thewatercolours - Tumblr blog

thewatercolours · 10 hours

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talking shoppy~! as many or as few as you like, but, I just have to ask.....

who's your favorite character to write, where do you get your ideas, do you keep scraps of stories in notebooks and things, how do you feel about skipping around a plot or do you have to tell a story from start to finish, what's something you'd love to write but haven't gotten to yet, what's your favorite thing you've written in a sentence or scene or overall creation, who's your second favorite character to write, what's your favorite trope, what do you love and dislike about writing in general, are we in a secret club??

Pretty sure this corner of the internet counts as a secret club...

Who's your favourite character to write?

Do you keep scraps of stories in notebooks and things?

Do Google Docs count? Like all writers, I find the idea of notebooks appealing, but I'm not one to use them very much or well. I forget I have them going, or to keep them around where they'd be useful to me. Add to that the fact that I prefer to keep it digital, because I make SO many edits as I write. That being said, I'll occasionally scribble on random papers if I'm scared I'm going to forget an idea - usually a two line dialogue exchange. I never find those papers again.

How do you feel about skipping around a plot or do you have to tell a story from start to finish?

Within a single scene, I try to be pretty linear, but jump ahead if I get struck with a very vivid idea for later in the scene and want to capture it in a few paragraphs, before doubling back. Or if I'm getting really stuck and I know jumping just a little ahead will give me momentum, especially if the two moments aren't separated by much. That's nice, because it gives me a better idea how to bridge them.

Within a multi-chapter story? Um, if it's "Rippling Consequences," heh, start to finish is definitely not a thing. Although the Goblin Graham storyline has to be told in progressive order, even if we skip around to other scenes in between.) My other little multi-chapters have all been written in scene order.

What's something you'd love to write but haven't gotten to yet?

(Gonna count some that I've taken a stab at but don't have anything near a complete draft.)

"What if" where Graham, having lost the tournament, decides to approach his sister about joining her seagoing crew, and things get off on the wrong foot.

"What if" where Chapter One Graham didn't make it to the tournament on time, and ends up a bottom-rung page at the court of Western Kolyma. And meets someone. ;-)

Rewrite of the Princess "Ball" in Chapter Three

Sleeping Beauty-type spell hits Daventry, and everyone's evacuating before the lilac-y sleep claims them, but someone was forgotten down in the valley while everyone else was fleeing and the king goes back into the sleepy, sleep thickness of the spell to try to get them to safety.

The rest of "Rippling Consequences" and "Paths." Thee are some scenes I'm really looking forward to, but I have to wait for the right moments to write them. There's an Orri scene especially that I'm looking forward to in RC, and a sort of reconnaissance scene into enemy territory that should be fun to write. This could change, but "Paths" is set to include a couple of actual canon scenes in the prose, and I am looking forward to playing with them.

What's your favourite thing you've written in a sentence or scene or overall creation?

That is a lovely, gigantic question and how am I supposed to answer it? Um, very non-exhaustive selection of tiny little moments from just three fics because I the kind of person who could embark on a long, long overthinking project.

From The Fairy: Orri tapping Graham's nose and him going cross-eyed. Graham tearing up with joy because he's apparently turned human again, and then snapping back into his goblin form within seconds. Also the moment where Graham slips briefly into a goblin mindset and perceives the human side of his mind as something intimidating and far too clever that doesn't belong and has to be pushed out (and I let him giggle manically... I had the goblin theme music playing on repeat when I was writing that passage, and the goal was to try to make the words feel a bit like that music.)

From The Waystop Woman: Nelia being an utterly ruthless and morally grey person who works with kidnappers, and at this point is motivated by pure revenge, but is also just extraordinarily kind and survives by seeing people's humanity and drawing it out even in the worst circumstances. The scene where she notices the unconscious Graham shivering, and asks the kidnappers to lay him by the fire, and they object that he's asleep and won't remember the warmth, and she still insists. "Let him have one more nice, deep sleep before everything changes." "It's already changed, as far as he's concerned." "All right, one last nice sleep before he changes." And the sickfic scene.

The opening line of A King Sat Alone in a Lavender Field (that's more or less the line itself.) It's not actually one of my better fics, but it was written in hopes it could be a bit of warmth when a few people in the fandom were going through a difficult time. I hadn't written anything, not really, in months and months, and it was a rusty attempt. But it was meant to be something quiet and gentle and just exist, and still that title makes me feel a bit of that.

