Trabia Garden

I'm enjoying looking through everyone's responses to the 'mistakes you noticed after posting fanfiction' poll! Please continue to share your shame so I can feel less alone.

I've just realised I should really have included a 'forgetting crucial worldbuilding details' option. I fell prey to this twice recently, when writing for In Stars and Time!

My first mistake: I needed to name a location in Vaugarde. Vaugarde is fantasy France, so I wanted something that sounded appropriately French. In the NaNo I wrote when I was sixteen, there was a location called the Endless Plains, so I named the place in the fic the Toujours Plains as a little nod to that; 'toujours' means 'always' or 'forever'.

A week later, I suddenly remembered that Vaugarde worships the concept of change. The idea of endlessness, of changelessness, of remaining the same: that's anathema. Why would a society like that name a place after the concept of forever? Does everyone in Vaugarde just really hate these goddamn plains?

My second mistake: I described the sky as 'a brilliant, vibrant mid-afternoon blue'. This is fine! Until you remember that In Stars and Time is set in a world where nobody can see colour. A reader pointed this one out, and I was mortified.


Tem and I are nearing the end of our Master Detective Archives: Rain Code replay. Here are some more notes from our adventures with this silly game.

Shinigami: I don't smell any corpses. I thought there'd be some around here.
Yuma: Of course not!
Tem: Of corpse not.

One of Yuma's voice clips is just 'what do??' and it's extremely funny.

Having taken a wrong turn, I was cornered by Guillaume and the Peacekeepers. 'Let's dunk his head in the river and suck the water out through his ass,' Guillaume proposed: a colourful threat that I am recording mainly so I won't be the only one haunted by the mental image.

When Yuma is arrested and panicking:

Yuma: Shinigami, what do I do?
Shinigami: I must admit, seeing you so pitiful is nice. I'm gonna stare at you for a while.
Riona: Shinigami truly speaks for us all.

In Danganronpa, if you max out your relationship with a character, you receive that character's underpants. A part of me is now conditioned to expect underpants whenever I bond with characters in other games.

Shinigami: Master, you and Yakou have formed the ultimate bond together.
Riona: Well, where are his fucking underpants, then?

The rest of my notes are spoilery, so I'll share those once we've finished this replay!

When I have a fic idea, I’ll usually scribble it down in the back of my diary. It’s time to switch diaries again, so it’s time for the annual fic concept roundup!

This post lists all the fic ideas at the back of my 2023-24 diary. If I’ve written the fic, I’ll include a link to it. If I’ve started the fic, I’ll share a snippet. If I haven’t started it, I’ll write at least a hundred words on the spot.

First of all, here are the fics I’ve written in full. Fandoms: The Quarry, Death Note, Severance, Final Fantasy VII Remake. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( Written fics from my 2023-24 diary. )


Next, let’s look at the works in progress (or at least the works that were started; I’m not sure they’re actively progressing). Fandoms: Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (2023 game), Severance, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy XV, Uncharted. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( In-progress fics from my 2023-24 diary. )


Finally, it’s time for the fic ideas I haven’t touched and now have to write something for. Let’s see if I can do this.

Fandoms: The Quarry, Persona 4/Spider-Man (?), Kingdom Hearts/Silent Hill 2 (??), Final Fantasy XIII-2, In Stars and Time, Death Note. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( 2023-24 fics I hadn't started... until now. )


As ever, I have no idea whether any of these will end up becoming full fics, but I’m glad to have written at least a little for each concept!

I've finished Master Detective Archives: Rain Code!


( Spoilers up to the end of Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. )


And that's Master Detective Archives: Rain Code! What a weird game. I've had a great time, and I'll definitely be there if it ever gets a sequel.

I just restored my saved entry draft and found I'd noted down a Death Note headcanon: L sleeps in absolutely ludicrous positions, which is disconcerting for Light when they're handcuffed together and probably have to share a bed. He keeps waking up to find L sprawled across his waist, or kneeling with his face in the pillow, or sleeping with his legs on the bed and his head on the floor.


