no more gasping for a breath
Today turned out to be busier than expected, mostly because I forgot my iPad charger at home, and even though I really didn't need to have one here, I decided I did (I would be sad if I couldn't read on my train ride home), so I ended up at the Apple store in Smith Haven Mall. I hadn't been in that mall since forever - they've really spiffed it up. Still, malls are no longer my natural habitat (not since high school, really), so I got in and out as quickly as possible. The Apple store is so weird. The cash drawer is hidden in one of the display tables, and the receipt printer must be mounted beneath it. Much like all their products, they don't want you to see anything beyond the user interface. So weird.
Then we stopped at King Kullen so I could by lemons and blueberries to make blueberry lemon crumb bars and also linguine al limone. Both of which turned out really well, though the butter was still basically frozen when I started so I had to use a pastry blender instead of my hands. Then I had to do all the washing up. Sigh.
*
One of the things I forgot to mention in all the talk about how I cried over Ultimate Spider-Man was how much I LOVED the fact that Johnny Storm made out with Jessica, Peter's girl-clone, and how he was all, "She is the perfect one for me!" Because I do ship Peter/Mary Jane (and Peter/Mary Jane/Gwen), but I also ship Peter/Johnny and Peter/Bobby (well, maybe not Ultimate!Bobby because he was kind of a tool), and so that was awesome that it's canon that Peter is totally Johnny's type (except that he's not a girl, but I get the impression that's not really an issue for Johnny).
*
I missed a bunch of days on the fanfic meme, so I'm going to answer a bunch of questions together here, since they seem to mostly be on the topic of what gets put in headers.
30 days of fanfic meme:
Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5 / Day 6 / Day 7 / Day 8 / Day 9 / Day 10 / Day 11 / Day 12
Day 13 - Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write?
Canon, unless the fanon makes sense with my way of viewing the characters/canon. I have on more than one occasion written fic as a response to fanon I disliked.
Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material?
Sometimes. Depends on the fandom, I guess. I can't actually think of any examples at the moment, though I'm sure it's happened.
Day 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?
When I first started out, I was embarrassed and uncomfortable with writing NC-17 stuff. Now it's less embarrassing and more irritating when I can't work out the logistics of whatever sex I'm trying to write (also, characterization. I've discovered it's really difficult to write porn from Wonder Woman's POV. Oy.). I write a lot of gen, too, and I've written a lot of fic that straddles the line between gen and shippy (see most of my gen SPN stuff), so sometimes I'm annoyed when I aimed for writing porn and ended up with gen, or v.v. but I'm not shocked. I really dislike it when people apologize for writing gen, or act as if the only reason to read or write fanfic is for porn. It might be their only reason, but it's not for everybody.
Day 15 - Warnings - What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a story?
I think rape/non-con/dub-con and sexual violence is the most important thing to warn for. I'll also warn for suicidal ideation, but that's it. I've written a lot of incest fic, but I feel like the pairing should serve as the warning for that. I have a warnings policy linked on my sidebar, though generally speaking, if there isn't a warning on something I've written, that means it's likely I don't think there's anything in it that needs warning for.
Personally, I'm torn about character death warnings. I don't necessarily like them or want to use them, but then again, most of the time when I'd need to use a warning like that, it's because of a canon death, not because I killed somebody off myself, so I waffle about that; usually, the summary will tell you that it's about somebody grieving over somebody else, though, or I will tag it "grief" on AO3.
These days, I mostly use the term "content note" instead of "warning" in my header, if there is anything I think people need to know upfront. There rarely is, though, as far as I can tell. If I ever write something that you think needs a trigger warning, feel free to email or PM me to let me know.
Day 16 - Summaries - Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?
I hate them! When I first started writing, I used very basic descriptions as my summaries - "Logan comes back. He and Rogue talk." Like that. Ugh. At the time, I was reading a lot of West Wing fic, and a lot of my favorite writers in that fandom would pull a pertinent quote from the story and use it as a summary, so I started doing that and I've never looked back. That is generally what I do now, though sometimes I use a more basic plot summary, often in the form of an "in which" statement, e.g., "In which Dick convinces Jason to give up killing people through the power of hugs. No, seriously." Those types of summaries may conclude with the words "Hijinks ensue."
I'm always so pleased when a story shows up with the perfect summary (or, at least, it seems perfect at the start - "this is what the story I'm writing is about!" - but oftentimes that is not the story I end up with, so it has to change. I hate that.)
I know that some people hate this method of summarizing, but it works for me. I think even when it seems abstruse at first, the quotes I use actually do tell you what the story is about without spoiling what actually happens. (Uh, not that my stories are actually the kind of thing you can be spoiled for? They are pretty much the same thing over and over, in theory if not in detail.)
Sometimes, though, I've wished I posted without one and just waited - often, someone on delicious comes up with the perfect summary and I'm like, "man, I should've used that!"
Day 17 - Titles - Are they the bane of your existence, or the easiest part of the story? Also, if you do chaptered story, do you give each chapter a title, or not?
