Certified Spielverderber

Hi! My name is Kasey. I go by she/her, I'm 21, and in university, studying political science and public health on a pre-law track. I write fan fiction on AO3, and run @ask-ocean-ocr! I also enjoy theatre, singing, piano, studying, drawing, and games.

I know that's probably a hard question i'm sorry T-T

You have nothing to apologize for!! I love answering questions and am so grateful to receive them.❤️

I'm not sure if this answer is boring or predictable, but I honestly have to say Just Accidents. It has been fun, and challenging, and meaningful, and personal, and life-changing, and it just fills me with passion and purpose to work on. Not that it's never been difficult or stressful, but I have tried the best I could to make it something I feel proud to share, so for all of those reasons, JA is my favorite!

Hi, Crunchie!!😊

R: Which writers (fanfic or otherwise) do you consider the biggest influence on you and your writing?

I kinda-sorta answered this a while back here, with some of my favorite fic authors!

As for traditional books, it's been...way too long since I've read for enjoyment, since my classes assign about 200 pages of political theory per week. But actually, in such a class, Anna Julia Cooper's writing inspired me, with its illustrative use of metaphor and evocative language (specifically, we read "A Voice from the South").

The humor I try to accomplish (whether I succeed is another story) is also reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse, specifically the Jeeves and Wooster books!

X: How would you categorize your fanfic reading? Are you a voracious reader? Do you carefully pick and choose? Something in between?

To be wholly honest, my fic reading is pretty infrequent, and if I do it at all, I'm a bit picky. As I spend most of my time writing, I find either (1) more words are just not what I'm in the mood for, (2) I feel guilty for reading instead of writing, or (3) I actually like it so much that I start to negatively compare my own work to what I'm reading.

When the stars align, though, I'll find something that hits a sweet spot! I flip through the RTC tag and love to support other fic writers when I can.

Of course you can!!!

Is there a pairing you would like to write, but haven’t tried yet?

Not really! I don't tend to be a multishipper, so I've already written about all of my favorite pairs in RTC. Narrows down my choices for me.😆 As for other fandoms, it takes a lot for me to like a ship enough to write about it, so again, no!

Are there certain comments you’ve received on your stories that have stuck with you?

Oh wow. I'm privileged to say plenty of them. Even more privileged to be able to categorize them...

Firstly, being told my stories had an emotional or tangible positive impact on a reader, or that something in the fic resonated with something they're experiencing in their own lives - I think about all the hardships I've ever been told by commenters for a really long time, and hope they're faring better than they were.

Second, those who leave their honest thoughts, predictions, or dissections of what happened in the story - I love love love hearing the unique ideas generated by the individual minds that read my work, if that makes sense.

Third, any comment I can tell is from a writer - some kind of acknowledgement of the effort, time, and thought that goes into the craft is really meaningful.

Finally, any comment at all. There is nothing like that little number by your inbox telling you someone was kind enough to take the time out of their day to express their excitement or appreciation for the thing you love to make.

Sorry for the wordiness once again - I can't shut up! Which I suppose is why I'm a writer.😆

T: Any fanfic tropes you can’t stand?

N: Any fic ideas brewing that you’d care to share?

Y: What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you’ve written vs. the popularity of your stories?  Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?  

D: What’s the most personal fanfic you’ve written?

There's never anything to apologize for!! 1. Never too late, 2. Sending in asks is just a fun, voluntary thing for anyone who wants, and 3. I love these, never too many!!

Any fanfic tropes you can’t stand?

Miscommunication, and making characters markedly "worse" people than they are in canon. For the latter, that's totally fine to explore and I don't think there's anything wrong with it! But it always gives me this sad pit in my stomach, so I avoid it myself.

Any fic ideas brewing that you’d care to share?

I have a whole long note on my phone chock FULL of them! Once JA is finished, I think I might indulge in some fun oneshots again. Plenty of hurt/comfort, character explorations - too many to list here!

There was also another longfic AU idea I had, but the concept actually became so departed from RTC that I decided I might try to make it a novel instead. Maybe during the years between undergrad and law school.😅

What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you’ve written vs. the popularity of your stories? Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?

BIG Yap Alert: I think it varies a lot!

Some of my stories that did the best numbers-wise were the few I wrote in a rush - which I hardly ever allow myself to do, because I notice a marked dip in quality. On the other hand, some of those I spent hours upon hours ruminating until I felt every word was perfect didn't do nearly as great.

Regardless of any possible extraneous reasons for this, it sometimes caused me to lose faith in those stories. My brain says, "Well, you're biased because you made it, so your judgement was obviously unreliable! If nobody else had anything to say about it, it just wasn't actually good."

I don't claim for this line of reasoning to be right or healthy, but it sounds logical in my head.😅 I say it varies because SOMETIMES, good reception on a fic/chapter I initially wasn't sure about can be reassuring. Other times, I still truly believe some fics that did well simply aren't of a caliber that I am proud of, no matter what anyone says. Yet more times, fics I loved that don't do well can make me not like them myself - others, I don't really care about reception; I was just proud I made it exist.

