30 shades of fanfic: days 1-5
30 days worth of questions for fanfic writers as found here.
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Day 1: How did you get into writing fanfic? What was your first fandom? What pulled you in?
I can't actually remember how I discovered the idea of fanfic, because it was a very long time ago. (*cough* the mid-90s). I had always been a huge X-Files fan, and knew that Mulder and Scully NEEDED to be together. Probably in the course of my work (I was writing about tv then) I discovered that there were people out there who wrote stories about tv shows. Stories in which Mulder and Scully hooked up.
Yeah, I went looking for that. It wasn't easy - this was in the days before google, people - but I found the newsgroups, and a bit later, almighty Gossamer. (Is there anything that beats thatLove paroxysm of pleasure at finding a massive, well established archive of fic dedicated to your favourite show, or even better, your favourite SHIP? All hail the creators of Gossamer, wolveruneandrogue.com, LoveYouLongTime and fandom archives generally.)
But it wasn't The X-Files that got me writing. I might have been a little overawed by all of the crazy complex plotting that most of the X-Files fics demand, having not written fiction since childhood. A few years later, still a fervent reader of X-Files fics, I went to see a film called X-men.
And my obsession with the Wolverine was born.
Yes, it probably had a lot to do with Hugh Jackman's incredible back and that cage scene which, help me God, is still one of the sexiest things I've ever seen. But the more you think about Wolverine, the more his tragedy consumes you. Self-hate is such a powerful, insidious thing, and when the thing you hate yourself for is the very thing that other people need you for - what a vicious loop of circumstance.
Enter Rogue. This young girl, innocent, but deadly. Not that she wants to be, not that it's in her nature or temperament - she is locked into her fate by biology. Touch her skin - accidentally, on purpose, by design - and you will die. And bonus! She gets your memories and personality into the bargain.
So a beautiful, innocent teenager who holds entire other personalities in her head, meets an old, embittered loner who learns to become a part of something again because of her … so, so much to think about, obsess about.
And then we bought a campervan, and took it on holiday for a week in Devon where it rained every day and my husband was training for some road race of another so he was out cycling three or four hours every morning. I had my laptop, and the two X-men films on DVD, and eventually, the start of a story.
I was also pregnant at the time, so the hormones, they were a popping. I did basically nothing but eat, write and have sex for a week, so … The Bargain. My first fanfic.
I'd been reading fanfic, including Rogan fic, for a while at that point but was still pretty astonished at the response. I look back on that fic now and it's not very well plotted, somewhat overdramatic, but there are still things I like about it. Some great dialogue. Some good action. Lots off smut.
It was a good base to build from, and by the time I started writing other fic - Veronica Mars - I'd learnt to outline (or at least try), I'd learnt to hone a character's voice, and I'd grappled hopelessly with the idea that less is more. (And perhaps realised that I'd never be that spare, elegant writer, but at least asking myself if I SHOULD tone things down was useful.).
It was only last year that Veronica Mars took over from the X-men as the fandom in which I have written the most stories. And thanks to Sleeping Dogs, the X-men will probably ALWAYS be the fandom in which I have written the most words.
Day 2. Name the fandoms you’ve written in, and how much you’ve written in that fandom, and if you still write in it.
Okay then. First, a silent homage to A03. Without which someone as disorganised as I would never have a freaking clue about this stuff. But A03 means I have all this statistical stuff at my fingertips - I have written 95 stories, ranging in length from ficlets to novellength, though most are between 1000 and 5000 words.
Veronica Mars is the current leader, 34 works, two of them still unfinished stories, and some others part of unfinished series. (A series being defined as a collection of standalone stories that together tell a wider story.) My longest Veronica Mars story is the NCIS crossover, For Now, at 25472w, and my shortest is She Rises, at 356w. There are a few crossovers because Veronica is marvellous in any universe, and because I ship Weevil and Veronica things tend to go AU or in the gaps between canon. And yes, I have maybe a dozen (or two) Veronica Mars stories I am actively working on. (Or ignoring, given the day. But they are official ‘works in progress’.)
The X-men Movieverse. 23 stories, one still in progress. Lots and lots and lots of words - my longest story ever is Sleeping Dogs, 80586w, but I tend to write longer in this universe than any other, so a lot of the stories are over 5000 words. I have been bad about updating my X-men wip (Points of Infinite Multiplicity), but it’s definitely still on the burner and I have another X-men story that could be biggish stewing in my head post DOFP, so yes, I’m still writing in it.
Glee. 17 stories. So I got caught by the Puck/Rachel bug (okay, mainly Puck) and wrote a bit for that. Nothing particularly noteworthy, usually just porny oneshots around 2000 words. The exception is the Veronica Mars crossover, Five Down Low, which is really Puck let loose in the VM world, rather than a Glee story per se. Hence it having actual plot (as well as porn.) Five Down Low is still in progress (yes, it will be finished Rottweilersatemylaptop!) so you could say that I’m still writing in the Glee fandom, though the world I’m playing in has very little to do with canon Glee.
