#someday!! someday i will finish that halamshiral au

[shivunin]

🤡⛔💞💔

Hey, thank you very much for asking! 💗This wound up a touch long haha

(Writer Asks)

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

I have several and they're all really long. The one I still want to try to revamp/use the concept of is one about a Thedas where Halamshiral was never lost to the Chantry. It had some really, really lovely parts but it required so much worldbuilding that it eventually stopped being fun to write.

(Also a 1930s AU set between 2 and Inquisition where Lavellan is a reporter and Cullen is trying to figure out how to leave the Templars, a "how Elowen handles breaking up with Solas" AU, and a mermaid!Cullen AU I still mean to get back to someday)

💞 Who's your comfort character?

Cullen! I write him whenever I'm feeling down. I think I might have all of the romance dialogue memorized at this point lol

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

I answered this here, but I've got plenty haha. From "The Punchline" (here on Tumblr, here on AO3):

Afterward, Fenris could not say if she lifted her head or if he bent his to her. Afterward, he could only remember the ache in his chest, the wine on her breath, the awful laughter still trailing from her lips.  When they kissed, it tasted of salt and tannins and fresh blood.  It felt fitting, in its way. If this was to cut him to the bone, it should taste like a wounded thing. The kiss was nothing like the first had been. There was nothing of heady joy to this, no thick anticipation, no persistent hope. There was only the ache of regret—that he had found himself here at all, alone with her in the heaviness of night when he would never be able to give her what she needed. 

The kiss lasted only a moment; Maria pulled away almost as soon as they touched. Her eyes searched his. IIf he’d wanted to, he was close enough to count every dark spot scattered over her irises, every freckle on her nose. Too close. Too close by far.  “There,” she said quietly. “You see? That proves it. I only destroy everything I love, after all. You must be safe, then. Can still get away if you’re quick.” 

Fenris and Hawke and those awful months after the Act 2 romance scene get me every time tbh.

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

Oh god, this whole thing lol. They're so awkward with each other and both trying so hard to be casual. Here's my favorite bit:

They both stopped, Cullen chuckling uncomfortably and Elowen releasing a panicked wheeze that might, to someone panicking, have sounded like a laugh.  Sylaise’enaste, she had to get out of here before she did something dire. Like drag him across the desk to find out if his mouth tasted as good as it looked. Do not say that out loud, she willed herself.  “I will see you later,” she said.  “Thank you,” Cullen said with relief. His eyes widened and he shook his head.  “No! I mean—not thank you. Yes, I’ll—I will see you there.” “Yes, see you later,” she said, belatedly remembering that she’d already said that.  Cullen opened his mouth and closed it again.  Why did his mouth have to look so kissable?  Why hadn’t she kissed him last night, when there’d been no one else around and they’d been covered in his mantle? It had been—it had been romantic, even, so close to each other like that. “Right,” she said, sharply enough that his head jerked back, “Later.” “...yes,” he said, but Elowen was already jogging for the door before she could think about why he sounded so faint.  The door shut behind her with a squeal and a bang. Elowen leaned back against it, arms spread slightly, and peered up at the puffy white clouds in the sky.  “I am doomed,” she told them, with all the gravitas of one who’d been condemned to death. 

[shivunin]

���20 Questions for Fic Writers🎇

Thanks for the tag @greypetrel my dear!

1. how many works do you have on ao3? 35

2. what’s your total ao3 word count? 641,898

3. what fandoms do you write for? So far? Dragon Age (all three games), but I have unfinished Mass Effect and BG3 things as well c:

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

-Your Fate for Mine (A "what if the Inquisitor was left behind in the Fade?" AU | Cullavellan | 129,681 words)

-Unyielding/Inexorable (Cullen throws hands with a member of the nobility at the Winter Palace; the follow-up is about a duel to settle things | Cullavellan | 3,083 and 8,055 words respectively)

-More than Memory (Smut about cultural differences and expressing one's needs | Cullavellan | 5,214 words)

