thetempleofmara

[thetempleofmara]

Questions copied and pasted from the message I sent.

Were there any major things that changed from the initial direction you were going to take the fic in? Were there any scenes that you wrote in the fic that just didn't end up making the final cut? Who was your favorite character to write? Those sorts of things?

Hello tomato, thanks for your lovely message, and now this ask! Let’s see…

Were there any major things that changed from the initial direction you were going to take the fic in? 

Surprisingly little. The upside of following the existing plot of a game is that the direction of the story is already mapped out for you. I will say, when I first started writing it I had very few ideas about who Chrysanthe was, he was just a thrall-turned-paladin, more of a concept than a fleshed-out character. He grew alongside writing; all the stuff about him becoming more draconic was organic development and not especially planned.

I did spend a lot more time on non-game plot than I’d anticipated. When I wrote Hermaeus Mora attacking Chrysanthe and the subsequent stay at Frostmere Crypt that took like 10 chapters where I thought it would take like 3.

Were there any scenes that you wrote in the fic that just didn't end up making the final cut? 

A fair few, yes! Off the top of my head…

Miraak and Chrysanthe were going to have a chat about who would out-live the other, because Chry is an altmer (the lifespan of mer in elder scrolls lore is very unreliable, but I figured a few hundred years at least), but Miraak is… well, Miraak. Chry is the Last Dragonborn, which implies Miraak dies before he does. Cut because it was too depressing, tbh

There was going to be a thing near the end where Miraak helped Chry with his self-esteem by showing him exactly how highly Miraak prized him via telepathy. It was maaaybe going to lead to telepathy sex. I cut it because I wasn’t really feeling what I wrote - maybe it felt too much like ‘fixing’ Chry’s confidence issues, idk

There was a sex scene at Lakeview in which they broke the bed and Chry was mortified/Miraak was delighted by it. That was cut because it was too similar to the time he accidentally set the bed on fire

There was a whole part where Mora so relentlessly attacked them that Chry/Miraak decided to seek out the dwemer sphere Septimus Signus had (currently at the bottom of the ocean floor after Mora attacked the ice cave), on the basis that Mora wanted whatever was inside so it could be used to blackmail/bargain peace with him. It was cut because it was very long-winded and I had an Alduin-killing plot to get on with already. If I ever do write a sequel, it’ll end up in there

Clavicus Vile was going to show up again given that Chry sort of kind of struck a bargain with him. Probably an offer to help with the dwemer sphere thing above. It’s Clavicus, so this was going to go about as well as you’d expect.

Who was your favorite character to write?

Despite the story being told from Chry’s POV, Miraak was hands down my fav - he has such a distinctive voice, both stilted (‘Is it not’ instead of ‘isn’t it’, that sort of thing) and commanding (‘you will do this for me’) that makes him really fun to write. He’s also just a great mix of arrogant, forceful and imperious, but also thoughtful, hyper-competent and just devastatingly clever. I always tried to write him like the smartest person in the room - not to say that he is the smartest, of course. I'd have written parts of the story from his POV, but what does that man even think about all day? I certainly don't know.

Hope that answers your questions!

#gol hah dov #and you write him so well

[thetempleofmara]

Congrats on finishing GHD! How do you feel about it? Or how did you feel when you typed in the last lines, marking the end of this 4-year long adventure?

I slaved furiously away at the chapter for ages (14K words! That's as long as two normal chapters), and so was immensely satisfied and relieved to finally type out the last line. As is typical for me I was incredibly impatient, so after doing my typo checks etc I posted it straight to AO3 in total jubilation, when I really should have given it a day or two of thinking time first.

By the way, the last lines of the chapter were originally this:

“It is a poor offering, I know,” Miraak murmurs back, “But, consider it a temporary measure, until I can lay the whole world at your feet.” Anything, everything is yours if you are mine Miraak once told him. So Chrysanthe leans in for a kiss, his eyes fluttering shut [...]

The next morning, on waking up to read all those lovely comments, I did a quick re-read of the last part and then realised fuck Miraak said that line during a sex scene it was meant to be sexy not poignant. AND THEN I read @b-lizi's comment about Chry ending up more villainous than he started and realise there was a considerably better and more meaningful line I should have used instead. So I had to very hastily change it to this:

“It is a poor offering, I know,” Miraak murmurs back, “But, consider it a temporary measure, until I can lay the whole world at your feet.” You will teach me to be good, Miraak once told him, And I will teach you to be great. So Chrysanthe leans in for a kiss, his eyes fluttering shut [...]

So, to answer your question I felt great about it, then I re-read and was totally mortified at my own writing choices, which stemmed from me being way too impatient. Typical D:

#gol hah dov

[thetempleofmara]

So where did the concept of Chrysanthe's ring originally come from? Obviously, it is an item of great importance throughout the fic with both Miraak and Chry throughout the story. Also, I just realized the story both starts and ends with an emphasis on it as well.

