#dialux answers questions

[amethysttribble]

Rules: List five things you never get tired of writing; it can be tropes, themes, characters, phrases, whatever brings you joy. Then tag five people!

Thank you, thank you, thank you @hopefullystillliving for tagging me in this, you’re lovely <3

1) Sibling Relationships: What can I say, nothing else gets like the messy, messy love (or hate) of two people have been forced from birth to be tied together.

2) Unhealthy Devotion: Is there anything sexier than two people who have decided that they’re together (especially platonically) come hell or highwater, and if it’s the later they’ll drown as one? Nah.

3) Fantasy Idioms: It’s a small thing, but I get such delight out of coming up with fantasy world interjections, common sayings, and wives tales. 

4) Dialogue: Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. I love dialogue, and I’m lucky it comes naturally to me. It’s just so /fun/. It’s either a dance or a battle, or sometimes both, as characters try desperately to make themselves understood and never quite manage it. *chef’s kiss*

5) My Personal Writing Quirks: Which are too many to name, but I have one I’m really fond (that I know isn’t strictly ‘good’ writing) where when a character is lying to themselves, I always signal it really obviously by having them follow up a lie with too many adverbs (i.e. naturally. of course. absolutely. no question).

Oh god, guys, I’ve been so tired and burned-out for months, I owe SO MANY people tag game tags, I’ve been ignoring such games for a while now, out of exhaustion more than anything. I’m going to tag the five more or less recent folks, but please do this if you want too! I need to pay the fun forward to many people!

In the meanwhile, I’m tagging: @wynterwind , @katia-dreamer , @unknown-lifeform , @dialux , @zealouswerewolfcollector

Please, please feel free to answer or ignore at your leisure, especially as I’m sure some of you have already done this game!​

[it-may-be-dull-but-im-determined]

Rules are to answer the questions and tag 9 people you want to get to know better/catch up with!

I was tagged by @wildlingoftarth thank you!

last song: My Favourite Game by The Cardigans 

last movie: argh I am sooo desperate for new films right now, I just ended up renting a couple of pretty fun Frightfest premiers from the virtual Glasgow Film Festival - Run Hide Fight and Vicious Fun.  The sheer delight of watching a vaguely trashy brand new film that you know nothing about and hasn’t been picked apart on a gazillion review sites already, whew...

currently watching: Rewatching Drive to Survive before season three drops on Friday. Not that I have the day booked off work to watch it or anything...

currently reading: Rising Tide, Falling Star by Phillip Hoare, The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit (and dithering over whether to go back to my reread of Prodigal Summer)

Tagging: @tiredandtoothless, @twelvemonkeyswere @raspberryjamtoast @scoundrels-in-love @dialux @halfagod @tronasaurus @heidiamalia @redbelles and anyone else so inclined - please tag me!

[misshoneywheeler]

Tagged by the enchanting @greengableslover

RULES: answer the following questions! you can only use each movie once:

favorite movie: The Wiz

movie that makes you remember your childhood: Gay Purr-ee (it’s an animated musical about Cats going to Paris, HIGHLY RECOMMEND, YOU WON’T REGRET IT)(I mean, you might, but I don’t care, it’s great)

favorite tom hanks movie: That Thing You Do!

movie that makes you cry: Air Force One (LOOK IT IS VERY EMOTIONAL)

favorite 80’s movie: Purple Rain

favorite comedy: The Birdcage

favorite sports movie: The Cutting Edge (alternatively: that scene in Hoosiers where Coach Dale measures the height of the rim to show the team that it’s the same as it is back home in Hickory)(also: The Bad News Bears)(and A League of Their Own)(can’t forget Slap Shot)(Look, I really love a lot of sports movies, don’t get me started)

favorite courtroom movie: My Cousin Vinny (I simply cannot improve on @greengableslover‘s answer)

favorite war movie: Band of Brothers (I am cheating with a miniseries, but whatever)

favorite animated movie:  Alice in Wonderland

favorite horror movie: I’m generally a wuss when it comes to horror, but for whatever reason, I will watch Ghost Ship any time I catch it on tv, possibly because the absurdity cuts the horror/gore.

most overrated movie: Mean Girls?

favorite gangster movie: Honestly, I don’t know that I’ve ever really watched a gangster movie? Maybe if there was a gangster musical. Does West Side Story count?

movie you can watch over and over: All That Jazz

movie with the best soundtrack: Josie and the Pussycats

most embarrassing movie you love: The Pirate Movie. I HAVE NO SHAME.

favorite christmas movie: Die Hard (”Now I have a machine gun, HO HO HO”)

favorite sequel: Empire Strikes Back

i tag: @vixleonard, @thefairfleming, @theirish, @zip00198704, @liesmyth, @lunaplath, @theasexualscorpio, @dialux, @eldritch-crone, @thatgirlnevershutsup, @blackholeofprocrastination, and really, anyone who’s interested, this is a kind of fun one.