Who's your second favourite character to write?

Oh, I don't think there's a clear second the way there is a first. I've probably written more Number One and Neese than other characters, but does that mean they're my favourites to work with? Maybe?

(Might try and answer the rest another time! Got to stop overthinking and get to bed. Flying to another province tomorrow.)

#What with this being my fandom blog we're going with KQ responses. Answers would vary if I was including my original writing.#Thank you for the ask!

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thewatercolours · 12 hours

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Noticing the “Open” sign on your shop, I mosey in to talk.

- Favourite act of Three Adventurers?

- The secrets to bear in mind when mapping out a comic page?

- Creativity is most fun when ________.

- Share a behind the scenes moment from your art/writing. (I blank out if asked questions like this, but maybe one will come to mind while answering another question?)

- If you were a fan creating a favourite quotes page from your works, what would be some of the quotes you’d collect?

-How far can Link’s ears toggle? What is the range of those things?

(Pick and choose any of the above!)

1 - Favourite act of Three Adventurers? Ooooh... hmm, I feel like it'll change as I go further down the line, but so far it's a tie between acts 5 and 7. Five because it forced me to get creative with how to distinguish the boys when they're one person (and I'm sorry, but I love Effie so much and I miss her as well as Giggle). Seven because I really did try to do better with pacing, I got to explore more with Guybrush within 3adv, how all of ya'll reacted towards Mako (and me clapping my hands like a seal with each week), and because I FINALLY got to do the cool action shot I've been dying to do since I started 3adv- which was Graham shooting the ice arrow as he's shot out of the water.

2 - The secrets to bear in mind when mapping out a comic page? DO. NOT. CLUTTER. LESS IS MORE. I have to scream that at myself and then go "Can this panel, if it's not working for the page, be pushed to the next page? Does it add anything? Can it be scrapped? Can a different panel be scrapped or even merged?" and go from there. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I try to make my panels cohesive and not a jumble of too many panels. Also reeeeeeeally helps to have the speech bubbles easy to follow and lead the eye. I read it somewhere once and it kinda lived in my head ever since.

3 - Creativity is most fun when ________. When you do it for yourself. I know it's more appealing and even rewarding when others respond or give feedback (I'd be a liar if I didn't admit of being guilty of wanting it), but it's super important and critical and even liberating when you create things for yourself first. I read somewhere, I think it was Alex Hirsch or Rebecca Sugar (or both and I'm combining the two) how when they made their shows, they did it as a something that they wanted to see and refused to budge for the fans, so I take that to heart when I make things. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, it might even anger or frustrate or have them throw a fit how it's not what they want... but when I'm making things for myself, it becomes way more fun and I don't feel so pressured. I even might surprise myself with what I'm able to pull off and that, as a creator, is so much fun.

4 - Share a behind the scenes moment from your art/writing. I have too many, ha ha. But one in particular was how I recently broke out of a writer's block of sorts of Act 8 of 3adv. Mainly I was on my way to work and honestly it was just.... a very ridiculous Looney Tunes-esqe kind of scenario with Guybrush that made me burst out loud in the car that I had to share with my sister (she is the only one that knows the entire spoiler for all of 3adv and tragically the one I bombard for feedback) and she, bless her so much, slam-dunked with an even dumber idea that made us both laugh super hard and things began to click so perfectly that I got to writing again after um... actively avoiding it. So when the act drops, and you see a joke that seems almost TOO cartoonish.... I apologize in advance.

5 - If you were a fan creating a favourite quotes page from your works, what would be some of the quotes you’d collect? You're really making me go through my works aren't ya? Ha ha, lets see.... off the top of my head that is posted and not, y'know, a WIP. From Act 7: The pirate’s jaw tightened slightly before he gave a smile that dripped with venomous resentment. “I did, actually. In fact, I’d say I thought it rather well considering you were more focused on beating me up both physically AND emotionally! Wow, who’d a thought a simple pirate such as myself could do such a thing!” From Perspective: Number Two slammed the final nail in the coffin as Number One bursted out laughing, unable to contain himself. Did that boy really bring that in and thought it was a ticket? Who was the trickster that convinced him it was one?! The other guards laughed alongside him, but he simply had to leave the Theater out of fear that he would appear to be more unprofessional than he already was, laughing the whole way out.

