On writing
I ran across this meme in several people's journals several weeks ago, and as there is nothing I enjoy quite so much as blathering on about fanfiction, I decided to set down my own responses.
Do ideas come in little tiny pinpricks and then get expanded, or do they start great big and scopy and then get refined?
Neither of those descriptions are entirely accurate. I rarely have detailed plots in mind before starting a story (indeed, I've given up on multi-part plotted stories altogether), but I may have a big idea such as wanting to explore Mal's feelings about Inara's role as a Companion, and her reaction to his prejudices; or stories about Mal and Zoe's experiences during the war.
Alternatively, I may be inspired to write a story on the basis of a line/image/scene alone. My Big Wolf on Campus fic, for instance, often begins with a piece of banter. "Proposition" was written because of the "Rick's hitting on my boyfriend?!"/"I'm not actually your boyfriend" exchange.
Why do you choose to write in the tenses you do (present tense, or first person POV, or third person) and how do you choose particular styles for particular stories?
It varies with the story. When I have a definite plot, I tend to stick to past-tense, third person. When it's more of a 'thinky' piece, I tend to experiment more in tense and point of view (I've written a second-person future-tense, for example).
Sometimes I get creative with tense and POV because I simply can't the story written in a more straightforward style. For instance, I tried to write "charmed life" in a more conventional style (it began, if I recall correctly, with Inara descending the steps into a ballroom). However, that beginning/style didn't flow into a fuller story, which is why I switched over to the admittedly odd (and quite possibly irritating) beginning that was included in the finished fic: "the sheets are silk his nails are short and clean she can smell apple blossoms through the open window".
Do you have music that inspires your writing? (That you listen to while writing, or certain songs that remind you of certain characters.)
Not really. I will sometimes snag a line from a song for a story title, and sometimes, a song will make me want to write a certain kind of story, but beyond that--no.
How do you brainstorm what comes next in a story?
I don't bother with long, plotted stories any longer. Even when I was writing multi-chapter fics, I tended to make things up as I went along. I usually had one scene in mind--the scene that had initially inspired the story--and spend my time trying (and failing) to get to that point in the story where I could write it.
What do you do when you hit a road block?
I will write and rewrite the first paragraph for the next few days/weeks/months until something clicks and lets me roll through to the end of the story. When that doesn't work, I'll copy the stuff that I have written into my "snippets" folder and reuse it later, if I am so able.
How often do you end up deleting a whole bunch of already-written stuff, and how hard is it to let that stuff go?
I used to delete stuff fairly easily. I no longer do so--I've regretted deleting things in the past, so I now keep the work I can't use in the aforementioned snippet folder.
What if you really, really want to include something but part of you is saying it's not right for that particular story?
Again, my snippet folder is ever so useful. Also, I post unfinished fics and discarded snippets at diaryland/in my livejournal (see the discards of the creative process!).
Do you take notes longhand, and if so, when?
No. I'm not organized enough in my writing to take any sort of notes.
Do you use challenges by other people to inspire you?
More often now that I have access to livejournal--I've been playing around at contrelamontre recently. But more often than not, my fics are not challenge-based.
Do you do anything in particular to get you into the right mindset to write a certain character or characters?
Not really, no.
Which characters are easiest for you to write, and WHY?
I find the Big Wolf on Campus characters the easiest to write; I've been told that I capture their voices well, which isn't something I usually manage easily, if at all, in other fandoms. I think BWoC is easiest for me because the show doesn't take itself seriously, and it invites me, as a fic writer, to have fun and be as dorky as I want to be. I'm also fairly comfortable with the Dark Angel characters.
Which ones are hardest, and again, WHY?
Pretty much any of Joss Whedon's characters--they have such distinctive voices, and the fandom is so full of writers that any fault in the voices feels more evident. I'd never write Lilah, for example, because Lilah immediately brings Jenny O.'s work to mind, and I know that I'll never manage her skill at writing the character.
Actually, I find a lot of characters and fandoms difficult--Firefly, Farscape, Fastlane, Buffy, Angel, Pirates of the Caribbean. . . either because the characters have quirky dialogue, lots of slang, or jargon that I can't get ahold of. I tend to work around that by avoiding dialogue as much as possible (take a look of my work in the aforementioned fandoms, and you'll notice that many of my fics lack any dialogue whatsoever).
Which characters are most like you emotionally?
Meh. None that I can think of. I tend to sympathize with dorky characters, neglected characters and under-appreciated characters but I don't identify with them emotionally.
How often do you feel like what you're writing is fulfilling some emotional need - ie, when you're writing comfort, is it because you often feel that you don't get it IRL?
Not so much with the comfort, no. When I'm angry or frustrated in real life, I do find it easier to write nasty stuff (my PoTC story "Inherit" was written in such a mood).
Feedback, on the other hand, does fulfill an emotional need after the story has been written and posted (that is, I don't write with feedback in mind, but receiving it makes me look at my story anew).
What about writing smut - do you find it easy, difficult?
