*kicks the door to your blog in with my foot* HELLO WORLD-FAMOUS AUTHOR OF DAYSHIFT GO FIGURE!! IT'S ME, SWEE(E)TMAPLE, THE PERSON WHO'S LEFT YOU WAY TOO MANY COMMENTS!!! I LOVE!!! YOUR FIC!!!! *puts door back up* that was maybe a lot to lead with. But it does express my enthusiasm level.
I've expressed most of my thoughts in your comments section already, but I wanted to leave an ask as well because i Am foaming at the mouth about the cliffhanger and the fic in general. It's literally so good. How do you do it. Can i have your autograph
I'm so glad that I decided to finally pick up this fic again after not reading it for so long, because it really was just as good as I remembered it. I want you to know that even when I was not reading for a while, whenever I saw your pfp cross my dash I would think to myself, "I remember the fic that person wrote. It was really good. I'm glad to see they're still around. I should read that fic again." Your work is loved, just thought you should know :) Thank you so much for deciding to share it with us, especially in this age of AI slop and people feeding fanworks to the machine. Love for author for one thousand years <3
IM. GLAD YOU LIKED IT!! UR REVIEWS HAVE BEEN A TREAT TO READ. CONGRATS ON UR SUCCESSFULLY DODGING EGG.
tuzz, saw there was a new chapter (m late but did a full reread as a refresher) and. oh my god. ohhhhh my god u cannott end a chapter on that. guh the fondness and protectiveness over the silly trouble makers thru the fic n now the heist is even More stressful because?? one of /your/ kids. YOUR kid is in this fuckin nightmare w u. falls to the ground. also im so fucking scared bc its Definitely over their time n obi is Also gonna get involved?? his best friend is in there. explodes. terrified an excited for whatever the hell u do next omg <3
the FULL reread refresher takes so long its so many words ough. but HELL YEAH BACK TO THE TORMENT NEXUS WITH YOU!!! WOOOO THE TORMENT NEXUS!!! GLAD YOU ENJOYED!!!
Howdy, friend! I was chewing my way through "you move to dayshift but aren't paid any more, go figure" (big fan btw) and on chapter 13 in the notes you said, "I am a freak about not only speaking patterns but character interactions."
Now, as a big fan of said speaking patterns and character interactions, I wanted to ask you how you go about writing them! I don't consciously think of speaking patterns when I write, so I'm curious how you think of/incorporate them.
Thank you in advance! I love learning from fellow creatives ❤️
oh yeah of course!
you are going to learn at least one embarrassing truth about me very, very quickly. immediately, in fact.
so i used to read homestuck back while it was coming out, and no one is allowed to blame me because it was 2013 and it wasnt blocked on my school's wifi. i was writing a LOT back then, too. i dont know what first called my attention to it, but i realized right around the trend of in-universe character chatroom fics started getting big (and i specifically remember this was only a short while AFTER the "Congratulations on your purchase of your very own [Character]! Here's their user manual" trend) that everyone, in and outside of that space, talks weird. EVERYONE.
Everyone talks weird. and i didnt have a word for what that was until i started listening to TAZ:Balance. Cadence!
it's all cadence. you know how sometimes you can just Know things about an original character without thinking? if you can become familiar enough with what you can see as the character's inner voice - original or otherwise - its so much easier to figure out how they think and react to certain things.
so it's that cadence that i suggest trying to feel out with different characters. there is one other thing though, one that doesnt click nearly as well: sometimes you just have to let the big personalities duke it out with each other.
sure, you as the creative might know theyre gonna get along after everythings sorted, or want to put some of your own knowledge about things like 'how to argue in a constructive way' or '10 therapy tips that will make miscommunication a thing of the past' but thats just not happening in real life (and honestly anyone bringing therapy-speak into a heated convo gets my hackles raised anyway). irl people might have enough reflection to stop themselves from saying hurtful things, but it sure as hell doesnt stop them from thinking hurtful things, and it shows in how they behave.
i consider myself to have a good handle on character interactions not because i can always get my stupid little assholes on the straight and narrow, but because i let them choose their own place in line like toddlers do, shoving and foul play included. its fun! some one the best feedback ive gotten on dayshift was the chapter Obi and Sunbite had one of their arguments, and i had thought that chapter was going to bomb because i spent more time fiddling with my ocs than i did with the DCA. trust me, some practice in letting two characters really and truly argue in your writing pays off big time.
