#resbang AMAs
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AMA Transcript: A Lack of Armor
Last week, we held our first AMA in the discord chat with @amberlehcar, @peregr1ne and @thesockswhowearsfox, where lots of people stopped in to ask about their work on A Lack of Armor! Here’s some of what went down:
Q: Amber, could you take me through your process of conceiving/planning out this fic? What inspired it originally?
AmberLehcar: Oh man okay, so there was a post floating around that was like "I headcanon Soul as trans and here's why" and I just really dug it.
Peregrine: Wait, was it mine?
AmberLehcar: I don't remember who it was, but they said things like him being hypermasculine to appear more "manly."
Peregrine: I did say that in mine. That's crazy.
AmberLehcar: This was supposed to be for last year's Resbang, so I've kinda forgotten exactly what was all there, but it probably was yours.
Q: So what you are saying is that you and Pere were destined to work together?
AmberLehcar: Pere claimed me last year too! I had to back out after fic claims because life was becoming too much.
Peregrine: I mean you did come to me before that.
AmberLehcar: I did ask Pere a lot of questions. I'm cis/het, so I had a lot to learn and was really lucky that Pere was open and willing to teach me along with being an overall great partner.
Peregrine: I tried my best ^^; It's not like it was hard, just talking about myself pfft.
AmberLehcar: It was helpful though!
Peregrine: I'm glad it was. Was there more you wanted to say about the process?
AmberLehcar: I did a ton of research and was really invested in it. I see a lot of posts about the lack of representation for the LGBT+ community and really felt like I wanted to add.
Peregrine: Yeah, lack of representation really gets to me, especially because what representation there is is highly fetishized and honestly i'd rather have no rep than fetish rep.
Q: For all parties involved, where/how do you feel like you grew the most during this Resbang?
Peregrine: This was my first event where I did more than one fic, so working through that was hard, but I'm glad I did because I really wanted both.
AmberLehcar: I think when I've written in the past, I've been really "this happened then this happened" etc. It was a lot more introspective this time around, so I focused a lot more on the feelings of the characters and evoking feelings in the reader. When I tried to enter this last year, I got to like 6k words but really struggled to get there. With a new direction, I got to 30k fairly easily.
Sox: Well, it was my first Resbang and the first song I'd written since I was....18 I think. Just managing to write and record the song was a lot of growth for me.
Q: Amber, I am always interested in fic titles. Did you come up with the title of your fic beforehand, or did it develop as the story was created?
AmberLehcar: Okay, so I take all my chapter and fic titles from songs or lyrics. But A Lack of Armor made perfect sense to me because of my therapy. A few times in therapy we'd talked about putting on armor that was representative of support and good things in my life. The song "A Lack of Armor" has a line that says "like a knight without his armor I don't know who I am" and this all kinda spoke to me and fit really well with Soul and his depression/anxiety. I came up with the idea pretty much from the start and it's been with me since.
Q: You said it was a Motion City Soundtrack song, right?
AmberLehcar: All the chapter titles are from MCS songs, because I am trash lol. But they sorta go with the mood of each chapter if you go back and look at them.
Sox: Can confirm Amber is MCS trash.
Q: There's a sick playlist somewhere right?
AmberLehcar: I do have a playlist! https://open.spotify.com/user/1266385830/playlist/3xN37XwvUGsVqZNuhpRtng
Q: Most of the time it seems the usual characterization for the Evans fam is for Soul's father to be the 'worse' parent, either that or both of them being equally bad. (At least that's my view.) So I am wondering: was your decision to make Soul's dad the more accepting one an intentional subversion or did it just happen?
AmberLehcar: It just sorta happened? I am not a Mama Albarn fan. Aside from Marie, there are no good mamas in the series, so I just kinda went with that.
Sox: Blair begs your pardon.
[insert chorus of screaming about everyone's love for Blair]
AmberLehcar: Blair takes such good care of her kittens. Okay I lied, Blair and Marie are good. But yeah, I didn't want him to have absolutely no support from parents, and someone had to have taught Wes to be a good person. So Papa Evans eventually came around.
Q: For Pere: was there a scene that you knew immediately you wanted to illustrate and/or was it difficult to choose scenes to draw?
Peregrine: I definitely wanted to draw the first hug scene when I read it, when Maka was accepting, because the feelies. And then later Amber had mentioned how there was going to be a scene where soul plays his song for Maka, and I knew I really wanted to draw that too, but it wasn't written yet, so I asked her to describe the scene more for me in advance so i could draw it. She didn't have a solid idea though, so some stuff I made up, and she wrote the scene to fit my picture later actually ^^;
AmberLehcar: Your art definitely helped flesh out the scene there, thank you.
Sox: I love when Pete draws things.
Sox: *Pere
[Lots of people yelling about Pete]
Sox: God damn it.
