Third time’s the charm!! Hi Resbang Book Club participants! Here’s the list of the lovely individuals who went above and beyond in this year’s Book Club season. Great job to all participants who submitted! Without further ado, the winners are:
2018 Resbang Book Club Grand Champion: @infantbluee with 14 Bookclub Resbangs reviewed, yahoo!!!!!!!
Next up, @infantbluee, @kallie-flower, @nori-wings and @thiefofblood (Souly on Discord) came to answer questions and spread the love for their Resbang, Unrequited! Here’s some of what went down:
Q: How did you guys come up with this idea? I remember you threw a ton of ideas around and settled on this one. Can you take us through the process? >:)
kallieflower: Oh god. We went through SO many different ideas. We wrote like what? 40k for our first idea before we scrapped that?
b l u e: Then like 30k for the next one that we also scrapped.
kallieflower: WE KEPT TRYING TO WRITE SHORT THINGS BUT IT DIDN’T WORK. Soma just does not work as shortfic.
b l u e: Even our final bang ended up being a 40k two-shot lmao.
Q: So what was it about this final idea that made u guys decide, YES, this is it???
kallieflower: The first idea was a Madoka Magica AU that exploded into a mess because magical girl worlds take a loooooottttt of work. The second fic also exploded into something big.
b l u e: We were going to stick with it though. We were. We had it all ready for check-in and everything. But then like two days before, kallie went, "okay so I love our fic idea and all but what about this." Me, on three hours of sleep: "I effing hate you." Then we stumbled through our first 3k and sent it to the mods like the gremlins we are.
kallieflower: We didn’t expect it to get so big either but c’est la vie. Chloe almost killed me like 48293783 times during the process but I think we managed alright.
b l u e: You're lucky I love you so much.
Q: Did you guys start writing straight from the beginning of the fic or did you write a specific scene first?
kallieflower: Actually we didn’t start from the beginning haha! Or well, our idea didn’t start from a plot. We just wanted to write Maka cursed. We wanted to write her with no inhibitions in love, like she might’ve been had she not been so hurt by her parents’ separation. And since there are witches in the SE universe, we had fun with that instead of making it an AU.
Q: Do you write linearly at all or did you jump around a lot?
b l u e: Surprisingly yes. Aside from my dream sequences.
kallieflower: Your dream sequences were our pit stops. We just had to actually do the writing to get there.
b l u e: Hahaha our writing process was.... Unique.
kallieflower: That’s one way to put it lmao.
nori-wings: It was a mess, but we love it.
b l u e: WE are a mess so it's just us in fic form.
kallieflower: God yeah. For one thing, this fic was like 90% chloe with me just making her do crazy things I wanted to happen.
nori-wings: And 5% of what the artists wanted to happen.
b l u e: YEAH hahaha that was kallie too tbh. She was like, "me as a witch would not understand anything about my magic at all and would curse people for kicks, so let's do that."
kallieflower: We would have a general plot of how we wanted to go and what points we wanted to hit. Chloe would start to write it, but then I would be like “WAIT WHAT ABOUT THIS.” And then she would pretend she thought I was a total nuisance but we all know she’s too soft and sweet to ever say no to anything. Also our artists were such a LOVELY help too.
b l u e: We wanted as much of their input as possible and we wanted to make this as much of a collab as we could. The train scene at the beginning of the third chapter was all nori because she was mad at us for only torturing Soul and wanted Maka to cry too.
Q: Nori/Souly did you have a favorite piece of art to make?
the monkey chain (soul): The skating scene was my fave. I also accidentally changed the part in the fic with the skating since I didn't ask what kind of skates they were supposed to be kfljgdf.
b l u e: LMAO it's our fault though!!!! We were Too Slow.
nori-wings: Black*Star dragging Soul and Maka is my favorite, it was super fun to draw.
b l u e: When you sent the first wip of that, I think I cried for days. It was better than my dreams. You were both so fast GOD, it takes me seventeen years just to sketch a pic.
kallieflower: For real tho. We don’t deserve artists.
nori-wings: They are exaggerating, it was a quick sketch that I made on a post it lol. It took me a week to draw it in digital.
the monkey chain (soul): I had free time since we moved and were without internet for a night so I had a ton of time to finish my pic.
Q: Did you have trouble meeting the deadline?
kallieflower: Trouble is putting it lightly lmao. We died. Many times.
b l u e: I don't trust fast writers. Clearly they are superhuman. It wouldn't have been hard if we didn't spend so much time drowning in memes and shitposts that we neglected to write.
kallieflower: I blame the internet.
