#and I might make music for my OC bc. musicals duh

[piptoost]

May or may not be making a Venus, Please! Jingle. The brainrot is truly taking over

[creation-help]

so i have a problem….

for a long time i’ve been able to create characters out of pretty much nothing, from a picture or a simple reading alone. of course, i don’t go any further than setting up their physical appearance and completely forgetting about them in just a few hours, but the rare times i don’t forget about them, i try to make an entire character out them and make them feel real.

so far i’ve been able to do this with one character that i’ve been working on and building her up for years and she’s technically my only oc, but everytime i start to come up with a new character from this new place and these new things that aren’t related to her or her story, i’m afraid that they as a character is not going to be as fleshed out or as interesting as she is. i don’t have any backstory ideas for any other characters and i don’t hers to outshine everyone else’s.

can i fix this? if so, how?

thank you

While I can't exactly pinpoint what might be the core issue I can see what you're struggling with and I do have advice for it. And I'm sorry if this response comes too late but I figure this is something many artists can struggle with.

If I've understood correctly it's not due to a lack of inspiration, yes? Since you said you've been able to make ocs out of very small prompts or ideas (if the issue is lack of inspiration though, my biggest piece of advice is to simply seek out more, and new inspiration! The mind can stagnate and freshening up helps. Get new medias and look into what inspires others, get new life experiences and possibly dip your toes into other hobbies? It doesn't have to be major, anything to shake it up in there!)

Seems to have to do with attachment, generally speaking. While there's nothing wrong with wanting to focus on just one story/character, it'll become sucky if you, well don't want that. From my perspective, I think you just need to give new characters time to grow into themselves. I know that may sound odd but I'll elaborate. Sometimes when you make a new character you'll fall in love with them immediately and run off to do shenanigans with them. Sometimes, you make a character and, they just exist now. You may dislike something about them or be unsatisfied with them, or just not..~Feel~ for them, ykno? Or maybe none of those things apply. Maybe the character is just fine. So my first piece of advice is to let them grow. I recommend specifically taking a moment, or few, to focus on this new character Only. It may be hard but I do really recommend it. It can be just short moments like drawing them once, or a few times more, or listening to music and trying to pick out songs you think would vibe with this character, and really get imagining, ykno? At these beginning stages you can really have many "Ooh what if-" moments in developing a character! It's fun! Just find your preferred way of Getting Into™ a character

If you can't bring yourself to give them the spotlight now, worry not. Let them exist for a bit, but make sure that you have them somewhere you won't forget! Maybe write a synopsis of them somewhere or draw them, whatever helps. And let them simmer. You can totally come back to a character later to add more to them, or even revamp them completely! They are dough at your hands. Some dough needs more kneading and some needs to rest and rise, you feel? I actually had a story that took at least one year of existing for me to really get cozy and up close with it. I wasn't disinterested before, it just needed time to grow and I needed time to get more familiar with it, and it's characters. Consider the fact that you may just be rusty. And that's okay! If you haven't created something entirely new in a while, that happens. Push on, even if it's clumsy at first, bc you will get there! Just let yourself get back into the groove of making new stuff again.

My other advice is to make them interesting to you. "Well duh?", but what I mean is that if you're not vibing with the character you have now, make them something you'd vibe with. Literally you can make them into whatever! They don't necessarily need to be relatable to you for you to want to explore them, but if it helps to add a bit of yourself into the character then do that! Lame backstory? Spice it up! Flat personality? Scrungle it a bit. Boring design? Go wack. You get my point. Make them into something you'd be interested in working with.

Something that helps for me personally, is also, sharing them! If I get to talk about and really get into some character while explaining it to someone else that can easily put me in the mindset of thinking about and getting more fond of the character. You can also totally ask for advice, input, reviews or opinions from other people! Or just share the new character.

Summary:

1. Give em time. And a bit of love and care

2. Make it fun and interesting for yourself!

3. The rubber ducky method (I volunteer if you want to come share your new ocs here!)

And: Sometimes a character won't take off. You can't bring yourself to get invested in them or add them anywhere. That's okay. You can just dump them and start over. It's your story and your character and you decide what goes

[spacecoffeeandcartoons]

Serrill?

