#hopefully I find a character I like a lot in DA2 I guess…..

[ai-no-kokuhaku]

Not to blog too much about my DA experience (because this is an art blog) but I wrapped up the dlc for origins last night and started DA2 and….. I never knew that you don’t keep your character through the games and your romances so I’m extremely heartbroken because of how insanely attached I’ve gotten to alistair :(

[jicklet]

Fanfic Author Questions

I was tagged ages ago by @breaumonts !

Author Name: Jicklet. Anything under older usernames....no one needs to see that :)))

Fandoms You Write For: Choices: The Royal Romance (Maxwell x MC), Dragon Age, Mass Effect, She-ra (Seamista), One Day at a Time (Alvareider)

Where You Post: AO3 and Tumblr

Most Popular One-shot: Not an exclamation mark, but a colon. which is both flattering and mortifying XD ilu Alvareider fandom ♥

Most Popular Multi-Chap: Secrets, my TRR drabble collection, which I now wish I'd just posted as separate one-shots, but here we are.

I only have one work that I actually consider a multi-chapter, as in concepted as one piece and not just "drabbles in a box", which is I Guess I Care About You, and Other Choices We Keep Making. Which I am rather proud of!

Favorite Story You Wrote: Colors and Light, my Maxwell/Riley one-shot after they're married and Riley starts painting again. It shows their new normal and has backstory without being boring, it felt like exactly what I wanted it to be. ♥

Story You Were Nervous to Post: Not an exclamation mark. It was not only the first thing I'd written for the fandom, but the only scandalous thing I'd really posted.

How Do You Pick Your Titles: Sometimes I'll think of a word that kinda summarizes it, sometimes I'll try and find a lyric that fits. Sometimes I'll end up with a phrase stuck in my head while I'm writing, and by the time I'm done I'm married to it.

Do You Outline: Haha whaaaat. Closest I ever came was on "I Guess I Care About You," and that was just when I was reaching the end and trying to figure out what felt like it was missing. Just did a sentence summary of what was happening in each section to check if they felt right.

How Many of Your Stories are Complete: More or less everything posted right now can stand on its own?

In-Progress: I’m currently poking back into my ODAAT wips, before that I had separate docs for all 3 Mass Effects with Olivia Shep/Kaidan drabbles that I’m not sure I’ll be posting bc they’re mostly just character studies, a short Maxwell/Riley m-rated one because they're just fun. Vaguely have my old DA2 Astrid Hawke/Fenris drabbles that I wanted to redo.

Coming Soon: Hopefully something for ODAAT, I have a lot of beginnings that I really liked looking back at them, I just have to figure out where they were going.

Do You Accept Prompts: I'll take ideas! ....as long as the understanding is there that it's unlikely something will come of it because my inspiration is fickle.

Upcoming Story You’re the Most Excited For: There was one I posted part a while back of that starts off with Penelope complimenting Schneider’s sweater and it turns into an age discussion that is like, almost there. We can do it, me!

Tag Five Fanfic Authors to Answer The Questions: @actuallylorelaigilmore @shadoedseptmbr @ljandersen @alysurr​ @mysticshadows13​

[blarrghe]

1,7, and 19 for the fun writing asks? ❤❤

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  –   what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it? Twelve Nights - The Hallmark Movie I Deserve. A lovely modern au pavellan holiday fic which is going great in that I just finished it! Less great in that it took over my brain and now I’m writing random extra scenes and continuing the story with fluffy ficlets or whatever instead of working on my other actual projects. Am almost done a smut for it, which is not something I write a lot of but I think it’s going well and I’m kind of excited about that. Anyway, I love absolutely everything about the finished fic <3 The Merrill Sessions - DA2 Crew therapy fic. Lots of merrill, conversations about feelings, sometimes a kitten, and a very slow narrative foils-to-lovers Fenders burn. It’s going ok! What I love most about it is the character analysis/meta of it all. Somewhat on hold because of brainworms above, but lots of plans. Going places. Stay tuned. What if we were... - Dorian x Anders modern au mystery plot + romantic writing prompts. Idiots-to-lovers and a good ratio of angst:fluff. I love writing Anders and the modern au setting and the developping spooky mystery plots (which are mainly still in my brain...) it’s been a while since an update but I do have a prompt almost finished for it.

