Writing meme answers, part 1
slb44 picked: L. Is there an episode section of canon above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?
Yes. In every fandom there are examples of this. I do re-watch specific episodes a LOT when I'm writing in particular fandoms. Some examples... For SPN, it was Croatoan, A Very Supernatural Christmas, Mystery Shack, Home, In My Time of Dying, Devil's Trap, All Hell Breaks Loose 1 and 2. For SG-1 it was The Light, Abyss, Need, Meridian, Deadman Switch, Crystal Skull, The First Ones, Upgrades, Menace, and Window of Opportunity.
littledrop picked: G. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
From The First Prayers of Man (Rome):
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When he was a child, Vorenus believed Rome came to be through the influence of the she-wolf, the ravening dog, suckling the brothers whose hands built a city on the Palatine. He asked his mother about the sun and stars, the rise and fall of the sky, but she knew no tales about the formation of the world, nothing to explain the violent thunder or the fading glow of day.
In time, he came to understand there were no true myths, and with this knowledge, the certainty that this world consists of nothing but ridiculous lies, ships of air sailing blood-dark seas. There is nothing now but the hum and pitch of his life as events unfold around him, as other men cast the stones and build their legacies on the backs of those who laid the foundations.
He is familiar with the emptiness that comes of bearing such secrets. He saw it time and again in Niobe's eyes, before they closed forever.
He was not meant for farming, his father once told him; it's a trade best left to those with no intelligence, no prospects. This thought took root in his mind, erased dreams of sinking his hands into the crumbling rich soil, fingers flexing against the soft earth to touch the secrets hidden there, as if he could decipher the messages the world hides beneath its aged and broken surfaces.
This was how he came to give his service to the army, to rise one rank at a time on the split skulls and broken bones of men, dozens at first, then hundreds, the count kept from the first time he unsheathed his sword. His hands roughened and bled, his skin honed on duty and principle, his feet blistered and healed a thousand times on the marches west, east, north, into the cold and snow, and back again. Months blurred into years, compounding one on the other until he could barely remember the Aventine, as far from him as the heavens were from the fingertips of ordinary men.
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Writing from Vorenus' point of view was interesting. He's a very practical man, one I wouldn't expect to be poetic, so it was interesting writing this, because it ended up with a very lyrical bent. I like this passage because it's sort of like a page of poetry with blood smeared around the margins. It pleases me.
kuwdora picked: J. Which fic has been the easiest to write?
Probably it's a tie between Equilibrium (The Sentinel) and Mr. Piggles Makes A Match (J2 fandom). Oh! And White Knight, Talking Backwards (J2), which xheart_of_lifex liked well enough to plagiarize in its entirety. (I try never to miss an opportunity to mention that, since the internet likes to try to forget about such things as if they never happened and pretend everything is swell, but it burns me up to this day.) Those three stories basically wrote themselves, I just sat down and typed them.
sheron picked three!: M. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?/AL. Talk about a review that made your day./AM. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?
Best writing advice: put your ass in the chair and write.
A review that made my day: people have written some lovely things over the years, but Madrigal's review of Farther Than Earth From Heaven (Stargate SG-1) made me cry when I first read it, because I hadn't really ever dreamed that I would write stories that people could react to in this way.
Do I ever get rude reviews, and how do I deal with them: I surely do. I've been at this so long now, though, that my usual reaction is either to ignore them, or to email my annoyance to a friend and then move on. There's no point wasting energy on it, since I can't control either how people react to what I write, or what they choose to say to me about that. It's the perils of putting what one writes on the internet. Sometimes the rude reviews make me laugh, though. I can't help it. Sorry?
zortified picked: W. If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?
No question about it, I'd rewrite The Seventh Wave (Phantom Menace). Sigh. I was such a n00b when I started writing it. I knew absolutely nothing about writing, or plotting, or pacing. I thought it'd be a good idea to write it as a WIP. 100,000 words and 5 years later, and two chapters from the end, I basically had to quit. It had become like trying to paint with paints which had dried up in the jar and seized, and they refused to return to proper form to be used. I loved that story passionately, and I wish I could have finished it properly. It was not to be.