Full Name: ~ Serill Hyacinth ~

Gender and Sexuality: nonbinary, pansexual

Pronouns: they/them

Ethnicity/Species: just a human, a regular, non-magical human

Birthplace and Birthdate: from Spring! and I don't think we ever figured out a bday for the twins but I like to think sometime in spring -- Serill and Adriana turned the big 3-0 at Verdant 

Guilty Pleasures: Flirting. (which is incredibly unrelatable to me as a player lol)

Phobias: Death. Keeping secrets (information MUST be shared dramatically so they don’t have to deal with it anymore!)

What They Would Be Famous For: Singing, duh. They’re a BARD

What They Would Get Arrested For: Serill’s pretty good at avoiding arrest...possibly they’d have trouble in some of the stricter jurisdictions in Quest with Playing Music After Hours or Causing A Disturbance

OC You Ship Them With: Literally Anyone Who Wasn’t At Verdant, they wanna put that behind them

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: I mean. This is my char who sang a song in front of three people with godlike powers that pissed them off. Anastasius DID call them an “arrogant asshole”

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Pop magazines or murder mysteries

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: They LOVE cheesy cliches, they're in all their songs -- what Serill’s picky about is like, quality of the soundtrack songs

Talents and/or Powers: Singing, duh. They’re a BARD. Also listening in on things and accidentally acquiring secrets. And fashion. They have no magical ability, sadly (or perhaps for the best bc I shudder to think)

Why Someone Might Love Them: They’re fun and they lighten the mood and they sing dirty songs and make bad jokes without a whiff of cringe!

Why Someone Might Hate Them: They sing dirty songs and make bad jokes without a whiff of cringe and sometimes reveal your secret identity

How They Change: After spending so much time on the road, they were forced to live in one place for a year, and they learned who and what really matters to them

Why You Love Them: Serill is wildly unlike any other character I’ve ever been, and playing them is the only time I will ever sing in front of a crowd of 30 people. They taught me to just let things go, sometimes.

[ionfusionpunk]

Mando’a Conjugation Tangents Because My Brain Got Lost

AKA: A Study of Ancient Mandalorian Culture and Society and the Development of Mando’a by Dissecting a Bunch of Words in a Bid to Find the One (Which I Don’t Find, but That’s Okay)

Um. So, I got carried away? 

It started with me creating a clone oc: Clone Commander Alloy. I love creating fun nicknames for my characters, and I thought it would be cool to give him a nickname in Mando’a. I thought: Hey, ‘alloy’ is close to ‘ally’, so maybe one of his close friends/vod call him tomad: ally. Cute. Then I thought, but what about ‘alloy’ in Mando’a? 

(You can jump to the very end for the TL;DR)

Cue me realizing there isn’t a straight translation. Cue me realizing there’s only one (1) metallic element given any sort of name in Mando’a: beskar, which is Mandalorian iron made of a metallic alloy (steel, which itself is an iron alloy, hence Mandalorian iron).

Cue me wanting to dissect the word beskar to figure out where it comes from.

After fighting with my brain for an hour, I finally just made it simple: since beskar is a confirmed alloy of which iron is the major part, then I just need to identify which part of the word is ‘iron’. Easily said and done if one considers that be means ‘of’ in Mando’a, leaving skar to mean iron. (I also cross referenced the Mando’a dictionary to make sure there weren’t any other words composed of skar as a word fragment in any form; it’s not). Literally translated then, beskar means ‘of iron’ which makes sense considering it’s an iron alloy - an alloy made of iron. Thus beskar transliterated is ‘alloy of iron’.

Now I want a word for ‘metal’, because ‘iron’ is too specific to be the only related word in Mando’a. 

I started by looking for ‘forge’, like a blacksmith forge, thinking it might hold a clue. It didn’t. ‘Forge’ in Mando’a is actually nau’ur kad: lit. light up a sword. And, like, I can see where that’s coming from? But it’s more poetic than functional. This is when I recall the word goran: blacksmith, metalworker.

Cool. Okay. ‘Metal’ is included in ‘metalworker’, so I might be a step closer. Unsatisfied with the poetic version of forge, I decide I want a single word that means something closer to what ‘metalworking’ implies; I turn goran into a verb by adding -ar, making it goranar: metalworking, and call it good. 

