meme time.
In case you care to know something about me. :P
How about a brief introduction for yourself?
→ I'm tongzhiai and I live in Finland.
Fabulous! And what got you into fanfiction to begin with?
→ I just like writing, when I got into things fannishly it became very natural to continue writing within that fandom-y context. Wow, I'm so eloquent tonight
I see, so what kind of fanfiction do you like to write?
→ Cracky, happy, fun fics, very shippy fics. Sometimes more serious, less crazy things, sometimes attempting to porn and failing miserably.
Do you find writing easy? Hard? What are the most difficult aspects of writing you struggle with?
→ Really depends on what I'm trying to achieve. Sometimes it's very easy, I'm energetic and full of ideas. Other times it opening a document and writing a few words and it's a huge pain and doesn't seem good at all. Really depends. I start blushing when writing sexual things and it can take me hours to write a kissing scene because I stop and start thinking about the logistics of the kiss. It's weird. I fail.
Write a few sentences or so of your favorite pairing or character.
→ Ummm.
Junsu keeps telling Eunhyuk it's not really a first kiss because a first kiss can't be quite so awkward and accidental, and Eunhyuk agrees, because he always imagined his first kiss a pink lipstick print on his cheek, and then on his mouth, a mark of losing something while gaining something even better.
Kangin grows weary of the fan popularity of him and Eeteuk together, whereas Eeteuk embraces all of it with every fibre of his being. Kangin takes a step back and Eeteuk takes a step forward, and Kangin gets annoyed at the show Eeteuk wants him to make of his own feelings, this stupid concept of fanservice, but Eeteuk stays put, with a smile on his face. In the car afterwards, Eeteuk slips next to him, and Kangin understands that whatever is public, can be private, too.
Siwon won't say it, because it would be hopelessly rude and unproper, but he sort of misses it being just him and Han Geng on the China trips. He misses the confusion in his head, the calming presence of Geng there, slowly voicing each syllable so that Siwon learns the word properly, misses the fact he could whisper random things in Korean into Han Geng's ear - their own secret language. Now there are other people, and Han Geng takes it upon himself to run the show and make sure the new boys get stage time and Han Geng is very good at this sort of thing, and Siwon works his way into the line next to him, as it reminds him of how things used to be.
Are there any fanfiction clichés or trends you're sick of or just can't stand?
→ So friggin' many.
- Pretentiousness for the simple sake of pretentiousness. If you have metaphor-riddled fic with no capitalized letters and messed up chronology, plz make the fic good enough to seem meaningful. Otherwise it comes off as pointless and assy.
- Angst, especially angst by ridiculous plot vehicles, like AIDS or cancer or other fatal illness. This plot vehicle *can* work, and I've read some pretty moving fics. But I don't really do tear-jerkers in fic and I rarely get the point of them. A lot of fics can be sad, I think one should always ask, do they need to be so, however.
- Weepy!slash. You can mess about and write mpreg and put Sungmin in a skirt but even with Suju, I wish people remembered these are guys. I love to joke about Eeteuk being a girl but I still very much recognize he's a boy, with boy parts, and boy characteristics, and no amount of prettiness will change that. And while boys cry, boys don't cry *all the time*. Nor do girls, for that matter.
Wow, this is getting very wankily ranty, so I will stop now. :P
Are you guilty of any fanfiction clichés you hate? Or any other ones?
→ I can have some pretentious fics or word choices but I hope nothing worse than that. I think my biggest problem is that sometimes too much crack is ..just too much crack. Oh and my porn-attempts are SO SUCKY OMG. :(
What was the first fandom you wrote for, and do you still like/participate in it?
→ Final Fantasy 7. I still like it, yes.
Name your OTPs or most frequently written pairings/characters and explain what it is about them that you love to write.
→ KangTeuk, ShiHan, HyukSu, Danson/Jiro, ShinChul, KiHae.. BloA (XD!!), RicDy, WooDong, JinSyung, Toobin, GDYB.
Okay, too long a list. I think they're all just really speshul and wonderful and their fanservice makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, whereas most other fanservice doesn't make me feel *as* warm and fuzzy inside. Oh and Danson/Jiro are so doing it, like there is no way they're not. Puhlease.
What would you call your writing “style”?
→ This sort of ..rambling, hopefully amusing type of writing, usually plenty of awkwardness and dialogue where people contradict themselves and then some cutesy shtick to bring the OTP of the fic together. Sometimes with bonus crack (and/or Dumbledore).
