#thanks again verkja :D

[starlit-hopes-and-dreams]

10. The worst book you have ever read?

11. The best book you have ever read?

16. The book that made you fall in love with reading?

-verkja

(Edited for your reading comfort!)

@verkja, I also love you for the editing :D Thanks for the ask! From this ask game.

10. The worst book you have ever read?

Ooooh boy. I read a truly awful dark romance that was circulating booktok (yeah, yeah, i deserved it lol) called Den of Vipers by K.A. Knight. I regret reading the whole thing, I really do.

But what I regret even more was reading FIVE books in a series I hated because I owned them all in pb and I started it and by god I was going to finish it. That was The Monarchies of God series by Paul Kearney. It might not even have been bad, but I was bored out of my mind, so might as well have been. 😅

11. The best book you have ever read?

Fuck this question² lol

Okay, going with some of the best written (in my poor, i haven't even read some of these in a while, opinion lol)

Also, you get series, and multiple ones at that. Sue me :p

The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemison

Truly a brilliant writer, I have no trouble saying she's a masterclass author.

The Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier

Her writing is just so beautiful, and these books are heartbreaking.

Kushiel's Dart (and all the subsequent books) by Jacqueline Carey

Political intrigue out the wazoo. Great books.

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

Do I even need to say anything? This man comes up with the most brilliant, inventive, and stunning magic, not to mention his worlds, and the interconnected universe, and... just wow.

16. The book that made you fall in love with reading?

I might be too old for this question; not sure I remember that far back lol. I was getting in trouble in the first grade for reading too much.

I had a subscription to the Babysitter's club books. There was the Boxcar Children as well. And Animorphs. But I'm sure there was something even earlier than that. Surely I didn't teethe on chapter books?? 😅

But Anne McCaffrey hooked me on fantasy with the Harper Hall Trilogy in her Dragonrider's of Pern series. Which is funny considering she is mostly on the sci-fi end of the range, and I generally won't touch sci-fi lol.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Word Find Tag

I was tagged by @dont-touch-my-soup :D

My words are: enough, thanks, goodbye, unconscious

Your words are: threat, trust, tie, time

And I am tagging (if you want to, as always!) @verkja​ @siren-of-agony​ @starlit-hopes-and-dreams​ and you, if you want to.

Just finding the words (or thesaurus your way through it) in anything WIP or published, whatever.

I couldn’t decide, so now I’ll do 2 for Undeserved and 2 for Thorns!

Undeserved

Thanks

Actually, you can have 2 POVs for that one. As a treat.

“Thanks. Anything else we should know?”     There was a long pause. Damien barely dared to breathe, wishing so much his brother would speak again. Tell them to give him some water, or send a healer, to at least pretend he’d care.     Please. I’m so sorry. I would never hurt you. I love you. Please help me. Please, I don’t want to die.     “No. Good luck.”

“Thanks. Anything else we should know?” the leader asked.     Valadan wanted to say so much. Things like ‘get him a fucking healer, you asshole’ and ‘I’ll drown you in your bucket of piss if you ever touch my brother again’.     “No. Good luck,” was what he said instead.

Unconscious

It was the unrelenting pain that dragged Damien out of his unconsciousness. There wasn’t a spot on his body that didn’t hurt. His head, agony pounding behind his eyes, telling him he had used all of his magic and then some. His arms above his head, swollen and with the rope digging deeply into his wrists. His knees, almost numb after hours of being pressed against the ground; unfortunately, only almost. His skin, burnt on his back and stretching over countless bruises everywhere else. His forehead and nose pressed against the rough wood he was tied to.

Thorns

Enough

When the morning came, Caldyn didn’t feel like he was dying anymore. He wasn’t sure that was a good thing.     The bit of water hadn’t been enough to truly save him, to allow him to heal. It had just been enough to keep him alive a bit longer, and that probably wasn’t a good thing either. He raised his right hand, flexing his fingers, noticing that he could feel them again. He could also feel the broken fingers of his left hand again, so he tried not to move them, because that was also not a good thing.     Thinking about it, there really weren’t many good things left.

