The Casebook of Sloane Larson

A sideblog for the Fanfic Series, written for NBC's Grimm

[sloanescasebook]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Link for the whole series! Cause I want a few more posts on here, so I think I’ll paste some individual links and maybe even comment on the chapters--like things from my notes and stuff.

If you’d like to read it all as one fic, here’s the mirror where they’re just chapters in one fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26576161/chapters/64792210

[sloanescasebook]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/86097896

Yes, it's finally back! As always, sorry for the wait. I never intend it to be so long between chapters, but this year really has been...tough. More on that in the chapter description. To make it a bit more light hearted I did a Scooby-Doo inspired chapter as suggested by my mom! But i added mind control worms. ...So fun!

The worms were very much inspired by the ones in Slither.

But rather than aliens, I made them a kind of fungus. Mostly inspired by Resident Evil 4, but a little The Last of Us too since I referenced cordyceps. I also added in easter eggs to reanimator, The Thing, Alien, Invasion of the Body Snatchers...lots of movies in that vein XD But, since this was mainly about Scooby, a lot of references to the old cartoon and the live action movies. And since Matthew Lillard was in those and Scream, and Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddy Prince Jr. were also in I Know What You Did Last Summer, I felt compelled to reference those too.

If I could direct this as an "episode", the villains would be played by them XD I very much based Pen on Stu Macher from Scream dialed up a bit. Deacon would be Freddy Prince Jr., and Babara and Tammy keep switching between Jennifer Love Hewitt and Neve Cambell in my head. Or Sarah Michelle Gellar.

The kid's parents make a brief appearance, but i based them on:

Starla and Bill from Slither

Herbert West from Reanimator (for the smarts and Intensity mainly) and Sidney Prescott from Scream

Ellen Ripley from Alien

And RJ McReady from The Thing

Again, lots of other references all through out! Let me know if you noticed any :D

[holmesandtheroman]

NOTICE: As more and more fanfic writers are using generative AI for their works (you uncreative dweebs), I hereby swear on everything I hold dear that I have not and will NEVER use generative AI in ANY of my written work. Everything I post will be organically and creatively my own.

[voidspacecowboy]

Not only should it be law that anything AI generated on the internet should be labelled as such but every website, app, and digital service should have a button I can click that removes any AI from my interactions with that site/service. I don't want your AI assistant I don't want your AI-generated ad copy I don't want this insidious little thing that has crept into so much of the internet that I can be using it without even realising or knowing. If you couldn't be bothered to have a human make it I can't be bothered to look at it sorry bye

[reiding-and-writing]

Reblog if you're a fanfic writer and you wanna know what your followers' favorite story of yours is ❤

[sloanescasebook]

I'm about halfway done with the new story ...and my laptop died.

To be more exact the keyboard died but I kinda need that to write. Luckily I don't save my work directly on computers since one a couple models ago literally went up in smoke. I've ordered a new one, but after a lot of other sudden expenses (cars and cats and coughs) I'm very bummed 😞 but I'm going to try and do something fun...

Someone suggested I should make more art/illustrations...

[elleldoe]

kudos to writers with dialogue-heavy works, I got mad respect for y'all. love using dialogue as a tool, but my default settings are non-verbal (dialogue) and non-stop yapping (description).

[dionysiaproductions]

[sloanescasebook]

Thoughts on 41-Taken in Vein

So, after posting it a few days ago, I thought I'd talk about my more recent chapter of CoSL...

And what a pain in the ass it was.

I mean, not really. I enjoyed writing it. The problem was I kept re-writing it.

Dracula and vampires were always a big thing for me, since I was a kid. My dad actually read me Dracula when I was like 7, I was a big fan of The Little Vampire and an old cartoon called the Ketchup Vampires. I even played a vampire at a theater camp production. So I had a lot of nostalgia for this topic.

I also have since read a lot more vampire novels--classics like Carmilla and newer stuff too. (I will say I tried Twilight when it came out at my high school...but I didn't really gel with it, I say politely). I'm a horror movie nerd so there's that too. So though the election, holidays, etc took a lot out of me, I was trying my best to get it out there.

I just had too many ideas.

I conceived this plot a long time ago, probably two years now, as a quick idea blurb in my idea's file. Originally, the main couple was going to be two girls--Lisa and Meena, who were both medical professionals. The story was still about a stalker but it would be Meena's former fiancee as she came from and Indian family that tried to arrange a marriage that she walked out on for Lisa. Like before, they'd both be a kind of blood drinking vampiric wesen--Lisa being a more straightforward bat-like vampire and Meena a Raksha, a blood drinking Indian creature.

