#designation:miracle series

[diddlydarndoodles]

I’ve never even watched Haikyuu OR Kuroko no Basuke

The fanfic is Have a Seat(While I Take to the Sky) by Umisabaku

[starlight-matrix]

There’s no feeling quite like what comes when you turn the last page of a series you love.

Of course, most people will understand this in the context of a book- a novel, comic, maybe even a particularly eye-opening biography can do the trick. And I’ve definitely had my fair share of teary moments in reading the last page of a book. The Raven Cycle is the first to come to mind.

But there’s something to be said of a fanfiction author’s ability to take a story and characters that already have teary, emotional moments and twist them into something even more memorable.

When I think of books that stuck with me, that dug deep into my heart and made a home inside, there are a few that come to mind. The Raven Cycle, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Lucky One. But when it comes to fanfiction, there are just so many more that I’d ramble on and on about for hours if given the chance, because fanfiction is something so, so special to me.

And there are few fanfiction that grip me and steal the hours I should be sleeping quite like Designation:Miracle does. And for that, I must thank umisabaku, from the bottom of my heart.

Now see, I have never seen Kuroko no Basuke. I watched the first two episodes almost three years ago and quickly got bored. Not really sure why, to be honest, but it didn’t capture me the way other sports shows like Haikyuu!! and Yuri on Ice did.

But the day I read Don’t Blink Or You’ll Miss It, was the day all of that changed.

As a big Haikyuu!! fan, I of course read the Shouyou-centric fic before I started the main series, and boy did I fall in love! The world, the drama, the heart-wrenching moments of paranoia and trust and pure love- if I gave umisabaku a core strength, it’d be her ability to enchant her readers.

And from then on I was transfixed. I read all there was to read about Designation:Miracle- the few fics that had been uploaded at that point, all umisabaku’s asks and random posts on Tumblr. I thought about DM at night, thought about it while I was at work. It consumed me.

Every time a new fic in the series began, I was absolutely elated. I would wait week after week for updates, desperately checking my email every few hours so I couldn’t possibly miss one.

And when umisabaku offered to put readers’ OCs into one of the fics, I made my own.

I can’t remember a single story that has gotten me as hyped as Your Heart Ain’t Cold, and even if it sounds a little shallow, a huge part of that hype was the possibility that a character I created might be in the story. That a piece of myself, however small, might be in a world that I love.

And they were. I’m pretty sure I cried that day.

After that, the series took a turn into original character territory, and while maybe that turned off other readers, I was still transfixed. I had already fallen in love with Youji, with Masaomi, and I very quickly fell in love with Hinami and Shiori. I’m stoked to read umisabaku’s novel about them.

But then… with Youji and Masaomi’s story came the end of Designation:Miracle.

There’s no feeling quite like what comes when you turn the last page of a series you love.

It’s a strange mix of happiness and sadness, because you know every story deserves its happy ending. And though a part of you wishes it could go on forever, the rest of you knows that if it did, it would lose its charm, because the best stories are the ones that have a satisfying end.

I still think about Designation:Miracle, sometimes. I still daydream about it while I work, I still sit in my bed late at night, replaying my favorite scenes in my head until sleep finally takes me.

Designation:Miracle will always have a place in my heart, and for that, I want to say thank you.

Thank you, umisabaku, for this wonderful, intricate world you’ve crafted. Thank you for the love you instill in me through these characters and the love they have for each other. Thank you for the hope you give them, thank you for the fun they have, thank you for the time we’ve had.

Thank you for the happy ending you’ve given them, the happy ending you’ve given your readers.

Thank you.

Sincerely, Catherine.

@umisabaku

[designation-miracle]

me, designation:miracle (as a series) and don’t blink are all capricorns but the blog is a virgo HOW do i change the day i made this blog. help

[ladywhitetower]

1, 4, 13, 14, 20!

Casey I can always rely on you

1. Describe yourself how you would describe a character you’re introducing

She grows up in the heat of her land, learns to love it when it shapes her.

In the frost she looks tired, weary, sick. The gods have left a mark on her, and so have her sins. Yet… in her eyes there remains laughter, and it almost feels as though every time she opens her mouth it is to sing. She will die for her love, live for it and thrive with it. This is who she has chosen to be.