Goodbye

“I’m sorry. The fire’s gone. What have I done? I’m so sorry.” Seyonna was crying. “The morning was so chilly. I just thought some warmth would be nice. I didn’t think… didn’t know. I should have known, shouldn’t I? I always do everything wrong. It’s better if I leave. I’m so sorry.” And then, barely louder than a whisper, “Goodbye, Caldyn.”     Caldyn heard her words, but was unable to understand them. Only the meaning behind them settled somewhere in his mind, drowned out by his panic.

[erdarielthewhumper]

Get to know me tag game

Tagged by @theres-whump-in-that-nebula, thanks for the tag! Starting my own post bc the other one was getting quite long

Rules: answer the questions and tag nine people you want to know better

---

Favourite Color: Blue, but you'd never know it looking at my clothes, most of what I own isn't very colorful

Currently Reading: In the middle of re-reading Terry Pratchett's Soul Music :D Also subscribed to Dracula Daily and Lord of the Rings Daily if that counts?

Last Song: Not entirely sure, either some random old-ass Finnish music for Reasons, or some song from Steeleye Span's album "Wintersmith"

Last Movie: If video recording of a stage musical counts as movie, then LoL the rock opera. If not... I'm not sure, maybe The Old Guard but I wouldn't stake my life on it

Last Series: My friend talked me into watching DS9. Watched the first five seasons, and I did really like it, but I'm not watching the final two because I'm not vibing with two seasons straight of a full-on war narrative rn

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: kind of all, depending on my mood and the moment. I have least actual tolerance for spicy foods, but I do really enjoy spicy food when the spiciness is within what I can eat and still retain my ability to taste other things :D But tbh if I had to choose like gun to my head, probably sweet

Currently working on: like five different fanfics, none of which I'll ever finish. Oh and sort of pretending to write about one of my ocs again, not that i'll finish that either. And then there's the eternity art project of making my own fanart character designs for various LOTR characters, I should really get back to that...

---

Hmm, who to tag...? @happy-little-sadist @knifeknightwhump @verkja @redwingedwhump! Sorry, that's only four... But anyone else who wants to do this can consider themselves tagged, too!

[starlit-hopes-and-dreams]

Word Find Tag

Catch up p5! Moving into June (thanks for everyone's patience :')) And thanks for the tag, @thegreatobsesso!

My words: fire, water, air, and user’s choice of any word that’s got to do with nature, earth, trees, dirt, or whatever’s in your WIP for the last element

Your words: flame, flight, flow, and fracture

Gently tagging: @sam-glade, @dogmomwrites, @verkja, and You, if you would like :D (Open Tag)

Ooo, an elemental tag :D How fun! I have a fifth element in my world, so I'm gonna slip aether in here as well.

From Shattered Soul, bc I've got the doc open and uh. I like that wip lol.

Fire Serin

Serin bit the inside of his cheek, praying to the Mother she would get away. Marcus' back pressed against the crystal, but he wouldn't be able to step through without Malachiah's guidance. Alaia's compulsion forced him to keep trying, though, which would have been amusing if Serin wasn't so terrified. Blue light flared around Alaia's body, protecting her from the next lash of fire Malachiah sent her way. "Leave me alone!" she shouted. The outline of her body behind the blue light shimmered, and then she was gone. What the fuck had that been? Serin watched with increasing trepidation when fire flared around Malachiah as she vented her rage. The drugged mist was beginning to wear off; the ache in his shoulders from the tightness of the chains holding him in place was becoming noticeable. Marcus and Malachiah burst through the crystal. Serin thought it was the first time he had ever seen fear cross Marcus' face as the goddess turned to him with fury blazing in her pure black eyes.