From This Can Be Explained: “Okay, so don’t freak out–”

“Guybrush, there’s a dead body on the floor! How can I not freak out?!” Link shouted. From Sea of Adventurers: “Although… you two made it very clear that the seas doesn’t run in your veins.”

“How so?” Graham asked, sounding somewhat insulted, even though it was the truth.

“You two screamed the entire journey from where you initially washed up to this town when you witnessed the kraken and sharks.” The Pirate Lord explained. “You also crashed your ship repeatedly into the deck, anchored in the wrong place and at one point managed to set it on fire.”

There are more quote that I'm blanking out on... but I am curious what ya'lls favorite quotes are.

6 - How far can Link’s ears toggle? What is the range of those things? Pretty expressive! But mostly it goes up and down, not back and forward. I think I showed its range?

But yeah, it's rarely super high up but it does perk up when extremely happy, twitches when he hears noises and droops when annoyed, scared or bummed. But by default his ears is like.... juuuuuuust partially up, always listening. I ah........... realized it became canon when it happened in Breath of the Wild. So of course I made it canon in 3adv.

#These are really cool thoughts! And I applaud you for staying true to your north star and writing for yourself rather than for validation or #other factors. I think it also creates a truer and more distinct creative vision/voice because you're not trying to imitate an imagined #version that will please the crowd/someone when that version isn't even the one that's actually in their heads anyway.#You made my day with those Link's ears pictures.

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thewatercolours · 22 hours

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After a rough twenty minutes the goblins set about the finishing touches of their costuming project. Graham found himself gussied up in the gaudiest, most piecemeal ballgown he’d ever seen. Six or seven trains spilled over the floor, one sparkling sleeve had no opening for his hand, and somewhere in the mix his cape had been wadded into a kind of bustle. The goblins stepped back to survey their work, some cheering, some awestruck. A stubby goblin climbed the stepladder. It carefully tied a bright yellow bow round Graham’s head, plumping it up lovingly over the king’s right eyebrow. It cooed and clasped its hands by its cheek.

A prompt request from @thewatercolours, from “Salamanders and Diamonds.”

#isn’t he the most elegant sight you’ve ever seen?#I had to come back to this one because I got a lovely comment and did a reread #my favourite thing in the world is Graham’s resigned face drawn in your style when the goblins are having fun #and you even put in the other goblins waiting to reenact the scene!#What do we live gir but to make sport gor our neighbours and #laugh at them in our turn #and make Graham as garishly and unwillingly colourful as we can.#still love this art so.

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thewatercolours · 22 hours

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Maybe I should try writing another first person KQ scene, but with someone who has an established in-game voice, hopefully an informal one. I prefer third, but I mainly want to try it because it will force me to write simpler prose while keeping it voicey. Rereading old scenes has got me feeling ruthless toward the wordiness but also a bit helpless, so I think it would be a good exercise.

#it doesn’t help that I tend wordy in reality- it’s not an affectation.

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thewatercolours · 1 day

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Talk Shop Tuesday

Talk Shop Tuesday: the day of the week where you send fan creators (fic writers, fan artists, anyone that creates things for your fandom) questions about what they do! It can be fic-specific or general but either way: send them a question talking "shop" about the things they create! You never know what you might learn!

Rules:

send asks to creators in your fandom

share this post

have fun

#Will send asks later but reblogging now.

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thewatercolours · 2 days

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Being knocked out for more than 5 minutes means very serious brain damage but humans not having a turn-off button would do immense damage to our collective storytelling. So many films and books and videogames just wouldn't happen if writers stopped bonking their characters on the head. Insane.

#I fully support human off buttons.

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thewatercolours · 3 days

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I feel just blown away that an artist like yourself would make a comic out of my dotty story. I just keep staring and staring and staring at this because it's absolutely wild to think that my situation is playing out in one of your amazing comics. Which I have missed so much! Honestly your comics are iconic and I would be delighted to see you'd made one regardless.