But I still want to isolate ‘metal’. Alright, so what part of goran is ‘worker’? Turns out that borarir is worker, and it’s base is bora: job. Instead, goran might come from gotal’ur: make, create/ gotal: made, created (an ‘-ized’ suffix). This is cool because tal means blood, so the Mandalorians seem to believe that to create something is very symbolic/ritualistic (like putting your blood, sweat, and tears into something). 

(Kay. Taking the Mandalorian culture into account, it would seem that they would have definitely practiced metalworking as an artform, right? Historically, only the nobility had swords because only they had the time to learn how to properly use them, and we’ve seen that the Mando’ade who aren’t soldiers are often agriculturalists. Yet kad is still a known word, and beskar is basically a deity. It would make sense that, in their development as a culture/society, metalworking would have been way big especially as an art form (I look back at the p o e t i c term for ‘forge’ as an example). It then stands to reason that there’s no reason why the words I want to create don’t exist. They’re just... buried. Deep. Just throwing that out there so I seem less crazy lmao.)

Now, I would think that ‘metal’ would be something close to ‘iron’ considering, logically, there would be a word for ‘metal’ first and then iron later as it was found to be the superior metallic element, especially in alloy form. Kar shows up in a few words, like kar’am: breath, kar’ta: heart, kar’tayl: awareness, knowledge, and kar’taylir: know, hold in heart. As far as kar’ta goes, ta is obviously derived from tal for blood. The am in kar’am is ‘change’. Taylir is hold, keep, preserve. Comparing with mandokar (which we should all know the meaning of by now, it’s used so. often), we can assume that kar either has something to do with the ‘self’ or is more an indication of something personally/culturally/spiritually precious (not the soul, though; colloquially, manda is used as ‘soul’). Furthermore, kar seems to be used in words where emotion is involved (like, 9.5/10 times). 

Personally, I think that kar could mean ‘iron’. Think about it: ‘iron change’ or the ‘change in iron’ to indicate breath just like how different levels of oxygen within the metal itself would affect quality. ‘Iron blood’ which, like, duh, but they wouldn’t have had the tech at the time to know human blood contains iron; they would have just compared the red of rusted iron to the color of blood, which, still cool. Mandokar would then be ‘an individual of/containing iron’ which fits with the definition.

Now, I can’t really get behind the fanon definition of kar being ‘star’. I can’t, because Ka’ra is ‘stars; ancient Mandalorian myth - ruling council of fallen kings’, so I would think ka would be ‘star’ and ra derived from the short list of words that start with ‘ram-’: ramaanar: die (general term), ramaanla: mortal (in the sense of fallible or vulnerable), ram’ika: raid, ramikad: commando, ramikadyc: commando state of mind, ram’or: attack, beseige, ramorla: beseiged, and ramser: sniper, marksman. Considering ika is a known diminutive, ram probably boils down to ‘battle’ or ‘war’ or something similar. Ka’ra then, would literally be something like ‘warrior stars’ - the great warrior kings of the past. 

Back to to beskar, then, which I can actually keep breaking down. In the dictionary is bes’bev: Mandalorian wind instrument also used for combat, a large metal flute with a sharpened, cut-off end. Knowing that laar is song and bes’laar is music, but also knowing that a defining feature of pure beskar is the ringing sound it makes when hit against more pure beskar, and bev: needle, spike, and considering my ‘metalworking as art’ theory, I can see where bes’bev comes from for sure, especially if we assume beskar as a word was created first so that bes could be used to indicate the sound of the metal-strikes. 

(Fun Facts: laar shows up again only in galaar: hawk, jai’galaar: shriek-hawk, the two conjugations of laar that give us ‘singing’ and ‘sing’, and werlaara: myth (archaic). Now, jai- comes from jair: scream, shriek, so that word’s self-explanatory. But werlaara is cool, because wer is archaic for ‘eon’, and laara would be the conjugated form of laar once again. From this we catch a glimpse of ancient Mandalorian culture - namely, the way they told stories: using music. Just thought that was supper cool.)

That still doesn’t really help me except just show where other words branched off. So. Square one (1): beskar breaks down into be: of and skar: iron. I would think the ‘s’ comes from the word for metal, especially if iron specifically, using the kar as an indication of strong emotion, is extra important as a metal to the Mandalorians. Based on the words I could find, the best match seems to be eso: flank, side. (Think of how the metal would have been used as armor to protect their flanks/sides). Look at bes; look at eso. I think metal might have been beso, because they would have used metal for armor before they ever used for art considering their warrior-clan history (again, in my head). So, beso: metal. 