Ooh yes, the ring.

OK, let me explain some context first. The ring is in the story because of the Skyrim mod Live Another Life, which lets you pick a different start from the usual executioner’s block at Helgen. If you pick the ‘thrall’ beginning you wake up in a dark cave with a hostile warlock. You have no equipment save a magic resistance ring, and I think there’s a journal entry about how it’s essentially a random ring that accidentally slips onto the character’s finger (I think it's inside a fish they're gutting or something nonsensical, idk) and breaks the enthralment. 

When I first started writing GHD, obviously Miraak’s Shout is what breaks Chry's enthralment, not the ring, but I left it in there as a nod to the mod, that was it. Through the story’s development, it ended up being Chekov’s ring so obviously it has more importance than that. BUT, I never actually settled on what it was. I had two thoughts:

1. It’s an existing possession. Miraak astutely points out it’s not the right design for a wedding ring, but it could have plenty of other importance. I pictured something like, Summerset noble Chrysanthe found the nordic ring among his family’s possessions, taking it as proof of his secret heritage and coming to Skyrim to try and find his true roots - but ending up as someone’s prisoner along the way. Of course, just because that’s not his wedding ring doesn’t mean to say he didn’t leave a jilted spouse behind in Alinor ;)

2. OR, and admittedly this one is a bit too complex to make much sense, Chry and Miraak have already met at some point in the past (possible because of time travel cough that one fic idea cough) but neither can remember it. The ring was a gift from Miraak to Chrysanthe because it’s ‘gold and blue, like you’, and the enchantment on the sapphire used to be very strong, total magic resistance, to keep him safe from other dragon priests and/or daedric princes.

Over time the enchantment has weakened significantly, and the ring has also been time-damaged, which is why a pawnbroker would look at it and think it’s not worth very much (that said, I’m not sure if a gold ring would actually survive 4,000 years). But this is why Miraak is precious over it, because unconsciously he remembers that it was a gift of great importance. I’m not sure how present-day Chrysanthe has it though, maybe it’s just always been there.

Food for thought, eh?

#i'm enjoying the food

[thetempleofmara]

Kinda just asking these as they pop into my head. So how satisfying was it to write your alternative to the "Parthurnax dilema" by killing Astrid? Out of curiosity, did you ever consider any other alternatives to killing her?

Also, while doing a re-read this line stood out to me. “Or you’ll do what?” she asks plainly, “Kill me? Like the monster your blood tells you to be?”

The first time through, I thought this was just about his dragon blood. But thinking back on it and her last words: “You’re-” she coughs, red flecking her lips and staining her tongue. “You’re a dragon wrapped in Thalmor skin. That’s all you are.” could easily also be about his altmer blood or both having dragon and altmer blood.

Also kinda interesting to see that she was never really ok with him being an Altmer, despite him also hating the Thalmor, just sorta tolerated it.

I have been waiting ALL FIC to put in Paarthurnax's famous line: What is better - to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort? It resonates so well with Miraak, who is not an especially good person (both for nature and nurture reasons) but becomes better because he tries, and is supported to try. With that in mind, Chry was never, ever going to kill Paarthurnax, which obviously meant turning against Delphine.

Now obviously it's fanfiction, just because she forces you to choose between Paarthurnax and the Blades in-game doesn't mean that has to happen in a story, so I could have just written a peaceful resolution. But to me, it's more interesting to write that Delphine doesn't back down, because she's a stubborn and unemotional person (who's been through hell and back, but that never gets covered in GHD because Chry doesn't care to ask). Thus, I'd intended from the start that Chrysanthe would end up killing her - I couldn't imagine her ever deferring to him and Miraak.

Her hatred of Thalmor is pretty self-explanatory, but we never get a satisfactory in-game reason for why she hates dragons so fiercely. Regardless, it's obvious that she does hate dragons, or why would she be so insistent about Paarthurnax's death? I think she's mostly against Chry because she comes to see him as a dragon wearing mortal skin, especially as he grows more authoritative and obviously chides against her orders. It's worth bearing in mind that Chry is quite hostile to Delphine, we just don't grasp it as clearly because the story is told through his eyes.

I think that she probably also wasn't ok with him being an altmer either - early on she made a conscious effort to overcome her own prejudices, but as she grew to dislike his draconic side, she stopped caring about keeping an open mind on his race. She's probably conflating his draconic imperiousness (which again, Chry does have) with altmer-Thalmor attitudes.

There is of course also the chance that Chrysanthe does have links to the Thalmor that Delphine found out about, but never said anything... or, of course, she may have just picked last words intended to maximally hurt him, as a final fuck you.

