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teratornisI recently participated in the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
insert_title_here challenge, in which participants sent in up to five title suggestions and then received back three random titles. It's very low-key, any fandom, any rating, etc.
I wrote for two of the three titles I received. I had some vague ideas to start off with, and after pondering where to take those ideas for a few days, I ended up doing something completely different for both of the titles I ended up using.
Nevertheless, I had a whole lot of fun. Titles are challenging, and while this isn't the first time I've started with a title and worked backward, so to speak, it was an interesting challenge to see what I got out of it. I'm pretty happy with both of my pieces. One in particular helped to fill in some backstory on an ongoing project of mine.
Always Almost
Rating: General Audiences
Fandom: Guild Wars 2
Relationships: Aurene & Player Character
Characters: Aurene, Female Charr Player Character
Tags: Parenthood, Introspection, Fate & Destiny, Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons, Families of Choice
Words: 1,683
I wrote an earlier story about these two characters, on similar themes. The role of fate and destiny in the GW2 setting has consistently fascinated me, especially with how it applies to the character of Aurene, and how it's shaped her character over the years. I've always loved the idea of the player character considering her family, and some of the tragedy of that given both the PC and Aurene's role in keeping the world from imploding, basically, and how much hardship they both experience because of it.
So this isn't really a happy piece, given that, but neither is the canon story for these two. I love that as a narrative, honestly. Given the nature of GW2's ability to continuously add to their plot over the course of years, it very much means the characters are never really settled, and can only rest when they're dead. And sometimes not even then, really.
We Shall Be All
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Fandom: Original Work
Characters: Original Supervillain Characters
Tags: Supervillains, Origin Story, Blood, Murder, mentions of abuse, Empath
Words: 4,026
Another work featuring a couple of characters I've written about before, two of the main supervillains in my original superheros/villains setting. These two characters are newer additions to the setting than most of the heroes, and the idea for this bit of backstory is only something I worked out within the last couple of months. I wouldn't say this title inspired it directly, it was more like I had the idea and realized this title would fit it fairly well, depending on how I got it written out.
This is probably a fairly important piece for the setting, honestly. It does a lot of work establishing who these two characters are, and what they are to each other, and explains a little bit of the plotline that's gradually been developing.
Don't ask me exactly where that plotline's going yet, I have no idea, but some of what's going on here has been a running theme through a few other stories in the series. I do have some ideas around some more worldbuilding there, but we'll see how things shake out. I've definitely got more ideas than I did before writing this story, and I had a good time with it. I'm finding Marston to be a fun character.
I thought this was a great idea for a challenge, and it was a fun way to get inspired. This was its first year, and apparently had 127 signups, which seems like a crazy amount of people for a first-year event. Still, that bodes well for another one like it in the future, I hope. I definitely had a good time.notyourwinter, the mod/event runner, has sent around a list of all the submitted titles that I'm definitely going to keep on hand for more inspiration.
insert_title_here challenge, in which participants sent in up to five title suggestions and then received back three random titles. It's very low-key, any fandom, any rating, etc.I wrote for two of the three titles I received. I had some vague ideas to start off with, and after pondering where to take those ideas for a few days, I ended up doing something completely different for both of the titles I ended up using.
Nevertheless, I had a whole lot of fun. Titles are challenging, and while this isn't the first time I've started with a title and worked backward, so to speak, it was an interesting challenge to see what I got out of it. I'm pretty happy with both of my pieces. One in particular helped to fill in some backstory on an ongoing project of mine.
Always Almost
Rating: General Audiences
Fandom: Guild Wars 2
Relationships: Aurene & Player Character
Characters: Aurene, Female Charr Player Character
Tags: Parenthood, Introspection, Fate & Destiny, Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons, Families of Choice
Words: 1,683
I wrote an earlier story about these two characters, on similar themes. The role of fate and destiny in the GW2 setting has consistently fascinated me, especially with how it applies to the character of Aurene, and how it's shaped her character over the years. I've always loved the idea of the player character considering her family, and some of the tragedy of that given both the PC and Aurene's role in keeping the world from imploding, basically, and how much hardship they both experience because of it.
So this isn't really a happy piece, given that, but neither is the canon story for these two. I love that as a narrative, honestly. Given the nature of GW2's ability to continuously add to their plot over the course of years, it very much means the characters are never really settled, and can only rest when they're dead. And sometimes not even then, really.
We Shall Be All
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Fandom: Original Work
Characters: Original Supervillain Characters
Tags: Supervillains, Origin Story, Blood, Murder, mentions of abuse, Empath
Words: 4,026
Another work featuring a couple of characters I've written about before, two of the main supervillains in my original superheros/villains setting. These two characters are newer additions to the setting than most of the heroes, and the idea for this bit of backstory is only something I worked out within the last couple of months. I wouldn't say this title inspired it directly, it was more like I had the idea and realized this title would fit it fairly well, depending on how I got it written out.
This is probably a fairly important piece for the setting, honestly. It does a lot of work establishing who these two characters are, and what they are to each other, and explains a little bit of the plotline that's gradually been developing.
Don't ask me exactly where that plotline's going yet, I have no idea, but some of what's going on here has been a running theme through a few other stories in the series. I do have some ideas around some more worldbuilding there, but we'll see how things shake out. I've definitely got more ideas than I did before writing this story, and I had a good time with it. I'm finding Marston to be a fun character.
I thought this was a great idea for a challenge, and it was a fun way to get inspired. This was its first year, and apparently had 127 signups, which seems like a crazy amount of people for a first-year event. Still, that bodes well for another one like it in the future, I hope. I definitely had a good time.
notyourwinter, the mod/event runner, has sent around a list of all the submitted titles that I'm definitely going to keep on hand for more inspiration.