Hello friend! Ooh you picked some good ones! As evidenced by the fact that this got super fucking long lol.
(5) What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now!
I'm gonna do this for once again, as partners, and use it as loosely "thing I wish I'd gotten to discuss more in the comments." And one thing I wish I'd gotten to yap about more is all the complicated power dynamics between the characters that come from this being a workplace and dance being not just their artistic pursuit but their jobs.
Viktor does have a lot of power over Jayce in the workplace, and I think he would be constantly aware of that. He is at least partially responsible for Jayce performing the ballet successfully and safely, because he's the one teaching it to him. If he wanted to, he could get Jayce removed from the cast by saying he's not up to the role. The potential for abusing that power is high! This is a dynamic that happens in the dance world in subtle and unsubtle ways all the time, and I think Viktor would be very much aware of that. And at the same time, they are both wildly attracted to each other, and I think that light dom/sub magnetic pull is there between them right from the beginning. Which I think would make Viktor even more careful about not stepping over the line. Like I do think Jayce is incredibly naive to think Viktor would have ever made the first move; Viktor is being so careful while wanting so badly to put that boy on his knees and make him beg.
At the same time, Viktor himself is under a lot of pressure, because he knows Heimerdinger only let him come back under extraordinary circumstances, and he doesn't want to disappoint his dying friend and mentor by having the ballet flop, and he's having to reckon with his own grief and trauma about the end of his career, which I think he told himself he could handle but absolutely cannot. (FWIW I think the most unprofessional thing Viktor does with respect to Jayce is not the plausible-deniability flirting or the unauthorized pas de deux practice. It's that he cannot admit that he is unable to teach a section of the ballet--the part where he got injured--until DAYS before the premiere. He's fucking lucky that Jayce is a lovesick sap who went and learned it on his own!!!)
So there are real stakes involved for both of them in being professional and taking the work seriously and not creating any interpersonal dynamics that are going to make that more difficult. And it was really really fun to play with this as a tension and an obstacle in the story.
(omg ok I'm making a readmore. jfc)
I think there are a lot of really compelling uneven power dynamics in the non-romantic relationships too. I was kinda surprised that everyone who commented seemed to be unequivocally on Corin Reveck's side in how he treated Viktor after Viktor revealed his medical condition. We're seeing it from Viktor's POV, and obviously he finds it incredibly meaningful how Corin responds. But from a professional standpoint, I don't think it's an ethically clear-cut situation at all. Reveck is the choreographer and Viktor is the dancer; Reveck is Viktor's boss and directly responsible for how hard he works his body. Reveck has been around the dance world for a while and he knows that no one (but especially not Viktor) wants to be the dancer who says no, I can't do it. He could have made What Could Have Been easier. He could have assessed that this obsessive, perfectionist twenty-one-year-old was in deep denial about his own health, and it was irresponsible to ask him to keep pushing himself. (I left it deliberately vague as to whether Corin guessed that Viktor was already abusing prescription drugs at that point, but I think he had his suspicions.) Of course, if he'd done either of those things, Viktor would have felt condescended to, and he wouldn't have trusted Corin a few years later when it probably quite literally saved his life. And his career might not have ended so abruptly but it would still have ended.
In the end, Corin Reveck made the decision that prioritized Viktor's autonomy and he won Viktor's loyalty because of that, but I don't think Heimerdinger was completely out of pocket in arguing that what he did was unethical. Heimerdinger is fun to hate on as a character but I do actually see where he was coming from in this case. He's the artistic director; he has to think about the company as a whole and about things like liability insurance and the potential risk to other dancers (including Sky! who Viktor was partnering!) if someone is dancing injured or under the influence. I actually think the main ways Heimerdinger failed Viktor were (1) offering him an apprentice contract immediately after his mother died (I don't think he was being intentionally manipulative but way to reinforce the idea that Viktor's continued survival was based on being able to do this one thing) and (2) promoting him up through the ranks so quickly. Obviously no one knew his career was going to be so short. But like, the value of being in the corps for a few years is that ideally, you learn how to take care of yourself as a professional dancer before you're put in high-pressure starring roles. You learn how to maintain your body, you learn how to pace yourself and what you need to do physically, mentally and emotionally to have a sustainable career. Being promoted up the ranks so quickly can have drawbacks. But Viktor had a good story; he was talented and inspiring and made the company look good; and I think Heimerdinger genuinely thought he was doing what was best for him at every stage of the way.
(10) How do you decide what to write?
