"Soon they were all sitting on the rocky ledge, which was still warm, watching the sun go down into the lake. It was the most beautiful evening, with the lake as blue as a cornflower and the sky flecked with rosy clouds. They held their hard-boiled eggs in one hand and a piece of bread and butter in the other, munching happily. There was a dish of salt for everyone to dip their eggs into.
‘I don’t know why, but the meals we have on picnics always taste so much nicer than the ones we have indoors,’ said George."
Enid Blyton
mutuals send me ✍️ and I'll tell you which quote/poem fits you
Please give it up for the nicest and one of the most creative writers in this fandom: Duck! I'm just such a fan because not only does Duck manage to write the softest, gentlest, loveliest Ed and Stede (both together and apart), their fics somehow perpetually keep me looking like 🥹 all the time ough. And they were very very nice about sharing their writing process with me:
What's your writing process like? Do you start with the beginning or the end? Do you write in order or as the scenes come to you?
Mostly it’s the Taika “look at a document for 8 hours and then close the document,” honestly. I’m a very slow writer and lose motivation very easily, so I mostly get by on the muse’s fire hydrant and forcing myself to write those fifty words even when every single one feels so bad.
I go moooostly beginning to end because even though I’m generally an outliner, I always end up with little details that will affect later scenes and I don’t wanna lose continuity or have to rewrite a bunch. However, I do definitely let myself do a [finish this scene later] and move on to the next scene because otherwise I will get really fucking stuck, and sometimes I’ll write a line or a paragraph I thought of that sounds really good and tuck it away for a later scene.
Favourite trope or headcanon you like to explore while writing?
Ooooooooh, I don’t know if this is a trope but there’s just nothing I love more than huge feelings contained in mundane stories, of feelings so big you can’t actually express them and so they’re this constant hum throughout the story. I also love writing about touch for both of them, how Ed gives casual touch to hide the deep well of desire for intimate touch, how Stede is so unused to touch and craves it so deeply. (Can you tell I just really like subtle yet overwhelming emotions? Maybe it’s the aroace in me idk but that shit hits HARD.) Oh, and I love a fuckin’ allegory or object to discuss all those big feelings, whether it’s monsters or gardening or peaches or what the fuck ever (I have used all of these lol).
Whose voice is easier to write - Ed or Stede? Why?
I think Ed’s voice comes to me faster because the way I personally speak is closer to Ed’s voice, but it also means I’m sometimes double-checking myself to make sure I’m still deep in his voice, not my-voice-but-Ed. Stede isn’t necessarily harder for me, I’m just doing all that double-checking to make sure I’m not slipping into Ed voice or, god forbid, Aziraphale-lite voice. So, idk! I love writing them both, the little details of each of their inner dialogues are SO important to me (Ed’s tangents and his pshh-I-don’t-care moments, Stede actively avoiding thinking about things he doesn’t want to face, etc etc etc).
Your personal favourite thing you've written that you'd like more people to read
For the longest time it was There is Love That Doesn’t Have a Place to Rest, mostly because it was posted the day before another fic and, while I find them to be siblings and equal quality, the other one got way more attention. That fic is about the time between signing the Act of Grace and getting to the academy and I think I really nailed where the two of them are at.
However! (And I know this is cheating okay shh.) Nowadays the one that I wish people read the most is Not Only the Sugar, But the Days. It’s the sequel to my “offscreen 30 year slowburn friends to lovers finally get together” fic and I put my whole fucking heart into it, honestly. The two boys basically go on a bunch of dates to live out the teenage experiences they never got together and work through the biggest feelings and I just! Really want people to see it! (It also can be read as a standalone, which I didn’t advertise super well lol.)
What is the one word that you think you use a lot?
Unfortunately it’s probably “just” or “a little” or filler words like that. Also obviously if the word fuck counts then, yeah, that. Maybe warm? Or something about yearning??? If I have a classic word please tell me I’m fascinated by this idea.
Do you have a beta reader? Have they made you a better writer?
The person who beta’s for basically all my fics is Owen @trans-top-stede and they are sooooo fucking helpful and incredible. So good at catching all the little things I miss, making sex scenes make sense, reminding me positioning in general is a thing, cheerleading me on, etc etc etc. My fics are so much better for their help.
Why OFMD 🥹
Ed and Stede just fit so fucking well into all sorts of AU’s (they try to invent their own AU’s in canon, even) while also having so much fun space to explore within canon. Their range is also perfect perfect perfect for writing fics—they can be in the wells of misery and fluffy as fuck and obnoxiously cheesy and realistic all in the same fic, if you want, and it’s completely accurate to their canon selves. It’s also helped me to embrace being silly and cheesy and earnest because life is about being yourself and finding your people and feeling deeper, feeling bigger, feeling more authentically without fear of being too much. Fuck I just really love these boys. (Also they’re so pretty and the whole crew’s so pretty we WON.)
Please head over to @ofmdlovelyletters (who also made the header) and send your love to all your favourite authors (and authors of the week 😈 watch that blog for some special letters coming your way)
🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?
I've suddenly forgotten every time I was like "I just went down a weird half hour rabbit hole about..." but the first thing I can think of off the top of my head is different kinds of dessert cheese and how they're made, for my cheesemonger au Wheel and Deal
🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?
