#ask gef

[gefionne]

Hi! I love These Hands, if Not Gods and think your writing is gorgeous!

I was wondering about the Chronology of the story, or more specifically Ellana’s sections.

For some reason I was under the impression that Ellana’s sections took place about a year prior to the start of Inquisition.

However, with the mention of the Blight occurring in Ferelden in Chapter 16, that would place the Ellana sections about a decade prior to Inquisition.

I probably just misread or misinterpreted something that took to mean those sections took place roughly a year prior to Inquisition starting, but would it be possible for you to clarify when the Ellana sections take place?

Sorry if it’s an inconvenience, but it’s been on my mind.

Thanks! 💜

Hello, friend! I’m glad to clarify, since it’s genuinely not mentioned at all in the story until Ch. 16 when Ellana’s sections in contemporary Thedas are taking place. ❤️

It is indeed 9:30 Dragon, during the 5th Blight. A greater lore nerd could probably pin down the calendar month of the Battle of Denerim (9:31 Dragon) and figure out an exact timeline, but it’s not massively important to the overall story. What matters is that, yes, it’s at least a decade before the Conclave.

Ellana is 20 years old in the fic, so as Inquisitor, she’ll be 30/31.

I’ll put the rest under a cut because it’s a spoiler.

What does this mean for her and Solas? Well, we know the mage Lavellan backstory in DAI is as their clan’s First. I’m not planning on deviating from that, which means there’s a certain expected outcome of the contest with Hathaan. The contest will be held at the end of the story, if that puts a roadmap in perspective. And Solas will still have to raise the Veil, at the cost of falling into uthenera and waking to a world he doesn’t recognize but fundamentally shaped.

Very long story (literally) short, These Hands won’t get them to Inquisition in 9:41 Dragon. That’s what the sequel is for. 🪄

(And I know I write slowly right now and by the time that sequel rolls around, it’ll be a while, but I do have a vision.)

[gefionne]

Does your Lavellan have a favorite toe?

I sat on this for days going pondering the foot fetish implications in mild confusion, but then remembered that one line in These Hands where I said Felassan's toes were long and @sandetigerrr called me out lmao. Not my fetish, but not about to kink shame. But if she has a favorite toe, it's gonna be the second one on the right foot.

[gefionne]

When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers, if you can. Let’s spread the self-love. ♥️

Woohoo delayed answer to this, but thank you so much for asking! <3 I wouldn't say these are in ranked order of favorites, but they're all favorites in one way or another.

To the Wild and To the Both of Us - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Kira Nerys/Damar - I cite this pretty much any time anyone asks about my favorite fics I've done because it was a joy to write in a fit of inspiration in 2021 and it's a fic I can and love to reread today.

Worlds Collide - Mass Effect - Female Shepard/Nihlus Kryik - I started this in 2012 and it haunted me until 2020, when I picked it up to finish. It's an AU with worldbuilding and characters I'm very pleased with.

Metal & Dust - Pacific Rim - Mako Mori/Raleigh Beckett - There is a very specific feeling attached to this story that stands out as a real turning point in my love of writing. A canon retelling with ghost drifting and post-canon follow-up.

Tensile Fibres - Game of Thrones TV - Gendry/Arya Stark - One of my very oldest ships since I read ASOIAF in my young teens. It was wild to see it become canon, though I had to tweak the way it went down. I wrote this in a frenzy of need and I still really enjoy looking back at it.

Flyboys - Star Wars Sequel Trilogy - Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren - The fic that changed my life and brought me the coolest fandom experiences and best friends in the world.

[gefionne]

👹YOU👹

Your godsdamned fan fic will be living in my head for the rest of forever and I'm so fucking pleased with that. Taunting Solas with his moniker and calling him no better than a dog humping a leg, IM DECEASED.

I clicked on Mummer's Dance because I was A SPIRIT OF CURIOSITY I FUCKIN GUESS, and now I have to not only replay inquisition to romance Solas, I'm drowning in the Solavellan tag on AO3. I clicked your Tumblr link to let you know I'm suffering 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

I hope you have a pleasant Yule and happy holidays, I'm apparently going to go cry into a cup of coffee while fantasizing about broken hearts and bald fuckin wolf men.

**CACKLING EVIL LAUGHTER**

Yessss you have identified one of my very favorite parts of that fic!!! He needs to be taunted a little, riled up, if you will, to (Dread Wolf) take her. Break that restraint. Let the hot-blooded and cocky Solas free!

