Memes!
So, remember that new iCarly obsession I was talking about? I uh... I'm kind of writing a fic. And it was meant to be short but I keep going and going and going, because I am basically a non-cool female version of Spencer Shay. And it is sad that it took a tween-com show to get me this prolific. But anyway, I am taking a break from that to bring you MEMES! WHOOT!
Meme #1 (stolen from otempora42)
Do you read or write fanfiction?
I mostly just read, but I do like trying my hand at writing sometimes. I usually only write when I feel like I am the characters, otherwise I generally leave it up to other people to satisfy my fic needs.
When did you first start reading/writing fanfiction?
It all started during my Monk phase. Both reading and writing it. I didn't even know such a thing existed until I became involved with the Monk fandom (and that fandom was pretty small and tight-knit back in the day, so it was a good fandom to use as my jumping point).
What was your first fandom?
Oh, er... I just answered that. But Monk. It was Monk. I did the whole message board thing where I argued endlessly with people about how perfect Monk/Sharona was, I read an endless amount of fic, and I wrote my fair share of Monk/Sharona fics too (most of which make me cringe now when I read them).
First ship?
It's hard to pinpoint my very, very first ship, but if I'm going with "I wanted them to get together so bad that I thought I'd die if they didn't," that would be Miss Fine/Mr. Scheffield from The Nanny. My first fandom ship was Monk/Sharona though.
What website do you use most?
LiveJournal
What do you think of Fanfiction.net?
Well, when I was younger, I thought it was the greatest thing in the universe. I still kind of do when I can find things there that I can't find anywhere else. But ever since I found LiveJournal, I kind of turn my nose up at ff.net because it's so damn hard to find quality fics there, you really have to dig these days, whereas stuff on LiveJournal is more often than not well written. I still run into OOCness, but it's not quite as atrocious as on ff.net
What fandoms have you written in?
Monk, Ugly Betty, The Office, Merlin, In Plain Sight, Psych (sort of, if you count drabbles), Life, Gilmore Girls (sort of. Just wrote one fic and abandoned it before I finished it), Girl with a Pearl Earring
Pairings?
Write: Monk/Sharona, Daniel/Betty, Michael/Phyllis, Kelly/Andy, Andy/Pam, Andy/Oscar, Michael/Ryan, Uther/Merlin, Uther/Morgana, Mary/Marshall, Lassiter/Juliet, Charlie/Roman, Rory/Marty, Griet/Vermeer.
Read (currently): Uther/Morgana, Buffy/Giles (those two are my mainstays for reading at the moment. All my other pairings I just read whenever I have an inkling to do so, but for all of my favorites, I've pretty much gone through a period of reading everything that was available at the time).
Any fandoms you would like to write in?
I'd love to write some Buffy/Giles, but they are damn near impossible to get right, so I probably never will. But my mind has been plagued with so many fics I wish I could write for them, but I just don't have the talent. The Jossian way of speaking is too hard for me to copy. Not to mention the fact that Buffy/Giles is so much about what's not said than what is said and it's all in the eyes and body language and that's just too damn hard for me. So, yeah, I'll probably never do it.
Do reviews affect how you write in any way?
Yeah, definitely. It lets me know what people dig and what they don't dig and where my stories went wrong (because, come on, all my stories go wrong somewhere).
Do you use a beta?
Not really. It's not that I think I'm too good or anything, I just don't like bothering people about it. I used one once for one of my Office fics and she really helped, but for pretty much all my stories I get so set on my ideas and I know I'm too lazy to go back and edit the entire thing, so I tend to just post it and let my reviewers be my gauge for what worked and what didn't. But would my stories be better with a beta? Oh yeah, definitely. I'm just too impatient to wait for people to beta my stuff.
What ratings do you read/write?
Anything and everything.
What warnings have you used on your fiction?
I think the only warning I've ever used is "dubious consent."
Do you have any squicks?
I used to be squicked by non-con and a tiny bit by incest, but the Merlin fandom has pretty much whipped those out of me as long as the fics are written right. Incest fics really don't bother me at all anymore (and I've even gone so far as to start semi-shipping some incest pairings) but non-con can still disturb me if it's harsh instead of kinky. I prefer dubious consent so that at least I know they're both enjoying it even though one or both never really consented.
Do you roleplay online? If so, what?
No, not really my thing.
Have you ever stolen something from another person's work?
Nope. I mean, I may recycle some ideas from the world of movies/books/TV and put my own spin on it, but everyone does that.
Favorite fandom to write/read?
I really enjoy writing The Office, even though I think it's one of my weakest abilities. I just really love those characters and putting them in crazy situations and pairings. It's probably the only fandom where I've really tried to explore the ensemble rather than just my favorite character and whoever I pair him or her with.
