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Swiped from Despina_Moon and also packed into a single go instead of spread out over the full month:
30 Days Fanfic Questions Meme
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?
I first wrote for Gundam Wing. Had no intention of writing for it, didn't really know much about fanfic at the starting point. Back when I still lived in AZ, a friend of mine got into GW when Toonami was showing it, and eventually got me watching it too. I...when I look back, the storyline of GW is pretty dry to get through at times; I'm guessing it was the characters that really spoke to me. Anyway, this friend of mine had the internet where I did not, and she started showing me all the things she'd find when I was over at her place - hot pics of Duo, stories that people had written about the pilots (g-rated fluffy things), hot pics of Zechs, etc. I recall her mentioning at one point that people writing stories tended to pair up the pilots with one another - Heero and Duo, Trowa and Quatre - and my interest was piqued by the idea, though my gut reaction was 'Why Duo with Heero - Wufei would be a better match!' even from the get-go. Aaaanyway. When I moved to AK and got internet access through college, I spent my days after classes in the library looking up some of the stuff this friend had showed me and eventually deciding that I wanted to go looking for those yaoi stories she'd mentioned. Found my way to 2x5 sites, got rather obsessed with the pairing, and soon enough started getting thoughts along the lines of 'If I was writing these kinds of stories, I might do this'; eventually I started writing in my notebooks during class, got an email account, joined the WuDu ML, posted up my first fic and that was that.
2 - Name the fandoms you've written in, how much you've written in those fandoms, and if you still write in them.
I wrote a good chunk of material for GW, most of which I'm embarrassed to re-read now. I have a couple fics I'm still 'working' on, where by 'working' I mean 'occassionally fiddle with and am not keen to abandon', and I itch to write my first boys again from time to time, but there's not much new coming from me on that front at the moment.
Saiyuki was my second big fandom; I've written a fairly small collection of fics and am working on several more. I still classify Saiyuki as my principal/primary fandom.
Naruto is becoming more and more of an active fandom for me (as opposed to one where I just lurk); I've completed two fics and have another handful in progress. A newly-discovered favorite pairing over there is proving motivational.
I have a single ficlet in very early stages for ST:DS9; I'm getting deeper into the fandom and while the obsessive attachment necessary for me to write fic is definitely there, so is the sort of...of 'block', I guess, that comes of being obsessivly into this fandom back in my post-high-school pre-yaoi days when it was originally on. It's weird, but the bunnies just don't bite that hard. I hope I'll actually Do Something with the ficlet I've started, but it's entirely possible it will languish as jotted snippets for years.
I also have a single ficlet in progress for Pet Shop of Horrors, which...does it really have a fandom proper? I know lots of people who are in to it, and have found a few fics, but it's more a case of extreme love for the characters (and a prompt-request for them) making them writeable than the usual obsessive immersion and finding-of-fan-community that drives my writing.
3 - For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write?
For GW, Wufei and Duo, easily. I didn't write much of anyone else, though I was taking quite a shine to Trowa toward the end of my 'active' fanlife over there.
For Saiyuki...Jeep is definitely a favorite, as is Goujun. They're the ones I really enjoy writing the most, in all honesty.
For Naruto, I suspect based on recent developments in my writing life that it's going to be Sai. ♥ I really haven't written much of anyone over there to date, though.
For DS9, I really can't say - I have no plans atm to work with anyone besides Garak and Bashir, and I don't know yet which of them may prove more...fulfilling, appealing, cooperative etc in the writing.
For PSoH, I'm quite fond of D. He came so easily when I did that crossover with Saiyuki, and he's delightful to try to pin down.
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?
Er, well...hm. Not that I think of as such. I'm well-attuned to the dragons, so I suppose that Jeep and Goujun speak to me more 'directly' than others, but they're not particularly pushy about getting into fics that aren't about them. Unless you count the fact that Goujun and prior GouTen gets a mention in every 10K I write, these days, but I'd attribute that to my head-canon over his 'pushiness'. ^_^
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?
