Author Meme
I’ve been tagged by @dafan7711, thank you so much! :D
Author Name:Â Elvenbeard, same as almost everywhere else xD
Fandoms You Write For: Currently majorly for Dragon Age with Child Protected by the Sky and any drabble and meta posts I publish now and then. I’m also working on my original story on the side though, and in the past I’ve also written fics and drabbles for The Elder Scrolls, Dishonored, and Mass Effect fandoms. Apart from the first chapter of a never finished Dishonored fic though I think I’ve never published any of these, because they either were in German or my very first attempts of writing prose in English xD
Where You Post: On AO3 I’m currently finally updating fanfiction stuff again! And on Worldanvil goes all my original story worldbuilding currently. Here on tumblr I post drabbles, OC memes, meta posts, and so on :D
Most Popular One-Shot: I’m actually not sure, I haven’t checked any of my older short drabbles posted here!
Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: The only multi-chapter story I currently have online is actually “Child Protected by the Sky”, so I guess that’s also my most popular one, even if not finished yet :D
Favorite Story You Wrote: So many xD I love writing, I’ve really missed writing fanfics in particular. I’m looking forward to writing stories in my original setting. I loved writing each and every drabble you can find on my blog.
Story You Were Nervous to Post: Oh boy, every single one? I’m still very nervous about every new chapter of CPBTS I’m adding. And there was an abundance of stories that I was too nervous to post. A Mass Effect fanfic where I wrote about my personal headcanon ending of the trilogy for example. I’m not sure how many chapters I actually wrote for it, 5 or 6 maybe? But it was also the first fic I ever attempted to write in English from the start if I recall correctly. One day I’d like to go back to it, give my Shepard the happy ending I felt he deserved after all the crap he went through XD
How Do You Choose Your Titles:Â Either my stories have the most plain title ever, but if not, I always try to go for something with either a lot of symbolism, foreshadowing, or something that describes the most outstanding or turning point of the story.
For the only Non-Dragon Age fanfiction you’ll find on my AO3 for example I called “Dear Heretic” I tried to combine all three of these things. It’s phrased like the beginning of a letter, because it was supposed to revolve around two minor NPCs in the game Dishonored that you only learn about through a letter one wrote to the other about their forbidden affair. “Heretic” in the context was going to be a hint at the fact that in the course of the story it would turn out that one of these characters, an Overseer, member of an (in my eyes pretty horrible) religious order, was actually secretly a cultist who had infiltrated the order, his lover unaware of his secret (all of this completely made up by me, canonically we don’t know anything about the characters for sure apart from the fact that at least one of them is an Overseer). They’d both end up torn between the loyalty to their ideals - the Overseers vs. the Witches/Cultists - and the loyalty to each other. It is not the most original plot, but I was super into it at the time (and after a ton of angst similar to the angst you encounter in the actual game I was going to give them a horribly cheesy happy ending xD). In the world of Dishonored everyone who practises witchcraft, etc. is called “heretic” by the Overseers, so with the title I was going for that plot-twist moment of “oh, he’s a heretic himself!! that’s what the title means!”. For reasons of people consciously misinterpreting the title based on that one published chapter, as well as a lot of things that went down with school at the time, with my mental health, etc. I never finished the fic - which is a shame, because apart from one pretty stupid comment it actually received very positive feedback xD Oh well. Maybe one day I’ll get back to it like I manged to get back to CPBTS.
Speaking of which: for Child Protected by the Sky I actually already chose all chapter titles in advance. I like symbolism and despite it being very incomplete I love the Elvhen language in Dragon Age. I had a list of scenes playing in Tamlen’s youth and found Elvhen words for them that I felt were fitting for the various scenes, then used the English translation of the words as chapter titles. It’s a not immediately obvious connection between title and chapter, particularly when you don’t know the Elvhen language by heart XD But I like that it’s there and works as a little bit of an “easter egg” or foreshadowing of the chapter content to those who make the effort to look for the translations xD Chapter Three for example was called “Quick Children”, and it’s a chapter beginning with Tamlen and his friends running around in the forest as children, and all seems well. Those of you who know the DA games will know though that “Quick Children” in Elvhen means “Shemlen”, the word for the humans, so a subtle hint maybe that this chapter isn’t going to stay as peaceful as it seems in the beginning. I’m mean xD
Do You Outline: I do, sometimes more, sometimes less. But I’m generally someone who loves to include many characters in my stories, as well as subplots, and having a general outline, even if it’s just a checklist of all chapters and scenes I want to include, it helps me to keep track of the flow of the story. And to not forget what kind of story I’m actually trying to tell xD With the outline I know “okay, this chapter has to end at this point, so that the next chapter can pick up there again” for example.
Complete: Nothing yet, sadly. I hoard my WIPs like a dragon, but I’m working though my insecurities to get better!
In-Progress: Child Protected by the Sky (Dragon Age: Inquisition prequel), Worldbuiling and Lore of Ivendarea (original project), Ancient Shadows (DATTRPG campagin)
Coming Soon: Chapter 6 of Child Protected by the Sky!
Do You Accept Prompts: Always! :D Although I can’t promise to fill every one of them. When I reblog OC memes or writing memes though I will always do my best to write something for any prompts I get :D
Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: The King of Ivendarea (novel or webcomic set in my original world - once the worldbuilding is done (support me on Patreon to help me achieve the next milestone goal and work on it even faster!)), and, once Child Protected by the Sky is done, maybe the continuation of Tamlen’s story throughout Inquisition - a project without a name as of yet xD
I’m tagging everyone who sees this and would like to fill it out!! :D Tag me if you do it :D
