Would you please share excepts for the ask game?
1. that makes me smile
3. that encompasses my style
7. that i nursed in a daydream before finally writing
14. that was out of my comfort zone
25. that i consider a favourite
Feel free to skip one of them if you don't feel like answering! 🥰
Thank youuuu!
You said it was okay to use non-dw snippets, so I have put two of those now. But I added a dw snippet for good measure to those questions, hope that's okay 😅I also managed to include 3 actual WIPs, so yay :)
that makes me smile
Aww, the first fic that came to mind was Love is a four-letter word, which is a coming-out fic featuring the Penderwick sisters Skye and Jane.
Just - the whole series is such a feel-good story? It tastes like childhood comfort and the queer undertones are way too obvious to be screwed over in the last book. Anyway, headcanoning all the members of the family as queer is self-care and those girls are so soft and such siblings and the fic makes me smile without fail every time.
Skye sighed again, but this time it sounded less annoyed.
"Listen Jane, I love you" she said and it sounded almost gentle. "But I don't think I am the right person to talk to about this. Romance and stuff. I don't really... do... that. Can't you ask Rosy? I am sure she would love to help you out."
"Rosy does not share a room with me, though" Jane demurred.
"Lucky her" Skye murmured. "Probably sleeping right now."
"Skye!" Jane complained. "This is serious! People die from heartbreak all the time; I need to know what I am dealing with."
"You won't die from heartbreak tonight; I can promise you that much" Skye scoffed.
"Are you sure?" Jane asked. Her heart did feel a little clammy whenever she thought about Caroline and her textbook rim artworks. Or about what that weirdness might mean that always seemed to befall her when Caroline was nearby.
"Dead sure" Skye answered solemnly. "You don't even know whether you're in love. I am sure it is scientifically impossible to die from heartbreak in that case."
Jane breathed out loudly in relief. "Thank you."
(Jane is me and also Skye is me <3 (Skye has a math class the next day so enough sleep is vital bc you can't be tired for your favourite subject, now can you?))
But have a short dw snippet, too, because that might be more interesting for you. It's from the unfinished episode-fic that would come before The woman who kills the Doctor (- it's the lkh rewrite WIP):
“Left – sharp turn!”
The car swerved around in one swift motion and Mels grabbed onto the seat backs in front of her to avoid being thrown about.
“Now right!”
“No, left!”
“What?” Amy turned around the chart frantically at the correction while Rory started panicking.
“Which one?” he shouted.
“Left!” Mels repeated at the same time as Amy cried:
“Right!...Hang on, no wait, she’s right: left!”
“What?!” Rory was hitting the wheel in frustration while, this time in unison, the girls called:
“Left!!”
Only a little too late Rory yanked the wheel around, making them all lean involuntarily towards the right. Mels erupted in laughter.
“If we continue like this, this is gonna spell ‘Dorito’ when we’re done” she claimed.
“Shut up” Amy growled. “You’re doing great, Rory.”
“Yeah, he is” Mels snorted.
“Now listen here, little lady” Amy turned around, her eyes pulled to dangerous slits.
“Amy!” Rory shrieked before she could continue. “Where do I go next?!”
Pond family drawing crop circles together <3 (No, Amy does not know Mels is their daughter yet, btw, that's part of why this makes me smile)
3. that encompasses my style
I don't knoooow. How do I know what my style is and what is representative?? Okay, I'll try, how about this from a WIP for my Division AU:
“Seriously?” Mels blinked. “You aren't even trusting me to get you a drink? I was kidding earlier when I said this would be a good exercise, but – I see that I was very wrong about your level of trust in me.”
She tried to make it sound like a joke, but she couldn't deny, that stung. She would have expected herself to trust the Doctor more than vice versa, but a fucking drink? That shouldn't have been too much to ask.
“Mels,” the Doctor was suddenly pressing the card into her hand, her gentle voice calling her away from her somber thoughts, “of course I trust you, love. I was making a joke.”
“What?” Mels had trouble processing – and that was a little annoying because usually she was the one who got to make the Doctor malfunction with a well placed innuendo or affirmation of fondness.