My favorite fandom to read, as a whole, is probably 30 Rock. But if you're looking at just pairings and not the entire fandom, then Uther/Morgana and Buffy/Giles are my favorite to read.
Favorite writer/writers?
Well, pretty much anyone on my f-list who writes fics, because you all are amazing. But I'll list my #1 favorite for each fandom:
30 Rock (Jack/Liz, mainly) - michellek
Buffy (Buffy/Giles) - Gail Christison
Life (Crews/Reese) - piecesofalice
Merlin (Uther/Morgana, mainly) - shantirosa
Psych (Lassiter/Juliet) - jesshelga
The Office (ensemble or anything Andy focused - basically, I don't read Jim/Pam) - dollsome
Ugly Betty (Daniel/Betty) - SmilinStar
How long should a chapter be?
However long the author feels it should be. It should stop at a point where it leaves the reader wanting more, but the plot has successfully moved forward and the next chapter will be something new.
Do you write/read drabbles?
Oh, I have such a short attention span that I LOVE reading them, as long as they make sense and somehow seem complete. I really dig the ones that pack a punch in just a few words, or ones that make me giggle. I'm not so great at writing them because I tend to go on and on and on, but just recently I wrote a couple for that drabble meme and I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.
Any fandoms you avoid?
Fic-wise, not really, as long as I have an interest in reading the fic. I kind of avoid the Harry Potter fandom just because people say it's scary, but I've never felt the need to read fic for it (although I did have a brief dalliance with Snape/Lily after the seventh book).
Pairings you avoid?
SHAWN/JULIET FROM PSYCH. UGH. Also, I tend to avoid Arthur/Gwen from Merlin because the few that I did read were too much like a fairytale and not at all what I picture them to be (but I'm sure some awesome fics for them exist, I've just never really looked for it). I also avoid Arthur/Morgana, I'm not a huge fan of that dynamic. Jim/Pam from The Office, because I get enough of them in the damn show. Giles/Anyone That's not Buffy, because I am a true and blue OTPer there. I've read some Giles/Anya and some Giles/Jenny and various Giles manlove stories, but I always end up getting perturbed and go back to Giles/Buffy because I am so freaking convinced that he could never love anyone as much as he loved her. I think I always accept Jenny because she came along before Giles got obsessively attached to Buffy, but everyone else I tend to go, "AAAAAARGH! HE BELONGS WITH BUFFY, DAMMIT!" I tend to do that with Giles/Jenny fic too though. I am an insane shipper fangirl. I admit it. Also, Betty/Anyone that's Not Daniel and Daniel/Wilhelmina from Ugly Betty, because again, this is one of those fandoms where I am such an OTPer that I can't handle reading fics where they end up with other people. And this isn't an angsty fandom like Buffy/Giles where I can get satisfaction from them ending up with other people in spite of each other.
Warnings you avoid?
None. Sometimes I avoid character death if I'm not in the mood for it. And I tend to avoid Mpreg, but I really don't have anything against it, it's just one of those things that I only read when I feel like reading it.
Do the number of reviews tell how good a story is?
Not necessarily. I tend to read the fics with the most reviews first, but I often find that quite a few fics with very little reviews end up being AMAZING and I get angry that these superior fics get so little attention.
What do you think of Mary Sues?
Blerg.
Have you ever flamed someone?
Oh goodness no. That's just not in me. Fanfic is for fun, it's not serious business, and I can't stand people who think it's their job to crush all the people who aren't so good at it. Constructive criticism is different. It may not always be welcomed by the authors, but at least that means the reviewer cared enough to try to help improve the story. But flames are vicious. It's like screaming out "YOU SUCK!" to a little kid during his solo in the Christmas play or something. It's just rude and stupid and it doesn't really help anyone.
Have you ever been flamed?
YES. As if you couldn't tell from my rant. I'm usually flamed for my pairing choices more than the stories themselves, which is just ridiculous. If you don't like the pairing, then don't read it, you lunatic. More often than not though I get people totally bashing my ship, but then they say that my fic was well done, and I don't know whether to be angry that they just ripped my ship to shreds, or if I should be grateful that they liked the fic. I don't know. But the pure flames are just discouraging, and I've actually lost all my oomph for a few fics because of that and never finished them.
Meme #2! Stolen from various peeps:
- Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper at their LiveJournal.
- Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper.
- Don't change your wallpaper before doing this, the point is to see what you had on!
1. I recently rewatched his Doc Who ep and he made me swoon.
2. My computer crashed last week and I guess I used that as an excuse to finally change my desktop from windy-haired Uther to creepy bat-like alien sexbomb.
