#you are the patron saint of rarepairs

[electricshoebox]

writer interview ✍️

Tagged by @junemermaid, thank you so much my friend!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

42 apparently!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

662,511 😳

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

All of these are Dorian/Iron Bull from Dragon Age: Inquisition.

How to Share a Bed Without Killing Each Other: a Love Story (5 chapters, Rated T)

Rivers in the Sand (Oneshot, Rated E)

a soft place to land (Oneshot, Rated E)

Always Good at Bad Ideas (Oneshot, Rated T)

Flashpoint (Oneshot, Rated E)

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

Oh definitely I do! I know that it can be really difficult and intimidating to find the words to leave a comment and I just really want people to know how much they're appreciated. I also love getting to share thoughts and excitement and little behind the scenes things. It may take me a little time sometimes, but it's really important to me to respond.

I heard somewhere once that people think authors respond to artificially inflate their comment numbers. I don't know where that came from, or if there are authors out there that may do that, but I honestly don't even pay attention to that? I don't even really look at that number as a reader either. I just want commenters to know how much they've made my day!

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Man, I really had to think about this. I don't really have nearly any that are solely angst.

But I do have one that's left open-ended in a pretty angsty place. My Dragon Age 2 rarepair fic for Merrill/Orana, Counting the Cost. It's set right after the final confrontation with Merrill's clan, with Orana having to learn via that news that Merrill uses blood magic.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Honestly, most of my fics have "happy" endings, or at least hopeful ones. I just have a hard time not leaving things on a good note. It's hard to pick one that stands out more than others. I think, though, that The Eye of the Storm will have this honor once I finish it (if that's encouraging to anyone 😊).

7. Do you write crossovers?

Echoing June here, I've written a fusion fic before. I basically took the plot of the movie Inception and adapted it to a version of Dragon Age: Inquisition set in a future version of Thedas (In the Shadow of Dreams).

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I think I remember getting a weirdly critical comment once but I don't think I've ever gotten direct hate. I mostly write in quiet fandom corners these days, I'd be pretty surprised if someone bothered.

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

Oh definitely! I've written all kinds. I've written some centered on specific kinks (like waxplay in a soft place to land), and some that were hinted at in canon that I wanted to explore (like Flashpoint). But the majority of the time, it's really just a part of the larger story, a vehicle for character analysis or communication. In A Line in the Sand, for example, it was a major character turning point. Sex is just such an interesting way to explore a character or a relationship. It's a level of intimacy and vulnerability that can really reveal so much.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, but I have had some ideas taken in the past. Nothing I'd make a big deal about, and I don't always mind when things like that kind of blossom into fanon, but I do wish people would ask first. I don't always think it's intentional or conscious, though, so again, no reason to say anything.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Still blows me away someone wanted to. Both Wishing Stars and No Patron Saint of Silent Restraint (both Dorian/Bull) were translated to Mandarin.

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

No. My writing process just isn't very conducive to collaboration. It's unpredictable and scattered as to when I get writing done and get motivation. I'm also extremely particular about how my writing sounds and fits together, and I think I would just have a lot of trouble trying to mesh that with another writer.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

That's such a hard question. I think it's always going to be whatever pair I'm currently writing for. I just have phases with ships where they're all-consuming for awhile, and then I finally sort of move on, even if they still have a special place in my heart.

That being said, Deacon/MacCready has meant so much to me because it's not only the first pair I finished a novel for, I'm now finishing the second one. This pair inspired me again after a long desert of writing despair, and it just brought so much good into my life. It's really hard to top that.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

There are two that come to mind. One was for Red Dead Redemption 2, a meditation on grief set in the epilogue, from Charles' perspective. I really had a lot of ideas for it and a lot of things I wanted to explore.

The other is Uprising. This was my retelling of Dragon Age 2 inspired by David Gaider's comment that Velanna was initially considered as Justice's vehicle instead of Anders. I wanted to re-imagine the story that way. So Velanna is the Justice character and Anders stays with the Grey Wardens. I just wanted to explore what could change, and what ways the story would have been different. I got through Act 1, but lost steam. It was also my first attempt at a novel-length fic, and I think it had potential.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do a pretty decent job of setting a scene. I see a lot of scenes in my head play out like they're movie scenes, so I try to describe them in kind, and make them fairly easy to visualize. I'm also really aware of a character's physicality. Like what they're doing with their hands, posture, where they're looking, how they're shifting their feet, etc. And I do feel like I have a good handle on character voice, or at least I work really hard to make the characters not just sound like but feel like themselves, and make decisions or take actions that still feel like things they would do in canon. I feel pretty confident in my character banter, too. I feel most at home writing dialogue where people are bantering and teasing and sniping at each other.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I have so many crutch words and phrases. I have to make such a conscious effort not to use them over and over, and even then I'll go back later and find where I've used the same term or word back to back. I also struggle a lot with action scenes. Writing ALITS and TEOTS has done a lot to work that muscle and I think I've improved, but it's not at all second nature. Trying to make them interesting and tense while still making sense is a real challenge for me and it takes me a long time. And I don't feel very confident in creating my own characters. I like writing for established characters because all the interesting and cool bits are already there. Making my own original characters equally as exciting and unique and intriguing is so much harder for me.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Going to just quote June directly here: "it can be used to good effect but it's best used sparingly. I would generally always prefer that plot-relevant or important dialogue were simply, 'This is the murder weapon,' she said in French. Don't withhold information or emotional impact for the sake of showing off."

