#paranswers

[artblocksucksbutisuckmore]

Dave strider x reader doodle maybe please ??? :D

[paraparadigm]

Hello!

Fanfic reading question for you!!

We've talked a little bit about voice claims for our own characters, which is quite an awesome concept! I love to be able to hear characters' dialogue as I write or 'picture' a certain accent.

This happens sometimes regardless of if it's my work or someone else's. That said...

When you're reading friends' fics, do you have a hc of what some of their characters' voices sound like? Do you mostly hear established NPCs with the voice acting as they have in-game -- at least in Skyrim's case? And for others' OCs, do you have a few examples that seem really clear? And if they are clear, have you ever found they differ from what an author might say their voice claim is for their OC? (THAT is what I find endlessly fascinating, how many many interpretations every OC and every story can have :>)

Oh that's a really cool ask, especially because I am, for better or for worse, an auditory reader (one of those weird people who hears the text in my head, which also makes me quite a slow reader, but that's another matter entirely). Anyway, re: hearing voices (har har)—yes, absolutely, I often hear character voices when I read them (or don't, more of that below). Because I'm also trained to pay attention to really nerdy linguistic stuff—things like prosody, the particular pattern of syntax and word order/choice, pitch variation and pitch contour, pacing, etc—if an existing character's writing closely emulates the way an NPC character sounds (to my ear) in game, I will absolutely hear them in my head when I read their dialogues, and even sometimes their inner monologue if written in that POV. When that emulation isn't very close, or doesn't hit however that pattern recognition works for my brain (eg what it is that I pay attention to), then I won't hear the character, it'll be sort of like silent lines, for lack of a better description. Now, this doesn't mean anything at all about some sort of objective claim about how a character speaks/sounds, just how they sound to me, or how I end up hearing them, so each writer/reader will likely hear things a little bit differently and react to different ways of writing a character. What works for one person might not work for another, or very different versions of a character might work perfectly even when they're written quite differently. BUT as much as one could break apart speech in a very technical way, written vs spoken language are very very different phenomena, it's a transduction trick to match them.

But I do love it when a writer manages to hit that pattern recognition with how they write a character—it's not a precondition for me enjoying a story, but it's a really really lovely bonus, sort of like the difference between normal resolution and HD. Sometimes this also happens with OCs, which is even MORE fun, because then I know the author is being very careful about patterning the character voice to be distinct enough to leave a specific impression or flavor over time. It usually takes me a bit of time to develop a sound for an OC when I read, but after a few chapters it often happens. With specifically voice claims, I'm not all that good with remembering names (as you probably know) but I can certainly describe some of the qualities of how I hear an OC once they develop a voice in my head. If you want to ask for specific characters let me know and I can probably either describe the voice in how I hear it, or find a similar voice claim, maybe. <3

[paraparadigm]

Hello, friend! Can you share with us some easter eggs or references or other such inspiration you might have used in any of your fics that were not from that fandom? (TES or otherwise!)

Awww thanks so much for this lovely ask! Let's see, Easter Eggs. I think because I write (or have written) quite a bit of Isekai-style fic, even though I have a love/hate relationship with the genre, there's always going to be references to something outside of the fic's canonical world. I always write Alt-Earth in some ways (e.g. the world from which the character is yoinked is in some subtle or not so subtle ways radically different from ours, usually along the lines of "something went askew in their timeline" - so, think, "The Man in the High Castle" sort of approach: what if [fill in the blank]. I often use that discrepancy as an Easter Egg of sorts, where it's blatantly obvious to the POV character that this is what history looks like in their world, but the reader gets to have that "??!! Wait a damn second!" moment.

I think with TES specifically, which is such a heavily modded, long standing franchise, and therefore its "canonical" boundaries are a bit porous, I feel like trying to figure out what the Easter Egg might even be tends to be difficult. Always Read the Fine Print (and the Gathering Souls-verse to which it belongs) are sort of one giant Easter Egg to begin with, but I hesitate to say more since it gets spoilery. But, since Vera is from a particularly Crapsack version of our future Earth, there's always references back to something familiar/strange. One of my favorite pastimes for "research" for that fic is to look at the map of Toronto, and imagine it through a post-apocalyptic lens ;) But on a less off the wall note, the most obvious Easter Egg in that fic are the 3DNPC cameos. I try to do justice to their original design and writing -- it's partly why I hesitate to play with other people's characters/mods, it feels like original authorial intent is far closer than when I'm twisting Bethesda's characters to my ends -- so I don't rewrite them heavily, but they do wander around on the margins of the story =)