-Search Your Hands (An exploration of the Dalish courting gift tradition with some mild smutty elements | Cullavellan | 13,581 words) (it doesn't have the most kudos, but this is by a significant margin my most-liked fic with respect to the views: kudos: bookmarks ratio)

-Wander the Drifting Roads (A "Cullen is infected with red lyrium" AU, but the focus is on how memory forms who we are and why the loss of it changes everything | Cullavellan | 108,331 words)

5. do you respond to comments? Yes, excepting the rare occasions that they are just emojis because (though I appreciate them!!) I never know what to say dsfahkjsfhk. The more I cherish a comment, the longer it takes me to answer (because I am hugging them to my chest and sobbing)

6. what’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hmmm Palimpsest, I think, because it ends with Fenris just after the Act 2 breakup and things are somewhat bleak. I am definitely more a happy endings kind of gal. Or a "if it's not fixed, it's not the end" sort, maybe.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Pour Forth (the Fenris not crying fic) I think? To the Bone (Cullavellan soulmate AU) is right up there, I think.

8. do you get hate on fics? I've had a couple of snarky comments about my writing style, but people have generally been very sweet.

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind? Lol. Yes. I find it harder to write smut for some pairings than others, but I really enjoy writing smut. I think smut can be a very incisive window into a pairing's dynamic and feelings about intimacy. What's more, I think I'm decent at writing it haha

10. do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written? Not really! I don't see myself doing so, either. Just not my cup of tea.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. have you ever had a fic translated? I have not

13. have you ever co-written a fic before? No, but I have rp'd one of my Dragon Age OC's in a narrative context (which is sort of similar, I think)

14. what’s your all-time favorite ship? October/Tybalt. I will never write fic for the October Daye series, but I would die for them. Their whole battle couple (opposites attract, damaged people finding vulnerability and love, aggrieved rogue chases Hero around) dynamic has got me twirling my hair, kicking my feet, etc.

But of course, all of the DA ships I write for are a very close second place. Just all jammed uncomfortably in the doorway at once, Fenris's gauntlets poking poor Emma in the arm and Cullen's breastplate caught between Wen and the doorway, etc.

15. what’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? The Red Crossing Arrangement, my "what if the elves never lost Halamshiral" arranged marriage AU. The concept is so unimaginably cool, but there is a level of worldbuilding required to make it work that eventually sucked all the fun out of the project for me. Ideally...someday, I'll pick it back up again because I love the concept.

16. what are your writing strengths? This is always such a hard question to answer. It's going to sound vague, but I think one of my greatest skills is voice. I am pretty good at matching character and narrative voice to canon. I also think conveying emotions in a visceral way? I hope so, anyway c:

17. what are your writing weaknesses? Scenery. By like a very very big margin. Every first draft has almost no description of scenery in it, so I have a huge amount of respect for writers who are skilled at that. It's definitely my biggest challenge (I fall into the same trap when I'm DM'ing too T.T)

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Ehhhh mixed. I wouldn't want to screw up someone else's actual language, so I'd only want to do it if I knew someone who could proof it for me or if I knew the language myself. I only know Latin (rusty) and Spanish (intermediate) besides English, so I'll likely stick to what I know. I have written very brief dialogue in both Spanish and Latin for fics, though. More as a way of evoking the culture of the person speaking than for any other reason.

19. first fandom you wrote for? hahaha. well. Code Lyoko when I was 13. And then not at all again until I was 28.

20. favorite fic you’ve ever written? :C I have to choose one?? Aside from any of the ones mentioned above, Breath of Life (Zev almost dies in the fight against Taliesen, because it's one of my favorite tropes) or A Golden Bell Hung in my Heart (because it's DA flavored with The Last Unicorn and I wrote it for a dear friend; what's not to love?) or As Two Reflected Stars (because it's quintessential hurt/comfort wound-tending and I adore that most of all)

Tagging back (no pressure, feel free not to do this): @star--nymph @zenstrike @jtownnn @idolsgf @dreadfutures @scribbledquillz @ndostairlyrium @vakarians-babe @nightwardenminthara @heniareth @transprincecaspian and anyone else I usually tag but am forgetting somehow---you're supposed to be here, I swear, but tonight my brain is tapioca pudding.