Can't say I've had it happen. Trying to remember if I've ever had a story evolve to include characters that weren't planned on in the initial stages, but fic evolution is such a part of the process that I really can't think of any examples.
6 - When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
It's not really a preference of one to the other so much as it's a lack of female characters who really grab my interest and inspire the muses. I'm perfectly willing to go het, yuri, or female-centric gen if a sufficiently-insistent bunny crosses my path. Some of the women of Naruto may have what it takes to accomplish this, somewhere down the road. And I still want to do something with Doku/Kou/Yaone one day.
7 - Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?
Nnnh...not as such. I've read fic that helped me fall in love with a character before I met them in canon, though. And...well, it's not so much 'changed my opinon' as 'brought a sideline character into the spotlight', but recent events in my writing life (I'm going to over-use that phrase by the end of this thing >_<) have put Yamato front-and-center on my fannish radar where he wasn't before.
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.
Not in fanfic, not major players anyway. Background people for plot-points, sure. Not much danger of Sue-dom there. Like Quatre's sister Miriam who showed up/got mention in a couple of fics, and the Wufei-hating Preventers agents that spurred Wufei past his snapping point in 'Lost and Found', and the girl Gojyo slept with in 'Awakenings'. Once upon a time I had visions and preliminary draftings of various origi-fic fantasy and super-hero epics planned out with my little brother, but they never went much of anywhere after he died. Some of those characters might be ripe for resurrection if I ever get to a place where I have bunnies for origi-fic.
I've got nothing against non-Sue OCs - I've fallen in love with some in other people's fic. If they enhance the story, are necessary to the story, advance the plot etc then I'm all for their inclusion, especially when written so that they feel like they could belong in the canon storyline and really flesh out the story that the writer is telling. My lack of writing them has more to do with my plot bunnies centering on...on moments in the life of an existing character, for the most part, and my utter fail at really doing anything plot-tastic and involved where major-player OC's would belong.
9 - Pairings - For each of the fandoms from day two, what are your three favorite pairings to write?
GW - Duo/Wufei, Duo/Trowa/Wufei...hm. Not sure if Duo/Trowa or Trowa/Wufei would rank third; the only real thing I've done with either is as part of a larger 2x3x5 fic. Probably Trowa/Wufei, since I favor Fei-fei so heavily. ♥
Saiyuki - Top favorite waffles between GouTen and Jiipu/Hakkai at any given moment, depending on what sort of fic has the largest share of my focus. ATM, I'd say GouTen. Third place would belong to either Gojyo/Hakkai or 10K - it's really hard to say which.
Naruto - At the moment thanks to Recent Events in my Writing Life, Yamato/Sai is way way out in front. Gai/Kakashi and Lee/Gaara have the most potential to finish second. If I actually start writing more over there, however, there's no telling what might happen.
DS9 - Garak/Bashir is really the only pairing thus far that speaks to me. Pairing other people outside of canon relationships over there is difficult for me (remember that 'block' I mentioned earlier?), though I did read a Jake/Ziyal-themed fic once that struck a chord of potential shippability if not writability.
PSoH - ...Yeah, are there even any pairings beyond Leon/D?
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?
Hmm. I tried pairing Fei with each of the other pilots for that 'Name That Thang' contest way back when; I still don't have any affinity for 4x5 and maintain that that was easily the worst of those entries.
Early on in Saiyuki I was challenged to write GouKenTen and flailed about it - at the time, I liked Goujun but had no real 'feel' for him yet and thought the idea of KenGou was hot but sort of went '...ehhn?' at TenGou, which made the idea of the threesome rather daunting. I think it turned out fairly well in the end, though, no matter how differently it would go were I writing it now, and I'm proud of being the first to write that threesome (that I'm aware of, anyway; I could totally be proud in error).
