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just wanted to share this with as much people as possible

#the Gale brainrot is still bad i've just been too busy to write

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Swords & Sorcery - 8 Piece Dice Set

- There's a gust of Weave about you, but it's a mere breeze. I need a tempest.

#immediate thought GALE ROCKS!!!

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Because we have the same WIP title going on, I must now ask about it. Tell me about your Driftwood, plz and thank?

Perfect reason to ask!

Driftwood is my first crossover fic*. It's also my most contemporary WIP.**

It sort of drifted into my head slowly over the Holidays, which is suitable considering the title. It had sort of been brewing for a while.

As you might have noticed, I've been writing BG3 fic lately, and since you know me, that means deep diving into lore*** and specifically, the nature of the Fade vs. the Weave... And when you have two mages arguing in your head about the intricacies of the arcane, well—

It's a Solas/Gale fic.

Progress: 3,6k/10k words, fully outlined

* if we exclude the references to other realms mentioned in passing in Coiling Time, as a treat

** as in, I'm currently writing on it!

*** I recognise the Forgotten Realms are way too vast in words for me to actually fully grasp even as an avid D&D player, but you know. An Effort has to be Made. It's much more fun if readers trust you enough in matters of lore to believe your headcanons.

Thank you for asking! 💙

#fanfic #wip wednesday #asks #baldur's gate 3 #dragon age

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WIP Game

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! Tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Tagged by @crackinglamb and what would you know, we have WIPs with the same title! (coincidence, not a collab!)

Okay so I don't keep a WIP folder per se, but I'll give you the titles of the non-finished things in my fanfic folder instead 👀 Here you go:

BG3

Driftwood

Mistborn Oneshot

Stormsight

Submissive Solas Ficlet

The Gamedev AU

The Herbarium Oneshots

Valentine's Fic

I won't tag but if you want to do this one, pretend I tagged You!

#don't be shy asking ;) #although some might be semiabandoned by now heh #fanfics #fan fiction

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WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT HELPFUL CHARACTER BUILDING QUESTIONS

What’s the lie your character says most often?

How loosely or strictly do they use the word ‘friend’?

How often do they show their genuine emotions to others versus just the audience knowing?

What’s a hobby they used to have that they miss?

Can they cry on command? If so, what do they think about to make it happen?

What’s their favorite [insert anything] that they’ve never recommended to anyone before?

What would you (mun) yell in the middle of a crowd to find them? What would their best friend and/or romantic partner yell?

How loose is their use of the phrase ‘I love you’?

Do they give tough love or gentle love most often? Which do they prefer to receive?

What fact do they excitedly tell everyone about at every opportunity?

If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference?

What’s something that makes them laugh every single time? Be specific!

When do they fake a smile? How often?

How do they put out a candle?

What’s the most obvious difference between their behavior at home, at work, at school, with friends, and when they’re alone?

What kinds of people do they have arguments with in their head?

What do they notice first in the mirror versus what most people first notice looking at them?

Who do they love truly, 100% unconditionally (if anyone)?

What would they do if stuck in a room with the person they’ve been avoiding?

Who do they like as a person but hate their work? Vice versa, whose work do they like but don’t like the person?

What common etiquette do they disagree with? Do they still follow it?

What simple activity that most people do / can do scares your character?

What do they feel guilty for that the other person(s) doesn’t / don’t even remember?

Did they take a cookie from the cookie jar? What kind of cookie was it?

What subject / topic do they know a lot about that’s completely useless to the direct plot?

How would they respond to being fired by a good boss?

What’s the worst gift they ever received? How did they respond?

What do they tell people they want? What do they actually want?

How do they respond when someone doesn’t believe them?

When they make a mistake and feel bad, does the guilt differ when it’s personal versus when it’s professional?

When do they feel the most guilt? How do they respond to it?

If they committed one petty crime / misdemeanor, what would it be? Why?

How do they greet someone they dislike / hate?

How do they greet someone they like / love?

What is the smallest, morally questionable choice they’ve made?

Who do they keep in their life for professional gain? Is it for malicious intent?

What’s a secret they haven’t told serious romantic partners and don’t plan to tell?

What hobby are they good at in private, but bad at in front of others? Why?

