fantastical elements and not just a novel in the known primary world with fantasy elements.

With that literary lesson out of the way, let me get started. 

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons came recommended by one of my favorite book bloggers, Paperfury. She counted this as one of her most recent book obsessions she couldn’t stop thinking about and in general I trust her judgement (although she was way way off on The Queen of Nothing, yikes). 

This massive installment is definitely not the short and sweet page length I’m used to with YA, and neither does it have the comforting and large font that makes me feel like an accomplished reader after just an hour of skimming. 

No, this installment is large and beefy and could probably give someone a concussion if you threw it at them, so just keep that in mind. 

The whole fantasy revolves around a boy named Khirin. Khirin is your typical fantasy hero, equipped with the luscious blonde hair and the sparkling blue eyes and most importantly, the wickedly sharp tongue reminiscent of a male character from the Cassandra Clare universe.

He’s sharp, he’s witty, he’s charming, and he also has terrible, terrible luck. 

Or does he?

When you first meet Khirin he is being sold as a slave to the highest bidder. He’s cold, he’s injured, he’s starving, and he’s broken. You, as a reader at this point, are completely and irrevocably confused. 

You’re thinking: Who is this boy? What is happening to him? Why are people betting so much money for him? What’s with this necklace around his neck? Where did he come from? Where are we? What world is this? Where is he going? What the hell is going on???

To say that Lyons starts out strong would be underhanded hyperbole. You are forcibly drop-kicked into the fantasy world of Qurr and its many raging empires and states, and putting them all together is frankly daunting and largely impossible until a good chunk of the book is devoured. 

Frankly, I still have trouble figuring out all the locations and gods and god-kings and factions and lore and people and how they’re all related, Game of Thrones style. But that’s part of the fun. 

One of my biggest complaints with YA is that the reader is generally treated like they’re pretty stupid. 

Often a YA author feels the need to explain every single iteration and modicum of interaction between their characters or spend too much time describing things, and it leaves very little for interpretation or inference on the side of the reader. Lyons is almost the complete opposite, which is as refreshing as it is frustrating.

As you are introduced to Khirin and this gargantuan universe that Lyons has created, you will feel stupid. To be fair, I enjoyed it most of the time. I relished the challenge of learning to differentiate all the different families of the Court of Gems, of distinguishing the Goddess Thaena from the Goddess Tya.

I liked when I was finally able to smugly look at the map at the beginning and recognize all of the city states like Doltar or Kirpis or Manol. I liked when I understood the different races like the Thriss or the vané and the implications of what that meant. 

If that was a whole load of word vomit for you, that’s okay. 

Again, it’s part of the fun. 

What I do want you to get out of this, however, is the knowledge that Lyons has created an expansive universe with multiple creatures, including dragons and witches, rivaling royal families, gods reminiscent of the Greek Gods and their interference with human affairs, a rivaling world split with so many seams that you’re not even sure who to root for, an emperor, magical jewelry, demons and even a dose of piracy and musical competition. 

This book honestly has a little of everything — which, to be fair, it should, considering how damn long it takes to get through it’s never-ending pages. 

To make this as simplified as possible, the plot goes like this:

Khirin is sold into slavery and finds himself in the hands of a group called the Black Brotherhood. Over time, Khirin learns about this group and their intentions, learns more about himself and the Stone of Shackles (the necklace he wears around his neck), divulges his past and how he got sold into slavery in the first place-his upbringing, his musical talent, his stay at the Blue Palace, his eventual betrayal at the hands of someone he loves. 

You learn over the course of each chapter what brought Khirin to his current fate and more of what he is trying to do now,: which is to return home and save the world from the likes of the two main antagonists (although not all of them by any means), Gadrith and Darzin.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that is the most bare- bones summary I have ever written. But honestly, this book is about a hero named Khirin and his adventure to rid the world of evil as he learns about himself and his past. 

Like many, many, other books before it, this book explores what it means to be a hero, what it means to be a god, what it means to be involved with the fight of good vs. evil. This book is not special in that sense regarding these themes. 

However, there are some really cool aspects of this novel that I thoroughly enjoyed that I’ll relay now that the summary (as condensed as it is, sorry) is out of the way. 

The two things I enjoyed most about this book were the writing itself and the POV. Most high fantasy novels that I’ve attempted to read have this ridiculous notion that every character must speak in some dead medieval language rife with historical inaccuracies and banal, clipped speech. Lyons does nothing of the sort.

 Her characters are creative and crass and downright funny. The dialogue is immersive and natural and oftentimes, other than the backdrop of a dragon or lizard-people, it felt like two modern-day people were having a conversation, which I greatly appreciated. 

Lyons is also a very big fan of building up her writing and then smacking you down at the pinnacle. For example:

“Before us lay the Mother of Trees.

I didn’t understand what I was seeing. I couldn’t comprehend. It just seemed like a humongous wall at first, one that had been built up with palaces and verandas, graceful pavilions, and stained-glass windows glittering like jewels. Only when I looked up could I perceive the sweep of branches, the distance velvet of green leaves. This was a tree to hold up the whole world, the sort of place where Galava must live, if any place were consecrated to her. It seemed ageless and immortal, a tree that had always and would always exist. 

Naturally, we were setting it on fire.”

I personally found this style of writing hilarious. Lyons often built up the tension, beauty, or conflict, and then would deliver these one-liners that would leave me gasping with laughter. This creative juxtaposition was super enjoyable and one that made the book a big success for me. 

Secondly, while this book is told almost entirely (keyword almost -there are some outlier chapters) from Khirin’s perspective, it technically oscillates between present Khirin and past Khirin. 

The whole book switches from one timeline to another every other chapter, with the chapter starting with Khirin being sold into slavery being the “present” and told from Khirin’s first-person POV and then switching the next chapter to his “past” and being told from Khirin’s third-person POV. 

I loved this. I thought this was so creative, and up to this point, I have never seen this done in another book. The subtle shift from first to third person every chapter, but still from the perspective of the same character, was so interesting and complex. 

I loved that we were simultaneously getting current-day Khirin, but also Khirin from two years ago telling us the events that led up to the present. It was imaginative and intriguing, and I loved trying to fill in the holes before the book presented me with it (which even then was difficult). 

In addition, throughout the whole book are also footnotes from another crucial character that offer information, clarification, and also humor. While I’ve primarily read footnotes in academic papers to cite sources or offer commentary, these footnotes were just as fictional as the rest of the story, but offered insight outside of Khirin that was often dripping in sarcasm, irony, or humor.

 I thought it was another really creative way for Lyons to get across information without boring everyone half to death or releasing a 100- page guidebook to help you along. 

Bottom line, people,: This book isn’t for everyone. High fantasy in general is not for everyone. That’s okay. It’s not usually my taste either, at least not the adult fictional kind, but something about this book really intrigued me. 

Moreso than the actual plot, which is confusing, I enjoyed the writing, the suspense, and the act of playing detective. It’s been so long since I’ve read a book that’s made me think this hard, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. That being said, the same praise is a double-edged sword. 