Peregrine: The first pic with the hair I also just thought would be cute to draw, and then just for visual concepts, I wanted to draw the different stages of Soul as a bonus even if they didn't actually ever appear in the story ^^;
AmberLehcar: That first pic with the hair cutting is probably my favorite. I love them all, but that just made my heart flutter.
Q: Sox I have sort of the same question for you, did certain scenes inspire certain lyrics?
Sox: Uhhhh no not so much. I tried to write around the Mood of the fic and I talked to a local Atlanta musician about her experiences being trans with a bad family as a kid and tried to fit those to where Amber had Soul coming from. (Originally I was trying to write a SoMa Romance song but then... it came out as a Self Love Fuck you Mom song).
AmberLehcar: I'm glad it changed. At some point when writing I realized the fic was more focused on their relationship than him, so I tried to change it up. I'm glad the song evolved that way too. After I got one of the last drafts of the song, I included it in chapter 8 in case people were wondering.
Q: For Amber: what made you want to put Kim as Soul's neighbor out of any other character? What made you want to do the neighbor sub plot in the first place?
AmberLehcar: Representation mostly. I love me some JacKim and thought that having a grump next door that Soul ends up kinda befriending and/or helping would be interesting. Kim was kinda a weird facet for me to write through. As someone who feels everything 110%, being in love can be kinda scary sometimes, so her thoughts on love are pretty darn close to my own: wanting to love someone wholeheartedly but being afraid of exactly how deeply you can really love someone.
Sox: I FEEL.
Q: There's a scene where they're watching a Youtube video. Is that video significant to you in some way, Amber? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wWBLbQInqk)
AmberLehcar: Not at all. I was talking with Brian about assignments for the first day of class, and he mentioned he had to do that exact assignment and chose that exact video. The song's not bad and the video is... interesting?
Q: For Pere: What program do you use and whats your general process for art?
Peregrine: I use FireAlpaca because it's free lol. I usually do like, a base sketch that's really scribbly and focuses on like motion lines, if that makes sense. And then i decrease the opacity of that one and draw the actual lineart on a different layer on top, and then colour. Very rarely I'll keep drawing on the base sketch and just clean it a little but that's mostly for more actiony gestural stuff, or highly detailed things where I'm not bothered about solid lineart.
Q: How long-ish did each of your drawings take? Do you tend to draw faster when you're feeling inspired, do you have a creative process or anything?
Peregrine: Ah, I never know what to say when someone asks how long it takes, because it varies so much. But yeah, usually a drawing will take a few days if it's something average and not like the fricking Pacific Rim art I did way back when, which took like a month. I can do most pieces in a day if i'm properly inspired but it's like: yes, I can get this done in only a few hours, but those are completely straight drawing hours - no food or bathroom breaks or chit chats to be had. Honestly the longest part of the drawing process is actually the sketchy first part because I need to plan it out perfectly until i can see the end product in my head and then i can start actually working, and that can take weeks.
[insert group yelling about how great Pere's art is]
AmberLehcar: The boys brought me to literal tears every time they updated me.
Sox: Lies.
AmberLehcar: EVERY TIME.
Peregrine: I spent 5 hours drawing Soul's hair even though I finished the entire rest of the picture in 2.
Sox: I just had a mental image of Pere screaming the lyrics to Maroon 5's "Misery" while drawing.
Peregrine: That's me.
Q: For Amber: what were your easiest/hardest scenes to write & why?? Were there any that were easier/trickier to write than you expected? Bonus: favorite scene to write?
AmberLehcar: All of chapter 4 is crap and I'll fight anyone who disagrees with me. For some reason writing just general happy, normal life was really hard. The pain though, that was kiddy stuff. The first full scene I wrote was Soul's accidental confession. The idea just messed me up and I couldn't stop writing until it was all done. It's probably my favorite scene too, followed closely by Maka's acceptance.
Q: You super did not write linearly. That's so cool, I have to go in order.
AmberLehcar: No, I rarely do.
Peregrine: Man it was kind of tough reading your drafts, tbh.
Sox: SAME PERE
AmberLehcar: I'm so sorry!!
Sox: "How am I gonna write a song none of this is in order" XD
AmberLehcar: I need to give people an instruction manual for how to read my WIPs.
Peregrine: There were so many scenes that were like, great scenes on their own, but then I'm like wait, how did we get from point A to point ? Also, reading updates was hard because everyone else I've fic'd with was like 'oh just scroll down to wear you last read' but in this fic it was like... I know something was added... but where tho...
Sox: Slide to the left
Sox: Slide to the right
AmberLehcar: Never beta for me, it's a nightmare.
AmberLehcar: (That's a lie, please always beta for me, I need all the help I can get.)
Sox: Yeah but working with you is a dream tbh.
AmberLehcar: The nice thing about not writing linearly is that I could really easily work with my partners to add in ideas they had. I don't know that it was easy for them, but making it more of a collab that way was really neat for me.
Q: Do you outline everything out beforehand?
AmberLehcar: As much as I can. I derail if I don't.