But I realized I wanted a male gay couple. Mim and Jean play a big part, I've made allusions to Sloane's past girlfriend (who will be making an appearance one day soon...i hope), Gallan and her crush on Zima, and Dierdre and Victoria were a thing once. By contrast, I didn't have a lot of M/M couples. Kind of a surprise given my fanfiction start was chiefly Yaoi back on FF. Net...

Anyway, just making them guys wasn't doing it for me. So I played around and I made Misha and...Lucas. Yeah, Vaughn's name was originally Lucas, still to play on "MIna and Lucy". John or Joanna was going to be the ex turned stalker. But it still wasn't working.

Around this time, Microsoft Word pissed me off. I'd used it for years, figuring I was at least using it enough to make the price valid. Then they put AI in it. Not as an option, as an "included feature". Seeing "copilot" and it's tab annoyed me enough, but it also started asking EVERY NEW PARAGRAPH if i wanted to have Copilot work on it. I honestly did feel insulted. Then to add injury to my insult, I get a notice a week before my subscription (don't even get me started, I don't know why I put up with it all these years aside from fear of change) renewed they were going to HIKE MY SUB PRICE UP BECAUSE "OH, WE HAVE AI NOW SO IT'S WORTH MORE." For a feature I did not want and did not ask for and would rather never write again than use. Fuck you Microsoft. Even better, since my sub was through Best Buy (fuck them too) I tried to cancel online and it wouldn't let me log in. This felt planned. Unlucky for them, I'm angry enough to go 45 minutes to the nearest bestbuy and cancel it in person 2 days before the renewal. I was apparently refunded 22 cents. I've switched over to LIbre office and despite a learning curve and a bit of frustration with having a lot of perfectly normal words it doesn't know apparently, it's good.

So, I went back to writing. I brought in some Carmilla inspirations. Berta originally was going to be a bitchy, unprofessional nurse that had a crush on Lucas and was causing trouble for Misha, as a red herring who ends up dead. I liked that, especially her death scene, but it wasn't working for me.I kept playing around with who the stalker wanted, Misha or Lucas, and who the suspect was going to be. I started really messing up my timeline and events...So I started using Millinote to try and keep track of things. I was really starting to feel like this pic of Charlie Day

Finally, I think draft...6? Not full chapters mind you, usually about halfway on all of them before I started over or cut and pasted stuff around because something wasn't working or i got a new idea. Probably most of them are at least 25K...Finally, I made Roberta a vampire obsessed weird news girl because her last name, Swale, was the character in Dracula who tried to warn people something was wrong when the ship, The Demeter, docked with the crew gone. And ended up dead because of it. That actually started making a lot of other things fall into place--Misha's friends being killed, his past, why he's so paranoid, etc. I renamed Lucas "Vaughn" because it felt more contemporary while also having a very vampiric feel to it, and used Lussier for Misha's colleague's last name because it was like "Lucy".

I really liked the end result. I do wish I got to keep a bit of the drama at the hospital, but considering i was OVER A03's WORD LIMIT when i first tried to publish, I had to trim even more. Mostly I tried to streamline areas. I cut Sloane and Dierdre talking and moved it to the next chapter (:3) and I cut a few smaller parts...Including one part of Nick showing why people might find vampire romance novels enticing.

I've cut or put off other scenes before...I'm considering doing a "missing moments" doc with them and bits we didn't see but I inferred. If there's anything that's got you curious let me know. I could even make it...spicy. (I haven't done NSFW in so long though, omg...)

[sloanescasebook]

Long ago, I made Sloane's house in Sims4 for reference, and now I've made Monroe and Rosalee's new house! I was inspired by a real house in Portland I found on Zillow, but I'm not comfortable posting photos of it as a private residence. So I did my own version. Not included are the laundry area with the chute and dumbwaiter because...I don't think i have that option in Sims? I also made Monroe and Rosalee but i can't seem to get good screen grabs of them...

[mxanigel]

Sharing fanfic updates be like

[sloanescasebook]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/65585746

It lives!! (though not sure why the link format is not working)

Yes, we're back! With a vampire case! This one has A LOT of references, so check below the cut for a list...after you read, maybe.

Misha Murnau—A play on “Mina Murray”, the object of Dracula's desire. But, also a reference to F.W. Murnau, director of Nosferatu

Aubrey Lussier—Patrick Lussier directed Dracula 2000 and it's also a reference to Lucy from Dracula (being the first clear victim). Aubrey is a character in The Vampyre, by John William Polidori.

