#how would people know when a blog largely on hiatus is permanently inactive? will i let people know in time if something happens to me?

[metatiki]

Writing WIPs

I was tagged by the sublime @opal-bee and their adorable avatar to list my WIPs with or without details, then tag some peeps and see if I can wrangle them into an answer.

Since it’s been a looong time since I’ve talked about my WIPs in any detail, here’s a list. And likely a Read More at some point, because I Have Thoughts (surprise, surprise) on my WIPs.

Current Active Project (published an update in the last month):

Don’t Worry, I’ll Protect You -- My Inquisitor Dorian story is active (closing in on the end of Act II now, with writing begun on Act III) and is planned for a 4 arc story.

Current Inactive Projects (planning to update in 2018):

The Tiniest Lion in Skyhold -- The ongoing saga of Tiny, Cullen’s pet tabby cat. Pure fluff for people who love both cats and Dragon Age. I do plan to update this between major projects, as it’s a fun breather between more serious works.

Fractured Thedas Tales -- My lighthearted and mostly irreverent (with occasional sobriety) take on the companions in each game. Currently only DAO is included, but I do plan to extend to DA2 and DAI. If you haven’t read these already, I’d give them a shot. Trust me.

Inactive Projects (these are on semi-permanent hiatus due to either Life or Time):

Hope for Light -- The story of my Canon Warden, Kalindra Tabris. I got about 25% through the story and then Real Life happened, and I’ve never quite gotten the mojo to go back to her, which makes me sad. I’m quite proud of her story as it is so far, but I had to put it on the back burner for several reason. I will return to her, when I have the proper mindset back (see Read More). Just not yet.

Everybody Lies -- The story of my Canon Inquisitor, Martin Trevelyan. I’ve written snippets and snoppets of his story, and even published some of them (also this one-shot aaaaand this one). However, I’ve never written his full story, though it lives in full detail in my head. Part of this is due to time, but a large part of it is... well, actually, I’ll address that in a Read More below.

The Inn Between Loads -- A very irreverent take on what happens to video game characters ‘between loads’ i.e., when they’re not in the game (usually through a scripted death). I love this series a LOT and it’s fun to write, but there’s no schedule or anticipated update.

Rise of Arlathan -- The outcome of trying to convert my long-time DA AU RP into a fic. 140k+ words later, and we only covered first 100k or our sprawling 5M+ RP epic, and interest was minimal, so we quietly stopped publishing it. For those who want to see Martin’s first appearance in my brain, check it out, but it will likely never be continued.

Projects I Will Never Publish No Matter What But Which Still Consume My Brain:

Jorath Amell: The Full Story -- Originally Written as my Evil Warden character, Jorath Amell challenged my concept that any character, no matter how evil, can be redeemed. Thus, Jorath Amell’s Full Story™ morphed into a saga so complicated that there is no possible way that even Neal Stephenson or Brandon Sanderson would be able to sell it to a publisher. I adore it in my head, but yeahno. I’ll never write it.

Kamila Hawke -- The story of my canon Hawke. Kamila’s canon ending doesn’t work at all for integration into DAI, so I probably will never write this story since I can’t make it fit with my other canon characters anymore. Still, I love my poor Kamila Hawke. (also some commentary in the Read More)

I tag @the-lady-magician, @the-duelling-tophat, @sallyamongpoison, @elementa1st, and @nightscrawl to encourage them to discuss their writing, art, or other creative projects!

And more for those who want more info... Well, it gets wordy. ;)

My two canon babies, Kalindra Tabris and Martin Trevelyan, are also highlighted in the artwork on my blog itself (to the right). I stopped publishing stories about them for different reasons, but this seems as good a place as any to talk about it.

For Kalindra Tabris, I have tried to write more of her story in the last year or so. Unfortunately, two things have interfered in me finding my place in her head again. 1) My own dysphoria. This is already getting better, but for a while, it was very hard for me to put myself into a female mindset. I think it was temporary, based on my stage of transition and mental progress through it, but it did affect me for a while. 2) The fandom. Kalindra’s mother is Dalish, and there was a period after DAI when I got very weary of the Discourse concerning anything Dalish. Not only that, the next part of her story would have been the Dalish quest, so it compounded the problem. Now that I’ve stepped back from the fandom and carefully make sure that very little Discourse passes over my dash, I may be able to get back into it. And to love Alistair during the Blight again. Maybe.

For Kamila Hawke, it is... complicated. When I originally played Kamila, it was as a lesbian who fell in love with Aveline, and then shifted to a slightly-more-than friendship with Sebastian because they were lonely but didn’t actually want any sex--and would have felt guilty entering into a relationship with Merrill and especially Isabela on that basis. As I wrote pieces here or there, I slowly came to realize that Kamila was, in fact, asexual demiromantic transmasc (or at least that’s the best way I can describe them at current)--but when I’d conceived the character, I didn’t yet know all the words for that. I just knew that Kamila felt like in my head. Ultimately, Kamila kills Anders in a fit of anger, then later kills themself when the guilt of killing Anders drives them into a deep depression. So their story doesn’t fit in between Kalindra’s and Martin’s easily. In fact, when I write Martin’s story, it will be with an entirely different Hawke because I don’t want to change their story just to fit canon events. But Kamila will always be my canon Hawke, no matter what.

For Martin Trevelyan, it’s a little more complicated. For many people, their main OCs tend to reflect what they are or what they wish they could be. Martin was that long before I knew that’s what I was doing. So writing his story means I have to unpack my baggage from what I want his story to be, and that’s a bit more tricky than just writing his story. I’m working on it, but I can’t work on it for long periods of time due to the emotional depth of investment it needs. In addition to that, Martin makes some decisions, both in his past and in the course of game events, which Some may consider to run counter to True Heroic Actions, and I’m not sure I want to deal with the potential reaction to that when I could just enjoy his story in my head. It’s petty, I know, but it’s a fear linked deeply to anxiety and my own instinctive desire to protect a character I most closely link to myself (more as an actual son rather than an alter-ego). Still, I love his story enough that I may eventually get around to it, but again... I don’t know. I waffle on it a lot. I have literally written millions of words for Martin and various versions of him in RP and AUs of that RP, so I love writing him. It’s just hard to publish him. Ah well.