Back to goran, ‘cause I think I’m on to something here. So, the closest to ran I could find was rang: ash. Considering the role that ash actually plays in forging metal objects, that makes a lot of sense to me if goran is a metalworker/blacksmith. If I think about how ne’tra is ‘black’, it’s not inconceivable that the ‘ra’ in goran is actually derived from that (again, ran means nothing by itself, and ra is ‘or’). The ‘n’ is most likely just tacked on bc why not and to make it a noun. That just leaves go which seems to have a direct link to whether the word is about creating/making something or not. Conclusion: go: the shaping of something. 

In the end, I couldn’t pin down a specific word for ‘alloy’, but I might get there someday. Thoughts? Sorry for the rambly-ness of this whole thing. I leterally was typing this up as the thoughts hit lol.

TL;DR: 

beskar: alloy of iron (from be: of and assuming kar: iron)

goranar: metalworking

kar: a uniquely Mandalorian word used to indicate extreme emotional/spiritual importance to the subject; iron

ka: star

bes: a uniquely Mandalorian word that indicates the equally unique sound made by hitting two pieces of pure beskar to together

beso: metal

go: the shaping of something

[winkyjinki]

author asks 1-30 GO!

WHEW OK STRAP IN BUCKO (I already answered 1&29 uwu)

2. When you’re writing a new story, what is the one thing you need to know before you can start?

This is gonna sound so like “duh bitch” but I always need to know AT LEAST how I want it to end. Or like the almost-end. Bc it’s like if you know where you want to go then you can figure out how to build up to that moment. 

They always say it’s not abt the destination, but the journey. But like in this case, you need to know the destination to figure out the journey oop--

3. How do you know when a scene is “done”?

This is gonna sound so vague but like... when I feel like it’s complete? Like when I think it’s served its purpose in the fic.

In theatre, every single scene has a purpose in building up to the climax & resolution, so I always try to make sure that each scene has served its purpose in moving the plot along/gives you something for a later plot point.

4. How do you know when a chapter is “done”?

Ummm... I try to end it at a good point. Honestly this is the hardest for me because I always want to end it at a good point but also where it feels like the equivalent of a half-cadence in music (it doesn’t feel complete).

That’s like my best explanation.

5. How do you know when a story is “done”?

I think my story is done when I’ve neatly wrapped up the plot to my liking while also leaving as little loose ends as possible.

This is a boring answer lmao but it’s really my best explanation.

6. Where do your titles come from?

Most of my titles come from songs that my fics remind me of. I try to make it be like ~poetic~ bc I can’t come up w titles from the pits of my brain but I can def try to find the perfect song lyric LOL

7. How do you feel about prologues?

I feel like it’s really useful for setting some background info that you want to reference but don’t actually want to explain in the main story LOL but it’s def not necessary

8. How do you feel about epilogues?

Another thing that I feel is def not necessary but sometimes you want a little “what happens next?”...as a treat

9. Do you tend to have an external narrator or use one of the characters?

I like the idea of using a limited POV, so I like to use one of the characters for narration. Bc in my opinion it’s a little much when you’re like spending so much time being ~omniscient~ but that’s just my opinion.

10. Does your narrator move from character to character? 

Ummm honestly it depends for me. Like for me it’s like...if the story calls for it in my heart. 

I usually like to keep it to one character unless I’m planning a more complex story that calls for a lot of different POVs!

11. What punctuation do you love too much?

Bruh... Commas, semicolons and this bitch (–) are my holy grail I feel like I’m the queen of run-on sentences.

12. What punctuation do you hate with a passion?

Okay I don’t HATE them but I really don’t like the overuse!!!!! of exclamation points!!!!!! I use them a lot when I’m just posting about stuff I’m really passionate about like that’s cute I just am not too crazy about that in like prose & creative writing. I wouldn’t say it’s a pet peeve, per se, but it’s just not my cup of tea :/

13. What grammar tends to cause problems when you’re writing?

Idek what this means but like I guess I struggle with writing verbs in the right POV bc, like I said, I'm the queen of run on sentences so I tend to lose focus on what’s the subject of the sentence.