uh, anyway, sorry about rambling your ear off.
tldr: pay attention to the cadence of the characters you want to write, and let them be stupid and/or wrong sometimes. it works, and it makes for more interesting interactions.
seriously though i discovered your fic through chap 29's post, and i have been OBSESSED it is AMAZING! And at one point, I had taken an ASL class, and to be reading them talking through the language was so special to me. And also Riley Greene?!?! That was such a cool surprise! I love their relationship with SunBite, its so intriguing to read, vs the first person narrative of Riley through Shiras fic. And the way you tackled SunBites responsibility to stay safe for the fear of hurting the dca, OUUUUGHHHH MY HEARTTTTTTTTRTTTT, the feeling of seeing moons face but not in the same way anymore AGHHHH IT MADE MY CHEST HURT. And SunBites view of themselves just made my heart bleeeeed. Everytime I hear them say "Im the worst person I know" I AGREE WITH SUN PLEAAASE STOP SAYING THAT OUUUGHHHHH all the dynamics between characters are so amazingly heart wrenchingly real and alive. I can't way to see where it goes, and I'll be cheering this fic on till it's completion!!
WHATTT a ASL learner AND a shira fic enjoyer!!!!! fucking JACKPOT
super glad you enjoyed reading, its kinda rare to get comments like this (from new readers going all the way thru over a few days) anymore just because dayshift is so LONG now, so im definitely treasuring it. i thiiiink we'll be in the final arc after the next chapter or two!!! so stay tuned!!!
6 - Is there any significance behind their eye color?
Viper (the yn that became an oc): They have brown eyes because I always have and always will adore eyes that are capable of golden tones. Brown eyes are at the very top of that list. Call me a lifelong FMA simp, I do not care and I will never be ashamed.
Sunbite (the true yn): I keep their eyes black in drawings because it's easy to pretend I'm not including any color that way. Their eyes could be black! But that could also be the color I use for my outlines. Who knows.
10 - If they have an LI, how much of their character is tailored to be compatible to that person?
Viper: They're definitely different from Sunbite in this. So for onlookers, Viper is a character that's been indulging in cross-oc pairs, and while the BASE behaviors are still there, they've definitely changed for that purpose. Mainly they're more outwardly anxious, and thus more willing to actually speak their anxieties aloud, because it's just more fun that way.
Sunbite: The OG high-walls-no-compromises yn to the DCAs 'do whatever you want but pls don't leave'. Their whole deal is being a direct opposite (outwardly at least) to their Interest, and then as the story goes on it's clear that they're the same kind of clingy in a different way. So they're still very much tailored to match, but I hope it's at least a *little* subtle.
14 - If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be?
Viper: Constant second-guessing and a heart so big that it's genuinely causing problems. I want this guy unsure, I want them constantly trying to figure out conundrums that don't exist, I want them to have a split-second glimpse of a disagreement and immediately think about either how fast they can move if it escalates or what they would be able to say to get everyone calmed down.
Sunbite: High intelligence/low wisdom and overwhelming paranoia. Sunbite HAS to be an unreliable narrator, and they have to do it in such a way that their batshit conclusions have to make complete narrative sense. Are they right about some stuff? Absolutely! But facing the supernatural, is it smarter to run and hide or get mad? Obviously the TRUE supernatural would just find them, so better go out swinging, right?
those are my character thoughts, i cherish my little guys, im shoving them through a meat grinder with lots of kisses. ty for indulging me andy
Sadly I can’t binge read your dayshift fic no more since I don’t got an account, but I’ll enjoy from the sidelines!
Yeah sorry, I didn't exactly want to lock the fic but the alternative was getting a comment every chapter about the wonders of dodoAI and how amazing it is and dont you wanna finish your writing with AI isnt it so easy and No I Fucking Don't
so sadly dayshift is gonna be restricted until the bot crisis is handled
hiiii!!!! sorry if this is weird i just wanted to say i love ur dca fic soooo much and ive been following it for abouta year now!!! its wonderful im so glad youre writing it
youre okay, not weird at all im glad you enjoy it!! bc i love writing it!!