Q: AmberLehcar, how did you decided where to put scenes/order them?
AmberLehcar: I have an outline template I wrote up based on a youtuber's outlining method! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eP73LMnphqEUn20mKd78_EB_qPlbXjklvkXLknxl5R0/edit?usp=sharing. This is the outline that I've been using recently, it's been really helpful. You guys are welcome to use it!
Q: Amber, would you say this outlining method helped? Just in comparison to past fics etc.
AmberLehcar: Definitely. I have so many incomplete fics simply because I didn't outline or didn't outline enough.
Q: So was the end planned? That is the hardest part for me.
AmberLehcar: More or less. It definitely changed a lot. I don't have any versions of the original ending, and there's still stuff from the finished product I don't remember because I literally finished at 3 a.m. the day of posting. I always have a very clear image of how the opening to any chapter or fic goes, but the end is always weird.
Q: Do you remember anything from the first version? How'd they differ?
AmberLehcar: I know the first half was a little different at the start of Resbang last year, but I have the worst memory... There was definitely supposed to be more NB Crona. Crona was supposed to be kinda the comic relief, making comments about their computer sciences classes that Soul does not understand. They named their laptop Nora and talk about it like it's a person. "Sometimes when Nora doesn't do what I want, I have to hit her" or something like that, make Soul concerned for this poor child. The "octagonal day" joke made it to the final cut. I think there was a scene at the end where Crona and Soul were supposed to be good friends after the "there's 10 kinds of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't." Because it's a math joke and a binary joke.
Sox: Amber
Sox: Is
Sox: A
Sox: NERD
Q: What was the funnest part of the fic for you to write, Amber? Or the part you were looking forward to the most?
AmberLehcar: Writing Black Star was fun. There's a few one liners that I love. My favorite bit is when Maka asks for his name and the next bit is "Nervous. Stupid. Sweating." I needed that smooch like life itself. I played with them kissing when Maka apologizes and they made up, but it didn't feel right. So I saved a sweet normal smooch for the end scene.
Sox: I literally cackled out loud on a train reading "no party like a floor meeting party because a floor meeting party is MANDATORY."
AmberLehcar: That was one of my other fave lines. My goals for the fic were representation, make it as realistic as possible, and make people feel things. I like to think I did a good job?
Sox: You accomplished all.
Peregrine: Man the parents thing hit me so hard, you did a good job.
Q: I'd love to hear about your process/writing rituals?
AmberLehcar: When it was a scene I was particularly excited to write or just suddenly inspired, I can just sit and write. But most of the time it's me sitting at the computer with tea asking myself why I do this to myself and then I just make myself write.
Q: Is there anything else you wanted to add other than more NB Crona, Amber?
AmberLehcar: When Pere showed me art of Soul's physical progression, I kinda wanted an epilogue of Soul post surgery, but time and lack of confidence in writing it well... I don't think anyone understands exactly how nervous I was to write this. I waffled a while with "you have no business writing this, you are cis, please stop."
Peregrine: Nooo it's cool because you asked. I definitely didn't think I could write trans Soul but I hoped someone would, if they asked and did it right. Which you did.
Sox: One of my close friends is trans, and when I sent him Eden, I thought he was going to tell me he hated me. And then he didn't and I was v relieved.
AmberLehcar: I definitely wanted to be as respectful and real as possible. Again, representation matters, and I wanted to help create a thing I hadn't seen done in our fandom.
Sox: You did good.
AmberLehcar: I'm really glad. I stalked the boys' tags on their work along with my own, and someone had reblogged Pere's art and was really grateful for trans Soul. I was glad to be a part of that.
Q: Did you make any playlists or anything like that to get into the writing mood? Or headspace of a character?
AmberLehcar: For headspace, Soul and I are very similar. I too am a bag of anxiety and depression trying to pass as a human. A lot of my college and therapy experience went into the fic. There's little bits of me in pretty much everyone.
Peregrine: I have my trans boy song i listened to a lot pfft. It's from Treasure Planet.
Q: Ooo which song Pere?
Peregrine: I'm Still Here. If you look at it through a trans lens its super fitting. It's like my fave song ever.
Some additional post-AMA discussion:
Q: Amber, I think that's a sign of a good writer, to take from one's own experiences and such.
AmberLehcar: Write what you know, right? And what you don't know, you find out. The whole experience definitely gave me a new appreciation for the LGBT+ community, that's for sure. I knew some stuff, but I learned so much.
AmberLehcar: To go back and slightly change my answer for difficult scene to write, while all of ch4 was like swimming in syrup to get written, Mama Evans outburst was so difficult to write. There was just so much anger and I felt icky writing a lot of that chapter in general. Writing Maka having to purposely misgender him hurt.
Peregrine: I really liked the parents thing actually even though i hated it. It felt raw and real.
AmberLehcar: So much pain, the whole time I'm just like "why would I hurt my son like this???"
