#writer ask

Until You Rating: Explicit Pairing: Astarion X Tav Completion Status: WC is presently 235k and I have a sense I am only halfway done LMAO.

Plot Summary following his initial confession, Astarion and Effy mutually agree to remain just friends. the story takes place a year after their victory/survival of the Netherbrain in which during that time Astarion and Effy have been living together as roommates. The ✨viibees✨ the story is first and foremost a romance. there is yearning, there is drama, angst and comedic relief and plenty of spice lol. but I had a reader once describe the story as giving them a similar vibe as Life is Strange and for anyone who has played that game i think this description works so well, if not best for UY. as the story evolved and continues to evolve, there is a strong sense of nostalgia injected into many scenes. a weight behind the calm, a sort of foreboding energy - that perhaps there is a little more happening in the background. like Life is Strange, UY has some supernatural twists sprinkled throughout that are meant to support its emerging themes of impermanence, loss, and embracing one's own authenticity. (why do I suddenly feel like I am writing this for some Wikipedia page?)

Short snippet

What other media inspired this fic? so many. my main goal in telling this story is to finish it - so it is imperative i chase all my whimsies. but here are some of my main inspos ... K-dramas - so many k-dramas focus on everyday experiences, that kind of slice of life storytelling is something I really find comforting and relatable. also SO MUCH MISCOMMUNICATION.

Shoujo Anime / Ghibli - i don't necessarily mean to lump these two things together. but for both my main draw has been the aesthetics. I love the aesthetics! the whimsy, the dreamy landscapes and floral depictions, i've always found it all so irresistibly charming.

Mitski - i actually started listening to Mitski a few chapters into UY. when i told my sister about Effy she said, there is this artist you have to listen to ... and i haven't really listened to much else since i started writing the story lol. What character trait did you amplify or minimize to make your version of a character work for your story? Astarion - i personally fell in love with Astarion the moment he is honest with Tav/Durge about his failed plan. that unveiling is just strikingly beautiful to me so i wanted to amplify that part of Astarion. the story is called Until You because it is what he tells Tav/Durge (that he's never had a friend “until you") if you choose the friendship route over the romantic path following his confession. and it makes me want to cryyyyy. i also amplified his horniness level lol, it's a year after the events and he really wants to explore sex again on his terms. i minimized his self-assurance, something he grapples with throughout the story is knowing what he even wants to do with all the time in the world. How did your understanding of the characters change while writing this?

Effy - UY started as a joke and i thought it was going to be a crackfic. i wanted to write the manic pixie dream girl trope but then later realized I wanted to give the manic pixie dream girl her own story to tell and make her feel like a real person. Astarion - like i get into more a little bit later in this survey, he was far less fleshed out than Effy at the start of me introducing his POV. character wise, he kind of initially reads as just a function to highlight Effy's colorful personality. but i tried to pivot from this as best and as fast as i could to give him his own character path apart from the developing romance. i can't presently get too into this question for him tbh, because the more dramatic and obvious development for him is something i am planning further into the story. What’s one thing you put in—trope, character beat, scene—that was just extra shamelessly self-indulgent? Friends with Benefits Hell - having been in one myself for a few years, um yeah - UY has been very cathartic to write at times. What’s the structural choice you made on purpose—POV, timeline, chaptering—that most shaped the story? "Serial Updating" - a friend made me realize that i'd become a victim to the curse of "serial updating" and tbh, there is no going back. i mean, i keep trying to go back but it's not working very well for me lol. Which theme emerged accidentally, and which one did you pursue deliberately?

Accidentally - Impermanence. Deliberately - Self-Love What was the biggest risk you took with this fic?

Introducing Astarion's POV - i made the decision to begin writing from his POV 16 chapters into the story. i was incredibly nervous to have made that choice but i am so glad i did. it pushed my writing muscles by a lot and helped me see that having alternating POVs was giving me the capacity to tell a more compelling romance. i had worried that showing what Astarion was feeling was going to kill that tension, but it had the opposite effect. In a hypothetical scenario where you are forced to rewrite the whole story from scratch, what would you do differently?

