Fanfic writing meme.
Fanfic writing meme. Thanks to inmh , who traced it to elfflame on insanejournal here. Hi also zagzagael !
the whole meme is under the cut. I was work-avoidant this morning. :)
Contains LINKS to my fic roundups by year and also particular stories. :D
1 - How did you first get into writing fanfic, and what was the first fandom you wrote for? What do you think it was about that fandom that pulled you in? As a kid I wrote sonnets from Spock to Kirk. It was that crazy, restrained emotional intensity that pulled me in. I was a lurker on listservs and archives for many, many years (XFiles, Phantom Menace, Sentinel, HP). I finally got pulled into Livejournal after I kept anon commenting on ladyjanelly 's superfantabulous homeless Jensen story. :D She was like, "get an LJ!!!" so I finally had to. That was in fall of 2007 and thereafter I eased my way into Supernatural fandom. My first post was about Metallica. :) This summer of 2011 I am writing in Who fandom for the first time. I was a cardcarrying Whovian in the 80s (I still have my card! I need to scan and post a copy of it!!!) and I allowed myself to be fully pulled back in to the New Who after the Supernatural s6 finale left me 100% un-bunnied. (As opposed to last summer, when I wrote 35K of s5 finale coda! and the summer I spent trying to get Dean out of Hell after s3.) With spn, what pulls me in is EVERYTHING. Dean Winchester is my Mary Sue -- he's everything I fantasize about being. I even bought a classic car!!! Next, I need to learn to shoot! (a lifelong goal that never materialized since I ended up living in the suburbs). With Doctor Who, what pulls me in is the opportunity to use higher diction and more poetic imagery in my fic.... something that doesn't quite fit in spn. Plus, I LOVE the Nine/Ten arc. Compared to SPN, it's far less canon (13 Eccleston eps + 44 Tennant eps = 57 in all, which compared to SPN would put you right toward the end of the short s3) but it's a tragic and highly dramatic arc, and there's so much to write about. :D
2 - Name the fandoms you've written in, and how much you've written in that fandom, and if you still write in it.
My very first posted piece was a poem in Jan. 2008! It was about Sam and Dean. Yay, that makes me happy. I have written kind of a lot in spn fandom. Here are my masterlists for 2008, 2009, 2010 (2011 is still in progress). Before spn I dabbled with a few things that were never posted, yay, and now might be lost forever, which is no big loss. I am taking the summer off from spn and working in Doctor Who fandom, which is awesome.
3 - For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write? I don't have favorites. I love the challenge of writing different characters.
4 - Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse? I don't think so. I'll have to ponder this.
5 -If you have ever had a character try to push their way into a fic, whether your "muse" or not, what did you do about it? If a character pushes in, awesome! I go where the story leads, not vice versa.
6 - When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters? No. I am equal opportunity. I took on a project to write every female character from spn for the first two seasons, and I'm intensely proud of the accomplishment. It was such a learning experience and so amazing to get into so many different characters--if only because it led me to see my own blind spots and obsessions. I hope someday to complete the project throughout every season!
7 - Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character? Every fic deepens my understanding of a character, but I can't remember actually having my opinion about the character change..... That's more likely to happen in one of my metas, as i turn and twist through conflicting interpretations.
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 wrote an original novel in 2010 for nanowrimo, and I actually believe that the best characters are fragmented mirrors of myself or my closest friends. I guess a Mary Sue is an unrealistically perfect character ... but when I write, I try to project myself into the characters in order to see what they feel, what they believably will say or do. I guess because I am an introvert.
9 - Pairings - For each of the fandoms from day two, what are your three favorite pairings to write?
Hmmm. In spn I am mostly about the brotherlove, but I have been known to take it a step further. In terms of het, I ship Dean/Lisa and Sam/Sarah, but I'm very interested in the Ruby/Sam connection. So I guess my three favorite pairings are samndean, dean/lisa, and sam/ruby. I'm not as diehard a Dean/Castiel shipper as I might have expected!!! For Doctor Who, I have only written Nine/Rose, Ten/Rose, and other Doctor/Rose. I love the other companions, but the Rose factor is what grabs me. She is the BAD WOLF -- there's no getting around that. (In my old fandoms I was quite the shipper: Mulder/Krycek, Obi/Qui, Harry/Snape, Jim/Blair. Uneven power dynamics Really flip my flipper. HOT. 'nuff said. )
10 - Pairings - Have you ever gone outside your comfort zone and written a pairing you liked, but found you couldn't write, or a pairing you didn't like, and found you could? I went outside my comfort zone to write wincest... I had to find a place where I could write it believably within the context of their canon relationship. It was certainly very difficult... but I hope successful.
