#elveny rambles

[elveny]

So, Freunde der Sonne, mal kurz Tacheles.

Dass AfD Nazis sind ist ja nun indiskutabel und nicht hinterfragbar, dass sie sich mit reichen Leuten zusammentun yadda yadda, alles keine Überraschung. Überraschend ist an der Correctiv-Geschichte im Grunde nur, dass sie sich bei ihren Vertreibungsplänen, Plänen zur Wahlmanipulation und Sturz der Demokratie generell haben erwischen lassen.

Nichtsdestoweniger. "Nix Neues" und "Keine Überraschung" darf nicht davon abhalten, JETZT sein/ihre*n Bundestagsabgeordnete*n zu kontaktieren und ein AfD-Verbot zu fordern.

Übrigens kann man seine*n Bundestagsabgeordnete*n ganz einfach über die Bundestagsseite finden (nach Wahlkreis suchen). Dort sind auch Kontaktmöglichkeiten  direkt vorhanden:

https://www.bundestag.de/abgeordnete

Wer einen Vorlagentext braucht, darf diesen hier verwenden bzw. natürlich für die eigene Person passend abändern (courtesy of @bauhausmensch@norden.social auf Mastodon). Hab ich auch gemacht, hat alles in allem 5min gebraucht.

TUT WAS! JETZT!

[radmakerwizard]

AfD Geheimtreffen

In den letzten Wochen gab es Berichten zufolge ein Treffen mit ranghohen AfD-Vertreten. Ein besonders brisantes Thema war die Ausweisung unliebsamer Mitbürger, die der AfD ein Dorn im Auge sind. 

Bitte unterstützt die Petition und informiert euch. 

[elveny]

3 October: finished the Pride and Prejudice audio book while colouring mandalas. Oh, also baked a really lovely cake.

[kunstpause-archive]

I just love these two so much. In every universe, but especially in this one.

Adriene and Cassia have such a wonderful relationship with each other. That had it’s difficulties growing up, partly because of their parents and party bc of outward influences, but never because of them. And they have this thing where they are in certain parts incredibly similar, especially on an emotional level. The both have the tendency to take on everything themselves, to feel they are responsible and should shoulder stuff on their own. They also have the same tendency to blame themselves for things that aren’t their fault. And they are both quite adept at lying to themselves.

But on the other hand they are super different in so many regards. Adriene is more of a physical fighter (of course largely informed by her lack of aether and her difficulties using the bit that she has) and is much more trained while Cassia gets out of breath if they are in a stressful situation. She, in turn, relies heavily on magic doing the heavy lifting for her, even though she not completely unfit. But she is softer, physically. Adriene is much more ready to throw down with someone while Cassia prefers to talk (or, if we are very honest, sleep) herself out of situations. But both are usually equally as successful with their methods - and they have this short moment when they find each other again at the start of ARR, after having been separated for almost five years (since the calamity hit) where they are both afraid that the other one might judge them for their life choices. Which is completely baseless fear and there is so much relief when they realise that they can approach things very differently but still be entirely supportive of the way the other person chooses to act. 

And they are both fiercely protective of each other. Adriene has been much more groomed into the protector role, having to look out for her siblings from a young age, to a point where she sometimes feels that protecting others might be all she is good for. But Cassia is no less protective of her sister in her own way. And struggles with the feeling of inadequacy every now and then because people around her keep insisting of being protective of her when all she wants is to be responsible for her self. And in Eorzea she gets to be (and kinda has to be) that so much earlier than in Thedas which allows her to grow into a quite different version of herself.

And with current headcanons Shadowbringers is going to test their bond to the absolute limits and will leave them both having to re-learn a lot of things they took for granted about themselves and each other and in the end it will only make them stronger together but the way there is seriously exciting.

I have zero spoons for doing a lot of writing at the moment, but I genuinely can’t wait till the spoons are back and we get to start on this.

[elveny]

I said it before and I'll say it again - people hating on Emmanellain is honestly wild to me. First thing in Ishgard that got Adriene REALLY angry was hearing that Edmont hits him. Emm is peak Little Brother energy, and while he's very different to her actual little brother (whom she misses like crazy), Adriene still gets very protective.

To her as someone who has serious difficulties being comfortable with Ishgard's high society and how to navigate it, he is a blessing. He might be over the top, but he still knows who's who and his eager talking about it helps her immensely not to make a fool of herself.