Q: Noticed you guys were still talking and guh I loved your collective art/story!!! I now know the gap between dimensions can't be breached because if it could I'd have reached through the screen and force-choked Mama Evans. I was kind of mad at Maka too though like... I can understand that Soul needed some time to himself, away from her, to really figure things out, but ;-;
AmberLehcar: Yes! Maka was an interesting situation to figure out.
Peregrine: Yeah I loved what you did there actually, because as much as I wanted her to be perfect, she wasn't perfect.
AmberLehcar: I didn't want her to just immediately come back like "sorry you startled me, let's get married."
Peregrine: As much as I want people to immediately accept me, they don't, even if they do eventually. It wasn't fantasy perfect world, it was real world.
Q: I think... that's good. At first I thought Maka would be more likely to start off rough around the edges and then end the story gracefully. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if you're going to relate realistic stories about trans people/anyone in a similar situation, you probably have to... I don't want to say "break the reader's heart" because that would imply that those stories can't have happy endings, which they can and should at least as often as any other kind of story, but it put me in Soul's shoes and made me accept how likely it is that someone who is trans/lgbt/otherwise oppressed will be badly hurt by someone they think the world of, someone who's hard to leave behind. I dunno if I spoke out of turn there, but i think it was an empathically-written story. In my inexperienced opinion.
AmberLehcar: That's definitely what I was going for. I wanted Maka to be his closest friend, for his sake and for my shipping heart's sake. But she was just too good to be true when I was writing her, so her running away happened. I was so stuck after I wrote his confession, I didn't know how to have her react. But when I thought about some of the internalized transphobia I know I've been guilty of, it made sense to add for her. It felt real.
Look out for some more transcripts, coming soon!! Thanks again to Amber, Pere and Sox for their awesome AMA <3
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CLOSE YOUR EYES AMA w/ my lovely partner @redphlox!!!!
Remember to watch out for our AMA at the Resbang Book Club! | Feb 16, 2018 | 9:00PM EST
Please read the fic [ here (AO3) ] & [ here (FFN) ]!
And check out my artworks [ here ]!
//im so excited!!!! (´∀｀)♡
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Tiempo mágico y fabuloso de un fandom al que añoraba regresar: Soul Eater.
En colaboración con la gran @Honey su historia “@A witch’s guide to wid and wickedness” me inspiró para volver a dibujar a dos de los personajes más queridos para mi. Estoy super agradecida con todo el equipo de ResBang, con todos los modborgs y aunque me siento como novata y todo esto es como nuevo para mi por que estuve algo lejos del fandom aprendí que no importa qué, si tu amas lo que te gusta entonces todo estará bien y encontrarás personas con las que podrás colaborar y crear
Magical and fabulous time of a fandom I longed to return to: Soul Eater. @resbangmod
In collaboration with the great Honey and ohjeezohjno, you can see a wonderful fanart here https://ultradeadart.tumblr.com/post/645586910795923456/my-second-piece-for-resbang-and-a-witches-guide-to?is_highlighted_post=1 , her story “A witch’s guide to wid and wickedness” inspired me to redraw two of the characters most dear to me. I am very grateful to the entire ResBang team, to all the modborgs and even though I feel like a rookie and all this is like new for me because I was a bit far from the fandom I learned that no matter what, if you love what you like then everything will be fine and you will find people with whom you can collaborate and create
Definitely you must read (insertlinkhereofthestory) as soon as posible. Now. What r you waiting for? Hurry!
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Witch Doctor
Good lord, I have to stop this whole ‘finish writing the resbang the day it’s due’ thing because wooow it’s kind of killing me. In any case: Here it is! Resbang Dos! My partner was the ever-a-joy @innocentcinnamonbun who is so wonderfully encouraging and has such amazing art! You can find her art for this fic HERE!
Without any further ado: Witch!Stein! :D
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Cursing, dark magic, a heated makeout (just one, I’m afraid), Medusa, domestic abuse (via Medusa), mild angst (but a happy ending!)
Pairings: SteinMarie, Spirit/Kami, Spirit/Medusa, Blair/Risa/Arisa (yes, you read that right, polyamory), Spirit/Everyone tbh
Summary: Practical Magic AU.
Frank Enstein-Morte has had magic in his bones since he was born, and he knows that’s a curse more than a blessing. With the curse of the Death Beetle looming over his head, he casts an Amas Veritas spell, tying his soul to a woman he thinks cannot possibly exist. Or so he thinks.
But after his brother, Spirit, gets into a bad stint with an abusive Medusa Gorgon, ending in an accidental murder, a revival, and a second murder, Miss Marie Mjolnir, Private Investigator comes a-knocking. And it isn’t for pleasantries. Now, while Stein is realizing that his dream woman has manifested before him, he realizes that he can’t lie to her. Which isn’t so opportune when he’s being questioned for murder of the woman whose soul is still clinging to Spirit with a hell of a vengeance.