I always love a long comment, but my actual favourite comments are anything that engages with the story/themes/whatever in a way that shows the person is thinking really about it, long or otherwise (and also your comments, of course 🧡)
🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?
Probably characterization/personality traits that feels actively counter to the way the characters are portrayed in the show? I'm fine with things that aren't part of the original character being added, but usually not at the expense of canon
Seller’s Remorse! @rirren and I were looking for something short and snappy, and related to Yassen's quote about Alex not promising more than he's willing to give, and this seemed a perfect fit.
An honourable mention goes to Calming the Storm, which also fit the vibes of the story really well.
20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?
Oh gosh, that's a hard question. I've definitely reread all of them at least once, but probably the one I've read most often is A Well-Earned Respite. If only because I tend to reread a story if someone leaves me a comment and that one got some new comments months after I posted it, which is always lovely. And also I just enjoy the hurt/comfort and Yassen's point of view.
[ID: A drawing from Rusty Quill Gaming an AP podcast. The drawing is in a monotone blue. Oscar Wilde is seated in a chair in the center of the picture, his expression is a tired scowl and he is slouched forward, his elbows resting on his knees. Sasha and Grizzop flank his sides. They are both turned away and they are both in guarded stances. Directly behind Wilde and mostly obscured is Zolf. He is also turned away looking into a jail cell. Behind the bars are Azu and Hamid, mostly hidden, Azu is bent forward holding Hamid.
At the top and bottom of the graphic there are transparent dark blue bars holding light blue text. At the top of the page is the text 'How Many Second Chances Will We Get' below it says 'Writer: ADHDuck' At the bottom of the page it says 'Artists: Guinevere01 & EvieeBun125' End ID]
Usually the only things capable of dragging Grizzop into sleep are either exhaustion or a begrudging acceptance he has to rest for his spells to replenish. Tonight, his adrenaline is miles ahead of exhaustion, and he’s not getting his spells back either way, since they seem to be in an anti-magic cell. So he’s awake when it happens, bow readied across his lap, still as he can manage so he’ll hear any disturbances–one moment, he’s squinting into the empty monochrome beyond the bars, and the next everything is…wrong.
Or: No one gets lost in Rome, but there are consequences to dragging your friends back through thousands of years–namely, reliving quarantine over, and over, and over again.
AUTHOR
@adhduck
Hey! I’m Duck, local lover of Zolf who can’t get over the LOLOMG or the clutch.
ARTISTS
@guinevere01
Hi! I’m Tish and I can’t resist the chance for a happy ending different angsty ending for Grizzop my absolute beloved.
@evieebun125
Hiya! I’m Eviee, big time Hamid lover and prolific artist.
My computer died but it's working again so! here we go!
Not sure if you wanted just blorbos or the whole ask list so we're doing all of them lol
blorbo (favorite) : Melanie!!! I just! think! she's! neat! I did a cosplay of her 2 years ago at a con. Also she's bi because I'm bi and I love her. I think she has a lot of nuance that isn't always addressed, from sort of embracing the Slaughter (or at least not turning it away and acknowledging that it's always been in her) to freeing herself from the Institute to trying to make a life outside it all but still welcoming Jon as a friend even after everything? She tries so hard???
skrunkly (cute character): I mean the Admiral would be the easy answer lol but probably Martin? He's like number 2 blorbo for me too. "I can't hear you Elias there's a door in the way" is the best. And knowing that he's a bigger guy and seeing people draw him as fat but people still love him? Idk it makes me feel better about my own body. And his "I think our experience of the universe still has value, even if it disappears forever" is something I am legit considering getting as a tattoo
Oliver Banks is an honorary blorbo too. "I can't sleep so I'm going to impersonate a scientist and go on a boat to Point Nemo oh whoops here's a satellite!" He doesn't want this but he also knows he can't avoid it so he just kind of vibes.
scrimblo bimblo (underappreciated fave): Georgie! This is a Georgie Defense Zone! She had every right to pull herself out of everything going on with Jon, she didn't have any obligation to try and pull him out of it or support him. She was taking care of herself and all she saw was the guy she once knew seemingly choosing to continue a self-destructive pattern so she cut herself out of it. But she saw Melanie trying to get out of it and she supported her. And it's not like she doesn't support Jon! She wants him to be free of all the Institute nonsense but to her he doesn't want help, so she's not going to bend over backwards to save him. SORRY I'm very defensive of Georgie Barker lol
glup shitto (obscure fave): Adelard Dekker! King! He sees a problem and he pours it in concrete. Done. If he hadn't died he probably would've become an accidental avatar of the Buried.
poor little meow meow (problematic fave): Elias/Jonah. Listen. Listen. This is also an Eliasfucker Support Zone. If they didn't want Eliasfuckers they shouldn't have let Ben sound like that. And Jonah is my favorite kind of villain where there's no "oh I'm actually doing this for the good of the world you just don't see it" it's fully "I'm doing this for me! I don't give a shit about anyone else!"
horse plinko (character I would torment for fun): Manuela Dominguez. The Dark is just so dumb. Like, yes, people are afraid of the dark, but the Dark Sun? She's a scientist and yet she's the person least concerned with science I've ever met. She would absolutely be an anti-masker.
eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): the Not!Them. There is nothing redeeming about them except for when Jon smote them. At least Nikola has a flair for the dramatic and good taste in moisturizer, the Not!Them is fully just a dick
