The Meme of Writing Fanfiction
Got it from
cleartempest again, distracting myself from work.
1.) How about a brief introduction?
Uh…I’m Glass. I have a fish, I named him Shou-chan, because he’s red and cowardly, so I figured that fit, and a bonzai tree named Dietrich; I frequently talk to them. When I’m not slaving away for IB I spend my time wandering around my house or reading a book (or five…just kind of spread throughout my house and I drop one and pick up another as I move from room to room) or writing whatever comes to mind. Hmmm…I am always listening to my iPod, too, or messing around on the comp, so I guess I am rather Shouichi-like and what the hell am I supposed to be saying here, anyway?
2.) Fabulous, and what got you into fanfiction to begin with?
Well…I was into Pokemon, but I remember doing that only because it was cool and I wanted to fit in. And I remember watching Zoids when it was on Cartoon Network and making up stories about it with my friend across the street. But I can’t remember really being into fanfiction until I read Naruto and discovered Kakashi and was like “HOLY SNICKER DOODLES! Who is this mysterious masked man?” So I guess we could say it was Kakashi that drove me to fanfiction (My friends Kendyl and Jordan actually call me Kakashi-sensei, as a joke. I never understood what the joke was, but they find it funny…)
3.) I see. So what kind of fanfiction do you like to write?
I don’t have a particular favorite kind, but I tend to gravitate towards the darker aspects of stories in general, in both my favorite characters and what I write about them, so I guess angst? Although it’s not really angst so much as just the shadowy side of human nature…
4.) Do you find writing easy? Hard? What are the aspects of writing you struggle most with?
Sometimes it’s really easy. Generally with fanfiction, I can just get an idea, figure out where it will end and just start writing, and everything just falls into place from there. Occasionally I have a moment where I get stuck but that just means I need to take a small break and I can come back and keep going.
But with original stuff…that’s really hard for me sometimes. Because I get an idea and I don’t know where it goes, or I think of a setting or a character but no way to use them, or I have an ending or a scene but no story to go with it. When I do have a semi-concrete plot (which means basically I’ve narrowed down my ending options) and I start to write, what happens is I look over things and I go “Well, this really sucks. Maybe if I try it this way…” and I end up doing this 5 or 6 times so I have five or six different beginnings/half-completed drafts and then I can’t decide what to do or I’m even more stuck than I was before and I’m like “ASDLKFAJSLD FORGET IT!” and I walk away. So I guess the problem would be getting a story outlined and then writing it in a way that I like the effect of it.
But then there are days when everything flows perfectly, and ideas where things go on paper just the way I want them to. It really depends on my mood for the day and how cooperative the creative forces are being.
5.) Write a few sentences or so of your favorite pairing or character.
Bleh. I pass on this. I can’t think of anything.
cleartempest made me. Bleh again. Okay, well:
"Speaking of a good time, look what I brought you! Dinner!"
"Get OUT!"
"...after I went through all this trouble to catch the fish? You could have at least said thank you..."
Oh, Yinn. Why are you so weird and yet, strangely cool?
6.) Are there any fanfiction clichés or trends you're sick of or just can't stand?
I can’t stand OOC characters. Sometimes it’s kind of amusing, and sometimes it just happens a little on accident, and I can live with that. But characters have set personalities, and part of writing fanfiction is keeping true to the original story, not twisting it any way you want! And so Mary Sues and the like also bother me to no end. Also, it bothers me if people do the same idea over and over. I prefer original ideas, even in fanfiction.
7.) Are you guilty of any fanfiction clichés you hate? Or any other ones?
Am I? I don’t know. I think sometimes Hibari goes OOC, but I work really really hard not to do that. Stories with Hibari are the ones that I spend the most time on, reading over and over, thinking “Would Hibari really say that?”
But I’ve never written Mary Sues or original characters into fanfiction. EVER.
8.) What was the first fandom you wrote for, and do you still like/participate in it?
I…think it was FullMetal Alchemist. Yeah, it was, and it was a story on the Homunculi (because Envy was and still is one of my absolute favorite characters of all time, if not my absolute favorite). I still read FMA, and I still love the characters, but I don’t participate in it much anymore because the anime ended and people were really getting weird with the characters…so my love for FMA is kind of a personal thing.
9.) Name your OTPs or most frequently written pairings/characters and explain what it is about them that you love to write.
Uh…I don’t have particular OTPs, per say, but I love D18 and 10051, because Hibari is the whole reason that I started reading KHR! and Dino is fun to write, and Bykuran/Shouichi is always fun but there’s a darker aspect of it, too. Shouichi is really one of my favorite characters to write because he’s my favorite type of nerd and he has that split in his personality between his lack-of-confidence-little-boy-self and then the cold commander side. I like writing about Spanner, too, because he’s weird XD And dorky but cute at the same time. Outside of KHR! I don’t do much pairing (as in…I don’t do it at all), but that characters I liked to write were Kakashi from Naruto and Envy and Wrath (anime-Wrath) from FMA.