“I put a spell on you
Because you’re mine”
~Jay Hawkins
Lord Death’s eyes were alight as he looked from Stein to Spirit, the two of them leaning in, waiting for him to tell them the story, and he spared a sly glance at Excalibur, lifting a brow. “Should I tell them?” he asked, and Excalibur rolled his eyes as Spirit gasped.
“Uncle Death! You told us you’d finally tell us!” he said, practically bouncing. His long, floppy red hair, somehow natural despite all odds, got into his eyes, flicking over his face, and Lord Death almost grinned.
“Hmmm, I don’t know?” he teased, and, now, even Stein seemed a tad distressed.
“You said you would,” he accused, more than willing to twist his arm and hold him to his word. Lord Death could have scoffed. He’d faced down worse than a ten year old with a deadpan far too advanced for his age.
“Oh, fine, fine!” he said, looking from one to the other before his eyes softened. “Leave it to you kids to want such morbid stories for yourselves.”
“…morbid?” Spirit asked, his wide green eyes getting even bigger. “Is it…sad?”
Stein from beside him scoffed. “So what if it is?” he asked, far less caring about whether things would be depressing or not, and Spirit twisted his mouth.
“Oh, shut up, Ein Stein!” he teased, the old nickname making Stein roll his eyes. Though they were both Morte boys, Frank and Spirit, they all only ever referred to Frank as ‘Stein’. It was a name he got from his mother, Golda Enstein, that he hyphenated into his own name when she died. Spirit, similarly, had added his mother’s maiden name to his after her own untimely death, making them Frank Enstein-Morte and Spirit Albarn-Morte. But brothers all the same.
“Hush hush, boys! Or do you want to miss the story?”
Spirit eeped, crossing his legs pretzel style and made the motion for zipping his lips, while Stein snickered beside him.
“All quiet?” Lord Death asked, looking from one boy to the other before he grinned. “Good! Now…where should I start…hmmmm…I wonder-“
“Perhaps that it began in the 6th centur-“
“Shut up, Excalibur, for the love of all things-“
“Well, it did. It was a sunny, raining day and-“
“Hush!” Lord Death said, this time more forcefully, with a hell of a glare, and the two young boys seated on the carpet did little more than blink. “Point taken. I’ll get on with it. Goodness, no one appreciates suspense anymore.” He sighed. “Anyway…for more than 200 years we Morte men have been blamed by everything that’s ever gone wrong in this town.”
Read the Rest: Ao3
#steinmarie#resbang#franken stein#marie mjolnir#spirit albarn#soul eater#welcome to my own personal hell: resbang after resbang after resbang#there is no rest#i stayed up until 7 in the morning for this#pulled a whole all nighter#gonna go die now#brb#this is terrible and rushed and I'm sorry#no one should read this
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AMA 1: Unrequited
Our first AMA of the 2018 season is with @kallie-flower and @blueinfant for their Resbang Unrequited.
Summary: Maka is hit with a witch’s curse that compels her to return an unrequited love. It is not in Soul’s favor. Canon.
Pairings: SoulxMaka
Rating: M
Warnings: angst, smut, profanity, minor jealousy on Soul’s part, canon-typical violence, cavity-inducing fluff, Black Star being Black Star, and so much pining that it’s almost physically painful because Soul does not know how to use words.
Their AMA will be on Sunday, March 3, 2019 at 7 PM EST in our Discord server, so we hope to see you there!
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AMA 5: Wild Hunt
We’re rolling into our next AMA! It’ll be with @addude and their Resbang Wild Hunt!
Summary: Weddings are meant to be happy occasions. Maka’s mother is getting married and Maka and her adoptive sister Eu are trying to get everything perfect. But there is a storm on the horizon, and a new threat that might end the wedding before it starts with lives in the balance can the growing family stop the Wild Hunt?
Semi-Sequel to Lost Warrior
It will take place Sunday April 7, 2019, at 4 PM EDT in our Discord server. Come join us!
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AMA 4: Found It Once, You'll Find It Again
Hello! We’re back with our fourth AMA of the season: @silly-twin-stars and artists @macabremermaid and @sojustifiable will be with us to talk about Found It Once, You'll Find It Again.
Summary: When Maka goes to visit her grandmother in New England, she’s ready for a summer of relaxation, reading, and fried clams. But when she gets a job at Skully’s, the pirate-themed restaurant in town, she ends up getting more than she bargained for. Between illicit whale watching excursions, attempting to summon demons with pizza boxes, and learning to drive stick shift, it’ll be a miracle if she gets through this summer alive. At least there’s the quiet, musically-inclined waiter at Skully’s who knows his way around a steering wheel to help her navigate the road.
It will take place Friday March 29, 2019 at 7 PM EST. We hope you join us!
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AMA TRANSCRIPT: Fake News!
In our first AMA of the season, @trueeasiann answered questions about her Resbang, Fake News! Read all the insider info below!
Q: First of all, because I’m always curious about what inspired stuff, what gave you the idea to write this resbang and put it in an office setting?