KakaIru is a pairing I'm not really invested in at all, and it has so far been ridiculously easy to write porn for them. Recent Events in my Writing Life A recent anon-meme in Naruto had me going all over the map with characters and pairings I'd never considered; some turned out better than others but the boundary-stretching was very gratifying, overall, and landed me my newest obsession. ^_^;
11 - Genre - do you prefer certain genres of fic when you're writing? What kind do you tend to write most?
Eh. Yaoi is kind of a given, yeah? The PWP is trying to make something of a comeback in my repertoire. Or maybe it's more of a not-entirely-plotless porn fic. I'm always delighted when I manage to turn out a totally Gen piece that doesn't hinge on pairings at all. Mostly I tend to do...shit, I really don't know what I'd call it. Not really drama, not really romance, not usually angst, not exactly fluff, but I guess I usually tend to hit a blend of any or all of those four. I tend to fail at humor most times that I try it. Don't really do much thus far with AU. Can't say as I really have a preference; I write whatever comes to me.
12 - Have you ever attempted an "adaptation" fic of a favorite book or movie but set in a different fandom?
Have had various ideas for such things, but nothing written unless you count the synopsis-outline in my plot-bunnies file of the Saiyuki version of Wizard of Oz that I drafted out back in like...2004. I may even still write it, someday. Also, I have a crack-ship in Naruto that's based on who the seiyuu play in Saiyuki, and random ideas for seiyuu-based crossover crack, but I doubt very much I'll ever write any of it.
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?
Er...what? Isn't fanfic automatically 'fanon' by definition? *head-scratch* I mean, in most things I don't try to deliberately contradict canon, but the fact that I'm pairing characters already means I'm off in non-canon territory. I don't necessarily adhere to every commonly-held fanon idea, either...eh, fuckit. I tend to write in my own personal head-canon, how's that, which is generally firmly based in whatever canon it stems from. And writing fanfic tends to help me develop a deeper understanding of the source material, in some cases.
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?
I started writing the porn almost straight out of the gate. Porn muse took a long hiatus when I hit Saiyuki, but seems to be making a comeback in a more...refined form, I guess. I rather enjoy it, when it works - I was frustrated by various Saiyuki fics where the porn just wouldn't flow. G-rating tends to happen when it needs to, so can't really claim to have ever been surprised on that front.
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?
I warn for anything I think a person may not like - yaoi included. I don't know about 'strange', per se, since it's a rather subjective modifier, but the thing I've warned for that I think most warranted it would be possible perception of bestiality on the dragonsex. *shrug*
16 - Summaries - Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?
They're quite useful and usually one of the easier parts of the writing process. Can't say I'm particularly witty about them, but coming up with one has never stumped me. As far as the 'how', I just sort of try to state the basic premise in a way that will give the reader a fair idea of whether or not they want to read the fic, really.
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?
What minimal chaptering I've done has not been individually titled. Titles in general are something of a sticking point; sometimes a bunny comes with a ready-made title but most often it takes a bit of hard thought and hair-pulling to come up with something that will suffice. I'd like to lay claim to having snappy or witty or memorable titles, but alas. Not meant to be. T_T Once upon a time I picked through song lyrics for titles; maybe I should try that again sometime.
18 - Where do you get the most inspiration for your fics (aka "bunnies") from?
...From my head? Generally? Occasionally from prompts seen elsewhere.
19 - When you have bunnies, do you sit down and start writing right away, or do you write down the idea for further use?
Oh, for a life that let me drop what I'm doing and capture a bunny the moment it strikes. T_T They tend to percolate for anywhere from a few days to months to years, depending. Sometimes I manage to jot down some of the key bits that occur to me and sometimes I manage to develop those into fic, while other times they languish on the back burner.
20 -Do you ever get bunnied from other people's stories or art in the same fandom?
I...er. Not really, per se, but there have been a couple times I saw a prompt on like a kink meme or something that got filled in a way different from what I had considered doing and I find that I want to write my 'version' of the prompt response anyway. Haven't really gotten to the point of doing it, yet, but there's still this one prompt out there in Naruto that keeps coming to mind now and then.
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?