If you don’t want to have to think and draw out charts and make graphs on Excel, then perhaps this is not the book for you. 

If you don’t like high fantasy or made-up worlds, or very interconnected family dynamics, then this is not the book for you. This book also contains elements that can be triggering to some, like rape, drugs, character death, violence, imprisonment, slavery, etc.

When I say this book has everything, I mean it has everything. And that can be good or bad depending on the person. For me, I liked it. However, I did get frustrated at certain points at the lack of clarification more than once, just for full disclosure. 

Recommendation: If you’ve been bereft ever since the Game of Thrones disaster-of-a-finale, then you are not alone. The Ruin of Kings has everything you’ve ever wanted in a high fantasy book: action, kings, queens, palaces, war, dragons, magic and so much more. 

This book was creative and funny and complex, and if you’re willing to sink your teeth and time into a universe that demands attention then you’ll find yourself rewarded with a brand-new world to fall in love with and characters that you can’t seem to forget.

Score: 8/10

[finefeatheredfabler]

Fun meta asks for writers

Tagged by @anonwrite, thank you for the kick in the rear I needed to get started writing this morning.

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it? It’s a high fantasy novel with aspects of psychological horror. It’s about a man trying not to lose himself in his journey to ensure that his dead husband is remembered. I have a decent outline and have written a few chapters, but there’s still quite a lot of details in the worldbuilding side of things that I’m trying to manage. I really love my main characters and am not looking forward to what I’m going to put them through, but I know the journey will be satisfying and compelling when it’s all done. 2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – There’s a big reveal scene where both the reader and the main character realize that he is actually the “bad guy” he has been wanting to destroy. 3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway) My entire WIP is this exact thing. It has been a pain setting up a world and a culture for the story to work in, but it has a message I want to share, so I’m trying to make it work.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like) I like this paragraph because it’s just the right amount of horror combined with hope. It’s the curse that kicks off the whole story and the thing that leads to both family’s downfalls. The implications of this one paragraph on the rest of the story are huge. (I’d be lying if I said this trope wasn’t inspired by Shakespeare). [Thurin returned to the cooling body of his mate, his hands covered in fresh blood and his face blacked with char. Solde's belly still thrashed with life, a child struggling to survive within a corpse. With a gasping wail of grief, Thurin slid the tip of his hunting knife across his wife's belly, freeing the child within. Though her body was cold with death, the baby was warm, hot as fire. It wailed and within its throat was the same fiery cry that Thurin carried in his lungs. He shushed the baby, holding it to his chest where it nuzzled against his heart. Thurin opened his mouth and a plea to the gods spilled forth. "From this day on shall our families be divided. Let no Ravenmind bind themselves to a Baerhart, and may the Baerhart line end in misery, and in violence. Let them know no peace until their line is ended." And the gods heeded his prayer.] 5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with? My main character. He shares many of my traits and a lot of my faults. (Sorry, bud.) 6. What character do you have the most fun writing? My as-yet-unnamed Harpy character. She’s sweet, she’s family-oriented and she’s innocent. She’s a perfect foil to my other main character and she’s so much fun to write because her speech and mannerisms are so not human. 7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree? I describe things. A lot. Often too much. I would say most of my readers would agree, though some of them seem to enjoy it when I spend three paragraphs describing one thing, idk. I also tend to like to use several timelines and sink them within one another, so a character in one timeline maybe thinking about (and thereby briefly narrating) another timeline. 8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read? Yes. I often write things because they don’t exist yet and I want something to read that I know I’ll enjoy. 9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other? Longfic for sure. A combination of both, though my best ideas come from pantsing. I don’t really wish I was a particular one, I’m just glad when my stories turn out. 10.How would you describe your writing process? Pain. Pain and coffee. I write best when I’m bothered about something, feeling anxious or depressed. All of my most popular work was born out of some strong emotion I was feeling when I was planning it. I often sit down and write specifically to channel my emotions into something productive. 11. What do you envy in other writers? I’m pretty envious of writers who get good social media following and get published. 12. Do you want your writing to be famous? Yes, but that’s mostly because I’d like a reason to justify being just a writer and not having to have a full-time job.  13. Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself? Yes, I’ve written quite a lot of fanfiction because I know I can’t copyright or make money on it, so I don’t mind sharing it and it’s good practice for original writing since it requires good characterization to be enjoyable for readers. I keep most of my planned original works pretty close to my chest. I’ll share them when they’re published. 14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title? Once the story is done. I feel like titling it first biases me, though I have stumbled on good titles while writing and I save them and decide if I want to keep them once the story is finished. 15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)? Summaries. I am a person of many words and I have a hard time whittling down a long tale to a short paragraph that gets people interested in what I have written. 16. Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?) Worldbuilding! This most recent project requires extensive worldbuilding because it’s not set in our universe and it’s not based on any fandom. I’ve had to draw maps, come up with religions and stars and cultures. It has been INCREDIBLY helpful with getting me to want to write because it is intensely interesting even if the process can be overwhelming. 17. Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations? A lot of people seem to enjoy my fanfics, but I won’t know about my original works until I start sharing those more. So far on my fanfics I have gotten the reader reactions I set out to achieve, so I think the way they perceive them is relatively in line with my own expectations. I think a lot of my readers would be surprised to know that many of my stories were written to make a subtle point about something I care about (not a big in your face “moral of the story,” but something for them to think about). I don’t know how well I achieve it, but that’s what I try for when I write. 18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them. I have a lot of abandoned scenes that exist only to explore characterizations. Often I will have something truly terrible happen to a character to explore how they might react, but that scene will never see the final project because it doesn’t actually happen in the story. Sometimes I place them in a situation so I can experiment with how they might act in a slightly different setting, or how they might hold trauma, or what would make them snap. As far as abandoned plotlines, I think I’ve got at least one for each fic I have published on AO3. Current WIP has had a few cut or heavily modified. 19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?) Facial expressions. I focus a little too much on what the character’s faces are doing, where their eyes are looking, if they’re blushing, or pursing their lips or clenching their jaws. I know I need to rein it in a bit because it’s a very “fanfiction writer” thing to do and I’d like to publish traditionally one of these days. 20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?) I write a bit of psychological horror, so callbacks and clues are huge for me. My goal in my latest WIP is to leave behind clues for the big twists, but not enough that most readers figure it out before the big reveal. Ideally, I like for my horror works to require two readings. First to find out what happens, and the second to find out how the reader missed what was actually going on. It brings me so much joy when readers tell me they read it twice just to see where I left the breadcrumbs for them to follow. My latest WIP has a lot of literary devices I’ve been dying to use. Extreme character foiling, the use of prophecy, unreliable narrator, hidden timeline changes, foreshadowing. 21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?) Film would be challenging but doable, I think it would do really well as a webcomic or a podcast. 22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them? I do. I don’t hate them, and I like most of them, though I frequently find typos, which is absolutely infuriating when I try my best to catch them and still end up mis sing them. 23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest? Something similar to the one I’m working on right now. It’s about identity and losing oneself in a search for success. 24. Would you say your writing has changed over time? I’d like to think it has gotten better with practice. I know I’ve developed a few bad habits writing fanfics, but I know my vocabulary has gotten better and I know I have improved a lot at characterization and story planning so I don’t write myself into a dead end as frequently. 25. What part of writing is the most fun? Writing character interactions. Full stop. I love writing dialogue and acting it out to make sure it sounds like something real people would say.

