Quick! Someone distract me!
Gakked from torra because I'm really antsy tonight and need the distraction, lest I give in to guilt and not stay home from work tomorrow.
The Writing Process Meme:
Ideas: Where the hell do they come from? Can you make those little fuckers show up?
Well... yes.
Music, movies, TV shows, dreams, books, other fanfic, walks in the park, you name it, I can be inspired by it. Or I used to be, anyway. Ideas aren't really my problem, it's the execution that fouls me up.
Wild horse-bunnies: When a story just gets pulled right out of you. Do you get them?
Yep. In the past that happened to me fairly often. Lately, not so much, but when it does happen it's exhilarating and wonderful and MUCH easier to write. I usually think of the stuff that's "yanked" out of me like that as my best work, because it's oddly effortless and somehow that translates - for me, anyway - into higher-quality writing.
Plus I enjoy it a hell of a lot more, and isn't that the point?
Writer's block: Have you been scourged?
Is that a rhetorical question? Yes, of course. Absolutely.
98% of the time it's caused by some sort of problem with the story, a corner I've written myself into or a scene or character that's not cooperating (and not in a good way, either). Something's gone wrong in the writing process somewhere and mucked up the works. I usually have to back up and rewrite (or change direction in a fairly drastic way) to get things moving again.
Sometimes - though it's a lot more rare - I'll get knocked out of my groove by an outside source, and those times are a LOT harder to get past.
Right now, for example, I'm blocked by something that has nothing whatsoever to do with writing or fandom or anything else (brain chemistry sucks) but the result is still the same. And I'm not even trying to fight through it - which I normally WILL do, with "regular" writer's block - because this particular problem can't be solved in that way.
I suppose (I hope?) that I'll get back into the groove again eventually.
Clean up duty: Do you like editing?
Yes, actually, as long as I'm not working under some sort of terrible deadline. Most of the time I really enjoy the beta/editing process. As torra wrote, she and I make a pretty good editing team. We compliment and understand each other perfectly, if I do say so myself, which makes the whole experience a lot less painful.
Oh, and using Google Docs (HUGE thanks to bottledtime for the suggestion) makes the entire beta process SO. MUCH. EASIER. Seriously, I can't recommend it enough.
I also have to say, though, that I love reading through old fics I haven't worked on in six months or a year (or longer!) and looking at them with a fresh eye, getting newly inspired and coming up with ideas I hadn't had the first time around. I actually quite enjoy editing my own stuff that way, and I think it vastly improves the story, even if I'm the only one who'll ever read it.
I'm one of those people who never stops editing, even after the fic has been finished, beta'd and posted online. If I notice some small thing years later that I think needs to be changed, I'll go right back in and do it.
The ending: Is it hard for you to find the ending?
Not usually. I "feel" endings pretty clearly, most of the time, whether they be for chapters or entire stories. And if I'm not feeling an ending, I know that I need to try again. I think endings are one of my strengths, actually, if I'm having a good day on the keyboard.
The title: Where do you get yours? Do you have yours when you start the story?
God, I wish. Titles usually come last for me, unless I get insanely and unusually lucky. "Close and Stolen Moments" took FOREVER to come up with (and even that was entirely thanks to a frantic brainstorming session with torra) and "Shadow Moon" required some serious surfing on Google.
Right now I have a 15 page unfinished fic up on Google Docs that's still called "Untitled" and another I started last week that I've affectionally named "GODDAMMIT.txt."
Oh, and I also have something called "The Space Between" (unposted), the title of which came from a Dave Matthews song. It actually occurred to me about three paragraphs in, which I suppose would make it an exception to the above rule.
Plot: If you plot out your stories first, raise your hand.
Sweet baby Jesus, NO. Outlining a fic will absolutely 100% guarantee that I will never write it. Sometimes I'll plan things out in my head, in a really general sense. I'll get glimpses of scenes or certain bits of dialogue, but writing the entire thing out ahead of time absolutely murders my drive to write. I don't find the story interesting anymore if I already know, step by step and detail by detail, exactly what's going to happen. What's the point of writing it again?
I really only outline when I'm getting graded for it, and that hasn't happened in quite some time.
POV: How do you choose your POV for a scene? For a story?
That depends on the story itself, for pretty obvious reasons, I think.
In longer fics I tend to alternate POVs between (at least) two main characters, one per chapter. I've just always found that approach more interesting, from both a writing and a reading standpoint. With shorter things, like drabbles, I stick to a single POV.
Very rarely do I write fanfic in the first person, mostly because I'm terrified of descending into Mary Sue territory, which I personally always run the risk of doing with first-person stuff.
Challenge: Do you like them? Do they inspire you?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I haven't had much experience with challenges, to be honest, but the main problem I've found is that if I'm not in the mood to write, no challenge or prompt is going to change that, and guilt is not conducive to creative motivation. That's also why I've never once considered writing for Yuletide, or anything else of that sort (despite the fact that my only real, current fandom is tiny and would be perfect for Yuletide). I really don't think I'd enjoy it. It would be too much pressure, my muse is too damned fickle, and I wouldn't want to disappoint anyone.
I'm not one of those writers who can consistently crank things out in such a way, but I wish I was.
Sex: Do you like writing sex?
Sure. I haven't had much reason to do so, in the fandoms I've been involved in online, but I have no problem writing it. I wrote a scene last year (one of those "wild horse bunnies" mentioned above, inspired by someone else's fanfic, as ALSO mentioned above) that I'm actually really happy with, but it doesn't have a story to go with it anymore, so it's sitting on my hard drive waiting for a home. ::sad face::
Woo. That turned out longer than I expected.
