On June 1, 2024, I shared my writing online for the first time.
Guiding Lights is the first work of fanfiction I’ve written and the first piece of any writing ever that I’ve made public. So far it’s 65k words and I have a lot more story to tell. I know I’ve definitely jumped in at the deep end by starting with such an ambitious project! But I don’t regret it at all. It’s been an amazing journey into online fandom and I can tell I’ve been able to grow and improve as a writer.
So I thought, for the one year anniversary, I’d pull back the curtain a bit and talk about what this story means to me.
First of all, it is a love letter to my fellow fans and creatives. Guiding Lights is of course inspired by @cluelessmoose 's wonderful Lightsverse fics, Follow The Lights and Don’t Go Into The Light (and Shine A Little Light , sort of), and I have taken great pleasure in revisiting these fics again and again to gather reference material and make sure Guiding Lights is as close to canon-compliant as I can make it. Seriously, I could not express how much I love these fics without writing a whole-ass fanfic for them. So this is how I try to give back, even if it’s just as little as knowing someone cared enough about your work to make something. I hope that brings a little happiness.
Guiding Lights, for me, is a gift to the people who inspire me and support me. I don’t mean that in a “my writing is a treasure to behold” kind of way. You see, I don’t have much to give away. My talents are limited, and so are my resources, and I’m awkward and weird and shy. But I can create art and I can write, and I can give my time and effort to the people in my communities and the people that I care about.
And beyond that, Guiding Lights has a message. I have a story to tell — an adventure, a road trip, a narrative that I hope readers will greatly enjoy. But I hope, as well, that the themes I’m trying to convey come through, and that the lessons the characters learn also resonate with some of you. I’ll talk more about those themes as we get further along in the story, but for now I’ll let it speak for itself.
For this anniversary piece, I selected the last line of the first chapter:
“This was his last life.”
This line, to me, succinctly encompasses Wild’s character and motivations in Guiding Lights. Wild has gotten a second chance (well, third — fourth — fifth —) to learn his lessons — his worth, his role in the group, his own self-image. And this is his last shot to get it right. He can’t mess up this time.
But the thing is, most people don’t get the kind of re-dos that Hylia’s Heroes get, and especially the kind that Wild has gotten. One life, one chance, is all we get.
And, at the same time… what is a life? What makes one valuable, worthwhile, or fulfilled? What are you willing to spend your one precious life on? And if, on the other hand, you look to the future and see only suffering… what do you do?
Thank you to @gia-d for helping me decide on what kind of art I made for this anniversary. I was coming up with all kinds of ideas and nothing seemed right, and she (perhaps as a joke) said “typography” — and it was perfect. A blend of writing and art, an art form that has been deeply integral in my life since childhood, a way to highlight the language that I love and am proud of from this story — excellent!
And of course a huuuge thank you to my beta readers: Sibling, @not-freyja , and sometimes @needfantasticstories — I wouldn’t dare publish this story without subjecting it to your rigorous critique! Seriously, you all have made the story so much better by casting your eyes over it.
It takes a village, and all that.
[IMG1: A piece of typographic art done in black ink on white paper. The text reads “This was his last life,” which is the last line of the first chapter of Guiding Lights. Each word is in a slightly different font; “this” and “was” are in heavy gothic fonts, “his” is in a light script, “last” is in a geometric sans serif, and “life” is in a large serif font but wrapped around a half-circle at the bottom of the page. Inside the half-circle is a Heart Container from Breath of the Wild, drawn in red marker and gold gel pen. The three “i’s” in the text have their dots drawn in silver gel pen, and straight lines connect the dots like a constellation map. The final dot has radiating silver lines like a brighter star.]
[IMG2: An angled photograph of the artwork, which is in a large spiral-bound notebook. In the strong lighting, the metallic ink is more shiny.]
[IMG3: A closeup of the Heart Container illustration. The gold “case” resembles filigree. The gold gel pen is highly metallic and textured, and there is a little bit of shading on the red parts.]
[IMG4: The pencil sketch of the lettering, including grid lines.]
[IMG5: The inked but uncolored lettering. The dots over the “i’s” are penciled circles, and a penciled grid is still visible under the Heart Container.]
Ooo, I cannot pick. War Games AND if you want a second the Panic (Not at the Disco)? from the WIP ask game. (Thanks for the tag!)