[withthekeyisking-writer]

What's your fav fic that you wrote yourself?

This is such a challenging question! Like asking which of my children is my favorite 😂 I could definitely tell you a few of my least favorite though lol, no prob. Some of my older stuff—oof.

Alright, so since I really can’t pick a singular fav (I currently have 101 posted works, that’s just not gonna happen) how about I give a top 10? Not exactly what you asked, but eh life is like that 😁

So, in no particular order, my top ten fav fics that I’ve written:

1. Starting with the one that’s a large presence in my mind, (No) Places of Safety. This fic is my baby right now, shaping up to be one of the biggest things I’ve ever written (already at 69k and not even close to done) which is super amazing, because I usually have a problem with sticking to things after a while. I really love the way I’ve handled Dick’s deteriorating mental state, and I love the fact that I know exactly where it’s going, and have from the very beginning (again, rare for me. Usually things come together as I’m writing, and while that’s still happening, it’s been awesome having an actual solid plan and destination). I love the universe I’ve set up here, and am so excited with every chapter to show you guys what comes next. Hell I love this universe so much that I already have the whole next fic planned out 😋

2. Next I’ll say Three Little Birds Sat On My Window. I loved writing a reverse batfam, and am so proud of the way this fic turned out. I really spent a lot of time trying to get everyone’s voices right, how different they would be considering how different their life experiences would be. Tim and Jason especially were important to get right, with Tim being the one who died instead. I always hated in reverse batfam fics when people just make Tim’s version of Red Hood exactly the same as what Jason was like, because they’re different people and would have different ways of approaching things. So even in just the little glimpses I wrote, I’m really proud of their characterizations, along with that of Damian and Dick! I’m just overall very proud of this fic, and definitely wan to write more of this AU at some point in the future.

3. Third we’ll go with An Active Imagination (and, with it, the sequel Rules of Architecture). Thinking about these fics and working on them ways makes me excited as a writer. Like I don’t really have a lot to say about these, just that I really love the way I handled Dick’s shifting mental state, going back and forth between the brainwashing and having him be not at all aware of what’s going on. I also love how super creepy Slade is lol, how unabashedly awful. Plus writing a BAMF Dick is always a blast, and the Dick in these two fics is especially badass.

4. Next up is Take My Hand Through the Flames, because writing dark!Dick was so fucking fun, and something I need to do again very soon. Dick is so messed up here, so blood-thirsty and masochistic and crazy, which is something that I’ve never been able to truly do when I mainly write Dick. So that plus building an Earth 3 universe (pulling in Joey and Rose and what Dick’s dynamic with Thomas is like) was a blast to do.

5. Hmmm then let’s go with If Night Falls in Your Heart (and am just now realizing how often I use song lyrics and quotes for my titles). Exploring the trauma of what Catalina and Mirage did to Dick was something necessary for me to write, and it helped me work through some of my own shit I was struggling with. (Writing is the best coping mechanism!) Dick desperately needs people to help him and tell him none of that was his fault, and since canon certainly isn’t going to do it, I took it upon myself lol. Plus I’ve become strangely fond Dave the Unimportant Villain 😂

6. Sixth on the list is How Arbitrary Fate Is, an AU I am extremely fond of and seriously need to come back to. Teen Titans (cartoon) ‘verse is always something I enjoy writing, and extending the apprentice arc, playing with Stockholm Syndrome, blending Dick’s loyalty to his friends with his growing loyalty to Slade, how he reaches acceptance that this is his life now—I am so proud of the way this fic turned out. I have an entire sequel planned out in my head, other things have simply taken precedent. I will come back to it, though. Lol I want to scream from the rooftops to get everyone to love this fic as much as I do 😁

7. Now I’ll say A Current of Fate, which is something I go back and forth on loving but it always draws my attention back to it. I hate that I’ve set it aside for so long, I think there’s so much fucking potential in this world I’ve set up, and I really want everyone to see the way it’s playing out in my head!! But for that I’d actually have to keep writing it lol, the horror. Sometime soon (when I have less active projects on my hands) I’ll go back to this fic and edit it a little, update it to how much more confident I’ve become in my writing, especially of DC characters. Also Chapter 4 has been half written for literally a year now and it has Black Mask in it; since beginning that chapter I’ve become far more familiar with Roman (and written a lot of him lol) so reworking that chapter in the main priority, and then I think I can really move forward with this fic. I know exactly what happens, I just have to get there!! (Coincidentally, today is the year anniversary of the last time I updated this.)

8. Leaving the DC fandom, next we’re going with The Source of Grief. My Harry Potter fics have been touch and go, I can admit that, but I’m very proud of this one. I really loved doing the outside POV, everyone observing the actions of Harry and not really knowing who he is or what his motives are. I also got to address all my feelings about Severus Snape, which was awesome. Just, fixing problems and making things better was wonderful to write, and I got to put in some subtle Wolfstar lol, and talk about how Regulus Black doesn’t get enough credit. Idk, I’m kind of rambling, but I’m proud of this fic.

9. Ninth is One of the Legion Lost (plus its sequel Want the Strange and New). They’re both my Fuck You to Infinity War lol (which I liked a lot more than I know most people do, but still it needed some help). Loki is one of my favs, and bringing him into the plot of the movie and adjusting things from there is the kind of thing I love to do—what are the repercussions if just one thing is different? Also I enjoyed exploring the magic of the infinity stones! There was so much that could be done with them, with their level of sentience that was never really expanded upon, so I liked doing that.

10. Now we have People Who Move the World. A James Bond & Sherlock crossover, where Q and Jim are brothers. I got super far in this fic! 15 chapters and 94k, it’s a real beast. I love how I wrote Q, his relationship with Jim and Bond and Sherlock, and the odd little Q/Mycroft ship that I’ve become strangely fond of considering how strange the ship is lol. Just writing a bunch of absolute geniuses BAMFs ruling the world and making things go the way they want to them. Like, Q and Jim make such an awesome team and I know it’s such a niche fic but I’m really proud of it. Sucks that a majority of the ideas dried up lol, because I’m very pleased with what I created.

+1: Honorable mention! Breathe with Confidence. First time I ever wrote anything in the Star Wars universe, and it’s absolutely something I’m gonna have to come back to. The AU has a lot of potential, and I know exactly how I’d address the future of Dick’s story. Plus some side fics of the family’s reactions to what happened, the confusion over Dick’s disappearance. And in this fic itself I liked writing Slade’s manipulations, Dick’s desires, the small amounts of background I included. Idk, I just think this world is super cool.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this long drawn out thing! Probably more info than you were looking for 😁😅

[thereinafter]

Chocolate Box 2021 exchange letter below.

