30 Days of Fanfic
So I realised that if I do a few of these a day, I can get it done in a week and then I am less likely to forget about it. Shall I try that? Yes, I think I shall. Memez rok!1!
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?
Shamingly I'm pretty sure it was The Phantom Menace. I remember because everyone else shipped Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan and I didn't and I felt weird and wrong and the fic was really long and almost always about slavery and basically it was my first slash fandom just on the tail end of slash fandom being the slash fandom of old. People srsly asked me when I was going to graduate from het and gen to proper fanfic. This may have coloured my view of "people who only ever write boyslash." Sorry, guyz.
Anyway, what I liked was that the film was shit enough to have lots of holes to fill and people to make more interesting. It's not that it's the first thing I ever felt fannish about just that's the thing I was watching when I got onto the internet. It could have been anything, and I had read X-Files fic in a cybercafe before so I knew that people wrote porn about fictional characters. (And oh how long it took me to find out what "slash" actually was, given the name and how heavy the warnings were.) But anyway, that was my first online fandom and thus the first one I wrote fic 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.
Right, I'll probably miss some off this, but everything I've written for even once includes: Dr Who, DS9, Enterprise, Voyager, M*A*S*H, Stargate, SG: Atlantis, Buffy, Angel, Battle Royale, Quantum Leap, Star Wars prequels, The West Wing... oh, I give up. But I basically haven't touched another fandom in fic terms since about 2006, bar one flocked M*A*S*H fic that I am faintly ashamed of, so the amount of DW fic now probably vastly exceeds everything else put together. I used to be so multifannish like normal people! Essentially I have been eaten by Doctor Who, which was always my One True Fandom anyway, and the first thing I can remember being fannish about as a child. It can be a tempestuous relationship, but we always get back together again after the fights and the recriminations.
So probably for the purposes of this meme I will stick to that one fandom, because otherwise it could get silly and take ages.
3 - For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write?
I have this thing where I try not to write characters I emphathise with too much in case it gets too Mary-Sue, which is for example why I almost never write about Ace. I mostly get very One True Character rather than One True Pairing, which I think annoys people because it means I write their pairing for a bit and then bugger off to play with the other toys instead. Sorry about that, it's my attention-span. So anyway I end up writing the same people over and over but sometimes it's more extreme than other times. In DW I have wrote - according to the Teaspoon - over 170 stories, but I'd be surprised if even six of them weren't about the Doctor. Yes, that is my way in this fandom. It's not that I don't love other characters, it's just that he's the one that most interests me. (This is why I fail the Bechdel so often, btw.)
The Doctor is a joy to write because you can do almost anything with him. He can be funny or creepy or jokey or angsty or silly or serious or melancholy or hyper. You can put him in any situation and sit back to watch what happens. You can pair him with almost anyone and put him in any genre. It's a bit like how I didn't like the TV version of Human Nature because I was all "WHY AM I WATCHING THIS HUMAN WHERE IS THE DOCTOR BRING HIM BACK HE'S BETTER THAN THIS I LUFF HEEEEEEEEMMMMM." Related to this I like writing characters who can and will hold their own against the Doctor, so I write him with people like River and Romana and Amy and Donna, who won't let their love get in the way of a snappy comeback when needed. They are excellent characters in their own right, but obvs I am blinded by my Doctorlove and almost never let them talk to other people.
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?
I don't have a muse. I suppose you could see the answer previous to this where I go on about the Doctor, but he's not a muse he's just this guy, you know? I do not understand this concept of fic that is not about the Doctor. What is that and how do you make it happen?
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?
Erm, I can't remember that happening. I suppose I've put River Song in things where I didn't set out to do that. She kind of forces her way into things, so I will use her as the example for this question. What you do it you let her into it but try not to let her take over. Actually come to think of it I have the opposite problem with Rory, who isn't in things when he probably should be. That is a bit because I forget he exists when he isn't right there in my face. Luckily there are reasons not to write River/Rory (or River/Amy) these days. I feel sorry for the shippers, though, because no one wants to have that happen to their ship. It's like a nightmare scenario, like the fear that Rusty would make the Master turn out to be the Doctor's brother. (Not that this would have stopped us, but it would have been upsetting at least for a while.)
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 favorite 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 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 fic?
29 - What is your current project or projects?
30 - Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!