Q: Were there any scenes that you guys really struggled with writing?
b l u e: The beginning, definitely. Everything else flowed out pretty quickly, but the beginning made us want to cry into our pillows and smash our keyboards.
kallieflower: I think there was a period of time where Chloe was like, “I will physically pay you money to write this scene so I don’t have to.” But yeah, the beginning scenes were definitely hardest to write. I think we rewrote them like a million times.
Q: Nori and Souly, was there a part of your art that was trickier to do?
nori-wings: I think painting Soul and Maka's kiss, because I wanted to use as few colors as possible and I played a lot with shading, or at least I tried haha.
the monkey chain (soul): Uhhhh not really for me? My pieces were relatively simple and probably the most issue I had was drawing Maka's skates and figuring out what Soul would be wearing.
b l u e: I cried when we got paired with souly.
kallieflower: Chloe literally fangirled to hell over getting souly as our second artist. And we were very lucky to get nori as our artist too because we already became really close friends through the zine and talked all the time. Our resbang just gave us an excuse to move all our blabber to a personal server lmao.
nori-wings: Yeah, they asked me to be something like a beta but I ended up being their artist.
kallieflower: We joked about it beforehand too and were SO happy it happened. We were so blessed with support and love this year. We never would’ve finished without the help of our artists and betas.
nori-wings: They are making it sound nice, but we wouldn't let them drop out.
kallieflower: LMFAOOOOOO. Nori likes to be sassy but she’s one of the softest of us all
b l u e: We legitimately would've dropped out if not for our artists.
kallieflower: “Do it for our artists” was our mantra through the whole process when we wanted to quit. Peer pressure makes diamonds, maybe.
b l u e: I mean, it didn't feel like that when we were bullshitting our way through our next 5k before each deadline, but it be like that sometimes.
Q: What was your favourite scene to write?
b l u e: My favorite to write was definitely the nightmare demon scene.
kallieflower: Because she’s a sadist and likes angst. Chloe likes to make people feel pain so her favorite scenes were definitely the angsty ones.
b l u e: FDSJFKDSF
Q: For errbody: what do you feel like you improved/grew in this resbang, writing and arting-wise??
kallieflower: For me, I definitely grew in writing skills even though I didn’t end up writing much of this bang (chloe, bless your soul for carrying me this year lmao) because chloe is SO GOOD at writing that it made me want to be better, learn better, do better.
b l u e: Kallie made me work harder than I ever have my entire life and it paid off SO MUCH. I very much only ever write ventfics.
the monkey chain (soul): I feel like I Peaked with Maka's outfit in the skating picture, like I don't pride myself in outfit design much these days but Maka's outfit came out so good. I didn't expect it.
Q: Were there any parts of Unrequited that really pushed you out of your comfort zone?
b l u e: Writing with someone else was such an experience.
kallieflower: We definitely had to compromise a lot in terms of writing. Like I wanted Soul to walk in on Kid touching Maka’s scar and Chloe immediately said “fine, but only if we make Kid a gardener” and if that isn’t a super fair trade off, idk what is. Chloe and I work so well together so that was easy. And we like a lot of the same things.
b l u e: There was a little adjustment [with adapting to different writing styles] but not much, because despite what kallie says, she's actually so freaking smart and talented it actually makes my eyes water.
Q: If you had the time to do something differently, what would you do and why?
b l u e: Everything. Jk no but really. There's just a lot I wish we could've elaborated on. And more suffering to be had of course. I just wish we had more time to elaborate on Spirit and Maka's mom.
kallieflower: Oh god yeah. Maka did not get enough of a backstory in the manga or anime and that makes me sad always.
Q: What made you both decide on the outcome of the curse? Did the witch know how it was going to affect Kid?
b l u e: We actually knew the outcome from the very beginning when we decided what kind of curse it was.
Q: Okay SO one last question for the crew. What is next!!!! >:)
nori-wings: Next collab is me writing and Chloe as my artist. (She just doesn't know it.)
b l u e: FDHDJFKSDDSF
kallieflower: OMG PLS HAHAHA. I’d be all over that collab. Chloe is working on a soma longfic she won’t let me beta because she’s Secretive. And I am trying to work up the energy to use my keyboard again after the hell that was finishing Resbang.
Thanks to the crew for stopping by! Stay tuned for more transcripts!
