Fic Questions Meme - Answers
1. romanajo123 asked for Moment in Blue and Gold (origfic, backstory for Divide and Rule) and 1,2,3,4, 5,& 11:
1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?
It was flashfic, for a Flavour (word) of the Day "nocturne" over at runaway_tales so it was a spur of the moment piece, starting with the image of Hanne (Julia's mother), alone at a party, but probably what set me off on the word and the title was the House of Eliott. (In S1, they do a blue collection with the theme of Nocturne, and I'm fairly sure that was why the image came to mind so clearly).
2: What scene did you first put down?
It is only one scene, so I'm sure I wrote it pretty much as you see it.
3: What’s your favorite line of narration?
I think the opening line, probably, if it's not too overblown: "She was standing just outside the door; the light from the crowded ballroom spilling out behind her, emphasising the gold of her hair and the glinting lights in her dress against the darkness of the night."
4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?
It's not really a very banter-y one, so probably the last exchange, which doesn't make sense split up: “Please, don’t tell Elizabeth,” she said. “If she asked me what it was all about - it’s so silly. She’d tell me I was making up fairy tales in my head and believing in them again.”
“Well, that’s not such a terrible crime,” said John.
But, in truth, probably not really any of the dialogue as such.
5: What part was hardest to write?
As I said, it was a flashfic - a pretty image in my head from a pretty word, and I'd been thinking about the backstory already. I suppose just making sure I had all the unwritten backstory straight in my head! (I did, I do, I just still haven't filled in the gaps.)
11: What do you like best about this fic?
That it isn't the two characters anyone would expect to be interacting! (If anyone was expecting the backstory, of course, which they probably weren't.) But they're not a pairing, nor had canon ever mentioned them having anything much to do with each other (although logic dictates that they must have known each other, as John Iveson married Hanne's friend Elizabeth Long).
2. For ragnarok_08: Now You See It...6, 9, 10, and 15
6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?
Well, nothing, really, to be truthful! Though I don't think I have any others involving magic tricks and a talent show. So, that. Probably.
9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
No. I wrote it fairly quickly, for fun. Although I do have a feeling it did take a few scratchings out until I fixed on the ending, which is funny, because as it is, the ending seems the inevitable part.
10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?
It was a meme prompt, so romanajo123 gave me the pairing, but I expect I latched onto those two from a few options because Seven and Benny are fun and there's so little of them out there. If an idea for them bites, it seems wrong to ignore it.
15: What did you learn from writing this fic?
Probably nothing, really. I wrote hasty, hopefully entertaining flashfic off the top of my head for fun. Which is mostly what writing memes are about and how they help get me writing again when things have got long or serious or obscure or difficult - which is also useful.
3. liadtbunny asked for The Cornfield, 11
11: What do you like best about this fic?
Oh, gosh, The Cornfield. I was so pleased with this one at the time! Do you want a list? *coughs* I was having a running joke back then, mostly with SeriesFive, about putting standard fanfic tropes into Sapphire and Steel and letting S&S kill them dead in their own unique way, and I think some conversation somewhere went along the lines of "But sex pollen would be too difficult," and me, "No, no, it would be EASY and BEAUTIFUL." And it was. (I'm pretty sure I signed up for
trope_bingo solely to have the excuse to write it.)
Also Silver and Steel navigating each other, which is just such a great part of OT3ing Silver/Sapphire/Steel. They are so inhuman, different, so wary (especially Steel), but so useful a combination, and so fascinated by each other.
Anyway, Elements being weird, and sex pollen being as logical as anything else in S&S (because, let's face it, "place/object/person absorbs time/emotion/echoes/whatever" is a key part of its type of storytelling, so sex pollen works in it just fine. *plants flag on this cornfield and prepares to die defending it*).
I still like The Cornfield quite a lot, anyway. Somebody even called it sexy in the comments and I don't think that's ever happened to me before or since, although I do have a memory like a sieve for some things, it's true. (I was overcome, but not quite as much as Silver and Steel.)