[thelordofgifs]

tumblr is being mean to me and says Part 2 is over the character limit :( so here’s Part 2a, and if splitting it fucks up my numbered list I will RAGE.

Popular fanon!

Gil-galad Russingonion. A (deservedly) popular and excellent theory. I'm a particular fan of this in light of the name Ereinion = scion of KINGS plural - Fingon and Maedhros have both been kings, after all! Satisfyingly, it makes both theories 1 and 4 above correct. Also, the poor tragic OTP deserves some happiness and fluff. This one actually splits into several sub-theories, which I'll consider separately. 1a) Fingon and Maedhros are both cis, mpreg was involved. Not generally a fan, this is one of those ancient fanfic tropes I have reflexive distaste for. Also, some of the above objections to Fëanorian Gil-galad still hold if he knows he's Maedhros' son. However, @arrivisting can make me read literally anything, and annunciation, a creepy body-horror mpreg fic, is characteristically perfect. (One of my favourite genres of Russingon is one where Maglor narrates bewilderedly. It's good.) Sub-theory as a whole gets 5/10. 1b) Either Fingon or Maedhros is trans. Solid solid theory, makes perfect sense, and hence loses a couple of points on the "weird questions need weird answers" scale. Once again, it's better if Gil-galad is unaware that Maedhros is his father. @arofili is unparalleled on these. 6/10 for the sub-theory. 1c) Gil-galad was adopted by Fingon and potentially also Maedhros. I like this one! Depending on how you spin it, it can either give excellent soft found-family vibes or just be hilarious. What is Wrought Between Us, mentioned above, is a lovely example of the former. On the other end of the spectrum is the brilliant My Girlfriend, Who Lives In Doriath by @clothonono (Maedhros where did you get that baby). 8/10 for this sub-theory. 1d) Fingon and Maedhros had a wife. I don't actually think this one is that common, and I wouldn't think very highly of it WERE IT NOT FOR Celechwes Fixes the Noldor by @tanoraqui which actually made my 2023 and it's barely started. Celechwes is perfect and the romance is lovely and then it makes you cry. Amazing fic that singlehandedly gives this sub-theory an 8/10.

we aren't even halfway Fin-galad, i.e. the delightful theory that Gil-galad is actually Finduilas daughter of Orodreth, who faked her death, changed her name and became the most successful High King of the Noldor in Middle-Earth. I'm a fan of this because it's fun&feminist, transforms a rather passive character into an active one, and blazes through the "weird answers" metric. [Edit: I missed another excellent reason why this is a great theory: the amazing symbolism of Finduilas supposedly being killed by a spear/the spear becoming Gil-galad's famed weapon of choice - I don't know what exactly to do with this but it's GOOD.] My objection to it is very petty and personal - I rather like Finduilas' story as it is, with its tragic ending. Finduilas isn't special. She doesn't duel Morgoth and Sauron like Lúthien does, or save Gondolin like Idril, or save the entire world like Elwing. She just gets a crush on a Dark and Brooding Guy who doesn't reciprocate, and then she dies - and she still matters. Her story is still important, even without the subversive happy ending the Fin-galad theory provides. If I were a character in the silm, I'd be Finduilas. Fics using this theory: the fugitive heart by @arrivisting is a breathtakingly lovely historiography/character study of Finduilas. this most ancient of sufferings at last grows fruitful by @dialux is a beautiful fic that follows Fin-galad all the way to her death. Go and read them both! 8/10 for this theory.

Gil-galad son of Lalwen. Has a solid claim to the throne, so I'm not really sure why he's lying about his lineage. This is satisfying because it actually, for a change, gives Gil-galad a mother! On the other hand, it's not very weird. Fic recs: @cycas, one of my absolute favourite silmfic authors, uses this one, with the lovely additional detail that Gil's father is Círdan! Most notable is the Return to Aman series, which I think about near-daily. The theory as a whole gets 6/10.

