#icfy

Also! I wanted to ask: what are your favorite books/fics? Are there any authors you take inspiration from?

ICFY!!!!!!!!!!!!! ICFY MY LONG LOST LOVE.......HOW I'VE FORSAKEN YOU IN THESE LAST YEARS. HOW I'VE ABANDONED YOU. OUGH.

I'm so, so happy to hear that you like it 🥺 ICFY was my very first DCA fic, and the story I posted before any other fic, oneshot, or even drabble. It's kind of my baby lmao.

Truth be told, I placed that story on hiatus not only because I found greater passions (Dead Mall Dare) but because, at the time of posting/updating that fic, it felt as though no one cared much for it. My drabbles and oneshots made their rounds and everyone seemed to like them well enough, but the response to ICFY was lackluster in that it was always passed by — and it put me off of writing the next chapter for a while because I was worried that maybe I was doing something wrong. If you think I'm a little self conscious about my writing now, you wouldn't believe how much of a wreck I was back then haha.

Though it will likely remain on hiatus until I can wrap up some of my other projects (like DFtR and DMD), rest assured that I have every intention to return to it and give it the love and care it deserves. It still holds a special place in my heart, even now.

To answer your question, I don't have any fic authors I take inspiration from (at least in terms of how my writing style is affected), but Laurie Halse Anderson (of "Speak" fame) still remains my biggest influence.

Her book, Wintergirls, is singlehandedly the reason my writing style is the way it is. I read that book to threads growing up. I have it in every format and sometimes I'll revisit it when I'm feel self conscious about my style, and I'm reminded about why I adopted it in the first place! Fair warning, the book itself is not for the faint of heart and deals with some pretty tough subjects, so give that summary a good skim if/before you decide to pick the book up!

As for some fic recs, anything by @naffeclipse is always a good choice! Any story by @lunarmoves always catches my attention, too — and Shay is on a sebastian solace kick right now if that suits your fancy!

So Cries the Wolf by @clxckwork-sun-n-moon won't disappoint if you're looking for cryptids and a wonderfully intricate world, and I'm currently in the process of reading Eclipse of the Valley by @scarlett-ink! It's a charming cross between the DCA and Stardew Valley (which I haven't actually played myself, but my partner is helping me fill in the gaps — which mostly consists of me going "There's no way that's actually in the game" and then being told that it is. It always is. That damn wizard, man.)

Oh I had to dig allllll the way into my neglected ICFY doc for this one