Oh heck yeah, I’ll do both! I love talking shop, NGL.
War Games is a collaborative AU with @a-manicured-lawn , @hytiaa , and two other writers. We’re currently working on one long “canon” fic and a number of smaller branching timeline/non-canon stories! The premise is:
What if Spirit was summoned to the War of Eras? (And what if that wasn’t a good thing?)
Who knows what the fic will actually look like when it’s more complete (we’re writing largely out of order), but I’ll share a snippet of something I’ve written for one of the earlier parts!
“What happened?” the boy demanded, taking the Captain’s arm over his thin shoulder. He could barely support the Captain’s weight, but with Impa on the other side, nearly matching him for height, they kept him upright.
“Total loss of morale,” the Captain said wearily. “Soldiers cut and ran, wouldn’t hold the line. It was a rout, kid.”
Spirit bit his lip, looking down at his shoes. “Morale,” he muttered, “I didn’t take that into account. I didn’t…”
“You can’t account for people’s hearts, boy,” Impa said sternly.
They had almost reached the debrief area, where the Captain would have to stand before the war council and explain what had gone wrong. Assuming he could stand.
“I will next time,” Spirit said stubbornly. “Everything can be accounted for. Everything.”
***
Panic (Not at the Disco) is the new temporary title of a BotW one-shot I’ve been slowly working my way through! It’s part glitch fic, part tone challenge, and so far all fight scene. (I need to hurry up and get it finished so I can move on to other stories.) It’s about 7k words so far, but here’s the first few paragraphs ~
Link trudged up the slope behind Woodland Stable, their eyes fixed on the hillside rising out of the trees all around them. Behind them, the soft rattle and clank of Beedle’s traveling kit provided a rhythmic counterpoint to the melodic whinnies of horses and the musical voices of the Hylian stable-folk. As Link made their way along the beaten-down dirt path, the sounds of civilization gave way to the lively hush of the forest — restless crickets, tittering birdsong, the soft cry of a fox in the distance.
At the top of the hill, barely visible above the trees, was another one of the Sheikah Towers. It stabbed the clouds above like a fiery blade, burning orange and gold at its core, a candle glowing in the wan late-afternoon light.
And between Link and the Tower, hidden from sight now but known by report and by the subtle scent of woodsmoke on the breeze — the old military training camp, according to the stable-folk, long abandoned by Hylians and their allies, now inhabited only by bokoblins and their ilk.
Hope you enjoyed these little sneak peeks! Look forward to them getting posted ~ eventually ~ (I promise!)
Who is your favorite character to write, and what do you like about how you portray them?
+ Have they always been your favorite to write?
Oooh, okay, picking a favorite is hard for me because my favorite character at any given time is “whoever makes the scene move forward.” Of the LU boys, Wild is the one I’m most familiar with, and I have the easiest time getting into his character. Legend, meanwhile, likes to take the microphone and run away with it, making whole scenes practically write themselves!
But I think my favorite LU character to write, right now, is actually Wind. The way I write him, he has a lot of sass and a more casual vocabulary than the other boys, which makes him great for calling out the more ridiculous moments in a story and putting things back on track. He cuts to the heart of a scene and he won’t hesitate to tell me when I’m making things more complicated than they need to be. And the Lightsverse version of Wind is pretty emotionally astute as well, which is pleasant to work with — like directing an actor who has good people skills.
Wind has definitely NOT always been my favorite — I had no idea what to do with him at first, because his main fanon characterization of “is young” just didn’t give me much to build from. I had to work with him for a while before developing the understanding of his character that I currently have. And now I’d like to write more of him, and different versions — but I need a lot more time to get around to that!
Guiding Lights! It’s my first fanfic (though I’ve been writing for much, much longer). It’s a sequel to CluelessMoose’s amazing fic Follow The Lights, chronicling the first time the Chain returns to Wild’s era after the events of Follow The Lights. When one of their brothers goes missing, it’s a desperate hunt through the vast expanse of Hyrule to find him before it’s too late — but that’s only one of the challenges they’ll face, as mysterious enemies and their own memories alike follow close at their heels.
