As we look forward to another year, thereās no better time to celebrate our wonderful community of creators. This year, weāre shining a spotlight on our alumni: the talented writers and artists who successfully completed the Dragon Age Big Bang in previous years. All past DABB alumni were given the option of an interactive interview with our mod Alix, or an informal written survey. If youāre thinking about participating this year, check out the insights and advice from those who tread this path before!
On cave trauma
Alix and Joly talk first fandom events and scope creep
Alix: So, DABB retrospective time! Tell me a little bit about the fic you wrote last year and what drew you to your idea?
Joly: I wrote "The Scorpion and the Halla" which was about an Arlathan-era agent of Fen'Harel investigating the first instance of Ghilanānainās Blight Labs and the concept of the Blight as something that could infect people and cause problems. DAtV has those memories you can uncover, and I have complicated feelings about them, but they are a neat narrative device and I really wanted to look closer at the concept of the Blight as both an experiment gone wrong (or right, if you're Ghilly) and the repercussions of the war with the Titans.
Alix: What was your favourite thing (or thing(s), if you can't pick just one) about your fic? Is there anything you were particularly proud of?
Joly: I joke a lot about the Cave Trauma because it was really hard to write such an extended action-heavy sequence, but I am really pleased with the result! I think the rising action and climax of discovering the Blight experiments and trying to get that news back to the Rebellion reads well as an action-sequence, which has never been something I feel strong about in my writing.
Alix: I do remember all the talk of caves!Ā
Joly: It went on so long. I think it ended up being like. Five chapters? Maybe six? It was supposed to be two.
I thought I was gonna die there.
Alix: It's wild how things can grow beyond our control like that. You think you have it all planned out, and then....
Joly: I feel like that happened to a lot of folks. We all got into some spot where it just kept going or we realized this one spot needed to be dialed in to focus.
Alix: There's a reason we all joke about scope creep!
What was it that made you sign up for DABB in the first place?
Joly: I hadn't really done a fandom event before, and I knew I had an idea I could stretch into the word count. Prior to last year's DABB I'd never really attempted a multi-chapter fic so it was super intimidating, but I wanted to see if I could hold a narrative that long. Turns out I can!
Alix: One of the things I've noticed doing these interviews is how many people signed up for DABB as their first significant fandom event, and that's just so delightful to me.
Joly: Yeah! It was a really nice experience to introduce me to fandom events, when I had worried it was going to be overwhelming.
Alix: Is there any advice you want to share with this year's writers?
Joly: I think for me it was really important to get the idea down before worrying about word count. You can always go back and pad places or cut back. What helped me stay on track was making sure the narrative was moving forward and then coming back to fix the paint.
Mostly I think being active in the chat and encouraging others and receiving that encouragement was the best part of the experience, so I would definitely recommend getting brave and making friends. It never felt like a burden to work on the project, because the chat was always active and ready to cheer whatever you manage for that day.
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Running away from her own destiny, secret princess Rook stumbles upon cursed prince Lucanis as he is held captive in witch Zara's tower. After springing him from his prison, she agrees to help him break his curse and reclaim his crown.
Hijinks ensue. And cameos. And all the fairytale references I could work into this romp.
The āØviibeesāØ
It's all fairytales, baby!
Expect a decent mix of humor and romance and bit of horror with an active narrator winking at the camera.
Short snippet
Unfortunately, Lucanis had already borrowed a knife from Lace and pricked his finger. With a sigh, Rook bent down to pick a leaf from a nearby shrub and handed it to him.
"For the record, I don't think this is a good idea," she said, still frowning.
"Noted," he answered with a smirk, before taking the last few steps to the waterline and carefully setting the bloodied leaf to float.
For a moment, they just watched it drift. Then he cleared his throat.
"My name is Lucanis Dellamorte, and I am here to petition the inhabitant of this lake for a sword."
Nothing but silence met his bold claim. They waited for a minute. Then another. Then they began to feel awfully foolish, and were just about to turn around when the water began to bubble and churn around the leaf, eventually pulling in under, like a great beast swallowing a fly.
In its place, a pale figure rose, all porcelain skin and moonlight hair and supple curves, holding a shimmering sheath in its outstretched hands. When it opened its delicate lips, the sound of its voice drifted like music over the still surface of the lake.
"Your plea has been heard, Lucanis Dellamorte, once and future king. You may enter the water and receive your boon."
What other media inspired this fic?
Books books books!
Ok, and maybe the Last Unicorn movie. But mostly books, like Howl's Moving Castle and The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making and A Sorceress Comes to Call.
What character trait did you amplify or minimise to make your version of a character work for your story?
I may have made Zara slightly more vengeful? And Illario less callous and envious, because he gets a redemption arc in the sequel.
Oh, and Neve. I think I changed Neve quite a bit, making *her* definitely more vengeful, but also less caring about the people around her, because I needed her to be a bit more mean.
Whatās one thing you put inātrope, character beat, sceneāthat was just extra shamelessly self-indulgent?
The entirety of chapter 19 (Smooth like Skin), which is my idea of a fun filler episode whose only purpose is to make Lucanis extra flustered because this is my fic and I can do what I want.
You know that trope where your characters have to strip because they fell into a river or got caught in a thunderstorm? Yeah, that one.
Whatās the structural choice you made on purposeāPOV, timeline, chapteringāthat most shaped the story?
I ... am actually super structured in how I plan out my fics? Particularly the long, plot-heavy ones? So there are a lot of very deliberate structural choices in there.
