#oh dear I'm actually super invested in this AU now

[miladydewintcr]

Ooh so excited to see you playing the Protagonist Swap Game, and I especially love a Dual Protagonist Situation, soooo what are Evie and Eleri up to in Inquisition for any selection of 1, 4, 5, and 6? (Also is one of them the Herald and the other the Inquisitor?) <3

Thank you so much for making this game!! It's so much fun omg

I answered um all 4 of them, for both girls, so I'm gonna put everything under a read-more because it got a little long rip

So usually, Eleri is the HoF. I've played around with Evangelina as the HoF on her own, but I think my favourite verse for her at least atm is that she's just a noble for most of DAO, who married Thomas Howe before the game started. She maybe? pops up in Denerim around the Landsmeet? And provides some Helpful Info for Eleri to use when she takes down Arl Howe (or maybe goes with her as an Extra Companion??) And then she's probably recruited to the Wardens during Awakening sometime since they're setting up base in her house.

Protagonist swap game !!

Backstory - Does your character fit into one of the potential backstories for the game they are now in? If not, how do they end up in the situation? Do they bring any key characters with them?

Evangelina's backstory fits in pretty well I think? The Couslands are pretty close to the Mac Tirs in my heart since they're the only two Teyrnirs left in Ferelden, so I can see Queen Anora sending her along to the Conclave as her representative. I was going to say I'd probably have her be unmarried in this AU, but then I realised I can have Thomas go with her and then Oop he dies at the Conclave. For extra drama >:)

For Eleri, I can't think of a reason for her to be around at the start of the game, BUT. I think she'd be all about the Red Jennies. And since Sera is from Denerim, too, I think it'd be fun to say they knew eachother already. Maybe Sera mentions her after she joins the Inquisition, and suggests they go pick her up too?

Of course, this means Evangelina is the only one there to get the mark and become the Herald. I do think, though, that once they pick Eleri up, she'd slide into the actual role of Inquisitor, even if not necessarily publicly. Eleri actually has the strategic sort of mind that works well in a position of power. Evangelina does not lmao. But to a lot of their allies and sponsors, Evangelina is going to look a lot better for the Inquisition than a city elf from Denerim.

Romance - Do you think they would find love among their new companions? If not, why not?

For Eleri, I kind of love the idea of a friends-to-lovers situation with Sera for her? It's like !!! The world is ending!!! I'm so grateful that I'm here with you, my best friend!!!! It could very easily slip into romance territory with a little nudge, I think.

Evangelina would be all over Cullen, and I think also Krem once they recruit the Chargers. I can only really see Krem being into it, however, and I don't think it would last post-game. Evangelina needs pushback in her romantic relationships, and she flirts by being as annoying as possible to get a reaction. She wants that reciprocated. I can't see Cullen putting up with it for very long tbh (I actually think he'd be convinced that she hates him), but Krem?? I can see being a bit taken aback at first (purely because she's?? the Herald of Andraste???) but once he cottons on he's like Okay. I can work with that. They'd be good for each-other I think tbh, and post-game it's a relationship they'll look back on fondly.

Choice - What in-game decision would have the most impact on your character? What would be the most dramatic change they would bring to the worldstate?

High-key Eleri is making all the major decisions. She's just steering Evangelina in the direction she wants her to go. That said, Evangelina is extremely thrilled that "she" got to choose the next Divine, and brags about it endlessly, to everyone, for the rest of her life.

For Eleri, there are 2 choices that stand out. The ruler of Orlais, ofc. I can see that whole questline really hitting home for her as a city elf, and being able to ensure Briala has the power to stand up for their people in Orlais going forwards would mean a great deal to her, I think.

I can also really see the Well of Sorrows being a big deal to her. Eleri grew up on stories about the Dalish. Despite being very real people, in her mind at the start of her journey, whatever game she's in, they feel almost like a fairy tale. In Origins, she names her dog Revas, mostly because of that. In being recruited, she was given a "freedom" in a sense. She names her dog accordingly, because in her mind, there is no-one more free than the Dalish.

So the Well of Sorrows would hit her hard, I think. And Morrigan, bless her heart, might have been raised by literal Mythal herself, but all Eleri is gonna see in that moment is another human trying to take a piece of their history (which breaks my HEART because Origins!Eleri would consider Morrigan her best friend)

Endings - Where do you think your character would end up at the end of their reassigned adventures?

Evangelina is 100% using her newfound influence to secure a good marriage for herself. My girl is not interested in marrying for love, she just wants a castle. Bye Krem! #sorrynotsorry (She will absolutely miss Krem later and regret this choice, despite what she will say if asked)

Eleri, I can see sticking around. She'd be on the Hunt Down Solas taskforce for sure. She isn't someone that likes to stop. If things need to be done, it might as well be her doing them. At least then she can make sure it's done right. I like the thought of her and Sera travelling with Harding and Varric for a spell and then splitting off before Veilguard starts.