[paraparadigm]

So, I have gotten a couple of anon asks — lovely, very kind anons, which I’d rather not answer publicly for various reasons, but I feel like I should at least address them, if not answer them directly. So, here I go vagueposting, and I hope it finds the right addressee(s) :)

Every brand new fandom is going to be overwhelmed with shippy writing. It’s the nature of the beast—in fact, I was talking to a friend the other day, who’s much more of a fandom veteran than I am, and their take/impression was pretty much the same: “yep, that’s how it goes, fluff and smut is always the first phase.”

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course. But it means that sometimes, if you are the kind of reader or writer who isn’t into the romance and/or the smut, or would prefer for it to be a condiment rather than the centerpiece of the metaphorical “meal,” or simply are not into that kind of content for a specific character — for whatever reason, and let’s be very very clear here, you never ever need to justify WHY it’s not your cup of tea, you never need to offer up your gender or sexual identity by way of explanation, or any other personal details, and if someone is asking you to justify yourself, they can fuck right off, because you don’t owe it, and regardless of the reason, you are absolutely valid—in any case, if you’re the kind of reader (or writer) who is not there for that sort of content, I know it can be quite isolating, but remember that things will change. Give it time. 

More people will come into the tag, people will have had time to digest the narrative, the lore, and all the little details. New works will pop up: more plotty, more experimental, less focused on specific characters or specific pairings, or erotica more broadly etc etc. Just because that early phase is defined by thirst, and just because that’s what seems to populate the tag, it doesn’t mean it’ll stay there. 

Here’s a strategy I follow for my own reading purposes, because I loosely fall into that category of people who don’t seek out smut for smut’s sake (or romantic fluff, for that matter), though I’ll happily read a well-written story that happens to contain it as part of its various “ingredients.” I primarily follow writers, rather than fandoms or pairing tags. This is easily done on AO3—you can subscribe to an author, not just a specific fic. Some of the writers I trust to write the sort of content I like to read write in multiple fandoms. And those authors will often have works they have bookmarked, which I can then take a look at. I’ll often stumble upon something someone has written — and then follow them through their fandoms like a greedy little dragon, piling up treasures. On occasion, it’s too far afield from anything I know, but oftentimes, there’s a great deal of overlap. Honestly, outside of getting recommendations from people whose tastes align with mine, this strategy has served me very well.❤️

[paraparadigm]

vera's birthday is the ninth of second seed (may[?] ninth), and according to the unofficial elder scrolls pages (and the firmament, i suppose), that means she would have been born beneath the shadow constellation. was this relevant at all when you chose her birthday or just a coincidence?

Waaaaah, I am so behind in terms of replying to asks, but thank you Nonnie, for this wonderfully thoughtful one ❤️

To answer your question: no, this is pure coincidence, I’m afraid. Vera’s birthday was picked as loosely based on what astrological sign I thought might match her (though my faith in astrology is limited, to put it mildly—though I sometimes use it as a way to orient/prompt character building, but that’s about it). The Shadow constellation is fortuitous coincidence: she does have a way of moving about the world without drawing attention to herself (better safe than sorry and all that), so it fits, but it was a happy accident :)

Thank you for enabling my rants, Nonnie, you made my day.

[artblocksucksbutisuckmore]

Is the doodle requests free...?

all free!

[artblocksucksbutisuckmore]

Not a request but cool trollsona you got there!

GASP! THANK YOUU!! <333!!!!

[artblocksucksbutisuckmore]

hi um do you have any prefrance for crk x reader fics? like any charecters you dont like and wont write for?

good ask bc I forgot to mention how I actually haven't been updated on crk in a HOT min. the last I was in the fandom was no joke when the update of the lost golden city came out, so three years ago. (I'll update my fic stuff abt that now)

anyways that's just to say really any newer cookies I'll suppose I wont do, I have an idea of how the beasts r n stuff but cookies like their servants yeaahh noo...

other than that I don't have characters that I don't like, so any should be fine. and ofc if its a child cookie it'll be made platonic and cute stuff cuz we arent fucking weirdos here, whoop whooopp!!