30 Days of Fic Writing: Day 6, 7, & 8
I'm behind a day and now I'm just gonna get a head a day because I don't think I'll have time tomorrow...
6. When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
As I mentioned on Day 3, male voices tend to be easier for me, so I gravitate towards them. All in all, I think it's because I'm lazy, and though I like to be creative, whatever way is easiest is the way I tend to go. Plus, I think there is something freeing for me, as a woman, being inside a man's head because I think like a man in a lot of ways, but don't always express myself that way because it's not always socially acceptable.
7. Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?
I would say that writing fic always deepens my understanding of a character, but I don't usually write a character that I don't love. Or, like in the case of Katherine Pierce, love to hate. But writing is often a journey to understanding, so if I love a character, start writing them, and then spend a great deal of time with them, I inevitably love them more. That has occurred most recently with the Daryl/Beth fics I'm writing because I liked them both at the outset, but now that I've spent so many months with them, I've become very emotionally invested in them (and terrified that they might die). I will be devastated if anything happens to either of them.
8. Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they’re not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.
I don't write them a lot, or if I do, they are usually periphery characters and aren't all that important to the plot. However, one time, I wrote this one Damon and Elena fic where I shipped Elena off to college and I needed her to have a roommate because neither Bonnie nor Caroline went with her. When I first created Lydia, I thought she would serve as a sounding board for Elena, who needed to work out her feelings for Damon. But as I wrote her, she just came alive, and she got to say a lot of ~meta type things about the characters that were either thoughts I'd had, or discussions I'd seen around fandom at the time. She was loads of fun, and I had more comments on her from readers than I could have ever dreamed. That experience changed my approach to OCs, and if I ever feel the need to put them in, I do try to examine closely what their purpose is.
Usually a character I create comes in for a reason, like to supply condoms (my first Bethyl fic) or as a foil for the real love interest (another Delena fic, she met a cute boy at college after Damon had left her, and she even made out with him a little). I was just scrolling through my fic, refreshing my memory, and this one, Bright Sky At Night, might be the closest I ever came to a "Mary Sue" character. It's from an Original Character's POV, about Damon, pre-Civil War Damon. But she's a whore, so how Mary Sue could she be? IDK, I don't think I can judge it very well. I thought she was a fun character, and it was cool to see Damon when he was young and innocent through someone's eyes who wasn't young and innocent, someone who was jaded in fact, but who got a little purified by Damon's purity.
I guess I don't think I can write a Mary-Sue character because I'm not a Mary-Sue real person. Ha!
6. When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
As I mentioned on Day 3, male voices tend to be easier for me, so I gravitate towards them. All in all, I think it's because I'm lazy, and though I like to be creative, whatever way is easiest is the way I tend to go. Plus, I think there is something freeing for me, as a woman, being inside a man's head because I think like a man in a lot of ways, but don't always express myself that way because it's not always socially acceptable.
7. Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?
I would say that writing fic always deepens my understanding of a character, but I don't usually write a character that I don't love. Or, like in the case of Katherine Pierce, love to hate. But writing is often a journey to understanding, so if I love a character, start writing them, and then spend a great deal of time with them, I inevitably love them more. That has occurred most recently with the Daryl/Beth fics I'm writing because I liked them both at the outset, but now that I've spent so many months with them, I've become very emotionally invested in them (and terrified that they might die). I will be devastated if anything happens to either of them.
8. Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they’re not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.
I don't write them a lot, or if I do, they are usually periphery characters and aren't all that important to the plot. However, one time, I wrote this one Damon and Elena fic where I shipped Elena off to college and I needed her to have a roommate because neither Bonnie nor Caroline went with her. When I first created Lydia, I thought she would serve as a sounding board for Elena, who needed to work out her feelings for Damon. But as I wrote her, she just came alive, and she got to say a lot of ~meta type things about the characters that were either thoughts I'd had, or discussions I'd seen around fandom at the time. She was loads of fun, and I had more comments on her from readers than I could have ever dreamed. That experience changed my approach to OCs, and if I ever feel the need to put them in, I do try to examine closely what their purpose is.
Usually a character I create comes in for a reason, like to supply condoms (my first Bethyl fic) or as a foil for the real love interest (another Delena fic, she met a cute boy at college after Damon had left her, and she even made out with him a little). I was just scrolling through my fic, refreshing my memory, and this one, Bright Sky At Night, might be the closest I ever came to a "Mary Sue" character. It's from an Original Character's POV, about Damon, pre-Civil War Damon. But she's a whore, so how Mary Sue could she be? IDK, I don't think I can judge it very well. I thought she was a fun character, and it was cool to see Damon when he was young and innocent through someone's eyes who wasn't young and innocent, someone who was jaded in fact, but who got a little purified by Damon's purity.
I guess I don't think I can write a Mary-Sue character because I'm not a Mary-Sue real person. Ha!