7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree? Hm. (Hopefully) good scenery description and pretty atmosphere building, alliteration and listing, too many semicolons, (too many) grounded conversations about feelings, kisses. Not sure what else, but hoping others would agree.

19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?) Other than too many semicolons? Characters who need therapy? (and getting them therapy) I like writing “falling in love” and slower burns I guess. Subplots for socialists.

[rennybu]

A question for you. How do you create your da ocs? Do you develop them first or sort of develop them around their LI or both? Since all your da protags fit so well together. Also how do you decide on a romance? Like da4 will you romance a lady again or something? Play as a qunari? Who knows

Hmmm very good questions...

I guess I make a skeleton to start - I spend a lot of time in the character creator reading about each race/class and use that as the very basic starting point. I went into each game blind and I played them in order, so by the time I made Mahon I already had some Dalish headcanons I wanted to play with.

A lot of their development comes after completing a mission or the game entirely, actually! As much as I love the in-game mechanics and banter, I find it easiest to take what’s given to me and keep considering it and building on it after completing things. It’s enriching and makes my brain happy 🥺

LIs are fun but tricky! Bryony and Leliana surprised me and. Not to be corny they fit together like puzzle pieces I was completely blindsided by how well their romance clicked and so I don’t do as much development with them as I need to do with Fenris/Orson and Dorian/Mahon. THATS the fun part for me though.... taking the limited/generic romance dialogue between a mage hawke and fenris and figuring out how they would talk about it in private, what respect looks like for them personally, what they both need out of the relationship.. same for dorian and mahon!! A LOT of what inspires me to develop my ocs comes from what the games “lack”. Canon is like.. my prompt list and I just go crazy LOL

Thank u btw I’m very very happy w my world state 🥺 I’m so glad they all fit omg

When it comes to romance... I want to try to play DA4 like I did DAO, because having NO plan and watching your character fall head over heels for a companion is so so fun... but since BioWare isn’t likely to repeat the “everyone is bisexual” romance mechanics from DA2 I will have 2 be careful of hetero heartbreak. (To reiterate: I planned to romance Fenris and Dorian, and then after completing their cutscenes and games I sat here and THOUGHT A WHOLE BUNCH.. Building blocks) ((anders nearly swayed me 😳 and merrill 😳😳😳 and isabela 😳😳😳😳😳))

So yea when DA4 comes out I will spend 5 hours in the character creator Reading and Considering and Attempting to Vibe and then hopefully get swept off my feet by a shiny new companion character. Who knows!!

[hollyand-writes]

Writer process meme

I was tagged a while ago by @amervalk -- thanks so much! 

Short stories, novels, or poems?

All of them! If I like something I like it, doesn’t matter what format it takes. 

What genre do you prefer reading?

Hmmmm. I read a lot of non-fiction, and only occasionally read fiction. I’m going to go for Jane Austen (she’s not just Regency romance -- she’s a genre in herself as far as I’m concerned), humour, mysteries, and travel literature. 

Despite being a Dragon Age 2 fanfic writer, I actually don’t like sci-fi or fantasy, weirdly enough. (I know, I don’t get it either, LMAO.) Dragon Age 2 is my one exception to that rule. 

What genre do you prefer writing?

Outside of Dragon Age fanfic (which is fantasy, I guess), I... don’t write fantasy, haha. I suppose I write mostly erotica and erotic romance, and non-fiction for work. 

I’d love to write some travel literature, actually, as travel (particularly foreign travel and discovering other cultures and languages and meeting different people, etc) is one of my big passions in life.

Are you a planner or a write-as-I-go kind of person?

I’m very much a write-as-I-go person, but for my longer fics I do need some sort of plan, or at least an outline, if only so I know how to string my disparate write-as-I-go exercises together. 

What music do you listen to while writing?

I don’t. I find it distracting and I’ll just end up singing along and not writing. 

Fave books/movies?

Most of my favourite books are British, haha, so I don’t expect Tumblr will have heard of many of them. So I’ll just name a few, but not all of them. 

Books: “Cold Comfort Farm” by Stella Gibbons, “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, “Persuasion” by Jane Austen, “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie 

Movies: Rush Hour, Love Actually, and a Mandarin Chinese movie called Hero. 