#gol hah dov #i was wondering how you would handle the delphine confrontation without it feeling rushed #but once again you deliver #the writing made it feel like there has been animosity festering and growing even if it was mostly off screen #making the duel feel justified and inevitable #i applaud i applaud #l*rian studios could never

[thetempleofmara]

Miraak & Chry wedding when-

SJSJSKKS

Aarrgghh Linda! Wedding imminently when you give me lovely fanart like that.

In all seriousness, probably when Miraak is High King and gets to through a kingdom's worth of resources into the wedding rather than into the war effort. Two Dragonborn kings getting hitched? You KNOW it's going to be the event of the century.

#gol hah dov #linda you talented thing #i love that chry is dipping miraak

[thetempleofmara]

Ok NSFW question time.

What was your favorite nsfw scene to write between the two of them? I know you briefly mentioned the two of them breaking a bed in cut content, but was there anything else you wanted to write of the two of them doing that you never got to or just didn't fit within the confines of the fic?

Ooooh, that's a hard (heh) choice to make. I thiiiink it's probably chapter 23 where they trade oral in the Archmage Quarters with the twin Storm Call raging outside. To me that felt like a culmination of hot sex but also power and passion because they'd just kicked dragon ass together. They felt sort of lust-drunk on each other, moreso than the other sex scenes. The biting scene in chapter 20 was also quite good for the same reasons.

The main thing I meant to write and didn't was telepathy sex, because you can't have telepathy in a story and not have telepathy sex. Admittedly it doesn't make much sense though, since it was established (in as far as in-story lore matters) that you can't really touch each other during telepathy except under exceptional circumstances. Still, I would've liked to have written them so mentally wrapped around each other that they could physically intertwine as well.

#gol hah dov #👌 #was my favourite too

[thetempleofmara]

Afterword: Will there be a sequel to GHD?

After almost four years, GOL HAH DOV is finally a finished project. 50 chapters, just shy of 375K words (about 4-5 full novels’ worth of writing) and I don’t want to know how many hours of furiously typing, here we are at the finish line. As we started getting near the end a few people asked whether I was going to write a sequel, but the answer was too complex to put in an author’s note, so I thought I’d discuss it in more detail here.

Unfortunately, the short version of this is probably not, but let me explain why.

So, there are many things that could go in a sequel. Off the top of my head, I’ve yet to write about: the events of the Dawnguard DLC. The truth about Chrysanthe’s past. How they contend with Hermaeus Mora, who is still gunning for them. How the civil war unfolds when the First Dragonborn looks at both the Empire and Stormcloaks and says ‘nah, I’ll make my own faction’. How the Thalmor react to this. Miraak’s rise to power when he’s not allowed to use his mind control powers, and Chrysanthe’s general struggle to keep Miraak on a morally good path.

All of this could definitely make for another longfic but what I don’t have is any sort of romantic development. The trouble with writing a soulmates fic is that once the couple have overcome their personal issues, there’s very little further tension. Chrysanthe and Miraak actually got together very early in the fic (about chapter 12 out of 50) and the rest has been about them learning each other, becoming more intertwined… but I’m not really sure how they can get more intertwined, after the events of GHD. There are many external points of tension (politics, Thalmor, daedra) but there’s nothing internal - only Miraak’s dubious morality, but we already know that he’ll change his course for Chrysanthe, so what else is there to add?

Essentially, I can’t see how to further develop the relationship, and to me the romantic tension is what makes a fic worth writing. Without it, I just know that even if I started a GHD sequel, I wouldn’t have the enthusiasm to see it through to the end. Now that may change, and I might think of something new… but for the time being, I’m going to put GHD down and focus on other things.

Those other things are: 1) The Tav/Astarion Baldur’s Gate 3 longfic I’ve started, Tooth for a Tooth, which has all my attention at the minute. It’s darker than GHD but the protagonist has the same steely-stoic paladin vibe, so if you liked Chrysanthe you might like him too 2) A while ago I posted a fic idea in which the Last Dragonborn (Chrysanthe, or a totally new character) ends up in the past with pre-Apocrypha Miraak. Again this is a longfic that I’m not sure I really have the spoons for, but I’d say I’m more likely to write this than a GHD sequel 3) Various other bits and pieces, unfinished oldfics, etc.

I know that might be disappointing for some to read, but I hope my reasons make sense at least! And I hope that you still enjoy GOL HAH DOV as its own piece of work, and come back to read anything else that I might write in the future. Thank you again for coming on this Skyrim adventure with me!

#gol hah dov #looking at writers doing writerly things

[thetempleofmara]

Does Chry have a "canon" backstory in your mind, or is it something sort of fluid? I remember there being a poll on tumblr about what other people thought. Was there anyone in his family at all who cared or worried about him?