[shivunin]

Here are all my various Lavellans! I made them using this picrew.

Top to bottom, left to right:

Elowen, Salshira, Emmaera (Emma), Ilriane, and Adahlena.

These are all Inquisitors I have written fic about! A little more info under the cut c:

Elowen (from Your Fate For Mine): Elowen was my first elven Inquisitor and the reason I started writing fic. I think she, more than the rest of them, feels a bit like an imposter in the role of Inquisitor and manages this by playing her cards extremely close to the chest. She looks like she's about to cry here, but that's normal for her because Elowen has what I like to call Resting Melancholy Face. I've got two WIPs for her that are...if not happier than Your Fate, certainly quantifiably less about losing your sanity in the Fade. Someday, fate willing, I will finish one of them.

Salshira (from To the Bone, primarily): Salshira jumped into my mind more or less fully formed when I started plotting out my soulmate au fic. Her hair is a bit more brown/auburn than the red it is here. Salshira is very charismatic, but she mostly uses that charisma to keep people from prying too closely into her affairs (and, ahem, goading Cullen into playing sexy chess games). She is extremely good at reading people and of my Inquisitors is the least attached to her clan.

Emmaera (Emma): (from Wander the Drifting Roads) Emma is my canon Inquisitor and the most practical of my OCs. She was also the best-adjusted to being part of the Inquisition because when she woke up in Haven she made a nice, neat list of Pros and Cons, theorized the best and worst possible outcomes of her situation, identified limited compliance as the most optimal course of action, burned the shit out of a bunch of practice dummies, and got on with wrapping up this whole "end of the world" business so she could go home to her clan. Emma is slow to anger, but she never forgives (with one crucial exception). She settled down in Kirkwall eventually and is also the only one of my Inquisitors to become a vigilante after the events of Trespasser (though ultimately that didn't last).

Ilriane (from The Scourge of Sundermount): Ilriane touched a necklace in Sundermount while her clan passed by to recover lost artifacts. Whether cursed or imbued with some kind of otherworldly energy, the artifact gave her eyes that turn people to stone and destroyed her life in one instant. I'd originally intended this short story to be a bit of a tragedy, and it's inspired (very loosely) by the Medusa myth.

Adahlena: Adahlena's story is the hardest to summarize, in part because it isn't finished yet! Adahlena lives in a world in which the second Exalted March on the Dales never happened, and thus the elves have two extant kingdoms spanning the land from the Arbor Wilds through the Emerald Graves and Exalted Plains (obviously, the latter two aren't called by those names in the story because the events they're named for never came to pass). As part of an agreement involving Elandrin and Adalene (whose deaths at Red Crossing in part sparked the Exalted March), the pact of nonaggression between the Chantry and the elven kingdoms is renewed and sealed by a marriage every fifty years or so.

Adahlena herself grew up traveling with her father, and thus has a greater understanding of Thedas at large than many elves who'd spent their whole lives in the kingdoms. This is part of the reason she is chosen as the representative for the elves in the marriage compact. By nature, magic, and training, she is primarily a gardener and plant mage. Though her mother is a politician, Adahlena has little interest in the ways of court. Events have conspired to bring various Chantry candidates to Halamshiral to contend for the role of her spouse, but Adahlena is more interested in tracking down a piece of information that will explain what happened to her father all those years ago.

And well, that's all of them so far! I originally thought I ought to make separate main characters if I was going to keep inventing AUs and only realized after the third one that I could have like. Not done that (and that, uh, most people pretty much stick to one and only write/create art about that one). But anyways it's too late now! And I adore them all. I mean, look at their precious faces.

So...did I make five separate Inquisitors that are all romancing Cullen? Yes. But I've had an absolute blast doing it. You're welcome for all the wives, Cullen, and sorry again for the horrors.