Arkylie Killingstad: Overview

I am a bard, a composer and conveyer of stories. From my earliest memories, I have self-identified as a writer.

Being a teller of tales, conveyer of truth through fiction, is so core to my identity that I find it harder to picture a non-bard version of myself than to conceive of my religious worldview being utterly mistaken.

Bad art is a distraction;
great art changes people.
—my current motto, as coined by Doug Walker

At present, this takes the form of writing fanfiction.

Primary Fandom: Person of Interest (2017 on)

Secondary Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe (2019 on), almost exclusively Loki-centric

Yes, yes, I'm always late to the party (one of the benefits: I connect with the diehard fans who stick around after the party's over and all the booze is gone).

Besides my writing, I also run a YouTube channel (since 2016). I recently got a Pillowfort account for blogging (since 2019), whereas previously I just used Twitter rants (since I'm not looking that up right now due to likely spoilers for Endgame). I also have a DeviantArt account (since 2012), which is where I occasionally post art, non-fic short stories, and poetry. Oh, and my guest page for the Selkie webcomic made the Christmas update in 2015.

I've got accounts with a variety of websites -- in fact, pretty much any time you see a Kilyle online, that's me. I suppose the most notable account that I haven't been active in for a while is TV Tropes. I just tried to look up when I joined the site, and couldn't figure it out, but it was prior to the shift in Terms of Service (since part of my contributions ended up on All the Tropes). Oh, and I'm the one who created the original TV Tropes logo, the basic design of which (lampshade over the second T) is still in use, although it's since been heavily stylized. If you'd like to know which creation of mine has been viewed the most or had the greatest impact online, that'd be it; I doubt I'll ever create its equal.

At any rate, perhaps you'd like a more comprehensive overview of my work:

Writing

Fanfiction

Short Stories

I've written a variety of short stories, mostly capitalizing on the creepy, and some nightmares that I crafted specifically for my friends during the Shadowrun game I ran for them.

Poetry

I have experimented with poetry for a while, since my teens at least, but don't put a lot of time into it. Still, trying to work within various forms intrigues me, as does coining my own forms. The poem I'm most proud of writing is one I came up with spontaneously, upon walking out of the bathroom one day, and it's called, simply, "B":

Behold the wonder of me
and my fluorescent pee!

I couldn't put into words exactly why this poem tickles me so much, but it's a combination of factors, from the wording to the concepts at play, and a large part of it is the contrast between that highfalutin word "fluorescent" and that final, lowbrow "pee."

Anyway, my published poetry is on my DeviantART account here. I've also published a poem based on Moliere's Dom Juan on both my AO3 account and my FFN account, as it is, technically, a form of fanfiction (not that I was thinking in terms of fanfiction when I wrote it).

Other Writing

From my earliest memories, I have self-identified as a writer; it is so significant a part of my understanding of myself that I could more readily imagine a me with different religious beliefs than I could a me who didn't tell stories. The line "but there are few bards now" can really get to me, and reminds me of my calling, the vital role that storytellers take in shaping human society and consciousness, and in effecting change (individual or societal) by touching hearts and minds. I've been writing various things throughout my life, but aside from my fanfiction, short stories, and poetry, I've never really finished anything. Nothing I could publish. But I've worked with every medium that crossed my path, up to and including (no joke) opera. I've planned out novels, short stories, children's books, plays, screenplays, and short films; I've put together plans for graphic novels, video games, songs, poems, and one opera.

Videos

My YouTube channel is here. It's mostly Family-Friendly, by which I mean that if my friends and family happen across it, I won't have to run damage control (unlike with my more mature content in, say, my fanfics). Not to say there aren't a few darker or more rant-y videos on there.

I got serious on October 24th, 2016, and for two years posted six days a week (with a few minor lapses); that proved unsustainable after I got more serious with my writing, so we're back to sporadic updates. Oh, and my first official video was March 7th, 2016 (Try, or Try Not (Sorry, Yoda)), while the first video I ever posted (before I was thinking of running a channel) was on Halloween 2015, a tiny clip showing my Markiplier costume. I consider October 24th to be the channel anniversary, although May 7th might be worth a sort of minor celebration.

Art

My Person of Interest fan art is here.

The first thing I ever posted on DeviantArt was a mocked-up CD cover I'd made for a World of Warcraft contest; it's a sampling of songs from various WoW-themed musicals, including Ten Minutes Ago I Rezzed You (Firebloom (Cinderella)), I Could Have Cast All Night (My Fair Tauren (My Fair Lady)), and Wishing You Were Somehow Elf Again (The Zombie Who Was Once My Man (The Phantom of the Opera)).

Games

I'm a hobbyist game designer and have been working on various game ideas since I was, oh, maybe twelve years old. However, I have yet to create a game worth putting out te the public. If that ever changes, I hope to put news of it here. By the by, I did head four separate teams for creating Minecraft mods, despite not being able to code in Java myself. One was based on Zoo Tycoon; one was based on Harvest Moon and briefly called The Moontown Mod; one was the Lapidary Mod, which did come to a working version before the team had completely died; and the fourth was the Roughin' It mod, which I've tried in many forms and may eventually get a version of from a different coder.