Part 2b, other popular fanon, to follow!

A Completely Objective Rating of Gil-galad Origin Theories

So! My Research(tm) has informed me that Tolkien conceived of at least four potential parentages for Gil-galad, last High King of the Noldor, at various points. This plothole/controversy/mystery is deeply, deeply funny to me, so I decided to make a post arbitrarily rating various Gil-galad theories and providing examples of fics where they appear.

Some disclaimers:

I am very very new to the silm fandom and also tumblr and don't actually know anything! so there is a very high chance something will go wrong here

in compiling this I was very much indebted to this post by @sweetteaanddragons and this one by @tanoraqui

your headcanons, of course, are extremely valid! no shade at all to anyone who likes one of the theories I’ve rated a bit lower, and thank you for doing your bit to deepen the controversy. the more Gil-galad theories the better

Unsurprisingly, this turned out LONG. I split the parentages into four sections: Part 1 covers supposedly canon/canon-adjacent Gil-galad theories; Part 2, popular fanon theories that I've seen in a variety of places; Part 3 will cover rare fanon theories that I've only seen basically once, and ideas I literally just made up myself.

Baseline assumptions I'm using:

The "historical record", in-universe, is primarily the Quenta Silmarillion which states that Ereinion Gil-galad was the son of Fingon; and other documents variously suggesting that he was the son of Orodreth or Finrod, or a descendant of Fëanor. Sources give him the additional names Finellach and Artanáro/Rodnor.

It's fairly widely agreed-upon that Gil-galad was an adult and the High King by the time of the Third Kinslaying, when he was based on Balar and came too late to Elwing's aid.

(This means I won't further consider some rather fun, cracky theories that are based on the argument that Gil-galad only became the High King after the War of Wrath. That seems like a slightly excessive amount of historical revisionism for my taste, when he's named as the High King well before the WoW.)

So, with those established, what makes for a good Gil-galad parentage theory?

It has to make the confusion in the historical record, in-universe, make some sort of sense. Would someone with this parentage have a claim to the crown? If not, do they have a solid motivation to lie about it? Providing a neat explanation for other aspects of Gil-galad's characterisation and the way he rules would also be a bonus.

A storytelling concept I call weird questions must have weird answers. Neat origin theories that "make sense" tend to score low on this metric. The Gil-galad controversy is funny and needs to be kept that way.

How narratively satisfying is the theory? Does it ruin anyone else's arc, or fanon I personally like? Then it's scoring low.

This is already so long-

Time for looking at the four canon-ish Gil-galad parentages!

Gil-galad son of Fingon and, presumably, some unnamed wife. This is rubbish. Makes no sense. Not a fan. No. Primarily, it is boring, the death knell to any Gil-galad theory. Also, Fingon is never actually mentioned to have a wife because he's married to Maedhros and, while textual ghosts are obviously common in the Silm, I find it slightly harder to believe that a High Queen of the Noldor managed to escape being named anywhere. You could, I suppose, argue that she died before Fingon became King, but I don't want to. The confusion in the historical record also seems unnecessary here, because Fingon's son would presumably have a pretty ironclad claim to the crown after his death and certainly after Turgon's. No fic recs here, I don't like this theory. 2/10.

Gil-galad son of Orodreth and brother of Finduilas. Even more boring, and also makes less sense. Was Gil-galad in Nargothrond during Leithian and up to its fall? In that case, why wasn't he mentioned at any point, and if he survived the fall of Nargothrond and escaped, why didn't he go after Finduilas? If he wasn't in Nargothrond by the time of Turin, we can at least forgive his failure to rescue his sister, but why was he sent away from Nargothrond when, prior to the building of the bridge, everyone believed it was safe - and why wasn't Finduilas sent away with him? Again, there's no particular reason for obfuscating this parentage, so it fails on that metric too. At least Artanáro/Rodnor is a good Finarfinion name. Fics which use this theory: What is Wrought Between Us by @nikosheba, which voids all these objections of mine quite nicely - Gil-galad son of Orodreth, adopted by Fingon and Maedhros! Also it's one of the most heart-breaking, beautiful, canon-compliant Russingon series around, go and read it. That excellent example aside, 3/10.

Gil-galad son of Finrod and (iirc) a wife called Meril. An earlier version of the legendarium discarded when Finrod was made childless. This is potentially my least favourite of the four canon-esque theories, because Finrod's childlessness is imo a fairly important part of his arc, and Meril was replaced by Amarië, to whom Finrod was very much not married at the time of his death. Pretty much the only positive is that, again, Artanáro/Rodnor suits well as a name for Finrod's son. I don't think many people like this theory - we need not consider it further here. No fic recs. 2/10.