Idk man the story demons just fight it out battle royale style until one of them wins the honor of possessing me next :-)
Serious answer: okay this is a pretty broad question but I do generally have like one main idea that's "playing" in my brain when I'm not thinking about anything else so I tend to follow that. Sometimes it doesn't end up panning out and I'll switch to something else. I do tend to write mostly shorter stuff so when I'm in an active writing phase with a fandom I'll usually have a few different ideas pinging around and one will rise to the surface. (Occasionally...aggressively so and I'll be like oh fuck okay guess I'm writing that. For the next 8 months. It seems.) With the limited writing time I have it's really hard to make myself write anything I'm not excited about, which can make finishing longer projects rough, but I think I'm getting better at building (or rebuilding) that muscle of sustained attention to something to see it through to the end.
(12) Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?
I've been in two fandoms now with very specific soft epilogue scenarios that have basically become their own tropes (the Good Omens South Downs Cottage and Jayvik post-canon pastoral fantasy cabin) and while there are iterations of these I don't vibe with (my position for almost any pairing I like is They Would Not Fucking Have Kids), I have to say...I have come to understand the appeal.
The South Downs Cottage is so ubiquitous in Good Omens fanon; the trope has been around for 20 years now and has its own Fanlore page. When I was big into Good Omens (which happened to also be deep pandemic times) I thought a lot about the enduring power of this fantasy. And like, I do think it says something about the times we live in that the rose-colored rom-com happy ending that's so appealing to so many people is retirement. Freedom from a job that sucks, control of your own time and labor, a little place you can make your own, and plenty of time to fuck around doing whatever you want with your sweetie. Yeah actually that sounds pretty fucking good to me.
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Just wanted to pop in and say: I've been reading all of your GrimmIchi fic as bedtime stories the past few nights and it's been such a great way to wind down and end the day, just makes me happy knowing there's another one waiting ☺️☺️ Absolutely in love with how you portray them and the smut is masterclass, thank you for your work!!!! 💜💜💜
Thank youuuu! That's wonderful to hear, and it has been delightful watching you make your way through those fics ❤️
Also, you have one of the most striking pfps/icons I've seen in a while—100/10, no notes.
I felt like posting pictures of an older bind I made (I think ultimately I'll put up all my works in my ficbinding tag). This isn't my first ficbinding, but if I remember correctly it's the story that inspired me to start bookbinding. I trained a little before I did this one.
Here's Did the twin flame bruise paint you blue by the amazing @jaynovz
The fic: Black Sails, silverflint, rated E, 138k
This is a modern AU (often called Break Up AU) following James Flint and John Silver as they meet in New York city and embark on an extremely complicated relationship. I don't want to say too much, because I loved reading it month to month and experiencing it without spoilers.
The fic is structured around two timelines a year apart, showing how we got where we got, and what's happening now. I'm explaining it very badly, but it's a treasure of writing and I can't believe Jay managed to wrangle the two timelines writing month to month. As always with Jay, the character studies and smut are off the charts good. That fic is a jewel, it's full of meaning and impressively crafted.
I don't usually read modern AUs and I read very little Black Sails fanfic, but I think this is a must-read in the fandom.
The bind: This was supposed to be A5 in format, but I cut the covers smaller by accident, so it's a little smaller. I had to trim the book and as you can see from my bandaged finger, I learned a valuable lesson about that. This was my first time using bookcloth, this one is sort of varnished, that's why it shines. I chose purple for the cover and headbands because it's Jay's color (and one of my favorites). I'm very happy with how well it creased near the spine, it's well-defined. And the book corners are the most modern I could find (I mean most of the ones I have are flowery and it didn't fit the mood of the fic).
Overall, I'm very happy with this one!
Materials:
Bookcloth, schmedt
Book corners, amazon
Headbands, APG reliure
Ribbon, APG reliure
Clairefontaine A4 paper, ivory color, 80g/m², bought in store
Thank you for the ask! This one is kind of a joke, but honestly I might go through with it eventually.
This post has come across my dash multiple times over the past year or two, and it slaps, and the most recent time I saw it I was like, "Wait a minute, I can just...nab that audio and use it..."
What would I use it for? Staring at Flint some more, of course.
Here's all I've got so far (it's a draft, not all the timing is Tidy):
[video description: quick cuts of James Flint from Black Sails either indulging in violence or Being Weird™ at Silver, set to a fast rhythmic electronic dance song.
/end description]
If you're curious, I did end up hunting for the full length song and this is the closest mix I could find on spotify
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Doing a little bookclub of your comic with some friends where we read a chapter a week and chat about it. we're having a BLAST. Thanks for creating such a fascinating tale 💜
I’m always so honored when folks choose my work for book clubs. 💛I’m so glad you’re enjoying the comic! Alas, you’re all gonna catch up to me soon on that schedule haha!