Water Alaia

As soon as she recognized it, she halted, her body going hot and then cold and then hot again. Beads of sweat broke out along her forehead, and her vision began to flicker before she realized she probably needed to breathe. The memories she had worked so hard to bury since the night Malachiah had come for her threatened to break free again, so she wrapped her arms around her waist and closed her eyes, concentrating on her breathing. "Human, what are you doing?" Their voice mimicked the rhythms of the ocean this time, but when Alaia turned towards the water, she recognized that green kelpy hair. The aicaya's pearl-white eyes and faintly green scaled skin featured in her dreams at night, before they turned into nightmares. "Ah yes, since you went through the Veil, I suppose it's no longer appropriate to call you human, is it?" The aicaya was reclining in the shallow water, tendrils from their green tail fin moving up and down with the waves. "What should I call you, then?"

Air (suppose i could've used this for all of them, huh lol) Kadin

Kadin walked through the wide, glass-paned double doors into what had been stylized the Chamber of Elements, and stopped directly inside the entrance. His wings mantled as he glanced around. Had things gotten worse, or was he just imagining things? The elements were supposed to be balanced throughout the fortress, but the effect was most visible in this room. Soft, loamy earth made up the floor, a nod to the humans, while multi-colored sparks of aether, the fae's element, infused the silver-veined black stones of the walls. Air swirled lightly throughout the space from dozens of small openings in the wall behind him, and the blue, seemingly cloud-covered ceiling rose high above, providing plenty of space for a seraph to spread their wings and fly. Landings along the dome's curved walls provided convenient perches for those who wished to remain in the 'sky'. To his left ran a wide, blue-green stream, mirrored by a channel of molten lava to his right. Both water and fire cut a thin path horizontally across the earthen floor, culminating in a large circular pool in the middle of the chamber, with each half separated by a wide strip of earth. The gentle gusts of air filling the chamber swirled around the pool, carrying motes of shining aether on its winds. But—

Earth (direct continuation from air) Kadin

The earth Kadin stepped on felt brittle, dry. The air felt warmer than usual, not as refreshing. He couldn't tell if anything was off with the water, but the aether… He was the Draikon, lord of dragons, and as such, carried a well of Reyanel's essence inside him to replenish the dragon's lifeforce. The time he'd spent in Siiluriah had shown him how sensitive he'd become to the fae's element, and it was telling him now how dull the aether in this room felt.

Aether Darian

A heaviness descended in the room, and he sobered immediately. It's my brother, isn't it? Has he woken? As far as he knew, Kiral had been brought back from Iahel and chained to his bed in his suite of rooms at their home in the grove. He had been unconscious from whatever Alaia had done to him, and he knew his parents hoped the aether from the grove seeping into his body while he rested would break the coercion. Darian knew better. It had all been tried before. He's beginning to stir. No one can reach his mind. He growls and thrashes in his restraints every time someone tries. Darian held Alaia closer as he closed his eyes, the pain of knowing he was losing his brother knifing through him. The title of crown prince would fall to him, leaving him with even more responsibility weighing him down. He didn't know if he could do it, if he could kill his own brother, even to bring Kiral peace. But he would have to find the strength.

[starlit-hopes-and-dreams]

Happy STS!

When you come up with a story, how do you prioritise its different elements - plot, characters, themes, etc.? For example, do you have an idea of a theme you want to explore, and invent a plot, setting, and and characters tailor-made for it? Or do the themes fall into place as you make your way through a compelling plot? Or do you keep themes in mind, but focus mainly on characters interacting in an engaging setting, with the plot just a vague thread to tie things together?

-verkja

Happy STS!

Thanks for the ask, @verkja <3

Um, uhhhh, I am a chaos goblin, and none of those things matter to me?

I have... an idea? I can't even call it a theme. It's more like a singular moment of time in what could be a story. I want this specific thing to happen, so how do I make a story that will get me there?

For Shattered Dreams, it was jumping off a cliff.