I'm sorry (not sorry) that you're suffering in Solavellan hell, but WELCOME MWAHAHAHA! I'm so glad The Mummers' Dance could suck you into it. Enjoy your Solamance run; it's always fun!

Thank you for the holiday wishes! A good new year to you, and may it be full of fantasizing about broken hearts and bald fuckin wolf men. >:) <3

[gefionne]

#i must know what this is!!! it's Pentiment, a videogame! and yes, it's in that style! It's such an incredible gaming experience, you make hard decisions, unravel misteries, pet cats, eat food with people while getting to know them and trying to see if you can find who is innocent and who is not. It has reflections on art, history, memory, grief, it's a very deep work.

I JUST LOOKED IT UP RIGHT AFTER I SAW THE POST AND BOUGHT IT INSTANTLY.

I am so inordinately excited to play it, holy SHIT.

[gefionne]

HI POOKIE....i'm coming to your ask box wondering if you have any book recs for the girlies (gn) who love These Hands and your works and your brain...i just feel like you would have wonderful taste and i think the people (me) gotta know!!!!! (pleaSE)

BELOVED!!! I can certainly do this!!! Although my recs aren't exactly new releases because my reading has been spotty and slow recently. But here are a few things that have been inspiration, of a kind, for a story like These Hands.

Secret of the Moon Conch by David Bowles and Guadalupe Garcia McCall - This is a YA book, and while I don't read a lot of YA normally, I stumbled upon it through my local library's Libby and really loved it. There's a big time travel element, hence the These Hands connection, between a Mexican teenage girl running for the US border and an Aztec youth in the 1500s facing down the Spanish invasion. A romance set against colonialism and the anti-immigrant sentiments in the modern US.

The Many-Colored Land by Julian May - This is out of print, so check your libraries or the Thriftbooks link, but it's the first in the Saga of Pliocene Exile and it's been a cherished part of my family since the 90s. In the far future of a galactic civilization, of which humans are the newest comers, a number of individuals unhappy with the modern world elect to go through a crude time gate in France to the Pliocene Epoch, where they expect to live a simple life of subsistence. But they discover the past is ruled by two warring alien races that landed on Earth. It's so immersive and so magical, a union of sci-fi with a very fantasy feel. I will never stop recommending it to everyone. Also more time travel because These Hands. And I've been rereading the series, which is prose goals.

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett - This is a big tone shift to something more charming, but I really love the prose style, the characters, and the magic of snarky faeries.

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley - Back the 80s for this one, and back to YA, but it was before YA was modern YA, so it's got such a lovely prose style that is also big goals. I was rereading it while I was working on the earlier chapters of These Hands as prosely inspiration. Young Harry (~18-20f) comes to the borderlands of Damar, which her English colonial vibes society is venturing into. The Damarians, a desert culture with a love of horses, are on the brink of war with the country on their north border. An ancient magic compels the king of Damar, Corlath, to kidnap Harry and bring her into the Hills to be trained as a warrior and she takes up the mantel of Damar's greatest lady hero, waking the magic in her own blood. Is it a product of its time? Yeah, but it's still a fave and I'll always love it.

<3333333

[gefionne]

your new solavellan fic has me half feral it's so good!! keep up the good work!!!!

Let's work on whole feral!!! jk THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm loving writing it!

[gefionne]

For the fic writer's asks:

😠 whats your least favorite part of your writing process?

🎀 how do you decide when something is done?

Plz and thank?

Thank you for asking! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

😠 whats your least favorite part of your writing process?

It used to be editing. I hated the idea of writing a second draft and tried to make the first one what I wanted. Now, I do draft more, especially with my current Solavellan fic, which is just as challenging as it is fun.

So probably my least favorite part of an evolving process is writing a first draft that sucks and then having to rewrite it. It takes 5ever. But damned if that rewritten part being something I'm happy with doesn't feel great!

🎀 how do you decide when something is done?

Hugely relevant to above!!! I draft and then revise, sit on it a day or two, then keep nitpicking and revising until it flows well when I read it aloud. I've recently started doing that and it's fun and helpful. I might make a few concessions in terms of aspects I'm not 100% thrilled with in order to call a chapter or fic done, but it's done when I'm 95% pleased with everything.

Thanks for the ask, new buddy-in-fic!!!