Yes. In every fandom there are examples of this. I do re-watch specific episodes a LOT when I'm writing in particular fandoms. Some examples... For SPN, it was Croatoan, A Very Supernatural Christmas, Mystery Shack, Home, In My Time of Dying, Devil's Trap, All Hell Breaks Loose 1 and 2. For SG-1 it was The Light, Abyss, Need, Meridian, Deadman Switch, Crystal Skull, The First Ones, Upgrades, Menace, and Window of Opportunity.
littledrop picked: G. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
From The First Prayers of Man (Rome):
--------------------------------------------------------
When he was a child, Vorenus believed Rome came to be through the influence of the she-wolf, the ravening dog, suckling the brothers whose hands built a city on the Palatine. He asked his mother about the sun and stars, the rise and fall of the sky, but she knew no tales about the formation of the world, nothing to explain the violent thunder or the fading glow of day.
In time, he came to understand there were no true myths, and with this knowledge, the certainty that this world consists of nothing but ridiculous lies, ships of air sailing blood-dark seas. There is nothing now but the hum and pitch of his life as events unfold around him, as other men cast the stones and build their legacies on the backs of those who laid the foundations.
He is familiar with the emptiness that comes of bearing such secrets. He saw it time and again in Niobe's eyes, before they closed forever.
He was not meant for farming, his father once told him; it's a trade best left to those with no intelligence, no prospects. This thought took root in his mind, erased dreams of sinking his hands into the crumbling rich soil, fingers flexing against the soft earth to touch the secrets hidden there, as if he could decipher the messages the world hides beneath its aged and broken surfaces.
This was how he came to give his service to the army, to rise one rank at a time on the split skulls and broken bones of men, dozens at first, then hundreds, the count kept from the first time he unsheathed his sword. His hands roughened and bled, his skin honed on duty and principle, his feet blistered and healed a thousand times on the marches west, east, north, into the cold and snow, and back again. Months blurred into years, compounding one on the other until he could barely remember the Aventine, as far from him as the heavens were from the fingertips of ordinary men.
--------------------------------------------------------
Writing from Vorenus' point of view was interesting. He's a very practical man, one I wouldn't expect to be poetic, so it was interesting writing this, because it ended up with a very lyrical bent. I like this passage because it's sort of like a page of poetry with blood smeared around the margins. It pleases me.
kuwdora picked: J. Which fic has been the easiest to write?
Probably it's a tie between Equilibrium (The Sentinel) and Mr. Piggles Makes A Match (J2 fandom). Oh! And White Knight, Talking Backwards (J2), which xheart_of_lifex liked well enough to plagiarize in its entirety. (I try never to miss an opportunity to mention that, since the internet likes to try to forget about such things as if they never happened and pretend everything is swell, but it burns me up to this day.) Those three stories basically wrote themselves, I just sat down and typed them.
sheron picked three!: M. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?/AL. Talk about a review that made your day./AM. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?
Best writing advice: put your ass in the chair and write.
A review that made my day: people have written some lovely things over the years, but Madrigal's review of Farther Than Earth From Heaven (Stargate SG-1) made me cry when I first read it, because I hadn't really ever dreamed that I would write stories that people could react to in this way.
Do I ever get rude reviews, and how do I deal with them: I surely do. I've been at this so long now, though, that my usual reaction is either to ignore them, or to email my annoyance to a friend and then move on. There's no point wasting energy on it, since I can't control either how people react to what I write, or what they choose to say to me about that. It's the perils of putting what one writes on the internet. Sometimes the rude reviews make me laugh, though. I can't help it. Sorry?
zortified picked: W. If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?
No question about it, I'd rewrite The Seventh Wave (Phantom Menace). Sigh. I was such a n00b when I started writing it. I knew absolutely nothing about writing, or plotting, or pacing. I thought it'd be a good idea to write it as a WIP. 100,000 words and 5 years later, and two chapters from the end, I basically had to quit. It had become like trying to paint with paints which had dried up in the jar and seized, and they refused to return to proper form to be used. I loved that story passionately, and I wish I could have finished it properly. It was not to be.