Also, about how long was Chrysanthe enthralled? If that's something you've thought about.

Does Chry have a "canon" backstory in your mind, or is it something sort of fluid?

It was always pretty fluid. I've mentioned before that Chrysanthe was never that well mapped-out as characters go, more of a concept - 'he has amnesia and he goes from being a thrall to a paladin' - but I handwaved aaall the other details until later. This is probably why Chry's past is a bit underdeveloped in the story and doesn't crop up until the very end, because in truth I just didn't think about it. That said at the end I did start to think about it, and ended up with this...

Elenwen was telling the truth in that he's a minor noble from the Summerset Isles, which is why he's a (mostly) impeccable example of an altmer (tall and gold babyyy)

However his blue eyes and thu'um powers means he likely has nordic blood. I didn't decide if this was a distant ancestor who got into the altmer bloodline somehow, or a more immediate case of him being half-nord or quarter-nord due to an illicit affair among parents or grandparents, which cause a LOT of strife in the family

Fed up of being a pariah and wanting to know his true roots, he departed for Skyrim, only Skyrim is not a particularly safe place for a noble to bumble around, so he ended up a captive.

Was there anyone in his family at all who cared or worried about him?

Again I never mapped this out in detail, but the answer is probably no. He does come from a noble house in Alinor, and it likely is linked to the Thalmor because as far as I know the Thalmor have absolute rule over the Summerset Isles during the time period of Skyrim. That's a family with plenty of access to magic and other resources to track down a missing son, and they didn't, which is telling.

How long was Chrysanthe enthralled?

A year, maybe a few years? I suspect thralls don't last that long without a master telling them when to eat and sleep. I had quite a few ideas of the circumstances of Chry's enthralment, namely ways it's Not As Straightforward As You'd Think, but I'll keep those to myself ;)

#gol hah dov #the fact that you made such a compelling hero without planning boggles the mind

[thetempleofmara]

After all these little hints about Teldryn's feelings towards Chry throughout the fic, were you thinking of a romance with him at some point in the story instead of Miraak ? I know it was supposed to be a LDB/Miraak fic but at some point, I was "Wait a minute... sentimental drama ? More likely than you think !". I'm curious about this direction you took for Teldryn

So, it's all open to interpretation of course, but in my head Teldryn is in love with Chrysanthe, and has been for ages. Hard to travel with another doom-prophecy hero and not fall in love, tbh.

However, a love triangle was never particularly on the cards. It's worth bearing in mind that the day he met Chry, Chry had come to Solstheim specifically to look for Miraak, i.e. since day one Teldryn has known that Chry doesn't and could never feel the same. Their soulmates vibe is quite obvious, so Teldryn also knows that if he ever gave an ultimatum between him and Miraak, Chry would absolutely choose Miraak. He can't win the love triangle game, so he just doesn't play.

I originally wrote a whole love confession that was along the lines of 'I love you and I know you can't love me back the same way but I had to tell you', but on reflection it felt a bit... juvenile? Teldryn is very mature, so I think he could put his wistful feelings aside and be happy with what he has. He does pretty much tell Chry that he loves him and will be there for him no matter what, with no expectation that this would involve actual romance, or Chry having to pick one over the other. To him, the love isn't worth less for being platonic.

Also he does get the appeal of golden masked eldritch abomination men ;)

#gol hah dov

[thetempleofmara]

Some things are more important than sleep! And I needed to show my appreciation. Reposting the ancient meme I used when my oath was sworn:

@99corentine Please have this sketch as my way of saying I loved the final chapter of Gol Hah Dov and appreciate all your hard work. Everyone else left such thorough and heartfelt comments and I don't have much to add to that, so instead, I offer you this picture and my REM sleep.

Even though the story is done I do plan on making more fanart for it!

#“you make me feel some kinda way” i hope that feeling is appreciated for your craft #otherwise i failed #you make me want to write #so ridiculously talented

[thetempleofmara]

@99corentine Please have this sketch as my way of saying I loved the final chapter of Gol Hah Dov and appreciate all your hard work. Everyone else left such thorough and heartfelt comments and I don't have much to add to that, so instead, I offer you this picture and my REM sleep.

Even though the story is done I do plan on making more fanart for it!

#gol hah dov #I had limited time and constant clip studio crashes when making this so it looks like ass #but it's the thought that counts! #ignore any weird stuff #i went in RAW with this one #no reference #no planning #no honour #blood to the blood god #sleep to the writing god #it's the “draw a horse from memory” meme except with miraak #good night

[thetempleofmara]

Chapters: 50/50 Fandom: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Dovahkiin | Dragonborn/Miraak, Male Dovahkiin | Dragonborn/Miraak Characters: Male Dovahkiin | Dragonborn, Miraak (Elder Scrolls), Lucien Flavius, Teldryn Sero, Hermaeus Mora

The time has come.