Gil-galad descendant of Fëanor. By far the most intriguing and also most implausible canon-esque theory, and as I understand only from one early draft of the legendarium. But there is so much to play with here. If Gil-galad's father is one of the sons of Fëanor, he has a rock-solid reason to lie about his parentage. His claim to the throne is also dubious, because Maedhros abdicated on behalf of the entire house. This gives excellent con-artist Gil-galad flavours to play with. On the narrative/emotional arc metric, this one falls a little short, though. We don't need another descendant of Fëanor in the Second Age struggling with the dark and messy legacy of their family - we have Celebrimbor! And Celebrimbor's status as the last scion of his house, and how his eventual tragedy owes so much to his heritage, is very important to me. Besides, the house of Fëanor going from 7 sons in the first generation to literally just one grandchild is so haunting. On a more practical level, I also don't think Gil-galad reads as particularly close to Celebrimbor? They seem more "distant relations" than first cousins. On the other hand, if Gil-galad simply doesn't know who his parents are, a lot of these problems disappear. We can also double up a few textual ghosts by making his mother one of the unnamed wives - preferably Maglor's or Caranthir's, because Gil-galad son of Curufin feels. doubtful. Fics which use this theory: A Gift from Father to Son by @amethysttribble explores every single potential Fëanorian parentage which is very fun, for a value of "fun" involving "sobbing on the floor about how terrible all these people are". Check it out! Theory as a whole gets 5/10.

[dialux]

would you mind explaining your Indis headcanon of how she makes Feanor hate her?

I don't think it was very hard for her, actually? I think kids-- particularly possessive and defensive kids-- tend to be primed to dislike people that walk into what they define as their space, and unless that transition is handled with a lot of grace and care (which I don't actually think Finwe is capable of!) it can very easily become a) traumatic and b) unacceptable to the kid. And this was entirely Finwe's responsibility, but he was either incapable or unwilling to do what needed to be done in that respect.

Now, that's all canon. What's my approach to this is that Indis saw the path that they were going down-- i.e., one where Feanor would never accept her or her children-- and assessed her options: a) walk away from Finwe, which she and Finwe don't want; b) stay and try to make nice with Feanor, even though Feanor will never reconcile with her because Finwe has to be the one that actually kicks off that process; c) stay neutral with Feanor, because it's a dozen different kinds of awkward; or d) piss Feanor off, because if he's anything like his mother, the anger will serve as both shield and inspiration against a world in which Feanor is already disadvantaged/discriminated against.

And Indis has the clarity of thought to choose (d) because it is the only way she can help Feanor, even if it's the harder choice, even if it's the crueler choice: in this story, in fact, she's perhaps the only adult in Feanor's life that chooses to help him in a way that costs her something. Miriel, of course, chooses to stay in Mandos despite knowing elven children need extensive parental support; Finwe chooses to marry Indis and not address Feanor's wide-ranging abandonment, inferiority, and guilt complexes despite ostensibly having the most exposure to said complexes. Indis chooses (d) despite knowing it will have a negative impact on her own reputation and potential complications in the future.

It's also more meaningful, imo, to give Indis that agency and the choice in tanking her relationship with Feanor. His hatred of Indis/Indis' children is centered not only in nebulous fears and anxieties, but the very real understanding that he and Indis don't like each other and never will, and her children are extensions of Indis herself; he cannot fathom being friendly to them. It destroyed continents and burned cities to the ground, that choice and that hate, but it was still a choice, and not a simple inevitable slide downhill into wrack and ruin.

[myrish-lace-love]

fic writer appreciation/positivity meme from @jonsa-creatives

Tagged by @priestess-of-artemis thank you so much!!!

Please answer the following questions and tag 5 friends!

1) Which current fic(s) are you excited about at the moment?

I love Strictly Professional by @lathwell55 and Hysteria by @priestess-of-artemis as well as the Career Day Romance series by @vivilove-jonsa! Also love AO3 fics by Jade Masquerade (not sure if on tumblr? let me know and I’ll tag you!) 

Also anything by @buttercup--bee, @bluecichlid, @kittykatknits, @ava-rosier, @rumaan

2) Which older/finished fic(s) would you recommend and why?