Would they rather be invited to an event to feel included or be excluded from an event if they were not genuinely wanted there?

How do they respond to a loose handshake? What goes through their head?

What phrases, pronunciations, or mannerisms did they pick up from someone / somewhere else?

If invited to a TED Talk, what topic would they present on? What would the title of their presentation be?

What do they commonly misinterpret because of their own upbringing / environment / biases? How do they respond when realizing the misunderstanding?

What language would be easiest for them to learn? Why?

What’s something unimportant / frivolous that they hate passionately?

Are they a listener or a talker? If they’re a listener, what makes them talk? If they’re a talker, what makes them listen?

Who have they forgotten about that remembers them very well?

Who would they say ‘yes’ to if invited to do something they abhorred / strongly didn’t want to do?

Would they eat something they find gross to be polite?

What belief / moral / personality trait do they stand by that you (mun) personally don’t agree with?

What’s a phrase they say a lot?

Do they act on their immediate emotions, or do they wait for the facts before acting?

Who would / do they believe without question?

What’s their instinct in a fight / flight / freeze / fawn situation?

What’s something they’re expected to enjoy based on their hobbies / profession that they actually dislike / hate?

If they’re scared, who do they want comfort from? Does this answer change depending on the type of fear?

What’s a simple daily activity / motion that they mess up often?

How many hobbies have they attempted to have over their lifetime? Is there a common theme?

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Decided to finally make myself that physical copy of Coiling Time as a little treat! Turns out it's not gonna be so little, clocking in at 570 pages in paperback 👀

PS - If you'd really really love your paws on one, get in touch and I'll see if I can make it happen 🩷

#coiling time #dragon age #fanfic

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Work In Progress Wednesday

Heya! Been a while since I did one of these but! It's time for a first snippet from my current WIP - and it's a Faerûnian portal fantasy. Turns out I've been deep in the BG3/D&D hole. If incessant Gale reblogging wasn't enough to tip you off...

Anyway, here's a small MCIF snippet from...

Stormsight

“What a curious tune,” Gale says. His voice turns softer as he continues: “Not wholly unpleasant.”

 Wil lets the last notes ring out, and stills their fingers on the guitar.

“Do you need something, Gale? I'm sure Tav can get you another priceless artefact if…?”

“Oh, none of the sort. No, I, ah,” he picks up a scroll from his shoulder bag, “I was planning on transcribing another spell.” He avoids her gaze. “But your music, it… It’s rather inviting.”

"Vexing the wizard? How uncouth of me. Playing these somewhat pleasant melodies of mine."

Gale chuckles and takes a seat next to her on the old stone bench.

"Plenty pleasant."

"A kind of magic, one could say?” She plucks an intriguing trill.

“Mmm. Perhaps. I do know the theory of the, ah, Words of Creation, but I never quite grasped how you bards… Well, how something so simple as a song can touch the Weave.”

“It’s movement, words and intention. And what is spellcasting but movements, words and intention?” Wil says and sets aside the instrument.

“It’s a bit more complex than that,” Gale says quickly.

Wil hums.

“If you say so, but, no, for me it isn’t. What you showed me last night, I… It wasn’t really new to me, I think. It’s how I felt the first time I performed music. The heavy silence before, the anticipation…" Perhaps it's the wine she had earlier that urges her on. "And the moment of harmony, of clarity, as the sound wanes, when emotion lingers, thick in the air.”

“Oh yeah?”

“It’s like… lying next to your lover after making them see stars, meeting their eyes and knowing you’ve shared something fragile yet incredibly powerful.”

“Oh,” Gale says, his voice strangled.

#fanfic #baldur's gate 3 #work in progress wednesday #wip wednesday

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Ten questions to ask a friend who just read your novel

Here are ten questions to ask that will not put your friend in a tough spot, but will still give you some useful input on your novel:

1. At what point did you feel like “Ah, now the story has really begun!”  2. What were the points where you found yourself skimming?  3. Which setting in the book was clearest to you as you were reading it? Which do you remember the best?  4. Which character would you most like to meet and get to know?  5. What was the most suspenseful moment in the book?  6. If you had to pick one character to get rid of, who would you axe?  7. Was there a situation in the novel that reminded you of something in your own life?  8. Where did you stop reading, the first time you cracked open the manuscript? (Can show you where your first dull part is, and help you fix your pacing.)  9. What was the last book you read, before this? And what did you think of it? (This can put their comments in context in surprising ways, when you find out what their general interests are. It might surprise you.)  10. Finish this sentence: “I kept reading because…”

Your friend is probably still going to tell you, “It was good!” However, if you can ask any specific questions, and read between the lines, you can still get some helpful information out of even the most well-meaning reader.

