kalinda001 | A baker's dozen writing questions for my flist...

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A baker's dozen writing questions for my flist...

In a desire to know my flist a little better...

All of the people on my flist write fanfic for B7 and various other fandoms. Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to answer the following questions regarding writing fanfic.

1 Why do you write fanfic?
2 When did you write your first fanfic and which fandom was it for?
3 Which fandoms do you, or have you, written for?
4 Do you read much fanfic or do you mainly write?
5 What comes easiest for you when writing?
(dialogue, descriptions, plot, characterizations, humour, angst...)
6 Which genres do you mainly write? (action, angst, dark, drama, horror, humour...)
7 Which genres will you not write?
8 Are reader comments/responses important?
9 Do you use a beta reader?
10 Which is your favourite character to write fanfic for and why?
11 Which are your favourite ships (including friendships) that you write the most?
12 Do you have characters that are so strongly established that they're in your heads?
13 Which characters are you most comfortable doing a POV for? Which is the hardest?

debris4spike pointed out that I haven't answered these questions. I guess it's only fair.

1 Avon.
2 The first one would be two years ago for B7.
3 So far B7 is the only one that has inspired me to write.
4 Mainly write but I do read.
5 The easiest would be dialogue and characterizations. Plot comes next. The hardest would be descriptions. I'm just not a visual person.
6 Angst, action, drama, mystery and humour.
7 I don't do slash or porn. I don't tend to graphic violence even though I do torture scenes, but only within the context of the story and I concentrate more on the psychological and emotional impact.
8 I enjoy them and some comments or lack of them help me grow as a writer.
9 I did try using a beta at first but the speed at which I write makes it impossible.
10 Avon. He's infinitely fascinating.
11 Avon and Cally captured me from the beginning. And definitely Avon and Vila for friendship.
12 Most of the main characters are in my head, and its getting quite crowded.
13 Avon and then Vila.

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1. It's a compulsion.
2. Really my first, was in my diary when I was 14. Man from UNCLE.
3.B7 of course! Firefly. Lots of crossovers, including a whole B7/Buffy zine. A few other fandoms here and there (*one* Holmes/Watson, some Shakespeare fics)
4. Mostly write.
5. I notice you put dialogue first--me, too! I'm a rotten plotter.
6. Drawing-room comedy
7. H/c, AMTDI
8. I'm always paranoid about getting *bad* comments but mostly what I get is *no* comments
9. Nope.
10. Avon! and Simon! and now they're together in the long fic I'm working on!
11. I used to write tons of Blake/Avon, although I was always uncomfortable because they were so mean to each other. Now I'm a big ol' Mal/Simon fangirl
12. For a while I felt that I didn't have a handle on Servalan, and I've never cared about Tarrant--the rest of the cast is pretty well set up in my head.
13. Chatty characters--you always know what Vila and Jayne are thinking, for example, but it's really hard to get a bead on Zoe.

It's a compulsion.

I can certainly identify with that. I thought that after writing the first couple of stories, I'd be able to get it out of my system. No such luck.

I had done a post long ago on how I got into fandom. That's here.

1 Because I want to know what happens.
2 Blake's 7 and...mmm...*hunt* My first fic appeared in Standard by Several in 1993, but they'd held onto the story more than a year.
3 I mainly write B7, with occasional crossovers to other really old fandoms.
4 If I see any B7 fanfic, I read it.
5 Puns are easiest.
6 Humor is probably my most frequent, but nookie and angst have been known to happen.
7 I don't know what genres I won't write... maybe excessively descriptive violence.
8 Reader response makes a huge difference-- mainly it encourages me to write and to think of the type of stories the readers are interested in. LJ isn't as conducive to this as the B7 adult mailing list was. Possibly because people are commenting in 'my diary', they aren't as...reactive? I dunno how to describe the difference.
9 I don't use a beta reader often-- not because I don't want to, but because it's usually impractical. Either the stories are too short to be worthwhile, or there just aren't many people I know who are interested and able to beta for B7. If I'm writing for a ficathon I usually wind up having to ask at the last minute, and have been grateful and fortunate to usually find a volunteer.
10 Kerr Avon is my favorite, I like to keep him alive (although not always happy.)
11 Blake/Avon uber alles.
12 Avon used to carry on long conversations with Blake in my brain, but he knows Ehouse has me busy now, so he's in the basement inventing things.
13 I don't seem to have any problem doing POV for any B7 characters-- I may not do them exactly as everyone else sees them, but I usually am cheerfully seeing things their way, as I go along.