The Here and Now by @jillypups is amazing! Jon and Sansa meet in the modern world and remember their past lives and I get chills each time!

His Complete Package: A Fanficton Parody by @bluecichlid is hilarious and perfectly pitched! 

heavenly creatures by @misshoneywheeler this is one of my all-time favorite jonsa fics. Sansa ties Jon up, and Jon heals her heart. I love it!

3) Can you remember the first Jonsa fic you read?

I don’t think I can!

4) Are there any writers that you think deserve more kudos/comments/general acknowledgement of awesomeness?

@maybetwice @jane-birkn @sansapotter @dialux @geekprincess26 @bluecichlid @buttercup--bee @jeeno2  @eliamartvll  @greengableslover and many others!

-Questions for the writers only-

5) What about your writing are you particularly proud of? (A certain fic? Your style? A specific paragraph or prose?) - Come on - don’t be humble! Shout about your talents!

Hmm. Well, I think I write pretty good fluffy/sweet fic? Right now I’m enjoying writing more for Getting to know my neighbor (you’re pretty cute too) - a modern AU where Jon and Sansa meet after a blackout in their apartment building.  Most recently Jon sent Sansa a series of letters while was on an all-boys vacation, telling her how he feels about her.  

I’m still proud of this excerpt from my very first fic, the wolf who loved lemoncakes (do I have a problem with bad titles? I think I have a problem with titles lol) where Sansa asks some wildling women to help her learn to fight:

***

The blond wildling leaning against a rock near the fire, with a quiver of arrows next to her, turned first as Sansa approached, her boots crunching on the snow. An animal was roasting on a spit and the women were digging into the meal, carving off pieces as they ate. It’s a hunting party. The meat smelled wonderful, and Sansa's mouth watered. They all looked at her now, one elbowing another, as the conversation died down.

“Hello,” she said, in a small voice. Damn you, Sansa, these women are warriors. Are you that much of a little bird that you can’t even chirp when they’re around? 

They’re skeptical, wary, but most acknowledge her with a nod. They know who she is.

“I...I’ve come to ask a favor of you.” she said. “I need to learn how to fight, and I thought... I thought I might ask if you would teach me.” She finished stronger, her voice clearer, carrying across the circle.

“Why d’you need to learn to fight?” asked the blond one. “I’m Dara, by the way.”

Sansa had steeled herself for that question, she’d imagined it delivered many ways, with a sneer, or a smirk or some sort of judgment, what does the fair Lady of Winterfell think she can ask of us, we’re not kneelers, shove off.  She hadn’t expected frank curiosity. That was a relief, of sorts.

“I....my last husband beat me, tortured me.” So did my first. "He hurt me, over and over, offered me to the dogs and I just...took it. I need to know how to never let that happen again.”  And I may have to marry again, and soon.

“I think you’ve got that backwards, lass,” Dara said flatly. “Aye, he beat you, raped you no doubt, tortured you...and then you escaped, brought an army down around his head and fed him to his own dogs.”

Sansa blinked, slowly. She’d never thought of it quite that way.

***

6) What do you admire about other writers?

OMG Plots! I write so many one-shots, and I’m amazed by the ability of @lathwell55 and @priestess-of-artemis and many others to write chapter after chapter of intriguing, interwoven story lines week after week.

Dark!Jon! @vivilove-jonsa @kittykatknits @jboobies @priestess-of-artemis @lathwell55 I’m looking at you ladies. I LOVE reading Dark!Jon, and they do it so well! *fans self*

Beautiful, vivid writing! @bluecichlid @buttercup--bee  @subjunctivemood I’m looking at you! I feel like I’m reading poetry when you ladies post. :) 

7) Do you listen to music whilst you write?

I don’t! I feel like maybe that’s rare? When I’m in the zone silence is what feels best and most calming. 

I tag: @kat-snow2613 @subjunctivemood @sansapotter @jane-birkn @dialux

[ava-rosier]

I was tagged by @jonsa-creatives

Please answer the following questions and tag 5 friends!

1) Which current fic(s) are you excited about at the moment? 

sugar me sweet by kattyshack (because sugar baby shenanigans i never knew i needed in my life), We Will Be the Walls of This House by tornadodream (post s7/8 marriage of convenience YAS), and The Black Night (Westerosi WW2 AU ftw!!!!) by ideliagirl.