Whinnie: Hmm that's a good question lmao. I know there are quite a few soma office AUs out there but they seemed very 'corporate' and I wanted to explore an office environment that's a little more different? Also, I’m very biased but I work in tech LMAO... and I wanted to share some of the fun(ny) experiences I’ve had with my coworkers!
Q: By any chance... was a real experience playing ping pong with a coworker? I was very amused at Patty whooping Blackstar ahaha
Whinnie: Lmao yes I love working in tech! I've had the honour of getting the chance to work in both a smaller startup environment and a larger corporation, and the startup experience is just so much better because it's more flexible, less redundant, and I find you have more freedom to get things done. The dialogue during the ping pong isn't exact but yes, my friends at work do play a lot of ping pong and there is a lot of smack talking and I have one friend who randomly yells out from time to time while playing (or talking in general lmao) and he really reminds me of Blackstar HAHA.
Q: Did you have a favorite scene or scenes to write?
Whinnie: I really enjoyed writing the ramen scene, where Soul and Maka first get to really know each other outside of work. The dialogue came really easy to me for that, but I also enjoyed writing the coffee shop conversation between Black Star and Maka. Re-reading that scene now gives me a laugh at all the ridiculous stuff I made BS say lmao.
Q: I really enjoyed the sorta sibling vibes that Maka and Star convos had. He is always so extra.
Whinnie: I know it's kind of an overdone trope, to make Maka and BlackStar childhood friends or friends that know each other from way back (in this case, from college), but I feel like that's the only reason Maka puts up with him HAHA.
Q: You mentioned in your footnote at the end that this was your first fandom event. did the event schedule affect your usual writing habits at all, or your process for how you put it all together?
Whinnie: Well, before this, I hadn't written for like 4 or 5 years LOL. So I didn't really have any writing habits that were affected? But this was my first time writing on a deadline, and my first time writing a full multi-chapter story (as I like to stick to one-shots) so this was the first time where I started way "ahead" of time (I say ahead in quotations because my time of perception is really off lmao and I always end up starting stuff late anyway) this was also the first time where I was writing while juggling other things. I had my full-time job and also some other extracurriculars that I had to maintain. It's not as easy as writing in high school where you can just write all day LOL and not worry about putting dinner on the table or waking yourself on time the next morning for work. So I would do like work until 6 pm, come back and eat dinner, maybe catch up on some other things like messages, and then write until 3 or 4 or 5 in the morning lol because that was the only free time I had.
Question: When I read that footnote about writing in a car during your friend's wedding to make a deadline, I was floored!
Whinnie: LMFAOOOO yeah that was a wild time. so the wedding was actually one of my old coworker's and I got a ride with my other coworker and his GF. And when we arrived I was like "Ummmm I'm still not done so I'm gonna have to ask you something weird. Can you just lock me in the car and I'll come in like 10 mins?" LOOOL… But also part of it was my fault with, again, not budgeting enough time for myself. Like, I didn't start regularly working on my resbang until December. So for that whole month leading up to my posting date, I just didn't have a social life LMAO. And I also ended up taking the day before my posting date and my posting date itself off work because I knew I would stay up all night finishing it LOOOL. I also hope I never have to do that again LOOOL. It was really rough And I have a really bad habit from high school of staying up late and not getting enough sleep and so I kind of reverted back to that schedule… even now that resbang is done.
Q: Yeah, this sounds like it was a good learning experience at least! About your limits, how quickly you work, etc… And oh no, sounds like the habit tracker Soul and Maka did might be something to use!
Whinnie: YES, absolutely haha. I saw that while I was browsing Reddit and thought it was really cool, and I thought that if people are going to read my fic, I might as well offer them something useful as well haha.
Q: Did you know where you wanted the fic to go or did you kind of let it all happen as it went?
Whinnie: Hmmmm, well obviously Soul and Maka getting together was the end goal and I knew that I wanted to write it from Maka's POV (since I find that a lot of fics are written from Soul's or a mix of both), and that I wanted it to be relatable. So I thought it was plausible that both of them would bond over their shared imposter syndrome. And I did have an outline but it was very high level and vague, so I ended up adding more stuff. I also didn't want there to be any awkward jumps, like "wow one second she hated his guts and now she likes him?" so the granola bar scene, that wasn't what I originally intended on adding but it made more sense to have it before the ramen scene. I did want to add more to the ending like a scene of Soul and Maka just living life together after confessing to each other. But alas I didn't have enough time.
Q: I also really liked how you wrote Maka as bi! there seems to be a large chunk of fandom that writes her as Ace, so it was neat to see her thru another LGBTQ lens. did you always want to write her as bi, or did that come along after you'd started?
