#AHHHHH I AM SO PROUD OF THIS ONE EEEEEEE

[kyurochurro]

Frankie Stein!! ⚡ Part 1 of 3 for my 2023 Howl-o'ween Monster High Series!! 🎃 >:)

(Draculaura and Clawdeen are next!! Stay tuned for them, I'll link them on this post later on when they're done!)

[dreamsarelikedragonflies]

Which of your fics...

(eeeeeee!) I was tagged by @nikibogwater for this one, and I’m super grateful for that, because boy oh boy do I have things to say. Without further ado...

...did you think would get a bigger reaction/audience than it got: 

Well, I have to say I thought Uneven Days would be getting a lot of attention, seeing as, yknow, Douxie dying at the end of Wizards would have been one hell of a turn. But, the more I think about that one, the more I realize it’s really pretty dark and downright painful to read even for me, so I can understand why it wasn’t bigger. At the same time, I still regard it as one of my better heavy-angst pieces because of how I was able to make it concise but impactful.

...is your funniest: 

Hmm! I think that I tend to keep a balance of humor, fluff, and angst in my writing (and personally, I think that’s what makes it so appealing to me to keep writing) but Witch Hazel was by far one of the more fluffy and just all around funnier ones. I mean, really, a stinky moppet!Douxie who is overjoyed to be running simple errands for his master, sassy Zoe who doesn’t know what to think of this tall, cute, albeit dorky guy, immediately followed up by a time skip to the future where Zoe is soft about sweet Douxie and the roles are sort of reversed. It’s just so stinking cute (pun fully intended.)

...is your darkest/angstiest: 

Well, previously mentioned Uneven Days probably has to take the cake on that one, simply because of how dark it is. Originally, Fundamental Experiences was going to be a lot heavier. I had actually considered having him accidentally kill his father, and had touched on going more in-depth on the abuse suffered. But...I have an idea to incorporate a quite uncomfortable moment where he sees his father for the last time into that series somewhere...

...is your absolute favorite: 

Why on Earth would you make me choose?!?!? Not to mention, my perception of good or not is heavily influenced by reactions and comments, lol. If I had to pin down ONE, I would maybe say that at the moment, chapter 8, “Did You Know” of Saudade is my favorite. In fact, that whole work is my baby. I really enjoyed making them hurt over the course of 25k words, and then of course, writing out my own pining and yearning into these characters I’ve grown to love so much, well, that was cathartic. I think it’s what finally pushed me over the edge of getting over a semi-recent breakup and a heartache for a crush that was never going to go anywhere(the crush in question once sang me all eight and a half minutes of American Pie by Don McLean at work and my obsession with McLean songs took off from there). I self-project an unhealthy amount, but it leaves my writing astonishingly real.

...is your least favorite: 

Yeesh. Well, I wrote Not Just Happenstance for a “The Dragon Prince” AU thing in a contest-type of thing that was going for a while, and it just felt so rushed and cringey. And this work is what led me to realize I really don’t like writing heavily canon-divergent AUs where just about everything is changed. AUs in general are not my cup of tea, but recently I’ve found a few I really vibe with, but I’m only going to write ones with minor changes. I’m down with reading a few here and there, however.

...was the easiest to write:

Hmm. I think mostly because of it’s simplicity and short-and-sweet style, A Friendship of A Thousand Lifetimes. It was one of my earlier pieces posted, back when I thought I’d get away with uploading under 1k pieces to that series. It came pretty naturally to me, and it was actually a little inspired by HTTYD in the trap aspect.

...was the hardest to write: 

There’s a couple of answers to this question. Emotionally speaking, Uneven Days killed me. I had to take crying breaks to write it. And when I finished it, I wasn’t even relieved, I just felt...numb. But logistically speaking, I’ve done wayyyyy too much research on dancing in the 12th century for one of my WIP Zouxie week fics, lol, for it to only be a super minor aspect. I did a lot of research on that one for acceptable words to use, what clothing would have looked like, and so on, and then I only used a tiny bit of that info in the work. I really struggled to pair it own, too, and it’s almost deserving of it’s own mini-series. If you want the sequel to it, you’ll have to comment requesting it when it goes up Nov. 2nd!

...has your favorite line/exchange/paragraph (share it):

I have a couple answers to this one. In regards to fluff:

“Well,” he starts, running a thumb down her cheek and to her jaw. “Twice in nine hundred years is nothing. I was thinking I’d like to make up for some lost time.”

“I wouldn’t mind that at all,” Zoe answers. She meets his lips with a grin.

I mean, that one is just so freaking flirty and adorable, it makes me feel all AHHHHH on the inside. If not for knowing it’s better unwritten (and that I just,,, I mean,, I would write a scene with them making out but I just don’t know if I should yknow. if you think I should, well, by all means leave a comment here and consider it done) I would have delved into that more lol. I am soft for that sort of super sappy flirting. Saudade, Chapter 8.

In terms of humor? I LOVED writing that email interaction/skype call into my Saudade chapters. I just thought it was so freaking funny and fun to write, not to mention there’s so many lines that are gold in there, I can’t just pick one.

But in regards to the angst and pain??

Archibald feels numb and senseless to even the warmth of the sun on his fur. It doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing does. Everything has been taken away from him. Archie feels like a celestial body that had orbited a star all it’s life, only to have it suddenly wrenched away from him. He’s now purposeless. Directionless. The gravity is gone and there is nothing to keep him securely in place. 

This one is from Uneven Days again, and whoooo boy does it hurt. I think I managed to capture Archie’s own perception of himself in regards to Douxie. Without Doux, Archie doesn’t know who he is anymore. And that in itself is a powerful thing.

...have you re-read the most:

I’m not sure. Just for perspective, I reread my fics nearly every time someone comments so I can get a feeling for it again, lol. Though, I have only reread Uneven Days twice. Once to edit, and once after posting and that is all. But I think I’ve reread chap 8 of Saudade over two dozen times. I worked so hard to get that one just right. It wasn’t difficult, it was just that I seriously wanted it to be perfect.

...would you recommend to someone reading your work for the first time: 

Start with Saudade! It will always be the best place to start, and actually, if you read along with my series updates, they weave together quite well. If you really wanted, you could read A Wizard’s Beginnings first simply because of the chronological order, but it’s not necessary.

...are you most proud of: 

Saudade will always be my magnum opus of fics that I’ve written for ToA. It has everything in it and more. But really? A Sinking Memory is by far the best piece I’ve written for ToA. If you haven’t already, please go read this. There is so much I could go into detail about the ways I tied that whole work together. And in fact, I plan to make a post talking about that because so help me Powers that Be, I am not letting it go under-appreciated. (because holy shit the symbolism and raw fucking emotion in there is WILD)

Tagging(with no pressure, but I’d love to hear from you!): @alovesongshewrote, @constantconfusion14, @feather-dancer and @sammyheroes. Thanks so much for the tag again, much love!!!