#dae writes about writes

[ossidae-passeridae]

question 25!

Question from here

25. What’s your opinion on modern AUs? What makes a good one?

My opinion on modern AUs is very mixed. When they're done well, they can be a fabulous way of examining a character through a different lens, but if they're just dropping a bunch of characters fully formed into a coffeeshop or somesuch, they do less than nothing for me.

I've written one serious modern AU, Six Months In A Leaky Boat, and before I put a single word on the page, I went through all the main and supporting characters and broke down their characterisations in the GFFA to traits, and noted major events in their life that would have shaped them in some way. I then looked at how I could map this onto modern day earth. If I couldn't, then the character couldn't be used. This meant I could stay true to the characters, even through a complete change of context.

Do I expect everyone to do this to write AUs? Absolutely not. I'm much more German structural in my writing process than almost anyone else I know.

But for a modern AU to be "good" to me they really do have to be in very close dialogue with the original text — they need to be a deconstruction and reconstruction both. That's what makes them compelling.

(All opinions expressed above are solely those of pass e. ridae and do not express the views or opinions of any affiliates or associates, passerine or otherwise)

[ossidae-passeridae]

`s/cute/horrible` and yep, I am in this picture and I don't like it 😔

BEFORE WRITING: Oh, this fic idea is so cute, and it won't take any time at all! WHILE WRITING: Oh...oh, no...I Underestimated this. Again.

[strawberryspence]

evan buckley coming out as a bisexual at the age of 19 and getting kicked out. he finds his way to maddie and asks— begs— her to just come with him.

she can't, of course. but she gives him an old battered up postcard and the keys to her jeep.

buck trusts his sister more than anything. so he drives. he drives and drives.

until he stops. in a little town called hawkins, indiana. he finds the little yellow bungalow house, a porch wrapped around it, plants planted in the front yard. it's beautiful.

buck knocks and a man opens it. he completely forgets that its only seven in the morning. the man is wearing his glasses and his hair is tossed like he just woke up. buck has eyes, okay? and what a beautiful fucking man.

"uh, hey. i'm looking for robin. robin buckley."

the man squints at him, head tilting. his eyes fleet to buck's birthmark, pauses. before breaking into a smile.

"robin! evan is here!"

there's a crash and the sound of a plate breaking. then there's heavy footsteps running down the hall and it stops—

and she's right in front of him. she's older now than when buck last saw her. she's the same shape and form of his father, but softer, kinder.

"evan."

buck smiles, the first time he has smiled in days.

"hi, aunt robin."

[dreamerinsilico]

Cannibalism jokes? In my Dreamling fic? It's more likely than you think.

(Actually, if you've known me for more than about five minutes, it's exactly as likely as you'd think.)

[ossidae-passeridae]

Plate tectonics? Please, that's thinking too big. First you have to start with the relevant molecular makeup of the planet's crust, then we can move on to the lower layers deeper into the core, and only once we know exactly what's in each delicious onion ring and how they interact with each other, only then can we progress to plate tectonics.

Well, after we've worked out where the water comes from for our world. Can't have accurate plate tectonics without knowledge of ocean placement, after all.

(and people wonder why my longfics take so long to eventuate...)

reminder to worldbuilders: don't get caught up in things that aren't important to the story you're writing, like plot and characters! instead, try to focus on what readers actually care about: detailed plate tectonics

[ifthestarsarewilling]

gods i need to be worse to him

[moth-mart]

The last two posts before the ask might. be related.

[mazojo]

What's yuri's personality then? Being gay?

About Minho, being mean and making mean two liners towards Kitty every in between?

ma'am this is a McDonalds drive thru

[greyias]

Got Ben through Secrets of the Enclave, and he is still the absolute crankiest Jedi healer ever. 10/10, he will complain again.

Then I was running through some of the Alliance update scenes, and got a different cutscene because I wasn't running a Knight for once and--

I somehow forget Zenith is voiced by Troy Baker until every single time I see him, and then am like "oh". And of course, he's emoting here, really missing his old Jedi pal in true Troy fashion. And as I see the flirt option with Peepaw!Troy here, I am getting the sudden inkling that there might be another burgeoning ship in the back of my head.

