Fic meme
1.)How about a brief introduction of yourself?
Heh. You all know me--24, aspiring grad student, geek.
2.) Fabulous! And what got you into fanfiction to begin with?
I'd always thought about what might happen after the episode/movie/book is over, but it wasn't until I discovered the internet, ST:TNG, and fanfic all at once when I was about eleven that I really gave a thought to writing out these ideas I'd had. It took another year until I finally did it and posted it online. (And oh god, WHY didn't someone stop me?)
3.) I see, so what kind of fanfiction do you write?
I like to make people laugh. I like to write stories that have a hint, or more than a hint, of the absurd about them. I also like to play with language and description. And yeah, I like the ships, but I'm a prude, so I tend to have paragraphs-worth of things like Fraser and Thatcher wandering around the artic with a dead body before finally having a fade-to-black sort of romantic resolution.
4.) Do you tend to write the same pairings/characters? Or are you a fandom whore?
TOTAL fandom whore, but within the fandoms I do write, I generally write the same ship or characters. I go through phases where I get really excited about a fandom, write stuff for it, and then wander off to greener pastures. Sometimes I come back, but often I don't.
5.) What is your most popular fanfic and why do you think people like it so?
Hmmm. That's a tough one. I think probably it would be one of my older, mailing-list based Farscape fics, such as Crichton Pan or The Chia Pet. Possibly also the DRD porn drabbles. Flowers in Summer for DW and Two Musketeers and a Dead Guy for dS got pretty good responses as well.
I like to think I have a pretty good handle on most characters I write, and I know other people have said that, so I'm guessing that's what they're drawn to.
6.) Forget other people, what is the fanfic you've written you're most proud of?
Arrrgghhh! They're all my babies!
More seriously, Flowers in Summer and Two Musketeers. Possibly also the dS/Cupid crossover.
7.) Do you find writing easy? Hard? What are the most difficult aspects of writing you struggle with?
It depends on the day and the piece whether it's easy or hard, but more often it's hard. It's an enjoyable difficult, though. I struggle with keeping a coherent plot going for longer than five or ten pages. I also do pretty good beginnings and ends, but am stymied by middles. I think I may be hampered by not wanting to see bad things happen to my characters, so it's hard to inflict problems on them in order to get them from point A to point b without it being boring as hell.
Also, I'm really, really picky about details. I will research everything before writing it. One that comes up a lot is that I always seem to make reference to flowers or gardens, and I know practically nothing about horticulture, so I spend a lot of time look up things like which flowers bloom in England in June, or what kinds of cacti inhabit a particular stretch of Arizona desert. Even if no one else notices the work I've put in to getting the details right, it would bother me not to have it there. Also, it's fun to have layers of meaning in simple, symbolic details. I guess I enjoy being abstruse. (ETA: After reading my response to the next question, check out the entry for "Tulips, Red" at this site. Yeah.)
8.) Write a few sentences or so of your favorite pairing or character.
Meg not-so-silently cursed Ben Fraser's name as she started on page fifteen of the report she was filling out. Of all things he could get into trouble about with the border guards, it had to be flowers. She never wanted to see another geranium or morning glory as long as she lived.
Just as she was really getting creative with her muttered invective, there was a knock on her door. "Come in!" she snapped, ready to tear the head off whoever it was.
There was a slight pause before the door swung open just enough for Fraser to poke his head in. Well, that was fortunate; he was just the person she wanted to kill.
"Ma'am?" he asked tentatively.
"Come in, Fraser," she said as calmly as she could manage. "What is it?"
He approached her desk cautiously. She noticed that he was holding something behind his back.
"Ray and I were preparing the rest of the flowers for shipment, and I noticed...well, I saw..." She watched in silence as he tried to find the right words. Finally, he brought his hand from behind his back and held out a bouquet of red tulips. "I thought these would suit you," he said.
After a moment in which she was surprised into stillness, Meg stood and took the flowers from his outstretched hand, wondering how on earth he could always catch her off guard like this. Did he have a secret line into her head? "Thank you," she said quietly.
"You're welcome." They looked at each other, the tulips between them, for a long moment.
The Riv's horn blared in the street below. Fraser's mouth twisted into a wistful smile. "I should go help Ray return the other flowers."
"Of course," Meg said, almost grateful for the release from her junior officer's intense gaze. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, ma'am." He nodded to her, a last remnant of his smile on his lips, and left the office.
Meg listened as he walked down the hall and out of earshot down the stairs. She brought the tulips to her nose and inhaled their delicate fragrance. She smiled as the petals brushed her nose.
She could always kill him tomorrow.
...Okay, so that was more than a few sentences. Er.
9.) Are there any fanfiction trends/cliches you can't stand or are just sick of?
I'm sick of PWPs. I find little use for them.