Any current WIPs?

There are lots, but here are the main DA2 longfics:  

A Chance Engagement (Regency AU Carver/Merrill) 

Employer Relations (Modern AU / Gym AU M!Hawke/Anders) 

How To Push Up A Daisy (Modern AU / Gym AU Carver/Merrill) 

The Templar And The Blood Mage (Canon-verse Templar!Carver/Merrill) 

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you, what would your standard outfit be?

Women’s gym clothing, probably, sweaty and no make-up and crying over a heavy barbell :-D  but I’m in the gym a lot, so this should surprise no-one. 

Create a character description for yourself:

Tiny and smiley. Think of an Asian version of Princess Anna from Frozen with the same personality and mannerisms, and you’ve pretty much got it. 

Do you like incorporating people you actually know into your writing?

Not in fanfic, but I have in original fic. Usually I’ve sent up and ridiculed people I don’t like XD (Don’t worry, they deserved it!)

Are you kill-happy with characters?

Not really, but if the plot or story demanded it, then I would have to. I’d probably be very sad about it, though.

Coffee or tea while writing?

Tea. Always tea. (Sorry @amervalk, I had to copy your answer!) 

Slow or fast writer?

Slow, unfortunately, when it comes to fic. Fast, thankfully, when it comes to  work.

Where/who/what do you find inspiration from?

I’m lucky that I can find inspiration pretty much everywhere, even from things that other people might not find inspiring. Everyone and everything is inspiring to me, and I’m lucky that I’ve got a very vivid and creative imagination for it. 

If you were put into a fantasy world, what would you be?

Hopefully not there at all. 

Most fave book cliche? Least fave book cliche?

Not really sure, to be honest? Any cliche can be done well or badly, I can’t think of anything specific off the top of my head (maybe I’ll come back later...) 

Fave scenes to write?

Dialogue, always dialogue. Maybe that comes from my work, where I interview people a lot and have to listen very carefully to what they’re telling me -- and watch their body language and listen to their tone of voice to discern what else they’re NOT telling me. 

(This is probably why I don’t get on so well with chatting online -- I feel cut off from two of my main sources of information about a person, and it makes me feel like I’m feeling my way blind through the conversation or social interaction, and I don’t like it.)

Most productive time of day for writing?

Night time, but unfortunately I can’t do that any longer because it makes my insomnia worse. 

Reason for writing:

I feel compelled to do so. I feel antsy and restless if I don’t. 

I tag: @emotionalmorphine, @barbex, @dorianpink, @tearsofwinter, @aban-asaara, @andrew-blackthorn, @wardsarefunctioning, @thejourneymaninn, @heartsyhawk, @overthinkingfeathers, @todisturbtheuniverse, @phdfan

[theharellan]

It’s been three years, and I fucking love Solas. Someone help me.

Are you ready for some unabashed Solas love? I sure am.

So three years today I was coming to the end of my first playthrough of Dragon Age: Inquisition. I’d already made a blog for my Inquisitor Cadash (before the game came out, to open up after I beat it), and that was all I was expecting to make.

Then, some bald elf grabbed her hand and helped her close her first Breach. I’d kept up with Inquisition news, and Solas seemed cool, interesting enough. I wasn’t really expecting or prepared for how much I’d come to love him. By Temple of Mythal I’d made a Solas blog, and when I finished on the 22nd I made the finishing touches, and here we are!

I wanted to spend some time talking about what I love about Solas, since there’s a lot of negativity about the character. Rping him I know that kind of negativity (not even criticism, which he very much deserves, just negativity that often completely ignores vast swathes of characterisation) can get very tiring to read and humour. Yes, I know he’s trash, let me tell you why I love him, both in spite of and because of those qualities.

Without further ado, welcome. Welcome to my disorganised rambling essay/list of why I have been writing this loser for three years now:

What first drew me to Solas was his experiences as a Dreamer. I majored in history as an undergrad, one of my favourite things as a historian was reading and reviewing primary sources. You find the truth in them, but only one person’s version of the truth. When Solas spoke of dreaming, he spoke to that knowledge: that history is never one story, and that at Ostagar Loghain could be  hero and a villain at the same time. Both were valid readings, and both were memories that deserved to be remembered. Having a character who spoke to the history nerd in me was very special, I won’t lie.

