27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

a bit of both. how it usually goes is like this:

get struck by an idea, usually in the form of an extremely specific hypothetical scene that would be neat to explore. jot down notes/dialogue for that scene while it’s still fresh.     - for “water on mars,” this scene was garrus and shepard standing at anderson’s grave.     - for “down girl,” this scene was more like a loose vision of shepard/garrus in which their positions were reversed after the war, with him in command and her as an attaché or ‘companion’ and him coming to visit her at her workstation, both of them pining for each other, in a universe where they didn’t get together. this scene as i imagined it never came to be, but i adapted it into another one.     - for “golden if you let me,” it was a sort of image of hawke, dissociating and lost in her own head after the fight with the nightmare, wandering the fade alone.

don’t touch it for a while, while i work on other stuff, but in the background i come up with a bigger context, and i’m on the lookout for inspiration or ideas to expand on it.

usually this leads to more eureka! scene ideas and i jot those down if i get them too. more often than not these “snapshot” ideas are unrelated to the overall plot, but they’re inspiration for dialogue possibilities, potential relationship developments, etc. usually it’s just dialogue without much context other than a vague sense of if it happens “before” or “after” the main scene that inspired the thing.

when i revisit the fic officially, ready to work on it, it’s a bit like having a few puzzle pieces already on the table, so you make the puzzle outline before you start filling in the blank. i sort the scenes i know or have already chronological order, and if i know it’s gonna be a long story, then i write out a vague outline if i’m worried i’ll forget something. i also tend to jot down the outline in the same document, below the prose, so it’s easily on hand. then i get to slowly delete more and more of my notes as i write the “real thing” until eventually I have all words, and no outline.

of course, the outline isn’t written in stone. if it’s not working then I ignore it completely or rearrange the puzzle pieces and start over.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

funny enough, I just got a rather touching comment on ao3 the other day. the long and short of it was that the person liked my fic enough (it was The Variable) that it inspired them to want to make something themselves. that’s the kind of feeling I am struck with ALL THE TIME when I read great work, so knowing that that feeling is what drives me, and knowing that I might’ve (somehow, unbelievably) passed it onto someone else was a really cool feeling.

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?

hm, I’m not sure what common tropes I write other than maybe “angst with a happy ending”? pining galore, maybe? also, battle couples. really, partners-to-lovers in most senses. but as for environmental tropes…. I like amnesia and the faked/presumed dead tropes the most, but mostly to read, not write.

  when Cas moves in for good, he starts asking Dean...

poor sam tho

>arrange 5 candles, all huckleberry scented, in a line in order of aesthetic pleasure

>stare into a mirror shattered into exactly 23 pieces

>whisper Dean Winchester wonders if Cas is even into sex or if hooking up with April was a fluke or turned him off of it but once they get together he learns that Cas has a VERY healthy appetite and even has trouble keeping up with him

>tie a strand of horse hair into a knot, soak it in whiskey, and light it on fire

52. How did writing change you?

i’ve been “writing” since middle school so it’s kind of hard for me to tell who i would’ve been without it, but all i know is that it’s been one of the few consistent hobbies i’ve had for over ten years now since it was with me during my ~formative years~ or whatever. i know i use it as both a tool to work through my overthinking, and an enabler to continue overthinking, particularly when it comes to character depth, authorial intention, and world development. and, not to sound obnoxious, but i do think that writing semi-consistently all this time has had a noticeable effect on my student and professional life; i find i have to fight a lot less for academics or superiors to take me seriously, which i do attribute to how i communicate with them digitally (our company is very big on emails, records, and memos…).

54. Any writing advice you want to share?

urm, i have to think of something off the top of my head that sounds good

1. trust the reader

2. don’t fight a story/characters if they want to go in a certain direction. even if you follow it and it’s not what you want/expected, it’ll usually go somewhere interesting/helpful

circular; 1k, pre-coda, inspired by the latest 12x19 promo.

[AO3]

Dean jumps slightly when the bunker's door creaks. It's been over a month, but he still thinks please, please, please before looking up.

"Cas," Sam says.

Cas' shoulders are stiff. "Hello."

"Hey. You're all right. Um ─" Cas turns away and starts down the stairs. Sam glances at Dean before continuing, "Where've you been?"

Dean's pulse is thumping in his ears. "Lemme rephrase that for Sam: where the hell've you been? And why've you ignored our phone calls?"

"Where I was," Cas says, pausing beside the table, "the reception was ─ um. Poor."

Dean's jaw tics; being angry is easier than ─ it's just easier. He grunts, "No bars," and looks back at Sam. "No bars ─ that's his excuse." He takes a breath and meets Cas' eyes. "Wow."

"I was in Heaven. I was... working with the angels."

Dean's mouth moves but nothing comes out. On his third try he says, "You ─ Heaven? You were in Heaven?"

"Yes."

"So you ─ uh. You." Heat crowds up underneath Dean's jaw. "You were - did you -?" He's not sure he wants to ask that question in front of Sam, so he grumbles, "Whatever," and walks out of the War Room.

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