#barbex writes

[the960writers]

I should probably create a WIP page and talk about the things I'm writing but... I don't even know what I'm writing. Discovery writing means that the story surprises me all the time. I don't know where it goes! Couldn't write a logline or synopsis to save my life.

[storybookhawke]

Hello writerly friend!

Regrading the WIP fic title things, can you tell me about, and give me a snippet for the fenhawke college radio AU?

🥰

This one is ANCIENT, like 2015 levels of ancient, so it might be bad!

The host’s voice is a handsome baritone, like a stream of melodious velvet as he introduces song after song. The sound of it is more captivating than the music, which already has a hold on him. Having nothing else to do, Hawke’s imagination wanders to what this radio host might look like. Is he a human or an elf? A dwarf, or void, even a qunari?

“Remember,” the enrapturing voice reminds him just after a song so catchy that it has Hawke whistling its tune. “Callers may submit requests using the radio call line.”

The next song is just as fantastic as its predecessors, and so is every song that follows. Whoever is choosing the music, be it the host or otherwise, is doing a damn fine job.

“Welcome back,” the host says in a tone more deep and formal than previous song introductions, “It is now two in the morning. This has been Fenris with Late Night Beat on KWDL, Kirkwall University’s own campus radio station. Thank you and goodnight.”

[brennacedria]

Tagged by @barbex for this; I haven't written in years but I figure it might get me in a dragon age mood to go through my old stuff. All but A Warden's Duty was a prompt of some kind or another, but most still fall in my canon world state.

Rules: give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the fewest words.

Most hits: my BlightFic, A Warden's Duty. It's 41 chapters, and it's the first thing I uploaded, so it's kind of an automatic winner on every way of searching my fics

2nd most kudos: Take One For The Team, a silly Isabela/Aveline "bromance" prompt

3rd most comments: The Wedding Planner, Elissa, well, planning her wedding. Or rather, it being planned for her.

4th most bookmarks: Have We Met? Elissa Guerrin meets a Grey Warden. Please go read this one and cry.

5th most words: Character Windows #4: Anora at Thirteen, the first meeting between two future queens

Fewest words: Plans Change, Aveline at Ostagar

[the-wip-project]

Writerly friends, we're starting a new project! (think nanowrimo but not)

New WIP Project:

40k in 42 days.

We'll start on the first Sunday in August, that's the 4th. And we keep writing our hearts out until September the 14th, which is a Saturday.

If you write 1000 words per day, you already have two grace days built in to finish at 40k.

Is 40k a full novel? Well, it's a short one, but it can work. Maybe it's half a novel and you'll write the rest later.

To keep track of your wordcount, I encourage you to register at https://www.mywriteclub.com/ and make a project with the goal of 40k. You can friend me, I'm barbex there. I haven't used the site in a while but it still works and it gives us a simple graph for our project and lets us see how our friends are faring. It even has sprint rooms!

Are you ready?

Start: 4th of August

End: 14th of September

40k

Let's write.

[handers-time]

Handers Gift Exchange 2024 Round-up! 

This year's Handers Gift Exchange has officially come to a close!

We'd like to give a huge thank you and shoutout to all 20 of our participants this year. Congratulations to you all, for doing so well creating beautiful works for your giftees.

On behalf of the mods ( @dismalzelenka, @un-shit-yourself, @storybookhawke, and @hollyand-writes ), thank you to everyone who remains in the Handers fandom—in addition to authors and artists, it also includes readers, commenters, serial kudosers, and avid rebloggers! We appreciate all the love, enthusiasm, support, and cheerleading everyone did throughout this event. Everyone involved keeps the love of the ship alive and well even thirteen years after the game came out.

If you participated in this event, we ask that you please leave a comment on the gift you received, at least three lines in length! Participation goes both ways, so please give some praise and adoration to the person who devoted their time and energy to create a gift for you.

You can view the blog's tag for this event here, and the AO3 collection here, but below is a compiled list of all the amazing gifts shared over the course of this exchange. Please mind the tags and ratings as you go through them!