Ooh, tomorrow I get a question designed to make me angst about not writing enough womens! Yay!
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?
Shamingly I'm pretty sure it was The Phantom Menace. I remember because everyone else shipped Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan and I didn't and I felt weird and wrong and the fic was really long and almost always about slavery and basically it was my first slash fandom just on the tail end of slash fandom being the slash fandom of old. People srsly asked me when I was going to graduate from het and gen to proper fanfic. This may have coloured my view of "people who only ever write boyslash." Sorry, guyz.
Anyway, what I liked was that the film was shit enough to have lots of holes to fill and people to make more interesting. It's not that it's the first thing I ever felt fannish about just that's the thing I was watching when I got onto the internet. It could have been anything, and I had read X-Files fic in a cybercafe before so I knew that people wrote porn about fictional characters. (And oh how long it took me to find out what "slash" actually was, given the name and how heavy the warnings were.) But anyway, that was my first online fandom and thus the first one I wrote fic 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.
Right, I'll probably miss some off this, but everything I've written for even once includes: Dr Who, DS9, Enterprise, Voyager, M*A*S*H, Stargate, SG: Atlantis, Buffy, Angel, Battle Royale, Quantum Leap, Star Wars prequels, The West Wing... oh, I give up. But I basically haven't touched another fandom in fic terms since about 2006, bar one flocked M*A*S*H fic that I am faintly ashamed of, so the amount of DW fic now probably vastly exceeds everything else put together. I used to be so multifannish like normal people! Essentially I have been eaten by Doctor Who, which was always my One True Fandom anyway, and the first thing I can remember being fannish about as a child. It can be a tempestuous relationship, but we always get back together again after the fights and the recriminations.
So probably for the purposes of this meme I will stick to that one fandom, because otherwise it could get silly and take ages.
3 - For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write?
I have this thing where I try not to write characters I emphathise with too much in case it gets too Mary-Sue, which is for example why I almost never write about Ace. I mostly get very One True Character rather than One True Pairing, which I think annoys people because it means I write their pairing for a bit and then bugger off to play with the other toys instead. Sorry about that, it's my attention-span. So anyway I end up writing the same people over and over but sometimes it's more extreme than other times. In DW I have wrote - according to the Teaspoon - over 170 stories, but I'd be surprised if even six of them weren't about the Doctor. Yes, that is my way in this fandom. It's not that I don't love other characters, it's just that he's the one that most interests me. (This is why I fail the Bechdel so often, btw.)
The Doctor is a joy to write because you can do almost anything with him. He can be funny or creepy or jokey or angsty or silly or serious or melancholy or hyper. You can put him in any situation and sit back to watch what happens. You can pair him with almost anyone and put him in any genre. It's a bit like how I didn't like the TV version of Human Nature because I was all "WHY AM I WATCHING THIS HUMAN WHERE IS THE DOCTOR BRING HIM BACK HE'S BETTER THAN THIS I LUFF HEEEEEEEEMMMMM." Related to this I like writing characters who can and will hold their own against the Doctor, so I write him with people like River and Romana and Amy and Donna, who won't let their love get in the way of a snappy comeback when needed. They are excellent characters in their own right, but obvs I am blinded by my Doctorlove and almost never let them talk to other people.
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?
I don't have a muse. I suppose you could see the answer previous to this where I go on about the Doctor, but he's not a muse he's just this guy, you know? I do not understand this concept of fic that is not about the Doctor. What is that and how do you make it happen?
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?
Erm, I can't remember that happening. I suppose I've put River Song in things where I didn't set out to do that. She kind of forces her way into things, so I will use her as the example for this question. What you do it you let her into it but try not to let her take over. Actually come to think of it I have the opposite problem with Rory, who isn't in things when he probably should be. That is a bit because I forget he exists when he isn't right there in my face. Luckily there are reasons not to write River/Rory (or River/Amy) these days. I feel sorry for the shippers, though, because no one wants to have that happen to their ship. It's like a nightmare scenario, like the fear that Rusty would make the Master turn out to be the Doctor's brother. (Not that this would have stopped us, but it would have been upsetting at least for a while.)
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 favorite 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 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 fic?
29 - What is your current project or projects?
30 - Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!
Ooh, tomorrow I get a question designed to make me angst about not writing enough womens! Yay!