I do love your puns.

Reader response makes a huge difference...LJ isn't as conducive to this as the B7 adult mailing list was.
I do find that odd since LJ seems set up for easy commenting and I assume that people post stories looking for responses of some kind, else why take the trouble? Plus it just seems nice to make a response of some kind if you've read someone else's work, unless you really don't like it, to give something back or to encouragement the writer. But I guess it doesn't work that way.

I *suspect* the difference is that on LJ people are commenting on *your* diary and while they will often respond, and respond encouragingly, it very seldom will be a response that springboards another idea.

That was what used to happen on the B7 mailing list I was on. One of the finest examples was when one person posted a short fic, and other people said 'Yes, but what about...' and so another person wrote a continuation, and someone else said 'Yes, but what about...' and it wound up having about 5 authors and 7 parts and it all hung together and was lovely.

I can't see that happening on LJ.

Sort of a round robin idea? That sounds fun. I don't suppose there are any forums that do that still?

It probably still exists, somewhere, but finding a group of compatible folk with a universe in common... I wouldn't know where to begin to look.

Yes, I imagine that would be hard, esp for B7 these days. Really makes me wish that I'd discovered this show when it first aired. Reading the zines that you sent me, there seems to be far more people who had closer visions to the characters that I have in the old days than now.

I think it was mainly that most of us had only recently seen the show, so the characters and universe were more firmly in our heads. I haven't watched it in.... years and years. There's never enough time.

That would explain the difference. I'd always found it odd that alot of people's visions of the characters seem more like caricatures, picking out a few character traits that everyone seem to like and have that represent the whole character. It confused me to no end because I watched the entire series back-to-back over the space of a week two years ago and kept wondering if I was watching some other show than everyone else. Or maybe it's just that some of it is written so ambiguously that it is highly open to interpretation depending on the viewers' perspectives.

I think it's a combination of ambiguity, plus the tendency to ascribe good characteristics to someone you like/bad characteristics to someone you dislike, and then the fact that there's MORE fanfic than original tends to 'dilute' the original.

Good points. Beauty (and the beast) is in the eye of the beholder. And with so much fanfic...no one really wants to write things that they don't find interesting so they pick those parts of the characters they do find interesting.

Maybe the focus has shifted from round robins to RPGs, which are not exactly the same,of course,but are also a form of collaborative writing.

RPGs for B7? Are they on LJ?