“So you spoke to him then,” she says briskly, the air between them growing steadily colder, sharper, “You had an opportunity to kill him and didn’t take it. If you talked to him about his plans for the future, obviously he’s going to tell you what you want to hear.”

He’s getting sterner as well: “I spoke to him at length about killing him, and that sufficiently re-confirmed what I’d already decided, which is that I’m not going to do it.”

She spreads her arms wide, an I give up gesture. “What do you want me to say, then? The Blade-oath binds us to kill monsters like Paarthurnax. If you won’t do it then you’re not a Blade, and you’re not welcome here until you do.”

“Delphine, I have had it,”  he snaps at last, his serene self-control splintering in the face of this audacity. His voice emerges low and guttural; both Delphine and Esbern flinch back, and behind him he can hear Lucien and Teldryn shifting anxiously as well. In his peripheral Miraak waits with expectant calm, and probably quite a satisfied look under that mask of his.

Chrysanthe speaks before anyone else has the chance to: “ You are not the leader of the Blades. I am.”

#i need time to recover

[thetempleofmara]

Chapters: 7/? Fandom: Baldur’s Gate (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Astarion/Tav (Baldur’s Gate), Astarion (Baldur’s Gate)/Original Male Character(s), Astarion (Baldur’s Gate)/Original Character(s), The Dark Urge & Tav (Baldur’s Gate)

New, extra-long chapter! Couldn’t find a way to split it, but at least it rockets through the plot.

This is the problem with travelling with a paladin. Historically they’re shit at self-preservation; Astarion wouldn’t care if it wasn’t his own life on the line. “We’re in a position to do a lot more good if we go and deal with this Moonrise issue instead.”

A scowl, “Don’t give me that. I know when a problem is petty enough to be ignored, and this isn’t. They want to take the tieflings as captives for Moonrise, and it’s in our interest to stop that from happening. Besides,” he finishes crisply, “If we do this both the tieflings and the druids will owe us a debt, if that’s enough to satisfy your black little heart.”

It doesn’t, but he can see he’s not going to convince the righteous lunkhead otherwise. He could insist on returning to camp - let another member of their group tag in and risk their skin instead - but if he does Revenant’s opinion of him will plummet, as will his likelihood of dealing with Cazador. Grudgingly, Astarion concedes that if he wants Revenant to play the saviour for him , he probably needs to aid him playing the saviour for other people too. “Fine. Let’s be heroes,” he sighs with great affect. “Tell me then, glorious leader - how are we going to fight a whole bloody fort?”

Revenant thinks about it.

“We’re going to blow them up,” he decides.

#Tooth for a Tooth #astarion x tav #time to use barrelmancy

[thetempleofmara]

This is so comprehensive for something done in such a short amount of time. You are insane. And thank you :D

How To Write Good by Corentine

THE DRAFTING PROCESS, PART 2/2

Writing guide continued! Here's PART ONE.

STEP THREE: THE START, THE END, THE BEATS

I’m of the opinion that every story should start with a bang. You could start mid-way through a notable event, as seen in GHD:

- O L H A - D - V - The words, incomprehensible, rattle around his head like the last rumbles of a great thunderstorm. Then, much like after a storm has passed, the air suddenly feels clearer, sharper. A sludgy fog he didn’t even realise he was in clears from his mind and he blinks, confused. The first thing he sees is his own hands.

If you want it to be especially punchy, you can start with a line of dialogue or a short sentence, like I did for T4T:

CHAPTER ONE: It is the end.

It’s reeeally easy to lose readers at the start, so you always want to write a strong opener. Something that grabs the reader by the collar and drags them in to read the rest of the chapter.

You don’t need to have all the details, but you should have at least a vague idea of how the story ends. If you’re writing fanfic that follows along the same plot as a game or existing story, most of the legwork is done for you – so writing GHD, I planned for it to end when Alduin was killed. As I got further into the story, I came up with a more narratively satisfying ending, because it’s okay if the ending changes. As long as you have an ending in mind, you have something to work towards.

So GHD’s original, very basic plot was:

START – the Last Dragonborn wakes up with total amnesia

???

He saves Miraak

???

They kill Alduin together – END 

Now you have to map out those ??? parts by deciding the major beats of the story, i.e. notable scenes. This gives you something to work towards other than the ending. I ended up with notes like these:

START – the Last Dragonborn wakes up with total amnesia

Who is he? Don’t spend too much time on this, not important, can be answered later

Goes to Solstheim, meets Miraak

Finds a way to communicate with Miraak – sneaks into Apocrypha? Shares dreams? College of Winterhold has psijiics, use telepathy?

