#samanth4s

[angels-heap]

Isaac Kleiner and Eli Vance for character bingo ^_^

My opinions are pretty similar for both Eli (green) and Isaac (blue). I think they're great, I wish we got to see more of them, and if I think about them for too long, I get emotional.

They've been done dirty by the fans in the sense that a lot of "fans" don't seem to care or talk about them much. (I'm also somewhat guilty of this, though in my defense, a lot of my fics were written or started before HLA gave us a timeline where Eli is still around.) And I know they helped cause a resonance cascade, but they've never done anything wrong in their lives, actually. :)

[angels-heap]

48, 69, 72, 74 for the fanfic writing asks ^^

[Questions from this post.]

48. Who is your favorite character to write for? Has this changed since you’ve started writing for that fandom?

I'd say I enjoy writing for Alyx and Barney more or less equally, but for different reasons. Writing Alyx feels more personally meaningful, but Barney's a little more fun (and arguably easier, since his speaking voice and mannerisms are more similar to my own). And despite the fact that I wrote that one Barney-centric fic back in 2012, I definitely did not (re)enter the HL fandom expecting to enjoy writing for him as much as I do now.

69. What are your favorite fics at the moment?

My AO3 bookmarks function as an eternal rec list, but if I have to be more specific, I recently re-read Promise by glitterbrain and it is still living rent-free in my brain. I also recently stumbled across About that Beer by Reiji_Neko_Mitsukai and I think it deserves a shoutout as well! We are so starved for long(-ish), character-focused, mostly gen HL fics that make adequate use of the more mind-bending aspects of canon, and this fic has all that and more.

72. What’s your favorite writing compliment you’ve gotten?

Hmm, I can think of quite a few that stand out in my memory, but all are equally cherished for very different reasons. <3 In general, it's wild (but very flattering) to hear that people still look forward to reading my new chapters/fics even though my updates have been inconsistent at best for the last few years. I also love when people say my writing made them cry. :)

(Now, on the other hand, if anyone wants to know about the worst feedback I've ever received on my writing, I have a very specific answer in mind.)

74. Do you have a fic you wish got a bit more love?

Yes, and I'm gonna cheat and give two answers for this one. As HL fics go, Deep One Perfect Morning is one of my favorites and I'm not sure why it never got as much love as my other freehoun stuff (not sexy enough, maybe?), so here it is if anyone wants to check it out.

I'm also very proud of Presque Vu (Disco Elysium), even though it was doomed to obscurity from day one for the crime of being a short gen fic with unappealing tags.

[angels-heap]

I wanted to say that I got around to reading It's Only Natural and I just once again wanted to compliment you on your writing and your characterization. I assume it must not be easy to give personality or write dialogue for a character who has never spoken but you seriously just do it so well, including for really minor characters like Lauren and Azian in their appearances. I absolutely loved Gordon and Barney in the story, and lesbian Lauren was just great. As a lesbian myself I also have to say it was very interesting reading about the thing with Subaru, thank you for including that, heh :) But I can tell I’m not going to be ready for that final chapter!!

Thank you!!! 🥰 This ask made my entire day and you have no idea how much of a relief it is to hear that my characterization is actually coherent and interesting outside of my brain. Most HL characters are so underdeveloped/nonexistent in canon that they're basically OCs, so I was excited to give myself an excuse to flesh them out a bit. (Also, on a related note, freehoun Gordon and freemance Gordon are two completely different characters to me. Not sure if this is a universal experience.)

Glad you got a kick out of lesbian Lauren and the Subaru thing! One of my IRL friend groups (which features a disproportionate number of Subaru owners – yes, for that reason) has a ton of running jokes about this and I was recently surprised to find out that most people do not know that Subarus are lesbian cars (on purpose! there was a whole targeted ad campaign!), so I felt like I had to sneak that in there and educate the masses.

Again, sorry in advance for the final chapter. 😔 Granted, it's possible that I've been overhyping how sad it will be because I've been making myself sad about it for four years now, but it's still worth noting that the first five chapters literally only exist to provide context to make the last chapter as sad as possible. I started there and worked backwards. As soon as my job stops eating up all my free time, it's over, folks.