My favourite panel might just be the second one. There he is, sploshed with paint, and for a moment he just doesn't say anything - and I can SEE the walls going up inside him in this panel - that stare that's hopeless but calm because he's completely done, that little lift of the eyebrows. You can just see he feels humiliated, judged, tired, and he's just taking a second to be decide, "Yeah, I started today off by looking for your approval, but I don't give a darn anymore." It's really effective pacing, just that little pause and in my mind that's canon now. But also, he looks the slightest bit sad, like he held out the slimmest hope that maybe once the shouting was over and they were alone, Number One might show more sympathy. Maybe I'm reading too much into it just 'cause, but seeing you "direct" this scene makes me see it in new ways and I love it.

And it's the last time he makes eye contact until the last panel - by which point it's not eye contact at all. It's too late. No1 had turned his back

And you've done so many other creative decisions that just underscore what's happening in ways I didn't think of. The way you've broken up dialogue by panel, and decided which speech bubbles to couple together, creates a strong effect. The effects in the centre panels. The cutting back and forth. It's all so effective. And it feels - more intense, in this version?

I also really love how you used the fact Graham is sitting and Number One standing to such good effect. Ordinarily the king sitting while his subordinate stands is a sign of power, but here Number One just towers over him and visually he just has all the status and authority

I am just so honoured to get to see this in your style and a bit of how you imagine it playing out. It's just - wow.

The blue nose smear. The surprised, "What?" and how you made him sit up and open up when the rest of the comic he's just pulling more and more into himself. The cyan and magenta footprints and spatters everywhere!

This is just so cool. I'm in love with this page and I can't believe my dialogue is coming out of the mouths of these amazing Mickey designs. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU!

Based on @thewatercolours fanfic that can be read here... it was too good a scene (of the many) that I had to make a comic of.

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thewatercolours · 3 days

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Flufftober Day 2 - Family, Friends, Loved Ones

A shared laugh with beloved friends who are like family is always welcomed.

#This is just such a good one - unadulterated joy. Just having the best laugh ever. All for one and one for all. Also the blues you used in #that particular Flufftober are pretty much the best blue ever invented.#Arm in arm just falling all over each other laughing.#Wish I was there to have heard the joke.

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thewatercolours · 5 days

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feeling called out today

credit: _ADWills

#All of the em-dashes! Em-dashes for days! Sabotaging every single thing I write in uncountable numbers!

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thewatercolours · 6 days

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Hey, KQ friends. Tell me what your ten favourite KQ works* you have created are. It can be a list of fics, art, other creations, or a combo. And if you like, tell us why. It’s not boasting- I am just very curious and it would give me joy to know.

*define KQ works as you like. If it’s got a mighty pirate in it but you consider it arguably KQ too, that counts. I’m not rules lawyering. Also you get to choose what count as separate works. Count a whole series/story as one, or highlight specific chapters/pictures out of the whole.

#So many of your favourites are my favourites too! Your archives are just full of treasures of storytelling and visuals and versatility!#Perspective quickly became my all time favourite but honestly it's all a buffet of goodness. Helpmates was somehow one of the first things #I ever saw that's on this list and I have to tell you I often mentally quote Number Two when I bite into an apple - much more fun to menace #than just chew. Loved reading through these - you are just to take pride in them!

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thewatercolours · 6 days

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So, I've just gotta ask.... (deep breath)

Gerbil. What on earth did you do that you levelled up overnight like that? I said it before - it may be bias on my part because my little green fellow is part of this picture. But it seriously looks like your skill in art passed a certain amount of XP and suddenly got buffed stats, and extra spell slots, and new weapons and magic items! Watch me try to express what I mean without the innate artistic sense to do so:

There's an increased... cohesion to this that's just really pleasing? Like this painting effortlessly knows what it's doing. There's such a sense of depth and layers. Not digital studio layers - layers in space, within the scene. There's a dimensionality here that we have seen in your art before - maybe the snowy rampart scene most recently? - but this still feels like a new threshold. Also, the way my eye bounces around the scene feels really cohesive and pleasing too? From your central Graham down to my goblin and up to the rest of the Grahams in the background. And there's almost a subtle but oval frame in terms of the light that makes it feel shaped even though the forest gives a nice illusion of natural randomness. the shading and the shadows look more polished than usual. AND LOOK AT THAT 3/4 work!! The three Grahams all look awesome!! And the colours, which must have been tricky to pull off because the Grahams all have slightly different palettes from their "home worlds," but they feel harmonious and go really well with the muted blues and greens.