Invitations by replicatortrash for ghostbunny M!Handers | Explicit |

Summary: Garrett Hawke has been trying to open his home to Anders for weeks and it's been slow going. Is he keeping distance because of something from his past, or because Garrett is a vampire... or is there something else going on Garrett hasn't considered?

Mélange by dismalzelenka for Sulkyvalkyrie F!Handers | Explicit |

Summary: “I want Justice involved.” It was a marvel, Anders thought, how four words flipped his entire world on its head. “You what?” Hawke tilted her head, catlike curiosity peppered across her face. “Justice,” she repeated. “I want him involved.” In which Hawke confesses some secrets, and Anders and Justice both learn there is far more to Hawke than meets the eye.

The Short Straw by autumninfall for DemonicPersephone F!Handers | Mature |

Summary: A quick way to earn some coin while fleeing the Templars of Kirkwall. A dragon up in the mountains. Surely nothing will go wrong, right?

at the end of the world by PhantomsLost for barbex F!Handers | Teen |

Summary: “Hawke, no.” She shook her head and took a step back, both hands still gripping her staff tight. “You and I both know we don’t have a better option.” Tipping her head slightly in the direction of the looming Nightmare, she added, “Go. I’ve got this.”

Broken, yet Remade by Actually_An_Insane_Fangirl for PhantomsLost F!Handers | Teen |

Summary: Hawke may be broken, but that doesn't mean she cannot be remade with the gentle hands of a healer.

Lunacy by Sulkyvalkyrie for GhostGarrison M!Handers | Explicit |

Summary: Hawke wanted to wait another night, but Anders can't stop worrying about him...

Looking the Part by acesdesire M!Handers | Teen |

Summary: While visiting Chateau Haine, Hawke finds himself enjoying the party more than expected, especially with Anders looking so dashing in his formal wear. Infiltration can wait (even if Tallis might have other plans). He would much rather indulge in this rare and beautiful moment.

Some Guys Have All the Luck by barbex for dismalzelenka M!Handers | Explicit |

Summary: Watching Anders fight, powerful, controlled, turns Hawke on like nothing else. That's a man he wants to get on his knees for. And more.

Hunting by DemonicPersephone for Actually_An_Insane_Fangirl F!Handers | Explicit |

Summary: Nothing like a near death experience to make romance bloom <3

Chasing the Light by leonidskies for SalsedinePicta M!Handers | Teen |

Summary: Anders is having a bad day. Hawke, forever down bad, refuses to let it go.

Hurt Less by ghostbunny for PorlPoint M!Handers | Mature |

Summary: After coming close to killing the mage girl, Ella, Anders is in a bad way, consumed by guilt and shame and beginning to spiral. Hawke attempts to help him through it, while dealing with some of his own insecurities.

The One That Didn't Get Away by FactoryKat for winebearcat M!Handers | G |

Summary: Of all the things that could have happened to newcomer Garrett Hawke after moving to Kirkwall, picking up a date outside of a walk-in clinic wasn't exactly on his predictions list.

Healing the Healer by PorlPoint M!Handers | Teen |

Summary: Anders is seriously injured and out of mana, with only Hawke there to heal him before it's too late.

Rose Cottage by winebearcat for leonidskies M!Handers | Mature |

Summary: Anders reaches his 50th Name Day. He never expected to make it past 30, let alone have his happy ending.

ART: storybookhawke's piece for autumninfall M!Handers | G |

ART: notomys-mordax-blog's piece for ocean-in-my-rebel-soul M!Handers | G |

ART: salsedinepicta's piece for notomys-mordax-blog M!Handers | G |

ART: kittyopera's piece for acesdesire M!Handers | G |

ART: gevascloset's piece for factorykat M!Handers | G |

ART: moosu's piece for kittyoperas M!Handers | G |

[tryingtimi]

Books of 2024 (2023 or close to it)

Thank you for the tag @barbex it sounds like a fun one hehe. 9 books should be listed that were read in the last 12 months (or alternatively liked when you read it) if I'm right. And when I read the rules I had the same reaction: mind went blank on if I ever read a single book lol. Luckily I keep track of my reading because I like watching them back.