I don't write out-and-out smut. I write smut-light, and rarely. (See "Sinking," "Inherit," "Oranges," "Score" for examples of what I call 'smut-light'). I used to write more (bad) smutish stories when I was involved in BtVS because there was a lot of smutty stories on the lists where I read and posted. I'm more squeamish about writing sex these days--I doubt that I would write "Sinking" now, even though compared to other sex-scenes, it is very tame.
What kinds of smut are easiest for you to write, and WHY?
Smut that is told through a character's perspective--their emotions, their thoughts. I'm more likely to write a scene like this: "and wow, that was unexpected, but good, really, really good and oh god don't stop, please please please" instead of "'oh, fuck me harder!' Jane screamed as Bob grunted above her." (I find the latter incredibly silly).
Which of your stories is your favorite and WHY? Least favorite?
I've written way too many stories to be able to answer that question. In general, I'd say my X-Men stories are the worst, followed by my Buffy and Roswell stories. Those were my earliest fandoms, and there are any number of things I don't like in them--things that I'm currently trying to repress, suppress, deny, thank you very much.
Which of your titles do you like the most/least, and why?
See question above. I used to be more creative with my titles (in fact, I used to write some stories because of the titles). These days, I stick to one-word titles which may or may not have much to do with the story itself.
How do you choose titles for your stories?
I leave my story untitled as I'm writing and stick it with some sort of descriptive word as a title before posting. Sometimes I take song lyrics or poetry as an inspiration.
Do you write differently with a cowriter than you do alone? Is it easier or harder?
I've only co-authored one story ("Downtime" with Pooh_Bah), and that wasn't too strenuous as the story wasn't required to flow one section to the next.
Do you write original fic differently from fanfic (if you write it at all)?
I don't write original fiction, and don't have the desire (or the ability) to do so.
For series and long works, do you decide a goal in advance to stop at or are they open ended? If you do choose a goal, how often do you stick to it?
I make things up as I go along, almost no matter what kind of story I'm writing. I stop when I'm happy with how things stand, or when I'm so fed up with a story that I want to get it out of my way.
When a scene feels forced, what are the first few tricks you try to fix it?
Rewrite it, and when that fails, cut it out and put it aside in my snippets folder.
Are most of your fixes deletions or additions?
Rewriting over the sections I don't like; a mix of deletions and additions.
How long does it usually take you to write a story? How many revisions do you go through?
Anywhere from hours to years (and I'm serious about some of them taking years). I never used to worry about revisions, but now I'm pickier about the tone and flow of my stories--which is why some of them take so long to wrap up: I spend too much time fretting over the wording of this line or that.
Do you use beta readers?
Sometimes, but not too often. I haven't had exceptionally good luck with betas in the past.
Do ideas come in little tiny pinpricks and then get expanded, or do they start great big and scopy and then get refined?
Neither of those descriptions are entirely accurate. I rarely have detailed plots in mind before starting a story (indeed, I've given up on multi-part plotted stories altogether), but I may have a big idea such as wanting to explore Mal's feelings about Inara's role as a Companion, and her reaction to his prejudices; or stories about Mal and Zoe's experiences during the war.
Alternatively, I may be inspired to write a story on the basis of a line/image/scene alone. My Big Wolf on Campus fic, for instance, often begins with a piece of banter. "Proposition" was written because of the "Rick's hitting on my boyfriend?!"/"I'm not actually your boyfriend" exchange.
Why do you choose to write in the tenses you do (present tense, or first person POV, or third person) and how do you choose particular styles for particular stories?
It varies with the story. When I have a definite plot, I tend to stick to past-tense, third person. When it's more of a 'thinky' piece, I tend to experiment more in tense and point of view (I've written a second-person future-tense, for example).
Sometimes I get creative with tense and POV because I simply can't the story written in a more straightforward style. For instance, I tried to write "charmed life" in a more conventional style (it began, if I recall correctly, with Inara descending the steps into a ballroom). However, that beginning/style didn't flow into a fuller story, which is why I switched over to the admittedly odd (and quite possibly irritating) beginning that was included in the finished fic: "the sheets are silk his nails are short and clean she can smell apple blossoms through the open window".
Do you have music that inspires your writing? (That you listen to while writing, or certain songs that remind you of certain characters.)
Not really. I will sometimes snag a line from a song for a story title, and sometimes, a song will make me want to write a certain kind of story, but beyond that--no.
How do you brainstorm what comes next in a story?
I don't bother with long, plotted stories any longer. Even when I was writing multi-chapter fics, I tended to make things up as I went along. I usually had one scene in mind--the scene that had initially inspired the story--and spend my time trying (and failing) to get to that point in the story where I could write it.
What do you do when you hit a road block?
I will write and rewrite the first paragraph for the next few days/weeks/months until something clicks and lets me roll through to the end of the story. When that doesn't work, I'll copy the stuff that I have written into my "snippets" folder and reuse it later, if I am so able.
How often do you end up deleting a whole bunch of already-written stuff, and how hard is it to let that stuff go?
I used to delete stuff fairly easily. I no longer do so--I've regretted deleting things in the past, so I now keep the work I can't use in the aforementioned snippet folder.