I’m also working on finishing up the fic I started during the July Write-A-Thon (currently untitled). It’s technically a glitch fic, but I got really intrigued by making it artsy, so now it’s wandered a bit from its original design. I’m making good progress on it, so hopefully I’ll be able to share it soon!
Hello friends! Today I come to you with a little discussion of ~scam comments!~
I’ve seen some people fall or almost fall for these types of scams recently, and I just got a lovely example, so I thought I’d take it as a teaching moment. Remember, it doesn’t matter how clever or educated or experienced you are, anyone can be tricked!
I received a comment on one of my posts that went as follows:
Hello,
My name is Ledia, and I’m an art collector and a proud member of the Ask Night Art Collection team. I’d love to introduce you to BOA Art Gallery, a U.S.-based gallery with a strong commitment to acquiring and showcasing exceptional digital art.
If you're open to it, I’d be happy to connect you with the BOA team or share more about how they collaborate with artists and collectors. This could be a great opportunity to have your work represented in a growing and dynamic collection.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Warm regards,
Ledia
Ask Night Art Collection.
I knew right away that this offer was fake, so let's talk about what gives it away.
The first giveaway is that I am a traditional artist, and the comment specifically mentions digital art. Now, maybe that just means it’s a copy-paste and they didn’t actually look at my tags! But there’s also no mention of what they like about my art or this piece in particular. A lack of relevant details is a pretty good indication that a message is at least copy-pasted, if not AI-generated. So, maybe they’re just blast-commenting on art pieces? …Except it’s not a comment on the art piece, it’s on one of my timelapse videos, where you a) barely get to see the finished painting and b) clearly see that it’s traditional art. So even if they actually represent a gallery and actually like my art, this would not be the post to comment on!
Speaking of galleries: legitimate galleries will not reach out to artists like this. They will hold open calls, or rarely reach out to individuals about putting together a whole show, if that artist is already known in the space. (This is almost exclusively done by small local galleries who are looking for local artists, and it will likely never happen in an online, anonymous space.)
A quick web search reveals that, since there are several BOA galleries, there’s no way to identify from the comment which BOA gallery the commenter claims to represent. A search for Ask Night Art Collection, meanwhile, leads nowhere except to “Ask Nights dot org,” which is an NFT website — so, 100% a scam even if the comment was legit.
What about the profile of the blog that commented? Well, at a glance they appear to have no posts of their own, just a lot of empty reblogs of art (both digital and traditional) with no apparent pattern to subject, style, or type (I saw some comics and some sketch dumps in there — lovely work, but why is this blog reblogging it?). A reblog-only account isn’t automatically an indication of a scammer, but when combined with the rest, it’s a big red flag. I’m getting no sense of personality or even an indication that there’s a human being running this account; it feels like a robot.
All of which is to say: this is absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a scam comment that has been copy-pasted, most likely from a bot account. And it took me no time at all to run a couple of quick search terms, check their profile, and confirm my suspicions.
If I had fallen for this trick, what would the scammer be aiming for? Probably information, like email addresses or usernames (which can often be used to find email addresses), which can then be sold or used to gather additional personal information. It’s possible that they would have asked me for money for the privilege of displaying or using my art, and then simply taken the money and run. Maybe there’s something else they get out of this scam that I don’t even understand.
If you’re an artist, writer, or creator of any kind, you’re likely to be targeted by scammers like this (and even if you’re NOT creative… well, MLMs are a thing, too). Knowing what to look out for and what to double-check can save you a lot of effort when those “too good to be true” offers of commissions or agents come through. And if you’re ever in doubt, ask your fellow artists what they think! They may have run into or heard of some scams that are new to you. There are always new scams being invented. Stay safe!
Rhythm! I pay a lot of attention to rhythm in my writing, and I like to think I’m pretty good at using cadence to not only make my prose pleasant to read, but to convey meaning. Punctuation, meter, word choice, emphasis, and sentence construction all have an impact on how a snippet flows, and setting a good rhythm for a section is, to me, really important for getting the reader wrapped up in the story.
I think the line between poetry and prose is quite thin, actually, and that a lot of the elements that make effective poetry also make effective prose. I’m not any kind of slam poet, but I love listening to performances, and sometimes when I’m stuck on a section I try to think about how it would sound spoken out loud in that context.
I also really like similes, as my readers can probably tell. But I have less to say about that! Metaphors and similes are great. I love them.
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