Whinnie: Thank you! Yes, I did notice that as well, and I can definitely see her as Ace and not interested in anything sexual at all -- or heck, even Demi (which I did write her as in my other recent fic.) But I was surprised that no one has written her as bi, or even in any serious yuri relationships let alone in a relationship with Tsugumi (especially since Tsugumi seems to really like and look up to Maka LOL) so I thought that would be interesting to explore. Especially since I also identify as bi.
Q: Do you have any other Soul Eater writing in the works?
Whinnie: Well I have some vague ideas, but not right now -- after resbang came the "resbangover" (resbang hangover) LMAO and I wanted to delve back into some of my other hobbies like music, so I've been taking a break from writing fic. But who knows, maybe I will write again soon... I do want to participate in Soul/Maka week!
Q: Congrats on completing your first resbang!
Whinnie: Thanks to everyone who's read the fic and left sweet words of encouragement!
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AMA 6: Marked in Constellation
Hello! We have @sojustifiable here for our sixth AMA with her Resbang Marked in Constellation.
Summary: Summary: Soul and Maka meet in the wilderness having embarked on solo trips up the Pacific Crest Trail. They’re both sorely unexperienced, and a little company and team work never hurt anyone. Between hitch hiking to buy supplies and fending off a bear, the two get close. Very close. The question is, will their relationship survive the stress of city living once the journey is over?
It will take place Monday April 15, 2019 at 9 PM EDT in our Discord server. We hope you can make it!
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AMA 2: Fake News
@trueeasiann will be joining us for an AMA about her fic, Fake News!
Summary: Maka’s life is all work and no play. What happens when her new coworker Soul tries to change that? [tech startup / office AU]
Pairings: Soul/Maka, with mentions of Soul/Anya, Maka/Tsugumi, and implied BlackStar/Tsubaki
Rating: T / PG-13
Warnings: mild and explicit language from time to time, occasional mentions of alcohol consumption, major self-esteem issues, discussion of biracial issues, mention of workplace toxicity
It will take place Thursday, February 28, 2019 at 9 PM EST in our Discord server. We hope to see you there!
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AMA 3: And They Were Roommates (Oh My God)
Our third AMA of the season will be with @karmahope and her fic And They Were Roommates (Oh My God)!
Summary: For Soul and Maka, moving in together when their previous roommates ditched them to live with each other was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, this might be more than they bargained for. Love/hate relationships between roommates are common, but there’s more love than hate to this one, and they can only put off the inevitable for so long before it blows up in their faces. No matter what, though, they’re there for each other – through the good, the bad … and the weird. Even when it’s four o’clock in the morning.
It will take place on Sunday March 24, 2019 at 7 PM EST in our Discord server. We hope to see you there!
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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!
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AMA 15: Wayward Souls
Heya hiya! Our next AMA will feature @jaded-envy and her Resbang, Wayward Souls! She’ll be with us on
Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 2 PM EST!
Stop on by!
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AMA 11: The Lost Warrior
Next up we have @addude with their story The Lost Warrior. They’ll be with us on
Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 2 PM EST!
Come join the fun!
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AMA Transcript: Leap Year
Next up, @blinkfl0yd, @ahshesgone and @innocentcinnamonbun stopped in to answer questions about their Resbang, Leap Year! Here’s some of what went down!
*Please be advised that this AMA contains one (1) small spoiler for the unpublished part 2 of Leap Year :)*
Q: My first question is for Inno and Ash! How did you choose which scenes you wanted to draw! :)
Inno: Ahh I usually like to draw scenes that have a big emotional impact or are just really funny (Which a lot of scenes in Blink’s story made me laugh out loud pretty hard) I also like to make book cover-like pieces for Bangs I do.
ahshesgone: Ohhhhh I was so in love with that first scene with Spirit and Maka, I HAD to do it, because it set the tone so perfectly for both of them. Then it was mentioned that Blair babysat Maka and I Had To also, bc that right there was a dream I had and I realised it when I read it, and Stein and Marie were just impossible to pass up. Blink writes so vividly, I would draw forever if I had the time.
Q: What was the inspiration behind this story? I always love stories about the adults and we get them so rarely!
BlinkFl0yd: Honestly I just really like the adults haha, I just thought they needed some love. I'd been playing around with a college AU for the adults probably since before Resbang was announced, but I think the biggest thing that kind of inspired where it was going to go was probably learning about anesthesia awareness?? Which is pretty much exactly how it sounds and is actually really terrifying and made me think of Spirit and Stein which is pretty much what kickstarted that whole plotline. So that was sort of the basis for the whole fic. After that it was just... coming up with different shenanigans. The horse head was totally a spur of the moment thing.
Q: This one is for everyone: did you guys have fun working together? Was there a lot of communication? :D
ahshesgone: I really liked working with both Blink and Inno!! They're the awesomest. I guess we could do with more similar timezones though, tbh.
BlinkFl0yd: Oh gosh seconded. ash and Inno are so cool and so talented and it was so much fun working them them.
Inno: I had such a blast working with ash and Blink ;;;u;; <333
Q: Was there anything that you wanted to add but couldn't? Or anything that originally wasn't going to be there that ended up going in?