Inyx and I co-wrote a fic and its sequel many years ago; we'd talked about doing the third part but it never materialized and I doubt somehow that it ever will.
I have a couple of sequels in progress for Unwinding; as for 'why' - because I want to? There's more to the story in my head that stems from that first piece? Why else would a sequel be written?
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?
Have never, likely will never. I completely and whole-heartedly suck at writing fic to deadline, much less fic from a prompt that may not resonate in the least. It's a shame, because it could be fun, but I would fail at it so damn hard. I'm still working on fics that were started by prompts on Saiyuki kink memes a couple-few years back. T_T
23 - When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?
Just my LJ, with links posted to applicable LJ comms. I've had an empty ff.net account for years and never gotten around to putting anything there; I've got a Dreamwidth account but the whole process of moving and/or learning how to cross-post and/or trying to keep up with two journals has so far been entirely too daunting to undertake. Oh, and I also have my archive page on the WuDuYaoimL archive that will be updated with any 2x5 fic I may produce in the future.
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?
I'll generally count myself lucky if I can get one extra set of eyes to look it over. The times I've had two and the once I had three, I found that multiple points of view were helpful in honing in on the things that most needed adjustment.
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?
I don't need the music to write, but sometimes it's helpful in getting the words flowing. I don't often have the opportunity to combine the two, though. I do sometimes have playlists specific to a story, and to characters and/or pairings, but they're not often listened to during the actual writing anymore. I'm fairly adept at tuning out background noise to focus on writing, but TV can be a distraction if I have an interest in whatever's on.
26 - What is the oddest (or funnest) thing you've had to research for a fic?
Can't say I've researched much of anything at all. I recently looked up how to properly pluralize rendezvous (it doesn't change); I looked up imperial Japanese military ranks for a younger Tenpou, and I've tried with little success to research whether or not Forget-me-nots grow in China and if there's a name for them in either Japanese or any Chinese dialect.
27 - Where is your favorite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer?
I used to write by hand, and type up later; if I was still doing so, it would make ficcing while out running errands or waiting at the doctor's office or waiting to pick up the kid from skiing much easier. But I also wrote very linearly when I did that, and now the process is much less linear, and composing on the computer facilitates that process much more easily. So I tend to scribble on paper if I've got an idea that's just got to get out if I find a moment and pen/paper to capture it, but most of my writing is done on the computer. Ooh, and also, lately, I've done a lot of super-rough drafting in the Notes app on my iTouch, then emailing them to myself to be copy-pasted into the WIP text file on my flash drive where they can be polished up and woven into what's already there. It works.
28 - Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic?
Just that co-write with Inyx that I mentioned a few questions ago.
29 - What is your current project or projects?
Ha, ahaha. Which one? ^_^; Ugh. Actually, I'll probably be posting up a new installment of that old snippets-of-WIPs meme sometime in the near future, but the thing that's currently got me by the throat as writing forcefully reasserts its place in my life is a porny YamaSai thing that's sort of blind-sided me out of nowhere thanks to Recent Events in my Writing Life.
30 - Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!
Not really, no. I mean, whatever I've posted most recently tends to be my favorite at any one time, or whatever WIP is currently eating my brain if I have one. It's not that I think older things are no good, it's just that...they're really not 'all that', when I look back on them. But. Ehh...lessee.
The Odd Job I'm still rather fond of; it's one of my oldest Saiyuki plot bunnies and I spent a long time on it, had to re-write corrupted/overwritten bits of it twice so there's a lot of blood and sweat that went into it, in the end; it's my cracky how-they-got-Jeep story and Count D was just fun to write.
How Jeep Stays Sane and Building Bridges are both Jeep gen-fics that nearly wrote themselves, and I always appreciate those.
Worth It, while a pairing that I can take or leave, was a successful first-venture in a new fandom and marked the first enthusiastic appearance by the porn muse in a very long time; the voice was also rather different from anything I'd worked with before and surprisingly fun to try to capture.
I could sit here and tell you what I like about most of my fics, really, but in the interest of time and such I'll just leave it at that.