She said it perfectly. And I'll add that it's often very jarring and even pulls me out of the story a lot of the time, unless it's written by someone fluent. It's very difficult to pull it off naturally otherwise, and that is very obvious to your readers.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Technically, Sailor Moon, though I only shared it with my friends. The first things I put on the internet were for Lord of the Rings.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Hmm. It would be fun to write something for Baldur's Gate 3, but I'm not sure I can get past some of my mental blocks with fandom there. I would like to play around with Barbara/Lucy for Fallout 4.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

It's hard not to say A Line in the Sand. It's just very, very special to me for so many reasons. I've talked about it a lot so I won't go on, but yeah. It's hard to believe I'll have another experience with writing quite like that one.

-

Tagging (no pressure as always) — @bardic-inspo, @totally-not-deacon, @mercurymiscellany, @amanitajack, @just-another-wasteland-merc

#writing memes #writer interview #about me

[kerryweaverlesbian]

A Hundred Little Drawers, Opened.

Desk top, neat, orderly,

Open white space without a pen in sight,

Function over function over function.

My tools are tucked away in little drawers,

Unseemly,

To threaten with injury when a smile will do the same.

You had your smile bared when I met you first,

Blood red, nose to chin,

Devils dancing in your eyes, wild and unleashable.

Patron saints, we are, but to different gods,

You to disruption, I, control.

You stabbed a knife through my table, when we first met, and I'd swear that it bled,

Hot and living,

Unreasonably, undoubtedly alive.

Pinned back, you mock me,

Sticking your fingers right into my cortex,

Sticky, uncherished, unacceptable, uncouth-

Unwanted, I wish, but, well, what is more flattering

Than a kiss (with tongue) to the rosary?

A knight to a knight, it's a night we share,

Papers scattered-

Yes, yes, scatter me senseless, I beg you,

And though you laugh, you do it still,

The tower of Babel rubble again as words lose all meaning and hurt me means hold me,

The press of your hands -

Oh,

I hope you leave marks,

On the inside,

The outside,

I don't see the difference -

Irreversible impermanence from your sticky, sweet impertinence,

Yes,

Make sanctified unholy,

Defile my temple with your tongue,

Stamp your feet upon the steeple, gleeful,

Make, and unmake, and make me,

Make me,

Disorganised,

Make me,

Alive,

Make me,

Unsensical:

By you, with you, for you, I am altered.

My most 😳 poem yet for @spnpoetryrenaissance 's prompt WLW rarepairs. I went for Abbadon/Naomi 💋 🔪

#lobotomiser 4 cannibal aifhshghdh #spnpoetryrenaissance #abbadon #naomi supernatural #abbadon/naomi #how do I tag this..... #suggestive #implied sex #cawis creates

[lemonbronze]

I think you would be the patron saint of rarepairs + yellow

This makes me happy!!!

[the-everqueen]

ao3 wrapped: 3, 27, 29, 30

3. what work are you most proud of? "came in the game," hands down, because i used to think i couldn't write long fics, and i did it when i thought i had nothing creative or worthwhile in me. (on the job market, dissertation defense, post-grad ptsd) also it's a rarepair in a fandom that largely ignores anything beyond Thee Main Ship.

27. what do you listen to while writing? whatever album is the current earworm.

29. favorite line/passage you wrote this year? impossible to pick just one. i think i'm hilarious. that being said, this passage from a wereverse WIP continues to make me laugh:

As he’s learned since grad school, third-wave coffee shops are the place to score. Overpriced weed, freaky sex, the occasional cigarette. Ain’t nobody got repression and a dependence on semi-legal substances like a dude who can taste whether his coffee is French pressed or a pour-over. It’s more effort than at a club, sure, convincing some guy you just met that he’s into men and also wants to take you home and let you fuck him nasty, but Cori pulls it off with aplomb. Call him the patron saint of bisexual realization or whatever the fuck. At any rate, he manages to find a PhD student in biochem who is more than happy to swap hours in the lab for an hour exploring his newfound attraction to blondes.

30. biggest surprise while writing this year? that these WIPs just keep getting longer.

#ask games #ao3 wrapped #i feel like doing rarepairs in a heavily OTP fandom should net you some kind of heavenly reward #the wips getting longer is a good thing jsyk #i didn't think i had words left in me at the beginning of this year and now i'm still writing even for fun #that...is really heartening

[aerodaltonimperial]

patron saint of ao3 rarepair tags. invoking you to bring prosperity upon my ships 🙏

SCREAM. How does one invoke me into rarepairs??? I wonder how you could summon me LMAO that's absolutely the most delightful thing to think of THANK YOU

[zhaozaipalooza]

A Not-So-Weekly Insight

Hi all, crooked here. Just going to take a moment in between posts about our villains / their love interests / the cultural influences that we can view them through, and talk a bit about the other side of things. The side that all of us occupy, on the back-end of the screen.

