(no subject)
Hmmm. I've been seeing this meme around and have really enjoyed reading what some of my favorite authors have to say about their writing and their processes - the details have been fascinating and the frankness has been admirable. But I haven't felt comfortable about commenting to others unless I also have the nerve to do the meme myself. So, I'll abandon some of my usual stubborn anonymity and ante up! Gulp.
Keyboard or biro?
Keyboard, almost always. I do a heck of a lot of self-editing while I'm composing, will often take an hour to consider a single word or phrase from different angles, and change things back and forth a zillion times before it even gets to my betas. Writing by hand is not conducive to such a process. The only things I do write by hand are lists, plot-charts, calendars, notes, things like that. But I'm left-handed and my handwriting is just awful, so I'd much rather type (not that my typing is much better).
Beta or no beta?
Always, once I find betas who are willing to put up with me. Right now I have two,
onehundredmoons and
profcricket and all three of us send each fic through successive drafts with the "beta panel", which will include edits made to the document itself using "Track Changes", as well as several IM sessions to discuss theory, pacing, etc.
Plot?
Always. I have to know what the plot is, that is, I have to know why I'm writing a story before I write a single word of prose. I always know what the end will be and what I hope to communicate or examine well in advance of starting the story. On the other hand, I also try to let the story grow a little on its own, and let the characters move about as freely as possible in the course of writing. It's kind of a schizo process and I'm never certain it'll work until the end. The one time I tried to write some PWP, I found that A Plot invaded the process only about a quarter of the way through and dug right in like a weevil, never to be dislodged.
Title?
I never post w/o a title and I think they are important.But I usually don't choose a title until the story is complete, because I may not know everything about a fic until it's finished. My longest fic to date spent months on the drawing board as simply "S-4" (and sometimes as "Padfoot in the Doghouse").
Smushy or smutty?
Heh. Not sure. Maybe a bit of both? The smuttiest story I've written (or at least the one with the longest, kinkiest, and most detailed sex scene) was really all about death, loss, grief, and recurring nightmares, so there you have it. Still, readers tell me my sex scenes are sort of on the smushy side, so I just don’t know.
Summary?
I'm not very good at these. Because I'm a plot-whore, I always think if I can't boil the summary down to a single simple sentence (like "snakes on a plane" or "kid can see dead people" or "big shark eats everybody") then maybe there's something wrong with the plot. So my summaries can be a little dry and functional. But one of my betas,
profcricket, is a genius w/ summaries, and I often rely on her.
Funniest fic?
Prolly "The Curious Case of the Proofreading Pirate", though that one's a collaboration with
profcricket.
On my own, possibly "Curing the Potion", which includes smut, hideous nicknames, and not paying attention in class. Also, humor does appear in all my stories, even the darkest ones, and readers have told me that sometimes they don't know whether to laugh or shudder while reading.
Most popular fic?
"A Feast in Azkaban", no question. It's my longest and most ambitious, so I'm thrilled that it attracted the most attention.
Best and Worst?
I think "A Feast in Azkaban" is my best, and probably "A Puff of Breath" is my weakest. My really egregious stuff is still gathering dust in my hard-drive, and will never see the light of day.
Coulda been Contenders?
Heh. I myself really like "The Effigy" and felt like I was writing from the heart with that one, and I liked the weird juxtaposition of sex, death, and magic. But very few readers seem to agree. I was also proud of "The Celtic Cross", simply because the plot was fiendishly complex and I was pretty happy with myself for pulling it off.
Strengths
Strong pacing, realistic character interaction, dark themes w/o too much wangst, magic, emotional involvement, challenge to and respect for the readers' intellect, and I think I have a good feel for presenting disparate elements like sorrow and joy, or horror and humor, side by side.
Weaknesses?
I'm verbose, my sentence structure is fantastically convoluted, my sex scenes can be more cerebral than visceral, my Brit-picking is pretty casual and I'm always willing to bend canon if it serves my purposes - that is, I respect canon but I'm not a canon fundamentalist; if I think it's a small thing that works with the spirit of canon but violates the letter, I may well put it in, even if it's on the list of Hated Fanon Clichés. I'm also obsessed with certain themes (like the nature of identity) and they reappear in my fic over and over again. And one of my worst weaknesses is I'm an extremely slow writer and don't have a very high output - I've only written eight stories in two years.
Dirty Little Secrets?
I put great big scars on Lupin's face, I use nicknames like "Paddy", and I occasionally knowingly whitewash Sirius Black (but that's not really a secret, is it?). Oh, and I re-read my own fics periodically and correct typos and such months and even years after posting - and I always find some, though my betas go above and beyond trying to sweep up my messes.