30 Days Fanfic Questions Meme
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?
I first wrote for Gundam Wing. Had no intention of writing for it, didn't really know much about fanfic at the starting point. Back when I still lived in AZ, a friend of mine got into GW when Toonami was showing it, and eventually got me watching it too. I...when I look back, the storyline of GW is pretty dry to get through at times; I'm guessing it was the characters that really spoke to me. Anyway, this friend of mine had the internet where I did not, and she started showing me all the things she'd find when I was over at her place - hot pics of Duo, stories that people had written about the pilots (g-rated fluffy things), hot pics of Zechs, etc. I recall her mentioning at one point that people writing stories tended to pair up the pilots with one another - Heero and Duo, Trowa and Quatre - and my interest was piqued by the idea, though my gut reaction was 'Why Duo with Heero - Wufei would be a better match!' even from the get-go. Aaaanyway. When I moved to AK and got internet access through college, I spent my days after classes in the library looking up some of the stuff this friend had showed me and eventually deciding that I wanted to go looking for those yaoi stories she'd mentioned. Found my way to 2x5 sites, got rather obsessed with the pairing, and soon enough started getting thoughts along the lines of 'If I was writing these kinds of stories, I might do this'; eventually I started writing in my notebooks during class, got an email account, joined the WuDu ML, posted up my first fic and that was that.
2 - Name the fandoms you've written in, how much you've written in those fandoms, and if you still write in them.
I wrote a good chunk of material for GW, most of which I'm embarrassed to re-read now. I have a couple fics I'm still 'working' on, where by 'working' I mean 'occassionally fiddle with and am not keen to abandon', and I itch to write my first boys again from time to time, but there's not much new coming from me on that front at the moment.
Saiyuki was my second big fandom; I've written a fairly small collection of fics and am working on several more. I still classify Saiyuki as my principal/primary fandom.
Naruto is becoming more and more of an active fandom for me (as opposed to one where I just lurk); I've completed two fics and have another handful in progress. A newly-discovered favorite pairing over there is proving motivational.
I have a single ficlet in very early stages for ST:DS9; I'm getting deeper into the fandom and while the obsessive attachment necessary for me to write fic is definitely there, so is the sort of...of 'block', I guess, that comes of being obsessivly into this fandom back in my post-high-school pre-yaoi days when it was originally on. It's weird, but the bunnies just don't bite that hard. I hope I'll actually Do Something with the ficlet I've started, but it's entirely possible it will languish as jotted snippets for years.
I also have a single ficlet in progress for Pet Shop of Horrors, which...does it really have a fandom proper? I know lots of people who are in to it, and have found a few fics, but it's more a case of extreme love for the characters (and a prompt-request for them) making them writeable than the usual obsessive immersion and finding-of-fan-community that drives my writing.
3 - For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write?
For GW, Wufei and Duo, easily. I didn't write much of anyone else, though I was taking quite a shine to Trowa toward the end of my 'active' fanlife over there.
For Saiyuki...Jeep is definitely a favorite, as is Goujun. They're the ones I really enjoy writing the most, in all honesty.
For Naruto, I suspect based on recent developments in my writing life that it's going to be Sai. ♥ I really haven't written much of anyone over there to date, though.
For DS9, I really can't say - I have no plans atm to work with anyone besides Garak and Bashir, and I don't know yet which of them may prove more...fulfilling, appealing, cooperative etc in the writing.
For PSoH, I'm quite fond of D. He came so easily when I did that crossover with Saiyuki, and he's delightful to try to pin down.
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?
Er, well...hm. Not that I think of as such. I'm well-attuned to the dragons, so I suppose that Jeep and Goujun speak to me more 'directly' than others, but they're not particularly pushy about getting into fics that aren't about them. Unless you count the fact that Goujun and prior GouTen gets a mention in every 10K I write, these days, but I'd attribute that to my head-canon over his 'pushiness'. ^_^
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?