Having a thing for the bad guys -- whether simply wanting to know their backstory or secretly wishing it was you (and not the hero) who gets kidnapped and tied up -- is an experience as old as fandom itself. It’s not universal, as we all know, but someone somewhere is always more interested in the antagonist than they are the character(s) they’re actually supposed to root for. And when you find someone who shares those feelings, who is just as enthusiastic about asking why a villain turned out the way they did, who writes or reads the same kind of fics you do... just, wow. What a wonderful feeling that is. 

When it comes to rarepairs, especially ones involving lesser-loved characters within the fandom, sometimes you really need that sense of community and support, because there are always going to be folks who take their disagreement or disapproval further than necessary. 

When fellow mod and literal ray of sunshine @ohmygodtheywereparabatai pitched the concept of mini-themed weeks leading up to the event, I was thrilled by the notion and also filled with dread at the fact that Zhayu had been included. Oh, I thought, we better not. We’ll turn off a lot of participants, and I don’t want that. People might think it’s me abusing my position of mod for the purpose of self-promotion. Worst of all, though, I didn’t want an increase in exposure to lead to another wave of anonymous hate for the chief producers of this content, given that they’d be so prominently featured.  

Ray assuaged my fears when I expressed them, and so here we are, with Zhayu week coming to a close and no apparent calamity as a result. Maybe some of you are intrigued by the ship, maybe some of you are just counting down the days until we move on, but for me, this week has been a reminder not only of my love for this ship and its various possibilities, but for the incredible support that can be found within fandom communities. Ray has championed what I would otherwise have been too cowardly to, and the experience of that -- of the enthusiasm, the passionate bolstering, the  eager camaraderie -- is something I hope you all get to feel at some point, ideally as part of this event. 

There’s irony of course, that a pair of the most divisive and contentious characters in a fandom might bring folks together, but that’s part of what makes Zhaozai great. 

#zhaozai palooza 2021 #i have been in one of two states this entire week #unbridled joy at getting to revisit my favourite ship #and the horror of being perceived #ray i will never deserve you and all the work that you do for this event #you are the patron saint of rarepairs #if everyone had even just one person like you in their lives i think the world would be a better place #consider this an OMGTWP appreciation post #rarepairs

[guqin-and-flute]

Not only you're the patron saint of rarepairs, but also of the great, awful edits that I love with all my heart. Thank you for mustache!Jingyi it watered my crops but also stole my wife and shot me four times.

JIOFAHSIOD I will have you know that this ask made me let out an involuntary squawk of laughter. Honestly, the edits are made infinitely better by the amount of people screaming in horror at them

#Mustache!Jingyi is indeed a fickle criminal then!? #ask #phaethondios

[revasnaslan]

(Patron saint anon here) I followed you during my Voltron days, so I'll always associate you with rarepairs haha

oh hey you’re a veteran then!! god i can’t believe it’s been almost three years since i posted my first voltron fics.

#rev's rambling again #Anonymous

[ilovedyouevenasisawyou]

Patron Saint of Lost Causes, if that's how it's called in English. Also of Rarepairs.

Thank you for this! Tbh I will very gladly be the patron saint of lost causes and rarepairs!

#and also what is a rarepair if not also a lost cause? it's not canon and not many people ship it #i especially like the lost cause part because it's very fitting to a lot of things #asks #longagoitwastuesday

[jesbelle-writes]

Chapters: 9/12 Fandom: Galaxy Quest (1999), Galaxy Quest (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alexander Dane/Mary Sue, Lazarus of Tev'Mek/Tech Sgt. Chen, Peter Taggart/Original Character Characters: Mary Sue (Character), Alexander Dane, Fred Kwan, Laliari (Galaxy Quest), Gwen DeMarco, Jason Nesmith, Tommy Weber, Guy Fleegman, Frank Ross, Original Characters, Lazarus of Tev'Mek, Tech Sgt. Chen, Peter Quincy Taggart, Laredo (Galaxy Quest), Original Non-Human Character(s)   Summary:

Journey with fic-writer, M(edium)NF, and chronic rarepair shipper, Mary Sue Forrester, through those thrilling days of yesteryear (the Eighties and Nineties) as she saves her favorite TV show, her own life, and (if Fred Kwan's new girlfriend is to be believed) the entire galaxy armed with nothing more than a knapsack full of cash, an alien-augmented Palm PDA, and a handful of the sorts of items that frighteningly over-prepared women always seem to be toting around in their bags.

Excerpt:

In the late nineties, the new controversy (among the fans of erotic Galaxy Quest romance anyway) was who you were “shipping.”

So the Tawny/Taggart fans and the Lazarus/Taggart fans had always had more than a little friction going. After all, there’s only so much Peter Quincy Taggart to go around, and triads hadn’t been invented yet, or something. I mean, whenever my polyamorous ass suggested that Tawny and Lazarus just play nice and share him, I was usually told to be serious.

The point is, the factions had always been a little less than friendly, and it didn’t help that in the Great Slash Purge of ‘85, the Quest Con organizers decided that all erotica, regardless of orientation, needed to be banished from the con forever. (In practice, of course, it just got swept under the rug.)

Now the same thing was happening on newsgroups and web rings. So I got to watch the earlier drama play out again, with the big difference of just having a front-row seat rather than being center-stage.