11 - Genre - do you prefer certain genres of fic when you're writing? What kind do you tend to write most? I def. write "fixit" stories. I tend to stick to canon, but I like to "solve" the problems of canon. I'm a utopian. I'm also very spiritual. I want to write about the deep meaning of things, even, the deep metaphorical truths of things. That's the poet in me coming out. Sometimes the words and images are like a dream I'm floating through. Those are my favorites. :)
12 - Have you ever attempted an "adaptation" fic of a favorite book or movie but set in a different fandom?
Yes. I rewrote Devour so that it fits into Spn canon. :) I was very proud of taking such a mess and making it all make sense!!!
13 - Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write? Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material? I am canon slave. I have to make my story consistent with canon. That said, I'm quick to stretch, pull, twist, bend, and otherwise manipulate canon into serving my desires. I end up with crazy head canon that way!!
14 - Ratings - how high are you comfortable with going? Have you ever written higher? If you're comfortable with NC-17, have you ever been shocked by finding that the story you're writing is G-rated instead? I have written NC-17. I think it's very, very difficult. I often laugh, because I don't find my own writing hot, so I wonder why I'm even writing it! But having worked so hard to get the language where I want it, the last thing it is is hot. urgh, frustrating.
15 - Warnings - What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a fic?
I warn for poetry. I have an MFA in poetry and I take poetry very seriously, so I kind of need to warn. Like, if you click, you will be exposed to a poem. Are you seriously ready for that?!?!? :D In terms of other trigger type stuff, I very rarely write anything that needs to be warned for. Definitely, I require the Death Warning in fics that I read.... and with my interest in spirituality, I often write stories about the other side which are not really the typical death stories.... but that's hard, so I warn.
16 - Summaries - Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them? I struggle with my summaries. Ugh. Usually I try to find a good quote. Sometimes I just mention the trope I'm using. whatever. I think I'm very bad at summaries.
17 - Titles - Are they the bane of your existence, or the easiest part of the fic? Also, if you do chaptered fic, do you give each chapter a title, or not? Sometimes the title is intrinsic to the fic. Then it's easy. Oher times, the title is evasive. I like using quotations from songs or poems to help round a story out.
18 - Where do you get the most inspiration for your fics (aka "bunnies") from? Meta, followed by songs. I love meta. That's where most of my inspiration comes from.
19 - When you have bunnies, do you sit down and start writing right away, or do you write down the idea for further use?
I have to write down the bunny or it is lost forever. I try to write it asap. The pace of my own writing is frustratingly slow. i can't seem to break more than 1500 words a day -- and that is tops.
20 -Do you ever get bunnied from other people's stories or art in the same fandom? Usually not. Usually, I feel like the bunny is more of a reaction to their story than a bunny in its own right.
21 - Sequels - Have you ever written a sequel to a fic you wrote, and if so, why, and if not, how do you feel about sequels? I don't think I've ever put a story down and come back later to write a sequel. Though, I have written stories in a series/ chapters. i dont' think it's the same. I've never written a "timestamp."
22 - Have you ever participated in a fest or a Big Bang? If so, write about your favorite experience in relation to one. If not, are there any you've thought about doing? And if not, why not? I don't fit with the timetable for spn big bang, so I can't do it. I did nanowrimo last year and it was fantastic. I like to take part in story challenges, and I love to write fics intentionally to a prompt. That really works for me.
23 - When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site? I post to my LJ and to the appropriate comm.
24 - Betaing - How many betas do you like to use to make sure there aren't any major flaws in your fic? Do you have a Beta horror story or dream story? My betas are my husband and sometimes my son. (Obvs. he doesn't read beyond the PG13 rating!)
My husband thinks like me, so my leaps aren't always apparent, but he's a very good proofreader.
25 - Music - Do you listen to music while you write? Do you make playlists to get into a certain "mood" to write your fic? Do you need noise in general? Or do you need it completely quiet? I love writing to music. I like to put one song on repeat and just write as the song goes around. :) My semi-bang " Dancers at the Lake" (12000 words) I built a soundtrack which is integral to the story. If only it could play while the person reads! Some other songs very closely linked to specific songs are : " where soul meets body"; " Why Sam Winchester hates Death Cab for Cutie"; " angels fall like rain"; " Riders on the Storm"; " Why Sam Winchester hates Metallica"; " all our times will come"
26 - What is the oddest (or funnest) thing you've had to research for a fic? I'll have to think about this one. :D I do a lot of research. Most recently I was researching card games played in England vs. America.
27 - Where is your favorite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer? I have to write on the computer. Longhand hasn't worked for me in YEARS.
28 - Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic? I've done a few remixes, but I haven't collaborated deeply. I wonder....
29 - What is your current project or projects? Sexy Alien Summer!
