#also all your art is incredible as always meril

[eilinelsghost]

Writing Year Wrapped

As someone who struggles to name things in my own writing that I enjoy (thanks, childhood of being repeatedly told that anything but self-derision was arrogance), I thought it might be nice to have an excuse in case anyone else needs a reason to talk about things they're proud of.

So for the year end, let's get this going!

3 Favorite Fics You've Written This Year

Atanatárissë || My 2023 TRSB fic written to accompany @anerea-lantiria's absolutely incredible art. It was an unexpected delight to get to push into the Atani mythology and this one will always be really close to my heart.

A Heady Fragrance of Honey || Finrod's moment of Balan-epiphany and my chance to delve into a bit of his background in Valinor.

And Still the Light Returns || One of the things that has always made me flinch about the Finrod/Bëor dynamic is how Bëor pretty much abandons his kids. Getting to wrangle with that (and make Balan wrangle with that too) was good for my heart. Also have I mentioned that I adore Belen? I adore Belen.

3 Fics That Stretched You the Most

In These Holy Waters || I hated this one with an absolute passion when I posted it. It was like pulling teeth trying to get words on the page. I've now come to terms with it and find I have a fond spot for it after all.

A Harmony Refracted || Honestly either of the anon smuts would count here, but this one is the better of the two so it's the one I'll list. Never thought I'd write smut, but it was weirdly freeing to try it after a very shame-centric upbringing.

Many a Dreadful Path || Writing Beren has been one of the hardest things in the entire Atandil series so far. I just cannot find that guy's voice for the life of me. This continues to be a struggle as the series continues, but I wrangled a lot with him on this one and was fairly pleased with where it landed.

3 Favorite Lines You've Written As always, I'm going to stretch the definition bit on what "a line" is because I need these to make sense.

"He could see all the way to the shore, the crags where he had perched only a few minutes before shining crisp and vivid through the water. And there to his right—Nóm dazzling in the midst of it. A cloud of gold, his hair floating about him; his body suspended as though caught in glass with the shimmering light cascading along its facets." —In These Holy Waters, Atandil 14

"So it was to be reborn, Finrod mused as he moved ever nearer his brother, the essence of your fëa lingering and binding you to your place in the world, to the memory of your vessel, but you knew the unmaking yet within every fiber. Each sinew held too the memory of that. You walked through the world, more permeable than before, light and pain both spilling more easily from its cracks." —Little Lords of the Brine

"Yet my reticence faltered once and in that brief moment she rose beside me—a balm and not a sharp thing of shearing edges. And she has remained there ever since, steady through the tempests, my first love gone before me as I go now before those who remain, a loss abated not deeper delved. Do not flee memory for fear of heightening pain, for it is the physic that soothes the long ache and that which binds the wound together. Remind Nóm of it as well, for he will forget it." —Atanatárissë, Chapter 5

3 Characters You Enjoyed Writing (that surprised you)

Belen || My dearest lil guy, my baby hedgehog, my adorable nerd. He has a single reference in the intro notes of the Athrabeth and has turned into one of my absolute favorite characters in the entire series.

Estreth || She showed up as an accident and ended up a damn delight.

Hiril || She was in a list of people I thought it would make sense to explore in my TRSB fic and she surprised me by ending up one of the easiest voices to find, when I expected her to be one of the more difficult.

3 Unexpected Inspirations

A joke about whether Nargothrond just had some random Lembas Lady resulted in one of my new favorite characters in Atandil: Meril, besain of Nargothrond who was born in Cuiviénen and is one of Finrod's chief counselors.

The Father Duck story from And Still the Light Returns is based on a story from my childhood. We lived on a lake and a duck got caught in the ice in the middle of our bay. My mom and our neighbor dragged a canoe down and chopped their way through the ice to get the duck. It lived in our neighbor's bathtub for a bit until the local vet was open and could help get it to a wildlife center to recover and be set loose.

My 4 year old blowing a penny whistle as hard as he could for an unbelievably long time gave us Belen and his carved flute in A Shuddering in the Air.

3 WIPs You're Excited About in the Upcoming Year

Darkly the Sundering Flood || Mostly listing this because I'm *hoping* that putting it on here jinxes me and makes it a fic from this year still. It's Atandil 15. It's a beast. It has been murdering me for 2 months.

The Reckoning of Souls || Still Atandil. The gang is in Tol-in-gaurhoth. Everybody's having a terrible time. We discuss souls and Orcs and making people complicit in their own breaking.

A Broken Reflection (working title) || The boys finally get together.

3 People Tagged to Share Theirs

Tagging with zero pressure:

@thelordofgifs

@sallysavestheday

@polutrope

[kaaras-adaar-a]

🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊 :DDDDD 🎊🎊🎊🎊 THAT'S A LOT OF BLOGS

For every 🎊 I get I’ll recommend a blog

(( omgosh so many! This one will be a little shorter sorry! There’s a lot here and I don’t want to make the post too long, also I’m getting tired :’D )) 

@tai-trevelyan-the-inquisitor

One of the very first people I ever got to RP in the DARP community with, and we’re still Rping. :3 I think that says enough, really. Tai mod’s blog is filled with a lot of good Dragon Age content, not always towards the muse, but if you’re looking for some good, funny DA content, then this is a really good blog to be following! 

