#Thane is goals tbh

[sothynda]

@thevvolf:

     “Ah, shit.” Starring is rude and he knows it. The Nephalem quickly shakes his head and lightly bows. “Sorry, I… I’m…” He simply had no words. Geli had seen a lot of things, but… An alien? “I… don’t know what a… Drell… is.”

a bow. more polite than most of the humans the assassin ever dealt with.  ❛  i am a drell.  ❜  a simplistic answer, direct, with the only purpose of clarifying the confusion within the white-haired man.  ❛  there’s no need to apologize, it is expected to be curious when met with something you have never seen.  ❜

[innepttia]

End of 2021 writing meme

Honestly I am so excited to be tagged in this even if it’s 2022 now. Thank you @zet-sway for tagging me!! Love doing these things

WROTE: I published 94,413 words on AO3. Too lazy to figure out anything else but that number sounds absolutely bonkers to me anyways 🥴

NEW THINGS I TRIED: gosh dang AUs and turian smut

I tucked tail and ran away from both of those in the end. 

Unfortunately I’ve turned back to AUs (probably will be scared away again lmao) and I don’t think I can ever go back to trying to write turian smut. 

But I do enjoy reading it and writing little turian kisses 🥺

FIC I SPENT THE MOST TIME ON: Departed. My one sided pining legion/Shep fic (with established Shakarian). It’s not even close to being done and it’s a slow WIP but I’m very invested. I have this whole idea that a part of Legion’s code is uploaded as a ships AI so he can only watch Shep endanger herself constantly. He’s trying to save her and she's out here just being Shep. I had this scene stuck in my head,

She runs; not away, but towards danger. I have no hands to stop her, no way to save her, still she runs towards the breach. Her hair whipping her face, her feet sliding towards the empty void of space. I cannot save her.

Anyways, I wanted to write an entire fic around that. Coming up with OCs and a murder mystery plot in space is taking up a lot of my brain space. 

FIC I SPENT THE LEAST TIME ON: casual sabotage. I wanted to do something silly, hence the galactic fair, and then it spiraled down into Thane pulling out the big guns and calling Shep a “good girl” and bruh. If that ain’t just the hottest thing ever then idk what is.

Wrote it in one sitting one afternoon. Most research I had to do was to confirm that deep fried beer was, indeed, a thing.

FAVORITE THING I WROTE: Empty Crown, oneshot (shrios) AND As It Was, unfinished, in progress (Samara/Nihlus)

Sorry I have two favorite things 🥴

FAVORITE THING I READ: golden years by @spookyvalentine

You want a Kasumi fic? Here’s a Kasumi fic and it’s PERFECTION.

and 

Authorized Communications by @zet-sway

Zet constantly feeds my need for shrios. And Thane does such good dirty talk. 

This has changed from the last fic meme I did but I can’t help it! I am constantly discovering amazing fics and I am very impressionable. and tbh I just love all my friend’s work so much I’ll just die.

(I read The Primarch’s Advisor by @hanarinhightown this year but I also want to mention it because I loved it. Adrien Victus/Castis Vakarian)

WRITING GOALS FOR NEXT YEAR: 

Start and finish my film noir shrios fic 🥲 I’ve written a couple scenes but I want to get it outlined to make it official.

Finish my Nihlus/Samara fic.

Finish my Legion fic.

Keeping it nice and easy with those goals because I am honestly so bad with goals 😭

I'm tagging: @spookyvalentine @hanarinhightown @skittidyne @bluerose5 and anyone else that wants to! 😍

No pressure, friends!! 

[visionmarred-archive]

mass effect for the fandom thing?

Thank you, Meredith!