[katierosefun]

Heyy, just wanted to say I LOVE your stories (and all you headcanons and tags hehe) I'm new here and wanted to ask how and when you started writing fanfiction for star wars and if you have any tips 😊

hello! thank you for the kind words :’) and of course, welcome!! 

so if we want to get really technical about things, i started writing star wars fic like,,,,waaaay back in 2013, and i kinda cringe a little when i think of those fics now because lol i was thirteen years old then--and i wrote for a little while until maybe 2016-ish? and then took a break because of mental health things, and then got back into writing fic in the past year and a half or so! 

as for the how, i wanted to write star wars fic mostly because as a thirteen year old, i was devastated by the season five finale (back then, that was when the show just got cancelled and the season five finale was the only series finale we were gonna get!), and i just kinda wanted to write all these stories about the tcw fam actually being happy. filling in the gaps and all. (lol considering how my gut reaction to the tcw season seven finale was also to write as much fic as possible, i can safely say that some things just don’t change.) 

as for tips! i got a little into writing gen fic specifically here, but as for writing fic in general: (and under the cut because i,,,as usual, went off for a while.)

1. rewatch/reread source material! this is something i usually do when i’m trying to refresh my memory on a certain episode--i won’t watch through the whole thing, sometimes i’ll just kind of jump around, but i like to get some quick look back into the source stuff to put myself in the right headspace to explore how to extend/expand the story somehow. 

of course, if you’re writing something that’s an AU then you don’t really have to worry about this, but!! rewatching the source can also just be super helpful when you’re trying to characterize properly/try to get a feel for what the characters’ voices are like. 

2. wookiepedia is your  best friend, but if you don’t have enough info on something, either search through fanon star wars meta or!! just make up something on your own! like, i cannot tell you the amount of times i’ve wanted to tear my hair out because i couldn’t find enough information on x or if i had to stop and be like “wait, but does star wars even have y??” sometimes, wookiepedia is helpful for providing those answers, and other times, blogs like @gffa really provides a big, broad look at all the stuff in star wars, and her blog kinda runs like wookiepedia itself, so i can guarantee that you’ll find some useful stuff if you’re ever kind of lost about what certain jedi customs/culture or in general, what different cultures were like in the galaxy far, far away. 

but also, as i’ve mentioned, i think it’s okay to just kinda ignore the technical stuff and just make something up in star wars as you go along. you don’t like that glass in star wars is called transparisteel? then use glass. you’re not sure if star wars even celebrates the new year? screw it, why not? you’re the writer--you get creative license!

3. there is no such thing as “too much” of one trope. so, idk if you might struggle with this, but just in case you do--sometimes, fic writers will hit a wall and be like “no i can’t post this because so many people have already written about this/used this trope/etc.” to that, i say pffft, nah. there’s a post floating around here on tumblr about a cake analogy and how like,,,to you, you might have just brought another cake to a party with already so many cakes, and you might feel kinda embarrassed about that, but to the large majority of people? all they see is more cake, and who doesn’t love more cake? 

what i’m basically trying to get at here is!! write whatever you want and don’t worry about if someone’s already done it, because everyone in fandom lives to see their favorite storylines expanded over and over and over again/everyone lives to see their favorite tropes used over and over and over again. fic is wonderful for that very reason, and you shouldn’t deprive yourself of enjoying that. 

4. this might seem kinda trivial, but spellcheck and formatting is...mostly important. the unfortunate thing about fic is that sometimes people will click out the second they see a huge block of text like so: 

“this is just a practice run,” i say as i start this paragrah. i don’t really know what i’m writing about but this is an example, and i know that this is probably going to look really, really ugly on the screen but here we go oh the things i do for explaining fic i already know that this has gone long enough but who is to stop me you know? wait no i haven’t made any spelling errors yet to prove my point so okay let me think of a common spelling error i can’t think of any right now but hm let’s see i will causally say that i have made a spelling error. oh look! i have made a spelling error (well, not a spelling error, more like a mix-up of words) because you can tell that instead of writing casually which would be more correct i wrote causally and those two are very different things. but there are other spelling errors that can sometimes be a turn-off for readers like when they notice that the k in kenobi isn’t capitilized and once or twice that’s all fine and most people will overlook that, but if you do that consistently then most people will be turned off and click into another fic and oh dear it seems that i am actually explaining things so i guess that means i should stop with this ugly paragraph and actually move forward. “move on!” i shout to myself now. (and just pretend that something like this continues for a good two or three pages.)

do you see how ugly that is? it’s an eye-strain to most people when they read, and you can write the most beautiful fic in the world, but if the formatting and the spelling is off, then most people will move to a different fic. (which is, again, unfortunate, especially for younger and newer writers, but! ‘tis a thing that comes with fic.) 

5. have fun! don’t get yourself caught up with appealing to the crowd. write what you want to write first and foremost, because at the end of the day, it’s you who’s putting in the work and the effort to craft a story, and if you’re about to invest your time and energy into anything in your free time, then it should be something that brings you at least some joy and comfort. so go on and write, and keep writing if you enjoy it! no one can take that away from you. 

hope that all helps!!