30-day fanfic meme, Days 16 and 17
16. Summaries - Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?
Summaries (says the experienced FFnet reader) are the face a story presents to the world. They are therefore important, necessary, and difficult to come up with.
(I used to go for short, punchy phrases like "Liz Shaw doesn't need a lab assistant." These days, I tend to start with "In which...", like A.A. Milne. *g*)
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?
Bane of my existence, definitely. I've held on to stories for weeks because I didn't have a good enough title. (The worst of those was "Liaison Poetique", a title I simply dredged out of thick air; it's now decided it'd rather be called "Interlude in Paris". But that whole story was like that.) More recently, I just grab the first snippet of poetry or quote-reference that springs to mind and slap it on - whence "Someone Came Knocking" and "Madame Nostradamus, I Presume".
As to chaptered fic... I might title the chapters if they demanded it. I don't write a lot of chaptered fic, and I can't recall what I did in Winner by a Nose. (The Mort-and-James story is broken into chapters, but they have descriptive titles like "In Indiana" and "The Minibus Year(s?)".)
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?
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 favourite 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 favourite 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 bunnied 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 favourite 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 favourite fic you've written? What makes it your favourite? And don't forget to give us a link!
Summaries (says the experienced FFnet reader) are the face a story presents to the world. They are therefore important, necessary, and difficult to come up with.
(I used to go for short, punchy phrases like "Liz Shaw doesn't need a lab assistant." These days, I tend to start with "In which...", like A.A. Milne. *g*)
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?
Bane of my existence, definitely. I've held on to stories for weeks because I didn't have a good enough title. (The worst of those was "Liaison Poetique", a title I simply dredged out of thick air; it's now decided it'd rather be called "Interlude in Paris". But that whole story was like that.) More recently, I just grab the first snippet of poetry or quote-reference that springs to mind and slap it on - whence "Someone Came Knocking" and "Madame Nostradamus, I Presume".
As to chaptered fic... I might title the chapters if they demanded it. I don't write a lot of chaptered fic, and I can't recall what I did in Winner by a Nose. (The Mort-and-James story is broken into chapters, but they have descriptive titles like "In Indiana" and "The Minibus Year(s?)".)
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?
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 favourite 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 favourite 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 bunnied 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 favourite 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 favourite fic you've written? What makes it your favourite? And don't forget to give us a link!