Thirty Days of Fanfiction: Day Fourteen
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?
Most of the time I'm working around PG 13. (Incidentally: getting used to American or British rating systems was something else again.) It comes with the gen territory. However, I think it's silly to use a high rating for sex and/or swearing but not for violence, either physical or emotional, and I have some twisted stuff in some of my stories. On the other hand, that's hard to rate. I picked the PC 13 rating by my own dim memory of being a teenager, and what I would and wouldn't have understood.
(You never know with kids, though. When I discovered Edgar Allen Poe at 13 I had nightmares about being buried alive for eons, whereas when given a novel by accident earlier the same year which had some pretty explicit passages about oral sex I just thought "ew", asked my mother whether people really liked to do that and wasn't that dreadfully unhygienic, was told it was pleasurable and considered fun, shrugged and thought the novel was boring and full of crazy people anyway. The only reason why I even remember is that the person who gave me that novel by accident was my grandmother, who hadn't read it but had been given it by a friend of hers and wanted to pretend she'd read it, so she handed it over to the fast reader in the family, yours truly, and expected a summary. I kept teasing her about having given her granddaughter soft porn till the end of her life, poor woman.)
I don't think I'll ever make it to NC-17 as a writer, for the simple truth that I suck at sex scenes, no pun intended. I can do UST, I can do the aftermath, but when it comes to the act itself I struggled horribly the few times I tried, and I'm always painfully aware of the inherent danger of the result reading like the description of an improbable gymnastic exercise. The most successful things I ever did in this regard were co-written back in my
theatrical_muse days, and I maintain that the result reading erotic instead of, well, a failure, is due to my co-writers, plus it only turned into actual sex in the last quarter, and I'm reasonably good with foreplay, especially by scheming dialogue. Alas, the most succesful of these, an Irina/Jack/Arvin interaction which leads to a threesome, did not survive the time lj purged inactive journals. (Mine for Sloane was saved but that particular rp was in Jack's journal, and it is gone.) I still wouldn't rate the result NC-17 - we were never that graphic. My other favourite rp which I thought made for a genuinenly sexy reading was all UST between two people who already had sex once but were determined not to have it anymore, except neither of them could resist flirting a little and messing with each other's minds. Which turned into a competition as to who could drive whom crazier without actually doing anything or saying/admitting anything direct, and that was great fun to write. Had it been a story for an archive with a rating, though, it probably would have been filed under PG 13 as well.
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?
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?
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/694338.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Most of the time I'm working around PG 13. (Incidentally: getting used to American or British rating systems was something else again.) It comes with the gen territory. However, I think it's silly to use a high rating for sex and/or swearing but not for violence, either physical or emotional, and I have some twisted stuff in some of my stories. On the other hand, that's hard to rate. I picked the PC 13 rating by my own dim memory of being a teenager, and what I would and wouldn't have understood.
(You never know with kids, though. When I discovered Edgar Allen Poe at 13 I had nightmares about being buried alive for eons, whereas when given a novel by accident earlier the same year which had some pretty explicit passages about oral sex I just thought "ew", asked my mother whether people really liked to do that and wasn't that dreadfully unhygienic, was told it was pleasurable and considered fun, shrugged and thought the novel was boring and full of crazy people anyway. The only reason why I even remember is that the person who gave me that novel by accident was my grandmother, who hadn't read it but had been given it by a friend of hers and wanted to pretend she'd read it, so she handed it over to the fast reader in the family, yours truly, and expected a summary. I kept teasing her about having given her granddaughter soft porn till the end of her life, poor woman.)
I don't think I'll ever make it to NC-17 as a writer, for the simple truth that I suck at sex scenes, no pun intended. I can do UST, I can do the aftermath, but when it comes to the act itself I struggled horribly the few times I tried, and I'm always painfully aware of the inherent danger of the result reading like the description of an improbable gymnastic exercise. The most successful things I ever did in this regard were co-written back in my
theatrical_muse days, and I maintain that the result reading erotic instead of, well, a failure, is due to my co-writers, plus it only turned into actual sex in the last quarter, and I'm reasonably good with foreplay, especially by scheming dialogue. Alas, the most succesful of these, an Irina/Jack/Arvin interaction which leads to a threesome, did not survive the time lj purged inactive journals. (Mine for Sloane was saved but that particular rp was in Jack's journal, and it is gone.) I still wouldn't rate the result NC-17 - we were never that graphic. My other favourite rp which I thought made for a genuinenly sexy reading was all UST between two people who already had sex once but were determined not to have it anymore, except neither of them could resist flirting a little and messing with each other's minds. Which turned into a competition as to who could drive whom crazier without actually doing anything or saying/admitting anything direct, and that was great fun to write. Had it been a story for an archive with a rating, though, it probably would have been filed under PG 13 as well.
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?
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?
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/694338.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.