Some themed lists of my shadowgast works under the cut, including:
atmospheric one shots
modern and/or human aus
academia aus
silly, fluffy one shots
fics set in Exandria
long fics
smutty fics
This was suggested to me a while ago by a friend. I've written a bunch of shadowgast fics with different tags, ratings and vibes, but there are recurring patterns in most of them. I hope this is useful to anyone who'd like to approach my body of work, or reread some of it, or feels in the mood for something very specific, or wants to read the exact same fic again but different.
Atmospheric One-Shots
Fics set in a distant time and place, with a focus on the characters but also a rich backdrop of history and lore. Best enjoyed in a cozy setting with your warm beverage of choice.
the end of all our exploring (the gardener fic)
The Empire of Lights (the vibes au)
remote times and places and ultimate causes (the medieval au)
at the violet hour (the long distance relationship fic)
Modern and/or Human AUs
These stories have an emphasis on the modern setting and are farther from canon. Read if you want to meet the wizards at school, at work, on a train, at a conference...
strange magic (set in "modern" Rexxentrum)
The Empire of Lights (set in "modern" Rosohna)
remote times and places and ultimate causes (set in real life Europe in the Middle Ages)
after hours (they meet in a bar)
all this science i don't understand (small town vibes)
(your face in my hands is) everything good i need (set in modern France and Germany)
Fundamental Forces Other Than Gravity (set in "modern" Rosohna)
Academia AUs
Stories that emphasize the academic setting, with the wizards as either students or teachers. Just a different flavor of nerds in their natural habitat, really.
(your face in my hands is) everything good i need (humanities professors)
Fundamental Forces Other Than Gravity (grad student/TA)
all this science i don't understand (high school teachers)
life's too short to even care at all (they found a school in canon Exandria)
Silly, Fluffy One-Shots
Bite-sized snacks with a high sugar content, with no other purpose than putting a smile on your face. Read as a quick pick-me-up whenever things are hard.
library etiquette (a big misunderstanding)
strange magic (the commuter au)
after hours (the blind date au)
Fics Set in Exandria
Either canon compliant or divergent, these fics are all set in the world of Critical Role. If you're not a modern au person and would rather enjoy the wizards in their original setting, these are for you.
at the violet hour (mainly set in Caleb's house in Rexxentrum)
the end of all our exploring (set in Blumenthal)
eleventh hour (set on a beach in Rumblecusp)
the to make an end series (set in Aeor)
displacement (also set in Aeor)
birds of prey (a Scourger au that eventually becomes a retelling of campaign 2, set all over Wildemount)
eternally present, unredeemable (mainly set in the Cobalt Soul Archive in Zadash)
life's too short to even care at all (set in Caleb and Essek's school, near Zadash)
soft driven slow and mad like some new language (set in the Nein Sided Tower)
Long Fics
Sometimes you want to curl up with tea and a novel-worth of fic. This list has got you covered.
birds of prey ("evil" au, still in progress)
The Witcher au (your wizards, but as a witcher and a sorcerer)
The cost of living series (unfinished, but still pretty long)
Smutty Fics
I know some of you are here for this, and good for you. These are my spiciest one-shots, enjoy.
jealousy
discretion (with saturdaysky)
antinomy
displacement
remote times and places and ultimate causes
risk exposure from the birds of prey series
the awful daring of a moment’s surrender from the to make an end series
where's the point in hurrying (when waiting feels so great)
soft driven slow and mad like some new language
an interlude and musica universalis from the cost of living series
I love and miss working on playlists as part of my writing process. Do people still enjoy fic soundtracks? I found so many new artists through them but it all feels very self indulgent.
If i were to make playlists for This Devotion, do people like character-specific lists or just. Plot chronology soundtrack?! So curious!!?