Oh wait, I almost forgot. Secretly I like to read about Isaak/Dietrich, from Trinity Blood. And sometimes Aizen/Ichimaru, from Bleach. But not often, so shhhhhhh….
Sometimes I get the urge to write random crack things, too. Like 1006951 or Spanichi (that’s canon, I tell you…) or Gamma/Shouichi or…dare I say it…ByakuranXSqualo (I will write it one day!)
10.) What would you call your writing style?
I know I have one, but I don’t know how I’d explain it. I try to be very clear about things (like glass, haha) and try not to go overboard on flowery language or minute detail. So I try to say things as clearly and draw a picture of what I’m talking about as simply as possible, but in a way that the reader gets a very clear idea of what I mean. I also try to “show, not tell” because it’s just a cop-out to tell people what’s going on (But sometimes I do it on accident…) and it’s much more effective to show them. Also, all of this helps to keep things flowing; I try to keep the action moving at all times and not do more than a brief pause for effect, rather than getting bogged down somewhere. Other than that, I don’t really know… you tell me.
Oh. I use fragments and punctuation liberally for dramatic effect. And then I get yelled at (generally by Pablo) for my obsessive love of commas.
11.) Do you read other people's fanfic? If so what do you find yourself reading the most?
I do! I like to! And then I like to leave long comments about it. I read almost anything with my favorite characters, especially Shouichi or Spanner.
12.) Do you have trouble taking criticism? Or worse yet, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?
Criticism is godly. It really bugs me when people say “It was really good” What was good about it? What was bad about it? I can’t get better if you don’t tell me! So when somebody says “I really hated that you did this, what’s the matter with you?” I want to send them hangars of flowers. Seriously, guys, do that more…
I pretend to have an ego XD Because then I can make amusing egotistical statements. But I don’t really have one. Let’s say I’m self-confident.
13.) Name one thing you'd LOVE to write, but have been too afraid or shy to do.
Ahem. I shall recount the conversation between myself and my younger sister in the car:
Me: “You know what? I’d really like to write a story about male escorts.”
Sister: “What?”
Me: “Well…I was thinking. Like, you’ve heard of the host club thing in Japan?”
Sister: “You have the manga.”
Me: “Right. Well, I was thinking…that must be a really weird kind of life. And the women who would hire an escort or go to a host club or something like that…what sort of people are they? What sort of people get into that line of work? What are their lives like? I just think it’s interesting.”
Sister: “It sounds dark.”
Me: “I really want to write it, but I have no idea how.”
Sister: “What would you call it?”
Me: “The Consort.”
14.) When you write, is there anything that helps? Music? A quiet room?
Music! Definitely! Sometimes I have to find a song to go with the story I’m writing so I can finish and keep in the proper tone. I’m also absolutely paranoid about people reading the stuff I write, so I generally do it late at night or quickly close the window when somebody walks within 10 feet of me (if I’m typing) or hide it under papers (if I’m at school or something). So I generally like to be alone. I also have to have the freedom to get up and walk around if I need to, so I can think about things.
Also, Coca-Cola helps if I get stuck. It kicks my brain into high-gear.
15.) What inspires you?
Anything. Random scraps of conversation, a picture, the view from my window. Being in the city (which rarely happens) is often a way for me to get ideas. I really love the city, especially at night, so I always get ideas being there based around that kind of setting. Things, IDK, just seem to occur to me, generally when I’m staring out the window at the sky. So from that perspective, the sky, really. Lights. The setting. Furniture stores, too.
There are also songs that really make me think “I’d like to write a story about that.”
Sometimes a particular word or concept will make me want to write (like “Envy”, which I swear is unrelated to the character) or maybe an old myth/legend will give me an idea.
Sometimes when I'm driving places I randomly see someone doing something I find weird, and I start thinking about that person in terms of a character
It just varies.
(But it really bugs me when I read a story with a iffy plot but this one amazing character and I'm like "WANT TO WRITE ONE OF THESE SO BAD" and then I feel like I have to buy this book so I can study this character and find out what makes them so awesome. Like this yaoi my friend Lauren let me borrow called "Saihoshi: The Guardian" and this character Yinn who actually is not part of any sort of yaoi but who really cares? Anyway, I was like "Why are you so cool? Why? I want one of you...You're more interesting than everyone else...")
16.) Lastly, how would you sum up your fanfiction experiences and yourself as a writer?
My fanfiction experiences have been positive. People are very supportive and seem to like what I do a lot, and I think it’s a lot of fun and a good way to practice writer.
Me as a writer: Prolific at fanfiction, should write more original stories. Find a happy medium, self! JUMP INTO THINGS! GO FOR IT! DON’T BE AFRAID TO TRY!