#swsa ask

[psychologicalwarclaire]

There are some books/fics that I can only read once, because on the second read, I start noticing little writing mistakes that annoy me too much to keep going. Spider’s web with strings attached is not one of those fics. Every time I reread it, I see new things, like foreshadowing, or amazing metaphors and motifs, everything. Your writing has such a good flow to it, the sentences all go well together, I can tell how much time you spend meticulously fixing grammar mistakes, your imagery is astounding, your characterization is spot-on, everything about it is just so incredibly good. I hope you know just how wonderful swsa is, and so is all of your other writing

THANK YOU SO MUCH??? OHMIGOSH??? This is such high praise! I purposely put forshadowing and easter eggs for later into my writing, so I'm overjoyed that it's worth re-reading and those will be picked up on.

I really really needed this, thank you so much Anon. You've made my day and I'm so grateful you took the time to send this wonderful ask!

[psychologicalwarclaire]

Curly. Curly pls. I know you love tearing into the blorbos in the most vicious and heart wrenching way possible, but you write the best crack. What is this chapter. Pls youve written the show ;-;

Is there anything you cant do????

Truly the highest praise 🥹

When you're trying to write the turtles in character, it's actually harder to write them angsty because 98% of the source material is pure crack. These characters are inherently goofy and so finally letting their silly side shine through is actually a relief.

It's actually surprisingly easy for me to let the silly goofy turtles be silly, which is part of the reason why this chapter got away from me and got so long. They just kept shenaniganing and I couldn't stop them!

That being said, I, personally, love angst and ripping people apart. So it's a delicate balance of writing what comes easily to me, and what comes easily to the characters.

[psychologicalwarclaire]

*skids into your ask box a second time*

OK WAIT.

Something's been on my mind ever since the splinter pov chapter, and I haven't bothered to ask yet.

REGARDING THE THING YOU REBLOGGED, I MUST NOW KNOW

Did you write draxum and splinter with any underlying shipping in mind??

"...No? ...No. Of course I did...n't..."

Welp, you caught me

Not, like, explicitly? I like their divorced vibe regardless, but I think it's funny to ship them. Draxum is literally the only other (not currently evil) adult in Splinter's life, which has created an interesting dynamic. Off screen in Spider's Web, there was definitely some bonding to get them to a relationship not totally filled with hatred, at least.

At this point in the story, there is absolutely nothing romantic between them, but I suppose there were some underlying implications that there could be in the future? They're funny, so who am I to not play with that?

(If you look at what I did with my best gals April and Casey, you can see something kinda similar there too)

[psychologicalwarclaire]

Here is some fanart of swwsa. This was really fun to make c:

OHMIGOSH IT'S VIPER. WHAT. I LOVE THIS STYLE SO MUCH

[psychologicalwarclaire]

Hey Curly! Just wandering if you could give a description of Leo and Donnie’s appearance/amour in SWWSA. Hope you have a wonderful day! :D

Hello! My amazing beta reader @dr-smer drew the outfits up here. Leo has that scarf/cape and is loosely based off of medieval armor. Donnie's armor is reminiscent of samurai armor. I hope the concept art helps!

Thank you so much!

[psychologicalwarclaire]

Are there any nods, secrets, or easter eggs in your story that you don’t think people caught??

Y'all continuously surprise me with what you're able to pick up on, but here are just a few that I'm not totally sure people noticed.

Spoilers below the cut

Donnie's death was foreshadowed since chapter one

I literally put Tony Hawk in chapter twelve (and fourteen) and I haven't seen a single person comment on it. I was running out of ideas for Yokai, okay?

Besso the bear bellhop from chapter five is based off of an NPC @drsmer made when they DM'ed a rescent DnD campaign. The real Besso is a very sweet, mild mannered bear who one day gained sentience and now has to pay taxes.

The "Jack the Rabbit" book that haunts Donnie's conscience is from Ninjago.

The dragon Mordica's name is an inside joke between me and @bubbles-and-puddles based on a typo someone made in Sunday School spelling the word Mordecai as Mordecal.

This moment in chapter fifteen has two easter eggs. Scythes because, you know, Donnie just died. And Leo quoted the Krang.

During the flashbacks in chapter sixteen, I snuck in a reference to one of my favorite Rise fics of all time, Error 404 (if anyone knows the fic or knows the author, please tag them to give them credit)

And of course this shameless Like Father Like Son easter egg that I think everyone probably saw coming

I've said this before, but Donnie and Leo's cells were right next to each other. They both thought they were hallucinating but they could hear everything.

I saw my chance to say @purplepixel in the fic so I did.

I feel like there are probably more? These are just a few of them that I slipped in. I know I at least THOUGHT about putting a Hide and Seek by @phoebepheebsphibs reference in there at one point, but I don't know where it would be.

Next chapter I had to name the physical therapist, so I named her Dr. Fib after @daboyau (hope that's okay with you, nervous laugh)

[psychologicalwarclaire]

What is one scene (or just a specific thing or whatever. Anything that isn't too spoilery) that you're really excited to write for swsa? :3

Oooo, excellent question!

There are three big scenes that I'm really REALLY excited to share. Most of them are going to be very difficult for me to write, but they'll be worth it.

In order to avoid spoilers, I'll give two keywords to describe each scene.

Tick tick.

Light green.

Golden skyline.

[psychologicalwarclaire]

8. If you wrote a prequel for swsa, what would it be about? :3

Also hi Curly ^^

Hi Obby I love you!!!

If I wrote a prequel for SWSA, what would it be about?

The easy answer is that I would write about the turtles recovering from the invasion, but I've read so many fics about that, I worry that nothing I wrote would be original. Besides, that doesn't really tie in to the fic itself.

If I wrote a prequel for Spider's Web, I would write a 250k+ story about Big Mama's rise to power.

Some plot points I'd definitely go over

Big Mama's lavish childhood as the daughter of a business empire

Granddaddy Longlegs, who taught her to be ruthless and the ins and outs of business. Loss of childhood empathy early on. Additionally, the rest of the family web and what kinds of spiders they are

Childhood friend Baron Draxum and the loss of that friendship

Learning and mastering the mystic arts

Why she talks Like That (spoiler alert, it's because she wants to and because her mother did too)

Her real name and then how she got the name/title Big Mama

Ruthless teenage years: spats with her family members, the loss of Grandaddy Longlegs, gaining and losing allies, ideas for expanding the Nexus family business, deals and dirty deeds with criminals, interactions with evil crime syndicates, etc.

Inheriting the Nexus and taking over the crime empire. The ins, outs, and horrible secrets of the Nexus Hotel. How she and her business partner turned the Nexus into the most successful place in the Hidden City

Lou Jitsu

The Nexus after the loss of Lou Jitsu and the game of wits she played with her business partner that eventually led to her coming out on top and working alone.

Meeting the turtles so that we end the story where we meet her in the show.

Okay so this is the first time I've actually THOUGHT about it and now I really want to write this. It would basically be like an original story because of the liberties I'd have to take and all the OC's I'd need to come up with in order to make it an actual plot. Between the headcanons I'd have to make, and all the scenes I'd have to pick apart, and the work I'd have to put into it, this would be a massive undertaking.

Obby don't you dare let me write this. Oh no..... oh NO. There is literally no market for this. The Hidden City is literally my least favorite part of the show. AND YET.

Maybe I'll change Big Mama's name and make this my own original story, who knows.

Would anyone actually be interested in reading this?