1 Mostly a driving desire to see what happens. The WHAT IF and WHAT NEXT.
2 If you mean first by first...GI Joe when I was 10 year old. :-D I posted that on my LJ a few years ago. It's bad, but funny and definatly a whumper story. But first fanfic know what fanfic was, Adventures of Sinbad.
3 Hmm....Advenatures of Sinbad, Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, Supernatural, Buffy, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Chronicals of Narnia, Blake's 7, Dresden Files, Pretender, Star Wars, Star Trek: Voyager and a kitchen sink crossover that was never finished with going on 13 diffrent fandoms in it.
4 I read much more than I write. I've been in a long dry spell lately. That seems to happen when I'm working on crocheting and knitting projects. My crafting muse seems to scare my writing muse off and then with the health issues, I just haven't been productive in that way lately. Though, I did start working on the rewrite to a Torchwood fic I started a while back. :-D
5 Whumping. :-) Actually, action sequences. They are my strong suit. Getting down in the nitty gritty of a fight scene or chase sequence. I'm a very visual writer and that's where it really comes out.
6 All of the above? I do tend to do more angst/drama, but I do throw in a lot of humor. I use a lot of dark humor to off set the drama.
7 Slash. Just not going there. I know that sounds crazy with writing a little bit of Torchwood from time to time and the slash is cannon there. I just remind the reader, this is my own little happy AU where there are no issues of wandering sexuality and everyone is just friends...in a very disfuction way. :-D
8 Absolutely. My muse feeds on feedback. I love to write to a person and have them read it as I'm writing to give me feedback so I know what is working and what isn't. My one friend was betaing my Narnia fic while I was writing and managed to cut me off before I wasted more than a page on why Talking Horses do not have bits in their mouths.
9 Yes, several in fact. I like to have at least two beta readers because they both pick up diffrent things. One is more for the technical grammer issues and another for continuity.
10 That's hard to say. I tend to be odd about this. I tend to write the foil character of my favorite character in a story instead of from that character's POV. In SG-1, Daniel is my favorite character, but I tend to write from Jack O'Neill's POV. SGA, it's McKay, but I write from Sheppard's POV. Torchwood, it's Ianto, but I write from Jack or Owen's POV. Narnia, it's Edmund, but I tend to write from Peter or Lucy's POV. It's not so much of who do I like more, it's more of who is talking to me right now.
11 I go for the strong buddy pairs: Jack/Daniel, McKay/Sheppard, Jack/Ianto, Dean/Sam. Though there are a few romantic ones I like: Avon/Kally, Daniel/Sha're.
12 Heaven's yes. I was writing a Stargate: SG-1 fic one night and I swore I heard Jack O'Neill say "D***it Daniel!" behind me to the point I turned around to look!
13 Strong leader characters are the easiest for me. Jack O'Neill, Dean Winchester, John Sheppard, Avon, Jack Harkness. The harder ones are the ones whos personalities are so diffrent from mine. Bad guys are really hard. I have a Stargate story I need to finish, but I just can't bring myself to do it because I need to get in the head of Cavahnah and he's a snake. It's just a slimy place to be and I dislike getting in his head to do him that he sounds in character. I'm also having trouble right now with Owen Harper because he's a major foul mouthed character and I don't use swearing in my fics. I will state someone swore, but not what they said. It's getting tricky to do his inner thoughts and dialog because they have him so potty mouthed in cannon.

You've certainly written for alot of shows. Is there one you've focused more on?

Whumping is action sequences?

...in a very disfuction way
=D

Yes, I will not do slash either, or porn for that matter. Just not into either one.

Stargate has been a focus for longer than for others. Some where just bunnies that grabbed hold and wouldn't let go until I wrote them.

Whumping is actually another term for "hurt/comfot". Whumping is a term I coined in the Stargate fandom and it just took off from there. If you google "whumping" you'll get at least 10 pages of websites using it in a fannish way. :-D The term started as "Danny Whumping" and just went crazy from there. My one claim to fame. :-D

Porn is another thing I won't do either. :-)

You can actually see the entry on it here:

http://www.fanhistory.com/wiki/Whumping

1 Why do you write fanfic?
To give the B7 characters (mostly) a future and some hope.
2 When did you write your first fanfic and which fandom was it for?
In 2001, Vila Restal's E-Mails, for B7.
3 Which fandoms do you, or have you, written for?
B7, Farscape, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Narnia, Harry Potter, Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek TNG, Swallows and Amazons
4 Do you read much fanfic or do you mainly write?
Bit of both
5 What comes easiest for you when writing?
Dialogue and humour
6 Which genres do you mainly write? (action, angst, dark, drama, horror, humour...)
Drama and humour
7 Which genres will you not write?
Anything too dark or graphic (sex or violence)
8 Are reader comments/responses important?
They give me a kick
9 Do you use a beta reader?
For longer stories
10 Which is your favourite character to write fanfic for and why?
Vila and Avon! I love their dialogue and writing it for them.
11 Which are your favourite ships (including friendships) that you write the most?
Avon & Vila friendship
12 Do you have characters that are so strongly established that they're in your heads?
Yep
13 Which characters are you most comfortable doing a POV for? Which is the hardest?
Vila. I think Blake would be the hardest POV, or Travis--both obsessed and driven people.

I do love your Vila Restal's E-Mails. They're very funny.

Thanks! I had a lot of fun writing those till I got to S4, when it was an effort to find the lighter side.

Mmmm - Hope you don't mind that I shall both post this meme and answer it on my LJ ... That way I have a copy of it for the future, and hopefully some answers from friends ... hint, hint!!

... hint, hint!!

LOL, I guess I should answer these myself. Will do.