More Master Detective Archives: Rain Code! I'm in the chapter 'A Silent Curtain Call', partway through the investigation.

I'll be honest: this entry is mainly just talking about how Yuma has a crush on everyone. I've got a real weakness for characters who seem to fall for everyone they interact with, and Yuma is a sterling example.


( Notes on Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. )


I don't think this was an intentionally programmed aspect of the game - I think it was just a quirk of in-game physics - but I accidentally shut Shinigami inside a locker during the school investigation, which was pretty funny.

Taskmaster NZ is back!! I'm so pleased. I'd genuinely struggle to say whether I prefer the New Zealand version or the original UK one; Greg Davies is a much stronger Taskmaster, but Paul Williams might be my favourite assistant, and the NZ version frequently has such great tasks.

Paul Williams went through a lot in the first episode of series four, which bodes extremely well for the rest of the series. I'm sorry, Paul; I love you, but in the scary 'I really want to see this guy get fucked up' way I love my favourite fictional characters.

I wonder what it'd be like if Taskmaster UK and Taskmaster NZ swapped assistants for an episode. It'd be a relaxing holiday for Alex, although I think he'd miss the abuse. Paul, meanwhile, would have a terrifying experience; Greg would eat him alive.

I don't think I've mentioned the Australian version here before, but Taskmaster AU is also worth a watch! Only one season so far, but the tasks are great fun and it has a strong opening cast; Nina and Julia in particular are both fantastic contestants. Nina is an endearingly enthusiastic disaster, and Julia, clearly having a great time, is a wildcard who swings wildly between 'barely making an effort' and 'committing to an alarming extent'.

Tom Gleeson is the Taskmaster for the Australian version, and he's good at it. I prefer Greg, but Gleeson has enough presence, quick wit and delight in messing with the contestants to feel suited to the role.

Tom Cashman doesn't quite have the quality I'm looking for in a Taskmaster's assistant. I can envision him having a normal life when the cameras are turned off, which doesn't entirely seem right; Alex and Paul both feel weird all the way through. But Cashman is solid enough, and he occasionally can't hold back his laughter when a contestant is being particularly disastrous, which I find endearing.


On an entirely different note, Tem and I have started playing Master Detective Archives: Rain Code!

We're not far in - we've only just entered the first labyrinth - but so far it feels like a sort of blend of Danganronpa and AI: The Somnium Files, with all the tonal irreverance and horniness that that implies. We've cheerfully embraced this.

Game: More DP means a higher Detective Rank!
Tem: That's why Columbo always looks so scruffy.

Shinigami: We exchanged an intimate, secret pact, just between us.
Riona: Did we fuck the ghost?
Tem: It does feel like we fucked the ghost.
Shinigami: What? You've forgotten all about how we were so passionately bound together?
Tem: We fucked the ghost.

Oh, no, this game has quick-time events? I'm fine with these in Playstation games, but I don't know the Switch button layout off the top of my head! I never really thought about how important it is to be familiar with the controller for these things; 'X is down, triangle is up, square is left, circle is right' is second nature for me, but of course that won't be the case for everyone.

The first quick-time event glitched somehow, and the prompt was only on screen for maybe an eighth of a second. I thought the game was intentionally presenting an impossible QTE as a joke about how silly QTEs are.

We've got into the habit of announcing 'Master Detective!' at the screen whenever one of the Master Detectives states the obvious. This is not an infrequent occurrence.

Every character name in this game is absolutely ludicrous. 'Zilch Alexander' is a particular standout. Although it's not quite on the level of the Death Note: Another Note light novel, which featured characters named Beyond Birthday, Quarter Queen and Backyard Bottomslash. (And those are only the ones I remembered off the top of my head. Looking those names up to confirm I'd got them right, I found I'd somehow forgotten about Believe Bridesmaid and Blues-harp Babysplit.)