Revolution, 8 stories. My current fic headspace, I have to admit. (Blame the glorious David Lyons.) Only one decent sized story at the moment, Something brave from your mouth, (11498 w, Rated E) though the VM crossover, Drift Away, is close to being finished and that will be circa 15k when it’s done. I am currently plotting my virtual season 3 of Revolution, (they cancelled the show, dammit) and will either be novellength serialised, or a series of interlinked stories. Not sure which. I have a million story ideas for these characters at the moment, so oneshots and multichaptered fics are likely to crop up and demand they be written along the way.
NCIS, 4 stories. I haven’t written much in the way of standalones in the NCIS universe, but I love to use it for crossovers. The fact that I can’t decide who to ship in that verse is maybe a part of it. Ongoing project is the X-men/NCIS crossover Points of Infinite Multiplicity that is definitely still ongoing, but I keep putting it off because it’s begging me to become another epic. Wolverine and Gibbs have a very tangled history to unravel and I just have to work out how that went ;)
Then there’s a scattering of stories I’ve written for people, on challenges, or just because, without thinking of myself as someone who writes for that fandom. They are mostly short little ficlets, either from tumblr prompts or picking up on something someone has said etc … these include the Marvelverse (Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers), the Aussie tv show Rush, BTVS and Angel, the X-Files, and Sleepy Hollow.
Day 3: For each of the fandoms, what were your favourite characters to write?
Veronica Mars - Veronica and Weevil. Though I have had fun with lots of other characters - ghost!Lilly, Logan, even Dick and Lamb, generally it's hard to beat writing your OTP. I love trying to communicate Veronica's thought processes, her observation skills and insatiable curiosity, and her mix of cynicism and spark. Weevil tends to be easier for me to write, because he is more action to Veronica's cerebral personality; I love trying to capture the rhythm of his speech, the biting wit, and the staunch loyalty and backup he offers Veronica, even when she doesn't always deserve it.
X-men - Wolverine. I enjoy Rogue, but writing Wolverine is like channelling my id. I have no idea why. I also love writing Jubilee, for her mix of fun and snark.
Glee - Puck is huge fun, a chance to play with crudity and the teenage boy mindset that is just so amusing. Again, I enjoy pointing out the way words and actions don't always mesh - how Puck's behaviour is often sweet and supportive, rather than selfish and mean the way others characterise him. Plus, I enjoy writing very physical scenes, and Puck likes sex, so that works well ;)
Revolution - I'm still at the infatuation stage with this fandom, still figuring out what makes the characters tick, but so far I've had fun with pretty much everyone I've written - the golden trinity of Miles, Charlie and Monroe. They are all blissfully angsty, emotionally screwed up, and impossibly sexy, and I ship every possible combination as well as OT3 like crazy, so yeah. That's fun :D I'm also keen to write a Nora-centric piece, as hers was the first character that really spoke to me and I have a desperate need to know her entire life story.
NCIS - I adore them all, though getting Gibbs to be all surly and yet communicative is surprisingly hard. The man never talks! I have a particular soft spot for Abby and adore Ziva's angst potential and kickass skills.
Notable elsewhere is how much fun Darcy Lewis is to write in the Thor/Captain America/Avengers mash up verse that seems to exist. The most lovely typhoidMeri threw me a challenge one day, and I ended up writing some Darcy/Steve to her prompt, and pulling out DarkSteve and NaughtyDarcy turned into five chapters of solid smutty angst (angsty smut?) called This Star Spangled Disguise. So Darcy and Steve will always have a special place in my heart thanks to Meri.
Day 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?
Not so much. Unless the answer is “totally, they're ALL my muses.”
One of the reasons I write fanfic is because it's a shortcut to that altered state of being where you are living in another universe, the story just spooling in your mind and your fingers just letting it flow out. It does happen with my original fiction, but it takes a lot of worldbuilding and character analysis to get to that place. It's harder. But fanfic gives you access to these marvellous characters, these complex pre-built worlds that you are allowed to play with, and the words and stories come so easily. So in effect, my muses are the characters themselves, and even the creators of those worlds, the writers and directors and actors that embody the characters for us.
Day 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?
Eli Navarro has popped up unexpectedly in the odd fic; he's kind of my wandering tattoo artist across all universes, and I try to keep his part small, almost as a private joke with myself. (Unless, of course, I'm writing an actual crossover, then Weevil, baby. Go for it.)
I've had OCs that I've fallen in love with that I just write and write until they get too big for their boots (and the story), and then I edit and edit until they are back in their place. With most big fics I have a second file called 'offcuts' where I put slabs of overexuberant porn, too much detail, extraneous dialogue, OCs that have gotten out of hand etc so that the material is there if there's a way to repurpose it in the same fic, or use it for another fic.