Posting this playlist for Dogwood and Hawthorn, five songs per chapter, Down below is the YouTube version which switches out Oraanu by E.S. Posthumus with a See-U vocaloid track called Dawn of the Empire by Sangnoksu, as that track isn't on Spotify and I wrote part of chapter five with that song in mind. What I get for being specific I guess. If the YT link doesn't work let me know, though the link should work just fine, it's unlisted but anyone with the link should have access.
thanks for the tags @serensama & @sorcerousadventurer; I will pass this tag onto @jenn2d2, @serstolas, @jukkaricity, @zennihilation, & whoever else has something to share and hasn't been tagged yet this week <3
The only other thing I have that I can really share this week is something I don't want to spoil, so I'm also gonna do something a little bit different and talk about a playlist I'm currently building for Neon Dark! It's def still a work in progress, so it counts right? It's primarily just a lot vibes that I'm trying whittle down, but some of the main songs are below the cut in no particular order :)
here is the tidy version of the playlist (sorry it’s a spotify link, i haven’t found an alternative that works for me yet 😔🙏 )
1. Landmines - BELLSAINT
Holding onto you is like guarding a grenade / Slow dancing on landmines / It's only a matter of time / Oh but I can't resist, oh I can't resist / Slow dancing on landmines / Love is a target / With my heart painted on it / I swim with sharks in the neon dark / I'm quick to make a joke / Stay too busy to fall apart /.../ Any minute now / I know it's gonna blow up in my face
2. Echo - CLAVVS
All I seem to find / Is darkness in the twilight / Chaos in the riptide / And even when I / Try to hide / You find me / In the dead of night/ Are you a phantom? / Or just a shadow? / You look like heaven / The one place I can't go / And it's a prison / To love a shadow / To chase an echo
3. Flames - Tedy
I trust no one it's a habit / I don't belong no need to panic / I see the end before it started / Don't need anybody / Cause' all you bring is sadness / But when I near you I feel flames / I touch the fire I get burned / I feel this rush beneath my feet it's like I'm falling / Is this love / Oh, is this love / This is so sudden I need time / No need to rush cause' I ain't trying / I see me wrecking you to pieces / I suck out all the good in you / The time is ticking watch it blow
4. Still Your Girl - Fleurie
I was a black sheep wandering / You were an open wound / Falling from so much darkness / Into an empty room / ... / You sold me short / Before I had the chance / To be a bright light, fading fast / Now the question stands / Will you save the last dance?
5. Breathe - Of Verona
Open up your eyes / To the possibilities / Take it there love the fear / You'd be surprised / How good it feels /To just let it go / Open up your world / Show me the deepest secrets / I would, I'd understand / Watching us burn / Into a million pieces / One touch of your hand / Breathe, breathe with me
Inspired by the Family Question Of The Week, I'm gonna tell you about putting together my latest Anya.
I've gotten a lot of love for my Anyas over the years, and developing a new AU's Lexa usually involves putting together her corresponding Anya, and Greatest Day has been no exception. This time, it's technically two Anyas. College Anya and Present Day Anya, and all almost-forty years that she and Lexa have been cousins, best friends, team mates, business partners, roommates, and everything in between. These two have lived their entire lives together. Anya has and will be alongside Clarke and Lexa's relationships at all points in their lives, and she plays a big role both times.
So I had to bring her into better focus to keep moving things forward.
In Greatest Day, similar to QI, Anya and Lexa are cousins, their fathers are brothers, and Lexa's father is the older brother. Woods Realty is a massive real estate agency that handles huge ticket properties and has been in business for generations. The oldest Woods man of each generation is groomed his whole life to take over, and has been expected to raise a son to do the same. Every Woods man went to Trikru Academy in Boston, was an athlete, and went on to Polis University of Boston, and Anya and Lexa follow suit, but Anya and Lexa are the first generation where there are no sons.
Lexa is the heir whether she likes it or not, her father does not like it, but he has to turn her into his predecessor anyway. Anya knows from a young age that Lexa's gonna take over, and Anya's gonna fall into the board somewhere, but she's never going to be the boss. Her father is the CFO, and she goes to school for finance to follow him, but the pressure is off to shoulder the company and all of those decisions and burdens, including the pressure of having a son and figuring out what happens after her, and she lives like it every day.
Knowing she's never going to be at the top, Anya lives so hard, parties harder, and she is an absolute DOG when it comes to women and having fun, and has zero pressure or instinct for a wife and a family. She works very hard, she's strategic and smart and afraid of nothing, she's a shark in the boardroom and a charming motherfucker at the bar. She's sexy and she knows it, she's smart and she knows it, she's talented and she knows it, she's fabulous, she's independent, she's driven, knows it, and she's very hard to rattle.
