#all of these are dreamling btw lol

[five-and-dimes]

WIP Wednesday

Rules: Make a 24-hour poll with the names of your wips, let it run, then write one sentence on the winner for every vote it received. Reblog the finished poll with the new sentences written.

Tags not necessary; do this when you're ready to write.

While the poll ends tomorrow I'll be posting my snippet of the winner on Friday cause of life commitments lol

[valeriianz]

20 questions for fic writers!

tagged by @honeyteacakes <3 (and belatedly, @tharkuun haha)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

25

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

400,576 (+ 100k extra from fics i've deleted/orphaned in the past few years haha rip)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

i am at the mercy of the hyperfixation, and currently it's The Sandman and Dreamling exclusively.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1) Salvation (How to Get Away With Murder) 2) The Red Witch (Good Omens) 3) Bolt in the Blue (The Sandman) 4) Let Me Down Easy (The Sandman) 5) Show Me (The Mandalorian)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes and no. i love that people take the time to show their appreciation for a fic and i always want to reply and show how much it means to me... but i have this bad habit of not replying to comments on say, older works or older chapters of a fic. idk why... im just not good at it lol BUT I LOVE AND APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE COMMENT, EVEN THE LITTLE ONES 💖💖

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

oh, Exit Wounds, for sure haha

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

im a sucker for happy endings so i'd say, everything else lol but particularly Almost Idyllic (The Song of Achilles) due to the build up and Salvation also, because of the events leading up to the ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not since my ff.net days haha.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

very occasionally. and nothing too wild (except for that dreamling butt plug one. that was. hmm.) but i typically enjoy writing first times.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i do not.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope. though i have seen ideas/prompts used without credit. it doesn't bother me much.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

once, The Red Witch (which btw has been discontinued, pls don't read it lol). it started off just me, then my editor jumped on maybe 5 chapters in once i realized they were much more versed in magick and fantasy than me.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

haha probably Zutara.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

ahhh haha... fuck. idk i want to say none. but my brain keeps whispering about the dreamling road trip au. i thought i had a plot but as i continue working on bitb and other little drabbles... ive realized i might've bitten off more than i can chew. and my only option is to completely sideline it until im done with bitb, or change the story (because right now the research i have to do for it is too much and y'all know how i am...) it sucks cos i do want to write it. but it's difficult when all my patience for research is already going into one fic (bitb).

16. What are your writing strengths?

dialogue and monologuing, probably.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

self 👏 motivation 👏 finding 👏 the 👏 urge 👏 to 👏 write (technically, it's tense. i flip between past and present tense constantly and at this point i just consider it one of my endearing qualities pfft)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i try to avoid it but when it happens i just use Google Translate and then toss a disclaimer that ive done my best (to which usually a commenter will helpfully correct me and then all is well)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Inuyashaaaaa (Miroku/Sango omg). exchanging physical notebooks with my friends with fanfics we'd written in school lol

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

truly a tie between Savory & Sweet and Let Me Down Easy (at the moment). the restaurant au was so easy and fun to write (probably because i used to be in the industry) and i reread it a lot. the pacing is fast and i love how immediate Hob and Dream fall into each other haha. Let Me Down Easy was very similar. my major was Media Production in undergrad and although it's been a while since i've held a camera, it was fun putting myself back in that environment. also the angst and tension were just a blast to write and figure out.

(this was an excellent waste of time, thanks again!) tagged, if y'all want, @magnusbae @teejaystumbles @ml-nolan @tj-dragonblade @reallyintoscience @delta-pavonis @staroftheendless

[ginoeh]

Shipper Tag Game

I was tagged by the lovely @tj-dragonblade , thank you!

What ship were you completely obsessed with as a teenager, but now you don’t care about anymore?

As a teenager... well, that was quite a while ago lol. I suppose that would have been Harry/Draco. First fandom, first queer pairing, first smut stories. I was such a sweet sweet summer child XD The early 00s were wild

Which ship would you consider your first one?

Soooo. Funny story. Way back when, I got into fanfiction via fanfiction.net. You know how their filter system is bad/non-existent? Yeah. Little me, on her first outing to ffnet, didn’t know how to operate the character settings. I clicked on the first story on the top of the first page of the HP section. It was a Snape/Hermione star-crossed lover deal. It flash-fried my brain, taught me content curation in a crash course and incidentially made me partial to the ship for quite a few years...

Your first fanfic was about which couple?

See above lol. I will never ever forget the experience. I tried to find that story later for downloading (like an ugly beloved keepsake ig lol) but never managed.

If you mean fanfic I've written: it was gen.

Do you remember the first couple you saw fan art of?

Kakashi/Obito

Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?

Nope. Scraped by a few times since I entered the tumblr bubble but managed to stay out of it. I don’t get the point. It's freaking fictional characters in fictional worlds. Go touch grass or something instead... (but you will make me fucking mad if you try to drag me into these things with wild ad hom accusations based on what i ship or dont ship)

Did you used to have a NOTP or have one currently?