10.) Are you guilty of any of the fanfiction trends/cliches you now hate? Or any other ones?
I'm probably guilty of something, but I can't think of what it might be right now.
11.) What was the first fandom you wrote for? Do you still like/participate in it?
Voyager. That little J/C ficlet a few months ago aside, it's been years since I wrote Voyfic, and I'm not likely to go back.
12.) Name your OTP's or most frequently written pairings/characters and explain what it is about them you love to write.
Fraser/Thatcher - SO ADORKABLY AWKWARD! I love them because they're obviously interested in each other, and have no idea how to handle it. Which leads to amusement. It's so much fun to embarrass the hell out of them.
Charley Pollard - Charley is adventurous and full of life while still having fears and flaws. She rolls her eyes at the Doctor's stranger habits and actions, but love the time-traveling lifestyle, and the Doctor, all the same. I love writing their banter.
I used to love writing Sam/Jack from SG-1, because their relationship was pretty much defined by offbeat humor, understated understandings, and a respect for each other that was healthy enough that each could call BS on the other when they were going too far off the deep end. I stopped writing them because I got sort of bored with the unchangingness of the whole SG franchise.
13.) What would you call your writing ''style''?
Isn't this basically the same question as in number three? I think my style, insofar as I actually have just one, is very character-driven. I'm concerned with getting the characters just right, and getting into their heads. Once I've done that, I look to be funny in a dry sort of way (or sometimes in a cracky sort of way).
14.) Do you read other people's fanfic?
Absolutely. More when I was younger (now I go for long stretches without it), but especially when I get into a new fandom or ship, I'm all over the fic.
15.) Name one thing you'd love to write, but have been to afraid or shy to do.
Northern Exposure fic. I could never dream of approaching the quality of the show's writing, and it seems futile to even try. Hence the folder full of unfinished fics that I dream of one day turning into something even vaguely resembling the awesomeness of the show, but probably never will.
16.) Do you have trouble taking criticism? Or worse yet, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?
I've been in college writing workshops. I do pretty well with criticism.
17.) When you write, is there anything that helps? Music? Quiet room?
Sometimes both of the suggestions. Depends on the fic, I guess.
18.) What inspires you?
"IT DIDN'T HAPPEN THAT WAY, DAMMIT!" Give me something in canon that ticks me off, and I'll fic it right.
19.) Lastly, how would you sum up your fanfiction experiences & yourself as a writer?
Uh, with the contents of this meme?
Heh. You all know me--24, aspiring grad student, geek.
2.) Fabulous! And what got you into fanfiction to begin with?
I'd always thought about what might happen after the episode/movie/book is over, but it wasn't until I discovered the internet, ST:TNG, and fanfic all at once when I was about eleven that I really gave a thought to writing out these ideas I'd had. It took another year until I finally did it and posted it online. (And oh god, WHY didn't someone stop me?)
3.) I see, so what kind of fanfiction do you write?
I like to make people laugh. I like to write stories that have a hint, or more than a hint, of the absurd about them. I also like to play with language and description. And yeah, I like the ships, but I'm a prude, so I tend to have paragraphs-worth of things like Fraser and Thatcher wandering around the artic with a dead body before finally having a fade-to-black sort of romantic resolution.
4.) Do you tend to write the same pairings/characters? Or are you a fandom whore?
TOTAL fandom whore, but within the fandoms I do write, I generally write the same ship or characters. I go through phases where I get really excited about a fandom, write stuff for it, and then wander off to greener pastures. Sometimes I come back, but often I don't.
5.) What is your most popular fanfic and why do you think people like it so?
Hmmm. That's a tough one. I think probably it would be one of my older, mailing-list based Farscape fics, such as Crichton Pan or The Chia Pet. Possibly also the DRD porn drabbles. Flowers in Summer for DW and Two Musketeers and a Dead Guy for dS got pretty good responses as well.
I like to think I have a pretty good handle on most characters I write, and I know other people have said that, so I'm guessing that's what they're drawn to.
6.) Forget other people, what is the fanfic you've written you're most proud of?
Arrrgghhh! They're all my babies!
More seriously, Flowers in Summer and Two Musketeers. Possibly also the dS/Cupid crossover.
7.) Do you find writing easy? Hard? What are the most difficult aspects of writing you struggle with?
It depends on the day and the piece whether it's easy or hard, but more often it's hard. It's an enjoyable difficult, though. I struggle with keeping a coherent plot going for longer than five or ten pages. I also do pretty good beginnings and ends, but am stymied by middles. I think I may be hampered by not wanting to see bad things happen to my characters, so it's hard to inflict problems on them in order to get them from point A to point b without it being boring as hell.