2) Which older/finished fic(s) would you recommend and why? That’s like asking me to choose my favorite wine when there are so many so good. I’m still a slut for Learn to Love What Burns by jynscassian which she’s also started rewriting but that one’s a WIP rn. Also the ‘time-travel-Sansa’ fic by Dialux is the cat’s meow.

I’m picking those two because the concept inspired one of my fics :D. Which...I should probably get around to updating someday in the next century...

3) Can you remember the first Jonsa fic you read? Lord no, it’s been so long and I thought it would just be a phase and not a thing that would consume my life.

Narrator voice: It did indeed consume her life.

4) Are there any writers that you think deserve more kudos/comments/general acknowledgement of awesomeness? So many but imma give a shoutout to @lathwell55 (Amymel) who supplies me with smut I didn’t have to write.

-Questions for the writers only-

5) What about your writing are you particularly proud of? (A certain fic? Your style? A specific paragraph or prose?) - Come on - don’t be humble! Shout about your talents!

I feel like I’m good at ~ideas~ (worldbuilding), planning out plot/character arc ideas that fit together, and smut :D. I couldn’t choose between my fics which one I’m most proud of, they’re my children and I love them all equally.

Me, earlier today: I don’t know why all my fics can’t be more like ‘tongue-tied disservice’.

6) What do you admire about other writers? The ability to crank out a 75k+ finished fic? Sometimes I look at other ppl’s fics and think I should sit down and analyze a page here, a paragraph here, because if I do, I might structure my own sentences better. For some reason I feel like I’ve dumbed down my word choice lately so I need to analyze wtf is up with that.

7) Do you listen to music whilst you write? No, but I usually have Netflix on in the distance. Also I sometimes think of songs/music lyrics and use that as partial inspiration for how I approach the story or the characters.

I shall tag... @tweed-queen, @obiwan-katnobi, @eliamartvll, @tubbylita (because u haven’t given up on my sanberyn fics *teary kitten eyes*), aaaannndddd @vivilove-jonsa! Do or not do, there is no try.

[thedarkestgreys]

Thank you for the tag @bythunder :) The tag was to answer eleven questions and then ask eleven of your own. 1. What would you sing at Karaoke night? Probably some classic Britney Spears or maybe Taylor Swift. 

2. What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done? Oh man. So maybe not “daring” but my husband and I flew across the country to meet @jillypups last year and it was so much fun but also a little terrifying at first. 

3. What was the last book you read? I have a bad habit of reading several books at a time, so I’m not entirely sure the last book I finished was. Um. I am currently reading Morning Star (book 3 of the Red Rising Trilogy) and Yellow Brick War (book 3 in the Dorothy Must Die series) but I’m not sure what the last one I finished was. 

4. What was your first fandom Oh my goodness. Anyone remember the Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire? Because little 10/11 year old Bex first started writing fanfiction for that show and posted it on FF.net hahaha. I was really proud of myself and it was probably horrible and unreadable but what can I say?

5. Your favorite place you’ve ever been, where is it? Is it lame to say Disney World? Nothing makes my heart as happy as when I’m at WDW and if that’s lame than I’m okay with that. 

6. Tell me about your pets if you have any. If not, tell me about any you had and/or want. Roxy the do, she’s a yorkie/chihuahua mix. Milo and Kit are my kitties and I am obsessed with them. 

7. If animals could talk, which would be the rudest? Cats probably! Or ya know, I feel like monkeys would be quite rude. 

8. What movie/s scared you as a child? So uh... The Little Mermaid is my FAV and all but the part where Ursula dies used to scare the shit out of me as a kid. 

9. What is the funniest joke you know by heart? Why can't you hear a pterodactyl go to the bathroom? Because the "P" is silent! (I’m sure @riahchan would enjoy this one!)

10. Do you have anything from childhood that you’ve ‘outgrown’ but refuse to let go of? My teddy bear. Her name is Benjamina (I called her Ben) and she currently lives in my bedroom closet. 

11.  What’s your “go to” video or gif for a laugh? Either Bad Romance feat. Nigel Thornberry or Taylor Swift Trouble (Goat Remix) Now for eleven of my own questions! 1) If you were a color, how would you describe it?  2) Who would win in a fight, a Hippogriff or an Acromantula? 3) If you had to eat either a cupful of mayo or a stick of butter, what would you pick?  4) What is your favorite euphemism? 5) What is your all time favorite fanfic? (any fandom!) 6) Have you ever watched a movie that was so terrible that when it ended you wished you could get those twoish hours of your life back, and what movie was it? 7) Were you Team Edward or Team Jacob (everyone had an opinion okay?) 8) What is your favorite song from the year you were born? 9) What is your favorite constellation?  10) Spaghetti-O’s or Instant Ramen? 11) What is your favorite part of any holiday meal? tagging: @beyondmythought-s @jillypups @dialux @sassyeggs74 @vanillacoconuts @sarahcakes613 @sweetaprilbutterfly @youkindofblowmeaway or anyone who feels the need to answer these questions of mine. 

