#i finished swdktowl

[chrisrin]

some doodles of The Sanguine (aka the Second Signless) and his Disciple <3 

based on this fic by @callmearcturus​

[callmearcturus]

Arc I absolutely do not want to interrupt your MI kick as I am enjoying it deeply but I finally finished reading SWDKTOWL and I need to scream about.... all of it honestly. I have not read homestuck but the way you write them makes me want to and also makes me deeply sure I will be disappointed with the source material.

Also I know you are like patron Saint of glass animals and fucked up (deeply affectionate) dirkjake vibes, so can we talk about how Tangerine is thee song for KTOWL dirkjake?

oh don't worry, no one can interrupt my MI kick, least of all me or you. it will run its course like a fever.

SEE I THINK Homestuck is good actually. I think it's very good. I tend to write adult versions of the characters when the canon is about 13 and then 16 year olds, but you should give HS a shot! Go grab the Unofficial Collection!

fun fact, i called up Glass Animals the other day and was like "hey is the dreamland album about Jake English?" and they were like "omg yeah how'd you know?" because almost every song on that fucking album is just excerpts from Jake's autobiography.

"Tangerine" is def the most KTOWLy tho for sure.

[jaboody]

finished swdktowl

if i had a nickel for every novel length good ending au that ended with dirk happily in a collar i’d have two nickels

which isn’t a lot but it’s awesome it happened twice

[sillystorm28]

been a hot minute since I did fanart for @callmearcturus but fucken hell this *would not leave my brain* XD I also remembered why I prefer to do lineart but ah well, m happy with how it turned out!!

chapter 19 of https://archiveofourown.org/works/35189707/chapters/91458634 (highly recommend, been a loooongtime fan of Arc n holy shit this doesnt disappoint :3c)

[callmearcturus]

It's 1am and I should be asleep but

I finished blocking out the rest of SWDKTOWL

And I believe the final chapter will be chapter 30

Fucking love a good round number

[callmearcturus]

for the fic asks: L, T, X for SWDKTOWL? or O, S for the eurydice suite 2.0?

KTOWL:

Was there a scene you wanted to fit into the story but didn't wind up making it in?

LMAO uuuuh I wrote a whole bonus chapter that was just an excuse for Karkat lifting Dave against a wall and banging him, but I reworked the blocking for another scene. There are still more scenes to write with the lil coda and mini sequel but we'll get there eventually.

Was there something you wished more people noticed?

I THOUGHT JAKE'S NICKNAME FOR KARKAT WAS V SEXY BUT OH WELL. lmao it's fine, I still like it enough for everyone. Also I am curious how many people reread the early chapters and realized that pretty much everything Calliope does is dreadful. The intended effect is meant to be that going back makes you realize wtf she's doing.

Also the implications that Jake might not exactly be Jade's grandson. But that's just me having fun.

Did you write this fic in order? What scenes did you write first and last?

This was actually the first fic I wrote out of order. I have always been a very big proponent for writing start to finish because it makes it easier to monitor the tempo and flow of the story. But because KTOWL was just a much more complicated story than anything I had done yet, I did need to hop around a bit. IIRC I wrote only like 2 chapters before I hopped to The Abraxas Intermission and wrote all of that, which informed the entirety of Act One. And similarly, I wrote the second intermission before finished Act Two because they feed into each other.

KTOWL is a very big complicated story that I'm still kind of baffled that I executed on. Looking back there isn't a lot I would refine or change, which is unusual for something so Bigg yanno?

The Eurydice Suite, v2.0

Was there any research involved in this story?

OH MY GOD LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. When I was planning on doing a podfic of the story, I wanted to find the correct pronunciation of PASIV and Somnacin, right? So I sat down and watched an hour and 40 minutes of fucking Inception, totally baffled, like where the fuck is it? Where do they say it? SURPRISE: THEY DON'T. ITS ONLY IN THE SCRIPT AND THE LORE MATERIALS. fuck you nolan. i decide how its fucking said. or I would have if I didn't deep-six that podfic lmao.

Is it a personal favorite fic of yours?

Yes. Its a fic that saved my life, and in looking back I feel like I accidentally taught myself how to survive a certain kind of trauma, one I was going through at the time. I love TES.