No, not really. It's only ever preferences. There are some I dislike due to my own hc/inability to suspend my disbelief but I wouldn’t call them NOTPs. I just don’t read them.

Who were the last couple in the last fanfic you read?

Dreamling

Currently, do you have any OTPs?

I actually dislike the term OTP. It's a scale of preferences for me. There are few (read: none) fav characters that I can only see with one love interest (and anyway, sometimes i do prefer plot over love story. wild take i know) and the more time I spend in a fandom the more I diversify.

Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting into?

I don’t get this question, sorry. If I'm interested, I'll search it out. Even if the fandom is old. AO3 is an archive for exactly that reason.

Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they’re kind of interesting?

Not that I can think of, at the moment!

Do you have any ship that, in the past, would have been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

Probably? I'm not clear on what all one is getting cancelled over this week/month/year by which group of 'concerend bystanders'. I suppose I might get cancelled for the mentioned Hermione/Snape?

What is your favourite crack ship?

I'm so glad you asked. It's clearly Dream/Helm (thank you for that @writing-for-life ) Or Gollum/The One Ring (thanks go to Neil himself here). Or - actually, never mind lol.

What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?

At the moment it's Dreamling. But I cycle through fandoms/pairings periodically...(btw im looking for more Johanna/Death? If anyone could point me in the right direction?)

What do most of your ships have in common?

At least one character has a dark/unknown/violent/tragic past (they can be victim or perpetrator!!! I'm all for character development babey)

What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

I don’t hate ships? As I said above. Possibly the reduction on 'I can fix him/her' or 'my love will save him/her from depression/"the darkness"/etc.' but that is mostly a matter of the author's style of crafting characterization and plot and has nothing to do with the ship itself.

I'm tagging @bazzybelle , @seiya-starsniper , @writing-for-life if you want to or maybe just point me towards your post if you've done it already?

[marvolord]

tag game ~

I was tagged by @quicksilver-castiel <3

Three ships: Tomarry (Tom Riddle x Harry Potter), Destiel (Dean Winchester x Castiel), and Dreamling (Dream x Hob Gadling)

First ever ship: It's either Dramione (Draco Malfoy x Hermione Granger) or SessKagu (Sesshomaru x Kagura from InuYasha)

Last song: An meiner Seite by Joy Denalane

Last movie: 101 Dalmatians

Currently reading: (im all here for audio books lately) QualityLand 2.0 by Marc-Uwe Kling (highly recommend his work! + the way he reads his books is amazing)

Currently consuming: I'm on an Avatar(atla) rewatch and drinking iced coffee (european version)

Currently craving: free time, world peace, more money because everything is so damn expensive and my rent is around 100 € higher now, and probably a better mood lol i tend to kill the mood lately and i really try to be a little more cheerful

I'm tagging: @theblobmaster (btw it still amazes me that we met in a queue once and stayed in contact since then) , @two-cupsofcoffee, @lz-01, @thigholstercas, @thetiredstuff, @universalcas, @deancasroadtrip, @flaielis, @madronasky, @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger, @wigglebox

[valeriianz]

Ooh, for the trope-grading thing: sex pollen. Merfolk AU. Aaaand, fake dating? Unless someone already asked that one.

Thank you for so many options, TJ!

Sex pollen:

C. Not my favorite, not something I actively look for, and usually something I know will like or not by the initial tone. I don't mind a good, nasty PWP but something about sex pollen hedges a little too close to non-con. So if an author is able to tackle that well, then I'm all for it.

Actually, if I can toss in a recommendation, Midnight in Bloom by @aeon-of-neon is a very good take on the trope, I loved it.

Merfolk:

B-. I only very recently started getting into it with Designtheendless' work, @chaosheadspace's Little Mermaid AU, and before all of that, @teejaystumbles' Hell or High Water series. I was always passively okay with it, read a short tumblr fic here or there... but sheesh, something was awakened in me over dreamling week and now I have a craving lol. Not actively looking but patiently waiting for more :)

Fake dating:

A. I gobble that shit up. Such a fun trope. Such a good excuse for unresolved sexual tension. Shame I haven't written much, but I love reading it.

Band/musician au:

B. This used to be a C or even D. It was never a trope I particularly enjoyed. I've been in a lot of fandoms and in all of them I remember trying band/musician aus and always feeling disappointed by them. Maybe I just wasn't having as much fun with the possibilities of aus back then (because honestly, musician au IS very hit or miss. Especially if you're not a fan of aus, I think). I really have no clue how my brain got rewired. I still can't believe I'm writing my own band au and that it's grown into the monstrosity it is now... AND that I'm reading other musician aus as well lol. (btw if anyone hasn't read Music When You Speak by @ml-nolan please give it a shot! It's like Bolt in the Blue's hot older sister lmao).

Send me a fanfic trope to grade!