Nykim hasn't been written yet because I didn't have that scene. Now its shattered kneecaps :D Now I can write it!

For the wing whump, it was cutting off wings 😬 It appears I started that one after the fact, but no worries. I can cut them out again! 😅

For Woman in the wall, it's uh. Yeah, you get it.

Everything falls into place as I write to get to the scene I'm envisioning. I start off with a character, other characters fall into place during the course of the story, and plot is definitely just a vague thread holding the story together lol. If there are themes, I don't have a clue what they are XD

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

🔥, 🌲, 🛷?

-verkja

Thank you for the ask! From this ask game.

🔥 Fireplace: what type of scene are you most comfortable writing? Emotional, action, dialogue-heavy?

Listen, I am always uncomfortable. I do hate action most, and I have most fun with emotional scenes (if you count sobbing into a pillow as fun).

🛷 Sled: how has your writing process changed this year? Or: are you going to try anything new in your process in 2023?

It was the first time I tried several of those writing prompts/challenges. It was fun, but stressful. I managed to fully embrace “just as much worldbuilding as I need in the moment”, and “chapters can have a little time skip, as a treat”.

I have to try writing less. As nice as it is having the results, this was far from healthy and I do so miss some other hobbies. I also gotta give outlines a try, because I am reaching stories where I kinda have to plan, and I am terrified of it :D

🌲Pine Tree: share a snippet that shows a character being strong (whether that’s physically, mentally, emotionally, etc.)

That one time Valadan carried a half-dead Josephine back to camp, and through the portal, before he had his well deserved breakdown :) Adrenaline is one hell of a drug I guess.

“Let us help.”

No. There was no time. Valadan started to run again, ignoring his protesting muscles and the burning in his lungs. He had to get back to camp, to the citadel, where someone could help her.

“Portal,” he wheezed.

Tassilo understood; Valadan prayed to Duriath that the mage understood. He ran ahead, while Lee stayed at Valadan’s side. 

The way back to camp took barely longer than before. His legs were moving on their own, his hands holding on on their own. When he arrived, gasping for breath and stumbling towards the spot where they had set up the portal earlier that day, everyone crowded around him. Valadan pressed Josephine against his chest, but no one tried to take her, or even touch her.

The only one not staring at him and the lifeless body in his arms was Anka. They crouched next to the portal, fiddling with a mechanism full of crystals. 

“The portal will be up in a second,” someone said. 

Valadan didn’t bother to find out who it was. The minute it took for the portal to light up was the longest in his life. He didn’t even know if Josephine was still alive. She had to be alive. His own arms were trembling too much to see if her chest rose, but her skin was still warm. Weren’t her eyelids fluttering? She had to be alive. 

“Please don’t die. Please. Hang on.” His voice was shaking. His arms were shaking. He didn’t dare set her down, knowing that he’d never manage to pick her up again if he did. “Please. Please, Josephine.”

[starlit-hopes-and-dreams]

Gold and yellow for the writing asks?

-verkja

Hi @verkja! Thanks for the ask <3 From this ask game.

Gold: Do your stories usually contain lessons or morals?

If they do, it's completely coincidental 😶

Yellow: What’s a common writing tip that you mostly ignore?

So many. Basically, if it's writing advice, I'm probably not following it. I don't listen very well 😅

Here, have 2 commons that I don't follow :D

Write every day to form a habit: Nah. I write when I want to, bc if I try to force myself, I will literally avoid ever doing it again.

Don't edit as you write: Uhh, fuck that. I will not make any progress leaving behind a trail of typos and horribly awkward phrasing or dialogue.

[starlit-hopes-and-dreams]

You asked for a range, so - 16, 36, 61, and 90 :D From your latest ask game.

-verkja

Thanks for the ask @verkja! From this ask game.

16: Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band?

Answered here. Kinda. 😂

I kinda cheated, so I'll answer it again, but a little differently.

I've been told my favorite band was Pink Floyd when I was really young. Like toddler age.