Hi, dear chocolatier! Thanks so much for creating for me. For fic, I’m good with whatever rating you want to write and any tense/person/structure. I’m also requesting art for everything besides OW. I’ve copied my signup below with a DNW list for each fandom, and those are followed by my general art and fic likes lists.

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Dragon Age: (fic, art) Aveline Vallen/Cassandra Pentaghast (Dragon Age) Aveline Vallen/Female Hawke (Dragon Age) Cassandra Pentaghast/Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age) Cassandra Pentaghast/Leliana (Dragon Age) Cassandra Pentaghast & Myrna (Dragon Age) Dagna/Sera (Dragon Age) Isabela/Leliana (Dragon Age) Josephine Montilyet/Leliana (Dragon Age) Leliana/Morrigan (Dragon Age)

For all the / ships I requested, I would be very happy with anything inspired by the likes lists below. Cassandra/Leliana, Josephine/Leliana, Leliana/Morrigan: I’m forever interested in all their history we don’t see as well as how they might interact when the Inquisitor or Warden isn’t around. Cassandra/Inquisitor, Aveline/Hawke: I’m good with any variant of female player character and will always love flirting and tension/confusion happily resolved, or facing things together, or just cute/romantic moments. Aveline/Cassandra, Dagna/Sera, Leliana/Isabela: show me how they might meet for the first or second or third time and spark something?

For Cassandra & Myrna (of the Mourn Watch): “Down Among the Dead Men” was my favorite Tevinter Nights story and I’m fascinated with Nevarra and the Grand Necropolis as described there. Have these two met before in the past? Do they have to work together on something for the Inquisition or post-DAI? Since I read TN I’ve wanted a fic where they interact (and preferably get along eventually).

I would also love art of any of these pairings! See general art likes list below.

DNW: setting AUs (except for art), background male player characters, pregnancy, non-canon major character death, unhappy endings, daddy/mommy kink, noncon

——

Crossover: (fic, art) Cassandra Pentaghast (Dragon Age)/Kassandra (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey)

I still feel like this should happen. Magic or basically magical AC tech or in recurring dreams or however you want to handwave transportation between universes, I would just like to see them in the same place and maybe breaking some things together. (alternatively: I did art of them arm-wrestling one time and if someone wants to write me that fic I would love it.)

Also more art! Fighting back to back? Kassandra flirting with Cassandra? Wearing clothes from each other’s world? A Greek-vase-style pastiche?

See general fic and art likes below if you want more ideas.

DNW: AUs other than the canon settings, pregnancy, non-canon major character death, unhappy endings, daddy/mommy kink, noncon

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Emelan - Tamora Pierce: (fic, art) Dedicate Lark/Dedicate Rosethorn

I love the four kids, but I love Lark and Rosethorn the most. (Note: I’ve only read up to Shatterglass as of now, but I don’t mind references to later books if you want to set something later.)

A few fic ideas, feel free to mix up or use anything else from my general likes list: - An adventure by themselves without their students? Or an attempted romantic outing that turns into one? - Writing to each other when one is away? (Rosethorn travels a lot; has Lark ever gone somewhere and left her to manage Discipline?) - Observing traditions and the turn of the year at Winding Circle, from their POVs? - Ways they might use their magic together or experimenting with that?

I would also love any art you want to do of them: see the general art likes below.

DNW: setting AUs (except for art), pregnancy, non-canon major character death, unhappy endings, daddy/mommy kink, noncon

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The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon: (fic, art) Sabran Berethnet/Eadaz du Zāla uq-Nāra (The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon)

Reusing some of my Yuletide fic prompts, feel free to mix these or use things from my likes list: - A missing scene from when their relationship was secret, before Ead left the first time? - Sabran’s experience of one of the times Ead was hurt and recovered? - I’m always here for long-distance pining and letter-writing. - Post-canon reunions, whether it’s Ead visiting Inys, or Sabran finding ways to meet her elsewhere, or Sabran carrying out her plan to abdicate. I would love exploration of the other courts and lands in the book, especially Yscalin rebuilding from the draconic takeover, and the Priory. - I’m still curious about whether it’s possible for Sabran to learn either type of magic and whether she would explore that, and whether there might be other trees.

I would love art as well! Any canon scene illustrated (the rose under Sabran’s pillow? the bath? the candle dance scene?), or just any art of them you want to do. General art likes below.

DNW: setting AUs (except for art), non-canon pregnancy, non-canon major character death, daddy/mommy kink, noncon

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Original Work: (fic) Female Adventurer in Need of a Challenge/Lady Stuck in Tower of Ridiculous Traps (Original Work) Female Inventor of Ridiculous Traps/Female Master Thief (Original Work) Female Avant-Garde Artist/Scandalous Demimonde Actress (Original Work) Female Palace Cook/Female Royal Taster (Original Work) Female Paladin/Incarnation of Her Goddess (Original Work) Female Knight on Noble Quest/Witch Who's Far Too Distracting (Original Work) Brave but Stubborn Female Knight/Famous Female Bard Who Has a Crush on Her (Original Work) Dethroned and Dishonored Queen/Lone Loyal Female Knight (Original Work) Female Knight Who Loves Baths/Female Sorceress Who Loves Baths (Original Work) Female Knight Who Loves Baths/Female Water or Hotspring Spirit Who Loves Knights (Original Work) Wandering Lady Knight/Her Pining Female Friend She Writes Letters To (Original Work)

I nominated:

Female Adventurer in Need of a Challenge/Lady Stuck in Tower of Ridiculous Traps: I was imagining the kinds of elaborate traps you find in D&D manuals, but other types also work! I just like the idea of bonding through solving bizarre dangerous puzzles from opposite sides of a barrier.

Female Inventor of Ridiculous Traps/Female Master Thief: Professional rivals to lovers? Longtime couple who collaborate? (Bonus idea: prequel to the first prompt?)

Female Palace Cook/Female Royal Taster: I like the idea of one falling for or trying to seduce the other through food creations, under the noses of the royalty. Maybe the taster is also a bodyguard, or just another servant with a risky job?

Female Avant-Garde Artist/Scandalous Demimonde Actress: I’d be here for this whether you want to set it in a real historical period or a fantasy/SF world. Too many feelings and sublimating them through art? Modeling turning into more? A secret relationship, or a volatile on and off thing? I could also see this as a found documents or research notes type of story (or something like 5 times = 5 works in an exhibition?)

Female Paladin/Incarnation of Her Goddess: A dramatic h/c situation, or a reward for faithful service? Or maybe they have a comfortable old-married type of relationship? I could be into any of these.

Female Knight on Noble Quest/Witch Who's Far Too Distracting: Kind of the opposite of the above. They just keep running into each other and catch feelings? Or the witch wants to interfere and ends up helping? Or the quest is actually a bad idea and the witch saves her life?