4. From astrogirl2 Gothic Romance 5 & 11
5: What part was hardest to write?
Two things, really - one of which was any scenes involving Gainsborough, because I had originally intended to have the Count steal the painting from someone who had bought a Constable or Turner (or whoever might be around in the right time frame), but when I rewatched City of Death, I realised that he mentioned selling a Gainsborough. And once it was Gainsborough, that dictated which Doctor should be involved (because we see a Gainsborough portrait of Ace in Silver Nemesis) and exactly what the Great Intelligence isn't telling Scaroth. Which complicated everything, as I didn't have time or access to any proper Gainsborough bio or anything. So, it was just Wikipedia, basic Googling and a lot of bluffing, alas. Maybe one day I or someone else will Remix it and tell that half of the story properly.
The rest of it was far too easy, deadlines aside, really because Julian Glover as Scaroth was wonderful to write and I always enjoy writing Clara anyway, but I did originally have the Count's POV interspersed with 'Clarissa's' journal, but I had to sacrifice that because a) I didn't have time for the twice as long version, and b) it was for the Minor Characters Ficathon and I didn't want to let it become too Clara-centric.
11: What do you like best about this fic?
I mentioned just now how much fun it was to try and write Scaroth, because that was definitely the best thing. I can't understand why no one else had done it before. He's a villain who's very snarky and elegant and ruthless, but whose motives are entirely understandable and that's a great combination. I may not be Douglas Adams and I may not have Julian Glover to hand, either, but it was still fun to do.
5. For sallymn - Emergency Shelter - 3, 13, & 11.
3: What’s your favorite line of narration?
It's too short and dialogue-heavy to have one that doesn't make want to wince or start editing again, but I suppose this, maybe, but it's a bit clunky, even so: The charge went off at that moment and whoever it was pulled her further in, but the explosion that deafened them both and lit up the sky outside obliterated the possibility of questions even before it was followed by falling debris and clouds of dust.
11: What do you like best about this fic?
I got it from a Random Pairing Generator, which gave me Deva/Avalon, and although this isn't especially shippy, it was an interesting possibility, as they're both in the rebellion and in Blake's orbit at some point or other. It was meant to be for a b7friday prompt, but I left it in a notebook. I did, however, like it enough to type it up. It's always been fairly widely ignored, though, which is about par for the course for a slight gen ficlet featuring two minor characters! But I liked the idea of the two of them meeting enough to type it up, and I still like it enough now not to be sorry that I did. And I like the last line, just for being a B7ish line.
13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?
Knowing when I wrote this, I was probably unable to listen to any music except a few specific songs, so I doubt any music was involved at all. I should try and think of some punny song the reader could listen to if they chose, but my mind has gone blank.
6. From
john_amend_all, UNIT: Invisible Man - 5, 9, 11, & 12
5: What part was hardest to write?
Hmm, this is the oldest fic on this list, I think (only about the fifth I'd posted to Teaspoon), so it's quite difficult to remember. I seem to think that it was another one where I had a clear idea and ran with it. I think maybe keeping the effects of the invisibility straight and therefore what the Brig could and couldn't do took a little work to keep as consistent as possible. But it was quite a rapidly-written piece.
9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
As I said, I seem to remember writing it quite rapidly, with the idea very fixed in my head and the first draft roughed out on paper, so, no.
Or, in one sense, perhaps yes, because the beginning with people mysteriously vanishing in Somerset and UNIT investigating was lifted from a story I began many years ago in my first fannish phase and never took anywhere. But that would have involved the classic UNIT line up (Jo, Yates, the Doctor, the Brig etc.) and would have been very different, and much longer. So, I did do a bit of recycling, I suppose!
11: What do you like best about this fic?
I think the weird invisibility thing is quite a good concept, both in the humour of it happening to the Brig and the nastiness of the side-effects.
12: What do you like least about this fic?