Introduce Astarion earlier - i think introducing Astarion earlier in the story would have made things feel more balanced in terms of characters being fleshed out. by the time Astarion was introduced i felt he had so much catching up to do to be as realized as Effy was. and it also took me a bit to feel very comfortable writing from his perspective. 🦋🦋🦋

1. How many WIPS do you currently have?

7. What fic are you the proudest of?

1. i have three published wips and probably around ten unpublished wips/concepts. 😵

7. oh that’s tough to say, but i think i’m proudest of the demons we’re made of. i am proud of myself for finishing the story after a very difficult time in my life and how it made me grow as a writer. also, seeing so many people connect and find some healing and solace from the story was very humbling, and while it may sound contrary, i do believe that humility is the deepest and purest form of pride.

Oh, nonnie. So, so many.

But a series I'd love is dystopian/futuristic society. There's a sector where men can live and rent a "jewel" to be their companion. And each reader is, you guessed it, nicknamed after jewels/gemstones.

The men meet with the "jeweler" to pick who they want to be with and there are packages to choose from: silver, gold, and platinum.

Silver is the "friends with benefits" experience. The jewel only sleeps over once or twice a week. The cheapest.

Gold if the "girlfriend" experience. The jewel sleeps over a few times a week but doesn't live there full time. Medium price and the most popular package.

Platinum is the ultimate "wife" experience. The jewel lives there full time. The most expensive.

As you can imagine, some who can only afford silver want platinum and some who can afford platinum only want silver or gold. "Rent" is typically month-to-month, but some will pay for much longer. Each package has an additional contract as well with certain kinks and expectations.

When jewels aren't rented or if they're part of the silver or gold package, they stay in the plaza that has a gym, spa, food, etc. They each have their own room and a small allowance to go shopping or save up to eventually leave. Men are allowed to buy gifts for their jewels if they wish, but they're discouraged from giving them money.

Jewels aren't allowed to leave the sector unless escorted by guards or the person who is paying for them. Those who have broken too many rules or proved too... dull for the needs expected, they're taken to the island. No one really knows what the island is, but people suspect it's where jewels either go to eventually get buried in the sand or to get tossed into the bottom of the ocean.

Because who wants a tarnished jewel?

And it begs the question... how many jewels are there willingly?

from this ask meme!

Hi hi how are you! I hope you are staying cool!

Snowflake: Dream Fic Idea

Ohh I keep going back to the film The Hunger! I would want to write a fic starring Vampire Perpetua and the punk Mary Goore. It would be dark and gritty and Perpy would be so so evillllll. It would be like….The Hunger meets American Psycho. I have the idea in bulletpoints but I don’t have the spoons to write it all out. I wish I could just beam it into everyone’s heads fully formed like a film. Or maybe you should go watch The Hunger. Bauhaus is in it. And David Bowie.

If I had to put any writer on the spot I would say I wanna read more @revelisms Oc Ale and Terzo, perhaps on a sexy European trip. Maybe on a sexy riverboat or sexy fancy train car. Their writing is so evocative.

Canyon Emoji: Best comments are literally any comment but I really really like when somebody copies and pastes a line they like. It makes me so happy. I try to do that when I comment on other people’s stuff.

Hey there! Thank you for the ask! :)

💝 Fic + What is your favourite part of this story?

(I think this is the question you were referring to? Let me know if I got the hearts mixed up!)

For "The Echo and the Stain," my favorite part is that I get to explore Satine's character before we meet her in "TCW."

I see her as a black sheep who felt ostracized at times because the things that are so pivotal to her as an individual - her empathy, her unwavering moral compass, and how she rejects violence as a primary form of conflict resolution - are seen as weaknesses, and she has to learn how to refine these traits into tools that will serve her and Mandalore well.

I think she's flawed, impulsive, quick to anger, and she can be smug and rude at times, but at her core, Satine is guarded and a bit insecure, and she longs to be understood and to be of service and given a sense of purpose. I think she clings to her privacy and builds walls around her heart to not only protect herself but to maintain her focus on Mandalore, too.

Her confidence - or panache, if you will - comes later on with life experience and some political victories.

Part of me hopes we never get any further canon content on her because I'm so attached to the version of her that I write, it would sting if I learned I was all wrong. (And I probably am, but until then, I'm clinging to my characterization.)