Can't say I've had it happen. Trying to remember if I've ever had a story evolve to include characters that weren't planned on in the initial stages, but fic evolution is such a part of the process that I really can't think of any examples.
6 - When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
It's not really a preference of one to the other so much as it's a lack of female characters who really grab my interest and inspire the muses. I'm perfectly willing to go het, yuri, or female-centric gen if a sufficiently-insistent bunny crosses my path. Some of the women of Naruto may have what it takes to accomplish this, somewhere down the road. And I still want to do something with Doku/Kou/Yaone one day.
7 - Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?
Nnnh...not as such. I've read fic that helped me fall in love with a character before I met them in canon, though. And...well, it's not so much 'changed my opinon' as 'brought a sideline character into the spotlight', but recent events in my writing life (I'm going to over-use that phrase by the end of this thing >_<) have put Yamato front-and-center on my fannish radar where he wasn't before.
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.
Not in fanfic, not major players anyway. Background people for plot-points, sure. Not much danger of Sue-dom there. Like Quatre's sister Miriam who showed up/got mention in a couple of fics, and the Wufei-hating Preventers agents that spurred Wufei past his snapping point in 'Lost and Found', and the girl Gojyo slept with in 'Awakenings'. Once upon a time I had visions and preliminary draftings of various origi-fic fantasy and super-hero epics planned out with my little brother, but they never went much of anywhere after he died. Some of those characters might be ripe for resurrection if I ever get to a place where I have bunnies for origi-fic.
I've got nothing against non-Sue OCs - I've fallen in love with some in other people's fic. If they enhance the story, are necessary to the story, advance the plot etc then I'm all for their inclusion, especially when written so that they feel like they could belong in the canon storyline and really flesh out the story that the writer is telling. My lack of writing them has more to do with my plot bunnies centering on...on moments in the life of an existing character, for the most part, and my utter fail at really doing anything plot-tastic and involved where major-player OC's would belong.
9 - Pairings - For each of the fandoms from day two, what are your three favorite pairings to write?
GW - Duo/Wufei, Duo/Trowa/Wufei...hm. Not sure if Duo/Trowa or Trowa/Wufei would rank third; the only real thing I've done with either is as part of a larger 2x3x5 fic. Probably Trowa/Wufei, since I favor Fei-fei so heavily. ♥
Saiyuki - Top favorite waffles between GouTen and Jiipu/Hakkai at any given moment, depending on what sort of fic has the largest share of my focus. ATM, I'd say GouTen. Third place would belong to either Gojyo/Hakkai or 10K - it's really hard to say which.
Naruto - At the moment thanks to Recent Events in my Writing Life, Yamato/Sai is way way out in front. Gai/Kakashi and Lee/Gaara have the most potential to finish second. If I actually start writing more over there, however, there's no telling what might happen.
DS9 - Garak/Bashir is really the only pairing thus far that speaks to me. Pairing other people outside of canon relationships over there is difficult for me (remember that 'block' I mentioned earlier?), though I did read a Jake/Ziyal-themed fic once that struck a chord of potential shippability if not writability.
PSoH - ...Yeah, are there even any pairings beyond Leon/D?
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?
Hmm. I tried pairing Fei with each of the other pilots for that 'Name That Thang' contest way back when; I still don't have any affinity for 4x5 and maintain that that was easily the worst of those entries.
Early on in Saiyuki I was challenged to write GouKenTen and flailed about it - at the time, I liked Goujun but had no real 'feel' for him yet and thought the idea of KenGou was hot but sort of went '...ehhn?' at TenGou, which made the idea of the threesome rather daunting. I think it turned out fairly well in the end, though, no matter how differently it would go were I writing it now, and I'm proud of being the first to write that threesome (that I'm aware of, anyway; I could totally be proud in error).
KakaIru is a pairing I'm not really invested in at all, and it has so far been ridiculously easy to write porn for them. Recent Events in my Writing Life A recent anon-meme in Naruto had me going all over the map with characters and pairings I'd never considered; some turned out better than others but the boundary-stretching was very gratifying, overall, and landed me my newest obsession. ^_^;
11 - Genre - do you prefer certain genres of fic when you're writing? What kind do you tend to write most?
