61. “Welcome back. Now fucking help me.” - from Zach’s POV
I don’t know what I was expecting when I came back to TREE from vacation, but it wasn’t for Silver to come barreling down the stairs and tackle me in a hug.
“Well hello there,” I say, catching her and trying not to stumble.
“You are not going to believe what I’ve been dealing with,” she tells me, speaking the first half into my chest but standing up as she talks. “First that demon in the subway was asking for you, and I had to explain why you weren’t there. Then I’ve been tracking a serial graffiti artist, they paint runes all over the place, but I can’t find them.”
I know she’s only been listing work stuff, but I think this is the most I’ve heard her talk to me without me starting the conversation. And that can mean only one thing:
“You’ve missed me.” I can’t help but say it with a smile.
“What?” Her head tugs back as she looks up at me with confusion. “No, I didn’t.”
“Come on,” I say, aiming a nudge at her shoulder. “You definitely missed me.”
She smacks my hand away, just like she always does. “I didn’t. I’ve been too busy with work.”
“Too busy to welcome me back because you missed me?”
This third time is too much for her. Making a disgusted noise in the back of her throat, Ash snaps, “Welcome back. Now fucking help me.”
I hold my hands up in surrender. “No need to be crude. You know I’m going to help you.”
“Then let’s go,” she insists, and tugs me towards the elevator.
hey so like........ polaris.... is Good......... thanks @paintsmcspectrum for letting me draw your dnd character because i Crabsolutely love her, the spiky bitch,
I CANT BELIEVE MY SHITTY DROW IS GONNA GET THAT,
at some point im sure i’ll draw the final member of the trio, and then all u guys are done for,
(chanting) BRILL! BRILL! BRILL! BRILL!! u put in a lot so ill put in a readmore somewhere in this post idk
10.
Do you have an outline? Do you stick to it?
i rarely make outlines and if i do they fall out of use essentially immediately bc i just dont stick to them that good. brilliancy has a doc called “Plot Points” and this is what’s in it
so the answer is no. i keep it all on file in my head. mdfdbfhb
11. How do you structure your plot?
Brilliancy specifically is on a really specific structure, especially in the opening play!! It won’t be as pronounced later on, but Brilliancy uses this “tag-team” concept; because there’s a shit ton of lore and we’re basically walking into the endgame of a tense political situation, i’ve had to think carefully about how to introduce the setting and characters while not overwhelming people…so basically what it does is
there’s 4 main narrators who need to be introduced (kaitlin, ast, flang, and erin). so, basically, how the plot is set up in the opening act, the narrator jumps from specific springboards (events or key phrases etc) and the next character picks that up like an echo and fills it out in more depth. they don’t come in too quickly, they wait their turn in line and tag in when the flow is smooth!!
it sounds very simplistic when laid out like this but i’m really proud of how it works! it’s very smooth and i enjoy the like, baton passing…it’s really satisfying to read
even little things like directly paralleling a previous character’s introduction with the wording itself, and then deviating to show in rough strokes how this person’s role is different, really pays off very quickly to keep all of them separate in the reader’s mind. WHILE ALSO tying together the people who used similar concepts/wordings (flang and kaitlin specifically share one, so do ast and erin)
anyway the rest of the plot is like whatever
12. What part is the hardest to write in your WIP?
for brilliancy, the hardest parts to write are probably the like…when things have to actually move from place to place…i have a really hard time figuring out how to get the plot to go places, physically speaking, while keeping it interesting. pacing is a really big problem….
i just wanna write dialogue and introspection forever
13. Are there scenes that you cut already?
ummmmm in brill3 specifically i don’t think so yet! i’ll do that later on when i’m doing more editing-type work and less draft-type work lol. usually if something isn’t working but is important i’ll stash it in a “for later” doc and there’ll be some better place to put it or it’ll just become side content in my stash
if ur talking brill as a concept ive cut like 200k+ of scenes*shot
i did 14 for brill already! i’ll push one up and add 16 at the end
15. Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.
Teeth bared, Flang sneered—or maybe snarled, she wasn’t sure. “I’m afraid I got that from you. My father taught me sacrifice and my mother taught me sutures. Your brother taught me discretion and I taught myself to survive with the gifts they gave me. You? You were nothing but a cautionary tale.”
Anire’s riposte was confident: “You have never learned a thing that I didn’t teach you, girl—the rest is bravado.”
“You’ve never taught me a single valuable thing.” Flang was on her feet now, her blood scalding in her veins, her heart thundering in her chest. With every word she spoke a fissure widened in her heart, parting her like a carcass for butchery. “You could never teach me anything.”
Anire’s eyes were flinty but she smiled an easy smile, all hands-in-her-pockets calm. “You know I didn’t come here to fight, sweetie.”
“Don’t call me that like we’re family,” Flang said, but her voice cracked on the last word.
💞 List 3 tropes that you feature in your WIPs and explain why they’re important to you as a person.
Man, I always have trouble naming tropes. I’m too lazy to dive through TV Tropes and my brain just registers them as “things that happen.” But for you, I try.
Found Family: The way my family works, I’ve grown up valuing not-blood relations almost more than blood ones. I’m also an only child, so my friends are like my siblings. Found family is my family, so it’s important for me to show that in my writing. Because not everyone has white picket fence, 2.5 kids, family reunions, and 900 relatives who they actually like.
Down With the System: I’m a raging feminist, what can I say? Nah, I kid, but I do believe that if the system isn’t working, change the system. What’s the definition of insanity? 😉
And, uh…
Here’s to the Little Guy: I made that name up, but it fits. The heroes of my stories are the other, the outcasts, the people who live on the fringes because that’s where they feel they fit best. And they’re stronger than anyone else. And as an other myself, I like seeing the Little Guy rising up and being awesome.
I’m going to assume Summer’s Vale Unless specified!
15: I love talking about my OCs with anyone for anything, I have so many original concepts and characters both for fandoms and totally original work. Only thing Is I know people don’t really want to talk about them with me, so unless they ask I’m pretty hush hush. Summer Vale I’m probably the most public about because it has hit some level of success.
17: OTPS? SNOW RIDER IS THE SHIT It’s a canon ship, but man it’s fun. It’s been nice kind of writing Summer and Vermilion flirt about and provide the view points and support they both need. The series itself has a few other cannon ships, some you might not expect involving a bumbleby and a trapper ;P But thats for later.
18: Crack ships hmmmmmmm. Thought I made the decision that there would be nothing romantic between Odyssia and Summer, the idea of it seems cute as fuck. I wanted a very strong female friendship be an element in the series, but omg my shipper brain has betrayed me.
And I do mean stumbles; he is clutching his bleeding abdomen and bangs off a wall and a bookshelf before I’m able to get over there and catch him.
“Zach? Zach!” Words are flying out of my mouth as I get him into a chair. “Oh my god, what happened to you? Why didn’t you go back to TREE, they’ve got medical supplies there—”
“You were closer,” he manages, breathing hard with his head tipped back.
I can’t fault him for that, but the facts of the situation are piling up. Wounded. No bandages. Do we have pain pills strong enough? Probably not. How long? Blood loss?
“Silver,” he says, catching his breath. “Hey. Ash.”
Hearing my real name gets me out of the spiraling analysis. When he sees my eyes come into focus, he asks, “What’s up?”
Taking a deep breath, I shake it out of my head and snap, “You’re bleeding all over my carpet. We’ve got to get you somewhere else, ASAP.”