As the game continued, Solas totally revolutionized Dragon Age lore for me? Even before it started to become obvious that he was more than just an elf who liked napping. Before Solas and Cole the Fade wasn’t a particularly interesting part of the world for me, but how Solas explained the personhood of spirits really affirmed what Dragon Age 2 had started to explore with the nature of Justice/Vengeance and Merrill’s banter.

It was some really beautiful world-building, to slowly pull back the veil (ha) and reveal that our perception of spirits in early games was really misguided.

And once it became obvious he was something more than what he wanted us to think (I had guessed he was related to Fen’Harel- although I had assumed it was something along the lines of Felassan since I had finished TME just before DA:I) it got even better? In DA:O elf lore didn’t really grab me like the dwarves or qunari, or even the mages. DA2 improved with Merrill, and then in DA:I Solas took what Merrill had granted us and ran with it. The lore he introduced was what made me elf trash, honestly. Before I was just kind of like... elf recycling? I loved Merrill, but wasn’t all that interested in Dragon Age elf lore as a concept. Now I am 100% trash and I will rot in this elf garbage dump until the universe ends.

His and Sera’s perspective on the Dalish really jerked me out of the perception of Dalish elves being Perfectly Fallen Elves, which had never been true, but their flaws are much more muted in DA:O and it took several playthroughs before I could really begin to wrap my head around how their behaviour towards Merrill only made matters worse. By listening to Solas and also Sera’s perception of them, it made going back and replaying early games more exciting, as I could see the seeds of issues DA:I would eventually explore. It’s why I enjoy DA:I so much because, imo, it compliments the lore of DA:O and DA2 so well for the most part.

And the lore he eventually brings to Elvhenan? Fantastic. Like I said, I had read TME beforehand, so I was already aware Elvhenan had issues, but revelation that the Elvhen gods were never gods, that their empire was not the perfect thing we had been led to believe? As much as DA:I played up the high fantasy angle more than DA:O and DA2, that revelation was very much a dark fantasy trope, and it fit perfectly with the overall tone in the series whereas before Elvhenan had seemed a little out of place. Empires are shitty by nature, and it was good to see the elven empire was no exception.

All these revelations are, to some extent, introduced or expanded upon by Solas. So I connect a lot of my love for the lore to him, and as a result I’m fond of him for that reason. I’m going to move on, though, because I’m like 800 words in and I haven’t touched upon him as a person lmao.

This one article that I won’t really touch upon for too long, namely because I couldn’t read it all, compared Solas to a fedora-wearer, which is a characterisation that drives me batty. Because Solas is a SJW, for better or worse. He can very easily identify problems in society, and people, and has no problem talking about them, even when it’s inappropriate.

He cares, he cares deeply. He cares even when it’s against his best interests to care.

If you take him with you through the Hinterlands (and beyond) you’ll find he approves when you help people, even people he might disagree with. Should you deliver a flower to Senna’s grave, and invoke Falon’Din’s name when you inform her widower, he approves. He approves even if he knows the Elvhen gods are false, and knows Falon’Din would not spend a second thinking about this poor man’s dead wife.

He cares when you choose to sacrifice the Chargers, and reinforce to Iron Bull that his worth lies only in the Qun. And if you choose to save them, he cares to reassure Bull that he is not a beast, but a person, and an intelligent one.

And whatever your relationship with him is, by Trespasser he decides he cares enough to save you. Even if he thinks your Inquisitor is so terrible he comes close to comparing them to the evanuris (especially Inquisitors he’s unfriendly to who claim to be chosen) he still decides that the south deserves better than what the qunari will give him. Trespasser was not a smart move for Solas, all things considered. He could have pulled out of the south, or left the Inquisitor to die without explanation. But he explains, because he cares enough to know he owes them that much.

None of this excuses what he plans, but how much he cares in spite of what he feels he must do is compelling.

I think one of the most telling things is the stories Solas can recount for you. When you ask him for stories, he tells you tales of Ostagar, or mighty battles, but the little moments he recounts for you are some of my favourite examples of what Solas finds important in the world. Dwarves seeing daylight for the first time, a qunari baker rebelling in a subtle way only she will know. This guy walks the Fade, and could in theory see every moment in history that people might kill to see, but instead comes across a memory of a woman baking and thinks “this is important.”