1 Why do you write fanfic? Love of a pair of characters.
2 When did you write your first fanfic and which fandom was it for? First fanfic was written in 1975 because I loved Kirk and Spock of Star Trek TOS.
3 Which fandoms do you, or have you, written for? Star Trek TOS, Starsky and Hutch, and Blake's Seven. I think I shut down about 1980, or maybe I just never found anyone else I wanted to write about.
4 Do you read much fanfic or do you mainly write? Both.
5 What comes easiest for you when writing?
(dialogue, descriptions, plot, characterizations, humour, angst...) Nothing comes easily, but I guess dialogue and characterization are a bit easier than the others.
6 Which genres do you mainly write? (action, angst, dark, drama, horror, humour...) Mostly angst and drama if the story is long; a bit of humor for the short pieces.
7 Which genres will you not write? None.
8 Are reader comments/responses important? I enjoy them.
9 Do you use a beta reader? Not usually, but I have a friend who reads works in progress.
10 Which is your favourite character to write fanfic for and why? I can't separate Blake and Avon, so I only write about either or both...well, sometimes I write about them through someone else's eyes...because their relationship is what I find fascinating.
11 Which are your favourite ships (including friendships) that you write the most? Blake and Avon.
12 Do you have characters that are so strongly established that they're in your heads? Definitely.
13 Which characters are you most comfortable doing a POV for? Which is the hardest? Probably Avon, although Blake is easy most of the time. I'm usually comfortable with all of the characters in a show that I care enough to write about, but I don't do much with any but the relationship pair that captures my imagination.

Do you still actively write for the three shows?

Only B7--the others are far in my past, although, I have various stories I started twenty odd years ago. Maybe I'll finish them someday.

1 Why do you write fanfic?
I was so shaken by the final episode of B7, I had to resolve it; to be withthe characters I love, to learn to be a writer.

2 When did you write your first fanfic and which fandom was it for?
My first fanfic was a play, mainly Star Trek: TOS, but calling in B7, BSG, Doctor Who. It was when I was around 11-12 years old. I forced my brother to perform in it ... he was Captain Kirk, I was a red-shirt girl, and we had a cardboard cutout for Spock. I remember Orac was in it too!

3 Which fandoms do you, or have you, written for?
Mainly Blake's 7.

4 Do you read much fanfic or do you mainly write?
I devour fanfic! I have a backlog of fanfic a mile long (including your stories) that I have yet to get to. I read much more than I write.

5 What comes easiest for you when writing?
(dialogue, descriptions, plot, characterizations, humour, angst...)
Descriptions and atmosphere are first, and easiest, and snippets of dialogue. Often, vignettes will come to me fully formed, and I write rough notes for them, in dialogue ... then I just have to fit them into a plot. Plot is the hardest, so I spend a long time plotting and scribbling in note books, and screwing up pieces of paper before I really put any words down. I am just not funny, so I find humour difficult. I have been reading about how to write humour lately ... wish me luck.

6 Which genres do you mainly write? (action, angst, dark, drama, horror, humour...)
I find action really easy to write for B7, because really the series was like that ... then it would be drama.

7 Which genres will you not write?
Nothing really. I can't see myself ever writing femslash.

8 Are reader comments/responses important?
I love them. I have improved my writing for having them, and they encourage me heaps.

9 Do you use a beta reader?
For long stories.

10 Which is your favourite character to write fanfic for and why?
Tarrant. His characterisation in the series was muddled and inconsistent, so I like to try to get him sorted in my mind. He is much maligned, and yet that is because he is misunderstood.

11 Which are your favourite ships (including friendships) that you write the most?
I don't really have a favourite. I am open to anything ... I like to explore Tarrant with various characters, and enjoy resolving hte conflict between Vila and Tarrant.

12 Do you have characters that are so strongly established that they're in your heads?
No. Not really.

13 Which characters are you most comfortable doing a POV for? Which is the hardest?
I find Tarrant, Vila, and possibly Servalan the easiest. I have difficulty with Avon, and am tragically lost with Travis.

I have been reading about how to write humour lately ... wish me luck.

That definitely can be hard. Good luck!

Descriptions and atmosphere are first, and easiest...

Does that maean that the senses writing exercise was fairly easy for you?

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A baker's dozen writing questions for my flist...

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