Another old man, who is still stalled in Onslaught. Too bad I skipped Thyos past the Vanilla storyline, because that means I missed all the Consular scenes with them together. (I mean, granted, neither Thyos or Ben are really the Barsen'thor in my head, but still).

Damn you Troy Baker.

[ossidae-passeridae]

🛒🎶🛠🏆 and ✨✨ i saw you dodging the other one >:(

Oh yeah mid here with the technical questions this'll be a fun one :3

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

*cracks knuckles* alright everyone settle in we're gonna be here a while.

Themes: loss of control, the interplay between fear and desire, situations which cannot be borne but must be, love as a partial deconstruction/destruction of the self, fear as a vehicle for self destruction, pain as catharsis, alienation from one's own body/status/existence... The strength of community working together?

Feels: Catharsis. It's all about catharsis in my works, all the other feels are simply vehicles to get us there.

Scenes: Standing over a sink full of blood and teeth (I literally have two WIPs with this right now), being trapped in a room with no way to escape, spiraling so far into one's mind that the physical world ceases to exist... My scenes tend towards night, and grime, and dim lighting, and the reflection of neon lights in puddled water on the pavement.

Imagery: water, the ocean, black holes, the vastness of empty space, sucking darkness, water drip drip dripping as a metaphor for slow decay, opulence as alienation. Food as a metaphor for love. Also that.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

This is highly dependent on what I'm writing! Sometimes it's integral I listen to music, other times I must have Total Silence(tm). Some fics I've written listening to one song on repeat include:

Pretty Waste (WIP): same titled song by Bones UK

broken pieces of the day: Delirium Tremens (Falling Down a Hole.) by A Burning Century

Rōnin: which continues to be written while listening to the same-titled album by Zack Hemsey

Overall I write a lot listening to She Wants Revenge and Crüxshadows, which I think tells you a lot about me!

Six Months in a Leaky Boat was written in a furious haze, and I'm sure that I did listen to a lot of music throughout it (there's no way I'd be able to put together the musical interludes otherwise), but I cannot for the life of me remember any specifics.

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

This one depends a bit on the scope of the work. For most things, I use gdocs because I swap between devices as my brain throws various hissy fits. For longer and more invested works which requires pages of planning and worldbuilding, I prefer Scrivener.

For gdocs, I also use a plugin called Draftback, which lets me look over my document edit history (with graphs!). I find that I can use these to pick out when I'm floundering on a fic and need new eyes on them - my graphs go from nice straight lines to horrible spotty messes.

🏆 What’s your most popular fic?

Hands down it's gotta be 'sometimes the feeling is right' ahahaha. What can I say, everyone loves medical accuracy bordering on medfet I guess??? It's my most viewed, most kudosed, and most bookmarked work!

Eternal thanks to @canonical-transformation who betaed it for me when I was yelling into a pillow about it not working with me 💖💖💖 You are, in fact, the best

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

*loudly grumbles*

dae's writing is almost as cool as mid and aspires to their level of excellence 😤 HAPPY NOW

[daemoninwhiteround2]

hi dae!! Love your fic are you working on anything rn?? thank you as always for posting

Thank you for reading! I've actually just had two fics go live in the Stork Swap exchange, when they're deanoned in less than a week I'll link them here. In the meantime, feel free to scroll the collection and try to find me!

[rivilu]

The more I think about the story through Daeran's pov the more insane i go. btw.

[strawberryspence]

inspired by the recent events (think of a singer and football player) and ofc, inspired by the brilliant, @henderdads, who has graciously allowed me to make this into a whole thing. 👀

check out the original post!

*i don’t know ANYTHING about the NFL, so sorry for the obvious mistakes*

”What do you mean?” Steve looks up from tying his shoelaces, and stares at his agent.