It's old and there are so many errors and things that need fixing in it! It even still has *asterisks* instead of italics, because I hadn't yet worked out html, and it might have even originally been posted to alt.drwho.creative. (I started to try and edit the S7 series it's part of, but I stopped after the first, UNIT: Haunting, because this one needed a lot more work to fix it, and it wasn't as if anyone had taken much notice of Haunting's repost anyway. I hope to do it one day, because I do like that set of stories as gen, plotty things a lot, but maybe one day when I have more spoons.)
Also, when I was writing it, I had it drafted out (mostly) and was merrily typing away and it got late and I had to choose between going to bed or writing on while the iron was hot, and I went to bed. The rest of the story was never the same again. It was very sad. There ought to be more time in the world to allow for writing, sleeping and working. (Technically, I have all the time now, but not enough energy to do anything with it. Life, eh?)
7. scripsi asked for Home? and 1 and 4:
1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?
It's another fairly old one now, but I got set off by something in The Poison Sky. Going by the beginning of the fic, I think it must have been Ten's excessive hate for UNIT and all things military, given that, you know, once upon a time (several times, in fact) he worked for UNIT and the Brig, even if he argued with them a lot. (If this question means style, then this was my usual style for the time.)
4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?
Sort of not really a line, but the running joke about Ten's accidental alias, Professor Albert Smith-Wellington.
Otherwise, maybe:
His old self said, “This sort of thing only happens in the direst emergencies and you’re casually popping back for a cup of tea?”
“Ooh, what a good idea,” he said instantly. “No one’s offered us a cup of tea yet. That’d do nicely. Donna?”
Or possibly, the Master, on finding two Doctors in the same place: “Doctor, I see you’re beside yourself, as always.”
8. For shivver13, Topping! & 3, 4, 9, 11, 12, 15:
3: What’s your favorite line of narration?
This is part dialogue, part narrative, but probably the opening line: The Doctor, attired with his usual flair (frills and velvet, naturally), raced down the steps of the throne room, his cape flapping out behind him. “Your majesties! I beg of you, do not -.” Before he could finish the sentence with ‘eat one crumb of that cake’, a figure fell through the ceiling and directly into the vast, royal birthday cake, rendering the order somewhat redundant.
4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?
Three (to Ten): “My dear chap, you fell naked through the ceiling into a giant birthday cake, talked incessantly and can’t pronounce the name of the planet you’re on. It might explain a few things. Are you expecting me to believe I go round doing that sort of thing when I’m sober?”
Although, also Ten and Donna:
“Yeah,” said Donna. “You should have seen it, dancing out of the TARDIS, all ‘it’s Gurgigig-whatever and here’s a Carmidgeon, cute things, Donna and can you guess what they eat’? Next second, I really don’t need to.
“There was no need to scream,” said her Doctor, sounding sulky. “Monsters, yeah. Naked people - well, we’re all the same underneath, aren’t we?”
9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
No. It's a long time ago now, but I'm pretty sure that this one came into being fairly rapidly as is.
11: What do you like best about this fic?
My first cake!fic! And it can still make me grin when I look at it - hopefully it does the same for other people. I also like the running joke about the names of some New Who planets possibly not being as long as Ten makes out, but that he just adds extra syllables. (It wasn't anything I thought about or intended, it just came up with the Three vs Ten era clash of the fic, but it amuses me and is actually kind of plausible!) Oh, and the textile-eating pet as the excuse for Ten being naked this time. And the Master evilly using packet-mix to make the cake. Is there no end to his villainy?
Probably I should be worried about being amused by my own jokes, but if I don't find them funny, who will? (And that is part of the magic of a few years' distance from a fic.)
12: What do you like least about this fic?
It was written a while ago, so there are some little tics and formatting things I don't use any more, but it's not one that embarrasses me - probably I edited it when I also put it on AO3 as well.
15: What did you learn from writing this fic?
As a genre, cake!fic is delicious. ;-p
(I would like to say that I don't write everything fairly rapidly without making major changes; it's just that I wrote all the stories people chose that question for fairly rapidly.)