And watching him grow into his responsibilities is ❤👌 and she's so proud of him.

anyway I love emmanellain de fortemps w my whole heart

[curiousthimble]

WIP Wednesday

I was tagged by @kunstpause and @cartadwarfwithaheartofgold to share my wips- thank you loves!

SO. I have been toiling away at The Dress- which, if you follow me on insta, you'll have seen all the stories I ramble in about it. Well...it's finished. Couple things before you go clicking through the cut:

1. Itty Bitty Betty doesn't have a bust. And I rarely use her because she's so small and it isn't worth it to me to pad one on her.

2. This is not the real color. The real color is a lovely deep cranberry that my phone WILL NOT capture. I hate it, but the hat behind the dress is closer in color than what you can see here.

3. I forgot to pin her arms on in my excitement.

Tagging (with no obligation of course) @musetta3, @elveny, @dalish-rogue, @wardenari, @ammocharis, @queen-kass-the-writer, and @curiousartemis

[maudus1]

13 Songs

Thanks for tagging me @musetta3 and @queen-kass-the-writer!

Rules: List 13 songs you’ve been listening to lately.

        My music tastes are pretty set in stone because, and this is news to no one, I’m old. :p So while I enjoy a wide variety of genres, I tend to listen to the same shit over and over unless my mood dictates a switch. These are all from my default driving playlist, ‘cause I listen to music most often in the car. Anyway, gonna include Spotify links so y’all can check ‘em out if you want.

1. Bad Company - Bad Company

2. Ramble On - Led Zeppelin

3. Night Moves - Bob Seger

4. Renegade - Styx

5. Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival

6. Long Train Runnin’ - The Doobie Brothers

7. Slow Ride - Foghat

8. Tush - ZZ Top

9. Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynyrd 

10. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin 

11. All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix

12. Rock of Ages - Def Leppard

13. Hold on Loosely - 38 Special

Tagging @charlatron @jacklyn-flynn @kemvee @kita-lavellan @noire-pandora @silvanils @followingthewolf @storybookhawke @visceralcoma @snippetsrus @midnightprelude @rachelleofalltrades @zuendwinkel @elveny @kunstpause @wardenari @deathvalleyqueen @cornfedcryptid and anyone else who wants to share! 

[okami-zero]

It has occurred to me that I have read and enjoyed snippets of Dragon Age fanfiction on here and AO3, when my knowledge of the games is functionally nil. What infinitessimally small amount I DO know has been gleaned from snippets I saw a friend play and but and pieces and crumbs I have come across on tumblr and the occasional article on said games. I know far more about Mass Effect than I do anything DA.

But, I am still able to get invested in some of these fics because the writers I stumbled across just fucking....write in such a way that it doesn't really matter (thoigh I do sometimes have to whip uo some Google Fu to get some details, it's not hugely laborious).

Why I am rambling about this this particular morning (aside from boredom, work is slow) is Ibjust read a posted DA fic snippet and it hit me right int the feels, and pretty heavily. For characters I only know through these fics. There's also FFXIV srufd, too and I have NO BASIS WHATSOEVER for that game, I just know the music slaps and Yoshi P amuses me. And those fics still draw me in.

I have no idea where I was going with this... Or if I was going anywhere besides gushing about writers I follow. ^_^;

So, I'm just gonna shout out the writers I have been reading most lately, whether it's DA or FFXIV:

@elveny @kunstpause @irlaimsaaralath

Go read their stuff, it's all REALLY GOOD.

And a special shoutout to @captainderyn for freaking awesome SWTOR writing and for reblogging the three above and thus helping me stave off the terrible doldrums of IT work.

[pikapeppa]

Brilliant Pika, Would you be willing to share any advice on writing Cole’s little rambles?

Hello darling friend, I’m honoured by this ask! Cole is a tough cookie, but I will do my best to explain how I write him!

Pikapeppa writes: Cole from Dragon Age: Inquisition

A little context for those who don’t know: I LOVE COLE A LOT and I’ve written a few pieces from Cole’s POV; there was a short two-chapter Colemance, and two pieces in first-person POV where Cole is reflecting on Solavellan (here and here).  Cole also features prominently in my ongoing WIP, Lovers In A Dangerous Time (i.e. FenHawke and the Inquisition). 

I’ll break this down into two parts: what Cole says, and how Cole says it.

What Cole says: the content of his rambles

Cole is a spirit of compassion. In his own words, “Helping makes me who I am. I help the hurting. That is what I do, all I do.” His rambles expose the hurts or trauma of the person he is focused on, and are intended to untangle and assuage their pain. He often says things that people don’t want to hear, but need to hear. Because of this, the incidents that Cole mentions are often things that the person wouldn’t want others to hear, since those hurts are very personal.