Do you read other people’s fanfic? If so, what do you find yourself reading the most?
→ So few of my friends write anything regularly. :(
I will check out fics by pretty much everybody whose fics I have consistently enjoyed throughout my days in fandom, sometimes regardless of pairing, other times discriminating based on what the pairing is. Whenever I tune out of SJ fandom, I go back and check LJ's of people like sugarless_666, jaded_skys, halcyon_morn, coyotecolored and ..well, mirrorspy but she's gone now, sadly. Might be some others but I'm so lost with this fandom right now I may be forgetting people.
Also when other people like spurious and happiestwhen write kpop people it kind of really rocks.
Name one thing you’d LOVE to write, but have been too afraid or shy to do.
→ PORN. PORN PORN AND MORE PORN. Masturbation!fic. I mean, sure I can write the word "cock" but what do I do with it? I get very awkward about teh pronz. :(
Do you have trouble taking criticism? Or worse yet, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?
→ You know, it's a difficult issue. On one hand I have no problem with people being like "I think you could be more descriptive in your fics" or "the progress of the relationship was very awkward". It's hard sometimes when I feel the fic is very strong but usually I'm okay with it. People hardly concrit on LJ anyways. On the other hand I feel like nothing makes a writer better than writing more. Like, unless somebody gives me an extensive critique of a story, the only way I'll get better is by writing more. And to be frank, I'm not here to become the next Tolstoy - I'm quite happy with the skills I possess now. If I get better, it's natural and not a conscious effort.
Also, I think some people write well but not my kind of fic - so I wouldn't critique their fics based on my own fancies and similarly I wouldn't want them to comment on my crackfics and be like "but what about the emotional core of the characters?".
When you write, is there anything that helps? Music? Quiet room?
→ I can't write to music, but one thing that helps with fic writing is knowing I have an audience but myself. Even if it's just getting an idea with somebody on chat and then linking them to the fic, it pushes me to finish the story. Though my primary audience is me. :P
Sometimes lyrics are inspiring, though.
What inspires you?
→ Chats with this_is_cd, chats with happiestwhen (furry4lyfe! ..not), new fanservicey goodness or radio logs or interview bits or youtube clips. Or random people's comments on what they'd like to see me write. :)
How about a brief introduction for yourself?
→ I'm tongzhiai and I live in Finland.
Fabulous! And what got you into fanfiction to begin with?
→ I just like writing, when I got into things fannishly it became very natural to continue writing within that fandom-y context. Wow, I'm so eloquent tonight
I see, so what kind of fanfiction do you like to write?
→ Cracky, happy, fun fics, very shippy fics. Sometimes more serious, less crazy things, sometimes attempting to porn and failing miserably.
Do you find writing easy? Hard? What are the most difficult aspects of writing you struggle with?
→ Really depends on what I'm trying to achieve. Sometimes it's very easy, I'm energetic and full of ideas. Other times it opening a document and writing a few words and it's a huge pain and doesn't seem good at all. Really depends. I start blushing when writing sexual things and it can take me hours to write a kissing scene because I stop and start thinking about the logistics of the kiss. It's weird. I fail.
Write a few sentences or so of your favorite pairing or character.
→ Ummm.
Junsu keeps telling Eunhyuk it's not really a first kiss because a first kiss can't be quite so awkward and accidental, and Eunhyuk agrees, because he always imagined his first kiss a pink lipstick print on his cheek, and then on his mouth, a mark of losing something while gaining something even better.
Kangin grows weary of the fan popularity of him and Eeteuk together, whereas Eeteuk embraces all of it with every fibre of his being. Kangin takes a step back and Eeteuk takes a step forward, and Kangin gets annoyed at the show Eeteuk wants him to make of his own feelings, this stupid concept of fanservice, but Eeteuk stays put, with a smile on his face. In the car afterwards, Eeteuk slips next to him, and Kangin understands that whatever is public, can be private, too.
Siwon won't say it, because it would be hopelessly rude and unproper, but he sort of misses it being just him and Han Geng on the China trips. He misses the confusion in his head, the calming presence of Geng there, slowly voicing each syllable so that Siwon learns the word properly, misses the fact he could whisper random things in Korean into Han Geng's ear - their own secret language. Now there are other people, and Han Geng takes it upon himself to run the show and make sure the new boys get stage time and Han Geng is very good at this sort of thing, and Siwon works his way into the line next to him, as it reminds him of how things used to be.