Crossposted from Dreamwidth -- Comments there:
1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?
It was flashfic, for a Flavour (word) of the Day "nocturne" over at runaway_tales so it was a spur of the moment piece, starting with the image of Hanne (Julia's mother), alone at a party, but probably what set me off on the word and the title was the House of Eliott. (In S1, they do a blue collection with the theme of Nocturne, and I'm fairly sure that was why the image came to mind so clearly).
2: What scene did you first put down?
It is only one scene, so I'm sure I wrote it pretty much as you see it.
3: What’s your favorite line of narration?
I think the opening line, probably, if it's not too overblown: "She was standing just outside the door; the light from the crowded ballroom spilling out behind her, emphasising the gold of her hair and the glinting lights in her dress against the darkness of the night."
4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?
It's not really a very banter-y one, so probably the last exchange, which doesn't make sense split up: “Please, don’t tell Elizabeth,” she said. “If she asked me what it was all about - it’s so silly. She’d tell me I was making up fairy tales in my head and believing in them again.”
“Well, that’s not such a terrible crime,” said John.
But, in truth, probably not really any of the dialogue as such.
5: What part was hardest to write?
As I said, it was a flashfic - a pretty image in my head from a pretty word, and I'd been thinking about the backstory already. I suppose just making sure I had all the unwritten backstory straight in my head! (I did, I do, I just still haven't filled in the gaps.)
11: What do you like best about this fic?
That it isn't the two characters anyone would expect to be interacting! (If anyone was expecting the backstory, of course, which they probably weren't.) But they're not a pairing, nor had canon ever mentioned them having anything much to do with each other (although logic dictates that they must have known each other, as John Iveson married Hanne's friend Elizabeth Long).
2. For ragnarok_08: Now You See It...6, 9, 10, and 15
6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?
Well, nothing, really, to be truthful! Though I don't think I have any others involving magic tricks and a talent show. So, that. Probably.
9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
No. I wrote it fairly quickly, for fun. Although I do have a feeling it did take a few scratchings out until I fixed on the ending, which is funny, because as it is, the ending seems the inevitable part.
10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?
It was a meme prompt, so romanajo123 gave me the pairing, but I expect I latched onto those two from a few options because Seven and Benny are fun and there's so little of them out there. If an idea for them bites, it seems wrong to ignore it.
15: What did you learn from writing this fic?
Probably nothing, really. I wrote hasty, hopefully entertaining flashfic off the top of my head for fun. Which is mostly what writing memes are about and how they help get me writing again when things have got long or serious or obscure or difficult - which is also useful.
3. liadtbunny asked for The Cornfield, 11
11: What do you like best about this fic?
Oh, gosh, The Cornfield. I was so pleased with this one at the time! Do you want a list? *coughs* I was having a running joke back then, mostly with SeriesFive, about putting standard fanfic tropes into Sapphire and Steel and letting S&S kill them dead in their own unique way, and I think some conversation somewhere went along the lines of "But sex pollen would be too difficult," and me, "No, no, it would be EASY and BEAUTIFUL." And it was. (I'm pretty sure I signed up for
trope_bingo solely to have the excuse to write it.)
Also Silver and Steel navigating each other, which is just such a great part of OT3ing Silver/Sapphire/Steel. They are so inhuman, different, so wary (especially Steel), but so useful a combination, and so fascinated by each other.
Anyway, Elements being weird, and sex pollen being as logical as anything else in S&S (because, let's face it, "place/object/person absorbs time/emotion/echoes/whatever" is a key part of its type of storytelling, so sex pollen works in it just fine. *plants flag on this cornfield and prepares to die defending it*).
I still like The Cornfield quite a lot, anyway. Somebody even called it sexy in the comments and I don't think that's ever happened to me before or since, although I do have a memory like a sieve for some things, it's true. (I was overcome, but not quite as much as Silver and Steel.)
4. From astrogirl2 Gothic Romance 5 & 11
5: What part was hardest to write?