I purposely say that he intends to lessen people’s pain; despite his best intents, Cole does not always get it right. A good example of this is his dialogue with Iron Bull if Iron Bull sacrifices the Chargers. As well-meaning as Cole is, sometimes his words accidentally do more harm than good. 

It is also important to mention that Cole doesn’t hear every person’s every thought. At one point when speaking to the Inquisitor, he states that “I don’t hear everyone. They have to need me. Pain, fear, sadness, guilt, anger, hurt: things I can fix.” That being said, everyone feels those thing at some point or another, and even happy memories are often tinged with some sadness or pain. A good example of this is when Cole talks to Cassandra about blueberry pastries — a preference of hers that is closely linked to her sharing them with her late brother Anthony.

I like to think of Cole as an antenna picking up memories that contain pain, sadness, or guilt, and that he conveys those memories/thoughts in the format that he picks them up — that is, in a manner that reflects both the clarity and the vagueness of memory. If we consider the way that memories work, they are not clear linear narratives. They are not perfect detailed recordings of the things we see or do.  Memories are often fractured or vague, especially if they’re old. Even the clearest memories are not very lengthy, and some elements of the memory might be very clear — a smell, a flavour, a sensation, a specific mental ‘snapshot’ — while everything else in the memory is rather blurred. The content of Cole’s rambles reflects this fractured, clear-but-unclear nature of memories. 

Thus, in terms of content, Cole’s rambles often start off by exposing the person’s pain by giving us a vague or fractured glimpse into their memories. He then goes on to say something comforting that (hopefully!) assuages the person’s sadness/anger/guilt associated with that memory. 

How Cole says it: Cole’s speech patterns

When writing Cole’s rambles, there are a few key characteristics of his speech patterns to keep in mind:

Alliteration

Direct quotes from people’s thoughts

Vague and indirect references

Alliteration:

Alliteration is when you string together a number of words with the same consonant sound for stylistic purposes. This is what gives Cole’s speech part of its poetic quality. 

An example from when he talks to Sera: “The sky wants to say something. It's trying, tempting, words in the wind, whistling, wandering, wasted.”

Direct quotes: 

Cole sometimes speaks the exact words of the person he’s focused on. An example from when he’s talking to Blackwall: “‘Mockingbird, mockingbird.’ Too many voices in the carriage. Maker, they're young. If I tell my men to stop, they'll know it was all a lie.”

Vague and indirect references: 

Cole often speaks without explaining who or what exactly he is talking about. His speech can often be phrased such that if you know who or what he’s referring to, it’s perfectly obvious, but if you don’t know who/what he’s referring to, it’s a complete enigma. But just because we don’t understand him, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t make sense. In Cole’s words to Vivienne, “I can say what I mean without you understanding.” 

For example: “Voice ringing with fullness from both worlds, guiding me to the shining places. He calls himself Pride.” When you play Inquisition for the first time, you have no idea who this refers to. When you’re playing a second time, it’s obvious that it’s Solas, and the two worlds he’s referring to are the ‘real world’ and the Fade. 

How the hell do I put all of this together and write him?

Tip #1: Repeatedly listen to and/or read all of Cole’s dialogue. I often find that with any character, just listening to the rhythm and cadence of their voice and speech helps let me imitate it. So it’s often a good idea to just read/listen to his dialogue prior to writing him. 

Tip #2: Clearly state the meaning you want Cole to convey, and then ‘dress it up’ to make it indirect. I think of this like working backwards: you know the ‘endpoint’ or the conclusion to the ramble, so you have to work backward to the intriguing beginning. 

As an example, in Lovers In A Dangerous Time (my Fenris the Inquisitor fic), I wanted Cole to ramble about Morrigan and Old God Baby Kieran at one point. My endpoint was this: Morrigan loves Kieran, despite never expecting or meaning to love him as much as she does. Having this in mind, I wanted to make Cole’s ramble indirect and vague, with some alliteration and poetic quality, and with enough hints in it for it to be obvious who it was about if you were told the subject of the ramble.

“It whispers, waiting, keeping him company. Where it starts and he ends, she doesn’t know, but she loves him all the same. [...] She never thought she would be good at this. He grew on her, in her, grows over her: taller and wiser and more ineffable every day. But he’ll always be her little man.”

The first sentence has two examples of alliteration; the second sentence is indirectly referring to the fact that Kieran has an Old God soul that he was born with and that he is tied to very deeply since he was born with it. There’s some more alliteration/repetition with the “grew on her, in her, over her”, which adds some poetic Cole flavour, and then the ‘little man’ reference is a direct quote from Morrigan, who calls Kieran her little man the first time the Inquisitor meets him. In terms of content, I admittedly don’t know Morrigan super-well since I haven’t played DA:O, but I imagine there is some guilt about the utilitarian purpose for his conception, and also some very complex negative feelings about her Flemeth that are tangled in her own love for Kieran, so that’s what I was keeping in mind when writing this ramble. 

Another example, also from Lovers In A Dangerous Time: this is Cole talking to Fenris about Varania. 

******************************

 “Red hair like the blood that almost stained her hands. She lives in a place that’s not her home, toiling as a tailor like she told you before. [...] She is jealous still. But if you had been wiped away, if you were made not you, she would be not her. She would be a monster.”

Fenris frowned. “Jealous? Of what?”

“You were everything she wanted to be,” Cole said. “Mired in magic, loved, seen. You were free. [...] You gave her a chance. You didn’t kill her.”

“That wasn’t my… Hawke and Varric stopped me,” he said distractedly. “I would have…” He trailed off and ran a hand through his hair.

“You would have been sad afterwards,” Cole said softly. “You gave her a chance to not be a monster.”

***********************

I started off with a flash of an image: Varania’s red hair. There are some indirect references to the idea that she is not in Tevinter (her home) anymore, since I headcanon that she doesn’t or can’t return to Tevinter after the incident in the Hanged Man. And finally, Cole addresses Fenris’s complex feelings of anger and uncertainty and wistfulness with regards to his estranged sister, and he attempts to assuage those feelings by assuring Fenris that he did a good thing by not killing her, and by trying to give some insight into why Varania sold him out. 

A final note: remember that Cole does not always speak in this poetic, indirect manner. He often has conversations with normal, non-poetic sentences, even if he still tends to be vague or to launch into topics without giving any context. A lot of his (PRECIOUS) banter with Varric is excellent for displaying this. 

I hope this has been helpful — honestly, I feel like I’m not entirely capturing everything about Cole’s uniquely poetic rambles, so I’m going to call on my fellow Cole-writing experts @elveny and @faerieavalon here:  do you guys have any further insights on how to write Cole?

Thanks again for this ask, my love! I hope it helps! xoxoxo

[elveny]

One of the more absurd mistakes I see online A LOT and from native speakers to boot is “would of” instead of “would have”.

Like.

???

Makes zero sense. Wh… why???

[captainderyn]

Six Sentence Sunday

Thank you for the tag @elveny​ and @anchanted-one​! I wasn’t going to join because I didn’t have anything but then ah the inspiration bug hit xD

Excerpt from an upcoming Check, Please! fic

--

A blank document was a college student's worst nightmare. 

No, it was the worst nightmare of any student; for any assignment. A deadline looming, the timer counting down, and a cursor bouncing up and down on a blank, white, document. 

Well, it wasn’t wholly blank, Bitty had the cover page for his final thesis written out. It was more progress than he had made in the past few months all combined, not counting the period where he had sat down and written out almost the entirety of his outline while waiting for the kitchen timer to go off. 

                  Changing Methods in Southern Baking After World War II

                                                     Eric Bittle

                        A Thesis in the Field of American Studies

                For the Degree of Bachelors of Liberal Arts in Food Culture

                                            Samwell University

                                                  May 2017

According to Jack he had already written 2,400 words in a text-to-text tirade spurred on by his boyfriend, but it was one thing to ramble off, furiously texting from his bed, and quite another to take those words and emojis and translate them into something he could graduate with.

 Staring at his laptop, tapping his fingers lightly enough on the keys to avoid typing any letter, his mind was simply blank. In another window, staring at him mockingly, he had the texts he had sent Jack on a word document.

[elveny]

2 October: coming home from work and finding not only that the kids are overjoyed that I'm back but also that they brought me sweets and roses from grocery shopping.

[greyias]

Tagged by @rinskiroo

Copy and paste the last sentence you wrote and then tag as many people as there are words in that line.

Stupid, I know — never said I was good at this sort of thing.

It actually took me a while to find what the actual last sentence I wrote was, since I’ve been writing everything completely out of order. Let’s see, that’s... 13 words... (I guess I’m lucky it wasn’t one of the long rambly sentences!)