“Harrington, how many times do I have to say this?” Robin smirks at him, “He’s here. He’s sitting with Mama Joyce.”

Steve’s 100% sure a wire short circuits in his brain. He blinks rapidly at her before asking once again.

“Eddie Munson?”

Robin hums, “Ahuh.”

“Like the 12 time Grammy winner, Eddie Munson, from Corroded Coffin?”

Robin slaps a hand on her forehead, “Yes, Steve! Eddie Munson is in the stadium right now. You’re the one who asked me to arrange his seats.”

Steve jumps from the wooden benches, “I didn’t think he would come!”

Robin crosses her arms, “First of all, you were the one who made that bracelet with your number on it—“

“I WAS DRUNK!”

Robin puts up a finger, “You weren’t drunk when you brought it to his concert and asked Lucas Sinclair to hand it to him. You also weren’t drunk when you announced it on a podcast, when it could’ve been a secret for all of us to keep. Second of all, you whined and annoyed me until I finally caved in, called his publicist to finally arrange the whole thing and the thanks I get is more whining?!”

Oh no. Steve stares at her, as all of the things she said finally sinks in. Oh no. Eddie Munson is in the crowd. He came. Steve asked and Eddie came. He’s gonna watch Steve Harrington play. Weirdly, he wonders if this is what Eddie feels when he’s about to play sold out arenas. Steve’s never felt nervous to play, the field is— well— his comfort place and not once has he had this sense of dread to play. Not even when he had to play the Super Bowl.

"I didn't think he'd come!" Steve panics.

“Uh-oh. No time for panic attacks. The game starts in about 15 minutes.”

“Oh my god.” Steve groans as she pushes him out of the locker rooms to the halls. There’s TVs in every corner, and one TV catches his attention.

There he is.

Eddie Munson’s sitting beside his adoptive mother and his siblings. Dear God. In what world is this real?

The commentator squeals in delight as he broadcasts, “Here’s one for the books, one that’s surely going to break the internet tonight. In the crowd tonight, we have the lead singer of best selling metal group, Eddie Munson. The rumors are apparently true! Harrington and Munson are definitely friends, maybe even more?”

Steve groans as Sinclair moves pass him, bumping shoulders. A huge smirk on his face, “I didn’t think you could do it, but I have to say, I am very proud of you.”

”Leave me alone.” He sulks as Lucas walks down the hall laughing his head off.

When Steve started talking to Eddie, he never really thought he’d end up here. Did he want something serious with Eddie? Well, yes. He’s been crushing on the man since he realized he was bisexual and Eddie was already the cover of the Seventeen magazine for nth time. But Eddie was a superstar singer who’s still on a world tour that has already sold billions, so no, Steve didn’t expect him to be here. He also knows that Eddie just got out of a pretty public break-up, so he didn’t expect anything but friendship. He just— shoot his shot and prayed to the Gods.

Steve thinks back to the conversation they had a few nights ago. A conversation only possible through the help of prayer and two shots of vodka.

“You wanna go out this Sunday?” Steve asks, trying his best to keep the nerves under the wraps.

“Isn’t that the day of the game?” Eddie speaks over the phone and Steve still can’t fathom the fact that he’s talking to Eddie Munson on a regular Wednesday night.

“Yeah, I mean. We can go out after the game.” Steve gulps, and he feels the need to take another shot.

”Huh.” Eddie hums, “Would that be a date, Harrington?”

“Yes.” Steve lightly bangs his head on the wall, “I mean, if you want it to be.” Steve covers his mouth to muffle the embarrassing sounds that comes out from him. What a wuss.

“Here, let’s play a fun little game. Let’s wait till Sunday.” Steve can hear the smirk in his voice, and god, Steve will have to look up the damn “Eddie Munson smirks for 10 minutes” compilation on Youtube again.

”What do you mean?”

“I’ll think about it. On Sunday, if I’m in the crowd then maybe we can get some dinner. If I’m not, then maybe next time.” There’s a playfulness in his voice that makes Steve want to tear his hair out.