Two things, really - one of which was any scenes involving Gainsborough, because I had originally intended to have the Count steal the painting from someone who had bought a Constable or Turner (or whoever might be around in the right time frame), but when I rewatched City of Death, I realised that he mentioned selling a Gainsborough. And once it was Gainsborough, that dictated which Doctor should be involved (because we see a Gainsborough portrait of Ace in Silver Nemesis) and exactly what the Great Intelligence isn't telling Scaroth. Which complicated everything, as I didn't have time or access to any proper Gainsborough bio or anything. So, it was just Wikipedia, basic Googling and a lot of bluffing, alas. Maybe one day I or someone else will Remix it and tell that half of the story properly.
The rest of it was far too easy, deadlines aside, really because Julian Glover as Scaroth was wonderful to write and I always enjoy writing Clara anyway, but I did originally have the Count's POV interspersed with 'Clarissa's' journal, but I had to sacrifice that because a) I didn't have time for the twice as long version, and b) it was for the Minor Characters Ficathon and I didn't want to let it become too Clara-centric.
11: What do you like best about this fic?
I mentioned just now how much fun it was to try and write Scaroth, because that was definitely the best thing. I can't understand why no one else had done it before. He's a villain who's very snarky and elegant and ruthless, but whose motives are entirely understandable and that's a great combination. I may not be Douglas Adams and I may not have Julian Glover to hand, either, but it was still fun to do.
5. For sallymn - Emergency Shelter - 3, 13, & 11.
3: What’s your favorite line of narration?
It's too short and dialogue-heavy to have one that doesn't make want to wince or start editing again, but I suppose this, maybe, but it's a bit clunky, even so: The charge went off at that moment and whoever it was pulled her further in, but the explosion that deafened them both and lit up the sky outside obliterated the possibility of questions even before it was followed by falling debris and clouds of dust.
11: What do you like best about this fic?
I got it from a Random Pairing Generator, which gave me Deva/Avalon, and although this isn't especially shippy, it was an interesting possibility, as they're both in the rebellion and in Blake's orbit at some point or other. It was meant to be for a b7friday prompt, but I left it in a notebook. I did, however, like it enough to type it up. It's always been fairly widely ignored, though, which is about par for the course for a slight gen ficlet featuring two minor characters! But I liked the idea of the two of them meeting enough to type it up, and I still like it enough now not to be sorry that I did. And I like the last line, just for being a B7ish line.
13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?
Knowing when I wrote this, I was probably unable to listen to any music except a few specific songs, so I doubt any music was involved at all. I should try and think of some punny song the reader could listen to if they chose, but my mind has gone blank.
6. From
john_amend_all, UNIT: Invisible Man - 5, 9, 11, & 12
5: What part was hardest to write?
Hmm, this is the oldest fic on this list, I think (only about the fifth I'd posted to Teaspoon), so it's quite difficult to remember. I seem to think that it was another one where I had a clear idea and ran with it. I think maybe keeping the effects of the invisibility straight and therefore what the Brig could and couldn't do took a little work to keep as consistent as possible. But it was quite a rapidly-written piece.
9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
As I said, I seem to remember writing it quite rapidly, with the idea very fixed in my head and the first draft roughed out on paper, so, no.
Or, in one sense, perhaps yes, because the beginning with people mysteriously vanishing in Somerset and UNIT investigating was lifted from a story I began many years ago in my first fannish phase and never took anywhere. But that would have involved the classic UNIT line up (Jo, Yates, the Doctor, the Brig etc.) and would have been very different, and much longer. So, I did do a bit of recycling, I suppose!
11: What do you like best about this fic?
I think the weird invisibility thing is quite a good concept, both in the humour of it happening to the Brig and the nastiness of the side-effects.
12: What do you like least about this fic?