Stuff like that is, to me, demonstrative about how much Solas is about the people. He has a lot of growing to do when it comes to his perception of... well, everyone, but despite all of this he still does see wonder in really tiny moments. These are things you don’t often see, especially in jaded immortals, and it’s one of my favourite things about getting to know him.

Speaking of Solas’s perception of the modern world, let’s talk about it. It’s flawed as all heck (especially  at the beginning of the game), but it makes total sense.

Waking up in a world where there’s essentially one less dimension, or perhaps half a dimension where there used to be a whole one? That’s not the sort of thing you just get over. Of the ancient elves we have met, all of them have expressed similar struggles. Abelas doesn’t recognise a Lavellan as Dalish, and Felassan only begins to see them as people towards the end of Masked Empire.

That Solas’s perception (that any of these characters) is able to evolve is impressive, imo.

I’m not saying he deserves to be praised for coming to recognise people as people, in case you’re wondering. What I love here is that Solas, that every ancient elf thus far, is allowed a very real reaction to an impossible situation. And what I love is, for as much as the fandom likes to paint him as stubborn, he is more capable of evolving than people give him credit for.

Of all the things to admit you were wrong about, admitting you were wrong about the entire population of Thedas is a pretty big thing to admit. It’s why I do have hope that Bioware will grant him at least a bittersweet happy ending. It’s clear, especially if you befriend him, he does not enjoy what he feels must be done.

And you may ask “then why do it?” to which I usually reply: the name of ‘traitor’ would suddenly be worthy of him, at least in his eyes, if he just turned his back on those he has worked for literal centuries to uplift. So many people try to convince Solas he’s wrong by... telling him what he’s doing is bad, which. It is, but he knows. Put that energy towards showing him how his rebels can live the life they were supposed to get after the evanuris had been toppled, and then, I think, people would start to make some headway in redeeming him.

Often when protagonists are redeemed it is with an appeal to the heart, and not the head. You appeal to their better nature. With Solas I believe redemption lies not in appealing to his better nature, because in a way he’s already using it. Instead, redemption for Solas will come from showing him that his heart is right, but it is his head that is the problem. Hopefully that makes sense? Show him that his people matter, and can be given their freedom, and then a happy ending may come after.

I could go on and on and on about everything I love about him, but I’m realising this is getting long, so maybe dedicating a mini-essay to every character trait was a mistake. I’m going to throw out a couple more, and try to wrap things up!

I love how angry he gets in banter. I’m someone who gets mad when I argue with people about social issues, especially when I otherwise had/have respect for that person, so hearing Solas get legitimately frustrated when arguing with Iron Bull is very relatable for me. I love that he’s allowed to be angry, and allowed to be right, even while being wrong about so much else.

I love his sense of humour, and his laugh. I love that as much as “Chuckles” is considered to be (even by the game) an ironic nickname, one of the first potential lines from him is him snort-chuckling about Varric being involved with the Chantry (at the first time we hear the nickname Chuckles, I believe).

I love that he loves spirits. I love that no matter what path you choose for Cole, he loves and supports Cole. I love that he understands spirit Cole is as much as a person as human Cole, and both are good and worthy of loving, even if Cole is going down a path he cannot fully relate to himself.

I love his lapses-- be it where he comes out looking something of a fool (setting his pants on fire) or just being a nerd in love on his romance path. He’s smooth, but he stumbles.

There’s so much more I could go into, honestly? His fashion sense, his relationships with each individual member of the Inquisition, the tenderness he is capable of, but I’m pretty sure this is getting too long to be worth reading. I may do a part two sometime (maybe next anniversary??) but for now, I hope everyone who somehow managed to read all of this has a better understanding of why I care so much for Solas, and why I’ve been writing him for four years.

I have no idea how many thousands of words I’ve written for Solas over the past 8,133 posts, but I do know this: I love how there’s still things I haven’t been able to explore in my prose, and I love that you guys will be here to explore them with me!

Thank you everyone who has stuck with my Solas for so long? Even after my mental health issues forced me to take a very long hiatus, I was surprised and touched by how many stuck with me. You’re all wonderful, and I hope you have a nice night!

If you could please refrain from any Solas negativity in comments or tags, I’d appreciate it!