[dialux]

What's your stance on people who want to write fanfics of your fanfics or fanfics inspired by bits of lore you came up with? Do you allow it? 100% checking because I want to write something but I will not unless I receive permission (which you are entitled to refuse obviously).

Absolutely! Always happy to have fics inspired by my stuff!

[dialux]

🔥 fashion/clothing

I will echo @skyeventide and say buy less but ALSO I will add the complaints abt fashion today have literally never made sense to me ever. I have fifteen year old jeans I bought from Walmart that are yet to rip or fray or even fade, and shirts that I've had for even longer and bought from cheaper places. Ross has so much shit under ten dollars that's such good quality and you're telling me your complaints abt clothes aren't a skill issue? Unless you're literally doing hard labor in this stuff, WHERE is it ripping?? How is it fraying??? Complaints abt gold in the same timeframe make so much more sense to me than clothes lmao

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hey! are you still giving director cuts for fics? cause i would really really love one on the Ghosts AU--both of them, if at all possible, cause they're some of my favourite asoiaf fics of all time <33 :DD

I am ALWAYS down to talk about my fic lol but VERY SPECIFICALLY these two because. Like. I finished tempest ages ago and wanted that to be a vvv self-contained story. It was over and done with. I was done!!! And then 2023 started and I was like: Maybe Not Lol.

So like, Tempest was totally just about women, right? It's about forgotten women, dead women, and legacies not wholly lost; what can be done in a world by a girl who is kind, loves her family, and can see the dead? Quite a lot! Apparently! It's the Tyrion quote -- We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance in our steads. -- but made real and honest and in-your-face, because there is no "before us," just what we have here and now, even when we think we have nothing.

And of course so much of that story is tied up in legacies, in living up to your family's expectations, in righting your family's wrongs, in doing better than those that came before you. But the ending that I knew I had to write-- because I believed it, because it mattered to me-- was one where that wasn't the ending. Because life cannot be lived for others, no matter if they're our ancestors or our friends: Sansa sends her dead family beyond the circles of this world and it's a triumphant moment for her even as it wounds her irreparably, because she is no longer bound to their desires, to anything other than her own memory and her own choices.

Enter Burn. God. This story was wholly and entirely conceived by me seeing HOTD and going "WHYYYY DO WE CAREEEEEEEE" and then being like "No Actually This Sucks. Let Me Write Almost 70k On Why." And THEN I was like "what if I resolved the Stark family issues in the first 50k and wrote another 70k on the Targ issues. What Then." And I spent five chapters torturing Jon Snow because he annoys me A Lot (insert joke on dia being the 21st century alliser thorne), talking about how civilizations founded on slavery/supremacy rhetoric aren't, yk, INSPIRATIONAL, and underling in bold red pen the idea that asoiaf culture is inherently fucked and cannot be saved except by walking away from it, Omelas-style. Idk if that comes through! But jeeeeeeeesus was that totes my specific thesis statement

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Hello! Hope you're having a good day!! Idk if u got my previous ask, but I just wanted to know if you're still doing director's cut and if you are then could you do one for 'i imagined a dark world where the stars clamor to be inside us' aka the feanor and findis fic? I've read it so many times its insane and I just love it so much!! I'd love to know your thoughts when u wrote it

In your findis fic, at the end, is my understanding that feanor ended up making horcruxes or something adjacent to horcruxes right?

Combining these two bc I'm pretty sure they're from the same person!

Literally this started because of the LOTR/ASOIAF crossover AU, where Sansa's dropped into ME and mistakes Boromir for her father: I hadn't read LOTR in AAAAAAAGES and so I hopped onto Tolkien Gateway to learn more about the timeline. My search essentially went Boromir -> Third Age -> Age -> First Age -> Feanor -> SILM.