30 - Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!
This is too hard. I'll kick it later. :D
the whole meme is under the cut. I was work-avoidant this morning. :)
Contains LINKS to my fic roundups by year and also particular stories. :D
1 - How did you first get into writing fanfic, and what was the first fandom you wrote for? What do you think it was about that fandom that pulled you in? As a kid I wrote sonnets from Spock to Kirk. It was that crazy, restrained emotional intensity that pulled me in. I was a lurker on listservs and archives for many, many years (XFiles, Phantom Menace, Sentinel, HP). I finally got pulled into Livejournal after I kept anon commenting on ladyjanelly 's superfantabulous homeless Jensen story. :D She was like, "get an LJ!!!" so I finally had to. That was in fall of 2007 and thereafter I eased my way into Supernatural fandom. My first post was about Metallica. :) This summer of 2011 I am writing in Who fandom for the first time. I was a cardcarrying Whovian in the 80s (I still have my card! I need to scan and post a copy of it!!!) and I allowed myself to be fully pulled back in to the New Who after the Supernatural s6 finale left me 100% un-bunnied. (As opposed to last summer, when I wrote 35K of s5 finale coda! and the summer I spent trying to get Dean out of Hell after s3.) With spn, what pulls me in is EVERYTHING. Dean Winchester is my Mary Sue -- he's everything I fantasize about being. I even bought a classic car!!! Next, I need to learn to shoot! (a lifelong goal that never materialized since I ended up living in the suburbs). With Doctor Who, what pulls me in is the opportunity to use higher diction and more poetic imagery in my fic.... something that doesn't quite fit in spn. Plus, I LOVE the Nine/Ten arc. Compared to SPN, it's far less canon (13 Eccleston eps + 44 Tennant eps = 57 in all, which compared to SPN would put you right toward the end of the short s3) but it's a tragic and highly dramatic arc, and there's so much to write about. :D
2 - Name the fandoms you've written in, and how much you've written in that fandom, and if you still write in it.
My very first posted piece was a poem in Jan. 2008! It was about Sam and Dean. Yay, that makes me happy. I have written kind of a lot in spn fandom. Here are my masterlists for 2008, 2009, 2010 (2011 is still in progress). Before spn I dabbled with a few things that were never posted, yay, and now might be lost forever, which is no big loss. I am taking the summer off from spn and working in Doctor Who fandom, which is awesome.
3 - For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write? I don't have favorites. I love the challenge of writing different characters.
4 - Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse? I don't think so. I'll have to ponder this.
5 -If you have ever had a character try to push their way into a fic, whether your "muse" or not, what did you do about it? If a character pushes in, awesome! I go where the story leads, not vice versa.
6 - When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters? No. I am equal opportunity. I took on a project to write every female character from spn for the first two seasons, and I'm intensely proud of the accomplishment. It was such a learning experience and so amazing to get into so many different characters--if only because it led me to see my own blind spots and obsessions. I hope someday to complete the project throughout every season!
7 - Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character? Every fic deepens my understanding of a character, but I can't remember actually having my opinion about the character change..... That's more likely to happen in one of my metas, as i turn and twist through conflicting interpretations.
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 wrote an original novel in 2010 for nanowrimo, and I actually believe that the best characters are fragmented mirrors of myself or my closest friends. I guess a Mary Sue is an unrealistically perfect character ... but when I write, I try to project myself into the characters in order to see what they feel, what they believably will say or do. I guess because I am an introvert.
9 - Pairings - For each of the fandoms from day two, what are your three favorite pairings to write?
Hmmm. In spn I am mostly about the brotherlove, but I have been known to take it a step further. In terms of het, I ship Dean/Lisa and Sam/Sarah, but I'm very interested in the Ruby/Sam connection. So I guess my three favorite pairings are samndean, dean/lisa, and sam/ruby. I'm not as diehard a Dean/Castiel shipper as I might have expected!!! For Doctor Who, I have only written Nine/Rose, Ten/Rose, and other Doctor/Rose. I love the other companions, but the Rose factor is what grabs me. She is the BAD WOLF -- there's no getting around that. (In my old fandoms I was quite the shipper: Mulder/Krycek, Obi/Qui, Harry/Snape, Jim/Blair. Uneven power dynamics Really flip my flipper. HOT. 'nuff said. )
10 - Pairings - Have you ever gone outside your comfort zone and written a pairing you liked, but found you couldn't write, or a pairing you didn't like, and found you could? I went outside my comfort zone to write wincest... I had to find a place where I could write it believably within the context of their canon relationship. It was certainly very difficult... but I hope successful.