I didn’t nominate but would delightedly read any take on these (all the lady knights edition): Brave but Stubborn Female Knight/Famous Female Bard Who Has a Crush on Her Dethroned and Dishonored Queen/Lone Loyal Female Knight Female Knight Who Loves Baths/Female Sorceress Who Loves Baths Female Knight Who Loves Baths/Female Water or Hotspring Spirit Who Loves Knights Wandering Lady Knight/Her Pining Female Friend She Writes Letters To

See the long list of general likes below if you want more ideas.

DNW: unhappy endings, death of requested characters, underage sex (<18), daddy/mommy kink, incest, noncon, a/b/o

——

General fanart likes:

I draw it myself, and I don’t really have style preferences for fanart; I’m interested in however you interpret my request in your own style!

- If one of my fic prompts or my likes below suggests something (non-explicit) you want to draw (whether one scene or sequential), I’d love to see that. I always like to see characters doing things they’re good at or looking formidable or happy. And for shippy art, I am always here for handholding, hand kisses, regular kisses, cuddling, and/or other romantic moments in contexts that make sense for the characters.

- Dressing the characters up or down is also fun. Fancy clothing or armor, things they might wear that we don’t see in canon, or illustrating what they do wear in canon if it’s a book. Partial undressing and dishevelment. Different historical AU looks (as an exception to my setting AUs DNW).

- I’d also be into a piece that’s more of a character study expressing something about them through formal visual elements and symbolism (as opposed to a narrative scene).

- If emulating other art styles is fun for you, I’d totally enjoy any kind of famous artist/historical style pastiche. Or, my love of in-universe documents and worldbuilding definitely extends to art, so something like an in-world manuscript page or notes/doodles/sketches by a character or an in-world portrait of them would make me quite happy.

——

General fic likes

If something’s not on this list, that doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t like it, but I enjoy these things pretty reliably. Take from it and mix these up as you wish.

for both gen and shipfic: Relationships among women, complex and powerful female characters, adult characters with some level of life experience Casefic if the characters do cases or missions: anything like another episode or chapter from the canon Lighthearted slice of life/ day-in-the-life stories when the canon focus is more on big dramatic events Epistolary or found-documents stories, and other unconventional story structures Time loop stories, Rashomon-style stories, and other sets of variations on a theme (including “five times” fic) Canon divergence AUs Worldbuilding/exploring places and times we don’t see much in canon; in-universe mythologies, stories, songs, plays, etc.; holidays, personal or cultural traditions, celebrations People or events from characters’ past resurfacing to complicate things Magical or scientific accidents or anomalies making weird things happen Heists, rescues/jailbreaks, investigating mysteries big or small Court plotting, dealing with complex etiquette/social rules, intrigue, spying, disguises and fake identities Road or sea or space trips, wilderness survival situations, exploring ruins/haunted places/caves/dungeons/etc. Sparring, duels, tournaments, competitions whether serious or not Making things for each other, whether it’s art or music or crafting or food or magic or whatever, and giving gifts Competence porn/demonstrating how good they are at what they do (but perhaps being awkward or lost in other contexts) Learning or teaching others new skills, or trying to Temporarily caring for animals or babies/children when they’re not used to it

for shipfic (pre-relationship, get-together, and established-relationship stories are all interesting to me if I like the ship) Everything above plus: Longtime friends, partners in arms or work or crime, old friends or former lovers meeting again, old enemies who have to admit they like each other, rivals who respect each other … to lovers Long-term established relationships where they know each other better than anyone Cute/playful moments, escalating flirtations whether awkward or skillful, good-natured teasing, surprising each other, discovering new things about each other, trying to impress each other, distracting each other consciously or not Giddy crushes, pining that’s eventually happily resolved, angst with happy endings Having a lot of feelings and not knowing what to do with them, repression, extended UST, slow burn, emotional romantic revelations Hurt/comfort, fighting beside each other, disproportionate reactions to the other being hurt or possibly hurt, facing external threats together, rescuing each other, tending each other Loyalty and devotion, us against the world, bodyguarding, protectiveness, love conflicting with other loyalties, noble self-denial and sacrifice, courtly love Being inspired by the other to create, or achieving things for the other’s sake or in their service, whether secretly or openly Forced-intimacy-by-circumstance tropes like only-one-bed, huddling for warmth, fake dating, marriage of convenience, handcuffed together, dreamsharing/psychic bonds Ascetic/hedonist or repressed/libertine or inexperienced/more experienced dynamics “The grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one,” or prickly/stoic/intimidating/jaded characters softening for a particular person, or allowing themselves to have fun with them Secret relationships as a source of angst and/or for the excitement of sneaking around (though I prefer infidelity not be the reason, unless it’s a forced/political marriage situation) Dancing, whether it’s formal dancing with sexual tension or meaningful romantic dancing or getting uninhibited on a dance floor Meaningful handholding Language of flowers/fans/other symbolic communication and private codes Bathing/dressing/doing hair/other physical caretaking, watching each other sleep, holding each other for comfort, having a hard time not touching Reading/storytelling/singing to each other Reunions after separation, or stealing moments away from everything to be together

for sex scenes: cuddling, kissing, laughing, tasting, eroticized hands and voices, clothed/semi-clothed sex, complicated undressing, talking whether emotional or joking or dirty, asking for things, curiosity/discovery, playfulness/inventiveness, eagerness/desperation, being overwhelmed by feelings, having to keep silent or hold still, interruptions and delayed gratification and intentional drawing things out, body worship, sex against walls, informal mild kink (e.g., tying up, holding down, blindfolding, taking direction, honor bondage, scratching/marking, tearing clothes, mutual roughness), sexy letter writing, one fantasizing about the other, decadence and sensory/sensual details, voyeurism/exhibitionism if it’s IC, writing/painting on skin, sex pollen, magical/ritual/magic-enhanced sex

[dyke-fruit]

2, 13, 24, 26 🤠 and a question not on the list but ive always wanted to get into writing but i feel like no matter how much i “practice” i end up falling into the same tropes and patterns and mistakes and i never seem to improve... so in your opinion, is writing something you can work on till you’re a pro or do you need innate talent in order to be really successful?

yesss anon

2. what am i tired of seeing/what do i avoid?

men 😪 no i mean i think when your thing is known for something, drifting away from that can be not great. good ex: killing eve giving more time to side characters when its About villaneve. i try to make my things about Something and everything within it relates to that something.

13. what traits do i share with my ocs?

ooooooh! queerness, for one. but i have sooo many at this point, so i’ll sidestep this answer a bit. i’ve only recently felt comfortable examining my own trauma through writing, so my main in my lifeguards wip has the same traumas i do and is dealing with that in a way i never had the chance to. so exploring that has been very fun and interesting!