She would die for, or kill for, Lexa. They are inseparable. They're close like twins, and they live their entire lives very tight.
Even after watching Lexa get married and raise a stepson, Anya doesn't have a sinking feeling like she wishes things were different for herself. She doesn't have lingering doubt that maybe she wanted a wife and kids. She's absolutely satisfied and happy, proud of her accomplishments, and absolutely loves her life. And herself.
She's still an elite athlete in her present life. She's single all the time, she's a Class A flirt, she's a diehard friend to a small circle and doesn't bother with much else outside of it, and she's extremely good at her job. She's Aden's fun aunt, and writing her as such instead of as his mother has been a blast. A nice change up.
She's a big fan of Clarke in both lifetimes for different reasons, and they have an interesting relationship that's very trusting, and kind of runs along the canon that never existed on the show but lives on in my head of what Clarke and Anya's alliance and relationship could've been like if she lived. I always fantasize about writing a canon divergent fic about that, but who has that kind of time?
On one of my Hot Girl Walks this week after work, I started putting together Greatest Day Anya Wood's playlist, and it's shaping up very nicely. Her Pinterest board is growing, and the fun an surprising relationship that she and Raven find themselves in in the past and the present should be RomCom Tropey Magic in the highest order.
You can listen to the vibes and feel the strut of this sarcastic, honest, smart, lovable asshole that I cannot wait to share with all of you once she fully blooms right here. It's a work in progress that I'll be building as drafts come together!
Do you make playlists for your fics? If so, have one that you’d like to share? Or, maybe a theme song for a particular MC?
Ahhh, thank you for asking, @cornwells-couch! ❤️
I have lots (and lots and lots) of fic playlists with songs for various characters and character combinations. Since I know you love Christopher Pike, I figured some Chris songs might interest you? (And maybe you’ll forgive my very pop music tastes?)
Okay, so in The Light Before Dawn (Pikeuna, M, modern AU), poor Chris had such a tough time through and after his divorce from Vina that I felt “Mony Mony” by Billy Idol worked well for Chris falling in love with Una. Not only is the fic set in New York and the song is somewhat about New York (“MONY” for the Mutual of New York Insurance Company), but also the lyrics from “Hey, she give me love and I feel all right now” to the pony references just worked.
Listen to "Mony Mony" by Billy Idol, and sing along with the simple HD lyrics on screen! ATTENTION! Lyrics do move quickly in some spots, no
Other songs on that playlist for Chris include “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang (which Chris hums in the actual story) and “King Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas because Chris fights through his fears (and I cut a part of the story where they go to Little Italy, which is next to Chinatown in New York and the song mentions Chinatown).
In Ain’t No One but You (also Pikeuna, M, but this time a Western AU), I had to include “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses for Chris living in Enterprise City, plus “Black Balloon” by the Goo Goo Dolls and “My Happy Ending” by Avril Lavigne for Chris’ sadness when Una turned down his marriage proposal. Oh, and “Secret Smile” by Semisonic for Chris recognizing how Una’s love, even though she’s deeply private (until she finally fully trusts him), helps him find his way out when his mind takes him to dark places.
Oh! And “Sunshine” by One Republic is very much Chris in This Time: A Love Story (Pikeuna, E, a complement to s2e3 “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”).
Okay, okay, last playlist snippet, I promise.
In The Wounds, They Run Deep, But So Does the Healing, My Love, So Does the Healing (Christine Chapel/Christopher Pike, M, set mostly during The Motion Picture era), “Take on Me” by a-ha speaks to Chris’ complicated emotions about being “saved” from Talos IV, while “If She Knew What She Wants” by The Bangles looks to that as well as his confusion and hope over what he and Christine are becoming to each other.
So, yeah, I am the cliche of hearing a song and holding up a character to see if there’s a fit (“Broken and Beautiful” by Kelly Clarkson is Kathryn Janeway as far as I’m concerned), and I hope you like these Chris-shaped songs.
and the schmeities/schmineties dance pop music santiago has been feeding to armand (heavy on the new jack swing):
yes it feels weird making santiago this harmless in an au but consider this: it's fun to have ben daniels chew the scenery in your luxury apartment lobby