No pressure tagging: @aninkwellofnectar, @bloodlessheirbyjacques, @the-void-writes, @circa-specturgia, @aalinaaaaaa, @dyrewrites, @italiangothicwriteblr, @cherrybombfangirlwrites, @blind-the-winds and anyone who wants to join.

All of the listed were read last year and which I liked especially.

When The Stars Alight by Camilla Andrew (@aninkwellofnectar). Bi MC, gaslamp fantasy, gothic, court intrigue, delicious spice

You've already seen this many times on my page, because I really enjoyed this book and it was a window to many things I didn't know I'd enjoy in a story. So many beautiful description, beautifully emotional and sexy sex, rarely seen complex character dynamics and so much mouth watering food.

Éjféli Iskolák (Midnight Schools) by Attila Veres. lovecraftian horror set in Budapest

It's a horror short story collection by a hungarian author who I got recommended by a collegue. Attila Veres has a talent to capture that melancholic, sometimes surrelistic feeling living in Budapest which makes his work so authentic. But also very Big Ew for all the horroristic shit he created (in the best way.) My favourite one was the 'Porn After Midnight'.

Yumi and The Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanders. M/F romance focus, sci-fi/fantasy, anime-esque

You all know I'm a Sanderson trash. And the fact I, the slowest reader on the earth, read this book in two days, proved that very much lol. It felt like watching an anime, I swear to god. There's magic, time travel kinda thing, pretty innocent humour, loads of painting in it.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickenes. christmas nostalgia, historical fiction?

We all know this, but I'm very behind on classics book-wise so I began to catch up last year. Espceially because I love the animated movie so much. It was a lovely and educative read.

Y/N by Esther Yi. litfic, kpop fandom and industry satire basically, comteporary

It was one of my favourites from last year tbh, because I couldn't put down the damn e-reader. A very strange little read, 100% unhinged, but made me realise I might enjoy litfic, so I'll read more this year. Also, the story is not "summarizable" but the fact that this is the first two review on GoodReads tells a lot I think: reading this feels like that one night when i accidentally smoked weed for the first time I sort of feel like I just hallucinated this entire thing Yeah.

Even Though I Knew The End by C. L. Polk. F/F romance, fantasy, novella

Lesbian magical detective. Done, sold. I wanted to read this a while now, and it did not disappoint. It gave exactly what it promised. Fast paced little adventure with some humour and a lovely couple. Not a life-chaning read but as I mentioned, it gave what it promised. I enjoyed it anyway.

Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice. M/M romance kinda, supernatural, philosophical

Finally started to read the books my all time favourite movies are made of. Loved every bits of this, though sometimes it got way too wordy or I don't even know what. Overall though, it got me. Full of contemplation about human nature, God (though I could do a bit less without that) and death, plus the iconic vampire husbands and their arguments. It's just a real long broody monologue of Louis tbh. I'm fine with that it seems, though.

Legend & Lattes by Travis Baldree. F/F romance (not focus), cosy fantasy

Read pretty fast too. It's very much what it promises also. Cosy, and relaxing, and endearing. Love the concept of how a stoic warrior woman can settle finally and do something other than fighting. It was cute.

Tress of The Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. M/F romance (not that important i think), cosy fantasy, Princess Bride-vibes

Yes, I got all the secret project, because of course I would. This one was also something like Legends & Lattes imo. In Sanderson style tho. I'm also loving when the narrator is a third person telling the story. Those are always fun. Oh and the story had many cuteness, humour and Our Flag Means Death kinda pirates.

[teaandinanity]

Hi barbex here from the-wip-project. Sorry to bother you. You mentioned in your tags that you have a magic spreadsheet for your wordcounts, would you/could you maybe share that? I would love to give people an alternative for counting their words.

Okay so disclaimer these are functional-ugly because I'm very lazy, but I'm happy to share!