Finds a way to save Miraak

Go to Apocrypha, confront Hermaeus Mora, save Miraak

They look for ways to kill Alduin together

Hermaeus Mora comes for them

Prolonged recovery, tells reader that even ‘redeemed’ Miraak is still scary

They kill Alduin together

What happens after Alduin?

(Redacted for spoiler purposes) – END 

The story beats should ebb and flow like the tide; high-octane scenes should be followed by periods of calm. You don’t want to do this too quickly or the story will feel like whiplash; rather this is a process that happens over many chapters. Let’s look at some examples in GHD:

⇈⇈ Miraak dominates telepathy and is really scary!! ⇊⇊ Chry wanders around Skyrim doing errands and Thinking About Life… ⇈⇈ Chry breaks Miraak out of Apocrypha!!  ⇊⇊ They recover from the ordeal and have a honeymoon period… ⇈⇈ They go to Blackreach and it’s visually awesome, and also Chry gets jealous!! ⇊⇊ They do misc stuff for a while… ⇈⇈ They talk to Septimus Signus, Mora shows up, nearly kills Chry!! ⇊⇊ Miraak whisks Chry away somewhere to recover in peace…

You see what I mean?

Right, you know roughly what’s going to happen. Time to turn that into words, baby!

STEP FOUR: GOTTA START WRITING

My actual writing style is its own separate topic so I’m not going to tell you how I structure a sentence or anything, just my literal writing process. 

In my chapter document, I start by making a bullet-point list of everything I want to happen in the chapter. What happens can, and probably will, change as you actually get the chapter down. That’s fine, you just need a starting point.

I very rarely write individual chapters in order, as in start to finish. Rather, I tend to write the scenes I can picture clearly in my head – then by the time I’ve written those I’m in a writing groove and the gaps in the rest of the chapter will come easier. When I’m done, I’ll stitch the individual scenes together, which sometimes requires altering the scene start or end to make the whole thing more cohesive.

There are times when the writer’s block takes me, and I have like two finished scenes and just cannot summon the words for the rest of the chapter. When this happens, to be honest, the only answer I’ve found is brute force: I sit myself in front of the computer, get rid of phone/alt tabs/other distractions, and force myself to type something. Or I hold myself hostage (i.e. ‘I am not allowed to play more Baldur’s Gate 3 until I have written GHD chapter 47’) that works too, for me anyway. 

Whatever it takes to get something on paper. What’s mostly important is to get something written, even if it’s not very good. You can always edit, rephrase or even rewrite sections later. Usually I’ve found once you start writing, you get into a groove and then it’s no longer a chore.

I also aim for a certain word count / chapter length while writing. I know a chapter is exactly as long as it needs to be and blah blah, but I set myself a minimum wordcount to reach. Or if I go way over the word count it’s probably because I’ve waffled too much, so I either aim to split the chapter into two, or to ruthlessly edit it back down again. 

For GHD I average 7,000 - 9,000 words, but I actually think that’s a bit too long and risks losing people’s attention span, so for T4T I aim lower, about 6,000-ish. Less is perfectly fine, but if I’m reading another fic I find a chapter length of 2,000 words or lower to be disappointingly short. That’s all personal preference of course, and certain fics will lend themselves better to shorter chapters.

Although I jump around scenes within each chapter, I make a point of writing my entire chapters in chronological order. If I’m on chapter 5, and I know something awesome happens in chapter 12, it’s imperative that I do not write chapter 12 ahead of time. If I do, I’ll reeeally struggle to write chapters 6-11, because I have already rewarded my brain by writing the cool thing. If I hold off, my enthusiasm to write chapter 12 may in fact motivate me to crank out chapters 6-11 in record time.

I do have one other thing – in my Scrivener projects I always have a document called ‘Unused’. Sometimes, usually at like 2AM when sleep has failed me, I’ll get a really good idea for some dialogue or description. I scribble it down somewhere (or it will be forgotten for sure) and later I type it into my Unused document, so it’s just filled with random bits of text like this (note, everything you see here is unused, so it's not going to feature in the last chapter of GHD):

At some point in time I’ll peruse it and think ‘yes, this line!!’ and drop it into a future chapter – again though I just write bits, not entire scenes or I’ll have written all the exciting parts already. Anything I edit out of a chapter (i.e. a paragraph I liked but didn’t quite fit) gets dropped here too, in case I can reuse it later.