A smile was tugging at the Doctor's lips as she reached for Mels' other hand, closing it around the card.
“You said I got to annoy you today,” she reminded Mels, “I'm just trying my best to live up to that role.”
Mels let out a relieved laugh, grasping the card tightly and turning her upper hand so she could take the Doctor's and pull her in.
“You are stellar in the annoying underling role, darling,” she promised, pressing a kiss to her lips. “It's like it was written for you.”
The Doctor preened for a second, before the words properly registered.
“Hey, now - “ she tried to protest, but Mels had already stepped away from her.
“Find us a table, Doctor,” she grinned. “That's an order!”
I believe this encompasses my style, mostly for the way we move between jokes and heartfelt bits. I think I do that a lot - especially for this AU - putting in funny bits to even out the harsh reality and also putting heavy stuff into the lighthearted scenes to keep you on your toes.
Here, they've been joking around a little before, bickering (I cut that bc this is already too long a snippet - then again 'being too long' IS my style -), then Mels is hit by self-doubt, the Doctor turns serious to reassure her and they immediately go back to banter - and kissing.
The way dialogue is intercepted by introspection and a few descriptions of what is happening here is also representative of my style, I believe.
7. that i nursed in a daydream before finally writing
All my fics are results of daydreams, basically. But there are a few where I wrote down the dialogue as I dreamed about it and that didn't get changed much after. One of them is in Dance with Me (or: Selling the Cover for Gat) (part of the Division AU) and I know you have been meaning to read that anyway ;)
“Aww” Karvanista cooed mockingly. “You two are too cute.”
The Doctor stepped back immediately, her hands leaving Mels’, and cleared her throat.
“Just selling the cover for Gat” she said with a fake smile, smoothing down the sides of the fancy suit Tecteun hat gotten her for the occasion. “Right?”
“Right” Mels agreed, but she couldn’t help a smile while she took a sip of her champagne.
“Just that ‘selling the cover for Gat’ is not the mission, is it?” Gat’s snide voice sounded in her ear again and by now she sounded positively miffed. “That is only the very baseline of what you are supposed to be doing. You are supposed to be looking for the target. And you will find him neither in each other’s eyes like you have apparently been believing for the last 8 minutes, nor staring at cake decorations –“
The Doctor pulled an annoyed grimace and Mels bit her lips against a grin.
“Nor eyeing up unsuspecting Malmooths” Gat continued.
“Hey, she was definitely into it” Mels complained while the Doctor’s eyebrows raised to her hairline.
“Literally not the point” Gat said. “Besides this is a married-only event, she was definitely here with someone.”
“You spent your time without me flirting with other people” the Doctor inquired sternly, “and have the audacity to complain about me getting you a drink?! A fine wife you are.”
I spoke those lines (more or less) into my phone while taking a snowy winter walk <3 I should probably have paid more attention to the gorgeous nature than the Division team in my head, but no regrets :)
14. that was out of my comfort zone
Anytime I venture close to smut 😅 oh, also heavy angst. Which one do you prefer?
Let's go with the one leaning into smut. It's still mature level intimacy, I would say, but it was the first time I so much as brushed towards it, so, like, I didn't feel entirely comfortable writing it. I do think it is sweet, though (oh, this is from Somewhere in My Memory btw):
“Not here, Sweetie” [River] said with a wink. “I did not specifically order a bed to have you against a picture of my late husband.”
“You ordered the bed?” the Doctor chuckled, slinging her hands around River’s neck. “Of course, you did.”
“A lady has to be prepared” River said, kissing her again. “Come on then, jump up.”
Without hesitation, the Doctor jumped, slinging her legs around River’s middle and letting her carry her towards the bed.
“Oh, look at that, I’m taller than you again” she commented happily, leaning down to kiss River’s nose. “Now this feels right.”
River rolled her eyes fondly. “Shut up, Doctor.”
“Not a chance” the Doctor grinned. Then she yelped, as River squeezed her butt in retaliation.