11 - Genre - do you prefer certain genres of fic when you're writing? What kind do you tend to write most? I def. write "fixit" stories. I tend to stick to canon, but I like to "solve" the problems of canon. I'm a utopian. I'm also very spiritual. I want to write about the deep meaning of things, even, the deep metaphorical truths of things. That's the poet in me coming out. Sometimes the words and images are like a dream I'm floating through. Those are my favorites. :)
12 - Have you ever attempted an "adaptation" fic of a favorite book or movie but set in a different fandom?
Yes. I rewrote Devour so that it fits into Spn canon. :) I was very proud of taking such a mess and making it all make sense!!!
13 - Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write? Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material? I am canon slave. I have to make my story consistent with canon. That said, I'm quick to stretch, pull, twist, bend, and otherwise manipulate canon into serving my desires. I end up with crazy head canon that way!!
14 - Ratings - how high are you comfortable with going? Have you ever written higher? If you're comfortable with NC-17, have you ever been shocked by finding that the story you're writing is G-rated instead? I have written NC-17. I think it's very, very difficult. I often laugh, because I don't find my own writing hot, so I wonder why I'm even writing it! But having worked so hard to get the language where I want it, the last thing it is is hot. urgh, frustrating.
15 - Warnings - What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a fic?
I warn for poetry. I have an MFA in poetry and I take poetry very seriously, so I kind of need to warn. Like, if you click, you will be exposed to a poem. Are you seriously ready for that?!?!? :D In terms of other trigger type stuff, I very rarely write anything that needs to be warned for. Definitely, I require the Death Warning in fics that I read.... and with my interest in spirituality, I often write stories about the other side which are not really the typical death stories.... but that's hard, so I warn.
16 - Summaries - Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them? I struggle with my summaries. Ugh. Usually I try to find a good quote. Sometimes I just mention the trope I'm using. whatever. I think I'm very bad at summaries.
17 - Titles - Are they the bane of your existence, or the easiest part of the fic? Also, if you do chaptered fic, do you give each chapter a title, or not? Sometimes the title is intrinsic to the fic. Then it's easy. Oher times, the title is evasive. I like using quotations from songs or poems to help round a story out.
18 - Where do you get the most inspiration for your fics (aka "bunnies") from? Meta, followed by songs. I love meta. That's where most of my inspiration comes from.
19 - When you have bunnies, do you sit down and start writing right away, or do you write down the idea for further use?
I have to write down the bunny or it is lost forever. I try to write it asap. The pace of my own writing is frustratingly slow. i can't seem to break more than 1500 words a day -- and that is tops.
20 -Do you ever get bunnied from other people's stories or art in the same fandom? Usually not. Usually, I feel like the bunny is more of a reaction to their story than a bunny in its own right.
21 - Sequels - Have you ever written a sequel to a fic you wrote, and if so, why, and if not, how do you feel about sequels? I don't think I've ever put a story down and come back later to write a sequel. Though, I have written stories in a series/ chapters. i dont' think it's the same. I've never written a "timestamp."
22 - Have you ever participated in a fest or a Big Bang? If so, write about your favorite experience in relation to one. If not, are there any you've thought about doing? And if not, why not? I don't fit with the timetable for spn big bang, so I can't do it. I did nanowrimo last year and it was fantastic. I like to take part in story challenges, and I love to write fics intentionally to a prompt. That really works for me.
23 - When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site? I post to my LJ and to the appropriate comm.
24 - Betaing - How many betas do you like to use to make sure there aren't any major flaws in your fic? Do you have a Beta horror story or dream story? My betas are my husband and sometimes my son. (Obvs. he doesn't read beyond the PG13 rating!)
My husband thinks like me, so my leaps aren't always apparent, but he's a very good proofreader.
25 - Music - Do you listen to music while you write? Do you make playlists to get into a certain "mood" to write your fic? Do you need noise in general? Or do you need it completely quiet? I love writing to music. I like to put one song on repeat and just write as the song goes around. :) My semi-bang " Dancers at the Lake" (12000 words) I built a soundtrack which is integral to the story. If only it could play while the person reads! Some other songs very closely linked to specific songs are : " where soul meets body"; " Why Sam Winchester hates Death Cab for Cutie"; " angels fall like rain"; " Riders on the Storm"; " Why Sam Winchester hates Metallica"; " all our times will come"
26 - What is the oddest (or funnest) thing you've had to research for a fic? I'll have to think about this one. :D I do a lot of research. Most recently I was researching card games played in England vs. America.
27 - Where is your favorite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer? I have to write on the computer. Longhand hasn't worked for me in YEARS.
28 - Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic? I've done a few remixes, but I haven't collaborated deeply. I wonder....
29 - What is your current project or projects? Sexy Alien Summer!
30 - Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!
This is too hard. I'll kick it later. :D