And in grade school, I loved Garth Brooks.

It appears my tastes have changed drastically lol.

36: Define Art.

Ooooh. Art. You know, I am super literal and once upon a time I would've said art is when you draw/paint/sculpt something. Decorate a museum kind of thing. But today? On a broader scale, I think art is just the act of creating something. Art is creativity, brought to life.

61: Are you wearing socks right now?

lol. no. but I do wear slippers when walking around my house. no bare feet on the floor 😶

90: One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do?

MUMMIES?! Like, plural? 😨😨

Err, I was just gonna say I'd probably freeze and have a panic attack or something, but instead, I typed out something goes bump in the night as a joke, and it turned into a whole ass short story 😅😂 Under the cut. No warnings.

Something goes bump in the night. Drowsily, I turn over and try to go back to sleep, but I hear a shuffle. Damn cat must've gotten locked in the bedroom again. I better go let it out. Using the light from my phone's screen to see, because turning on the lamp will fucking blind me, I sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed, only to find my way blocked. Huh?

I turn on my flashlight and look up into the black soulless pits that exist where a mummy's eyes should be. My heart stops in my chest, and I make the only noise I'm capable of making when I'm shocked senseless. *meep* I scramble back into bed, wildly waving my flashlight around. Mummies surround my bed, arms outstretched, trailing ragged strips of linen where their wrappings have degraded.

I have no idea what to do. My heart has resumed beating in a rhythm so frantic that it feels like my entire body is vibrating. To escape, I'd have to actually *touch* a mummy to push it out of my way. What if it grabs me instead? I huddle against the headboard, frozen with indecision.

Time passes, and nothing happens. I'm a little more confused than scared now, and I look at my phone, wondering if I should call someone. It's late, and even if they answered, who would believe me? So I dare to take a picture. If I'm gonna die tonight, let there at least be proof. And if by some miracle I don't die, I still want the fucking proof, because goddamn. This is fucking insane.

The mummies don't react to the flash of the camera. Hmm, maybe it's safe to leave after all. I take a few more pictures, just to be super sure nothing will happen, then slowly crawl across the bed. Gathering my nerve, I poke a mummy in the chest with my phone, then scramble back. Nothing. No reaction.

Alright then. It's hard to breathe as I actually contemplate doing this. But I don't see many other options here. And I'm not gonna just sit here and wait for the mummies to decide to act. So I very carefully climb out of bed and gently squeeze past two mummies, trying to make as little contact as possible. I creep out of my room, locking the door from the inside before I close it, and run. I run out of the house and lock myself in my car. Oh god oh god oh god. What the hell was that????

I can't just leave mummies in my house. It's fucking cold outside, and I don't have my keys. That was fucking stupid, but there's no way in fucking hell I'm going back inside. I do have my phone though, so I call the police. My voice is shaky and weak when I tell them someone broke into my house. I must sound convincingly terrified, because they promise to send someone out right away.

Soon, lights and sirens illuminate my street. Wow, they sent a bunch of people. I'm huddled in my car, shivering and slightly in shock, but I start laughing when the police go inside. I hear the edge of hysteria in my laughter, but it just makes me laugh harder. They're going to be in for a shock.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

📝 -verkja

Putting my blog name on the same line because otherwise the icon is Too Big

Thank you for the ask! From this little game.

Oh no, we can’t have a Too Big icon.

I actually really like alternating pov chapters! Merry and Damien for Glass Shards, Josephine and Valadan for Heal my Wounds. Especially with my beloved trope of “I’d like to stay together but I’m sure they’ll leave any second now” and then the other pov thinking the same :D

Ironically, Thorns as my longest project doesn’t work well for that; first he’s obviously captured alone, then I skipped his pov for the recovery because a) I wasn’t comfortable with that and b) it would have been boring. And the main part of the story is once again his pov only for style and spoiler reasons.