Regarding the second part of the question, I don't write chaptered stories so that is not an issue. I do occasionally use pertinent quotes at the beginning of sections as epigraphs, but not as often as I used to.
As for the first part, they used to be the bane of my existence. My earliest stuff has all these really boring one-word titles that are super on the nose. And then, again, I was reading West Wing fic and became enamored of the way a lot of my favorite authors in that fandom chose titles from poetry or song lyrics, so I started doing that. And then I started keeping a list of "titles to use someday" (sometime in 2004 or 2005, I think), so that I wouldn't forget any of the things that made me go, "hey, that'd make a great title" when I heard/read them. I also sometimes look at the list and get inspired to write something, so it works both ways.
This method - both the using a lyric or line of poetry, and the keeping of a list - has drastically cut down on how often I have to do the frantic title scramble after a story is done but can't be posted without a title (I did title a White Collar ficlet "untitled #27" as a joke after I'd talked about naming all my stories "untitled # whatever"). When I do have do the frantic title scramble or when I have change the title - either at the end or, as is happening apparently with this stupid Bruce/Diana story, in mid-stream, because it's not about what I thought it was about the old title no longer fits, if nothing on my list fits, and nothing from the West Wing episode title list works, then I hit up Bartleby.com and other quote sites and start searching there for quotes that might fit. I have also, to my shame, occasionally just slapped a line from whatever song is playing on as the title, just so I could get posting over with. Oddly enough, I don't know that other people could pick those out as easily as you'd think. Or, they'd think every title was like that. *snerk* But most of the titles I use do relate somehow to the story, if only in my head.
Again, I know some people dislike this method, but if it worked for Faulkner and Hemingway, it's okay by me.
18 - Where do you get the most inspiration for your stories (aka "bunnies") from?
19 - When you have bunnies ideas, 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 inspired from other people's stories or art in the same fandom?
21 - Sequels - Have you ever written a sequel to a story 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 story? 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 story? 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 story?
27 - Where is your favorite 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 story?
29 - What is your current project or projects?
30 - Do you have a favorite story you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!
*
As a reward for scrolling past all that, have a link to Jeremy Renner looking like a BAMF in costume as Hawkeye. I might need an icon of that.
Fanfic has spoiled me, and now I am sad that there will be no Clint/Darcy smoochies in this movie. (Actually, I'm kind of annoyed that almost none of the awesome supporting ladies will be appearing. Seriously, Pepper needs to be in there running the show and annoying Nick Fury, and if they don't say that Jane Foster helped Thor get back to earth, I'll be really irritated. I'm already resigned to not getting any more Darcy, and bracing myself for them to completely fail to use Natasha well. As much as I'm excited about it, this movie is going to be such a white-guy sausage-fest, which is a shame.)
Here's a photoset with all of them except Mark Ruffalo/Bruce Banner, Nick Fury or Coulson.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/365158.html.
people have commented there.
Then we stopped at King Kullen so I could by lemons and blueberries to make blueberry lemon crumb bars and also linguine al limone. Both of which turned out really well, though the butter was still basically frozen when I started so I had to use a pastry blender instead of my hands. Then I had to do all the washing up. Sigh.
*
One of the things I forgot to mention in all the talk about how I cried over Ultimate Spider-Man was how much I LOVED the fact that Johnny Storm made out with Jessica, Peter's girl-clone, and how he was all, "She is the perfect one for me!" Because I do ship Peter/Mary Jane (and Peter/Mary Jane/Gwen), but I also ship Peter/Johnny and Peter/Bobby (well, maybe not Ultimate!Bobby because he was kind of a tool), and so that was awesome that it's canon that Peter is totally Johnny's type (except that he's not a girl, but I get the impression that's not really an issue for Johnny).
*
I missed a bunch of days on the fanfic meme, so I'm going to answer a bunch of questions together here, since they seem to mostly be on the topic of what gets put in headers.
30 days of fanfic meme:
Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5 / Day 6 / Day 7 / Day 8 / Day 9 / Day 10 / Day 11 / Day 12
Day 13 - Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write?
Canon, unless the fanon makes sense with my way of viewing the characters/canon. I have on more than one occasion written fic as a response to fanon I disliked.
Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material?
Sometimes. Depends on the fandom, I guess. I can't actually think of any examples at the moment, though I'm sure it's happened.
Day 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?
When I first started out, I was embarrassed and uncomfortable with writing NC-17 stuff. Now it's less embarrassing and more irritating when I can't work out the logistics of whatever sex I'm trying to write (also, characterization. I've discovered it's really difficult to write porn from Wonder Woman's POV. Oy.). I write a lot of gen, too, and I've written a lot of fic that straddles the line between gen and shippy (see most of my gen SPN stuff), so sometimes I'm annoyed when I aimed for writing porn and ended up with gen, or v.v. but I'm not shocked. I really dislike it when people apologize for writing gen, or act as if the only reason to read or write fanfic is for porn. It might be their only reason, but it's not for everybody.
Day 15 - Warnings - What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a story?