Source: Examiner

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Player: Gale Dekarios… I think I like him more. Gale: You like so many things about me I’d have sooner discarded… Your generosity is quite wonderful. Gale Dekarios likes you too. Very, very much. Though let's keep his existence between us for now.

bonus:

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Hey BG3 crew, wanna be sad over Gale?

Wizards have staves as their focus. There are plenty of magical staves you can find with personalized appearances, magic traits, even hidden mechanisms. An archwizard like Gale of Waterdeep would have had a staff that mattered to him greatly and was tailored to his casting.

But he only has a wooden quarterstaff when you meet him.

We know he’s been dealing with the Orb for awhile. What if his staff was one of the first things he had to sacrifice?

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Out of the blue, I wrote three pages today!

Nothing I want to share yet but pretty happy with the overall idea, the characters, and the tone 😉

#I've basically been on burnout hiatus for about a year and a half #and it's just been impossible to write anything more than a few sentences #but hopefully I'm getting back to a new normal where I can write again

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hi neil

my mom said when she was watching good omens with me that they should have hired you to be crowley (she thinks david tennat is amazing but she didn’t know you and she thinks you match crowley vibes )

my question here is have you ever wanted to play a character you wrote?

I play them all when I write them.

#this! #how writing works

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aerarius_metalworks

#damn cool

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The best Modern Girl in Thedas fanfic of all time (Ad Infinitum) was written about a MGIT who hadn't finished playing the game before she was transported, so not having finished the game yet isn't necessarily an obstacle to starting a fic. ;)

Heya! ^^

The protagonist's attitude towards 'canon' and their awareness of the realm they get flung into in isekai is one of my absolute favourite variables to play with. Whether it's Dante following Virgil into Hell or Kirito and Asuna in Sword Art Online, or even Narnia, I've never really seen it as that the protagonist needs to know the rules and the story of the world from before. It's just one option among many. When we're talking specifically MCITs it's pretty common that the Modern Character is in on the fandom discourse and gets to marvel at the difference between playing the game and living it.

Anywho. Playing with tropes is how I get my fanfic kicks. My MCIT Coiling Time is about a woman who's only ever heard of Dragon Age through fandom studies (... the implication being that AO3 survives into the 22nd century, but most media fanfic is based on, does not in a playable state) BUT that was a very conscious trope subversion in order to give a more anthropological and outsider view on these characters. What does a Solas romance look like to a modern character who doesn't have any idea about his background? Plus it let me have fun with a bit of dramatic irony - we think we know what's about to happen, the protagonist is confused as hell, and then some things work out like in the game and some don't.

Anyway! Fully agree, it's not necessary per se to have finished the media. In fact, I love reading fic written mid-series that makes predictions and inferences that don't get supported by later canon. But I'm personally a bit too diligent about research to go down that path...

#asks

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As someone who came to Dragon Age fandom late and thus was spoiled by immediately having access to years' worth of fanfics from every imaginable trope to enjoy, the current complete lack of Gale Dekarios / Modern Girl in Faerun author self-insert fanfics is killing me.

We've already got the perfect entry point for the MGIF character: The opening cinematic of the nautiloid jumping between realms snatching people up. What if one of the random jumps was to our reality and someone who had played the game was kidnapped instead of Tav? After all, in an infinite multiverse, it's entirely possible that something that is fiction in one universe is reality in another universe.

But so far there's barely any Modern Character in Faerun fanfics at all, and none of them are Gale/OFC. Come on, fanfic authors, I've already thoroughly exhausted all my own cringey self-insert fantasies in my daydreaming, please let me read yours. How much do you use your foreknowledge of events to steer for a specific ending or perhaps create a brand new one? How long are you able to bite your tongue about Mystra before going off on a rant that Gale's not ready to hear about how she was an abusive groomer? How many terrible jokes will your self-insert character make about pondering his orb? I NEED TO KNOW.