Anyway, the two groups had been forced to band together when we were all just a bunch of dirty girls that no one wanted sullying their wholesome dealers’ room, but now that there was a new space to defend, they were dividing into hostile camps, and if you preferred to not get into the whole controversy, they’d assign you a camp. As someone who shipped Lazarus/Chen, I often got put in the Tawny/Taggart camp. As someone who wrote slash and stories where Tawny got paired with the hunk-of-the-week, the Tawny/Taggarts lumped me in with the Lazarus/Taggarts

The arguments went something like this — The Lazarus/Taggart camp saw Tawny/Taggart supporters as homophobes who only liked their pair because Tawny had a vagina, never mind that the more emotional scenes were between Lazarus and Taggart. The Tawny/Taggarters claimed that the Lazarus/Taggarters only cared about sex, and not about canon. I mean, neither pair was canon, but whatever. So the L/T’s pointed to “Escape From Tev’Meck” and “Friends Never Forget” as evidence to support their pair. The T/T’s came back with “Mists of Delos.” The L/T’s said that was just the mists drugging Taggart and that he’d make a play for a Mank’Nar snot-beast under its influence.

And the rest of us — the gen ficcers and the rarepair shippers were just sitting back, eating our Raisinettes and Sno-Caps and watching the show. Oh, once in awhile one of us would make some thoughtful comment on free speech and “ship and let ship,” but no one was in the mood to listen to us.

Then the T/T’s said that Lazarus was toxic and L/T’s were promoting unhealthy relationships.

Remember how I said that Lazarus was something of a patron saint of weirdos? A lot of us weirdos took umbrage at having aspersions cast on our favorite character. A shot taken at Lazarus, as far as we were concerned, was a shot taken at us.

And MadiFan27 fired one hell of a shot. In an overlong, poorly-spell-checked essay, she basically posited that Lazarus belittled Taggart with his constant assertions of being smarter than Taggart. I mean, he is smarter than Taggart, but not according to MadiFan27, who stated that when Taggart himself said that Lazarus was smarter, it was just because Lazarus had eroded Taggart’s self-confidence with his constant “insults.” She said that Lazarus withheld affection from Taggart, and that his “out of control rages” were abusive and threatening to Taggart and everyone else on the Protector.

A bunch of the T/T’s wholeheartedly agreed. After all, it’s easier to take the moral high ground when you’re against abusive relationships than when you’re just against gay ones. Of course some of them loved Lazarus too and immediately started distancing themselves from the anti-Lazarus crew.

Then the L/T’s came back with what a stupid slut Tawny is.

Which all the sluts and Tawny fans on both sides found very offensive.

I wrote a brilliant piece on how Taggart’s just as much of a supercilious bastard as Lazarus and twice as slutty as Tawny, so maybe he shouldn’t be allowed in a relationship with anyone. That got about as much support as my triad idea.

#galaxy quest #mary sue saves the galaxy #peter taggart #dr. lazarus #tawny madison #fanfiction #mine

[electricshoebox]

writing tag

Tagged by the lovely @adventuresofmeghatron, thank you!

Tagging: @junemermaid, @molliehaswords, @desynchimminent, @valkyriejack, and @mercurymiscellany​, if you’d like to do it!

1.  How many works do you have on AO3? 

39. Holy shit. 

2.  What’s your total AO3 word count?

533,274 words. Holy shit.

3. What are you top 5 fics by kudos?

How to Share a Bed Without Killing Each Other: a Love Story (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, 5 Chapters, Complete) The trials and tribulations of literally sleeping together.

Rivers in the Sand (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) The Hissing Wastes unsettles Bull’s memories, and when he and Dorian are trapped together by a fallen pillar, Dorian helps him deal.

a soft place to land (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) When a letter from his father sets him off, Dorian turns to Bull for a distraction.

Always Good at Bad Ideas  (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) Bull gets injured fighting a dragon, which leaves Dorian frantic enough to blurt out the one thing he was trying to keep to himself.

Flashpoint (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) “One time he got so excited he set the curtains on fire.”

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

Yes, always! I’ve seen various opinions on whether authors should, but to me, engaging with and getting excited with readers is half the fun and half the point. I also just really want people to know how much it means to me not only that they read, but that they take the time to leave a comment. Comments are hard to write. I completely sympathize with that, sometimes you just don’t know what to say or how to say it, and I absolutely don’t begrudge anyone that doesn’t. It just means a lot to me when people do, even when it’s literally just “This was cool!” or something, and I want them to know that it’s appreciated!

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm. I guess that sort of depends on your definition of angsty. None of them have directly tragic endings, it’s just not in me to write that way, but I have one or two with open or less definitely, obviously happy endings. The rarepair DA2 oneshot I wrote for Merrill/Orana, Counting the Cost, has the most open ending, left completely up to interpretation. The Inception AU DAI fic I wrote for Dorian/Bull, In the Shadow of Dreams, has what I think of as an optimistic ending, and less a happy one. I tried to end that one with more romance, but it just didn’t fit the tone of the rest of the fic, so a quiet ending that signals a road to recovery was what I chose instead.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Most all of my oneshots have pretty happy endings. I guess I’m tempted say A Line in the Sand, my Deacon/MacCready start-from-scratch slow burn novel, just because it goes from antagonists to lovers and has the longest road with the most earned happy ending. I feel like the long struggle to get there makes it feel happier. 