For our final AMA of the season, @sojustifiable stopped in to answer questions about her Resbang, Marked in Constellation! Here’s some of what went down:
Q: What inspired this Resbang?
Amanda: Combination of going to Peru and living in a tent and my own experience camping, and then I think there was a movie that came out a while ago that was about someone doing a solo trip up the PCT [Pacific Crest Trail], which inspired the specific setting.
Q: Were any scenes or events within them directly inspired by your Peru or camping experience?
Amanda: I think mostly the little things about camping like hand washing clothes and having to deal with cleaning drinking water. I got a review saying that it felt well-researched which was definitely validating because of those pieces of personal experience.
Q: What kind of research went into the fic?
Amanda: Ohhh man. A lot of research on the trail specifically, marking off day by how far they could get and using elevation charts for and landmarks for describing what they were actually seeing. I used all real towns for when they would resupply and just basically wanted everything to be as true to the setting as possible.
Q: How much time would you say you spent in the planning/research phase of this versus the writing?
Amanda: I did the research mostly as I was writing, I had a window open that had like four or five tabs open, a couple for docs and outlines, and then a couple with maps and charts for the research so I could be constantly cross referencing as I was writing. I had an outline with basic check points but realized at a certain point I needed to adjust the literal pace to cover the distance needed. I did find a really useful tool actually that you could input different sections of trail and a relative pace and it would give recommendations for how many miles to put in each day.
Q: What were some things you added that you hadn't originally planned to write about?
Amanda: Butt mountain for sure. I think it was sig (@sigsegv) who saw that on the map and suggested it needed a place in the story. I think just the general focus on the little places they stopped and cameos of characters they would come across. Pretty much the only things initially planned were encountering a bear and some skinny dipping.
Q: What was your favorite scene to write? And if applicable, what was your favorite mood to write?
Amanda: I definitely enjoyed writing the ending the most, just getting the point of having emotional release/communication made it a lot more satisfying. There had been a little bit of smut earlier, but it wasn't nearly as fun to write because it still had so much emotional constipation, so it didn't end up being satisfying to write or for the characters, I think. Also writing the ending meant being done and that's always a good Resbang feel. [I liked writing] any emotionally charged bits where there's romantic tension and connection building between the characters.
Q: Did you find it hard or not bad at all to come back to Resbang after a writing break? Did you feel like things got smoother as you went along, or was it more or less fine from the get-go?
Amanda: It was definitely tough starting out getting motivated. I really wanted to get back into writing and write Resbang, but I hadn't really had a lot of writing inspiration the last couple years. It was definitely one of those stories that was 99% perspiration 1% inspiration, but I think once I got into a rhythm it was good to see that I could do good work just by internally motivating myself.
Q: Got any tips for internal motivation?
Amanda: Step 1 was setting pretty reasonable word count goals from early on so that I would never be forced to scramble right at the end. I gave myself designated days off or rewards for getting ahead of schedule. Step 2 was accepting that it didn't need to be perfect, especially not to begin with, and it was better to get words down and edit later. The last time I did Resbang, I ended up writing 10k in like 3 days right at the end and didn't want a repeat of that, so I imposed a schedule on myself early on and used the productivity channel to sprint A Lot. [Last Resbang] was horrible and that's when I was in college still too, so I had to do school stuff also and would go sit in this room with a bunch of taxidermy birds between classes to write as much as I could during the day. I think my usual goals [for this year] were 1k a day 5 days a week, and then if I got more then I could take 500 words off the goal for later on, like if I did 2k in one day then the next two days could be 500 words each. Definitely a slow and steady wins the race situation.
Q: Did you find that your word count estimates changed a lot as you went on, or was it pretty stable the whole time?
Amanda: Oh definitely, I expected I might have underestimated it, but I think I started out thinking it would be about 25k and then I want to say it ended up being like 40k. I really should know better at this point.
Q: Did the process of writing this get you in the mood to plan some hikes or camping trips?
Amanda: It did definitely make me want to go camping again. Not immediately, cuz Resbang season is bad weather season, but it did bring it to mind for sure.
Q: Was there any scene or part of it you struggled more to write?
Amanda: Uhh the first smut scene was definitely a struggle. Writing sex where there's emotion behind it but it isn't being expressed was a different challenge for me and I don't think it ended up being as good because of that. I wanted to project the insecurity and sense of performativity into that, but it was a lot of nuance to put into a smallish scene.
Q: Did you notice that your writing style changed at all after your break?
Amanda: Honestly, I haven't read anything old that I've written in a while so I'm not sure how it reads. It felt pretty similar, I just had to get over the feeling of it being less authentic because there wasn't as much pure inspiration behind it. I think it did give me a better sense of being able to write without needing as much inspiration, though, which would be a good skill to hold onto.
Q: Since you’re also an artist, did you do any sketches or paintings or anything to help you visualize stuff as you wrote?
Amanda: I didn't do any art for it. I've thought about doing some after the fact but I feel like the art that sig did really captured everything well. In general I don't think much about small visual details when I'm writing.
Q: What about music? Did you have a playlist you liked for it, or any songs that remind you of it?
Amanda: No, I actually have some problems with auditory processing so if there's certain kinds of music on I won't be able to focus or write. I pretty much listen to exclusively to some kind of white noise generator. If i listened to music that reminded me of anything while writing... I wouldn't get any writing done. Or I would end up typing out the lyrics or something because if there's music going on, that's all I'm going to pay attention to.
Q: Is there anything you'd do differently, or like... anything you regret not being able to get in?
Amanda: There isn't anything I wasn't able to get in. I think the main habit I would like to try to get out of is the compulsive need to write chronologically. I think it would've made the writing process easier if I had let myself do anything out of order. BUT because of the nature of the journey and research it would've been hard to do out of order, so idk. I think it would've been tough because partly I was keeping track of location in my outline like there was always a bolded Day: # and Location if I needed to reference any details about where they were.
Q: Do you have any other writing projects planned?
Amanda: I've been working a bit on some original stuff, but I have a couple thoughts for Resbang next year. One is a brand new idea I'm definitely excited about, tho I haven't done any planning and also it would be a bigger project so we'll see. I think I'm going to try to do a shorter thing this year, though... shorter is relative and doesn't tend to end up staying short. I think the one I'm thinking of could be around 15k tho, which realistically means 30k in Resbang conversion. … Or I could try doing the new idea, which I would start out estimating at 40k, which realistically means 70k.
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Thanks to Amanda and to all of our authors for some great AMAs this season! You can see the archived transcripts on the GrigoriWings forum here!
AMA Transcript: And They Were Roommates (Oh My God)
Next up, @karmahope came to hang and talk about her Resbang, And They Were Roommates (Oh My God). Here’s some of what went down:
Q: Where'd you get the insp/idea for this Resbang?
karmahope: Yeah so I really had absolutely no idea what I was doing going into this year, so it was actually based off that one tumblr post like 'you've heard of unrequited love, how about requited, unwanted love? Where both sides are like, you??? really???' and it kinda grew from there until it doesn't really resemble that prompt anymore.
Q: What was the hardest part to write?
karmahope: [The hardest scenes were] definitely the emotional moments. My draft had a lot of notes like "insert emotional cheezewiz here' and some of the really domestic parts too. Also like ... that kiss scene at the party?? bc I got so flustered writing even just that much.
Q: Did you have any tunes or playlists while writing the thing?
karmahope: I did! I think I wrote to the 'sad indie' playlist on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWVV27DiNWxkR?si=iA1NVyqASTuJHMsZNzAacw. I was writing my BNHA fic Limerence at the same time to this same playlist, and I wanted to emulate that same sort of feel, a little bit. A little longing, a little melancholy.
Q: Do you have any weird/lazy food things you do like soul eating cereal from the box and drinking milk from the container like a heathen?
karmahope: Uhh I didn't know where the bowls were the other day so I made myself cereal in a Tupperware.
Q: Did you have a favorite scene to write?
karmahope: It's been so long, but honestly I loved writing the 4am scene where Maka catches Soul in the act of being a heathen. Also the bees scene. And, also, the party scene... even if it was hard.
Q: Are you a linear writer or do you sorta write things as you come up with em and quilt them together later?
karmahope: I'm so fucking linear. Like, how can I write scenes out of order when one scene affects what happens in the next? Especially as they kind of write themselves as I go. Like I might skip over sections in a scene, but I've gotta know how it ends before I move on.
Q: Do you like writing from Soul's perspective more or Maka's? Because I know you did both.
karmahope: Honestly Soul. He's a Pining Broody Boy. Maka has her shit together just a little bit more so it's harder.
Q: When you were doing the thing, did you have like, set wordcount goals or just kinda blorged it when you could?
karmahope: I was just desperate to get the 10k honestly. There was one check-in where I just wrote a whole lot of bullshit that had nothing to do with the story banking on the fact the mods didn't actually read it. Sorry mods. This year was such a struggle for me. Like in the past I've written like 40k, 20k fics but this year was a whole lot of nope. At least I finished, I had to drop out last year.
Q: Does writing emotional parts make u emotional? Asking 4 a friend.
karmahope: Sometimes!! It depends on the moment tbh. Writing this fic definitely got me into a wistful kinda way.
Q: When you're writing, do you usually have a strong idea of where you're going or something a little more open to changing/building as u go?
karmahope: I think I'm a little more open. I have a very basic outline (Maka moves in, Maka up late at the library, Soul's car breaks down, Party, Soul's parents come to drug test him), and then what happens beyond that happens. A lot of the short shenanigans scenes weren't originally planned.
Q: Was there anything that changed while you were writing?
karmahope: hmmm... I know I definitely added some stuff, I don't think anything in my outline really changed. I'm finding that basic outlines really help. It doesn't have to be anything detailed.
Q: Was there anything that you outlined that didn't make the cut?
karmahope: Here it is .... The Outline:
karmahope: Okay so points 4 and 5 changed a little. They never danced with someone else and Maka didn't yell at his parents in her underwear. She should have, but it ended up not working out that way. It's okay, she yelled at them in Soul's pants instead. I didn't plan for Wes. He just kinda showed up and threw himself over the furniture.
Q: Who is your favorite side character to write?
karmahope: I really like Kidd, but he wasn't in it much. My favorite side-character moment here was Black Star and Liz when Soma kissed. I have a type tbh. Kidd. Todoroki. Kyouya. They're just such Good Boys.
Q: What are you working on now/plan to work on next?
karmahope: Well, I only really write SE for Resbang so uh. Yeah. I'm working on Limerence, a kacchako fic. Also a kacchako road trip AU. Also my FMA fic. Uhhh ... a collab with ohmytheon for TodoDekuOcha. I've also got an ML fic I haven't abandoned yet. My FMA fic is an OC fic I started writing years ago that's a rewrite of a 160k fic. I started writing when I was ... shit, 14? Now I'm 22. [And] I already know what I'm doing for next year's Resbang so there's that to look forward to.
Thanks to karmahope for coming by! Stay tuned for more transcripts!
Resbang Book Club sign-ups close tonight, December 14, 2018 @ midnight EST!
Come join us for a super cool Resbang season!! Check out this post for more info, and remember that any author who wants to have an AMA about their Resbang will need to sign up!
Does the review we submit to sign up for an AMA have to be from our list of assigned fics? Because I thought it was posted before that it didn’t have to be
Sorry for the confusion! The mods have reconsidered and going with one of your three assigned fics. AMAs will be scheduled through the last day of March, so there is no rush!
Hellooooo Resbang Book Club gang! It’s that time of year again! Time to sign up for the Resbang Book Club! Here’s some information on what Book Club is and how to sign up!!
What is the Resbang Book Club???
Our mission is to read all participating Resbangs!! If you join Book Club, you will be randomly assigned three fics from Resbang 2018. All that we ask is that you read those three fics (or more, if you’re ambitious!), review them, and submit the reviews to us! If you do that by the deadline (April 1), YOU WIN!
Other fun Bookclub perks:
- We run AMAs (Ask Me Anything) for any participating Resbang Book Club author who wants a chance to talk about their work live with book club readers!
- We have a Hall of Fame for the most prolific book club readers, whose rewards include internet fame via our Hall of Fame tumblr post and a fancy name on Discord!
- Game nights, live readings, screaming about fics and more in the book club discord server!!
It’s a great way to meet writers and other readers in the fandom, and it’s a great way to ~spread the luv~ on the creators that have worked so hard for the past 4 months crafting stories for us!!
Great!! How do I sign up?
Send us an email at [email protected]. Include your tumblr username and list any content you do not wish to read (squicks). We want to make sure our readers receive fics that they are able to read!! Your list of squicks can be specific (ex: “I do not wish to read any stories with graphic violence or sexual content”) or general (ex: “I do not wish to read anything rated higher than R”). Please be as thorough as you can so that we can match you appropriately!!
** A reminder for authors this year - you must join Bookclub and complete one review (it doesn’t have to be one of your assigned fics, just a review!) to sign up for an AMA!! **
Signups close on Dec. 14, so make sure to get your name in before then!
If you have any questions, feel free to send us an ask or email us regarding how signups work!! SEE YOU SOON <3
