Thirty Days of Fanfiction: Day Ten
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?
With the same caveat as yesterday, that I don't write many pairings-focused stories to begin with and am mostly a gen person, writing-wise: there are a great deal of pairings I'm fond of to watch and to read about which I didn't write, and have no intention of writing. Either because the primary source of canon gave me all I wanted, or because there is excellent fiction by other people to be had while I'm happy to continue writing gen. However, two instances of me writing pairings I didn't like came immediately to mind. Both were prompt fics. Both inspired the part of me that likes to write disturbing things, so I was happy with the result.
One was for a Babylon 5 ficathon and the prompt was Anna Sheridan/Morden and should include something about Morden's family. This immediately meant two major problems to circumnavigate for me One was that the stuff about Morden's family comes from the tie-in novel The Shadow Within by Jeanne Cavelos, not from the show, about the doomed Icarus expection. I like the novel well enough in all other things but Morden; making him from Lyta's equivalent on the show (i.e. someone who really and sincerely believes in the Shadows and is completely dedicated to them the way Lyta is orginally to the Vorlons until they, too, treat her like dirt) and who very much enjoys messing with people into a woobie blackmailed into serving the Shadows with the promise of his family saved/returned to life was a major, major mistake. Not to mince words: I loathed that. The other problem the prompt presented was that Anna Sheridan during B5 showtime is not able to consent in any meaningful way, given that what happened to her on Z'ha'dum is the sci-fi equivalent of a lobotomy, and I had no intention of writing non-con. So I pondered, and then inspiration hit, via the Neil Gaiman episode in season 5, The Day of the Dead, during which the departed Morden appears to Lennier. The concept of a ghost being haunted by a ghost (i.e. Morden by Anna) appealed to me, Anna as a dead woman would be Anna with her self completely restored, and as for Morden's family, here was a great opportunity to let Anna point out a few things. Not to mention that since the whole thing takes place in Lennier's quarters, I could write from his point of view, which meant that it was up to the reader to decide whether how Lennier sees Anna and Morden is how they were. Also it got me around having to write post-mortem sex or make a commitment as to whether in the B5verse there was life after death, which the show carefully avoided. In the end, I was really happy with the story 'Visiting Hour' , and would not have written it without the prompt, so, yes, definitely a case in point.
The other story was also a prompt fic, for my other beloved space station, Deep Space Nine, and the prompt was to write about a character one can't stand, from their pov. Now, there are very few people on DS9 I genuinenly dislike. The Prophets, however, are probably No.1.; so clearly a Prophet it had to be. Not just any but the one who posesses the unfortunate Sarah and uses her to get Sisko born. (Aka the rape the show never called thus.) The whole Sarah backstory is a big, big issue of mine, but I didn't want to make the Prophet into a caricature, either, so Cold Heaven tries to capture the way the question of free will doesn't even arise because the Prophet is too alien for that and to her, the whole thing has already happened. I'm still proud of the line Sex is not linear. Since the whole short vignette takes place while the Prophet-in-Sarah and Joseph Sisko are in bed, it's probably the most sex I ever wrote, and the perception of the Prophet allowed me to write it as alien, too, which suddenly made it interesting to me.
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 favorite 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 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!
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/692367.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
With the same caveat as yesterday, that I don't write many pairings-focused stories to begin with and am mostly a gen person, writing-wise: there are a great deal of pairings I'm fond of to watch and to read about which I didn't write, and have no intention of writing. Either because the primary source of canon gave me all I wanted, or because there is excellent fiction by other people to be had while I'm happy to continue writing gen. However, two instances of me writing pairings I didn't like came immediately to mind. Both were prompt fics. Both inspired the part of me that likes to write disturbing things, so I was happy with the result.
One was for a Babylon 5 ficathon and the prompt was Anna Sheridan/Morden and should include something about Morden's family. This immediately meant two major problems to circumnavigate for me One was that the stuff about Morden's family comes from the tie-in novel The Shadow Within by Jeanne Cavelos, not from the show, about the doomed Icarus expection. I like the novel well enough in all other things but Morden; making him from Lyta's equivalent on the show (i.e. someone who really and sincerely believes in the Shadows and is completely dedicated to them the way Lyta is orginally to the Vorlons until they, too, treat her like dirt) and who very much enjoys messing with people into a woobie blackmailed into serving the Shadows with the promise of his family saved/returned to life was a major, major mistake. Not to mince words: I loathed that. The other problem the prompt presented was that Anna Sheridan during B5 showtime is not able to consent in any meaningful way, given that what happened to her on Z'ha'dum is the sci-fi equivalent of a lobotomy, and I had no intention of writing non-con. So I pondered, and then inspiration hit, via the Neil Gaiman episode in season 5, The Day of the Dead, during which the departed Morden appears to Lennier. The concept of a ghost being haunted by a ghost (i.e. Morden by Anna) appealed to me, Anna as a dead woman would be Anna with her self completely restored, and as for Morden's family, here was a great opportunity to let Anna point out a few things. Not to mention that since the whole thing takes place in Lennier's quarters, I could write from his point of view, which meant that it was up to the reader to decide whether how Lennier sees Anna and Morden is how they were. Also it got me around having to write post-mortem sex or make a commitment as to whether in the B5verse there was life after death, which the show carefully avoided. In the end, I was really happy with the story 'Visiting Hour' , and would not have written it without the prompt, so, yes, definitely a case in point.
The other story was also a prompt fic, for my other beloved space station, Deep Space Nine, and the prompt was to write about a character one can't stand, from their pov. Now, there are very few people on DS9 I genuinenly dislike. The Prophets, however, are probably No.1.; so clearly a Prophet it had to be. Not just any but the one who posesses the unfortunate Sarah and uses her to get Sisko born. (Aka the rape the show never called thus.) The whole Sarah backstory is a big, big issue of mine, but I didn't want to make the Prophet into a caricature, either, so Cold Heaven tries to capture the way the question of free will doesn't even arise because the Prophet is too alien for that and to her, the whole thing has already happened. I'm still proud of the line Sex is not linear. Since the whole short vignette takes place while the Prophet-in-Sarah and Joseph Sisko are in bed, it's probably the most sex I ever wrote, and the perception of the Prophet allowed me to write it as alien, too, which suddenly made it interesting to me.
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 favorite 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 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!
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/692367.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.