3. He's purty.
4. He looks like he wants to sex me up (or he wants to sex up David Tennant)
5. He can almost pass for a member of the Italian mafia, and that is A+ in my book.
Alright. I should probably go do something productive now. *sigh*
Meme #1 (stolen from otempora42)
Do you read or write fanfiction?
I mostly just read, but I do like trying my hand at writing sometimes. I usually only write when I feel like I am the characters, otherwise I generally leave it up to other people to satisfy my fic needs.
When did you first start reading/writing fanfiction?
It all started during my Monk phase. Both reading and writing it. I didn't even know such a thing existed until I became involved with the Monk fandom (and that fandom was pretty small and tight-knit back in the day, so it was a good fandom to use as my jumping point).
What was your first fandom?
Oh, er... I just answered that. But Monk. It was Monk. I did the whole message board thing where I argued endlessly with people about how perfect Monk/Sharona was, I read an endless amount of fic, and I wrote my fair share of Monk/Sharona fics too (most of which make me cringe now when I read them).
First ship?
It's hard to pinpoint my very, very first ship, but if I'm going with "I wanted them to get together so bad that I thought I'd die if they didn't," that would be Miss Fine/Mr. Scheffield from The Nanny. My first fandom ship was Monk/Sharona though.
What website do you use most?
LiveJournal
What do you think of Fanfiction.net?
Well, when I was younger, I thought it was the greatest thing in the universe. I still kind of do when I can find things there that I can't find anywhere else. But ever since I found LiveJournal, I kind of turn my nose up at ff.net because it's so damn hard to find quality fics there, you really have to dig these days, whereas stuff on LiveJournal is more often than not well written. I still run into OOCness, but it's not quite as atrocious as on ff.net
What fandoms have you written in?
Monk, Ugly Betty, The Office, Merlin, In Plain Sight, Psych (sort of, if you count drabbles), Life, Gilmore Girls (sort of. Just wrote one fic and abandoned it before I finished it), Girl with a Pearl Earring
Pairings?
Write: Monk/Sharona, Daniel/Betty, Michael/Phyllis, Kelly/Andy, Andy/Pam, Andy/Oscar, Michael/Ryan, Uther/Merlin, Uther/Morgana, Mary/Marshall, Lassiter/Juliet, Charlie/Roman, Rory/Marty, Griet/Vermeer.
Read (currently): Uther/Morgana, Buffy/Giles (those two are my mainstays for reading at the moment. All my other pairings I just read whenever I have an inkling to do so, but for all of my favorites, I've pretty much gone through a period of reading everything that was available at the time).
Any fandoms you would like to write in?
I'd love to write some Buffy/Giles, but they are damn near impossible to get right, so I probably never will. But my mind has been plagued with so many fics I wish I could write for them, but I just don't have the talent. The Jossian way of speaking is too hard for me to copy. Not to mention the fact that Buffy/Giles is so much about what's not said than what is said and it's all in the eyes and body language and that's just too damn hard for me. So, yeah, I'll probably never do it.
Do reviews affect how you write in any way?
Yeah, definitely. It lets me know what people dig and what they don't dig and where my stories went wrong (because, come on, all my stories go wrong somewhere).
Do you use a beta?
Not really. It's not that I think I'm too good or anything, I just don't like bothering people about it. I used one once for one of my Office fics and she really helped, but for pretty much all my stories I get so set on my ideas and I know I'm too lazy to go back and edit the entire thing, so I tend to just post it and let my reviewers be my gauge for what worked and what didn't. But would my stories be better with a beta? Oh yeah, definitely. I'm just too impatient to wait for people to beta my stuff.
What ratings do you read/write?
Anything and everything.
What warnings have you used on your fiction?
I think the only warning I've ever used is "dubious consent."
Do you have any squicks?
I used to be squicked by non-con and a tiny bit by incest, but the Merlin fandom has pretty much whipped those out of me as long as the fics are written right. Incest fics really don't bother me at all anymore (and I've even gone so far as to start semi-shipping some incest pairings) but non-con can still disturb me if it's harsh instead of kinky. I prefer dubious consent so that at least I know they're both enjoying it even though one or both never really consented.
Do you roleplay online? If so, what?
No, not really my thing.
Have you ever stolen something from another person's work?
Nope. I mean, I may recycle some ideas from the world of movies/books/TV and put my own spin on it, but everyone does that.
Favorite fandom to write/read?
I really enjoy writing The Office, even though I think it's one of my weakest abilities. I just really love those characters and putting them in crazy situations and pairings. It's probably the only fandom where I've really tried to explore the ensemble rather than just my favorite character and whoever I pair him or her with.
My favorite fandom to read, as a whole, is probably 30 Rock. But if you're looking at just pairings and not the entire fandom, then Uther/Morgana and Buffy/Giles are my favorite to read.
