You Ever Reread Something You Wrote Only To Find Out Its Actually.not Terrible???

You ever reread something you wrote only to find out it’s actually….not terrible???

Besties!! Fr going out of my comfort zone with this next chapter

Hello my love! Currently re-reading tmttw because I have no self control and I just have a few questions — more so to understand you as a writer than anything else, in truth. First, do you draw more inspiration from Book Canon or Show Canon? The complexity with which you write Jaime and Tywin in terms of their prioritising of legacy VS family is one of my absolute favourite things ever and I see hints of the book characterisation. Cersei is another character you write so well, I am absolutely floored with how you manage to capture the way she stitches narcissism and love into this multi-dimensional hybrid!

Anyways, lemme chill with the fangirling (I literally just now downloaded tumblr and made this account just to rant to you about this fic LMFAO)

My other question is also to do with dynamics, but moreso with which ones you're excited to delve into and further explore. Any little headcanons you can feed us about Alysanne's relationships with the people in her life? Targs, Starks, maybe even my baby boy Gendry? Idk lmfaooo im just way too hyped rn

Hello! So sorry for how long it took me to reply to this, but I wanted to make sure I had time to really think about it. And you downloaded tumblr just to send this???? Excuse me while I go cry, I'm blushing and kicking my feet fr.

(also, you're rereading??? that's so sweet and i'm actually for real crying)

I LIVE for questions like these, so thank you so so much for sending it in! I think I probably unconsciously draw from show cannon more, just because it was my first exposure to asoiaf and I've rewatched the show more than I've read the books. But I do try to keep a healthy mix of both! I always turn to the wiki based off the books, as well.

And I'm absolutely !!!!! that you think I write Cersei well 🥺 She's one of my favorites to write and her level of unhinged is so entertaining, so thank you from the bottom of my heart! Jaime and Tywin are a hard balance to strike, and I do work hard to capture them so thank you for that as well!

I think that Tywin will always put legacy above family, given his father and the way he detests him. It's similar with Jaime, I think, who grew up with a father who put legacy over family and it's something that he desperately wishes to not repeat, but ends up playing into anyhow. If there's one thing that asoiaf does well it's generational trauma and that cycle, and in this AU it's almost fallen to Alysanne to break the cycle in her family as we know Joffrey won't. Perhaps Tommen and Myrcella will as well, but that remains to be seen.

And Alysanne definitely feels this dynamic and pressure (here we go into my little head cannons! thank you for asking me this I'm so excited to delve into this). I think that had she not gone north, she 100% would have followed in the path of Jaime and Tywin. Not only does she have Tywin's legacy weighing down on her, but the entirety of the Targaryen legacy. We already see her efforts to break away, it would have been worse under Tywin's direct influence. Having a healthy influence (Starks 😊) for sure curbed that.

I mean, before she learned of who exactly her grandfather was, she idolized him. Even after she discovered what he’d done to Elia and Rhaenys (and Aegon, so she thought), she had a difficult time equating one of the only members of her family to come visit her with this monster from the history books. It wasn’t until she was older that her disdain for him grew, once she realized he only saw her as a pawn.

And that brings us to Jaime. Alysanne is more like her father than she cares to admit to herself. They both are utterly devoted to those they love, and both she and her father reflect both sides of that coin in a way. With Alysanne and Robb it’s in a supportive manner, but with Jaime and Cersei it’s toxic. I think they’re also really similar in that they both have a deep desire to prove to Tywin that they’re more than his puppet. Jaime does this by refusing to remarry/joining the kingsguard, Alysanne by siding with the Starks and ultimately taking Casterly Rock. Jaime tries to not be his father, and Alysanne tries not to be like Jaime. 

And CERSEI. Man, had Alysanne grown up in King’s Landing, they would have been such a fun combination to write. In her early years, Alysanne absolutely looked to Cersei as kind of a mother figure. Even when she visited King’s Landing from Winterfell, I liken her to season 1 Sansa in the way she viewed her aunt. Especially since Cersei views (or viewed, rather) Alysanne as a kind of “what could have been” had she married Rhaegar. A twisted part of her mind sees Alysanne as the daughter she never had with him. In a different world where Alysanne remained in King’s Landing, she 100% could have been Cersei’s puppet, at least for a time. 

On a lighter note, Tyrion visited almost as often as Tywin. He’s a major reason why she was able to come to terms with who her grandfather really was. Tyrion is by far one of her favorite Lannister’s, and I’m really excited to reunite them. It was Tyrion who introduced her to the wonders of a good Dornish wine or Arbor gold, and the first time she got truly, horribly drunk was with him on her fourteenth name day, late at night in the godswood. I think they have a sort of kinship that goes beyond blood. He’s always felt discarded by his family, and Alysanne felt similar. It’s a large reason why Tyrion visited so often. 

As for an even lighter, lighter note, the Starks hold Alysanne's entire heart (aside from dear Myrcella and Tommen). There's Bran and Rickon of course, who she's known for the entirety of their lives and who she loves as brothers. Sansa, and Arya of course. I think a part of Alysanne resents her father for letting her go, and part of her is thankful for the family she's found. And that same part feels guilt for what she's found.

There was a brief period in her early teens where she resented the easy family bond the Starks have, and that's the point she really bonded with Jon, who also felt some level of detached from them.

Thank you again for the question, I really enjoyed getting a chance to share some of this! I have so much more, so maybe I'll share those someday.

And thanks for reading (and rereading! it's crazy to think that people read, let alone CHOOSE to read again). Hopefully I'll have a new chapter out this week! It's so close to being done.

The Midjourney depictions of the characters in your story seems so familiar. I feel like I've seen actors & actresses who fit their appearances. Not perfectly but just enough. Curious question, who would you cast as Aegon, Rhaena, Alysanne, Arianne, etc in your story?

Hello! I was wondering if someone would notice! I did use reference pictures with midjourney, otherwise the images it gave me were just not it. Some you can definitely tell more than others, lmao.

And ooooo I love this question! Aegon is easy for me. For sure either someone like Jamie Campbell-Bower, as I think his features are so distinct in a way that I feel Targaryens would be.

Arianne is tricky, Aiysha Hart is who I used as the base for the Arianne I posted, but I think Banita Sandhu is gorgeous and would fit Arianne so well.

Alysanne is the one that’s definitely the hardest for me to place! I think Freya Allen, perhaps? Or maybe even Rebecca Ferguson as she appears in The White Princess!

And I don’t know who you mean by Rhaena, I’m sorry :(

Honestly if you were to ask me this question a day from now the answers would be different, lol. I have such a hard time choosing. And it’s also tricky because the actors I think end up fitting the best in like got/hotd I’d never heard of before!

Thanks for the question 🥰❤️

this show is insane