7. Do you write crossovers?  If so, what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really. Instead I’m sometimes tempted into AUs based on other media, but not full blown crossovers with actual different characters meeting. Even then, I’m really picky in what I enjoy. I’ve only written one, the Inception AU for Dragon Age that I mentioned above. Honestly, it requires no knowledge of Inception at all. I really just stole a bunch of concepts from it and then made my own modernized Thedas around them.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Thankfully no! I’ve received one or two kind of odd comments, but otherwise I’ve been very lucky and everyone’s been really nice.

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

Hell yeah! I’ve written many kinds, really, whatever I feel like or whatever fits the fic. I’ve done plenty of your typical smut. I branched out into light BDSM with several of my Dorian/Bull fics, as well as waxplay and praise kink. I’ve also done some roleplay in the vein of “established relationship pretending to be strangers meeting at a bar” for Deacon/MacCready with By Any Other Name.

10.  Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. 

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! Two of my Dorian/Bull fics, Wishing Stars and No Patron Saint of Silent Restraint, both by the same lovely person: landanding on AO3. I don’t think I stopped flailing for a solid day when I got the request for permission either time.

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

Not since pre-AO3 days, beyond collaborating in a tabletop setting. I’m not completely opposed to the idea but it would have to be someone I felt really, really comfortable with and with whom I have really good communication. I’m really particular about my writing, and I’d need to know someone’s emotional comfort level with trading and changing and even eliminating ideas.

13.  What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Oh god that’s honestly really hard. I’ve written the most for Dorian/Bull and that ship will always have a special place in my heart. But I did write my first full-length novel for Deacon/MacCready, and they’ve already got me in the middle of my second. So they’re the ship that taught me I could do that, and they’re my beloved rarepair. There are a few more I absolutely love, but I think those are my top two right now.

14.  What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Definitely Uprising. It was the first time I tried longform fic, and it was meant to be an entire retelling of DA2 with Velanna as the Justice-bearing character, rather than Anders, because after learning the developers almost took DA2 in that direction, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I had a lot of plans for it, for how Justice might develop differently, for what it might have looked like if elves had been more of the battleground issue instead of mages vs. templars, for some angsty bittersweet long distance Nathaniel/Velanna and some complicated Fenris/Hawke and Merrill/Orana. But I drifted away from Dragon Age fandom in interest a long time ago, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get the steam back for it. I’m proud of how far I did get, though.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I feel pretty confident with dialogue, I can usually make a scene flow with it pretty well and I spend a lot of time trying to be meticulous about character voice. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on my descriptions, which I appreciate and wouldn’t have considered a strength, but my readers have been kind. I think I’m pretty good at including body language, too, though maybe to a fault.

16.  What are you writing weaknesses?

Much as people have been kind on the feedback, I really feel like action scenes are a weakness for me. I don’t enjoy writing them and I struggle a lot to make them feel like they’re flowing over just bulletpointing. I also feel like I struggle to make them exciting. I feel like I struggle with exposition scenes as well, and keeping them interesting over info-dumping. 

17.  What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’m generally in favor of including them, but with the caution of doing thorough research if it’s not a language I speak. I shy away from it if I can’t be completely sure it’s accurate, because I don’t want to risk putting off a native speaker reader, or saying/doing something offensive. I’d expand that to include anything about another culture, really. For example, I’ve been slowly picking away at writing a Fallout fic for my Sole Survivor Anthony and Preston, and part of what has been slow going is just making sure I’m getting Anthony’s culture right. His parents immigrated from Vietnam, and I want his experiences with them and with his culture to be as accurate and respectful as possible, not falling into any stereotypes but also being allowed to be complicated. 

18.  What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Depends on what we’re measuring. The first fandom I ever wrote fic for of any kind was Sailor Moon. The first fandom I actually put fic on the internet for was Lord of the Rings, on good old fanfiction.net. The first fandom I published on AO3 for was Dragon Age.

19.  What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

God this is such a hard question to answer, my feelings on my writing change so often. I think it’s hard for A Line in the Sand not to be my favorite for the reasons I’ve already mentioned, it’s my first successful novel-length fic, I accomplished a lot with it and learned a lot from it, and it’s a rarepair I got to kind of develop from scratch in my own way. 

But if I look back at my whole repertoire so far, just to branch out from the usual answer, I’d say I’m also really fond of To Have and to Hold, which was the first time I ever participated in a minibang, or really any kind of writing challenge. It’s a Dorian/Bull established relationship fic set during Trespasser, and it’s kind of a meditation on Dorian’s past and present and how they’ve shaped his feelings on love and commitment and marriage, all while he’s trying to decide his future. I’m proud of how it came out, and I think my Dorian voice still holds up okay. Plus I had two incredible artists working with me who put together stunning work for it, and how could I not be super grateful for that? 

It’s funny, most of the top ones up there for kudos are ones that I don’t personally think are my best, it’s a lot of my very early offerings for Dorian/Bull that I think I could improve on a lot of if I tackled them now. I’m grateful people like them but I feel like they’re more an accident of timing, being published early in the ship’s popularity. 

