#phoenix!!

- @aftgphoenix

hi phoenix ! more of the sethjean au because i'm thinking a lot about it

yes of course!! I’m actually so excited to talk about these two

so I’m not sure how familiar you are with The Raven Cycle, but Matthew is one of the main character’s dreamed younger brother, yes, dreamed up.

so for the AFTG Matthew, that is actually something I have only just begun to write based off of this post by @contrarianwitt! I haven’t really gotten too much written for this yet, but I’m planning to focus on the idea of Matthew and Neil comparing times they got locked in trunks 🥰

this is the very very beginning:

After the dreadful mess that had ruined Matthew’s sophomore year, he decided that he needed to try something new.  Something that could be his. Not Ronan’s. Not Declan’s. Matthew’s.  That’s how he found Exy. 

now for the one that’s just called “Matthew” that’s simply because I don’t give my WIPs very creative names, most of the time. this one isn’t a crossover, and at least so far, it’s told from everyone’s perspective but Matthew! I have two separate versions of the same three scenes so far because I can’t decide which way I like better 🙈

basically, in the final book of the series there’s a big fakeout where everyone thinks Matthew died, and when he returns home it’s in the second to last chapter of the book and it doesn’t receive much fanfare at all, and I think that that is a shame!! this is also an opportunity for me to explore Ronan’s (Matthew’s older brother) grief

Adam gave him a place: The Barns. A phone number: Jordan Hennessy’s. A warning: Matthew Lynch. Gansey’s heart broke all over again. Ronan Lynch had always been shadowed in tragedy. His father, murdered. His mother, taken by the forest. His younger brother dead, his older shot. Gansey booked the earliest flight he could, before he even spoke to Henry and Blue.

- @aftgphoenix

oc asks

7. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

originally he was a youngest child, but he's just too older brother energy i can't change that now

8. Would your OC ostensibly be able to get away with murder?

- @aftgphoenix

oooo this is such a nice question!!! i think it's been in my inbox for some time now i apologize 😭

so for the ten chapters of golden i have published, my favourite is definitely chapter 5, where aaron spends the night at sebastian's house when tilda goes to san diego. i loved writing such a domestic part of the fic because it was just so gentle and aaron really deserved that (especially with what happened in chapters 6/7)

more generally though, some of my favourite parts have been the additional characters i have in the background who have no effect on canon but in their own ways affect how aaron grew and developed as a person. there's people like sebastian, coach reynolds, jay moore from California plus more side characters to come in Columbia, like aaron's first girlfriend ruby (who's name came from the fact i was listening to Kaiser Chiefs when i wrote their first scene lmao), there's two brothers named chase and cole that he plays Exy with, etc. writing so many just random people who aaron meets throughout his life, even if he doesn't remember them, is really fun because i really enjoy thinking about how all these seperate characters influenced him as a person you know? you're made out of everybody you've ever known and so on