I think rape/non-con/dub-con and sexual violence is the most important thing to warn for. I'll also warn for suicidal ideation, but that's it. I've written a lot of incest fic, but I feel like the pairing should serve as the warning for that. I have a warnings policy linked on my sidebar, though generally speaking, if there isn't a warning on something I've written, that means it's likely I don't think there's anything in it that needs warning for.
Personally, I'm torn about character death warnings. I don't necessarily like them or want to use them, but then again, most of the time when I'd need to use a warning like that, it's because of a canon death, not because I killed somebody off myself, so I waffle about that; usually, the summary will tell you that it's about somebody grieving over somebody else, though, or I will tag it "grief" on AO3.
These days, I mostly use the term "content note" instead of "warning" in my header, if there is anything I think people need to know upfront. There rarely is, though, as far as I can tell. If I ever write something that you think needs a trigger warning, feel free to email or PM me to let me know.
Day 16 - Summaries - Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?
I hate them! When I first started writing, I used very basic descriptions as my summaries - "Logan comes back. He and Rogue talk." Like that. Ugh. At the time, I was reading a lot of West Wing fic, and a lot of my favorite writers in that fandom would pull a pertinent quote from the story and use it as a summary, so I started doing that and I've never looked back. That is generally what I do now, though sometimes I use a more basic plot summary, often in the form of an "in which" statement, e.g., "In which Dick convinces Jason to give up killing people through the power of hugs. No, seriously." Those types of summaries may conclude with the words "Hijinks ensue."
I'm always so pleased when a story shows up with the perfect summary (or, at least, it seems perfect at the start - "this is what the story I'm writing is about!" - but oftentimes that is not the story I end up with, so it has to change. I hate that.)
I know that some people hate this method of summarizing, but it works for me. I think even when it seems abstruse at first, the quotes I use actually do tell you what the story is about without spoiling what actually happens. (Uh, not that my stories are actually the kind of thing you can be spoiled for? They are pretty much the same thing over and over, in theory if not in detail.)
Sometimes, though, I've wished I posted without one and just waited - often, someone on delicious comes up with the perfect summary and I'm like, "man, I should've used that!"
Day 17 - Titles - Are they the bane of your existence, or the easiest part of the story? Also, if you do chaptered story, do you give each chapter a title, or not?
Regarding the second part of the question, I don't write chaptered stories so that is not an issue. I do occasionally use pertinent quotes at the beginning of sections as epigraphs, but not as often as I used to.
As for the first part, they used to be the bane of my existence. My earliest stuff has all these really boring one-word titles that are super on the nose. And then, again, I was reading West Wing fic and became enamored of the way a lot of my favorite authors in that fandom chose titles from poetry or song lyrics, so I started doing that. And then I started keeping a list of "titles to use someday" (sometime in 2004 or 2005, I think), so that I wouldn't forget any of the things that made me go, "hey, that'd make a great title" when I heard/read them. I also sometimes look at the list and get inspired to write something, so it works both ways.
This method - both the using a lyric or line of poetry, and the keeping of a list - has drastically cut down on how often I have to do the frantic title scramble after a story is done but can't be posted without a title (I did title a White Collar ficlet "untitled #27" as a joke after I'd talked about naming all my stories "untitled # whatever"). When I do have do the frantic title scramble or when I have change the title - either at the end or, as is happening apparently with this stupid Bruce/Diana story, in mid-stream, because it's not about what I thought it was about the old title no longer fits, if nothing on my list fits, and nothing from the West Wing episode title list works, then I hit up Bartleby.com and other quote sites and start searching there for quotes that might fit. I have also, to my shame, occasionally just slapped a line from whatever song is playing on as the title, just so I could get posting over with. Oddly enough, I don't know that other people could pick those out as easily as you'd think. Or, they'd think every title was like that. *snerk* But most of the titles I use do relate somehow to the story, if only in my head.
Again, I know some people dislike this method, but if it worked for Faulkner and Hemingway, it's okay by me.
18 - Where do you get the most inspiration for your stories (aka "bunnies") from?
19 - When you have bunnies ideas, 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 inspired from other people's stories or art in the same fandom?
21 - Sequels - Have you ever written a sequel to a story 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 story? 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 story? 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 story?
27 - Where is your favorite 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 story?
29 - What is your current project or projects?
30 - Do you have a favorite story you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!
*
As a reward for scrolling past all that, have a link to Jeremy Renner looking like a BAMF in costume as Hawkeye. I might need an icon of that.
Fanfic has spoiled me, and now I am sad that there will be no Clint/Darcy smoochies in this movie. (Actually, I'm kind of annoyed that almost none of the awesome supporting ladies will be appearing. Seriously, Pepper needs to be in there running the show and annoying Nick Fury, and if they don't say that Jane Foster helped Thor get back to earth, I'll be really irritated. I'm already resigned to not getting any more Darcy, and bracing myself for them to completely fail to use Natasha well. As much as I'm excited about it, this movie is going to be such a white-guy sausage-fest, which is a shame.)
Here's a photoset with all of them except Mark Ruffalo/Bruce Banner, Nick Fury or Coulson.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/365158.html.
people have commented there.