30 Days of Fanfiction Writing Meme: #4, 5, 6
I am so bad with keeping up with the challenge. I also feel like many of my answers are polarizing and have the high probability of offending people. I'll probably feel bad and make changes tomorrow.
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 really have a muse character. I'm probably going to catch a lot of flak for this, but I kind of hate it when writers obsess over this one character and talk to it and...I don't know, write these giant posts about this one character doing random meta out of character things. It's pretty weird. I'm pretty sure I used to do that when I was younger, and now that I'm (slightly) older, I really REALLY hope any evidence of it has been consigned to the fires of the interwebs, because that stuff is unsettling and actually pretty boring if you don't share this obsession.
Now, there ARE side characters that can take over a story. This happens a lot with my steampunk fic. It explains why I have so much unfinished steampunk fic while new fic is being created all the time. I will go over that in the next question.
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?
The story is not about them. The story is NOT about them. If you pull something like that with an OC, it is in poor taste, and people get annoyed. If a character starts to grow more into a story, I will try to limit it if the character is not supposed to be a major character. It is more difficult with original fiction, and usually I'll do a separate story or something for the character. Again, this is why my steampunk list is growing so much. But I think you run the risk of ruining your story just to cater to your and your character's whims. Sometimes you do really have to kill your darlings
6 - When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
I write females rarely, perhaps because of the kind of stories I write. I was very much my father's child when I was younger, and as I slowly began taking more and more engineering and technology classes, most of my friends have become guys. Most of the female engineers I know are going into chemical or biomedical engineering, which is something of a mystery to me. I think in high school, fewer males than females were 'silly,' I suppose, so I unfortunately developed a certain wariness for women. With men, they had to prove themselves uncool, but with women, it was guilty until proven innocent. College definitely changed this opinion, but I still feel like guys share more of my hobbies and interests.
But I digress. I do like writing female characters. I don't ever EVER write female characters as being supports to the men. People sometimes tell me I write 'strong female characters,' and pardon me but what the fuck does that mean? If I write a guy, I've written a guy, but if I write a woman the same way, she's a 'strong female character.' My female characters aren't 'strong.' They are average female characters, thank you very much. It's pretty sad that a lot of these comments come from female readers themselves. Who exactly do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror? How do you define yourself?
I don't call myself a feminist really. I don't have an agenda. If by feminist, you mean I think everyone deserves equal treatment, then yes. But I am not one to openly and actively promote women specifically. I write female main characters rarely, but when I do, it is so exhausting. It's probably why I write them so seldom. I get so emotionally invested in them, just like I get emotionally invested in any character that is someone I want to communicate effectively to the world. I'm currently writing an Endgame fic about Alcina, which includes many of my own thoughts about how women see their lives growing up. (It isn't a thinly veiled author rant, because I abhor those, but it's definitely got many of my own thoughts.) It is one of the most emotionally exhausting things I've ever done, and I am very devoted to it.
It isn't just female characters. If I write characters that are bisexual or asexual biromantics (I think the neat little label that I can identify with most right now is demisexual, but that could change any time), identities I can identify with and feel need representation, they completely drain me out. This is why I am monstrously attached to Legerdemain, simply because I feel engineers aren't expressed as they should be in most fiction outside perhaps sci-fi, and I want that to change.
tl;dr: I have some agendas, but probably not the standard ones.
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 really have a muse character. I'm probably going to catch a lot of flak for this, but I kind of hate it when writers obsess over this one character and talk to it and...I don't know, write these giant posts about this one character doing random meta out of character things. It's pretty weird. I'm pretty sure I used to do that when I was younger, and now that I'm (slightly) older, I really REALLY hope any evidence of it has been consigned to the fires of the interwebs, because that stuff is unsettling and actually pretty boring if you don't share this obsession.
Now, there ARE side characters that can take over a story. This happens a lot with my steampunk fic. It explains why I have so much unfinished steampunk fic while new fic is being created all the time. I will go over that in the next question.
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?
The story is not about them. The story is NOT about them. If you pull something like that with an OC, it is in poor taste, and people get annoyed. If a character starts to grow more into a story, I will try to limit it if the character is not supposed to be a major character. It is more difficult with original fiction, and usually I'll do a separate story or something for the character. Again, this is why my steampunk list is growing so much. But I think you run the risk of ruining your story just to cater to your and your character's whims. Sometimes you do really have to kill your darlings
6 - When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
I write females rarely, perhaps because of the kind of stories I write. I was very much my father's child when I was younger, and as I slowly began taking more and more engineering and technology classes, most of my friends have become guys. Most of the female engineers I know are going into chemical or biomedical engineering, which is something of a mystery to me. I think in high school, fewer males than females were 'silly,' I suppose, so I unfortunately developed a certain wariness for women. With men, they had to prove themselves uncool, but with women, it was guilty until proven innocent. College definitely changed this opinion, but I still feel like guys share more of my hobbies and interests.
But I digress. I do like writing female characters. I don't ever EVER write female characters as being supports to the men. People sometimes tell me I write 'strong female characters,' and pardon me but what the fuck does that mean? If I write a guy, I've written a guy, but if I write a woman the same way, she's a 'strong female character.' My female characters aren't 'strong.' They are average female characters, thank you very much. It's pretty sad that a lot of these comments come from female readers themselves. Who exactly do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror? How do you define yourself?
I don't call myself a feminist really. I don't have an agenda. If by feminist, you mean I think everyone deserves equal treatment, then yes. But I am not one to openly and actively promote women specifically. I write female main characters rarely, but when I do, it is so exhausting. It's probably why I write them so seldom. I get so emotionally invested in them, just like I get emotionally invested in any character that is someone I want to communicate effectively to the world. I'm currently writing an Endgame fic about Alcina, which includes many of my own thoughts about how women see their lives growing up. (It isn't a thinly veiled author rant, because I abhor those, but it's definitely got many of my own thoughts.) It is one of the most emotionally exhausting things I've ever done, and I am very devoted to it.
It isn't just female characters. If I write characters that are bisexual or asexual biromantics (I think the neat little label that I can identify with most right now is demisexual, but that could change any time), identities I can identify with and feel need representation, they completely drain me out. This is why I am monstrously attached to Legerdemain, simply because I feel engineers aren't expressed as they should be in most fiction outside perhaps sci-fi, and I want that to change.
tl;dr: I have some agendas, but probably not the standard ones.