A devilish smirk played at River’s mouth as she lowered the Doctor onto the mattress.
“We’ll see about that, Sweetie” she hummed, her hands cupping the Doctor’s breasts and immediately affirming her words in taking the Doctor’s breath away. “We’ll see about that.”
And like, that's literally it. The scene ends there. Still, that was daunting to write for me.
25. that i consider a favourite
Oh wow. I mean, choosing a favourite fic was already tough. A favourite SNIPPET? Impossible 😅 But, luckily, it is a favourite, so I'll just go with any snippet, I enjoy :)
Wanna read some lines in German about a ghost playing the piano? This is from Mary Shelley's Murder Mystery Invite Only Casual Travel/Journey For Friends Diary:
„Dann konzentrier dich weniger und lass dich mehr treiben“, schlug [Robert] vor. „Musiker denken nicht, sie fühlen.“
Mary wollte ihm nicht noch einmal erklären, dass sie einfach keine Musikerin war. So wandte sie sich resigniert wieder den Tasten zu.
„Schließ die Augen“, riet Robert ihr. „Spür dem Gefühl des Liedes nach und lass dich fallen.“
Gehorsam schloss Mary die Augen, konzentrierte sich dafür aber umso stärker auf ihre Finger, mit denen sie die Tastatur streifte. Dann begann sie zu spielen.
Sie merkte den Unterschied sofort. Hatte sie vorher nur einzelne Töne gespielt, hörte, nein spürte, sie jetzt die Musik, die ihre Finger wie von selbst in den Raum setzten. Sie lauschte der Melodie und merkte kaum, wie sie einfach die Kontrolle aufgab.
Erst, als mit einem Mal die Musik verstummte, aber ihre Finger weiterspielten, erwachte sie unsanft. Sie riss die Augen auf und beobachtete entsetzt ihre Finger, die gerade wieder aus den Tasten auftauchten.
Verdammt.
I do still prefer my German way of writing, I have to say. The fear of making mistakes is just less severe. With English, I am always convinced I have used at least one word incorrectly in every sentence without noticing.
But let's add another dw snippet from a WIP to this, shall we? I don't know whether I will ever finish this one, but I have started working on a very fluffy fugitive Doctor & River & Jenny piece called Family Outing (for now):
The Doctor made a move to hold her back but River intertwined their hands instead, pulling her in the other direction.
“Stop fussing, Sweetie” she said strictly, smoothing down the Doctor’s lapels with her free hand. “And let her have some fun. Jenny is a clever girl, she’ll be okay. Besides, no one will suspect us coming here, so we’ll be in the clear.”
Only now the Doctor took in her surroundings. They were on a spaceship, alright, a luxurious space cruiser to be exact. Aliens of all species and sizes were milling about, at least two thirds of them of the kind the Doctor did not want to see approach her daughter and at least half of them kinds the Division would engage. None of them were visibly carrying weapons at least and the Doctor knew Jenny had a knife hidden in her bigger-on-the-inside pocket and a blaster strapped to her thigh – in exactly the same spot where River was wearing hers.
The evening menu of the adjacent restaurant was reading ‘pufferfish flambé’ and ‘Sontar wings with roasted Adipose’ and ‘We’re always ready to prepare your tag-alongs in your preferred manner’ and suddenly the Doctor understood where River had brought them.
“No” she breathed, stopping dead in her tracks. “This isn’t…”
“…the Harmony and Redemption” River completed for her, apparently very pleased with herself. “Told you, I was good.”
“River” the Doctor pulled her even closer and dropped her voice to a whisper, her eyes flitting nervously between Jenny and the surrounding mass-murderers. “We really shouldn’t be here.”
“Brilliant, eh?”
I just love River being cocky and the Doctor staring incredulously like "Do you want us getting killed?!"
I also very much love the way what I have written so far ends midsentence, and the sentence is:
Before the Doctor could decide whether shooting Flemming here and now would cause too much of a scene or could possibly be considered an overreaction
(Flemming dared to look at Jenny, so, no the Doctor's not overreacting at all <3)
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the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.
three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.
two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.
their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.
one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.
i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.
i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.
and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?
you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.
a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.
someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.