24. do i let the story evolve or do i plan?

i’m 100% a planner. i need everything to work before i start, and then know what the point of every piece is. that being said, i DO let things change if they need to. i’ve changed an entire idea halfway thru a draft just bc i figured out a better way to do it — and entirely rewriting a 60 page pilot in the last two weeks of school is fun! haha

26. how to improve as a writer?

i’m gonna merge this answer with your additional question — i think it’s genuinely hard to see your own improvement as a writer from your own eyes. i’ve been writing regularly for the past six years (that’s when i posted my first fanfic, disregarding failed attempts before that). i would like to think i view everything through a writer’s lens — i’m constantly hunting for story and thinking of new and cool ways to look at what i’m currently working on. my main piece of advice would be — keep writing.

i have the benefit of being in a very vigorous writing program for the past four years, but here’s what i’ve learned: once you get over that “i hate every word i’m putting down rn,” it gets LOADS easier. every word you write is one step closer to getting better. every attempt at a story, every attempt at a fanfic or whatever. you’re getting better constantly. imagining AUs? that’s thinking about story. thinking of random ocs? that’s writing. if you’re falling into the same tropes and patterns — challenge yourself to write a different trope you don’t use. the very fact that you can recognize what you’re doing means you can work on it. i genuinely believe everyone can be an expert or a pro at anything if they work hard. yes, there are people who are born with an innate talent to adapt to things, like with music or writing or art or sports. BUT that doesn’t mean people who aren’t are lesser. there are loads of pro sports players who have the PERFECT bodies for their sports, and loads who don’t. i SUCK at learning languages, but if i worked on language learning every single day for the rest of my life, there’s no way i’m NOT gonna learn the language.

it’s easy to say “don’t be hard on yourself,” but once you can get past it, it’s a dream. i’m in the same place i believe as you are with art. over shutdown, i’ve forced myself to draw and paint more, but with that comes extreme disappointment. i keep drawing heads the same (wrong) way. how do i learn? i look up tutorials, i try new things. you can do the same. try writing an AU you’ve never thought about, or in a different pov. (also if u wanna come off anon and discuss the exact problems you’re having, i am SO DOWN. i love talking about writing and helping others.) but the true answer for “how do i get better at art?” is to draw more. sometimes i really, really don’t want to. so i don’t. but ik and recognize that’s why i’m not getting better (and i am clowning myself).

[dyadsaber]

Part 6 of A New Reylo Reads TFA: In Which a Dyad In the Force Has One of the Neatest Looking Lightsaber Battles I’ve Ever Seen and I Finally Get to the End of This Novelization

Previous parts in my dyadsaber text posts tag. 

I came out of the theater the first time LOVING the Rey and Finn vs Kylo in the snow as Starkiller Base falls apart around them scene.  Unless I’m completely forgetting something, we’d never seen a red vs blue lightsaber fight in SNOW before, and I thought it was GORGEOUS. (I know Luke uses his on Hoth, but the Wampa doesn’t have one too, so it doesn’t count.) I just watched the whole sequence again on youtube, you know, for research reasons, and I still love it just as much as I did the first time. (Maybe more?) 

Anyway… here’s my rundown of that scene from the novel: 

First of all, I HAVE QUESTIONS about which side of the Force Rey is drawing on here. TLJ kind of touches on the fact that Rey doesn’t have the “OMG the dark side is ALWAYS EVIL” indoctrination that kids at the Jedi temple (and Luke) would have gotten, and the number of times she’s described as drawing on anger and fury here made sit up and pay attention.

When Rey’s about to shoot Kylo and he freezes her with the Force, we get this: 

“She strained against him, HER ANGER GIVING HER STRENGTH. But she couldn’t fire. He was struggling also, against her newly discovered ability” 

Sure, she’s not able to break free, but he’s been using the Dark Side for a touch longer than she has. Not saying she is for sure, here, but I think it’s one possible reading supported by the text. (Hi I teach English just in case I haven’t said that yet). Personally, I think she was. I also think BOTH of the “sides of the Force” are both amoral and necessary, and drawing on the Dark Side out of anger and desperation isn’t always a sure path to Sith-dom.  

Finn igniting Anakin’s lightsaber is still a moment that makes me love him… he’s ready to defend his knocked-against-a-tree friend with WHATEVER HE HAS, even if it’s a weapon he’s never used before and doesn’t quite understand, and that is sweet and good and loyal, and it endeared Finn to me A LOT.  I remember that when Finn turned it on and stood there in that blue glow in the theater, we ALL gasped.  I don’t remember if it had been in promo material or not, but seeing it on the big screen was… An Experience.

ANYWAY, after Finn does the awesome thing he does, Kylo has a line I’m really glad they cut. After the “That weapon is mine” exchange, we get…

Drawing himself up, a towering figure in the snow, Ren did not even bother to gesture. “I’m going to kill you for it.” 

I mean… he almost DOES (kill Finn, that is) but announcing it is a little too MWAHAHAHA villain for my taste, and I’m glad they let him speak with actions rather than words here in the film. 

So… one of the fun things about all of a sudden caring a WHOLE lot more about Kylo Ren is that I’ve gotten to fully appreciate how incredibly good Adam Driver is at the physicality of this character.  (And by that I mean “I’ve watched a lot of behind the scenes clips and stared at gifs a lot.) It’s just FUN to watch him fight, so this description from Finn’s PoV made me smile. 

The longer the contest continued, the stronger Ren seemed to become. It was as if he was enjoying the challenge. Feeding upon it.

Upon reflection, I know exactly why I love this. It reminded me SO HARD of Jaime Lannister, another pretty terrible (and just plain pretty) fictional character I would get in fights defending. I just like secretly morally conflicted dudes who swing swords, know how good they are, and are kind of assholes about it, ok? 

Give me ALL of the confident, arrogant, Kylo Ren fights.  (Fic recs always welcome. Like I said, I’m new here.) 

This next bit made me wonder about how the “fighting over an object with the Force” thing works. Because this is the FIRST time we see the dyad both try to summon that lightsaber at the same time: 

Ren extended an arm toward the device lying in the snow. It twitched and then began to vibrate as the Force called to it.

But… it doesn’t explode. And this made me wonder, “Why NOT? What was different?” 

Here’s what I’ve got. 

Maybe it went to Rey because she started trying to call it first. So even if he had more experience and wouldn’t have had to try as hard as she (probably) did since it was her first time, the Force… recognized her prior claim? Also I think what happens in TLJ is that the two of them “reach” for the lightsaber at the exact same moment, and so there IS no prior claim, and so they have to duke it out with raw strength, which goes about how you’d expect when they’re equals.  

That still doesn’t explain what happens with the ship in the desert in TRoS though…  Rey definitely reached for it first.  But also, unlike a lightsaber, the ship had ENGINES that were trying to work against her. That might be an explanation.  I wonder exactly what Kylo was trying to do there, anyway… help it break atmosphere like it was trying to do anyway, I’ve always assumed.  So if I’m right, that would make the scene make more sense, and it would mean the rules are: (I’m sure I’m proved wrong a million times in media I haven’t seen yet, but here we go)

A stationary object will usually go to the first Force user who calls it. 

A stationary object will go to the Force user who is “stronger” in the moment if they call it at the same time, (and in the absence of a clear winner, explode?).

A moving object that whose direction the Force user is trying to change will be more resistant and tends to negate #1. 

The confidence/willpower of a Force user (and size of an object only insofar as that affect confidence) is a variable that probably throws a wrench in all three of these. 

Dyads facing off probably screw with the normal course of things, too.

