sarcasticsciencefictionwriter asked:
For the Fanfiction Writing ask: 2, 18, 29, and 48, please! š
Yay thank you for the ask!
2) Where do you get your fic ideas?
Ask me at the time and Iāll know. Ask me now and Iām not sure. Some are obvious. Like if thereās a specific prompt and then my brain chewed on it and lightning struck boom and it coalesced and came together into something.
As you are a Sanctuary friend letās take some of those fics:
- Happy EndingĀ = the song āthis is the way that we love / like itās forever / and then live the rest of our lives / but not togetherā and I was like, make it fluffy. I donāt know. I was just coming off writing Our Darkest Hour.
- Choosing Fate / Time Will TellĀ = the tropes. I was like letās do an arranged marriage AU. Pretty sure I was watching Bridgerton at the time as well. And then I wanted to see if I could make Soulmates a trope I could like.
- Life Without PurposeĀ = for a Zombies in July event
- Gentlemen of BloodĀ = I was given the title, and had to think of a fic to go with it. That Bond quote by M came into my head of āwhen they say they have people everywhere, you donāt expect one to be in the bloody roomā plus the Sherlock Holmes movies.
I donāt know, does that answer it a bit? My brain is a mess and it just needs prompting for it to spark basically.
18) Do you enjoy research? Which fic of yours required the most research?
Nope Iām too lazy. I get easily frustrated. If I canāt find the answer quickly I get annoyed. The internet is wonderful and I want to strangulate it sometimes. Itās like I know the information must be there, but can I find it? Itās no wonder I am drawn more and more to making my own worlds, because then I can just make everything up and donāt have to worry about if Iām right or not. I just have to be consistent within my own story.
The aforementioned Happy Ending actually took a surprising amount of research, which to be honest probably ruined the fic because once I had all the stupid marriage details, I had to include them because I had bothered to look them up dammit. Haha, I know, why self? Also Odyssey: Futureās Legacy had a lot of history in it and I had to make all the timelines line up. Let me tell you timezones + international travel = headache. Iām pretty sure Warehouse 13 never paid attention to travel times on the actual show but I made everything plausible.
29) Whatās something about your writing that youāre proud of?
Already answered here š
48) Who is your favorite character to write for? Has this changed since youāve started writing for that fandom?
This is very close to question 41 (here).
Ok well letās go with Sanctuary fandom. Iām going to go left field and answer with Nigel. Which isnāt exactly true but I will explain. Nigel is like the forgotten member of The Five a lot of the time. Heās the one that didnāt live until the 21st century and the one that isnāt romantically linked with Helen. Thereās very little known about him and I was surprised and delighted as the more I referenced him, the more cohesive he felt in my mind. He got an actual personality, backstory, goals etc. So while Nigel isnāt a favourite character, I do enjoy how I developed him.
Bonus question as you had a repeat!
11) Do you write scenes in order, or do you jump around?
Iām a very linear writer. I literally canāt write out of order. Sometimes this trips me up because I think if I sense that something I have written isnāt right (aka the foundation is rocky) then I grind to a halt and stop making progress. Now with fanfic which I never tended to revise that heavily, thatās fair enough – Iām not going to do a complete redraft but with original work? Ehhh.
It is generally speaking better to revise a complete draft, to see the entire picture. I canāt recall where I first heard the expression but I have applied it to drafting ever since – āthereās little point in polishing a turdā – aka, I donāt know what Iām going to have to cut until I can look at the whole thing, so donāt waste time polishing a scene that might not make it. But yeah getting frozen because I have to be linear, but something isnāt right, but I shouldnāt waste time fixing it – frustrated mental scream!
Oh another point! I have a friend that exclusively jumps around, I donāt think they could write linearly if they tried. I have always wanted to ask them, but havenāt dared in case they think Iām judging them (and Iām definitely not!), whether they find foreshadowing/thematic arcs/character emotional journeyās etc. harder to write as itās out of order. For me, I canāt imagine getting my head round it backwards but clearly people do it, so thatās a me problem. But yeah no I have to be linear.