Quick! What else?!
The Writing Process Meme:
Ideas: Where the hell do they come from? Can you make those little fuckers show up?
Well... yes.
Music, movies, TV shows, dreams, books, other fanfic, walks in the park, you name it, I can be inspired by it. Or I used to be, anyway. Ideas aren't really my problem, it's the execution that fouls me up.
Wild horse-bunnies: When a story just gets pulled right out of you. Do you get them?
Yep. In the past that happened to me fairly often. Lately, not so much, but when it does happen it's exhilarating and wonderful and MUCH easier to write. I usually think of the stuff that's "yanked" out of me like that as my best work, because it's oddly effortless and somehow that translates - for me, anyway - into higher-quality writing.
Plus I enjoy it a hell of a lot more, and isn't that the point?
Writer's block: Have you been scourged?
Is that a rhetorical question? Yes, of course. Absolutely.
98% of the time it's caused by some sort of problem with the story, a corner I've written myself into or a scene or character that's not cooperating (and not in a good way, either). Something's gone wrong in the writing process somewhere and mucked up the works. I usually have to back up and rewrite (or change direction in a fairly drastic way) to get things moving again.
Sometimes - though it's a lot more rare - I'll get knocked out of my groove by an outside source, and those times are a LOT harder to get past.
Right now, for example, I'm blocked by something that has nothing whatsoever to do with writing or fandom or anything else (brain chemistry sucks) but the result is still the same. And I'm not even trying to fight through it - which I normally WILL do, with "regular" writer's block - because this particular problem can't be solved in that way.
I suppose (I hope?) that I'll get back into the groove again eventually.
Clean up duty: Do you like editing?
Yes, actually, as long as I'm not working under some sort of terrible deadline. Most of the time I really enjoy the beta/editing process. As torra wrote, she and I make a pretty good editing team. We compliment and understand each other perfectly, if I do say so myself, which makes the whole experience a lot less painful.
Oh, and using Google Docs (HUGE thanks to bottledtime for the suggestion) makes the entire beta process SO. MUCH. EASIER. Seriously, I can't recommend it enough.
I also have to say, though, that I love reading through old fics I haven't worked on in six months or a year (or longer!) and looking at them with a fresh eye, getting newly inspired and coming up with ideas I hadn't had the first time around. I actually quite enjoy editing my own stuff that way, and I think it vastly improves the story, even if I'm the only one who'll ever read it.
I'm one of those people who never stops editing, even after the fic has been finished, beta'd and posted online. If I notice some small thing years later that I think needs to be changed, I'll go right back in and do it.
The ending: Is it hard for you to find the ending?
Not usually. I "feel" endings pretty clearly, most of the time, whether they be for chapters or entire stories. And if I'm not feeling an ending, I know that I need to try again. I think endings are one of my strengths, actually, if I'm having a good day on the keyboard.
The title: Where do you get yours? Do you have yours when you start the story?
God, I wish. Titles usually come last for me, unless I get insanely and unusually lucky. "Close and Stolen Moments" took FOREVER to come up with (and even that was entirely thanks to a frantic brainstorming session with torra) and "Shadow Moon" required some serious surfing on Google.
Right now I have a 15 page unfinished fic up on Google Docs that's still called "Untitled" and another I started last week that I've affectionally named "GODDAMMIT.txt."
Oh, and I also have something called "The Space Between" (unposted), the title of which came from a Dave Matthews song. It actually occurred to me about three paragraphs in, which I suppose would make it an exception to the above rule.
Plot: If you plot out your stories first, raise your hand.
Sweet baby Jesus, NO. Outlining a fic will absolutely 100% guarantee that I will never write it. Sometimes I'll plan things out in my head, in a really general sense. I'll get glimpses of scenes or certain bits of dialogue, but writing the entire thing out ahead of time absolutely murders my drive to write. I don't find the story interesting anymore if I already know, step by step and detail by detail, exactly what's going to happen. What's the point of writing it again?
I really only outline when I'm getting graded for it, and that hasn't happened in quite some time.
POV: How do you choose your POV for a scene? For a story?
That depends on the story itself, for pretty obvious reasons, I think.
In longer fics I tend to alternate POVs between (at least) two main characters, one per chapter. I've just always found that approach more interesting, from both a writing and a reading standpoint. With shorter things, like drabbles, I stick to a single POV.
Very rarely do I write fanfic in the first person, mostly because I'm terrified of descending into Mary Sue territory, which I personally always run the risk of doing with first-person stuff.
Challenge: Do you like them? Do they inspire you?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I haven't had much experience with challenges, to be honest, but the main problem I've found is that if I'm not in the mood to write, no challenge or prompt is going to change that, and guilt is not conducive to creative motivation. That's also why I've never once considered writing for Yuletide, or anything else of that sort (despite the fact that my only real, current fandom is tiny and would be perfect for Yuletide). I really don't think I'd enjoy it. It would be too much pressure, my muse is too damned fickle, and I wouldn't want to disappoint anyone.
I'm not one of those writers who can consistently crank things out in such a way, but I wish I was.
Sex: Do you like writing sex?
Sure. I haven't had much reason to do so, in the fandoms I've been involved in online, but I have no problem writing it. I wrote a scene last year (one of those "wild horse bunnies" mentioned above, inspired by someone else's fanfic, as ALSO mentioned above) that I'm actually really happy with, but it doesn't have a story to go with it anymore, so it's sitting on my hard drive waiting for a home. ::sad face::
Woo. That turned out longer than I expected.
Quick! What else?!