Steve gnaws at his lips, that sounds easy enough, “Okay. That sounds… easy.”

Eddie laughs. It’s music to Steve’s ears and he feels pathetic, “Not so easy, big boy. If I’m there, you have to get a touchdown and then it’s a date. If not, then we hang out with your siblings. They’re pretty cool.”

Steve stares at the wall in his room, there’s maybe 50% chance he’ll get a touchdown. He could talk to Sinclair and McKinney to get him the ball. He could do it. It’s just another touchdown. He’s done—what?— like 50 touchdowns in his life.

”Okay.” Steve gulps, “Let’s do it.”

“HARRINGTON!” Steve blinks back to the present, lifting his eyes away from the picture of Eddie Munson wearing the red windbreaker representing his team.

Hopper’s calling him over, a smirk clear on his face. Why is everyone fucking smirking at him? “I see you’re distracted. I hope this doesn’t cripple your ability to play.”

”Hop!” Steve groans, only for his coach to laugh and pat him in the back.

“Go on! Line up!” Hop smiles, winking at him, “Good luck out there.”

Steve puts on his helmet, before taking a few deep breathes.

He just needs a touchdown. One touchdown.

Steve smiles.

He’d do anything for Eddie Munson.

A touchdown is nothing.

[ossidae-passeridae]

from @mid-nighttiger:

The short answer to this is: marine engines have to be sealed shut TIGHT to keep out water, because salt water corrodes like nobody's business and if it gets in an engine then you're gonna have to replace the whole fucking thing within a year, tops.

More specifically:

Marine motors are placed in the bilge of the ship, which is generally cramped and has poor ventilation. This means the fumes they make hang around, which substantially increases fire risk. Alternators and distributors need extra components in order to decrease sparks going where they should not be and setting the entire boat on fire.

Engine Cooling. This is the largest difference, I think, between marine diesel engines and the ones you see on land. Most land engines will use water sucked from somewhere to cool the engine, but with seawater... It is possible, and some boats do it, but it'll rust your engine like crazy and it's frankly insane and expensive to do (those systems have to be cast in aluminium and bronze just to handle the salt water, and even then they corrode over time). Most boats instead have a closed loop system where fresh water (+/- antifreeze) is cycled around in a loop.

Many elements (starter, pump, camshaft) which would just be covered with paint on a land engine are instead covered with a sealing epoxy so that there's less of a chance of water getting in. The epoxy doesn't chip and doesn't need to be repainted unlike paint.

The fuel pumps are double membraned (sic), so if one fails the pump doesn't shoot diesel all over the bilge - again, we're trying to stop the boat catching fire!! Instead the whole pumping setup has bleed lines and is encased so that overflow gets fed back into the engine rather than being wasted.

A bunch of other smaller items are also made from aluminium or brass rather than steel, because even marine-grade stainless steel will rust and will infect the metal on either side of it, starting a chain reaction that'll fuck your entire engine.

This has been dae's crash course on marine diesel engines. Tune in next time for more weird facts about metal corrosion in boats 🤣

Love when writers do an insane amount of unnecessary research for their fics. I follow an author that did like 8 months of intense research into 14th century Scotland so they could write smut about it, and guess what. It was some fucking incredible porn AND I learned about old Scottish politics

[inchwormy]

the struggle of wanting to make a story set in a future with time travel and interstellar contact, but also wanting it to be focused around media formats that are already going down the path of obsolescence, and also not really wanting to invent whole new societal and social attitudes and politics for the future or have to explain how we got there from here, and

ALSO wanting it to focus on one specific situation which intertwines commentary on 21st century issues with philosophical and moral questions, and believing that a focus on making the setting a "realistic" or "possible" future would impede this goal, BUT worrying that readers would be preoccupied with how unrealistic it is that this story ostensibly set in the future is very similar to modern times just with added time travel and interstellar contact and some other stuff.

a. anyone else or just me

[my-mind-is-afk-rn]

Why the fuck am i listening to lemon demon at 2am??