[callmearcturus]

Will we get to see more of dirk and jake together in the epilogues? I love their dynamic in this story so so much,,, also congratulations on finishing it! I’ve been following your fics for years and they’re always such a delight to read! You’re very talented!!

(remember you can blocklist #swdktowl wrapup)

Oh absolutely. They do have a very Specific dynamic which I like to call "i'm the only motherfucker in this world who can handle you" x 2 combo

Thank you for reading, it's been an absolute joy to write.

[callmearcturus]

the newest chapter of SWDKTOWL is nearly finished

my new keyboard is arriving today

i am considering posting it tonight/tomorrow as a thank you gift

shit is about to Seriously Pop Off

Hot Karkat Nation, rise up

[callmearcturus]

sorry if this is kinda hard to read or incomprehensible, etc, i’m just gushing about how much i love your work but i kinda suck at that (reason for anon lol) so…

anyway okay four things

A. i just finished reading SWDKTOWL and just.. Goddamn ¡ , i fucking love it. like. in the beginning, you can see the john wick influence on the story and at first i was just like “holy shit how would you make a homestuck/john wick crossover type deal work” but i’m just actually amazed at how you take everything and turn it into your own world while still keeping it close to the original material.

B. you really take the whole 15 second fight thing to heart, almost every fight in the story that i remember happens so violently quick that i have to do reading equivalent of a double-take and read it over about 5 times to make sure i understand. and that’s amazing.

C. it’s probably just me being stupid and immature but there’s something about the more *Intimate* scenes that have this weird mix of sexy and really really funny to me ¿ during the explicit parts of the story i find myself kind of just giggling like an idiot. ps. you capture that strider motor-mouth babble so fucking well so that’s probably why. dave still having enough focus to act like a witty douchebag even while having the fuck of his life is hilarious to me

D. as i have started to get more and more into reading fanfic, i have realized that i tend to find about 3-5 songs and latch onto them as some sort of barebones soundtrack for whatever i’m reading. you’re the first author i’ve actually shown. they probably don’t fit into the story perfectly and they probably don’t fit roughly either. but i think that somewhat capture the moods and feels that you were going for

https://youtu.be/Rn_PuBlInjU

https://youtu.be/-7hbqxnhzU8

https://youtu.be/WILsR0wJY5M

i can’t wait to get to the rest of your work, this was an amazing first impression and a story that set the bar high for me.

this is such a kind comment. i'm so glad the fight scene thing stood out. i'm not sure i'm good at writing action sequences so i try to lean on the idea of expedience. there's this phrase from FATT, the idea of “the most Cohen Brothers 5 to 7 seconds of weird, upsetting, asymmetrical violence” that deeply stuck with me.

Like, when Karkat fights someone, it's very asymmetrical. He either gets an early upper hand or he bails the fuck outta there. All of his fights follow that same tempo. Jake and Dirk on the other hand are dangerously evenly matched so every fight between them is a fucking slog and it's a mess. TWO VERY DISTINCT FLAVORS, all dictated by that initial principle of "you have 15 seconds or you're dead."

i'm glad you like the sex scenes too, i deeply enjoy writing them and imbuing them with as much personality as i can.

this music is good and i wrote this entire reply to that first instrumental, this is nice and oh my god IS THAT JAY? YOU LINKED ME JAY! hang on i gotta listen. IS THAT OLD KANYE? wait he's not even doing a verse he's just doing amp ups, lmao.

yeah this is aces, thank you.

[callmearcturus]

just finished my third fic of yours (swdktowl) and oh my god. oh my GOD. i kind of stumbled back into homestuck a few months ago and i hadn't read fanfiction since i was a teenager. i came across your work a little while ago and you have had me by the NECK... reading your works has become the highlight of my day. it's such a treat but also SO INSANE to find such a talented and passionate writer posting this stuff for free! sending you a ko-fi this instant. thank you for sharing your talents <3

sdklfjasdk THAT WAS VERY NICE

aaaaaand i immediately put it towards a new keycaps set that was on sale so thank you, because boy howdy i needed the pick me up. i'm glad you liked it! hope you enjoy the rest! if you haven't read The Eurydice Suite yet that's the one i'd tackle next 8)

[callmearcturus]

new SWDKTOWL tomorrow. the rough is finished now but it's so intense i need to take a fucking walk and relax before doing the clean up.

dominoes gonna start fallin