Thank you for coming to this episode of “I need my media to make sense and spend way too much time trying to make it do so.” 

And then… Kylo Ren sees Rey….

“It is you,” Ren murmured. His words unsettled her: Not for the first time, he seemed to know more about her than she did about herself.

He doesn’t say this in the movie. He doesn’t say anything when he sees her, I don’t think.  But when I read this… my heart stopped a little. 

This isn’t what you say to the random girl you met in the woods and who you think has the map to Uncle Luke, even if she is Force Sensitive as Hell.  

This is what you say to a girl you suddenly realize you’ve seen in that place between asleep and awake for most of your life, a girl that you’ve always been subconsciously aware of. This is what you say because you’re beginning to understand that the scavenger you brought on board and this girl you’re just now remembering clearly for the fist time are THE SAME PERSON and she is VERY connected to you.  

What I’m saying is… Ben has been aware of Rey for YEARS without realizing it, and this line FITS THAT THEORY. 

And then they fight. And it gets REALLY interesting. 

Expecting weakness, he encountered only strength. Her skill with the device was raw at best, but it was backed by a fury that was as new to his experience as it was unexpected.

Example #2 of Rey’s maybe-Dark-Side-Use.  The paragraph leading up to this talks about her being “consumed with rage,” and I can hear every (ok, almost every) Jedi master in history talking about how letting anger fuel your use of the Force is a no-no, so I don’t think I’m grasping at straws here. Poor Kylo. He didn’t stand a chance. Angry, “possibly using the Dark side without knowing it” Rey is unexpected and kinda hot, OK???

Flipping away from the Starkilling Snow Fight for a moment, there’s a line of Snoke’s that he does NOT get to say in the movie when he tells Hux to abandon ship and come to him with Kylo Ren. 

He added grimly, “It appears that he may have been right about the girl.”

I. Have. Questions. Did Snoke not BELIEVE Kylo when he flat out said she was a REALLY STRONG untrained Force User? Did he not know who Rey was (Palpatine’s granddaughter)? What does this tell us about Snoke’s independence from Palpatine? (Something I’m still not clear on.) The easiest answer is, “You’re thinking about this too much, Dyadsaber.  No one at DLF knew that Palpatine was going to come back yet when TFA was written, so no one worried about it.” 

BUT I NEED IT TO MAKE SENSE. SO, I’ve decided that Snoke didn’t understand how much of a pawn he was. He probably thought he was Palpatine’s heir or disciple or whatever Grandpa Palps convinced him he was.  Anyway, this would mean that Palpatine could give him a lot of autonomy and agency, especially when it came to corrupting Ben, while still keeping a close eye on Snoke through the Force so he could intervene when he had to. If anything in official material contradicts me, I’d love to know. 

And now for a bit that made me scream a Shakespeare line at my kindle. At one point, the narrator observes,  

What she lacked in mass, she made up for in ferocity.

This is basically a less poetic "Though she be but little, she is fierce," AND I LOVE IT. Someone who’s crafty needs to cross stitch this under Rey’s silhouette or something. 

More lines they probably cut for time, but are really telling.  When he’s got her backed up to that cliff: 

Ren held his lightsaber, poised to strike. “I could kill you right now. But there is another way.” Breathing hard, Rey looked up in disgust at the man looming above her. “You’re a monster.”

Again with the threatening to kill people.  Jeez, Kylo. WE KNOW. Seriously, though, I love this. It’s so HIM that he wants her to know he had the advantage and chose not to press it. It says a lot about how he wants to present himself and his intentions to her. As he does in the throne room later, he wants her to give her a choice, and for her to CHOOSE him. 

Also, I can feel TLJ Rey’s MURDEROUS SNAKE energy radiating off of that “you’re a monster” line. 

And instead of being DETERRED by her insult, he comes back with THIS… 

“No. You need a teacher.” He was beseeching and insistent all at once. “I can show you the ways of the Force!”

“Yeah, I know you just called me a monster, but wanna be my student instead?” The arrogance and presumption of this bit of novel-Kylo is SO VERY HIM. Also, “Beseeching but insistent” is so on brand for him when it comes to her.

And the last thing I marked from the fight was THIS bombshell that doesn’t quite come across as obviously (if at all) on screen. Rey has him on the ground, face bleeding, and…

Kill him, a voice inside her head said. It was amorphous, unidentifiable, raw. Pure vengeful emotion. So easy, she told herself. So quick. She recoiled from it. From the dark side.

I mean, if you read between the lines, Rey’s been drawing on the Dark Side without realizing it for a while now. It’s understandable.  She’s seething with pain and anger and a desire to avenge Han, but there’s a difference between using that anger to defend herself or try to just GET AWAY from Kylo, which one could argue is mostly what she’s been doing, and killing him when he’s bleeding on the ground.   

And she doesn’t do it.  TAKE THAT, TLJ LUKE (Note: I love TLJ Luke. I just also love yelling at him).  Rey has a CLASSIC opportunity to make a choice that would send her down a truly Dark Side path - striking down an unarmed enemy in anger - AND SHE DOESN’T DO IT. She RECOILS. (And then Starkiller takes the choice away from both of them by literally crumbling away and leaving a chasm between them.  If I believed the Force was sentient, this would be a moment where it was saying, “You children are not ready to play nice, and I don’t want to kill each other, so you I’m going to separate you.”) 

And that’s that. The next time they see each other, they’re Forcetiming, and I cannot WAIT to read how that goes in the TLJ novel. 

Some last thoughts: 

Because it would have been hilarious, I’m sad we didn’t the fact that Hux...

followed the troopers carrying Ren into the nearby shuttle.

CARRYING. REN. We were robbed of two (four?) poor storm troopers trying to carry gangly, bleeding, passed out Kylo. I am OFFENDED.

Right before Rey leaves for Ahch-to, she and Leia have THIS fascinating exchange…

“I’m proud of what you’re about to do,” she told the girl. 

Rey replied in all seriousness. “But you’re also afraid. In sending me away, you’re—reminded.” 

Leia straightened. “You won’t share the fate of our son.” 

“I know what we’re doing is right. This is how it has to be. This is how it should be.”

I REALLY wish they’d left this in.  I like that it makes explicit that this is the second time Leia has sent a Force user she cares about to Luke, and that choice WEIGHS on her.  (And this shows how much she already cares about Rey, too… MY HEART.) 

The fact that Rey is perceptive enough to PICK UP ON Leia’s concern, and that Leia reassures BOTH OF THEM that what Ben won’t happen to Rey just makes me love both of these characters so much. Also, I think Leia’s worry and Rey’s conviction sets up the conflict Rey has within herself and her own journey with coming to understand balance in TLJ nicely. She’s just… so confident and cheerful in that last line, and I know what’s coming, and it hurts so good. 

And finally, the last line of this book made me laugh out loud. She’s standing in front of Luke, holding out the lightsaber, and....

She wondered what would happen next.

Luke's gonna yeet that lightsaber.  That’s what.