#writing tag #writing memes #my writing

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

You’re either the patron saint of rarepair ships or rewatches - can’t decide which and both are epic, just like you ❤️

thank yoooooou

what am i the patron saint of?

#replies #hellolivingstereotype #i have the best tumblr friends

[myfeelingshavefeelings]

Tagged by the lovely @wrathoftherandom

Are you named after anyone?

First name is after a saint commonly believed to have been a prostitute (who happened to be named after a biblical sea village supposedly destroyed for fornication); middle name is after the patron saint of music

When was the last time you cried?

Sophomore year of high school (I'd just been told a close friend of mine had attempted suicide; thankfully, they're okay now)

Do you have kids?

I mean...I 'adopted' all the members of my high school's GSA, does that count?

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

So much so that it became a problem when I dated a guy who was terrible at picking up on sarcasm

What is the first thing you notice about somebody?

Bold of you to assume I am at all aware of my surroundings, never mind enough to notice people

What's your eye color?

Green, the color of life, which is ironic considering I'm dead inside

Scary movies or happy endings?

Special talents?

Always ending up in rarepair hell. Jk, I have a good imagination and am told I'm a good singer, and I have an uncanny ability to always piss my brother off

Where were you born?

I was totally born on planet earth and not...somewhere else...

Hobbies?

Tumblr, reading, shipping gay otps, murder, writing poetry, stressing about life, baking, (currently) playing mystic messenger

Pets?

Sadly, none

Sports you've played?

Assuming gym class doesn't count, none, because I'm a lazy, clumsy bitch

How tall are you?

5'2" (too short to donate blood w/ my weight, lol)

Favorite subject?

In school, Spanish. In general, myself.

Dream job?

A millionaire. Jk, I've always wanted to be an author, but I'm going to school to become an actuary (bc those bitches make bank), and I'll probably write on the side/in my free time

I'm tagging: @theawkwardspork @not-used-to-being-normal @falloutgayaf @thisisapseudonym @readingislife-world and anyone else who wants to do it, I guess

[fedorasaurus]

I tried very hard to write this Freehoun fic, but I'm currently a bit frustrated with it.

You know how sometimes, you have an idea for a story, except that it's actually just a bunch of disconnected images and bits of scenes or dialogue that you can't quite figure out how to mash together in a coherent way?

Anyway, this first part is relatively good, and mostly tame enough for my main blog, so please enjoy this incomplete work-in-progress as a contribution to the rarepair content for the time being:

---

It never occurred to Barney Calhoun how thin Gordon Freeman was. Not thin in a way that implied poor health (Black Mesa encouraged its employees to be physically fit and trained in basic combat skills, even those in non-security positions), but his body was lean in a way he hadn't expected.

He'd been so accustomed to seeing the physicist maneuvering in the bulky H.E.V. suit (or even just in his plain work clothes and lab coat) that observing Gordon now, in all his slender nakedness, was a little bit jarring. The other thing he'd never considered was just how many freckles dotted his pale skin, as if his shoulders and chest were an inverted star field. Barney hadn't anticipated these things, and so he found himself flustered at the sheer elegant handsomeness of the man who sat upon his bed.

Perhaps it was his stunned silence while gazing at him that made Gordon uncomfortable.

"Is this okay?" Gordon's hands shook slightly with each nervous word.

"Are you kidding? This is the most okay since... I dunno...! You look amazing!" Barney immediately regretted the forcefulness of his reply as he fumbled to loose the buttons of his uniform. He'd hoped that Gordon wouldn't interpret his sharp tone and reddened face as a signal of disappointment and agitation, although looking like a smitten buffoon wasn't much more preferable.

"You're... you look REALLY amazing," Barney tried again, failing to find different words but at least managing to soften them with the repetition.

Truth be told, it was SO much more complicated than Gordon looking freckled and slender and sexy as hell. So much more than this being their first night being THIS intimate together, so much MORE than Barney and Gordon being nervous and horny and JUST drunk enough to take the edge off. If only he could express these feelings in a way more elegant than petty compliments! After all, Gordon was a goddamn genius, while Barney was... well, he'd never call himself a dumbass, but stammering such things as "you look amazing" was a compelling argument of that.

"You look very handsome too," Gordon replied with a smile, pausing briefly to reach back and free the hair from its hold in a short ponytail. It fell almost imperceptibly against his neck, but it rounded out his face in a subtle frame backlit by the soft bluish glow of a computer monitor, in a way that made Barney think of the halos behind the heads of saints in Renaissance paintings.

Ah yes, there he is: Dr. Freeman, the patron saint of science and sexiness, Barney thought to himself, unable to hold back the short cackle that came with it.

Gordon cocked his head in blatant confusion.

"Ah... Nothin,' Gordon, don't worry about it. You just look-- ...yeah."