The first character I first fell in love with: Ashley! Imagine my disappointment when F!Shepard couldn’t romance her. I fell hard.The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Saren. I didn’t think much of him at first, aside from “bad guy to stop”, but a few replays got me thinking about him. He’s an intriguing villain and I like the cat and mouse.The character everyone else loves that I don’t: Garrus and Liara tbh. If they’re the most popular character in a BioWare game, odds are good that I’m burnt out on them and those two are no exception.The character I love that everyone else hates: Ashley and Miranda. If I had a dollar for every time I had to read hate about them, I would still be bitter but at least I’d be rich.The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Garrus and Liara for the same “I’m burnt out of seeing the same favorites everywhere” reasons. And I could rant about my issues w their writing, but that’s another post tbh.The character I would totally smooch: Ashley and Miranda. :^D Girlfriend goals tbh, maybe it’s a good thing F!Shep can’t romance them. I would be torn every single time and BioWare doesn’t give you polyamory options. Also if we’re being honest, Javik. Jack.The character I’d want to be like: Ashley (I’m repeating myself a lot here) sugddhsgs. Tough as nails, changes for the better, doesn’t compromise her principles and will tell you why she disagrees with you.The character I’d slap: TIM deserves a lot of slaps for all the nonsense he does. Kai Leng too.A pairing that I love: Shepard/Ashley, Shepard/Miranda, Shepard/Thane, Shepard/Javik, Shepard/Cortez, Cortez/James, Shepard/James in a world where the Citadel DLC hook-up wasn’t gross. Miranda/Ashley intrigues me tbh?A pairing that I despise: Shepard/Garrus and Shepard/Liara, surprise surprise. Maybe “despise” is a strong word, I’m just disappointed w the writing. Joker/EDI too; I love both of them separately, but Joker’s comments on EDI after she gets the robot body skeeve me out.

[stitchcasual]

2018 Writing Review (#2)

I was tagged by the wonderful @barbex​ and @hollyand-writes​ for this more formatted writing review than the one I did before December was over (found here), so here goes!

Total number of completed stories:

17: 2 published to AO3 and 15 to tumblr

Of the things I worked on in 2018, two are still in progress: Albatross and Ferelden Fury

Total word count:

39,249 words published to AO3

Didn’t count words published to tumblr

Fandoms written in:

Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Overwatch, Critical Role, Fallout: New Vegas

Looking back, did you expect to write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?

I don't know how much I expected to write this year, but I'm pretty sure I thought I'd do more than I ended up doing. I'm still proud of what I accomplished though.

What’s your own favourite story of the year?

tbh...Albatross. It’s the thing I keep coming back to, it’s constantly surprising and evolving, and I love everything about writing it.

Did you take any writing risks this year?

I wrote in a fandom I never had before! 2018 was the first year I wrote for Critical Role, which was very exciting and nerve wracking, especially since I wrote that fic within the first few episodes of the new campaign starting. Things have….definitely… changed... within the campaign since then.

Do you have any fanfic or profit goals for the new year?

I’d like to finish Albatross. It will be 3 this year and I think that’s a good time to finally wrap everything up and not have this giant thing looming over me anymore. (Not that it’s really Looming, per se, but having a WIP that big...does things to a person, y’know?)

I’d also like to finish up Ferelden Fury. You know what? Let’s make 2019 the year of finishing all these damn WIPs (and then starting a new one, because I have several ideas for new longfics, so help me).

Best story of the year?

Honestly, I’m so enamored of “And So It Goes,” the Albatross-adjacent fic I wrote for foxnonny after they gave me the idea for the scene set to Billy Joel’s song of the same name. I’m very proud of what I did with it.

Most popular story of the year?

The Fenhawke smut? The Fenhawke smut. Only by a few notes though! Next popular is the Fenhawke fluff, “Is that my shirt?” Both written for @xiz0r...I’m seeing a pattern here...

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

The Whumptober prompt for “bloody hands” that had my Hawke interacting with Merrill. I love it and I love them mostly because their relationship is a beautiful contradiction: she’s a blood mage he’s hellbent on protecting when his first reaction with mages is to either lock them up or kill them. He helps her, in some small ways, always hoping that if he’s there, if he guides her, that he’ll be able to mitigate any damage she might cause.

Most fun story to write:

Ferelden Fury, probably. That was/is probably one of the most self-indulgent fics I worked on last year and I had so much fun writing it. It's on my list of things to get back to as soon as I can (after the other two giveaway fics and the next chapter of Albatross), maybe this month or next.

Story with the single sexiest moment:

That would be the fic ask I wrote for xiz0r right after the ridiculous nsfw ban was announced. It is one entire sexy moment, and I didn’t otherwise really write any sexy stuff, though Albatross had a few very sweet moments but they all did the fade to black, iirc.