#Guess what my current fanfic WIP is? #anyway my problem is I'M SO friggin slow at this game!!! #so y'all will just need to uhh wait for it #anyway I have a short and sweet lil Gale/Tav thing in my drafts etc #BG3 #fanfic #also you know me I won't start posting til I know I can finish it and I'm still playing the damned game

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Hey! Are there blacksmiths in your story? I'm a hobbyist blacksmith and I'm here to help!

Blacksmithing is one of those things that a lot of people get wrong because they don't realize it stuck around past the advent of the assembly line. Here's a list of some common misconceptions I see and what to do instead!

Not all blacksmiths are gigantic terrifying muscly guys with beards and deep voices. I am 5'8, skinny as a twig, have the muscle mass of wet bread, and exist on Tumblr. Anybody who is strong enough to pick up a hammer and understands fire safety can be a blacksmith.

You can make more than just swords with blacksmithing. Though swords are undeniably practical, they're not the only things that can be made. I've made candle holders, wall hooks, kebab skewers, fire pokers, and more. Look up things other people have made, it's really amazing what can be done.

"Red-hot" is actually not that hot by blacksmith terms. when heated up, the metal goes from black, to red, to orange, to yellow, to white. (for temperature reference, I got a second degree burn from picking up a piece of metal on black heat) The ideal color to work with the metal is yellow. White is not ideal at all, because the metal starts sparking and gets all weird and lumpy when it cools. (At no point in this process does the metal get even close to melting. It gets soft enough to work with, but I have never once seen metal become a liquid.)

Blacksmithing takes fucking forever. Not even taking into account starting the forge, selecting and preparing metal, etc. etc. it takes me around an hour to make one (1) fancy skewer. The metals blacksmiths work with heat up and cool down incredibly fast. When the forge is going good, it only takes like 20 seconds to get your metal hot enough to work with, but it takes about the same time for it to cool down, sometimes even less.

As long as you are careful, it is actually stupidly easy to not get hurt while blacksmithing. When I picked up this hobby I was like "okay, cool! I'm gonna make stuff, and I'm gonna end up in the hospital at some point!" Thus far, the latter has yet to occur. I've been doing this for nearly a year. I have earned myself a new scar from the aforementioned second degree burn, and one singe mark on my jeans. I don't even wear gloves half the time. Literally just eye protection, common sense, and fast reflexes and you'll probably be fine. (Accidents still happen of course, but I have found adequate safety weirdly easy to achieve with this hobby)

A forge is not a fire. The forge is the thing blacksmiths put their metal in to heat it up. It starts as a small fire, usually with newspaper or something else that's relatively small and burns easily, which we then put in the forge itself, which is sort of a fireplace-esque thing (there's a lot of different types of forge, look into it and try to figure out what sort of forge would make the most sense for the context you're writing about) and we cover it with coal, which then catches fire and heats up. The forge gets really hot, and sometimes really bright. Sometimes when I stare at the forge for too long it's like staring into the sun. The forge is also not a waterfall of lava, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Welding and blacksmithing are not the same thing. They often go hand-in-hand, but you cannot connected two pieces of metal with traditional blacksmithing alone. There is something called forge welding, where you heat your metal, sprinkle borax (or the in-universe equivalent) on it to prevent the metal from oxidizing/being non-weldable, and hammer the pieces together very quickly. Forge welding also sends sparks flying everywhere, and if you're working in a small space with other blacksmiths, you usually want to announce that you're welding before you do, so that everyone in a five-foot radius can get out of that five-foot radius. You also cannot just stuck some random pebbles into the forge and get a decent piece of metal that you can actually make something with, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Anvils are really fucking heavy. Nothing else to add here.

Making jewelry is not a blacksmithing thing unless you want jewelry made of steel. And it will be very ugly if you try. Blacksmithing wasn't invented to make small things.

If there's anything here I didn't mention, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

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I reiterate…so so normal about the wizard

#oh hi I have found my next mage crush #uhmm #baldur's gate 3