Are there any fanfiction clichés or trends you're sick of or just can't stand?
→ So friggin' many.
- Pretentiousness for the simple sake of pretentiousness. If you have metaphor-riddled fic with no capitalized letters and messed up chronology, plz make the fic good enough to seem meaningful. Otherwise it comes off as pointless and assy.
- Angst, especially angst by ridiculous plot vehicles, like AIDS or cancer or other fatal illness. This plot vehicle *can* work, and I've read some pretty moving fics. But I don't really do tear-jerkers in fic and I rarely get the point of them. A lot of fics can be sad, I think one should always ask, do they need to be so, however.
- Weepy!slash. You can mess about and write mpreg and put Sungmin in a skirt but even with Suju, I wish people remembered these are guys. I love to joke about Eeteuk being a girl but I still very much recognize he's a boy, with boy parts, and boy characteristics, and no amount of prettiness will change that. And while boys cry, boys don't cry *all the time*. Nor do girls, for that matter.
Wow, this is getting very wankily ranty, so I will stop now. :P
Are you guilty of any fanfiction clichés you hate? Or any other ones?
→ I can have some pretentious fics or word choices but I hope nothing worse than that. I think my biggest problem is that sometimes too much crack is ..just too much crack. Oh and my porn-attempts are SO SUCKY OMG. :(
What was the first fandom you wrote for, and do you still like/participate in it?
→ Final Fantasy 7. I still like it, yes.
Name your OTPs or most frequently written pairings/characters and explain what it is about them that you love to write.
→ KangTeuk, ShiHan, HyukSu, Danson/Jiro, ShinChul, KiHae.. BloA (XD!!), RicDy, WooDong, JinSyung, Toobin, GDYB.
Okay, too long a list. I think they're all just really speshul and wonderful and their fanservice makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, whereas most other fanservice doesn't make me feel *as* warm and fuzzy inside. Oh and Danson/Jiro are so doing it, like there is no way they're not. Puhlease.
What would you call your writing “style”?
→ This sort of ..rambling, hopefully amusing type of writing, usually plenty of awkwardness and dialogue where people contradict themselves and then some cutesy shtick to bring the OTP of the fic together. Sometimes with bonus crack (and/or Dumbledore).
Do you read other people’s fanfic? If so, what do you find yourself reading the most?
→ So few of my friends write anything regularly. :(
I will check out fics by pretty much everybody whose fics I have consistently enjoyed throughout my days in fandom, sometimes regardless of pairing, other times discriminating based on what the pairing is. Whenever I tune out of SJ fandom, I go back and check LJ's of people like sugarless_666, jaded_skys, halcyon_morn, coyotecolored and ..well, mirrorspy but she's gone now, sadly. Might be some others but I'm so lost with this fandom right now I may be forgetting people.
Also when other people like spurious and happiestwhen write kpop people it kind of really rocks.
Name one thing you’d LOVE to write, but have been too afraid or shy to do.
→ PORN. PORN PORN AND MORE PORN. Masturbation!fic. I mean, sure I can write the word "cock" but what do I do with it? I get very awkward about teh pronz. :(
Do you have trouble taking criticism? Or worse yet, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?
→ You know, it's a difficult issue. On one hand I have no problem with people being like "I think you could be more descriptive in your fics" or "the progress of the relationship was very awkward". It's hard sometimes when I feel the fic is very strong but usually I'm okay with it. People hardly concrit on LJ anyways. On the other hand I feel like nothing makes a writer better than writing more. Like, unless somebody gives me an extensive critique of a story, the only way I'll get better is by writing more. And to be frank, I'm not here to become the next Tolstoy - I'm quite happy with the skills I possess now. If I get better, it's natural and not a conscious effort.
Also, I think some people write well but not my kind of fic - so I wouldn't critique their fics based on my own fancies and similarly I wouldn't want them to comment on my crackfics and be like "but what about the emotional core of the characters?".
When you write, is there anything that helps? Music? Quiet room?
→ I can't write to music, but one thing that helps with fic writing is knowing I have an audience but myself. Even if it's just getting an idea with somebody on chat and then linking them to the fic, it pushes me to finish the story. Though my primary audience is me. :P
Sometimes lyrics are inspiring, though.
What inspires you?
→ Chats with this_is_cd, chats with happiestwhen (furry4lyfe! ..not), new fanservicey goodness or radio logs or interview bits or youtube clips. Or random people's comments on what they'd like to see me write. :)