And... and... enough of pretending to be an art critic. I'm just going to go full on gush, because it's my lone, lorn, lion-hearted goblin friend, and Orri the fairy hasn't got nothing on me when it comes to enthusing about him.

And everyone else's Graham looks amazing too, and so does yours, and I will praise them, but LOOK AT HIM!!

Look at him with his patchwork skin!! I am cracking up that he has some human skin on his long ears, because it implies that was originally just part of his temple or something, and it just kept growing out and out and out from his head! Look at his baggy clothes! You got them exactly right! They're not huge on him everywhere because goblin proportions are weird. They are just waaaay too long for him and he's in the middle of nowhere so he just kind of had to make them work He's rolled everything up to the max, and where he can't the fabric's just bunching fold over fold over fold. And don't think I didn't notice he's story accurate in terms of some of the pieces he's discarded because there's no way to make them work! I see the top of his bare green leg because those boots are never going to be functional in this form, and same goes for the bracers. And no hat, no hat - that's back in his pocket because it just doesn't work with the constantly shifting ears. It's actually really fun that we have him standing inches away in "normal" form just for comparison! Like obviously it's your Graham and mine, and in that sense separate characters sort of, but this also kind of doubles as a kind of transformation art, just because they're back to back. Oh, I didn't notice till now that he's had to go down a couple of belt loops! And oh no! He's got little cuts and scrapes from when he fell in the elevator shaft! And his clothes are all scuffed up, because of course they are. He's been in Chapter Two for an extra month and he just stumbled through a thick forest for mi...i...i... Heh heh.

Sorry. Been working on that.

Looking over all the other guys who have the privilege of being human (at least for the moment,) everyone's looking great! You have all the little telltale shapes each artist favours to great effect, and they are all so very cute! I tend to focus on noses a lot when I look at these Graham-verse pictures, but the hair is very accurate to each person's art style in a way that really impresses me too. And I like the subtle differences in their skin tones, where the rosiness is in their faces, how freckling works, the colour of their skin in shadow as opposed to in light.

And just... at a scene level, it's so fun.

WINTER: (thinking) I am NOT ready for another goblin shenanigan - not without warning! What's it gonna be this time? Tea? Ropes? Paint? What character am I going to have to be next!?

SUMMER: Um... just... what? What even?

SPRING: Hooray!! At last! I've had one short joke too many. Of course I'm welcoming him into our fold! Why wouldn't I? What - you think it's weird I focused on his height before his species? Oh come on. That's not weird at all. most people notice height first.

SUMMER: But what...

AUTUMN: Oh wow! He's like me! We can be curse buddies! We can give each other tips, and trade stories, and be moral support! Actually, being a goblin sounds like it could fun - I wonder if I could get goblin cursed next and we could be twins?

SUMMER: Is anyone else kind of... lost?

GOBLIN GRAHAM: I've been seen! That guy was clearly terrified of me! I knew this would happen - that I'd just make people scream and run! And - and - WHAT? WHAT? Orri, what did you do to my mind? This has got to be a hallucination! What is even happening?!

SUMMER: You and me both, buddy.

*takes that concept sketch down from my mental bulletin board and pins this one in its place.*

"Guys, the mirror spat out another Gra--why does he have fangs??"

From the multiverse Graham au:

Goblin!Graham - @thewatercolours Winter!Graham - @gerbiloftriumph (hi me!) Summer!Graham - @captmickey Spring!Graham - @tooncooro Autumn!Graham - @kursed-curtain

textless under the cut

#Oh you wanna talk about silly long comments?#Let's see if I can even put into words how much I like this one. It gets a full on fic analysis even if it's not a fic.#Guys - I love all your Grahams so much and this gives me huge smiles!

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thewatercolours · 7 days

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Right, my top ten! Let me emphasize this is not a countdown, because picking favourites is already tricky enough, without ranking them.

“Well,” he said dubiously, “in Llewdor everyone wishes on falling stars. And eyelashes, and sneezes, and ladybugs, and dozens of other things. And I never heard of anyone running into trouble with fairies afterwards.”

“Daventry is different.”

