#em-gray

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

funky new theme! anyway for the fic writer ask thingy: 7, 14, 15, 18

Yeah!!!  Tumblr wiped my old one (which I am sad about) but this one is nice, too.

7. Which part of writing do you struggle with most? 

FINISHING, UGH.  Everything is fine when I’m excited about a fic but once the initial motivation is gone it’s a SLOUGH.  HATE THAT.

14. If you were stuck on a desert island with only two characters, which would you pick?

Oh hm.  From anything?  Jem Carstairs from TSC and Nile Freeman from TOG would be an interesting combination.  Fairly certain that between them they could keep us all alive, and Jem would keep us all sane.  Also would be some interesting conversations.  In addition, you KNOW Nile would find us a way off the island and back home in no time.

15. A Hollywood producer tells you that they want to film just one of your fics. Which fic would you want it to be?

OH.  FUCK.  UH.  GOTTA THINK.  Leaning toward Every Earthly Mark (aka the BNHA kiribaku soulmate fic) because it’s the one I’m converting into an original story?  But I mean... the Soulmate’s Guide is also very up there.  It definitely should be a soulmate fic because I LOVE those.  Ohhhhh but depending on production it would be REALLY EFFING COOL to see The Monstrophagus on the big screen.  It would be like Stranger Things except romance.

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

TW for death and graphic descriptions of corpses, but I think this one is my favorite right now:

“They are.  Too late, that is.  Nile gasps above Joe, the flashlight in her hand beginning to waver as Joe reaches down, hand hovering over Nicolo’s gaunt cheek.  His eyes are open and staring, his chest unmoving, the water still in the bottom of the iron maiden also filling his slack mouth.  He’s a corpse—dead, nude, with hair and beard discolored green and impossibly long, skin gray and wrinkled from the water.  He’s thin, skeletal, and his arms are folded up by his sides to make room for his nails, which are long and curling.  His legs, too, are folded to make room for his toe-nails, that plus his gauntness making him seem impossibly small.  He’s like something inhuman, something dead but something divine—a being caught somewhere between constant death and eternal life.”

~Saltwater Sonata

It was one of the very first scenes I wrote for SS, long before I even had most of the plot figured out.  I just... I had this image in my head of Nicky coming out of the iron maiden for the first time in five hundred years, so vivid it felt like a waking dream.  Like a flashbulb going off, it just came to me.  Something dead but something divine... something between constant death and eternal life.  Like, wow.  That’s inspired. 

Not that that was all it took.  It took a LOT more than that to get it here, to this state.  It was the first scene in SS chronologically that showed Nicky’s physical state after spending so long under the sea, and that was super important to get right.  The movie kind of brushed over what would happen to a human who can’t die if they spent five hundred years underwater, but I had this morbid need to think about it and reconstruct it as realistically as possible.  This scene is fairly short, but very descriptive, because I did a LOT of research and math to figure out what, exactly, it would look like.  I’m just really proud of this scene because of the combination of raw vibes AND ALSO all the care and research that went into it.  Long live Nicolo di Genova, the soul at the bottom of the sea.

[novantinuum]

hey congrats on making me cry with your su amv! (seriously though, it's amazing. awesome job!)

aaA oh my goodness i’m tbh kinda overwhelmed by the sweet, sweet sudden outpouring of kindness i’m getting tonight! <3

thank you so much!

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

for the fanfic thing: tsgtpap has a special place in my heart, though it would be a tough choice between that one and masked. what can I say? I'm a sucker for lengthy fics, aus and extensive worldbuilding haha. minor shout-out to the other end of the noose bc I absolutely LOATHE it but it still makes me feel things so that means something dhfjfj. Honorable mention: radio ship. I'm,,,, just listing all your tggtvav fics at this point ANYWAY

LMFAO i have this feeling that you will just... never forgive me for the other side of the noose and fifty years from now you’re just going to be like ‘hey you remember that time you killed mercy because i do fuck you’ 

THANK YOU THO I’M CRY

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

writer asks! 11, 12, 23, 33

Ahhh thank you!!!

11. Who or what do you find yourself writing about most?

Found family, hurt/comfort, trauma and coping mechanisms... that sort of thing.  I used to only write Gen works but I’ve branched out into romantic ships and now I think I tend to focus on found family and hurt/comfort WITHIN ships.

12. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about.

Oh!  I just started one that seems like it’s gonna be fun.  It’s called the succulent AU and it’s a TOG fic where Andy and Quynh own a plant shop that employs veterans.  Joe and Booker both work for them.  Joe isn’t a vet but he wriggled his way in because he was sick as a kid/teen and he convinced Andy that he’s a warrior, too, he was just fighting for his life rather than a different cause. 

Anyway the basic plot is that Nicky is fresh out of the military, picking up the pieces after a debilitating head injury, and his doctor (Copley) gives him a succulent as a gift.  And Nicky is like... deep depression, gives no shits.  He’s about to let the succulent die.  But he finds that he just... he can’t.  He’s guilty and shameful and he doesn’t actually want to kill this little plant.  So he does some research and nurses it back to health.  And then he’s like you know what this plant needs?  A buddy.  And so he goes to the plant shop to buy it a buddy and suddenly gets involved with all of the others, especially Joe, who he doesn’t get on well with at first.  And then the whole story is Nicky growing and healing as he takes care of plants and becomes friends and then more with Joe and all the others!

23. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas? 

I’ll take anything you’ve got, tbh.  I don’t really have a deficit of my own ideas but it’s always fun to have a bunch of them to pick from when I want to write something.  I just throw the prompts and ideas I don’t use onto AO3 tbh.  That said, however, I’m particularly bad with challenges.  I can’t focus on one thing to save my life.  Challenges are fun but unless I’m doing them with other people I never finish anything.

33. Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.  I mean... It can be annoying to get ‘please update’ messages.  I think that’s the only thing I ever want to tell people, is like... don’t demand updates.  I want to write them just as much as you want to read them, so if they’re not coming to me it stresses everyone out, me most of all.  I love talking about status updates but there’s a difference between ‘how far are you on chapter 6′ and ‘please update soon’.  Idk. 

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

for the wip ask thingy: atm I'm v excited about ch2 of wlbtlg aaaaand about that soulmate quarantine fic you mentioned!! oh and I am of course always looking forward to new masked chapters. and I'm still curious about the number twenty!! that's just. all your tggtvav wips. oops. um. well. just consider that the order of what I'm most excited about. tho rlly i love them all

*cackling* That really is all my tggtvav WIPs, oh my god.  Oh no wait, you missed one (1) tggtvav WIP that I’m currently working on, which is the sequel to the one where they’re a band and they’re livestreaming music.  And my challenge fic, I guess, but that one’s a secret ;)

LET’S SEE.  The wlbtlg chapter 2 is about.... 1/6th of the way done.  I’m gonna work on it tomorrow, I think.  We’ll see what happens.  It’s got a solid outline, so that’ll be fun to work with :D !!!

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

HELLO HERE'S THE THING you know what thing: K, N, H, P, X

THANK THANK THANK

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

In TGGTVAV?  Definitely Monty, with a shoutout to Felicity (in the Lady’s Guide).  Monty learning to overcome bad coping mechanisms, to accept his past and create a better future??  That is the most beautiful thing I could ever imagine.

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

FOR TGGTVAV AGAIN: let’s see.  I like fluff to an extent, but I do not care for fics that don’t acknowledge people’s past trauma.  So fluffy fics that don’t mention Henri the Senior or Percy’s illness?  Miss me.  Otherwise I’m pretty content with the TGGTVAV stuff.  I always want more soulmate fics, so that would be nice, but uh.... other than that I can’t think of anything.

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

Uhhhh........ wikis.  LMFAO OKAY NO.  I think my hyperfixations have been pretty spread out?  There was one webcomic, one western cartoon, two animes, one (fucking enormous) book series.... wait maybe two book series if you count Unwind?  But I haven’t written any fic for Unwind so unsure if it really counts for this.  Same with Supernatural.  Idk, this is a very hard question, actually.  Anything but movies, maybe??  I’ve never hyperfixated on a movie--it needs to be longer than two hours of media, I’ve found.  I guess the answer to this is ‘if it’s decently long and I can invest in it I like it’.  

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

OKAY.  IT”S GONNA BE A SOULMATE AU BECAUSE I SAID SO.  HERE WE GO: 

Soulmate AU where, in times long past, there was a magic spell that would tell you the name of your soulmate and their location if you cast it correctly.  It used molten silver, and the silver would form the words telling you the information.  The spell has been lost for generations, however, and most people call it apocrypha.  Until one day in the modern world a scientist discovers that the silver in one of their experiments is acting very strangely...

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

FOUND FAMILY.  YUP, THAT’S THE ONE.  LOVE ME SOME FOUND FAMILY.  CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF IT.

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

hi! for the worldbuilding post - not sure this is exactly what you meant, but if you had to pick one from all the worlds/aus/... you've created over the years, which one's your favorite?

why must you ask me such hard questions.... i gotta think about this.....

okay i think i got this figured out.  

worldbuilding-wise, my favorite right now has to be Masked, though Every Earthly Mark is a close second.  :thinking face:  they’re both non-traditional soulmate AUs and non-traditional romances, with a lot of depth to them :O  

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

hi!! for the fanfic writer asks: 9 for tsgtpap, 12 and 33!!

OH HECK YEAH!!  I’M LIVING THE DREAM OMFG

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?

GOD it’s so hard to choose.  I guess Monty’s beating?  It was just--one of the very first things that came to me in that AU, the idea that they shared the pain of that beating, of broken ribs and a concussion.  That scene pretty much shaped the entire story.  

Another good one is the scene where they sit on the roof of the carport and have that deep conversation.  It’s lowkey and emotional and I love it a lot.

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?

Gut instinct says Shiro from Voltron!  He’s lowkey HILARIOUS but also super resilient and deeply, deeply empathetic, so there’s always an undercurrent of, like... love and acceptance and strength to the stories that have Shiro’s POV or Shiro as a main character?  He’s a survivor and writing him makes me want to survive, too.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

GOD.  There’s so many good ones... here’s one I quoted on my AO3 profile bio: 

"This has been some extremely masterful angst, masterful character writing and masterful tenderness through the pain."

Like wow :’D 

Also someone once told me that they read TGGTVAV because they were following my fics and I lost my mIND.  ALSO lost my mind when someone told me they made a playlist for one of my fics.  So good.... y’all spoil me lol.