STEP FIVE: FINAL EDITING

I will be honest, I’m pretty impatient. Once I’ve finished a chapter, especially if it’s one I’ve been struggling with for a long time, I want to publish it now. So I’m guilty of not editing as thoroughly as I should – but this is what I usually do and it catches at least most of my mistakes:

As a first step, I copy-paste the chapter from Scrivener into google docs. Remember I said Scriv’s word processor wasn’t the best? Yeah, it’s no good at picking up on dodgy grammar, but google docs is, so I run it through there and skim-check for wiggly blue lines, then make the changes in Scriv. You may not have this issue if you’re using Word or another more comprehensive software

Once I know the grammar is mostly fixed, I go back to Scriv and re-read the entire chapter start to finish – I’m looking for whatever google didn’t catch, wonky phrasing, repetition (i.e. I used the word ‘quickly’ twice in the space of two paragraphs, that sort of thing)

I go away for a bit (anywhere from a few hours to a few days) and do another careful re-read with a fresh set of eyes. Sometimes I mouth the words along as that forces me to slow down and take in everything. I used to use a text-to-speech software to read what I’d written back to me; I don’t anymore, but that’s quite a good way to spot mistakes too

In my great excitement, I publish the new chapter to AO3. As I re-read the chapter over there, I see a minimum of 5 glaring errors I somehow didn’t spot in the previous steps, and hastily correct them before anyone notices.

I like to get at least the first 2-3 chapters of a brand new story written before I post anything to AO3. This is to make sure my enthusiasm doesn’t immediately wane and I actually stand a chance of finishing it. After that I’m rarely more than a chapter ahead of what’s been posted, because go figure I’ll post the newly-written chapter once the editing is done, then start on the next one.

Some people won’t even post a story at all until they have the first draft fully written. This is admirable, but not always realistic – GHD is like 375,000 words, you think I would’ve sat down and written all that before posting chapter one and even knowing if anyone would read it? Hell no. 

But while you don’t need a story to be fully written, you do need it to be decently mapped-out. I used to start fics with absolutely no idea where they were going to go; I’d finish 1 or 2 chapters, get really excited at writing that much and hungry for feedback, then post something that I would inevitably lose all enthusiasm for and leave unfinished.

So, know how it starts, know how it ends, and know the story beats in between so you always have a goal to write towards. There will inevitably be fics that you never finish and that’s fine – it’s all writing practice – but readers don’t like to be left hanging, so try your best to finish! Even if it takes ahem four years or so.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

And there you go, that’s my writing process! I’m not sure how useful that really is, but if it was I could write more guides in future? I have…

A guide to my writing style (this one might be hard to put into a guide but people like my turn of phrase so, maybe useful?)

How I write a sex scene

How I write a fight scene.

#writing advice #i love seeing an artist's creative process

[thetempleofmara]

How To Write Good by Corentine

THE DRAFTING PROCESS, PART 1/2

Hello, people were interested in some writing tips by me so I, uh, sort of kind of cranked out a writing guide in a few hours. I’m not sure if this will be a very comprehensive or helpful guide but let’s give it a try!

⭐ Starting disclaimers: Please remember as with all things that my method is not necessarily the best method, everyone is different and over time you’ll find your own process.

I write romance, so my advice is skewed towards writing that and I’m not sure how helpful it will be for gen fic. I publish fanfic chapter by chapter to AO3 so it’s also skewed to someone doing the same, not someone writing a full novel they want to get published. 

I’m going to be using GOL HAH DOV (GHD) for writing examples because, well, it’s a (almost-)finished longfic so it’s as good a reference as any, but obviously GHD is not everyone’s cup of tea. I’ll also occasionally reference Tooth for a Tooth (T4T) which apologies is very far from finished, but the Baldur’s Gate 3 fandom is vastly different to the Skyrim one, so it’s useful to cross-compare them.

Also worth bearing in mind: I have been writing fanfiction since I was about 13, and I’m now 33. That’s 20 years of experience. Do you know what I wrote when I was 13? Hot garbage. Writing is a learned skill that, much like playing a musical instrument or learning literally any other craft, you must put time and effort into to improve.

However although ‘practice makes perfect’ is fundamentally true, that’s also kind of lame advice. So here is what I personally do, which may be helpful in figuring out what you want to do. 

STEP ONE: YOU NEED AN IDEA FIRST DUMMY

Think of a fic idea. Probably you have lots of vague ideas. As I’m trying to turn something from a daydream into an actual writing project, I tend to ask myself these questions:

⭐Who is it about?⭐

Pick your pairing, romantic or otherwise. Think about what you like about the character and what traits you want to emphasise in your writing. If you’re writing about fan character x fan character, what makes them go well together? What causes tension between them?

If you’re writing fan character x original character, do remember that your readers are here for the fan character, not for your OC. There is no getting around this, your OC is not what brings people to the fic. GHD’s Chrysanthe was largely intended as a blank slate, quite literally, I made him an amnesiac because the point of the story was Miraak not Chrysanthe. 