The king considered a moment, and then a smile settled across his face. He leaned against the merlon again, and by the flicker of the candle, the guard saw him draw a deep, contented breath of summer night air, and exhale slowly. Graham closed his eyes, and murmured. “Yes, Daventry is different.”

---

"Stargazers" is one of those fics that gave me tremendous satisfaction to write, because writing it felt exactly the way I hoped the reader would feel experiencing it. I loved that one wishing star art that @gerbiloftriumph had drawn a few months earlier, and I had a lovely time trying to evoke that feeling of warm summer air cooling as the constellations appear, and of just completely being in the moment (at least, in Graham's case. Not so much No1's.) It was a first time for a lot of things that have become habitual for me now. First time trying to liberally spatter it with nods to fanon developed by others. First time trying to fill a scene with tons of Rippling Consequences Easter eggs and groundwork. First time doing my stereotypical scene arc structure (which I haven't actually used as often as I thought I had! But it's lovely to pull out when I just want to let the characters ramble.)

“Well, that’s not right, to make people wait between names. You take away a boy’s name, the least you can do is give him a new one soon as you can. You can borrow one for a little, maybe. Who’s back home that you care about?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think. I can’t think.” The boy reaches up to press his temples.

Gloriana for sure, then. Known for simulating a kind of panic attack in the brain and blood, without the freezing up. Nelia pulls one of the boy’s hands away from his head. “You can’t think? That’s all right – people don’t always have to be thinking. You just have to be here with me. Hold my hand a moment. Tell you what. We’ll use a name I care about, just for today. My son was a John. Will you be a John for a little, so as I can call you something?”

"The Waystop Woman" I have a soft spot for characters finding themselves in terrible places - villains' lairs, or enslaved regions - and finding they can't just go in, guns blazing, but have to play a longer game and live there for a lengthier time than they thought. So that they can't constantly exist in a state of urgency to fight, but have to live the slower, ordinary moments of life, and make the best of it even in the strongholds of evil (and of course, character development happens.) Something about finding small moments of joy and humanity in this vale of tears. Anyway, that's really what The Waystop Woman is about. Even though I decided to leave this one unfinished for a few reasons, I'm still very proud of it. I feel like I had some stronger writing here at the prose level than usual, and I really enjoyed writing Nelia herself. A very conflicted character, she was, but with a kind heart. I never truly figured out what her plan was, and wonder if she did either. Perhaps she was just trying to arm herself , with as much information and as many relationships as possible, on the intuition they'd eventually prove useful. That scene where she helps Graham through a bad potion reaction is my favourite.

“You stopped talking. We’ve been over this. You just end up hurting when you stop. That’s our rule, remember?” Something broke in his voice, but he made himself go on. “Focus. Find the parts that still sound like you, and use them.”Swallowing, he blanked out on anything further to say. “I—but, it’s just that… hardly any of it still sounds like…” His right ear itched worse than his mother’s homemade laundry starch. But he refused to scratch it. It itched farther away from his head than should have been possible.

"Goblin Graham" - Oh, my little, green king. I still love you so much. You are a paradox. I have much higher, perfectionist standards for you than just about any other fic I write, and yet you are possibly the most over-the-top indulgent thing I've ever written. You are the heart of the whole web of Rippling Consequences, and I have to overthink you hugely to make sure you tie in properly and lay the groundwork for everything else - and yet somehow I also plot you entirely on the fly in very episodic fashion. I think there are 12 instalments that focus specifically on long-eared Graham at this point, but I had to list about half of them as favourites. Passages I really enjoyed: The sheer fun of revealing the situation little by little in "On the One Hand." Really leaning into the angst of losing your voice and you face in "On the Other Hand." Going crazy exploring goblin lore and Mordon's parasocial relationship with the unknown prisoner in the cell who gives him lots of sentences to imitate in "Voice." The fun limits I had to work within for the conversation between Mordon and Graham in "Fingers" and "Human Goblins," where Graham can hardly pronounce anything and Mordon can only quote lines he's heard Graham use before. "Threshold" was fun because I let Manny say all the horrible things that would really be hard to shake from your psyche because they're half true, and then made Graham choose to walk through the door anyway. "The Marchlands" was written in a wonderful flow state and so it has a magic to it for me. And "The Fairy -" I loved the dynamic I was able to get between Graham and Orri, and I can't wait to write them again!