I then started reading the Silm (keep in mind this is in covid-lockdown in 2020) and found myself so absolutely disinterested in the Valar that I skipped all of it to go to chapter 6 (THEE Feanor chapter), and found myself very confused. So I hopped back onto Tolkien Gateway and used their incredibly useful family trees to keep everyone straight in my head. As I'm doing all of this, I'm struck by the similarities between the Finwean kids and the Stark kids, especially Findis/Sansa-- but at this point all I'm thinking is eldest daughter eldest daughter, nothing else. I put Findis into the crossover fic anyway (still know nothing about her apart from the TG page!) and get on with the rest of the Silm.

And then I find out that there are a number of similarities between Sansa and Findis beyond simple birth order, including favoring their mother, presumably being pious, etc etc. I start reading PoME and HoME. I start building an idea of Findis in my own head from, like, four lines total in all this reading.

Annoyed at the lack of canon material, I go to ao3. This is April of 2020; after filtering for languages, I get about a 100 works. I scan a few, but don't find the character I'm looking for. This is mostly because I've wholesale made this character up myself. I scowl at myself and sulk for a few days. Then I start writing. I post the story in a month's time, and in the process I've gotten so many feelings about the Silm that, a full three years later, I still haven't managed to deal with any of them.

Re: the story itself!! I personally think of the Finweans as a little bit incomprehensible, as more mythologized even to their own family than any normal elf; I wanted to explore that idea in the story, particularly how it feels when one person becomes a myth, and how it feels to be left behind when that happens. Feanor does it first, of course, but Findis isn't far behind-- chapter 2 is all about Feanor leaving Findis (and everyone else in his family, through Findis' eyes), but chapter 3 is very purposely from everyone's perspective but Findis, so we can see how it feels for them when she's walked away.

And yes, Findis does in fact create a couple of horcruxes. So does Feanor. They're good horcruxes, though, ig? Don't need murder, are simply like the... laboratory equivalent of soul fission, and yet with some ephemeral connection to the og soul. Afaik the Valar didn't ask before hallowing the Silms as well, so! Not exactly great when imperfect people have parts of their souls hallowed!

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🔥 shipping

Truly fucking loathe the idea of certain ships being morally superior to others lmao. Esp as someone who's been reading batman fic for almost six months now, every single time I see someone saying something like "batcest shippers dni" etc etc I back outta that fic AT ONCE. Not to mention!! Most of these ppl don't even have a blood relationship!!!! The purity wank is OFF the charts (when, in got fandom, one of the most common pairings is literally bw either half siblings or cousins). I do not like that stance, do not like that belief, and refuse to engage w it as well.

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🔥fandom culture

Hmmm I think I've been seeing a lot of posts talking abt current fandom culture being against commenting on old fics, or refusing to jump into older fandoms in general, and like. I REALLY don't think that's true lmao. Like obviously there's going to be uptick in activity in fandoms when there's new media being put out and a drop when there isn't- that was true back in 2008 when the last hp movie came out as well, but that fandom sure as hell hasn't died out. and it's even more true of JRRT fandoms! We haven't had any big media injections since the last Hobbit film came out and we're all still chugging along nicely.

i also think it's disingenuous at best to look at the issue of shortened attention spans (a genuine problem! For a lot of kids!) through the lens of fic and fan engagement. To all things there are cycles. People drift away. Some people come back. Expecting otherwise is the issue here.

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🔥

I don't like beards. I will be upfront abt that. But what I like even LESS are patchy beards. Like!!! If beards are supposed to be symbols of virility and hairiness = manliness etc etc etc then surely it is better to not enter the fray at all than to show off a three day long mold infestation and compare that to the full coat sitting RIGHT NEXT TO YOU IN THE BAR?????????

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🔥 crossovers

I get that the line gets blurred in JRRT fandoms bc it's all set in the same world, but it REALLY irritates me when fic supposedly set in the First Age has a LOTR/Hobbit fandom tags on it, presumably solely for increased readership. If a fic is set in the Third Age but is only abt the Feanorians coming back to life in Valinor, that isn't a LOTR fic. If you're writing something in a niche fandom, own up to it. Don't tag irrelevant or tangential fandoms. Crossovers are a distinct class of fic altogether, and should be treated that way. (To be fair, this is also partially AO3's fault: in fandoms like Harry Potter, both the Grindelwald movies and the videogames fall under the umbrella tag of Harry Potter; this is not under authorial control.) BUUUUT that doesn't mean that a) authors should change their tagging methods OR b) we should accept AO3's umbrella tagging (without a more specific tag).