What if you really, really want to include something but part of you is saying it's not right for that particular story?
Again, my snippet folder is ever so useful. Also, I post unfinished fics and discarded snippets at diaryland/in my livejournal (see the discards of the creative process!).
Do you take notes longhand, and if so, when?
No. I'm not organized enough in my writing to take any sort of notes.
Do you use challenges by other people to inspire you?
More often now that I have access to livejournal--I've been playing around at contrelamontre recently. But more often than not, my fics are not challenge-based.
Do you do anything in particular to get you into the right mindset to write a certain character or characters?
Not really, no.
Which characters are easiest for you to write, and WHY?
I find the Big Wolf on Campus characters the easiest to write; I've been told that I capture their voices well, which isn't something I usually manage easily, if at all, in other fandoms. I think BWoC is easiest for me because the show doesn't take itself seriously, and it invites me, as a fic writer, to have fun and be as dorky as I want to be. I'm also fairly comfortable with the Dark Angel characters.
Which ones are hardest, and again, WHY?
Pretty much any of Joss Whedon's characters--they have such distinctive voices, and the fandom is so full of writers that any fault in the voices feels more evident. I'd never write Lilah, for example, because Lilah immediately brings Jenny O.'s work to mind, and I know that I'll never manage her skill at writing the character.
Actually, I find a lot of characters and fandoms difficult--Firefly, Farscape, Fastlane, Buffy, Angel, Pirates of the Caribbean. . . either because the characters have quirky dialogue, lots of slang, or jargon that I can't get ahold of. I tend to work around that by avoiding dialogue as much as possible (take a look of my work in the aforementioned fandoms, and you'll notice that many of my fics lack any dialogue whatsoever).
Which characters are most like you emotionally?
Meh. None that I can think of. I tend to sympathize with dorky characters, neglected characters and under-appreciated characters but I don't identify with them emotionally.
How often do you feel like what you're writing is fulfilling some emotional need - ie, when you're writing comfort, is it because you often feel that you don't get it IRL?
Not so much with the comfort, no. When I'm angry or frustrated in real life, I do find it easier to write nasty stuff (my PoTC story "Inherit" was written in such a mood).
Feedback, on the other hand, does fulfill an emotional need after the story has been written and posted (that is, I don't write with feedback in mind, but receiving it makes me look at my story anew).
What about writing smut - do you find it easy, difficult?
I don't write out-and-out smut. I write smut-light, and rarely. (See "Sinking," "Inherit," "Oranges," "Score" for examples of what I call 'smut-light'). I used to write more (bad) smutish stories when I was involved in BtVS because there was a lot of smutty stories on the lists where I read and posted. I'm more squeamish about writing sex these days--I doubt that I would write "Sinking" now, even though compared to other sex-scenes, it is very tame.
What kinds of smut are easiest for you to write, and WHY?
Smut that is told through a character's perspective--their emotions, their thoughts. I'm more likely to write a scene like this: "and wow, that was unexpected, but good, really, really good and oh god don't stop, please please please" instead of "'oh, fuck me harder!' Jane screamed as Bob grunted above her." (I find the latter incredibly silly).
Which of your stories is your favorite and WHY? Least favorite?
I've written way too many stories to be able to answer that question. In general, I'd say my X-Men stories are the worst, followed by my Buffy and Roswell stories. Those were my earliest fandoms, and there are any number of things I don't like in them--things that I'm currently trying to repress, suppress, deny, thank you very much.
Which of your titles do you like the most/least, and why?
See question above. I used to be more creative with my titles (in fact, I used to write some stories because of the titles). These days, I stick to one-word titles which may or may not have much to do with the story itself.
How do you choose titles for your stories?
I leave my story untitled as I'm writing and stick it with some sort of descriptive word as a title before posting. Sometimes I take song lyrics or poetry as an inspiration.
Do you write differently with a cowriter than you do alone? Is it easier or harder?
I've only co-authored one story ("Downtime" with Pooh_Bah), and that wasn't too strenuous as the story wasn't required to flow one section to the next.
Do you write original fic differently from fanfic (if you write it at all)?
I don't write original fiction, and don't have the desire (or the ability) to do so.
For series and long works, do you decide a goal in advance to stop at or are they open ended? If you do choose a goal, how often do you stick to it?
I make things up as I go along, almost no matter what kind of story I'm writing. I stop when I'm happy with how things stand, or when I'm so fed up with a story that I want to get it out of my way.
When a scene feels forced, what are the first few tricks you try to fix it?
Rewrite it, and when that fails, cut it out and put it aside in my snippets folder.
Are most of your fixes deletions or additions?
Rewriting over the sections I don't like; a mix of deletions and additions.
How long does it usually take you to write a story? How many revisions do you go through?
Anywhere from hours to years (and I'm serious about some of them taking years). I never used to worry about revisions, but now I'm pickier about the tone and flow of my stories--which is why some of them take so long to wrap up: I spend too much time fretting over the wording of this line or that.
Do you use beta readers?
Sometimes, but not too often. I haven't had exceptionally good luck with betas in the past.