(and obviously you shouldn't base the work you're proud of on how other people responded, but I think the fire was definitely fanned when I got showered with kind, beautiful GG art after I wrote that initial chapter!)

"But we were talking about salamanders.”

“Can we skip to the part where you end up with one in your mouth?”

“Did I say that was where this story was going?”

“It’s kind of obvious.”

"Salamanders and Diamonds" was a blast to write. Comedy is tricky for me to get across on the page, but I think I landed what I was trying for with this one. I had just as much fun with Grandpa and Gwendolyn's comments as I did with Graham being a human playground for salamanders, cartoony, cosplay-making goblins, and giving the king three shiny gold coins at one time, which I would have killed for on first playthrough. And you know, I don't think Graham ever catches on which fairy tale it is within the story. It was fun just making him very confused and the goblins very frustrated with his inability to play properly, even though they expended every effort on his look!

His mind feels like a stained-glass window. Strict black bands of cold metal divide every part of him. No overlaps – all neat, defined, compartmentalized. All the light that gets through the stained-glass is strange and altered. He’s not confident he remembers most colours anymore, even setting the window metaphor aside. He still has a grasp on green, and maybe gold, which helps him imagine yellow by extension. The rest have gone murky in his memory, replaced by the hazy greys and ice-blues that his eyes perceive. A year or two ago he could still remember the feel, if not the look, of most colours. With time, those have failed too.It doesn’t bother him anymore.

"Bitter Cold" is another one where I was quite pleased with the writing. I enjoyed the idea that Graham really believes he has lost his conscience and emotions, except perhaps for fear, but making it manifestly clear that he still had both, even if they show themselves differently. I enjoyed the chat he and Princess Vee have in the wine cellar - Vee has potential to be such a wonderfully voicey character. She so grounded and fun to write. And I enjoyed the leadup to Graham asking her if she thought it was possible they might be falling in love, while they are in the carriage on the way to delvier him up to arrest. I think part of what was cool about this scenario was that it forced Vee to be the emotional one who encouraged him to open up, but I think I also managed to keep her true to her character.

Many a king had ricocheted down the wishing well shaft. Or at any rate, the flattering profiles of kings, embossed and etched on brass, silver, and gold. In the two centuries it had stood, the well had seen nearly a dozen different rulers fall. Robbers tended to wander down the rope for a bit of royal graverobbing now and again.

Graham was not quite king yet. But he was the nearest thing the well had known to a king shinnying back out. Not riding jingling in a thief’s pouch, but climbing with his own rope burned fingers and knocking knees. He hadn’t come for vengeance. Only for a looking glass. But he’d got it into the bargain.

What's Past is Prologue (The Well Fic) - I haven't forgotten! I haven't! I just realized that Part Two has to be either the final or nearly final scene of Rippling Consequences. I still love this one, the one that started it all. This was back before I had absorbed any fanon, and all the jokes were game jokes ("After a little bit of trial and error later (not limited to spooling and unspooling the well rope at least ten times, loping around touching everything in the area to see if anything useful met his fingertips, and trying to hack through the thornweeds with absolutely everything on his person, including the blanket...")

Graham spluttered as the guard released him, but before he stepped away Number One poked him sharply between the shoulder blades. Muscle memory kicked in. Graham found himself straightening up and putting his shoulders back, as he always did on the training ground when Number One corrected his posture. Then he turned and glared, meeting the guard’s gaze. He deliberately slumped his shoulders and let himself fall into the easy bow-legged stance Number One was always giving him grief for. Zards; what was even the point of dragging him out here if they were just going to be embarrassed of his existence? Maybe they should just put the crown on Number One’s head and send him round to smile and wave at smug villagers. Stars knew he wouldn’t mind taking it off for a while.

"Paths, Chapter Three" (Graham vs. the Tollbooth) It's probably just because I only posted it a few days ago, but I'm still beaming with pride over this one. I think it turned out as funny as I had hoped, and it was also tremendously pleasing to cross the finishing line o f writing and editing, because this one took perseverance. Originally Graham was going to make a speech next to the Mannerly Stove goat pond and somehow fall in and get wet, and it would be embarrassing. Then I decided that wasn't embarrassing enough - I still wanted him to get wet, but i wasn't sure how to up the ante. Then my brother said, "What if he got wet with paint?" And somehow everything fell into place just from that. I also wanted to make a joke about how if the pass ever closed, this valley nation would have to subsist on lavender.