14. What’s the one word you can never spell/use properly, no matter how hard you try?

I am actually illiterate so I always end up misspelling words ALL the time just bc like my brain will turn off. I used to use the word “futile” incorrectly all the time but once I like actually found out how to use it correctly, I’ve been pretty good :0

15. How do you write a really good metaphor?

Bro when I figure it out I will SHARE

I don’t have a strategy--sometimes I just write good ones and idek how it happened oof--

16. What is your best piece of advice for writing angst scenes?

If you are HURTING by the time you’re done with it, you did it right. When I write angst, I know it’s good if my heart hurts by the end of it LOL

17. What is your best piece of advice for writing hurt/comfort scenes?

Kinda the same as 16, like it hurts but in a better way. This will probably also be the same as my answer for 22, but if it just makes you soft, you’re doing well.

Soft & hurt is the combo you need for that.

18. What is your best piece of advice for writing comedy scenes?

I like to share these scenes with people (beta readers, friends, etc.) and see how they receive them. Even if they don’t laugh like SUPER HARD, I think it’s worth keeping if they make positive comments and they say stuff like “That’s a mood.” or “I related to that hard.” bc in my humble opinion that’s good enough for me.

I’m working on a Trashmouth comedy special series, and I literally just read the skits to my friends and see what lands and what doesn’t.

I just like to treat any comedy scene as a comedy skit. Just see what lands !

19. What is your best piece of advice for writing action scenes?

Oh man, I don’t do a lot of those, so I don’t really have much advice for that :( maybe in like a year I’ll have something for that lollll

20. What is your best piece of advice for writing smut scenes?

Now I’m no expert on doing the dirty, but I did read up on how to write like...good sex scenes....and a lot of the sources say to (in my own words) overload on thought and emotion. 

Like honestly I don’t read smut for the sex (I mean like.... I get hype when my ship gets nasty but that’s beside the point), I read it to see how someone comes undone for their lover and I think that’s IMPORTANT. Tbh anyone can write sex, but like I need that connection.

21. What is your best piece of advice for writing romance scenes?

Overload on that thought and emotion, dude. Make your heart THROB. I like to make this a matter of building tension and setting the release. Like no I will not be giving you that kiss yet bc that’s too easy. Build it up a little bit.

Talk about slow burn

22. What is your best piece of advice for writing fluff scenes?

If you read it and you feel like you might explode from how much these characters love each other, you are doing amazing, sweetie.

23. How do you balance your characters in an ensemble story?

I like to list out the primary, secondary, and side characters and figure out where they come in the story, what the relationships are, what purpose they serve the plot, stuff like that.

In a theatre standpoint (obviously), any character in a play has their own purpose and without even one of them, you can’t wrap that story up neatly. Like in Ancient Greek plays, even the smallest part played an integral part in moving the plot along.

24. How do you balance your characters when there are only a two or three in a story?

I like to think about what purpose each character serves in the story. I also like to think about whether this story revolves around one character, or if it delves into each character’s story and they kind of intertwine. Maybe they’re family or a team or roommates, or maybe they’re strangers whose lives are connected in some way if you wanna take that route.

I think when there are so little characters, you get more room to make them their own people. And you have that possibility of making it a collection of stories that come together without making it so confusing.

I think about that in, like, a theatre standpoint obviously.

25. How do you create an original character?

AAA I’ve never really made an OC but honestly I like to think it’s like making a sim LOL I’m so sorry to EVERYONE who’s ever made an OC.

I don’t even remember was my OC building process was like when I wrote original stories in, like, middle school.

26. How do you go about world building?

Oof ok I’ve been writing fanfic for as long as I can remember so that’s kinda cheating a little bit LOL it’s self explanatory.

But in the few original stories I’ve written (and honestly even when I write for some AUs), I base a lot of things on my own reality. So like people I know, places I like to go to, events that have taken place in my lifetime, they’re like the template, and depending on the nature of this world (realistic, fantasy, modern, futuristic, etc), that’s like how I’ll mold it to be part of that world.

27. Do you try to do most of your research ahead of writing (when research is necessary) or do you do it as things come up?

Honestly, I research things as they come up because things are always gonna come up. I’m constantly coming up with little things I can add into my fics, and I like to try all my ideas to see if they work with the story. I don’t want to scrap an idea just bc it’s not in my archive of research.

