#jean you are a madwoman and you are very precious to me

[little-murmaider]

J (Stay Alive), E (I Couldn’t Help But Wonder), A (in general, I want to know because they’re a thing I toil over), N! C, W, U, T, I, D (Stay Alive), I (again, but a different one), D (But You Know Better), T (again, but also a different one), H, E (Deluge In A Paper Cup), R, E (Stay Alive, because this is my ask dammit and I do what I want)?

Lord God in Heaven, Jean, it took me way longer than it should have to figure out what this spelled.

J: Write or describe an alternate ending to Stay Alive.The ending is the first thing I came up with for Stay Alive, so I don’t know how else it could end. However, when this was going to be a one shot (a OnE sHoT), Toki woke up with all his friends surrounding him, and he told them about the dream and they reassured him they’d fight it together, and the final beat was much, shall we say, softer. E: If you wrote a sequel to I Couldn't Help but Wonder what would it be about?It would have to be about another groundbreaking HBO program, wouldn’t it? Perhaps........The Sopranos? An opportunity for collaboration with @walkwithursus​? I have no idea what the story would be.A: How do you come up with titles for fics?They're pretty much all song lyrics or titles. A Nice Bake and I Couldn’t Help but Wonder are lines from the shows discussed in the fics. Not Like a Regular Dad, a Cool Dad is a modified line from Mean Girls. A Whole and Dangerous Heart is a modified line from a short story I was reading at the time that was thematically similar to the story I was writing. A Permanent Arrangement is a pun because I wanted something cheesy and rom-com-y. I’m sorry, I’m SORRY!!!!!N: Answered!C: What character do you identify with most?This is a cop out but it’s my for real answer: All of them, in little ways.W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?I like general prompts cause they give me free range to do whatever I want heheheheh.

U: Answered!T: Answered!I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic, reading or writing?I feel like this will not be surprising to anyone who has spent more than three minutes on my blog or read anything I have ever written in my life, but I love when characters are all sleepy and soft around each other and just sorta chill out and nod off together. It’s cute DON’T judge ME.D: Is there a song or playlist associated with Stay Alive?I actually made a Stay Alive playlist! A couple songs aren’t available through PlayMoss (Run Boy Run by Woodkid and Goodbye to a World by Porter Robinson) but they are there in spirit. I also listened to this remix of the Wonderland themes from The Adventure Zone a billion times and every single YouTube synthwave/cyberwave/darkwave/whateverwave mix that exists.I: Answered, like, right there, right above this answer, see? D: Is there a song or playlist associated with But You Know Better? Yes! Thank You For Breaking My Heart by Ben Folds Fives! Which is also...............where I got the title!!!!!H: Answered!E: If you wrote a sequel to Deluge in a Paper Cup what would it be about?You know after you hook up with someone you unexpectedly start liking, and you’re in a situation that’s very similar to the first time you hooked up, and you do that thing where you’re like, “Ha ha, remember that time we hooked up? That was so weird, right? Wouldn’t it be sooooo weird if we, you know, did it again? Ha ha ha what if we hooked up again?” The sequel would be another house party where Nathan and Skwisgaar do that all night, then eventually hook up in the bathroom, but they’re both so enormous they don’t fit, so Skwisgaar has to stand in the bathtub and slices his head open on the shower head, so they have to go to the walk in clinic and he has to get a tetanus shot and he’s very bad with needles so Nathan has to hold his hand the whole time and it’s all very unsexy, but when they get home they’re too tired to go to their own rooms so they crash on the couch and kiss until they both pass out. R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?William Faulkner, George Saunders, Shirley Jackson, Aimee Bender, Daniel Ortberg, Samantha Hunt. To be honest I find influence in everything. One of my favorite professors, the same one who coined the term hyperrealism, said one of the best things you can do as a writer is to figure out the tricks of works you admire and learn how to do it in a way that works for you. He called it “adding another tool to your toolbag.” I try to add things to my toolbag whenever I can.E: If you wrote a sequel to Stay Alive what would it be about?The thrilling sequel, Go Dead. If I ever did this, which I never would because it would literally murder me, it would be a Groundhog Day of Fuck. Toki keeps trying to break the cycle, but no matter what it’s the same end result. He memorizes all the beats, gets everyone out of Mordhaus, but then Salatcia starts changing things. One cycle Skwisgaar dies first. Another cycle Nathan gets corrupted instead of Murderface. Toki’s playing a rigged game, can he ever win?