If you read all of these, thank you.  I’d love to know what you think. I never meant for this to get so long, but I’m wordy and newly shippy, so I shouldn’t have been surprised.  Stay tuned for hopefully shorter posts as I dive into Last Jedi in a day or two.

[evakuality]

Let’s talk about David (and Matteo, but mainly David)

A long time ago in a fandom not so far away I used to do this sort of thing all the time.  But then I stopped for various reasons and didn’t think I’d start again.  And yet here I am: I’ve fallen deeply in love with yet another fictional character and I want to talk about him.  About what I see makes him tick, the things that work well for him with his chosen partner, what is less great, and about why that makes him such an interesting and unique character despite having his roots in another character from that same not-so-far-away fandom.  None of this is new, and I synthesized most of it from what other people have said, but I am nothing if not verbose and chatty when I have a new love.

So.  David.  Aka Beanie Boy, aka the new light of my life.  That sounds really over the top, doesn’t it?  Like he’s this perfect being who can do no wrong.  And to be honest I think the show is trying to push that a little in some ways.  Because Matteo, who is our PoV for this season, is so deeply enamored of him that he can’t really admit there are flaws.  But if we dig a little deeper I think we can see a lot of nuance in this character already, and if it goes like the other versions I expect we’ll see more as we go along.  So.  Who is David and what do we know about him?

First, he really is the perfect foil for Matteo.  Matteo is (a lot of the time anyway) very closed off and reticent, very hesitant to do anything.  He calls himself lazy but I’m not sure that’s exactly what’s going on.  He is very much going through the motions and refusing to risk anything at all.  It’s all, as many other people have pointed out, ‘what do you want me to do because that’s what I’ll do’ as opposed to asking himself what he wants to do.  And the thing about David is that he sees that because he’s very observant.  I would have said he was observant where Matteo is concerned but I actually think he sees a lot of other things as well.  The fact that he could tell at a glance how to get into the abandoned building with the pool suggests he’s used to noticing details.  And so he notices Matteo’s details, in a way that I don’t think a lot of other people do.  So what makes him such a good foil is how he approaches that.  Many people might, when faced with someone like Matteo, force them to ‘do stuff’ and be active and energetic.  David doesn’t, despite being a very athletic, energetic person himself.  He does what he does very quietly.  He goes ahead (a lot; so many times he’s the one out the front either physically or metaphorically) then turns and waits for Matteo.  There’s no push, no ‘you have to do this’ but there is a challenge.  He pauses a lot and lets Matteo make his choices but in a way that doesn’t suggest that he expects Matteo to do it too.  More that he’s enjoying the thing and wants to share it with Matteo.  Dares him to take a chance but so gently that there’s no real pressure and when he waits it’s very patiently.  There’s a sense that he’s happy just being there and will stand there forever and not get tired.

Matteo isn’t all that conversational either, is so much in his head that he doesn’t seem to want or need to talk all that much.  It seems like it’s probably that there’s too much that’s shitty for him that he just can’t bring himself to let anything out in case it all comes back to bite him.  So David’s calm helps Matteo here too.  Again, by his nature he’s quiet and not pushy and Matteo seems to respond to that.  He’s willing to be open and vulnerable (sharing his drawings etc) and so that allows Matteo to also be open.  David’s very non judgemental style gives Matteo the confidence to be a little more comfortable sharing his more fearful or anxious thoughts.  His humor fits with Matteo’s as well.  The suggestion that he had to go on the run after killing someone (and potentially his parents too) is quite dark and it allows Matteo to feel like his darker impulses, his fears and worries, aren’t going to be a problem.  These two aren’t very alike in many ways but in this respect they have a lot in common.  Their humor is offbeat and a little silly.  They like to push and shove each other, they aren’t all about being ‘nice’ (think the fingers they pull, and ‘fuck you’ and the ‘it’s called collage’ etc) -- and all of that makes Matteo feel comfortable because he’s fine as his messy, not all that together self.  He’s accepted and seen.  And that again goes back to David and the way he notices things and how careful he is with that knowledge once he has it.

So, those are the reasons why David is such a good partner for Matteo.  Well, those and the fact that Matteo clearly thinks he’s very attractive which is also always a good thing in your partner.  There is so much more to him too, of course.  He’s artistic and sensitive, but he’s also very athletic and enjoys being sporty.  He’s competitive and daring in a lot of ways and he uses all of those things to allow him to impress and get closer to Matteo.  These are all great things, and he really does work well with Matteo both as a friend and as a partner.

But the thing is that there are layers to David and while he genuinely is a great partner for Matteo, there are some problems that are obviously starting to get in the way of their perfect happiness.  The biggest of those is how very closed David is with his own thoughts and fears.  While he has been open about his art and been so vulnerable with it, he doesn’t really let anything else out.  I can’t quite see David ever saying things are going to shit, or at least not yet.  He’s too closed for that.  Now we can speculate forever about why he’s so closed but the fact remains that David is very careful with the sorts of things he says.  He’s happy to be silly and dumb with Matteo and open up that way, letting himself look like an idiot if he needs to.  He’ll tease and laugh but he won’t really let Matteo in to his deepest worries.  Unlike Matteo, at this point I can’t see David allowing his tears to show in a moment of vulnerability.  That’s obviously symbolized when he says he’d go somewhere alone in a natural catastrophe.  He’s so scared to let people in that he’ll run away, literally and figuratively, even from someone he really likes.  As has been pointed out before, it’s really telling that he thinks Matteo lives alone.  Matteo lives with other people, but David is so wary and closed from his fellow people that to him if it’s not family it’s alone.

The other thing people have speculated about is that he’s been quite distant a lot.  Matteo has reached out (quite uncharacteristically in a lot of ways) and David often holds back.  The very calm that is so peaceful and good for Matteo is also a problem here.  David’s very non-pushy and non-confrontational personality means that he’s still opaque.  To us an an audience, obviously, but also to Matteo.  We can learn a lot from the way he is: he exudes confidence a lot of the time (particularly on display when he takes Matteo to the abandoned building for kissing purposes), but he also shows a wary, nervous side.  This is endearing (and we can see how endeared Matteo is by it), but it does make him reticent, though in a different way to Matteo.  David, as he says himself, is happy alone, happy in his own company.  Because of this, David retreats if things get too much.  He leaves Matteo’s home in episode 2, he doesn’t text back etc.  Because we know where this is probably going in terms of story moments, I think we can accept that for David to pull back this week is perfectly in character, whatever the reason why he might do that.  

The thing is that while David genuinely is the perfect partner for Matteo (and vice versa, and I think we’ll keep seeing that as we go on) he’s got a lot of his own growing to do before they are going to be able to be happy together.  I have no idea what the big issue will be between them, but I am fairly sure that both of them have to learn some stuff before they can really revel in what they can have together.  It’s not just Matteo who has issues here, and I’m really excited to see where this takes David as well.  The interesting thing here is that he has a lot of similar traits to Even (avoidant, closed about parts of himself, fun and enjoys joking and being silly etc) and yet the end result is a very different character with very different strengths and weaknesses.