Most other vaguely outlined projects are also planned in multiple povs, except for that one story with Breannan, once again for spoiler reasons.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

🌵for your latest ask game? I would ask the one about your OC's dreams getting crushed, but, well, I can't ask you to write that many words.

-verkja

Thank you for the ask :D From this ask game.

🌵 Who’s the prickliest of your characters? The softest?

The prickliest is the minor char Raindrop. He doesn’t do well with... people. He has grown his clothes in the shape of thorny leaves and vines, so that’s about the prickliest it gets :D Of the major characters, I would say Damien is a pretty prickly one.

I think Caldyn is one of the softest chars, perhaps the softest. He enjoys cuddling, and he always wants to help everyone, and he’s calm and kind.

(I mean, he will be, once he can, uh, you know, move again and speak more than two words at once eheum.)

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

7, 10, and 20 for your ask meme?

-verkja

Thank you for the ask! From this game.

7. what books have shaped the way you think about writing the most? why?

Bold of you to assume I am thinking.

But for real, 99% of my books I just read for fun, and the moment I close them I probably couldn’t tell you the name of the main char, let alone what this book did supposedly good or bad (unless it did something extraordinarily bad).

Which, perhaps, is a way to think about writing in itself? I’m not here to create extraordinary prose; I’m here to tell a story I would like to read myself and that’s it.

There is one book I can think of. For some reasons, Once Stolen pushed me to thinking ���hey - perhaps I can write this” and I did. I’m not exactly sure why exactly this book, but there’s forever a Cacao-and-Thais shaped spot in my heart.

10. which patterns keep popping up in your projects/characters?

I mean... the pointless whump? :D

I guess a disproportionate large amount of my OCs has childhood trauma, and I always keep paring them up, most often in straight looking relationships, even if they’re not.

As for my story arcs, I guess I really do like to start with a character that’s almost dying, huh. Then have them pick their life back up, and just when it looks like things are going great, ruin it again :’)

20. where do you begin a WIP? ex: a mood, a scene, a certain character dynamic, etc. does this differ per project?

Usually it starts with a character, and me throwing other characters at it until one sticks, and then wondering how I can ruin their lives. That’s at least true for all current projects.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

For your emoji asks: ✨, ❌, and ✅?

-verkja

Thank you for the ask! :D For this ask game.

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

I, uh... sometimes know how to spell words? (You wouldn’t be able to tell if you’re chatting with me, I swear.)

I think it has improved a lot over the last year, to a point where I am happy with it. I’m secure in the (godforsaken) English dialogue punctuation, I manage to prevent 9 of 10 run on sentences while I write, and I am sooo close to nailing down my 10 most common word crimes I need to eliminate in editing.

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

Love triangle. Love triangle. Love triangle.

Unless it’s poly.

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

Whump, lol. I mean, now I do mean to, but all those outlines/drafts/ideas/OCs are from a time before i learned about the term. Same honestly with asexual chars; now that I know, I sure do write an allo char or two, but back then? No way.

I also really have to remind myself that some people can have nice parents who are alive.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

13 for Josephine and Valadan, 50 for Damien and Merridy, and 13 for Caldyn and Breannan (because it works for friendship too, and Seyonna has not appeared)? For your most recent ask game.

-verkja

Thank you for the ask! From this ask game.

13. What would they say each other’s best quality is?

Breannan: “There’s this... I don’t know, a calm kind of kindness about him. It’s easy to like him, to trust him. I know he was a good healer. He really cared. Once he even fixed one of my mint plants I had accidentally snapped. I hope... I hope one day he’ll be a healer again.”

Caldyn: “He’s so enthusiastic. About his students, and his studies, about everything. I love hearing him talk about things that are important to him. Whatever he picks up, he devotes himself to it.” He sighs. “Sometimes perhaps a bit too much. He needs to take better care of himself.”

50. Is there anything that scares them about their friendship/relationship?

Is there anything that ~doesn’t~ scare them?