If I had to pick anything, I'd say the timeline most shaped the pacing? But the thing that shaped it the most was really the setting, and the rules and tropes inherent to fairytales and their retellings.
Which theme emerged accidentally, and which one did you pursue deliberately?
I think the surprisingly heavy focus on identity emerged largely accidentally, as my idiots have to figure out who they are and who they want to be.
The theme of redemption - of recognizing your mistakes and trying to make up for them - is very much intentional (for Neve and Lucanis, at least - Rook's still working on this).
(But really, most of what's in there is there by design.)
What was the biggest risk you took with this fic? In a hypothetical scenario where you are forced to rewrite the whole story from scratch, what would you do differently?
Eh, the biggest risk was writing this at all; looking at what does and does not work well on ao3, not making it spicy was probably also a risk ;)
If I *were* to write the whole story from scratch, I'd try to make more space for my companion stories - giving Lace, Taash and Davrin more of an arc of their own, as well as expanding on the fairy godpeople lore (though I can still do the latter in the sequel, I suppose).
Gently tagging ... uh ... @sorrygoldfish and @dreamywritingdragon :)
Tumbl, you are the only place I can think to turn to so: please help me find the actor interviews from the cast of Star Trek (I think it's mostly TOS actors and writers but the guy plaing Q in TNG also had some valuable lines so anything goes as far as I'm aware). And I mean the gay fucking cursed content along the lines of "I wanted to fuck him and that's what I acted on" (which also I'm. Not sure where is from nor if it's even real, I migh have just imagined it). I am trying to win an argument with my mother here, it's high stakes!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
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The thing that has always drawn me to writing sci/fi is that the really good versions of it deal with real issues - so much of what goes on in the sci/fi world is an allegory for what is going in our world. Iām inspired by the struggles that people go through and how they overcome them and I think the Shadowhunters world deals with a lot of that in terms of race relations, how politics can endanger our way of life, etc.
As we look forward to another year, thereās no better time to celebrate our wonderful community of creators. This year, weāre shining a spotlight on our alumni: the talented writers and artists who successfully completed the Dragon Age Big Bang in previous years. All past DABB alumni were given the option of an interactive interview with our mod Alix, or an informal written survey. If youāre thinking about participating this year, check out the insights and advice from those who tread this path before!
On lifelines
Alix and Olivia talk grief, fandom friends, and sticking with it
Alix: So, I know we've started writing for this year, but, casting your mind back to last year, was that your first time doing DABB?
Olivia: Yes, it was! It was actually my first time even writing fanfiction at all--I really ended up jumping in feet first lol!
Alix: Wait I'm sorry, what, you had never written fanfiction at all and you decided to jump in by writing a 25k fic????
That's incredible.
Olivia: What can I say? I've never liked starting small haha!
Alix: No kidding!
Olivia: I had done a ton of original writing before--I was a longtime NaNoWriMo participant back in its heyday--so it wasn't quite as frightening as I think it sounds when I say it sometimes. So I didn't think I was being quite as ambitious as I was at the time.
Of course, fic is a whole different ballgame, working with existing character voices and such, and I had never published any of my original work before, so it did end up being a little more daunting than anticipated.
Alix: What made you decide to take the plunge?
Olivia: So I burned myself out on original writing back in 2020/21 and ended up taking a really long break. It wasn't until I played Veilguard when it released that I felt some of that creative spark coming back, and when I went back and played the other DA games and fell in love with more characters, I started having more and more ideas of what was happening in between the moments we see in game. I was considering writing an AU focusing on my Hawke during Inquisition and kicking around what that worldstate would look like.
Then in May, my dad passed away. It was expectedāhe was ill. But it was still devastating. I remember being on bereavement leave, sitting with my mom and scrolling through tumblrābecause what else do you do when you're grieving and off work?āand saw the DABB announcement.
I asked my mom, "Do you think this would be a good idea, or would it be too big a commitment?" We both agreed it would be good for me to have something positive to focus on, and people to talk about writing with. So I signed up, committed to writing about that initial AU idea, and...the rest is history!
Alix: I'm so sorry about your dad. I don't know if knowing it is coming makes it any easier, right? I'm so glad that DABB gave you something positive through was obviously a very difficult time.
Olivia: Thank you. Yeah, in some ways, it's easier and in some it's harder. Grief is never really easy, after all. But DABB really was a lifeline. I went in expecting just a project I could sink my teeth into and unexpectedly discovered a community that I cherish immensely to this day.
Alix: The community really is incredible. I made friends (including you!) who I keep in touch with a year later. It's pretty amazing for that.
Olivia: It's so special!! I've never had fandom friends before, and it's so much fun to have people to talk about silly headcanons with, who egg me on in my ideas, who I can egg on in theirs. I'm very grateful!
And the experience is so supportive, too. Everyone is ready to hype each other up, scream about what you're doing, help brainstorm and get you over a rough patch. It's just a wonderful community all of you mods have built!
Alix: Obviously sign-ups for this year have closed, but for anyone doing DABB for the first time this year, do you have any advice?
Olivia: I think my advice is: stick with it, especially when it gets tough. There were a lot of times I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish, and thought maybe I should just give up. Obviously life was happening to me a lot last year. I got behind and discouraged. But I talked to the community about how I was feeling and got the encouragement I needed. It was worth being vulnerable, worth persevering, and really seeing how much I was capable of, even during a really difficult time!
I guess my secondary piece of advice, hidden in there, is: lean into the community! We all have each others' backs, and we all want each other to succeed