Favorite writer/writers?
Well, pretty much anyone on my f-list who writes fics, because you all are amazing. But I'll list my #1 favorite for each fandom:
30 Rock (Jack/Liz, mainly) - michellek
Buffy (Buffy/Giles) - Gail Christison
Life (Crews/Reese) - piecesofalice
Merlin (Uther/Morgana, mainly) - shantirosa
Psych (Lassiter/Juliet) - jesshelga
The Office (ensemble or anything Andy focused - basically, I don't read Jim/Pam) - dollsome
Ugly Betty (Daniel/Betty) - SmilinStar
How long should a chapter be?
However long the author feels it should be. It should stop at a point where it leaves the reader wanting more, but the plot has successfully moved forward and the next chapter will be something new.
Do you write/read drabbles?
Oh, I have such a short attention span that I LOVE reading them, as long as they make sense and somehow seem complete. I really dig the ones that pack a punch in just a few words, or ones that make me giggle. I'm not so great at writing them because I tend to go on and on and on, but just recently I wrote a couple for that drabble meme and I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.
Any fandoms you avoid?
Fic-wise, not really, as long as I have an interest in reading the fic. I kind of avoid the Harry Potter fandom just because people say it's scary, but I've never felt the need to read fic for it (although I did have a brief dalliance with Snape/Lily after the seventh book).
Pairings you avoid?
SHAWN/JULIET FROM PSYCH. UGH. Also, I tend to avoid Arthur/Gwen from Merlin because the few that I did read were too much like a fairytale and not at all what I picture them to be (but I'm sure some awesome fics for them exist, I've just never really looked for it). I also avoid Arthur/Morgana, I'm not a huge fan of that dynamic. Jim/Pam from The Office, because I get enough of them in the damn show. Giles/Anyone That's not Buffy, because I am a true and blue OTPer there. I've read some Giles/Anya and some Giles/Jenny and various Giles manlove stories, but I always end up getting perturbed and go back to Giles/Buffy because I am so freaking convinced that he could never love anyone as much as he loved her. I think I always accept Jenny because she came along before Giles got obsessively attached to Buffy, but everyone else I tend to go, "AAAAAARGH! HE BELONGS WITH BUFFY, DAMMIT!" I tend to do that with Giles/Jenny fic too though. I am an insane shipper fangirl. I admit it. Also, Betty/Anyone that's Not Daniel and Daniel/Wilhelmina from Ugly Betty, because again, this is one of those fandoms where I am such an OTPer that I can't handle reading fics where they end up with other people. And this isn't an angsty fandom like Buffy/Giles where I can get satisfaction from them ending up with other people in spite of each other.
Warnings you avoid?
None. Sometimes I avoid character death if I'm not in the mood for it. And I tend to avoid Mpreg, but I really don't have anything against it, it's just one of those things that I only read when I feel like reading it.
Do the number of reviews tell how good a story is?
Not necessarily. I tend to read the fics with the most reviews first, but I often find that quite a few fics with very little reviews end up being AMAZING and I get angry that these superior fics get so little attention.
What do you think of Mary Sues?
Blerg.
Have you ever flamed someone?
Oh goodness no. That's just not in me. Fanfic is for fun, it's not serious business, and I can't stand people who think it's their job to crush all the people who aren't so good at it. Constructive criticism is different. It may not always be welcomed by the authors, but at least that means the reviewer cared enough to try to help improve the story. But flames are vicious. It's like screaming out "YOU SUCK!" to a little kid during his solo in the Christmas play or something. It's just rude and stupid and it doesn't really help anyone.
Have you ever been flamed?
YES. As if you couldn't tell from my rant. I'm usually flamed for my pairing choices more than the stories themselves, which is just ridiculous. If you don't like the pairing, then don't read it, you lunatic. More often than not though I get people totally bashing my ship, but then they say that my fic was well done, and I don't know whether to be angry that they just ripped my ship to shreds, or if I should be grateful that they liked the fic. I don't know. But the pure flames are just discouraging, and I've actually lost all my oomph for a few fics because of that and never finished them.
Meme #2! Stolen from various peeps:
- Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper at their LiveJournal.
- Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper.
- Don't change your wallpaper before doing this, the point is to see what you had on!
1. I recently rewatched his Doc Who ep and he made me swoon.
2. My computer crashed last week and I guess I used that as an excuse to finally change my desktop from windy-haired Uther to creepy bat-like alien sexbomb.
3. He's purty.
4. He looks like he wants to sex me up (or he wants to sex up David Tennant)
5. He can almost pass for a member of the Italian mafia, and that is A+ in my book.
Alright. I should probably go do something productive now. *sigh*