-

#uh #it gets a little raunchy from here #I'll post the rest if I'm ever satisfied with it #Freehoun #fanfic #work in progress #writing #*covers face*

[moramew]

patron saint of rarepairs and needy smut

i’m so glad you think that

my brand in a nutshell tbh

#skittidyne

[its-love-u-asshole]

Carried Away [fic, sfw]

Pairing: Fushimi Saruhiko/Dewa Masaomi

Rating: T

Summary: Dewa didn't know how he'd gotten into this situation, being in a fancy jewelry store with a shining new diamond necklace in front of him while a snippy yet mysteriously beautiful worker looked at him like he was a nuisance.

I wrote a random rarepair because I was in a mood and now I actually really like the pairing, whoops? Big thanks to @emeraldwaves​ for betaing this, I hope everyone enjoys! Comments are appreciated <3

Ao3 Version

Dewa never thought he'd meet someone more seemingly impassive than he was, but he wasn't one to frown on skepticism.

"That'll be ¥ 25000," the taller man spoke, his name tag reflected under the fluorescent lights of the jewelry store, as if highlighting every character. Fushimi Saruhiko.

"Ah yeah," Dewa sighed, swallowing thickly as those piercing blue eyes questioned him. After a beat of silence, Dewa reached for his wallet. He'd been in this store way too long, it was suffocating, though he was the only customer, and he didn't know why he wasn't rushing this along like he should've been.

Well, I know why, but I'm not going to admit it.

Dewa didn't know how he'd gotten into this situation, being in a fancy jewelry store with a shining new diamond necklace in front of him while a snippy yet mysteriously beautiful worker looked at him like he was a nuisance. Fushimi was insufferable, a bit rude too, not exactly the type of person Dewa was used to being attracted to, but yet, here he was. The signs were all there, his hands felt clammy and his skin itched, and he was hyper aware of every movement of the other man as he rang up his stuff.

Stuff. Diamond necklace. Jewelry store. Fushimi.

This was not how he expected the day to go. All he'd wanted to do was go get a quick drink, maybe lounge around the house and avoid Chitose for a few hours (even if Dewa didn't ache for his best friend anymore, he had no desire to hear the other gush about his first serious relationship in years. It was disgusting and way too mushy for him to stomach for more than never.)

So yeah, he really didn't get why he was here, but then again, he absolutely did. Why was it, even after he'd finally been able to move on from his unrequited crush, that everything seemed to come back to Chitose. Fucking Chitose, that asshole.

Dewa stared down at the shining diamond necklace in front of him, glaring at it as Fushimi unlocked the glass case to fetch something else. "Oh, I'll get the promotional item as well."

The phrase 'promotional item' caused another rush of irritation to course through him, and he was blindsided by the memory from earlier that morning.

"Aw c'mon man!" Chitose whined to him, looking equal parts stressed and panicked as he tried to keep up with Dewa's quick pace. Maybe if he walked fast enough, Chitose would get tired, and Dewa could have his drink in peace. Nope. Chitose tugged on his arm, and damn he was surprisingly strong, because Dewa was effectively yanked back. "I really need you to do this for me! I forgot I have a later shift at work, but I need that necklace by tonight!"

Dewa turned slowly, giving him a long, suffering look, as if to say 'you know I'm going to give in because you're my best friend but I want you to know I hate you so much.' Chitose grinned sheepishly, putting his hands together in a begging gesture, and they were starting to get some weird looks...

"Look, it's our anniversary and my new job gave me a pay advance," Chitose continued, trying to seem as small as possible. "So I wanted to get her something nice! I'll give you the money you need, you just have to pick it up alright? Pleeaassseee."

Feelings or no feelings, no one was able to tolerate Chitose's complaining very long, though Dewa considered himself pretty good at it, and eventually he gave in. He could always get a drink near the mall. "...fine."

"Yes! Thanks man!" Chitose slid a comforting arm around Dewa's shoulders, and he leaned away in a last ditch attempt to be spiteful. Then again, he wasn't a child, and he soon relaxed into the contact, admitting defeat and rolling with it as best he could. Well, until Chitose leered at him, lips quirking into an irritating smirk that only spelled trouble. "And hey, the necklace comes with free earrings, I'll let you keep those, I'm sure they'll help woo a girl no prob--"

Dewa tripped him.

He'd been weirdly pissed about the comment, mostly for reasons he couldn't blame his best friend for. For one, it was a reminder that he didn't have anyone to woo, and second, if he did, it certainly wouldn't be a girl.

But, these things were his own issues to deal with. He'd brushed it off pretty quickly after that, content with running the small errand and having an excuse to eat mall food instead of cooking for himself.

Now though, as the earrings were placed in front of him, a whole new swarm of feelings swirled in his gut, and they were no longer ones of longing or irritation.

This has to be a joke...

The earrings were small studs, obviously high quality but not expensive enough to be risky as a free gift alongside the necklace. However, it was the color which had Dewa looking to the sky as if some deity (maybe Chitose, who seemed to defy logic when it came to being an unwanted wing man) had forsaken him. The earrings were a striking blue, identical to Fushimi's eyes and Dewa had to bite his tongue from commenting on it, keeping his face neutral and he looked back up to the other.

"Is there a problem?" Fushimi sighed, as if silently adding 'please say no.' It had Dewa's lips quirking into an amused smile, his breathing coming to a halt when he thought he saw Fushimi's eyes look him over and I have no idea how to flirt anymore.