BlinkFl0yd: So the thing is, as a result of splitting it up for Resbang, I now get to sort of rework some concepts that I had to originally cut out because of the time crunch. I think the biggest thing is that I originally had a whole plotline planned out for Medusa and White Star that I had to cut out or rework for sake of time, but now I get to add it back in and I'm really excited.
Q: bb Maka is SO CUTE AND I LOVE HER, how did you go about characterizing her?
BlinkFl0yd: Oh gosh yes, baby Maka was fun but difficult. I have no idea how children work so…
Q: Yeah like, you didn’t make her too babyish which is a problem I see a lot when people write kids.
BlinkFl0yd: I am honestly not very good with kids, but yeah, it does irritate me when people write kids super babyish, I deadass once read a fic where a ten year old was still making baby sounds and even I know that that is Not Right. I think that's the one thing that helped me with baby Maka and the rest of the kids.
Q: Favorite character to write and favorite scene to write?
BlinkFl0yd: It was a lot of fun to get into Stein's head, and I also had a lot of fun writing Blair's appearances. I also enjoyed Sid a lot more than I thought I would, and Nygus.
Inno: You wrote Stein so well, it made me cry tears of joy.
ahshesgone: Omg I loved them both so so so so much. [And] OH MY GOD Azusa.
[there is much joyful screaming about Azusa]
Q: Artist chans, what was your arting process like once you decided what you wanted to art? I think you both did digital, but I bet there are a lot of differences in how you work!
ahshesgone: Hmmm well my process for these ones was pretty all over the place. They were all started around the same time but I finished all of them at different times so I think all of them came [out] looking pretty… dissimilar? I wish I had made the Blair one look less digital because I think that's what I needed for my art for Leap Year, for it to look??? tactile?
BlinkFl0yd: I honestly cried a little when I saw the first draft of the Spirit and Maka picture.
Inno: Ahh I lay out a gesture sketch, then a normal sketch, then I lineart the sketch, fill the whole canvas with a color that pertains to the mood of the piece and use a low opacity brush to lay in colors then just start blending colors from there to form lighting and shade. After that I sometimes air brush some more color into the piece. :,) Other pieces I just color in the lineart and add basic cell shading :,,) I hope I answered right :,)))
BlinkFl0yd: BOTH OF YOUR ARTS MADE ME CRY A LITTLE.
Inno: Couldn’t have made it without such an outstanding source material blink ;;u;;;;
Q: For all of you, do you think Resbang helped you hone any skills/get better at something, maybe something you decided on trying to work on or something you surprised yourself with?
BlinkFl0yd: Honestly, yeah. I've never never actually worked with other people before for a fic, I've never even had a beta before until Resbang? So that was new.
ahshesgone: Oh, I used a really weird way to sketch the steinmarie thing which I was very impressed with myself for. I think I crosshatched the silhouettes and then just erased where I needed lighter areas?
Inno: I've been trying to get better with perspective and comics as well as drawing backgrounds and resbang definitely helped out getting my butt into gear to practice drawing those things. I did pretty well too on it.
Q: Do you feel like your writing has changed or improved at all during the course of writing this? I'm just curious if you felt that your techniques or style had changed at all.
BlinkFl0yd: I'm not really sure if it's changed much? I think if anything I’ve gotten better at working under a time crunch. I'm kinda a perfectionist, which does not go very well with Resbang, so I guess if anything I've gotten better at just word-vomiting first and editing later.
Q: Were there any particularly difficult scenes or roadblocks you needed to work through?
BlinkFl0yd: Hmmm. I think some of the trickiest scenes to write were the ones with Shinigami and Kami. We know so little about [Kami] so she was probably the hardest one to write. I was coming up with a full-on backstory and personality for her as I was writing, so that was both kinda fun but kinda difficult. And Shinigami is… Shinigami.
ahshesgone: OH BUT THEY WERE SO GOOD. I was shaking when I was reading that fight in the car.
BlinkFl0yd: oop. SPOILERS.
Inno: LOL.
ahshesgone: SORRY.
BlinkFl0yd: That's one thing that'll be in the next parts haha.
ahshesgone: Oh my god sorry I read so many versions of it I’M SORRY.
BlinkFl0yd: It's fine! Lol, call it a teaser.
ahshesgone: t-tt-tadah!
Q: Totally not rushing you, but do you plan on posting some of part 2 soon???
BlinkFl0yd: Hopefully soon. School has actually been horrible.
Q: After this, do you have any other projects lined up? And artists, what're you working on next? >:)
BlinkFl0yd: There's a lot I want to do!
Inno: r e v e r b.
BlinkFl0yd: Oh gosh, REVERB.
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AMA 10: Diamond in the Rough
Next up we have @silly-twin-stars with her Resbang Diamond in the Rough. She’ll be with us on
Friday, February 9, 2018 at 9 PM EST!
We hope to see you there!
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