(Feel free to ignore if you’re not in the mood): @mjaydesw @aearyn @menollywanderer @wrathetc @elveny @fer8girl @soulventure91 @andveryginger @heymichigeeks @salaciouscrumpet @inyri @for-the-flail @brietopia

[autumnslance]

Fic Writer Meme

Tagged by: @elveny​ and @illegiblewords​.

Tagging: Whoever wants to, including YOU.

Name

Fandoms

Most popular oneshot

Most popular multichapter

Actual worst part of writing

How you choose your titles

Do you outline

Ideas I probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice?

Callouts @ Me

Best writing traits

Spicy Tangential Opinion

Name: Online I go mostly by LynMars, sometimes with a 79 appended depending on availability. Some guildies still refer to me by my old WoW char names. On Discord I often add this blog to my handle and keep the characters in my note.

Fandoms: Right now just FFXIV. I debate rewriting and reposting some of my old WoW stories. I haven't written for other fandoms I peek at. I mostly hold fandom at arm's length.

Most popular oneshot: Depending on metrics used, on Ao3 it'd be "A Constant Distant Thunder", my fic on Thancred's recovery in the ARR patch series, up to the Slyphlands events (and referencing quests that sadly no longer exist in game).

On Tumblr it's "Rules for a Warrior of Light" followed by "Never Gets Easier." Both are on Ao3 as well, the former in “Ruminations” the latter by itself.

Most popular multichapter: I only have a couple true multichapter fics featuring an actual coherently plotted story; I have several compilation fics of scenes over time held together by a theme.

For my few actual multichapters, "Rogue's Prelude" is going to be the clear winner. I do want to write more, and it’ll likely be another Damned Rogue piece.

Depending on metrics, "Downtime" and "Unexpected" are neck and neck, but they are compilations, not true multichapter stories.

Actual worst part of writing: Starting something, not getting too impatient and skipping or cutting necessary elements, then actually editing and deciding it's finished and being brave enough to post it, or not hampering myself with "well but I want to write other things in order and..."

The whole process has its highs and lows.

How you choose your titles: Really depends. Sometimes I have the title before anything else. Sometimes it's obvious. Many times I'm struggling to find something pithy that works. Sometimes what I think is the draft's working title so I know how to find it in my docs ends up becoming the real title after all; usually it changes, though.

Do you outline: Depends. For longer works, yeah; there'll be something resembling an outline. This can be for multichapters or simply longer/heavier one shots, like "A Constant Distant Thunder" or "Return to Dreams of Ice" where there are certain scenes and/or elements I want to ensure I've figured out.

For most prompts or one-shots, though, I don't really worry about outlining. I may jot notes down, especially when taking a break, so I recall what I want to say/do next, but it's generally not a huge thing.

Even when I do outline, it's more some rambling notes to myself.

Ideas I probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice?: So many. I can't even think of them all. And some of them will likely get reworked into other stories anyway.

Sometimes I think of AUs, but I'm not a big AU fan, but it's one of those 'wish I had the bent toward that' sometimes.

Callouts @ Me: Hey, a lot of those WIPs and drafts ARE as ready as they're gonna get and should be posted to “Living Memory”, “Unexpected”, or just go ahead and make threads for Aeryn's adventures as the WoL each expac. Procrastinating just because it's not in a linear order is silly.

Best writing traits: I dunno? I'm bad at gauging myself, really. I guess I'm good at dialogue and getting into characters' heads to make them sound believably close to canon and existing as people in their world.

Spicy Tangential Opinion: I dunno; my opinions tend to change as I gather more information and perspectives, and that's a good thing. I can be wrong about topics and people and shift my mindset and expectations accordingly. When I don't, it often leads to hurt on one end or another. I mostly try to be chill these days because most of the time fandom is just not worth getting worked up about, even if I hate an opinion or dislike a person. I can easily just Unfollow/Block/Mute/Scroll Past/Ignore, it costs nothing--especially my own time, energy, and emotional stress. It's taken me too long to learn that and I still can slip up sometimes.

I guess that's my spicy opinion, given modern Fandom and social media.

[elveny]

HAS IT BEEN THAT LONG?! I love us.

It’s a good evening when you spend 3+ hours with @elveny on discord coming up with great ideas and losing yourself into building something new. ❤❤❤

[elveny]

Y'know I'l just start to block people who write or reblog posts with "how can you vote for kamala when she's pro israel" like the alternative isn't fucking NEXT HITLER BUT WITH THE US FUCKING ARMY AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

Fuck you. Try using that withered single brain cell maybe.