Most sweet story:

Tied between some Fenhawke fluff and “Brighter,” the Thane/Shep Mass Effect fic I wrote at the beginning of the year.

“Holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you!” story:

Eh, I don’t tend to write much of that. The thing that would be closest is the Whumptober “can you feel this?”/”stabbed” prompt fill, but I don’t call that “wrong” and especially not for me since that sort of thing is my fuckin jam, y’all.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:

The Whumptober “electrocution” prompt really helped me get into Mirallen’s head some more, as he’s one of my OCs I’ve not written much for. It feels like cheating to say this, but continuing on Albatross teaches me so much about Hawke and Fenris (and everyone else) as I keep breaking canon to suit my whims I gotta have a (hopefully) decent grasp of the character at a base level.

Most unintentionally telling story:

Uuh, not sure I wrote anything like that this year? Unless you wanna consider Ferelden Fury as telling everyone what a fucking Nerd I am because I definitely watched that movie at least twice while writing the 7 parts that are up.

Hardest story to write:

As always and ever, Albatross remains the most difficult to write, both due to story content and to the fact that the more I write, the more I have to remember and keep straight and tie off in the end. My notebook is a mess. It's still incredibly rewarding to write, and I'm looking forward to finishing it up.

Biggest disappointment:

There were a few fics I’d hoped would maybe get more love, like the Hawke & Merrill one I mentioned before, but that’s the way things happen. Not a ton of people are going to be interested in reading about my very particular Hawke’s interactions with people, and I’m learning to be OK with that. I’m interested, and that’s really what matters at the end of the day.

Biggest surprise:

My Critical Role fic, “The Province of Marks,” got….So Many Notes in such a short time of me posting it, which I guess is what happens when you post content for a pair people are interested in and the fandom is very poppin’. So that was not what I’m used to with the DA/ME fandom, who seem to be a little more sedate on their commenting/kudosing.

Tagging:

At this point? Anyone who wants to do this! I find these helpful so if you do too, feel free to do this and tag me! If you don’t, no sweat ^_^

[carbonargonlithium]

The short version of this is: recognizing your weaknesses, and tackling them, is arguably more important than recognizing your strengths.

As a side note: before you decide to downsize from two computers to one (from one for work/travel and one for home, down to one for work/travel that you actually mostly leave at work) be REALLY sure that you’re not gonna decide randomly at 9pm to type a blog post and realize you only have your iPad, which does not (currently) have a real keyboard. Guess I know what I want for Christmas (but mom, or grandma, or Joe (lol he never reads my blog posts), if you’re reading this, make sure it’s a nice quality one, and it compatible with the apple iPad pro 2017 model, 10.7in. I’ll try and put a few on my amazon wishlist.)

But, luckily, I don’t live alone! My love, who is currently doing an online class using his desktop, let me use his Surface, which does have a really nice keyboard. So alas, here we are, at 9pm on a Tuesday, writing a blog post.

So, really, the words I wrote (in my “journal” aka my notability document for this week) that really inspired me to write this hopefully eventually motivational post were; “You’re not actually stupid.” And just to summarize where that came from real quick: I’m a scientist, a physical chemist, who has to deal with LOTS of quantum chemistry and quantum mechanics, and I’m not…..a math person. I’m CAPABLE of it, don’t get me wrong, but it takes me a long time, and a lot of effort and working through it six ways before I understand it. English (if you believe it) and history? Had those in the bag. Chemistry? Literal blow off class in high school, loved it in college. Biology? Ehh okay that one was just….not my friend. Math? Well, lets just say that what Florida State passes off as a math minor does NOT cut it for my line of work. And that’s okay. I gotta learn it, but I also gotta go through some self doubt to get there. And that’s okay.

[if you’re like...real real sensitive to death, this paragraph may feel realllllllllly harsh and cold, but it’s just how i’ve been coping and also, how I feel like my grandpa would want me to be coping tbh, carry on] Okay now, I’m gonna blame my Grandpa Thane for like a solid half of why Quantum is probably so hard for me. And that’s okay, I can do that, he won’t mind. He’d laugh and tell me “okay yeah sure Carli”. God I miss that laugh. Anyway. He went ahead and died right in the middle of my last semester of undergrad, which also happened to be the semester I was traveling a ton and taking Quantum. So on top of being busy af, I had to deal with a very strong emotion I’d never dealt on this scale before: grief. So it’s probably safe to say that my memories of undergraduate quantum could definitely be better.