Over time I was able to shape him into something more distinctive (softly-spoken, stoic, paladin-like, secret tricksy side only Miraak brings out, gets more dragon-like as the story progresses) but that was a gradual thing. Your readers will hopefully come to love your OC as you do, but it takes time for them to get invested. I’m very grateful that people did come to root for Chrysanthe – but make no mistake, if the story had no Miraak in it, people wouldn’t be reading it. Your OC is always a vehicle for the fan character.

⭐What are the overarching themes of the story?⭐

A cohesive story has a theme that repeats throughout, and picking one early on will let you write with that theme in mind. As an example, the themes of GHD are:

Soulmates / we were destined to meet each other

There’s no-one else like me / you and I are the only real ones here

One’s a hero one’s a villain

Zero to hero / hero becomes progressively more badass

Redemption arc but the villain is never fully redeemed – for GHD this turned into the repetition of Miraak’s theme he’ll never be pure but for you he’ll try and later Chrysanthe’s I love you exactly as you are

Your own themes might be something like best friends who don’t realise they’ve been in love this whole time or can’t live with you can’t live without you. Tropes count towards this too, so something like soulmates, Modern Coffee Shop AU, hanahaki, all of that stuff is a story theme.

⭐What does this fic do that other fics like it don’t?⭐

GOL HAH DOV was sort of easy mode in this regard because there aren’t many fics featuring Miraak at all, so writing anything was already doing something different. Of those existing fics, I wanted to see more where Miraak was evil and scary, and you should be the change you want to see in the world (of fanfic), so I decided to write it myself. I get a lot of comments on Miraak’s personality, so I assume this is mostly what makes GHD stand out!

I’ll use T4T as a contrasting example, because Skyrim is old and Miraak is niche, but Baldur’s Gate 3 is new/popular and Astarion is a fan favourite. That means there’s a veritable sea of fic about him, so what can you write that will stand out from the many, many other fics out there? It doesn’t have to be the only one of its kind or anything, but it does need to have some special about it.

You’ll want to either go for a strong theme or trope (i.e. soulmates, magical spell curse, we’re both monsters), or change the setting (canon divergence, ‘what if X happened instead?’, or even outright alternate universe and a brand new plot). Personally, I choose to follow the source material but go off-script. I gotta say, nothing makes me sadder than seeing plot and dialogue lifted straight from a game with zero changes made to it. That’s a personal preference obviously, but I think if you write a fic it should strive to do something different to the rest.

⭐Do I have enough enthusiasm to finish it?⭐

This is more applicable to longfic, but you really need to be in love with a story to see it through to the end. Be realistic with yourself, how much free time and energy you have – if you start it, do you think you can finish it?

I have a whole planning process (detailed later) and sometimes I start planning out an idea just to realise I don’t really have the enthusiasm to actually write the whole thing. This is fine! Even just planning is still a writing exercise, and it might spark some different ideas.

Once you have your idea, and you’re confident you’re going to actually write it… then for the love of all that is holy, do not share it in detail with anyone. You can pitch an idea to see if people will be interested but if you go into specifics about story events or certain scenes? You basically get the endorphins from having ‘created’ it, only you haven’t actually created it, and now you’ve had the chemical pay-off you probably never will. Keep your ideas to yourself until you’ve actually written them.

STEP TWO: WRITE THAT DOWN

In terms of writing software, I use Scrivener, which is a paid-for software but is not subscription based (I wouldn’t pay continually for software unless I was reliably writing every day, and sometimes I go ages without being in the mood to write). Scriv’s word processor isn’t the most intuitive thing, but I like its organisation features. This is what a work in progress looks like for me:

That’s essentially a folder (the story) containing a bunch of word documents (the chapters). You could break it down even further and have a chapter folder with each document being individual scenes, then stitch it together later - if writing it a daunting process for you, it’s useful to break it down into small, manageable chunks. You can do this in other software obviously, I just find Scrivener the most visually pleasing.

Set up your writing document, and let’s get to planning what we’re actually going to write!

...Apparently tumblr has a word limit I've exceeded, so I'll write the next bit separately. Here's PART TWO.

#writing advice

[thetempleofmara]

This Hark! A Vagrant strip is immediately what I thought of when I found those letters. I’m sticking with the hot topic implication bc it’s funnier than finding a faerûnian equivalent for France and bc fantasy hot topic would be fucking fantastic and I want to go there right now.

(The postscript says ‘no homo’ but it is very much homo)

#i saw this one it's hilarious #love it

[thetempleofmara]

@99corentine

Did I create this whole thing because of one throw away line in a letter?

Yes, yes I did. I'm sorry and I'll show myself out.

(I just imagine it's something they constantly tell each other when proven right. Also ignore my Durge's bad outfit. I wanted to give him plain clothes because I think Durge only wears the most practical plain shit you ever saw especially compared to Gortash who dresses well..."fashionable" is a word I guess, so I tried drawing a modified sorcerers outfit but maybe it has gone a bit too boring)