But Graham could barely make her out through the flare of the brilliant blue light, the source of which he couldn't tell. He shielded his eyes with his leather-braced arm, and the light gentled. He squinted at her old face, cracked as summer’s day mud. Her hair, on the other hand, was golden, lustrous and young, and didn’t seem to be weighed down at all by the pull of the earth. It drifted and curled round itself as though she were laying back in water. Orma. She smiled. She reached out two hands to Graham, but he instinctively hid his own behind his back.

"The Witch" was the first ficlet I ever got tag comments on - and to say I was ecstatic would be an understatement. But I especially love it now because when I revisited it recently I found I had accidentally set up a bunch of story elements I didn't even have a notion of yet! Read "The Witch" after reading "The Fairy," and you may well be able to guess where this whole unwieldy story is tending. Love it when my own writing surprises me.

“I think I speak for all when I say we are very proud to welcome our youngest knight, who, by the most incredible series of coincidences I have ever seen, joins our ranks tonight. He deserves the very heartiest. Time and again he caught us off guard, discovered the most audacious loopholes, and has already been the cause of more than half a dozen revisions to next year’s rulebook. Well done, Pockets. Astounding.”

All clapped, even some of the patrons who weren’t at their table. Kyle and Larry cheered vigorously – only Graham himself was louder. Syrup, however, tilted his head and murmured something in the speaker’s ear. Not-syrup muttered, “Well, I would have thought that was clearly implied.” But he nonetheless waved for silence and added, “He has also, of course, thoroughly earned his position as a knight, and shown skill and gallant conduct throughout the course of the tournament.”

"Popping Corks" was an experiment in getting back to canon - trying to use people i don't usually, trying to play mainly with details already suggested by the game, and all that sort of thing. I had been wanting to send Graham out for drinks with his friends almost as long as I had been writing fic, but didn't try because I didn't have any plot ideas. And finally I said, "No plot - only drinks and friends." And considering that's all it really is, I think I did a good job. Most of us need a reminder that actually, incredible as it sounds, people do love us and it's good for everyone involved to let them show that love without second-guessing. Maybe sometimes that reminder can be a ficlet?

AND....

Ooh, I didn't do a messy doodle for this last one! Whoops. Well, um, here's a picture of it from canon.

He rolled up the poster and tucked it back the leather pocket below where his steed’s reigns attached. “Well, Triumph,” he said, “This looks as good a place as any to camp for the night. Let’s rest up. We have a big day tomorrow.”

He patted the dear gerbil, gave the castle one last “hello” glance, and almost leapt out of the saddle.

BUT THANKFULLY…

You know, I think "Extenuating" wasn't bad at all! It's really just a glorified observation that if Graham hadn't fallen down that mountain, he would have gone on blissfully believing the tournament was Tuesday and missed it. But I crafted it lovingly, and it somehow turned out to be even more about how Graham's travel books shaped him growing up. I loved writing the paragraph about all the ways he's wrecked his favourite book over the years. I remember I even did research about old-timey geography books for inspiration, and stole the name "Microcosmus" from somewhere or other - it's ok, the author died centuries back. (I also had a secret plan to get everyone to start calling the mountain round Daventry by the same name I gave them, but turns out there isn't much need to mention the mountains in most fics anyway. ;-)

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Those are my picks for today! One thing that's gratifying - I can see that my favourites tend to be the ones I spent the longest time writing. That's rewarding! Must bear that in mind when I'm dashing off something in the heat of the moment. Got to ask myself - is the speed and brevity coming from passion for the story, or impatience?

Tiny honourable mention to one which was most definitely was rushed and yet turned out exactly how I wanted it to anyway:

*Because I love putting characters in situation where they're aware their mind is being altered by an outside force, and have to figure out how to deal with it. And I was pleased with how the whole monologue thing worked.*

#Join us you lot! I kind of went overboard with mine - big long post - but a short little list post is awesome too.#Forgive the doodles #king's quest #fanfiction #my writing

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