[valeriianz]

tag 9 people you’d like to get to know better

tagged by @watercubebee thanksss <3

(EDIT: and as of 1/7, @hardly-an-escape and @virgo-dream lol) yes i'd rather just add y'all onto my old post than make a new one haha

3 ships: Coliver, Zutara, DinLuke (figured i'd share 3 besides Dreamling lol)

First ever ship: oh boy haha... Miroku/Sango from Inuyasha (when i was 13!)

Last song: Shaking by Hazel English (totally a Dreamling song, btw)

Last movie: A Christmas Story (now it's Glass Onion. thanks tumblr haha)

Currently reading: ignoring all the unread books on my shelf to read an xmas present lol "If We Were Villains" by M.L. Rio

Currently watching: nothing

Currently consuming: coffee (good morning)

Currently craving: this olive oil and rosemary bread from the bakery a couple blocks away... but that would mean leaving my apartment before i havta go to work and-- ugh idk if i can do it.

oh geez... 9 people is a lot how about just: @endlessdoodles @designtheendless @staroftheendless @humanpiece @aeon-of-neon

[valeriianz]

Hi, @chaosheadspace here. (Anon cause sideblog and stuff).

I have a question regarding your playlist for the playlist you made for your Dreamling band AU. (Which is very good, btw. I'm looking for new music atm and was elated being greeted with someone saying "I want to skin you alive". Glorious.)

Did you choose the songs you think they might have played or did you choose songs that embodied the characters and the setting for you? Please feel free to ramble at length.

Hello! Oh goodness... I'm so happy to receive this ask. I've never thought much about music while writing fics (I don't even listen to music while I'm writing, I find it very distracting) but given this is a BAND au, it was almost inevitable (90% of the songs on the playlist were added before I even published the fic). Allow me to ramble, since you've given me permission haha.

All of these songs already exist somewhere on my Spotify, I listen to a lot of indie and alt rock and remember coming up with the idea for Bolt in the Blue and daydreaming A LOT about Endless as a band and what they might sound like. So, while I was commuting to work, cleaning my apartment, doing laundry, I had my Spotify on a constant shuffle and every time a song popped up that made me think about Endless, I tossed it into a playlist. A lot of edits were made before I decided to publish the final draft lol.

So while this did start out as what I imagined Endless would sound like, I also started to think about what each member might contribute to said playlist. I thought of it like... when you're at a show and music is playing through the speakers while you wait in the crowd and the stage is being set up. I could picture the whole band making a playlist and contributing equally.

I tell you, and myself, that it's not that deep. It's music that gives me vibes for the band only, and doesn't reflect the fic at all. Well, except one song. Mile Deep Hollow by IAMX is such a Dream song to Hob that it makes me vibrate while listening to it now:

So thank you You need to know That you dragged me out Of a mile deep hollow And I love you You brought me home 'Cause you dragged me out Of a mile deep hollow

I mean... no explanation needed. Hob is Dream's light and is the one who inspires him and drags him up from a deep darkness (kind of spoiler but eh, I like to think I'm pretty predictable and we could all see that happening from a mile away).

But the other tracks? Eh... I mean some definitely give off vibes but I wouldn't connect any of them to the fic itself. Even the fic title, Bolt in the Blue, while obviously taken from the LPX song, is not indicative of the story at all (that's a separate post though, it's all a metaphor lmao). Which is why, secret's out, I'm currently building a new playlist that will go along with the fic chapter by chapter lol. But that won't be ready until Bolt in the Blue is finished. I kind of realized, very recently, that I wanted a proper playlist to go along with the themes and characters in the fic.

So, while Endless' Personal Playlist is exactly that- just songs that one: I imagine the band could actually write and perform but also two: all made together and music they'd all rock out to in their tour bus... this new playlist I'm making will accurately describe and emulate the plot. I'm having a fucking blast building it and can't wait to share it with everyone :)

And just for fun, here's who I think added what track to the Endless playlist (as I've stated in the past, music is subjective and who you connect each song to is up to interpretation. And here's mine, and yes, there are some repeats):

Dream:

Poison by Alice Cooper Mile Deep Hollow & The Great Shipwreck of Life by IAMX Nothing Personal by Night Riots Don't You Forget About Me by Billy Idol

Death:

Bolt in the Blue & Slide by LPX Stone Cold Crazy by Queen Shout by Placebo Holy Mother by Starbenders

Despair:

Human & High by Anavae Blue Monday by Orgy Everything Black by Unlike Pluto Stone Cold Crazy by Queen

Desire: High by Avavae Youth Gone Wild by Skid Row Shout by Placebo Modern Day Cain by IDKHBTFM Hang on to Yourself & Massacre, The New American Dream by Palaye Royale

Delirium:

Maniac by Carpenter Brut Youth Gone Wild by Skid Row Call Me a Saint by YOKANA Don't You Forget About Me & Mony Mony by Billy Idol

Alright, I'm finished lol THANK YOU for letting me ramble!! I hope everyone reading enjoys the rock n roll or at the very least discovers something new from the playlist :D