Eh. Yaoi is kind of a given, yeah? The PWP is trying to make something of a comeback in my repertoire. Or maybe it's more of a not-entirely-plotless porn fic. I'm always delighted when I manage to turn out a totally Gen piece that doesn't hinge on pairings at all. Mostly I tend to do...shit, I really don't know what I'd call it. Not really drama, not really romance, not usually angst, not exactly fluff, but I guess I usually tend to hit a blend of any or all of those four. I tend to fail at humor most times that I try it. Don't really do much thus far with AU. Can't say as I really have a preference; I write whatever comes to me.
12 - Have you ever attempted an "adaptation" fic of a favorite book or movie but set in a different fandom?
Have had various ideas for such things, but nothing written unless you count the synopsis-outline in my plot-bunnies file of the Saiyuki version of Wizard of Oz that I drafted out back in like...2004. I may even still write it, someday. Also, I have a crack-ship in Naruto that's based on who the seiyuu play in Saiyuki, and random ideas for seiyuu-based crossover crack, but I doubt very much I'll ever write any of it.
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?
Er...what? Isn't fanfic automatically 'fanon' by definition? *head-scratch* I mean, in most things I don't try to deliberately contradict canon, but the fact that I'm pairing characters already means I'm off in non-canon territory. I don't necessarily adhere to every commonly-held fanon idea, either...eh, fuckit. I tend to write in my own personal head-canon, how's that, which is generally firmly based in whatever canon it stems from. And writing fanfic tends to help me develop a deeper understanding of the source material, in some cases.
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?
I started writing the porn almost straight out of the gate. Porn muse took a long hiatus when I hit Saiyuki, but seems to be making a comeback in a more...refined form, I guess. I rather enjoy it, when it works - I was frustrated by various Saiyuki fics where the porn just wouldn't flow. G-rating tends to happen when it needs to, so can't really claim to have ever been surprised on that front.
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?
I warn for anything I think a person may not like - yaoi included. I don't know about 'strange', per se, since it's a rather subjective modifier, but the thing I've warned for that I think most warranted it would be possible perception of bestiality on the dragonsex. *shrug*
16 - Summaries - Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?
They're quite useful and usually one of the easier parts of the writing process. Can't say I'm particularly witty about them, but coming up with one has never stumped me. As far as the 'how', I just sort of try to state the basic premise in a way that will give the reader a fair idea of whether or not they want to read the fic, really.
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?
What minimal chaptering I've done has not been individually titled. Titles in general are something of a sticking point; sometimes a bunny comes with a ready-made title but most often it takes a bit of hard thought and hair-pulling to come up with something that will suffice. I'd like to lay claim to having snappy or witty or memorable titles, but alas. Not meant to be. T_T Once upon a time I picked through song lyrics for titles; maybe I should try that again sometime.
18 - Where do you get the most inspiration for your fics (aka "bunnies") from?
...From my head? Generally? Occasionally from prompts seen elsewhere.
19 - When you have bunnies, do you sit down and start writing right away, or do you write down the idea for further use?
Oh, for a life that let me drop what I'm doing and capture a bunny the moment it strikes. T_T They tend to percolate for anywhere from a few days to months to years, depending. Sometimes I manage to jot down some of the key bits that occur to me and sometimes I manage to develop those into fic, while other times they languish on the back burner.
20 -Do you ever get bunnied from other people's stories or art in the same fandom?
I...er. Not really, per se, but there have been a couple times I saw a prompt on like a kink meme or something that got filled in a way different from what I had considered doing and I find that I want to write my 'version' of the prompt response anyway. Haven't really gotten to the point of doing it, yet, but there's still this one prompt out there in Naruto that keeps coming to mind now and then.
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?
Inyx and I co-wrote a fic and its sequel many years ago; we'd talked about doing the third part but it never materialized and I doubt somehow that it ever will.