He'd never really had a reason to flirt after all, being in love with one's straight best friend robs one of that ability, so yeah. He'd never had a desire to flirt otherwise, and now that he kind of did, he was lost.

Dewa always appeared calm, rational, and he honestly wasn't the type to flirt at all, much less in public, but he had to say something.

Just then, he caught a glimmer of something in Fushimi's ear, and he was fully convinced that Chitose had finally transcended existential boundaries, and had taken his rightful place as the patron saint of single men. It was an earring, a stud, right in Fushimi's cartilage, and Dewa might not have been a flirt, but he was observant.

"I like your earring," Dewa mused, eyeing the multicolored stone which reflected blues, reds, and greens. Odd, but cool. "It looks good on you."

People (Chitose and Eric) often made fun of him for his simple way of putting things, but Dewa was apparently proving them wrong, because the comment earned him an embarrassed little scowl and a flush from the other, who instinctively reached up to fiddle with the stud in his ear.

Damn it, that's not fair either.

"Whatever...it's a cheap one," Fushimi went on, the self-deprecating nature of the words not going unnoticed by Dewa. "Can't afford the ones here..."

"They're pretty nice, they'd look good on you too," Dewa went on, aware that he was overstaying his welcome but not caring. "Do you have other piercings?"

It might've been a mistake on his part to ask such a personal question, or a blessing. The world may never know.

Fushimi's eyebrows shot up in mild surprise, before his whole, uninterested demeanor seemed to shift, his mouth rising to form a very self-satisfied smirk that had Dewa's pulse racing in a way he hadn't experienced in a long time.

Again, not fair.

"Oh? That's a bit bold isn't it?" Fushimi leaned forward, not losing the taunting lilt in his voice.

Dewa was being provoked, he knew it, and he wasn't one to rise to the bait in most situations, but today was an exception to a lot of things. "How so?"

"Well, that's something you'd have to find out for yourself," Fushimi went on, tapping the stud in his ear teasingly as his other hand rested on his chest, and the innuendo was finally processed in Dewa's brain. "Isn't it?"

Dewa's fists clenched, and he didn't miss the way Fushimi leaned in, as if to challenge, and Dewa was lost in a sea of blue he didn't want to find his way out of.

What now? He didn't know how this worked. Maybe he was being mocked, he hardly looked smooth anyways. Not in his tattered jeans and fake leather jacket, with his hat to hide his bedhead fixed on crookedly. If only he'd known...he would've worn jeans without holes in them.

Fushimi's eyes flicked down to his lips, and Dewa moved to close the distance as if he was on autopilot, when the sound of the door jingling forced him to stop. He could hear another customer being greeted by an attendant somewhere behind him, and he slid away when the footsteps got closer as the customer perused the selection.

Perhaps the deity of single men had forsaken him after all.

Or it was just all in my head.

Still, the half-lidded nature of Fushimi's eyes hadn't faltered yet, as if he were anticipating something but not wanting to seem too eager, and regardless of what Dewa wanted in his heart of hearts, it scared him away.

It scared him, how much he was attracted to Fushimi, and how interesting he found him. He wanted to know more about him, about why he was insecure despite being so alluring, why he worked at the damn jewelry store, what he thought about the afterlife, any complex or insignificant detail. It was overwhelming, and his first instinct was to retreat.

That's what he was used to. Retreating, exiting before he got carried away, because with Chitose, he couldn't get carried away.

He hadn't been able to shake that yet.

"Maybe if I'm lucky then," Dewa whispered finally, leaning away from the counter and breaking the tense eye contact with reluctance. He knew when and when not to push, and it wasn't like he never came to this mall. Maybe there'd be other opportunities.

Ha.

Those were his excuses for backing away, and he knew they were all bullshit. Something in his gut told him to stop being such a coward, but he was already walking away as if to make his exit, and he didn't want to be awkward.

It's worth the risk, his brain unhelpfully supplied.

Fushimi gave a slow hum, as if expecting more, and maybe the disappointed sound coupled with that pretty face ignited something inside him, because Dewa set his jaw and narrowed his eyes, determination running through him. No. How many years had he been forced to be a coward? In love with someone who'd never love him back? What was there to lose?

Nothing, if he thought about it clearly.

"Thanks," Dewa said shakily, collecting the bag with the diamond necklace as he slid the blue earrings forward towards Fushimi.

Nothing at all.

The taller eyed him curiously, eyebrow quirking in confusion as Dewa made a move to leave the item behind. "These come with it you know..."

Barely hiding his grin, Dewa glanced back over his shoulder to see the slightest, most rewarding flush dance on Fushimi's cheeks. "I know, but they match your eyes better."

Fushimi's jaw dropped a bit, and Dewa wasn't one to fist pump, but man, he probably could've.

And after that, instead of being allowed to leave, Fushimi called him back, insisting that there was something he'd 'forgotten' to tell him about his purchase.

Yes, a fist pump would've probably been appropriate.

--

As Dewa exited the mall, stuffed pretzel in hand, he thought he really would have to thank Chitose in the end. The day hadn't gone exactly according to plan, but hopefully his date Friday night would.

#krarepairweek2017 #au prompt because im always late and i didn't have the idea until now lol #dewa masaomi #fushimi saruhiko #adri writing