I also think when you get too wrapped up in technicalities, you lose focus of the actual story, so I like to jump in and do all my fact-checking as I go along!

28. How do you make sure your plot points are there while also making them blend in with the story?

This is something that I’m still figuring out because I’m just now getting back into writing longer fics, but I think as long as you make them fit in a way that they serve the plot or they play into one of your characters’ motives then it’s a good plot point!

30. How do you edit your stories?

This is gonna sound so extra, but I rewrite ALL OF IT from the beginning. When I do this, it really helps me figure out how to write thing in a more efficient and effective manner.

And I cannot stress this enough, beta readers are SO useful. You can do all of the proofreading you want, but someone who’s reading your writing will probably catch more spelling and grammar mistakes honestly. Also, they can give you insight on what might need more development, what might not make as much sense, and what really isn’t that necessary.

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Okay, I loved your answers for the first lot so I’m back with more! Spider-Man (Marvel, again-duh), Sharpay Evans (HSM), Dipper Pines (Gravity Falls) and idk if this is cheating but maybe Coral? (my stories bc I’m a narcissist lmao) and another of your choosing, bc why not? 😆 Enjoy! Be as honest as you like!

This is so much fun! I’m loving this!

Spider-Man (Marvel)

First impression: My first impression would have to be of the Andrew Garfield version as that is the first one I ever saw. To be honest, I thought the nerdy, kind and all around cool Spider-Man was the best! I had a crush on him for the longest time.

Impression now: Tom Holland is freaking amazing as Spider-Man! He’s perfect for the role. Peter Parker is a sweetheart and his relationships with his friends, Aunt May, Happy and Tony Stark are so pure and realistic; I just can’t get enough!

Favorite moment:

Jk jk 😂 this one is 👇🏼

Idea for a story: I kinda would like to do a story where Pete’s school visits Stark Industries for a field trip and Flash is all like “time to prove you lied about your interview, Penis Parker” and Tony just comes in and proves Flash wrong in every way he can. Irondad and Spiderson is perfect in my opinion.

Unpopular opinion: I wish Peter didn’t have to grow up so fast. I know what it’s like to mature prematurely bc of family members dying or other circumstances outside of my control. I love the way Marvel handled it, but I still wish he didn’t have to.

Favorite relationship: Irondad (Tony Stark) and Spiderson (Peter Parker)

Favorite headcanon: *SPOLERS* Endgame fix-it. Where everyone is happy and healthy and fucking alive! I’m... still not okay. I’ll post how my Endgame experience went later...

Sharpay Evans (High School Musical)

First Impression: Not gonna lie, she reminded me of this freaking biatch from my school named Ashley. She ticked me off and I wanted so badly for someone to put her in her place. 😆

Impression now: Spoiled rich girl, but after rewatching HSM 3 I’ve realized she actually was getting better over time. Her solo movie was also amazing and added quite a bit to her character.

Favorite moment:

Idea for a story: If I were to make a story, it’d probably be a East High reunion or just a “where are they now” kinda thing.

Unpopular opinion: (not sure if this is unpopular, but it is among my friend group) If she had ended up with Zeke (I think that’s the one I’m thinking of) I would’ve loved it.

Favorite relationship: Her sibling relationship with Ryan is iconic

Favorite headcanon: Once again; if she ended up with Zeke.

Dipper Pines (Gravity Falls)

First impression: Boy version of me when I was 12. I was all about conspiracies, exploring my small town, theories and all of that, so I clicked with him immediately.

Impression now: I have adopted him as my own. I feel like Gravity Falls is a part of who I am now. I loved the show from the day the first episode aired. I have a couple of the GF books, including Journal 3 and I just love the parts about my lil Dippin’ Dots!

Favorite moment: The awkward siblings hugs!

Idea for a story: I actually have a load of story ideas! I have a few that include OCs, but I have at least 5 that are just about the characters in the show. My biggest one that I can’t wait to write, is where the twins get permission from their parents to stay in Gravity Falls with their Grunkles 😁

Unpopular opinion: If Dipper and Mabel had talked things out a bit better before the end of summer, Weirdmaggedon might not have happened the way it did. I don’t blame them for it in any way, but I just think it would’ve gone down differently if they had talked things out.