The one I have now is set up for NaNo (30 days) but since spreadsheet programs are now smart enough to update formulas as you copy/paste them and I only had to change one thing it was easy to make a 42 day version. The green blanks are the only places people should need to put anything - everything else will automatically update based on what's in those (first day isn't useful here but it helped with NaNo, where it wasn't a fixed day, and copy/pasting the formula was faster than typing out day names so it got to live lol). Goal will change the 'per day, you need to write x to stay on track' and 'total remaining to reach your goal' and then daily updates on word count will be added up in that column - basically, the green fields are the only places people should ever need to write. And thus I freed myself from ever doing real math during NaNo by knowing just enough about functions to make a spreadsheet do it for me 😂

[dadrunkwriting]

DWC Europe: Head count

Tagged Writers,

Please reply to or reblog this post (with a message, not just tags) by 5pm UK Time if you would like to participate tonight! 

Writing will ONLY be reblogged if posted after 5pm UK Time on Fridays!!

Friendly DWC admins: We have an FAQ here, you can also contact any of us with any questions. The admin for Team Europe tonight is @pinkfadespirit / @highwayphantoms

Changing blog name: If your blog name has changed, please message an admin so we can tag you correctly.

Inactive writers: If you are currently inactive, and would like to go back to be active, please message an admin to move you to the active list.

Joining DWC: If you want to join DWC, please contact any admin. We are here to help. Anyone can join DWC. There are zero barriers to entry. If you have more questions, you can also check out our FAQ!

Discord writer chat: DA Drunk Writing chat is on Discord! If you are a DWC writer (active or inactive) and would like to join our chat, please just let one of the admins know, and we will send you a link.

Thank you! <3

@barbex

@pinkfadespirit

@hollyand-writes

@lesetoilesfous

@monsterthalia

@rusted-pipe-of-wisdom

@vonuberwald

@antivancastle

@dismalzelenka

@celemee

@cathyfowl

@spicywarl0ck

@doomhippie

@cuillere

@emilesmuseassembly  

@silvanils

@breninarthur

@liza011 

@only-slightly-terrified

@perlen-gold

@streganicha

@blarrghe

@teine-mallaichte

@kirkwallguy

@lasatfat

@lyntergalactic

@heylavellan

[elveny]

Okay, this one is fun 😁 Thanks for the tag @awordwasthebeginning ❤️

Rules!

Take this quiz

Take this picrew

Tag some people!

Tagging @greyias @stinalotte @curiousthimble @pikapeppa @thevikingwoman @barbex @captainderyn @storyknitter @johaerys-writes @lynmars79 @cecilyacat and all who want to grab it 😁

[vorchagirl]

OC Name Meanings

Tagged by @alyssalenko (thank you!)

Rules: Google and post the meaning of your OC’s name (if you made their name up or they go by a nickname, post an explanation of how it came to you)! bonus if you can find something for their last name too

I have a lot of OC's so I'm going to try to stick to my main characters that i write about to keep this list short! I'll only be doing first names too.

I'll tag @bardofheartdive @hawkeykirsah @ladyinthebluebox @briarfox13 @painterofhorizons @awhellstothejoe @barbex @badwolf626 @starsandskies @elleweird @commander-sarahs-art @fereldanwench @bioware-bard @amarmeme @heroofshield @theicescorpions @furyleika @spacemomnephmoreau and anyone else who wants a tag :)

Rennah Shepard

Rennah means 'Born Again' or 'Rebirth' - if you've read my longfic Lights in the Sky, you'll know that this name is oddly perfect for her, because by the end of the story Rennah is a whole new person.

Gina Shepard

Gina means 'Queen' - and she is a bit of a queen in Kaidan's eyes! Though she has a horrible opinion of herself and struggles to see her own worth, especially after she is infected with the Reaper Virus. She's my main shepard I write about these days and I love her!

Pandora Shepard

Pandora means 'Gift' or 'All Giving' but of course if you know your mythology you know that Pandora's name has a whole lot of other implied meaning. She's the one who romances Subject Zero Kaidan and is the daughter of Admiral Hackett, and unfortunately she brings trouble wherever she goes. I need to finish her story eventually - and it won't be a typical Shepard tale, asw much because of who she is, as because of who she loves.

