ooh 3, 12, 23 n 25 for the fanfic asks :DD
FUCK!!! I had typed up my entire response to this and then accidentally closed the tab. Kill me. Okay, let’s do this again.
3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year
Well I think they’re different. My favorite line is from chapter 2 of it’s not their style, ending the scene where Jared takes a late night drive.
When he falls asleep, it’s to a quiet mind from a night of illusive, elusive peace.
What can I say? I’m a sucker for rhyme. That, and alliteration and double meanings are definitely things I overindulge in when writing. Sue me. It’s MY fanfic and I get to decide which literary devices I overuse!
I often joke to myself I peaked when I wrote that line but really I think I’m only 30% joking.
My favorite scene is from isn’t that what friends are for, when Evan sits with Jared while he’s in the bathtub.
“Wait,” he calls after him. “Sit with me,” he asks, the request hanging in the air between them. “Please,” he adds on, and Evan might be mistaken, but he thinks he hears a waver in Jared’s voice as he asks.
His feet find themselves walking back in before he even makes the conscious decision to, and he’s sitting down with his back against the side of the tub. It’s quiet for a long moment more before he hears the shower curtain get pulled back from behind him. Beside him, Jared puts an arm on the side of the tub and rests his chin on it.
“‘m sorry,” he mumbles, words muffled by his head placement and quiet enough that he almost doesn’t hear it. Louder this time, he says “I’m sorry about all —” he cuts off, his brain not properly able to articulate exactly what it is he’s sorry for. Instead, he makes a frustrated noise and gestures with the hand he’s not laying on to the space between them. “ — all the everything,” he finishes lamely, clearly hoping Evan understands. And he does. He’s had a lot of time to think about what went down their senior year. However, they’re not about to have this conversation now, at ass-o’clock in the morning and one of them still too drunk to form full sentences.
“I know, but I don’t think you’re going to remember anything we talk about now in the morning, so we’ll talk about it then, okay?” he says, reassuringly. He pauses for a moment, before adding, quieter, “I’m sorry, too.”
Out of the corner of his vision, he sees Jared nod, apparently content with his answer. They sit there for far longer than they should at such a late hour, or early at this point. It’s only when the water goes cold that Jared finally stands up, indicating he’s about to get out.
I’ll be honest I don’t like this scene for how I wrote it, rather I like it because of the physicality of it. The heated air from the bath water and warm fluorescent bathroom lights, contrasting with the coldness of winter and the darkness of the night outside. It feels like Evan and Jared are in their own private world here, and yet still separated. Jared is sitting in the bath and Evan is sitting with his back against the side of the tub. They’re separated by a shower curtain and so Jared can only see his silhouette. It’s only when that curtain gets pulled back that Jared attempts his apology.
As for what’s actually happening, Jared only asks for Evan to stay when he isn’t in his right mind. Evan indulges in him because he wants to and because he knows Jared won’t remember it. I like the mutual understanding and new perspective that time away from events have given them.
12. favorite character to write about this year
Well I think everyone knows the answer to this but Jared! We’re all very surprised, I’m sure. I think my work speaks for itself so no need for further comment on this one :)
23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t
Galactic Love, with forest spirit!Evan and comet spirit!Jared. It’s all kinda nebulous (haha) in my head right now but basically, Jared's comet has been hurtling through space for millions of years by itself until it by chance catches orbit of Earth. It orbits the planet for around a thousand years before the orbit finally decays too much and falls to Earth in the middle of Evan's forest. “Slow” burn in that it takes place over a long, long period of time but I don’t think the wordcount would actually be all that high.
Amnesia AU, where Evan falls from a forty-foot oak tree and hits his head, and it changes everything and nothing. It’s supposed to be a DEH rewrite where Evan has retrograde amnesia and can’t remember anything about himself.
Things I want to explore/ideas I had about it:
How Evan might be more receptive to people (like Alana, Jared, and his mom) were he not operating on the assumption that he is invisible.
Drops the plotline of Evan crushing on Zoe.
Evan's fear of being forgotten is one of the things that remain. He's forgotten himself. Is he scared of that? He's trying to find who he was before from secondhand accounts (mainly Jared’s and his mom’s).
Jared takes this chance to become close with Evan again by lying and saying that they were best friends. Compare/contrast with Evan lying to the Murphys’ saying Connor and him were friends before Connor died.
If I Could Tell Her but it’s Jared telling Evan about himself but Jared is passing it off as telling Evan about a guy he has a crush on.
Thoughts about identity and who you are in other’s eyes, and how that may be a more accurate picture of you than what you think of yourself.
Connor is dead, and so is Evan in a way. Compare/contrast Connor’s memory with Evan’s.
Good For You fight is Evan calling out Jared on them not actually being best friends in the past few years.
Maybe at one point Evan is able to actually delude himself into thinking he might have been friends with Connor before he died, since he’s spent so much time in make-believe land and who’s to say that he wasn’t, because he certainly doesn’t remember.
25. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read
A Lot of Reinvention by bellabonbon. I appreciate how... unkind it is. Like Jared’s an ass to his parents. It feels real to life in that I find in fanfic, everyone ranges from a tad more idealized version of their characters, to completely out of character (I think I’m guilty of the former). I found it refreshing that this fic seemed to depict them with their negative character traits, because it’s all too easy to gloss over those when you’re writing about a character you love.
Send a fanfic end of the year ask!