Obviously, at the moment both manage to be equally afraid the other will figure that it’s time to leave and abandon them. Luckily they talk next week :D

For Damien, this fear will stay for quite a while, even once he knows she wants to stay. Additionally, he’s afraid of what would happen if he ever gets caught, that he would drag her down as well.

Merry believes quickly that he truly wants to stay, but is worried about his intentions, that eventually he might be looking for something she cannot give him.

Well since 13 was already answered for Josephine and Valadan, and I once promised you to answer every ask with ~angst~, let’s take 48 instead :)

48. Do they get on well with each other’s family? Is family important to them?

While Valadan meets Christine before the two of them leave the city, it will be a while before she introduces him to her parents. It goes as badly as she expected. They are not amused about her being in love with some lowly commoner, and they strongly hint that she could do better. Luckily, they don’t have to meet her parents often, and while she would really like their approval, she’s all but given up on that anyway; they also don’t approve of her new job, or anything she does, really.

If they ever learn that he was involved in her accident, shit will hit the fan :)

Things will get a bit better once the two of them will have their first child, as there’s really no doubt anymore that he’s there to stay, and if they ever want to see their grandchild(ren), they should fucking behave. Having like half a continent between them surely helps the relationship.

Damien is all the family Valadan has left, and it destroys him that in Undeserved, he had to pick between his brother and his wife. With his child on the way, he chose his wife, and it haunts him. And while he’s glad to learn that Damien escaped, he can’t forget the threat his brother made, and he’s secretly terrified that Damien might truly come after him for revenge.

It will take a while before the two meet again, and I don’t want to spoiler it (: But after a bit of a rough start they’ll get along well.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

How about 5 and 11 for the positive ask game?

-verkja

Thank you for the ask! From this list.

5. Tell us all about your greatest writing achievement (this is your permission to brag without judgement).

Finished a second novel draft in a month, missed the month again, this time it was a September 🤣 Only like 80k words though, englishing is hard.

11. Copy and paste a line of prose you are particularly proud of.

He remembered a dislocated shoulder, courtesy of his attempt to resist the wrongful arrest — and a split lip, courtesy of voicing his opinion about the virtue of his attacker’s mother.

There’s probably better ones, but this is the doc I have open and everything else is probably ~spoilers~ :D 

And for my fellow Germans:

Es war Merridy, die ihre Hand nach ihm ausstreckte und ihre Fingerspitzen auf seiner Schulter ruhen ließ, während seine wirren Gedanken ihn bis in Träume von Hühnern aus buntem Glas und Gärten voller Lavendelkissen verfolgten.

That was one of the few lines I really liked  looking at it again after 5 years.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

How about 4, 12, and 18 for your ask meme?

-verkja

Thank you for the ask! From this ask game.

4. Do you prefer physical whump or emotional/psychological whump?

You can’t just come here and ask me that. Usually my reflex is to say physical; the knives and chains and whips and other fun things. They’re kinda an aesthetic I like, so to speak, and damn, I am so happy when I find just the right mix.

But when I look at what hits me the hardest, what ends up on my shelf of adopted Whumpee’s I’ll protect with my life 5 min after getting to know them? Emotional.

(By which I mean plain angst, not any kind of psychological abuse - that’s not my thing.)

12. Why do you love whump?

Honestly, I have no idea. I just do.

The one or two theories I have (for myself!) will stay off Tumblr, especially in my current mood ;)

18. What whump content are you currently craving?

It’s so hard to put into words. Like, I wanna hold up a series and be like “This! This but again!” :’)

If I am fully honest, at this very moment, basically none - I can think of nothing but to write. I have 10 chapters to go, and some of them already made me almost cry in the outline, and I need to get it on paper bits and bytes, and I don’t have time and I don’t wanna read anything because I could be spending that time writing.

Once I’m done with that - I mean I am always looking for fantasy medieval whump, but I would love to see a healer or necromancer Whumpee in particular :D