Sirius Ryder

Sirius means the brightest star, and she was named this because she was born with eyes that glowed with biotics. She fell in love with Reyes and their story is probably my all time favourite that I've written.

Zi (Zillia) Shepard

Zillia means Shadow. I don't really know what to say - she's my Shep who romances Kaidan and Vega. They have a rough start but end up in post war bliss together.

[orangeflavoryawp]

20 questions for fic writers

Ohhhh, haven't done one of these in a while. Thanks for the tag @esther-dot <3

How many works do you have on Ao3?

On Ao3? 91 But add to that, older fics on ffnet and other independent sites (oh Rolo Realm, my beloved), I think it's 102.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

1,020,258

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Game of Thrones/ASOIAF, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Naruto, X-Men, Star Trek, Record of Lodoss War, Sailor Moon, Harry Potter and several unpublished ones

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Almost all Jonsa, lol. - From Instep to Heel - A Violence Done Most Kindly - Wool and Tallow - Shepard Sees the Sky - Hallowed

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

Always, but it takes me time. I used to be very secluded, still am sometimes, and it took me effort to reply to comments and build relationships and community. I don't want to lose that. It's also important to me that readers understand how meaningful even a single comment is. So yeah, every comment, I try.

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

Alright, so there's a lot of contenders for this one. I'm not even gonna try to list them off.

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

Probably either Interlocking or What Grows in Winter? I don't write a lot of 'happy' endings, I would say. Mostly I write endings that have either hope or closure, and that can come in a multitude of emotions, but those two fics are probably the most light-hearted of my works so I'm going with that.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Sure, but honestly, not nearly as much as I expected. I've never really gotten someone trying to get into an argument with me. It's really just those one-line trolls that mass comment on a fic out of nowhere with stuff like 'Die parasite' or whatever.

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

I do! I can actually say that now, lol. It's semi-recent for me, I guess. Considering how long I've been writing, at least. At the moment it's just het smut, but who knows what the future will bring!

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

Nope. Dislike crossovers, actually.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Several, actually.

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

No, and I don't plan to. Don't think it would work well.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

I honestly can't answer this. Like... honestly. But the two couples I've spent the most time actively writing for would be Jon/Sansa (Game of Thrones/ASOIAF) and Storm/Wolverine.(X-Men), so there's that.

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

It'd be between Rocks and Shoals and Sheparding Men, but I'm more hopeful that I'd return to Rocks and Shoals. Both are Mass Effect fic.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Characterization and emotive language.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Setting and exposition, for sure. Also, paring down a scene, lol.

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

I've thrown in a commonly known phrase or two, but I don't like it being used regularly. There's too much variance on how to show translation in fic, and I find it often breaks the pace of the piece trying to do so, anyway.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh geez, thinking back, probably Xena? Though that was unpublished. First published fandom would be X-Men.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Damn, that's hard. But I'm probably going to have to go with Reckoned from One Midnight to the Next for the way it changed my writing style going forward. Perhaps the most formative of my pieces. Close runner up would be A Violence Done Most Kindly though, since it's also pretty formative for me in how I tackle plot now, and I'm really proud of the intricacies in that one.

This was pretty fun! Tagging for those interested @theoriginalsuki @jonsaslove @amymel86 @barbex @hawkeykirsah @vorchagirl @razerathane @tlcinbflo @foofyschmoofer @goddesstiera @joufancyhuh @sailorshadzter

[the960writers]

So I’m writing a supernatural mystery book that has a white girl as the main protagonist and she was adopted by a black family and is super close with her adopted sister. I suppose what I want to ask is: almost at the end of the book the sister gets killed by the supernatural force but she’s not out of the story, she continues as a ghost that only the protagonist can see. Is that bad? Would that be a “black person dies first” trope? She doesn’t die first, a lot of people in the town die throughout the book but do you get my question? I’m just kind of worried she’ll be seen as a token character despite her having a huge part in the story and being the secondary main character.

I'm the wrong person to ask this, I'm european, our racism problems are different than american ones. Maybe @writingwithcolor can give you some hints, but it's also not their job to give you a permit of "no racism detected".