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💖 Day 3.5 is now available! 💖
For the last couple of months, only Server Boosters had access to the 3.5 update... Buuuuut now it's available for everyone to play in the 14DWY Discord — and soon itch.io once I'm happy with the QA and state of the game — so please don't feel pressured to join unless you want to!!
The full devlog + even more screenshots are under the cut ^^
What's been added to the 3.5 version?
📺 Streamer Mode!
I've been told that it's difficult to stream and monetise age-restricted videos on YouTube and Twitch, so I added an option to remove the sexual content and strong language used in the demo.
Now y'all can invite Ren into your bed for cuddles without putting your streamer career on the line /silly /lh
This won't affect the 18+ rating or dark themes/elements of the game, however! Although Streamer Mode will prevent you from seeing any "gruesome" CGs in the future, most of the core elements of the game will still be tied to the choices and decisions you make. So you won't miss out on the overall experience by using streamer mode!!
⚙️ Custom Pronouns!
It only took me one entire year to get around to it, but you can finally choose your own preferred pronouns (or use a set of pronouns instead)... At the cost of being able to change them mid-game ^^;
Since the original pronoun screen wouldn't update until a new scene was displayed, I temporarily disabled the feature. But once I find a workaround, I'll bring it back!
💗 Choose how others perceive you!
You can now choose how the cast and narration perceive you! Originally, the narration was kept strictly gender-neutral (outside of pronouns and genitalia picked by the player), but this will soon change in future updates.
For more clarity: you don't get to choose the words specifically, but you can choose between masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms!
📋 Separate top and bottom genitalia!
You can now choose your tatas and pps separately! >:3
Alongside that, you can also choose your preferred body type!
I removed the "both" genitalia option because a few players still assumed it was an obscure version of "intersex". That wasn't my intention and I don't want to mislead anyone, so I took it out for now ^^;
I also didn't want to include a screenshot of the new genitalia choices in action (because it's NSFW), so y'all get the same character menu screen for the nth time instead lmao
📱 Relationship Screen Overhaul!
You can now change your own status for more immersion, and long-term Server Boosters will eventually be able to submit and use their own icon within the game as well!
Stalking finding your friends has now become easier by using "Buddy Maps"; a new app that allows you to see the location of all the cast members!
I want to offer players more incentive to check the relationship screen since they tend to miss the status updates, so hopefully this might help ;v;
It also says it "updates every few hours" so folks don't go overboard and check every 5 seconds to see where Ren is gdsghf (also keep in mind that he's a hacker lol)
🖤 Additional Scenes Update!
Day 2 received a brand new CG!!!!! Originally, I planned on only adding a few CGs sporadically throughout the game, but it didn't feel right to leave Day 2 so... empty... so I added a brand new CG to (hopefully) make things feel more balanced and natural!
If you decline Teo's offer on Day 3, Leon will now call and try to convince you to reconsider. However, players are still allowed to decline, and if they do, they'll reach a dead end.
After listening to feedback on itch, I changed some of the dialogue during Days 1-3 to make it seem more consistent! They're only small changes though, so it's honestly not worth looking for sdgjssga
🎶 Updated BGM and SFX!
I wanted to try out a different style of music to see if it fits the vibe of 14DWY more! The BGM features more acoustics to suit the "beachy" theme of Corland Bay, though I made a conscious effort to include piano elements as well to stay true to the original!!
I figured it'd be better to give players a live example before I make a poll (to see if they prefer the change or not) and publish it to Itch.
Some new SFX have also been added, though it's very minimal and honestly not that noticeable.
How to download and play the update?
(warning: clicking on the following links will open Discord!!)
To download the Day 3.5 update, simply join the 14DWY Discord server, verify your age, and visit the "14dwy-updates" channel!
Alternatively, you can also wait until the update is publicly released on Itch to play it as well!! (It normally gets released shortly after a round of QA testing/getting feedback from the server, though I may release it earlier if I feel like it hehe ^^)
Enjoy!!
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