I have a couple of sequels in progress for Unwinding; as for 'why' - because I want to? There's more to the story in my head that stems from that first piece? Why else would a sequel be written?
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?
Have never, likely will never. I completely and whole-heartedly suck at writing fic to deadline, much less fic from a prompt that may not resonate in the least. It's a shame, because it could be fun, but I would fail at it so damn hard. I'm still working on fics that were started by prompts on Saiyuki kink memes a couple-few years back. T_T
23 - When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?
Just my LJ, with links posted to applicable LJ comms. I've had an empty ff.net account for years and never gotten around to putting anything there; I've got a Dreamwidth account but the whole process of moving and/or learning how to cross-post and/or trying to keep up with two journals has so far been entirely too daunting to undertake. Oh, and I also have my archive page on the WuDuYaoimL archive that will be updated with any 2x5 fic I may produce in the future.
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?
I'll generally count myself lucky if I can get one extra set of eyes to look it over. The times I've had two and the once I had three, I found that multiple points of view were helpful in honing in on the things that most needed adjustment.
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?
I don't need the music to write, but sometimes it's helpful in getting the words flowing. I don't often have the opportunity to combine the two, though. I do sometimes have playlists specific to a story, and to characters and/or pairings, but they're not often listened to during the actual writing anymore. I'm fairly adept at tuning out background noise to focus on writing, but TV can be a distraction if I have an interest in whatever's on.
26 - What is the oddest (or funnest) thing you've had to research for a fic?
Can't say I've researched much of anything at all. I recently looked up how to properly pluralize rendezvous (it doesn't change); I looked up imperial Japanese military ranks for a younger Tenpou, and I've tried with little success to research whether or not Forget-me-nots grow in China and if there's a name for them in either Japanese or any Chinese dialect.
27 - Where is your favorite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer?
I used to write by hand, and type up later; if I was still doing so, it would make ficcing while out running errands or waiting at the doctor's office or waiting to pick up the kid from skiing much easier. But I also wrote very linearly when I did that, and now the process is much less linear, and composing on the computer facilitates that process much more easily. So I tend to scribble on paper if I've got an idea that's just got to get out if I find a moment and pen/paper to capture it, but most of my writing is done on the computer. Ooh, and also, lately, I've done a lot of super-rough drafting in the Notes app on my iTouch, then emailing them to myself to be copy-pasted into the WIP text file on my flash drive where they can be polished up and woven into what's already there. It works.
28 - Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic?
Just that co-write with Inyx that I mentioned a few questions ago.
29 - What is your current project or projects?
Ha, ahaha. Which one? ^_^; Ugh. Actually, I'll probably be posting up a new installment of that old snippets-of-WIPs meme sometime in the near future, but the thing that's currently got me by the throat as writing forcefully reasserts its place in my life is a porny YamaSai thing that's sort of blind-sided me out of nowhere thanks to Recent Events in my Writing Life.
30 - Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!
Not really, no. I mean, whatever I've posted most recently tends to be my favorite at any one time, or whatever WIP is currently eating my brain if I have one. It's not that I think older things are no good, it's just that...they're really not 'all that', when I look back on them. But. Ehh...lessee.
The Odd Job I'm still rather fond of; it's one of my oldest Saiyuki plot bunnies and I spent a long time on it, had to re-write corrupted/overwritten bits of it twice so there's a lot of blood and sweat that went into it, in the end; it's my cracky how-they-got-Jeep story and Count D was just fun to write.
How Jeep Stays Sane and Building Bridges are both Jeep gen-fics that nearly wrote themselves, and I always appreciate those.
Worth It, while a pairing that I can take or leave, was a successful first-venture in a new fandom and marked the first enthusiastic appearance by the porn muse in a very long time; the voice was also rather different from anything I'd worked with before and surprisingly fun to try to capture.
I could sit here and tell you what I like about most of my fics, really, but in the interest of time and such I'll just leave it at that.