I suggest to ask people who are Black, if they feel like this plays into stereotypes. If you publish, you might want to get a sensitivity reader to check the story. But even with all that, someone might object to this. You can't unproblematic your stuff in every angle ever. Nothing will ever be right for every person out there.

[hollyand-writes]

Zero Context WIP Tag Game

If you’re tagged, make a new post and share 1-2 (a few) sentences from your most recent unposted WIP(s) with zero context – Let your followers guess!

Thanks for tagging me @pinkfadespirit! 💖

Hmmm.... so this bit is from a very extremely, actually very smutty Modern AU I've been writing on and off since I got out of hospital, but I think I've finally found a bit that's not explicit....

‘What about you? You don’t have brothers or sisters?’ Merrill swallowed. ‘No. I – actually I was raised by Marethari Talas. You might have heard of her, if you know anything about Dalish movies.’ ‘Never watched any, but I’ve heard of her. Like I’d heard of you.’ ‘Ye-es.’ Merrill bit her lip. ‘My parents passed away when I was a young child.’ ‘Oh,’ Carver said, looking serious. ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘No – it’s fine,’ Merrill said, awkwardly. Now it was her turn to change the subject away from family, or try to. ‘Anyway, it’s how I became her protegée. She didn’t just teach me how to act – she also taught me how to wield my magic. I came into it at the age of four.’

I will tag.... let's see, who's still around...? @barbex, @celemee, @dismalzelenka, @storybookhawke, @sulky-valkyrie, @faux-fires, @illusivesoul and anyone else who wants to do this! 💖

[barbex]

Fenders! Fenris smells of Lyrium and Anders gets horny because of it. Last Friday's ficlet is now on AO3.

Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Anders/Fenris (Dragon Age) Additional Tags: Ficlet, Scents & Smells, Lyrium, Magic, Attraction Series: Part 80 of DA Drunk Writing Circle Ficlets Summary:

To Anders, Fenris smells of thunderstorms and power. It makes him so unfairly attractive.

[the-wip-project]

40k in 42 days. How does it work?

Hello writerly friends!

Let me answer a few FAQs regarding this project:

When does it start?

The first Sunday of August. For 2024 that's:

Start: 4th of August

End: 14th of September

I want to make this a yearly event.

Do I have to write 40k?

No. You don't have to do anything like that. I'm a strong supporter of individual, personal goals, and if your goal is higher or lower than 40k, that's totally fine.

Do I have to work on one thing the whole time?

No. You can switch projects however your inspiration guides you and just add up all the words for your daily wordcount. (Psst, I do this all the time!)

Do you have a website where we get pretty graphs as we count our words?

Well, I don't have one (maybe by next year I can get something to work, but my coding days are quite long ago and websites cost money...) but I suggest we use https://www.mywriteclub.com/ for now. It's been in beta for the last 10 years but it works. Create a project with September the 14th as the deadline and add me (barbex) as your friend, then we can see each other's progress.

Do we get some community?

I hope so. This is difficult but I'm trying my best to draw you all together. Mywriteclub will help with seeing how other people write, we also have a discord server with a check-in channel to post daily wordcounts and do some chatting. I'm also posting on Instagram (very screaming into the void there), Xitter (not sure if anybody sees posts there at all), and bluesky (the voidest of voids), but I feel the most comfortable here on tumblr. So here is where I will post the most with tips, advice, and motivational shenanigans (with the help of some friends, maybe).

A community needs action from everyone, so I would love to see (mention me) posts about your WIP, how you plan to write, what your mywriteclub name is so that other people can friend you there. I will also try to make daily posts from my writing blog, maybe even make some videos (???) and talk about my work(s) in progress.

40k in 42 days

Start: 4th of August

End: 14th of September

Let's write.

[storybookhawke]

Last Line Challenge!

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like). 

Tagged by @dismalzelenka !

There’s too many bodies to count, too many casualties to sort through and prioritize, but Anders does his best to decide who needs to lie beneath his knife first.

I tag @barbex @hollyand-writes @hechizero-emplumado @pinkfadespirit @faux-fires