30 Day Fanfic Meme: Day One (Fashionably late of course.)
All right, I'm jumping on the bandwagon. My poor LJ feels so neglected, I'll try giving it some love by doing the meme that's been taking my fList by storm. Here goes: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?
I remember writing some Pern fan fic as far back as high school In pencil in a notebook that has long since vanished. Just as well, since what I remember of it was pretty stereotypically Mary-Sueish. And not in the good way. LOL. I didn't call it fan fiction then. I wasn't really even familiar with the term. It was somewhere around the fall of 1999 that I found myself hooked by the Disney's Gargoyles fandom. I don't really remember exactly how I arrived there, other than that I was frustrated with my hit or miss viewing of the cartoon. I was probably trying to find out when it was playing so I could watch it when Bam! I found one of the best archives I'd ever seen, as well as some very good background resources.
I don't think I really had any intention of publishing or even writing fan fiction. But my first Gargoyle's fic plagued my brain until I finally gave in and wrote it down. It was rough and Mary-Sueish. And it took about six chapters written in .txt format to write (since that was what the archive accepted). After that, more stories followed, forming several story arcs that all contributed to a master plan. I had copious notes, a time-line, historical research -- and then my computer died and I wasn't able to recover most of my unpublished materials. Broke my heart. I haven't written any more Gargoyles fic since.
But now that I knew it was out there, there was no keeping me away from the fic. The next fandom to catch my eye was the XMen. At first I just read, but I found that you had to sift through so much trash to find the treasure that I wound up writing it myself. And I'm still doing it. I think what drew me into Gargoyles was as much the quality of the fiction and the really great community I found online as much or more than my enjoyment of the TV series. And as for the XMen -- I fell in love with the New Mutants and their big brothers the XMen at an early age. Once I found out that fan fic existed for them -- there was no keeping me away. Even if I couldn't afford to keep collecting comics, I could still read and write about them.
2 - Name the fandoms you've written in, and how much you've written in that fandom, and if you still write in it.
3 - For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write?
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?
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?
6 - When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters? 7 - Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?
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.
9 - Pairings - For each of the fandoms from day two, what are your three favorite pairings to write?
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?
11 - Genre - do you prefer certain genres of fic when you're writing? What kind do you tend to write most?
12 - Have you ever attempted an "adaptation" fic of a favorite book or movie but set in a different fandom?
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?
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?
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?
16 - Summaries - Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?
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?
18 - Where do you get the most inspiration for your fics (aka "bunnies") 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?
20 - Do you ever get bunnies from other people's stories or art in the same fandom?
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?
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?
23 - When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?
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?
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?
26 - What is the oddest (or funnest) thing you've had to research for a fic?
27 - Where is your favorite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer?
28 - Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic?
29 - What is your current project or projects?
30 - Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!