Tai is a really interesting character in the sense of what happened to him at the Conclave, and how he changed as a person, and of course some other headcanons I won’t spoil and go into right now.

Tai mod has always just been an overall great and supportive friend since I’ve joined the DARP community and that means a lot. Always coming into my IM and poking me and telling me funny things, or chatting about the muses. Honestly, you’ve been supporting Kaaras EVER since we started Rping on this blog, and that means so much to me. Thank you for being there through everything the last few years, the good and the bad. You’ve been a really good bloke! 

Go check Tai out and give him a poke. :D The mod is always looking for new folks to RP with! 

@fredericofserault

I ALWAYS will love people who take the smaller, side characters and flesh them out to perfection, and honestly, that’s what Freddie mod has done. Seriously, I love their take on Frederic, you have absolutely given him a real personality and made him shine and given him LIFE! 

Mod is great to talk to, toss headcanons back and forth with, and their art is adorable as fuck! Go and commission them, because they’re really cute! :D 

I love Freddie’s and Kaaras’ relationship, and the DERGS, all the goddamn dergs everywhere. Also, mod posts lots of birds so HELL YES that’s a bonus for me! :D 

@thedalishbloodmage

Merill mod is an absolute darling.

Merrill mod sticks to the true nature of the character, keeping Merrill shy but not really innocent. There’s confusion and misunderstanding because of the culture differences, and honestly, I love that. I love that you keep Merrill as having this sense of family with Hawke and the companions of DA 2 as well, and they are willing to play DA:I timelines and everything else as well.

Seriously, go and check out their Merrill, they’re really adorable and the mod is such a sweetie!

@krahel-adaar

Another person who has been following me and Kaaras since the dawn of time. Omggg, I love Krahel SO MUCH. And I will forever be laughing at the fact that Kaaras was the reason Krahel started exploring his sexuality more, and I LOVE THAT XDD I love that a muse can GROW from something like that, and that’s what Krahel has done.

What’s not to love about more qunari? Give me ALL the qunari muses okay!? I will horde them all and snuggle them to pieces, even if Krahel would kill me. :’D 

Seriously, Krahel is a big grump who is a softy down at heart, and I love those muses. But Krahel isn’t one of those muses who just suddenly becomes soft overnight, you have to REALLY pick at it and work with him, and that’s keeping him true to his character. I love that he’s a big arse grump.

@zevranrp

Probably the best Zevran I’ve ever Rped with. And I miss youuuu and miss Rping with your Zev. Zev mod is an excellent writer! One of the first writers who I honestly looked up to a lot here in the DARP community because your writing is just so damn good and I love it. So poetic and descriptive and just full of life.

Your Zevran was incredibly IC, and this was before I even played DA:O and I already KNEW who Zevran was JUST because of the way you write him. So that says a lot about your writing and how well you Rped this muse.

@katxh

Can I just say one of the most IC and wonderful Bull’s I’ve ever come across. I kind of jump every Bull I can to see how much I wanna Rp with them, and I’ve ended up unfollowing a fair few. But your Bull is absolutely amazing! I also love your other muses who I was lucky enough to RP with

Seriously, though, your Bull is really amazing, and some of the headcanons we’ve discussed I absolutely and positively agree with, and I am so happy to see someone treating Bull the way he deserves. That he’s not this perfect, big barra bear, that he has these demons he struggles with, though he still fights through them and he always keeps his chin up for the boss and his friends, and the people he cares for.

I love your Bull, he’s fantastic, and your writing is gorgeous. It’s long and descriptive and you paint such pretty pictures. You’re also not shy to keep out the nitty gritty details, and that’s something I LOVE in writing. A lot of people aren’t bold enough, but I love when people keep them in there.

I’m sure you’ve already got a fanbase following you, because you’re amazing, but anyone who isn’t following, go and do so now! :D 

@brokenbiirds

I haven’t had the opportunity to talk a lot with the mod (I blame myself, I’m super bad at approaching people >.

Each reply the mod gives, leaves you with something to work with and they write novella as well, which is always a delight for me.

Mod is super nice and I know from afar that they’re incredibly supportive of their friends and the people that they care for. :) 

@pelle-lavellan

We’ve not spoken a lot OOC, but I reaaally like our threads! At first I wasn’t sure how Kaaras would handle being around such a younger muse, as so many of them in the past have easily gotten on mine, but I really like Pelle, and I think you have a really good way of expressing him in your writing.

A lot of the time, I don’t realise I am Rping with a muse who is so much younger, and Kaaras often thinks that Pelle is very mature for his age--which is a good thing in his books. XD 

I think you’re a very sweet mod the times we have gotten to talk, and I find that our threads are always oddly soothing and calming, which is very nice considering sometimes Kaaras’ threads can be super chaotic. XD