Favorite relationship: I love the familial bonds Dipper has with his Grunkles and Mabel! They are great! I like how he is with Wendy as well, but the family bonds in the show are just perfection!

Favorite headcanon: Dipper and Mabel go back to Gravity Falls through the years and end up taking mentor/mentee positions with Grunkles Ford and Grunkle Stan respectively.

Coral (Paper Flowers)

First Impression: Sweet, Classy, a little Smartassy. Loved her interactions with everyone! Her relationship with everyone made everything feel realistic to me.

Impression now: One of my favorite OCs to read. I can reread anything with her in it and love it all the same as I did the first time around. She’s amazingly well written and her progress over time has been incredible! I love what you’ve done with her!

Favorite moment: I can’t think of a moment that I didn’t like! I love in chapter 14 of Paper Flowers when she and Butchy danced to Can I Have This Dance, so, if I had to pick, I’d have to say that’s my all time favorite! 😊

Idea for a story: That freaking collab we’ve gotta do eventually, girlie!

Unpopular opinion: I don’t think I have any crazy opinions on her. She’s an amazing character and I love her!

Favorite relationship: Her interactions with everyone are amazing. Your writing is incredible and the relationships are all so well formed! I absolutely adore her relationship with Butchy, so that’s my top fave, but I really like the interactions between her and Tanner as well.

Favorite headcanon: I don’t really have one for Coral just yet.

For anyone who hasn’t read Paper Flowers and doesn’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a link to Paper Flowers and it’s sequel, Reality Check!

[creideamhgradochas]

Thanks to the lovely @youngmoneymilla for taking the time to answer these! Get to know more about lovely Eliza, go give her a follow and then show her some love!

These questions are from this list. You should check it out, there’s 50 questions all together and they’d be great to ask your favorite fic writer!

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fan-fiction?

13

2) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

I did love writing OC’s because I have a lot of fun with physical description. However, that was when I wasn’t aware of Reader Inserts since I just recently came back into the fanfic world. Reader Inserts are great because I have to work that much harder on giving them a backstory/personality and not focus at all on physical description. Plus, everyone gets to read the work and hopefully find themselves in it. The only thing I hate is being unable to use a name. I can’t write “Y/N” bc it bugs me haha.

3) What is your favorite genre to write for?

Ummm Angst probably? I’m a huge horror fan so, I’m trying to incorporate that into more work.

4) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

“It Would Have Made it True” just because I didn’t really connect with it that much and the ending was rushed.

5) When is your preferred time to write? 

11 am to 10 pm haha. I’m an asshole and write a lot during my job.

6) Where do you take your inspiration from? 

I have about a million fics bookmarked from over the years, literally fics from when I was in high school to now. They’re so gorgeously written and they inspire me to write. I pretty much only read non-fiction outside of fanfic so, that doesn’t really work.

7) What’s your favorite scene that you’ve written?

Bathtub/Bedroom scene in the second part of “Bungalows and Baths”

8) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

Yep. In one fic, I included a descriptive characteristic for the reader that implied she was white. It hadn’t even occurred to me but, I immediately fixed it when someone pointed it out.

9) Who is your favorite character to write for? Why? 

Tossup between Bucky and Steve. Bucky has the very obvious trauma and grief that’s interesting to write about but, Steve has a lot of buried darkness that’s subtle and extremely intriguing.

10) Who is your least favorite character to write for? Why?

Maybe Bruce? I don’t care that much for his character (despite the fact I love Hulk)

11) How do you come up with the titles for your stories? 

A lot of the time, it’s a line that’s said throughout the narrative. However, I have a word doc filled with random quotes I like and I usually throw something together. I always think up the title at the end and it’s always an afterthought. Titles blow.

12) What do you think is the best idea you’ve had for a story so far?

I am currently writing a Bucky x Reader fic (TRYING TO AT LEAST) that is going to take the team to New Orleans. It’s going to involve vampires since I wrote a novella about vampires back in high school and want to re-explore that mythology. However, there is going to be a lot of twists and it won’t be an AU, it’s just introducing the possibility of vampires in the MC universe. The reader and Bucky will both be struggling with the idea of themselves as monsters and trying to help themselves through that. It’s going to be a lot of voodoo and magic and angsty “will they, won’t they”. I’m going off on a tangent now but, that’s the gist. I have not written an actual series in a long time so, this would be my first one.

13) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

There are many half-filled one- page word docs on my desktop that are rotting away as we speak. I just get bored or think of something else.

14) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

I’d love to do more fics with the same reader from Bungalows and Baths.

15) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

Lol I’m actually annoyed with how I ended 6 Times right now. Not sure why.

16) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

Omg I admire so many but, here are a few.

@bitsandbobsandstuff – obviously for her “Safe with Me” piece which is fantastic, emotional and well-paced. Pacing/keeping the reader on their toes is the hardest thing for me in a series and so, I really admire her ability to do that. I also LOVED her “A Million Invisible Threads” piece because it’s such a gorgeous character study on the Winter Soldier

@a-splash-of-stucky  – She’s the Queen of Angst duh and a GORGEOUS writer. I love her stuff. A Messed Up Place left me weak.

@imhereforbvcky – Her “Mirror for the Sun” fic inspired me to start writing from Bucky’s POV actually. She’s just a beautiful writer.

@tilltheendwilliwrite – I love everything she writes. I love all the mythology she brings to her fics while still staying within the Avengers universe. Her smut is on another level, too. I find myself rereading her stuff again and again.

17) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

Here and there. There are definitely moments in a fic where I think why did I keep that. It’s usually because I ended it too quickly or just wanted it over.

18) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence? 

I love music when I write fics. It’s all movie scores. I have a spotify playlist for it.

19) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

I’ve cried (ish) when writing anything that has to do with alcohol/substance abuse. I’ve been in and out of AA for the past two years and have finally started recovery again. I also have depression so, writing about that can leave me raw. Writing truly always helps though.

20) Which part of your fics have been the hardest to write?

SMUT. Jesus Christ. I struggle so hard with making smut sound hot, as well as lyrical so, it can fit with the narrative. I don’t want to reuse anything I’ve used in other fics before or repeat words but, it’s SO hard (pardon the pun). I always forget what position they’re in and where the body parts need to go. It’s legitimately why I have yet to write a Stucky x Reader fic. I can’t introduce another person into my difficult SMUT journey.

21) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow? 

I usually have a general idea and I’ll have a very vague outline going. I just write everything out like word vomit and go back and edit.

22) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fan-fiction? 

That some of the best stories I’ve read aren’t necessarily the ones with the most likes or comments. I stumble upon stuff and wonder “HOW DOES THIS NOT HAVE 2K LIKES”.

23) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

That’s tough. Maybe the stuff I wrote in the beginning where I didn’t have many followers. I loved the concept of “You Don’t Mean for it to Happen” but, sometimes I want to rewrite the whole thing. I put a lot of myself into “I Think of You All the Time” but, I feel like that got some good traction. IDK.  Bungalows and Baths got a crazy amount of love. Did not expect that but, v grateful.

24) In contrast to 23 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at? 

Nope. I appreciate any love haha.

25) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Well, I think it goes without saying that every reader character has a little bit of the author in there. I think I pull from some of my friends but, not really.

26) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten? 

Someone once said that their soul was marked by “Bungalows and Baths” which was amazing haha.

27) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

I haven’t really gotten criticism other than that time I screwed up on including a feature for a white reader. I felt terrible about that.

28) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

Not really. I don’t have people to share them with haha.

29) Do people know you write fan-fiction?

My best friend knows but, she doesn’t read fanfic. Shockingly, my mom and sister know but, I told them that they could never read them. I just share reviews with them. My mom likes to know that I’m staying creative.

30) What’s you favorite minor character you’ve written? 

Oh jeez idk if I have one. Natasha isn’t considered a minor character but, she usually plays a side character in my stories and she’s fun to write for.

31) What spurs you on during the writing process?

Once I get started, I’m usually good at keeping it going. Music helps.

32) What’s your favorite trope to write?

Probably slow burn romance or one of the lovers is injured/captured. I also am a huge sucker for love triangles because I’m greedy AF.

33) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

Lawl this might not have been the first one but, I read a Lizzie Mcguire SMUT piece when I was maybe in 6th grade and was severely chilled to the bone. I was trash even at 12.

34) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

Angst. I always write better when I’m emotionally distraught and tortured. Although as I get older, I realize this isn’t fabulous for my own mental health.