Joan Harper—a reference to Johnathan Harker, the lawyer/realestate worker who first encounters Dracula. Van Essen is also a reference to his boss of the same name.

Nadja—also a vampire movie

Ambrose Redfield—Ambrose is a hungarian first name that means “immortal” (his goal) and Redfield is a close ringer to Renfield, Dracula's henchman, and also a “Field of Red”. His put on Hungarian accent is from Bella Lugosi.

Camille—a more modern sounding ringer for “Karmilla”.

Seward Psychiatric Offices—Reference to Dr. Seward in Dracula

Dust till Dawn Cleaners—Reference to the vampire movie From Dusk till Dawn

Hammer Street—Refrence to Hammer Films, who had it's own Dracula movie, as well as SEVERAL sequels, most of which featured Christopher Lee in lead: The Brides of Dracula (1960), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973; Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride in the U.S.), and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974; The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula in the U.S.), featuring John Forbes-Robertson as Dracula in place of Christopher Lee.)

Dr. Browning and Dr. Dreyer—Reference to Tod Browning, director of Dracula(1931) and Carl Theodore Dreyer, director of Vampyr (1932)

Claudia—yes, a brief reference to Interview with a Vampire

Roberta Swale—A combination of Bertha Rheinfeldt from, the girl who has a crush on Karmilla in the titular book, and Swales from Dracula who tried to warn others about the weird shit is coming.

Quincy—named for Quincy Morris, the Texan from Dracula

Tom Knock—Knock is Orlok's manservant and a secondary antagonist in Nosferatu(1922). I very nearly made him a racoon because it sounds a little like Tom Nook, but that didn't fit. He is a reference however to the swarms of rats in the more recent 2024 version. I did consider having him summon some, but I had enough going on.

Alan Polselli—Random first name, but the last name is of an Italian director who did a couple of vampire movies back in the day.

Lion's Court Apartments—alludes to Lestat de Lioncourt of Interview with a Vampire

Exeter street—Exeter, England is where Mina and Johnathan live in Dracula

And of course lots of moments were inspired by scenes from various vampire movies and books.

[quantum-dragon]

[semperintrepida]

This is the worst timeline. (x)

[pftones3482]

If you do this with my fics, or anyone's fics, please know I HATE you. I hate you more than every troll comment, every "your writing sucks kys" comment, every "update soon" comment. I hate you. Other authors hate you. If you want my fic, you either WAIT for it or you pay me for it. And if you won't do one of those things, you don't deserve my fic or anyone else's.

[shadowmaat]

All this does is tell me that you don't see me as a person. All I am is a content machine, and if I'm not working fast enough, you'll feed my writing into a different machine and gobble down whatever it shits out for you.

TBF this problem has been growing for a while. The rise of Generative Artificial Garbage simply makes it really, really stark.

[bebx]

[fixomnia-scribble]

*shifts feet awkwardly and looks down*

[sloanescasebook]

[sloanescasebook]

This chapter is going...well

[sgt-tombstone]

Fanfic/Author Ask Game

Write a scene from [insert fic] in another character’s POV

Which of your fics is your pride and joy?

What are your top three most commonly used tags on AO3?

What are some words or phrases you feel like you overuse?

What’s something you learned while researching a fic?

Would you ever accept requests or commissions?

Coffee or tea while you write?

What is your favorite line/section from [insert fic]?

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

Is there a character or ship you'd love to write for, but haven't yet?

What makes a fic 'successful' in your opinion?

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Do you have an 'official' creative writing background such as a degree or previous experience publishing?

What makes you happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers, or Tumblr asks?

Does anyone you know in real life know you write fanfiction?

What do you struggle with most when writing?

What is something you recently felt proud of in your writing?

How many WIPs do you have and how many do you expect to finish?

How do you get over writer's block?

Share your favorite kiss scene from [insert fic]. If there's no kiss scene, share your favorite moment of intimacy (romantic or platonic)

What stops you from writing more in your free time?

Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

Which scene/theme was the inspiration for [insert fic]?

Are there any moments in [insert fic] that feel "blurry" to you? Is this a stylistic choice, or would you go back and clarify the descriptions if you were given the chance?

Do you ever "prep" your fics with outlines or warmups before you start writing, or do you just dive right in?

Are any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?

How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

Have you noticed your style change over time?

What fic meant the most to you to write?

A character you enjoy making suffer.

A character you want to protect.

What is your favorite fic to get comments/messages on?

Wild Card: Ask me something else!