It's old and there are so many errors and things that need fixing in it! It even still has *asterisks* instead of italics, because I hadn't yet worked out html, and it might have even originally been posted to alt.drwho.creative. (I started to try and edit the S7 series it's part of, but I stopped after the first, UNIT: Haunting, because this one needed a lot more work to fix it, and it wasn't as if anyone had taken much notice of Haunting's repost anyway. I hope to do it one day, because I do like that set of stories as gen, plotty things a lot, but maybe one day when I have more spoons.)
Also, when I was writing it, I had it drafted out (mostly) and was merrily typing away and it got late and I had to choose between going to bed or writing on while the iron was hot, and I went to bed. The rest of the story was never the same again. It was very sad. There ought to be more time in the world to allow for writing, sleeping and working. (Technically, I have all the time now, but not enough energy to do anything with it. Life, eh?)
7. scripsi asked for Home? and 1 and 4:
1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?
It's another fairly old one now, but I got set off by something in The Poison Sky. Going by the beginning of the fic, I think it must have been Ten's excessive hate for UNIT and all things military, given that, you know, once upon a time (several times, in fact) he worked for UNIT and the Brig, even if he argued with them a lot. (If this question means style, then this was my usual style for the time.)
4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?
Sort of not really a line, but the running joke about Ten's accidental alias, Professor Albert Smith-Wellington.
Otherwise, maybe:
His old self said, “This sort of thing only happens in the direst emergencies and you’re casually popping back for a cup of tea?”
“Ooh, what a good idea,” he said instantly. “No one’s offered us a cup of tea yet. That’d do nicely. Donna?”
Or possibly, the Master, on finding two Doctors in the same place: “Doctor, I see you’re beside yourself, as always.”
8. For shivver13, Topping! & 3, 4, 9, 11, 12, 15:
3: What’s your favorite line of narration?
This is part dialogue, part narrative, but probably the opening line: The Doctor, attired with his usual flair (frills and velvet, naturally), raced down the steps of the throne room, his cape flapping out behind him. “Your majesties! I beg of you, do not -.” Before he could finish the sentence with ‘eat one crumb of that cake’, a figure fell through the ceiling and directly into the vast, royal birthday cake, rendering the order somewhat redundant.
4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?
Three (to Ten): “My dear chap, you fell naked through the ceiling into a giant birthday cake, talked incessantly and can’t pronounce the name of the planet you’re on. It might explain a few things. Are you expecting me to believe I go round doing that sort of thing when I’m sober?”
Although, also Ten and Donna:
“Yeah,” said Donna. “You should have seen it, dancing out of the TARDIS, all ‘it’s Gurgigig-whatever and here’s a Carmidgeon, cute things, Donna and can you guess what they eat’? Next second, I really don’t need to.
“There was no need to scream,” said her Doctor, sounding sulky. “Monsters, yeah. Naked people - well, we’re all the same underneath, aren’t we?”
9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
No. It's a long time ago now, but I'm pretty sure that this one came into being fairly rapidly as is.
11: What do you like best about this fic?
My first cake!fic! And it can still make me grin when I look at it - hopefully it does the same for other people. I also like the running joke about the names of some New Who planets possibly not being as long as Ten makes out, but that he just adds extra syllables. (It wasn't anything I thought about or intended, it just came up with the Three vs Ten era clash of the fic, but it amuses me and is actually kind of plausible!) Oh, and the textile-eating pet as the excuse for Ten being naked this time. And the Master evilly using packet-mix to make the cake. Is there no end to his villainy?
Probably I should be worried about being amused by my own jokes, but if I don't find them funny, who will? (And that is part of the magic of a few years' distance from a fic.)
12: What do you like least about this fic?
It was written a while ago, so there are some little tics and formatting things I don't use any more, but it's not one that embarrasses me - probably I edited it when I also put it on AO3 as well.
15: What did you learn from writing this fic?
As a genre, cake!fic is delicious. ;-p
(I would like to say that I don't write everything fairly rapidly without making major changes; it's just that I wrote all the stories people chose that question for fairly rapidly.)
Crossposted from Dreamwidth -- Comments there: