#soad asks

[haikujitsu]

How can I write in-character runaway!Danny? You’re my favourite dp writer btw.

Aw thanks anon! 

Hmmm well it really depends on the story, but here are some important points:

A compelling motivation

Danny has a lot more reasons to stay in Amity Park (family, friends, responsibility) than he does to leave. It has to be pretty high-stakes: An identity reveal gone bad, a danger he’s actively trying to draw away from his home, a catastrophic fight with his parents (emotional or physical), an accidental time warp. He has to feel like it’s the only option.

Plausible means

Being an underage runaway is hard and dangerous. Less so for Danny (assuming he can use his ghost powers), but he’ll either need to use his ghost powers to steal food and shelter (and wrestle with his conscience), or find some help in order to survive and be fed. This help can be as simple as giving him cash (like Sam did in SoaD). It can also come at a price.

Danny can get help from an OC, but there are a few remote canon characters as well: Aunt Alicia, Harriet Chin, the misc. ghost hunters from Million Dollar Ghost, Amorpho, Freakshow, the GIW, occasionally Johnny 13, and yes, Vlad. Not to mention the golden opportunity for crossover material (Here’s lookin’ at ya, Running Blind!)

Oh, and worth noting that while lone runaway Danny is a legit train of thought, someone going with him isn’t out of the question. One of my favorite runaway oneshots (by @cordria I believe?) had Jazz along for the ride.

Enough realism to make it grounded

There are a lot of hazards to homelessness that your average high schooler would have no clue how to handle. You don’t have to get too gritty and true-to-life (he is a scifi-powered superhero after all), but doing some research never hurts. The Experience Project, my favorite resource during the early days of SoaD, is sadly defunct, but just googling “what is it like to be a teenager and homeless” will offer you some insight.

That’ll get you started in the right direction. Best of luck with your writing!

[haikujitsu]

I've always wondered what vlad would do if he caught danny in soad. Like, probably something evil but what? I need to know!!

Idk if even he knows, man. 

Vlad is a manipulative narcissist who thinks that the people he wants (ostensibly cares about) are best off under his supervision. If he could force Danny to stay with him, he could fix him. Hide him from the GIW. Give him a parent who actually cares and understands. Heal his wounds with his ghost hybrid expertise. And if he couldn’t, there’s always this option...

...and we all know how well that turned out.

[haikujitsu]

In a SoaD-like setting, under what circumstances do you think Danny would have stayed away from his family?

Hmm. Not running into a statistically unlikely extremely helpful, discreet, and medically savvy good Samaritan? Continuing his physical and mental spiral without adult support and just dying under a bridge somewhere as his body consumed itself. Living on the street long enough that he learns to harden rather than soften, channeling his PTSD into aggression and a lone-wolf mentality.Getting caught by the GIW. Getting killed by a ghost. Getting caught by Vlad. Getting killed by some random asshole who saw his giant wad of cash. Maddie continuing her self-destructive cycle instead of listening to Jazz and Angela, making her completely unequipped to reconcile with Danny. Maddie staying with Vlad. Valerie not saving Amity Park from the ghost of the day and it going up in flames while the Fentons are busy working through their issues. The GIW not being kicked out of Amity Park by deus ex Manson. Getting caught by Kerza and whoever’s behind him.

Danny survived SoaD on a combination of dumb luck and author contrivance, let’s be real

[haikujitsu]

About the SoaD ask from earlier, given that Danny finds a family who understands and helps him, under what circumstances would he stay willingly?

You mean that ask where I described the majority of alternate scenarios as “Danny dead in a ditch somewhere?” XD

Hmm. See, that would require him ignoring all his unresolved trauma and abandoning all his friends and family in order to have a happy new life, and he just doesn’t strike me as that kind of a person. 

The closest SoaD-canonical equivalent I could see would be him living with the Foleys, and they’d have to be clued in first.

Look, guys, if you wanna speculate on SoaD AUs go right ahead. I’m not really interested in a “Danny gets adopted by a loving family and starts a new life” narrative, but if you want to run down that rabbit trail you’re welcome to!

[haikujitsu]

I didn’t know you didnt like the name Shadow of a Doubt - if you could change it now what would you change it to?

Sprinkles on a Doughnut?

No? Anyone?

Ha, well I couldn’t come up with anything better, that’s why I settled for SoaD.

I went out of my way to give Phantom of Truth a unique name - to the point of googling it to make sure there weren’t any other DP fics or famous works of fiction with the same title (Amazingly, there aren’t! Try googling it!). I really wanted to do the same with SoaD while keeping it closely thematically tied to PoT.

Shadow of a Doubt is not only an existing DP fic (sorry truphan! I didn’t realize that until after), it’s also the name of a famous Hitchcock film. AND it shares an acronym with a well-known band, System of a Down. Which makes Tumblr tagging complicated, to say the least. Anything tagged simply soad/Shadow of a Doubt I’m unlikely to see.

Aside from all that, I just wish I could have been more original. It’s not ideal.

Buuuut my other name possibilities were either too specific for such a sweeping plot, too dark, or too divorced from Phantom of Truth to make them a good pairing. It is what it is now! And it’s so embedded into the story I wouldn’t try to change it even if I did think of something. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[haikujitsu]

I just wanted to tell you, you’re an amazing author and you seem like a really kind person. PoT and SoaD are some of the best fanfics in existence, and I want to thank you for dedicating all the time you put into them.

Aww thank you! I try my best.

[haikujitsu]

Hey there - I'm very new to your work (as in, I'm only ~15 chapters into soad) but especially in light of seeing some of your recent posts here, I just wanted to say: I hope fandom problems don't quash your passion for writing. You have real skill and an excellent voice, and reading your work just over the past few days has inspired me to find a spark to my own writing that I hadn't realized I'd lost years ago. Thank you so much for sharing your passion with us, and best wishes.

This is quite old now, and I don’t feel like digging up the context for it, but in case you’re still around anon:

It’s been sobering, at least. That’s not the only thing that’s hindered my writing over this past year, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t impact me at all.

When you write for a certain audience for a long time and have a ton of positive experiences, it’s easy to make the assumption that they’re a lot more like you than they actually are. People have different values and mindsets. People have different ideas of what constitutes an unforgivable offense. It’s hard suddenly getting a good look at the angry side of that audience, even if it’s not directed at me.

It’s hard too being a creator and wondering if I might someday step over that line, either deliberately or unintentionally, and fill hundreds or thousands of people with hate. 

There’s a lot of love and emotional vulnerability that goes into my writing, even the weird/dark/silly stuff. Every storytelling choice I make is a risk - and on some level speaks a truism about myself.

It makes me wonder whether I can really hack it in the modern internet age where having a public persona is a necessary part of success.

*sigh*

But hey, that’s a battle I have to conquer on my own. Despite discouragement and fear, I get the feeling that the urge to tell stories and reach out to people will come out stronger. Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, I hope you’re still writing! I’m glad you found some inspiration in my work, and I hope you’ve taken that spark and run with it.

[haikujitsu]

Just curious, after SoaD, how does Danny adjust to returning to school?

He doesn’t go back to high school - he doesn’t want to deal with the drama, and luckily his therapist and parents agree. Since Danny was (almost) a senior and he has some major extenuating circumstances, Casper High lets him finish up his final year via online classes, tutoring and dual enrollment at a community college.

Check out the AMA for more deets