4. Are there any other fic writers you admire? If so, who and why?

BOY OKAY OH BOY

Besides the obvious answers: @jakkubrat, @shorter-than-her-tbr-pile, @stone-stars, @peachblossom-odyssey, @evidencetape and, of course, you, I am going to take a moment to tell you Who shaped my writing style. I wanna write the kind of fic that changes life the way their work did for me:

@umisabaku: Designation:Miracle! I have literally followed since I was 14, and that series has changed my life in so many ways. The writing is profound and layered and suspenseful and I just… am in love with all the characters and how well they are handled. This is a story that has been going on for years, and seeing all the threads connected and new, intriguing layers being added is just… I cry.

@ink-splotch: Harry Potter AUs honest to god made my brand of writing “what if’s” for stories, but the Marvel character pieces touched me so profoundly I am now in love with them, they are more important to me than canon, and they made me go Oh, okay, we’ll have all the character study here then. I have some chunks memorized, and some of the work leaves me so in awe I have forgotten to breathe. Every word is just art.

@taizi: Problem Child is literally where my writing style comes from. I reread it every once in a while, I started reading as it came out but only finished it until about a year after it was done. This is THE fic that got me to write, that got me to see how beautiful fic could be. It changed my life and am ever so grateful, I have entire paragraphs memorized. And the warmth in it, and the Natsume Yuujinchou fics, literally defined “tender” for me, and everything I write is in hopes of bringing that warm atmosphere to life. I am also 100% certain a huge part of my attachment to TMNT is thanks to Problem Child and IWWF.

@shanastoryteller: Gods and Monsters, flat out, but also the fairytale retellings. These always surprise me yet make so much sense to me, and they constantly inspire me to take another look at characters and the world that shapes them and how to twist this and that to generate an interesting story. Also, SIAT is the one ongoing HP fic I read, and boy is it beautiful. Worldbuilding queen.

@heartslogos: DC fic literally changed my life. I wrote a whole essay about fic precisely because of the writing. I will never write anything as beautiful as “the timeless quality of his grandfather’s ashes” passage from the Role Reversal au, and more recently, I find my sense of humor and suspense influenced tremendously by the Executive Assistant to the Batman fic. This is The best take on a civilian Tim.

@half-sleeping: MIRACLES!! MIRACLES LITERALLY DEFINED ME! My use of parentheses comes from this fic, the asides and the prose. I’ve read more but Miracles was my first work and boy, was it an amazing read. I love this fic to bits. it is… basically the only gender bend I like, with how beautifully handled everything is and how it’s so much about the characters and each other and I… cry. Sent a snipped to a friend once and they said “Ria, Ria that Is your writing style.”

13. Favorite fic from another author?

Problem Child, by taizi. TMNT human au that I adore to bits.

Miracles, by half-sleeping. Kuroko no basuke genderbend au.

survival is a talent, by Shana. Harry Potter. Drarry soulmate au and so much more.

A Name That Feels Like Mine, by Mikki aka umisabaku. Part of the Designation:Miracles, my favorite fic ever. Delightful side characters and gave me Huge feels.

INN BETWEEN  STUFF THO:

to burn (to love), by stone-stars. Han!! Sorcerer Meltyre au, the first fic in the tag and beautifully written.

The Goblin’s Head Student Bar by @francis-spathiphyllum, beautiful and fun college au.

Moonlight at The Inn by peachblossom-oddysey! Peach is amazing! Beautifully written, left me breathless.

But really guys, there’s like 15 fics. Go read them all.

PENUMBRA:

warm welcome and the common tongue of you loving me, by @chadarum! The first was written for me for my birthday (love you M!!!), and the second is just. Breathtaking.

You Want To Live (When Life Is Achingly Unfair) by the Amazing Elle (jakkubrat, we all know this). Beautiful and heart wrenching just. Ahhhh.

Just to See You Smile by Sky, shorter-than-her-tbr-pile. We love fluff. We love birthdays. Beautiful.

14. Your favorite side pairings to put in?

Don’t really have any. Always assume Cold Spell and Bouquet are together tho. My pairings largely depend on what au I’m writing.

20. 4 sentences from your work that you’re proud of

Okay okay:

From something human: (Penumbra)

“(Nimue killed and Vivian died, but, before that?

They lived.)”

From this is what faith looks like: (Inn Between)

“The whole room forgets how to breathe.

(Not the whole room, but the people who matter. For Sterling, these people are the whole room.)”

Fic ask meme!

[spiritedelise]

i’m back on twitter just to talk about umisabaku’s designation:miracle series