Also, I'm really, really picky about details. I will research everything before writing it. One that comes up a lot is that I always seem to make reference to flowers or gardens, and I know practically nothing about horticulture, so I spend a lot of time look up things like which flowers bloom in England in June, or what kinds of cacti inhabit a particular stretch of Arizona desert. Even if no one else notices the work I've put in to getting the details right, it would bother me not to have it there. Also, it's fun to have layers of meaning in simple, symbolic details. I guess I enjoy being abstruse. (ETA: After reading my response to the next question, check out the entry for "Tulips, Red" at this site. Yeah.)
8.) Write a few sentences or so of your favorite pairing or character.
Meg not-so-silently cursed Ben Fraser's name as she started on page fifteen of the report she was filling out. Of all things he could get into trouble about with the border guards, it had to be flowers. She never wanted to see another geranium or morning glory as long as she lived.
Just as she was really getting creative with her muttered invective, there was a knock on her door. "Come in!" she snapped, ready to tear the head off whoever it was.
There was a slight pause before the door swung open just enough for Fraser to poke his head in. Well, that was fortunate; he was just the person she wanted to kill.
"Ma'am?" he asked tentatively.
"Come in, Fraser," she said as calmly as she could manage. "What is it?"
He approached her desk cautiously. She noticed that he was holding something behind his back.
"Ray and I were preparing the rest of the flowers for shipment, and I noticed...well, I saw..." She watched in silence as he tried to find the right words. Finally, he brought his hand from behind his back and held out a bouquet of red tulips. "I thought these would suit you," he said.
After a moment in which she was surprised into stillness, Meg stood and took the flowers from his outstretched hand, wondering how on earth he could always catch her off guard like this. Did he have a secret line into her head? "Thank you," she said quietly.
"You're welcome." They looked at each other, the tulips between them, for a long moment.
The Riv's horn blared in the street below. Fraser's mouth twisted into a wistful smile. "I should go help Ray return the other flowers."
"Of course," Meg said, almost grateful for the release from her junior officer's intense gaze. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, ma'am." He nodded to her, a last remnant of his smile on his lips, and left the office.
Meg listened as he walked down the hall and out of earshot down the stairs. She brought the tulips to her nose and inhaled their delicate fragrance. She smiled as the petals brushed her nose.
She could always kill him tomorrow.
...Okay, so that was more than a few sentences. Er.
9.) Are there any fanfiction trends/cliches you can't stand or are just sick of?
I'm sick of PWPs. I find little use for them.
10.) Are you guilty of any of the fanfiction trends/cliches you now hate? Or any other ones?
I'm probably guilty of something, but I can't think of what it might be right now.
11.) What was the first fandom you wrote for? Do you still like/participate in it?
Voyager. That little J/C ficlet a few months ago aside, it's been years since I wrote Voyfic, and I'm not likely to go back.
12.) Name your OTP's or most frequently written pairings/characters and explain what it is about them you love to write.
Fraser/Thatcher - SO ADORKABLY AWKWARD! I love them because they're obviously interested in each other, and have no idea how to handle it. Which leads to amusement. It's so much fun to embarrass the hell out of them.
Charley Pollard - Charley is adventurous and full of life while still having fears and flaws. She rolls her eyes at the Doctor's stranger habits and actions, but love the time-traveling lifestyle, and the Doctor, all the same. I love writing their banter.
I used to love writing Sam/Jack from SG-1, because their relationship was pretty much defined by offbeat humor, understated understandings, and a respect for each other that was healthy enough that each could call BS on the other when they were going too far off the deep end. I stopped writing them because I got sort of bored with the unchangingness of the whole SG franchise.
13.) What would you call your writing ''style''?
Isn't this basically the same question as in number three? I think my style, insofar as I actually have just one, is very character-driven. I'm concerned with getting the characters just right, and getting into their heads. Once I've done that, I look to be funny in a dry sort of way (or sometimes in a cracky sort of way).
14.) Do you read other people's fanfic?
Absolutely. More when I was younger (now I go for long stretches without it), but especially when I get into a new fandom or ship, I'm all over the fic.
15.) Name one thing you'd love to write, but have been to afraid or shy to do.
Northern Exposure fic. I could never dream of approaching the quality of the show's writing, and it seems futile to even try. Hence the folder full of unfinished fics that I dream of one day turning into something even vaguely resembling the awesomeness of the show, but probably never will.
16.) Do you have trouble taking criticism? Or worse yet, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?
I've been in college writing workshops. I do pretty well with criticism.
17.) When you write, is there anything that helps? Music? Quiet room?
Sometimes both of the suggestions. Depends on the fic, I guess.
18.) What inspires you?
"IT DIDN'T HAPPEN THAT WAY, DAMMIT!" Give me something in canon that ticks me off, and I'll fic it right.
19.) Lastly, how would you sum up your fanfiction experiences & yourself as a writer?
Uh, with the contents of this meme?