Sorry this is getting so, SO long, but TL;DR: I think it can have an impact on my satisfaction for sure, but not 100% of the time, and the degree of impact varies.

Regardless, the important thing is writing what you want to write, no matter what. I feel self-conscious constantly, but I have tried never to let that bleed into my creative integrity and let it control what or how I choose to write. I don't think anyone wanted to hear any of this, but um, there you go.😅

What’s the most personal fanfic you’ve written?

Depends on what "personal" means! I suppose in one way, the fics I wrote which led me to meet my BFF (five years strong!) are very close to me.

In another, Take the Plunge and JA are tied for different reasons. TTP was intended to be a cathartic exploration of what I thought a safe relationship looked like. In JA, well writing it in general has already changed my life, but also, I have ended up infusing more personal experience than I thought I would!

Sorry this is...well, frankly, a disgusting wall of text. But I hope it wasn't totally intolerable?😂

for letter M: What's the weirdest AU scenario that you've ever come up with? Did it turn into a story?

Hi Gnome!!

Oh my gosh. There's, like, a five-way tie.😂

For the main fandom I used to write for, there was this weird aged-up AU that had no rhyme or reason to it, except A was a famous stage actress and B was her personal assistant/stage manager. I did in fact write quite a bit of that. I was 16 though so of course it made no sense. I also wrote some odd werewolf AU.

For RTC, AUs I did NOT write, but are in my notes: Ocean as an elementary school principal X Constance as an elementary school teacher, Hallmark AU where Ocean is big shot lawyer and Constance is small-town baker (Christmas special), Constance as the "cowboy from Transylvania" who has come to suck Ocean's blood (Halloween oneshot). Some of these I still kind of want to do.😂Either as jokes or as fun special oneshots.

An orange tabby, Gloucestershire, and surgery. (4.9k words)

We're back!!! Thank you all so deeply for your patience!

I ended up cutting a whole section because it worked better for next chapter, so fingers crossed, that one will be here much sooner since it's 1/3 done already!😅

Hi anon, my takes are weird!😅

I usually don't write "identity" (gender, sexuality, neurodiversity) headcanons in any fandom. I might have a couple of those headcanons privately, but in fics, I like for people to be able to project whatever they want. I think it makes it more immersive, personal, and inclusive - not to mention real life is very fluid and gray and not everyone is going to fall neatly into the boxes many labels prescribe. Some feelings defy description, some actions defy reason.

I also think it's relevant to mention the only diagnosed neurodiversity I experience is OCD, so I don't have opinions on anything else. This is not to say I think other people can't HC characters as something the person themself is not - it's just my personal preference. I only want to depict characters acting/thinking/feeling in the way I believe they would, and let people interpret the rationale behind those things as they choose. I understand identities and labels are close to many people, which is why I write my stories with the idea that any of them can be true in some way.

I'm not sure if this is the annoyingly long-winded, pretentiously convoluted answer you were asking for, but it was the truest thing I could think of to say! I’m sorry if anybody is upset or disappointed. My hope is never to offend or invalidate.

Hi, all!

Though I'm trying to keep busy with writing JA, I decided I will, at least, revenge every attack I receive on Art Fight this year. If you're participating, and would like to either draw my characters, or Ocean and Constance from JA (!), my profile is here! I am on Team Mystery.

To ensure this post is more productive, JA Chapter 23 also has about 3.5k words in it, and is halfway done.😅

A revelation

Noel's face then peels away from his palms. His gaze flickers down, to her flawed fingers. Up again, at her creased face. It's hard to know what he's seeing. Whatever it is, his head lays sideways on his knees. Hand quietly, needily, gratefully drapes atops hers. It's kind of weird. But Ocean breathes out, and gladly lets it be.

Another in the series of illustrations featuring Ocean and every member of the Choir as they appear in Just Accidents! This one is from Chapter 13. Ocean's hand is reaching for Noel's in the crevice between her elbow and her midriff...but it's not very visible.😅 Whoops!

I first made the background in the Sims 4 before drawing over it. The hospital CC I used is by kardofe and anothersimsstory!

In total, it looks like there will be about 38 chapters. I have updated the fic's count to reflect this, but the number may be subject to change, as occasionally when things are written out they end up getting split up, combined, or condensed!

Thank you so so much, again but not for the last time, for your patience. Health and real life are slowing me down more than I'd like, but I'm still ecstatic to get to writing 23, and hope it can be expected in 2-3 weeks! In the meantime, please feel free to send in questions or concerns if you have any.

Hi, all!

Bit of a weird post today. I got my hands on a 2016 Playbill, but it turns out it has Taylor Louderman as Ocean on it. For sentimental reasons, I'm looking to trade it for one with Tiffany as Ocean! If it helps, for collectors' purposes, the one with Taylor as Ocean is arguably much rarer, since she had a super limited run; I just don't want it.😂

Please feel free to DM me if interested! Additionally, since it would require sharing addresses for shipping purposes, please either be sure you are 18+ or can get your guardians' explicit permission otherwise.

Thank you all!!