But I passed the class, okay? I got through it, and I got through Statistical Mechanics last semester which was also a very heavy maths-based physical chemistry class, and I’m going to get through this Quantum chemistry class because I know that it’s going to be hard. I know how to ask for help, how to identify what people are going to be the most helpful for me, and I know how to study my ass off. And I’ve learned all these skills through a laborious process of becoming a professional scientist despite being mentally ill, and also, because I knew I had weaknesses, acknowledged them, and got help.

I tutored first generation students while I was at FSU (I was one too, consequently) and I can say that hands down, the reason that students ended up struggling as much as they did is that they waited too long to ask for help. Now, whether that was lack of knowledge, or shame, or fear, I can’t be sure. But I can promise you, students who asked for help as soon as they realized they were struggling were the ones who were ultimately successful. Additionally, students who were even more successful were those who knew what kind of help they needed. If they knew it was math or algebra they were struggling with, they told me. If they knew it was question comprehension, we worked on looking for keywords and finding example problems they’d already done. The most effective learners are not people who just seem to magically know everything, they’re people who understand what it is going to take for the information to get effectively encoded, and go through whatever process that may take.

Now, maybe someday I’ll actually have time to read psychology literature again, and I’ll be able to give sources and all kinds of goodies to my information, but for now, take it as firsthand knowledge; asking for help is 99% proven to help you understand something better. I’m going to reserve the 1% for really awful instructors and tutors who just...cant communicate their knowledge effectively, but that’s on them, not you.

So here’s CJ’s sleepy guide to how to be a better student

TAKE NOTES. Even if you think it’s not necessary, take notes. Pay attention, write things down, because sometimes you hear things and it makes sense, and when you try to write it on paper or rephrase it you’re like….wait hold on.

BE KIND TO YOURSELF. Not everyone understands everything immediately. And that’s okay. Brains are incredibly complex and literally no two human brains are identical. Epigentetics, nature vs nurture, it all makes sure that your brain is unique, and will have its own unique strengths and weaknesses.

IDENTIFY WHAT KIND OF LEARNER YOU ARE. I’m an auditory learner. If someone walks me through something, step by step, talking out loud while I write, I learn it immediately. I’m not visual at all. I only got through biochem because some friends helped me make a (0,1) binary-esque verbal code for how sugars were oriented. But if you learn by working through something, or drawing a picture, great! Know that about yourself and take that with you when you ask for help.

TIME MANAGE. Keep a planner, or a journal, or a calendar, or even just use your phone calendar. Plan your time effectively, but not strictly. Use pomodoro timers if you want (25 minutes work, 5 minutes break). I also sometimes play “0’s and 5’s” with myself, wherein, if I get distracted, I can stay distracted until the clock hits a 0 or a 5, and then I have to get back to work. If you’re someone who has to cut yourself off from everything, that’s okay. Learn what is going to help you be the most effective, and don’t EVER wait til the last minute to do something unless you absolutely have to. My goal is to always be a minimum 2-days ahead on school work, but I feel much more comfortable if it’s a week.

ASK FOR HELP. Find your weaknesses. Learn the stuff you can on your own, and then figure out what has you confused. Go to a tutor, or your professor, or a TA. And if the first one you ask doesn’t seem to be able to help you, ask another one. Ask friends who understand what you don’t. Don’t be afraid. You aren’t stupid. There are things you can do that no one else can do as easily, and someone will probably need your help there at some point in time too. Just….it’s okay to feel down about having a hard time, but remember rule #2 and remind yourself you aren’t actually stupid, you just haven’t asked the right question of the right person yet.

That’s all I have for now. I have so much in my head that might eventually be useful to someone, and that’s part of why I write this. Whether it’s useful because it helps people understand themselves, or if it’s because it helps them pass a test, I don’t care. I just needed a place to put these sorts of things, so alas, here we are. Blog post 3. Maybe eventually this class will end and I can go to bed, because boy has this been a long week already. And it’s only Tuesday.