loaded_march

repna asked for "J", which is, Which fic has been the easiest to write?


*snort*

NONE OF THEM.

Are you kidding?  At absolutely no point in time is anything writing-related easy to write, but if it were easy, everyone would do it.  So I'll break it down a tiny bit.

The easiest fic to write in terms of I did not have to do as much research as I thought I would was: Stop Watching.  It wasn't easy to write because the emotional gut-punch of both of the main characters' situations was draining, but it was easy because I didn't have to do a lot of research about running, being a runner myself, and I hand-waved a few things about the cross-country program to make the story work.

The easiest fic to write in terms of I did not have to sell my right kidney for a plot was: Shadowlord and Pirate King.  Figuring out the story was actually a lot easier once I got past the whole sobbing and whining part of "how the hell am I going to make pirates and ninjas work together" aspect.

The easiest fic to write in terms of I did not have to worldbuild anything was: Gold and Glory, Heart and Home.  Not only did I happen to have recently purchased a book that had plenty of information on what it was like, living in the Old West, I'd also read it well before I even knew I was writing GG&HH.  It also helped that amphigoury already had a clear idea of a few scenes she wanted to see, and that I was completely on board with it.

The easiest fic to write in terms of I did not have to try to figure out what it's like for these characters was: We Are All Diamonds.

The easiest fic to write in terms of I have no idea what this would even look like was: Dragonlord!Fic, because of the whole Sword and Sorcery thing I'd posted about some time ago.

The easiest fic to write in terms of I have no idea what happens next was/is: the Loaded March series.  Although I have a very clear idea of how the story ends, I don't necessarily know how the story gets there, but I do have to admit that except for a few bumps, Loaded March has been pretty much a runaway train.

I kind of set myself up for this one with my last Writing Meme answer, and awyvern asked: Oh! Can I ask that question, then? Please?

The question in question is: in what other author's universe would you like to play in or what piece of artwork by any artist would you like to write a story for...


First, I've gotta say that I'm particularly susceptible to suggestion.  It doesn't take much for me to come up with ideas.  A picture, a line of lyric, imagery from a text, a line in a scientific journal -- you name it, something has spontaneously spawned a plot bunny.

For example, a two second scene from a perfume commercial kicked off the dragonlord fic.  An abstract from a scientific journal gave me an idea for the application of a special colloidal silver compound in the use of a werewolf serum for a TW fic.  A photograph of Chris Pine leaning against a classic car in the middle of a sandy desert is nagging me to write a 100,000 word original fic.  A phrase I can only assume came from a song lyric (I saw it on a Tumblr image) gave me the foundation for the characterization of an original character.  A conversation with a colleague to try to figure out a new way to approach a problem ended up spawning an apocalypse that doesn't involve zombies.

If I'm in the right mindset, it's really not hard to get blindsided with a new idea.


Sometimes, sometimes, I fall in love with an universe or a setting so much that I end up telling myself stories that are set in that universe.  It's almost like a non-stop movie running in my head.  Growing up, I used to create original characters and plop them in the middle of those universe -- MZB's Darkover series, or her Lythande, or Morgan Llewellyn's Red Branch.  Nowadays, I tend to live in universes of my own making.  Sometimes I write them.  Sometimes I don't.  It's really a lot of fun, testing the rules of the universe and seeing what options would work for a plot.

I'm a little hard-pressed to come up with an universe (that's not mine) that would make me want to play in it these days, especially since I've packed up all my books and can't throw out a list of universes that I love to read, so I won't.  And I don't remember fanfics worth shit (titles or authors always escape me, but describe the premise and I can tell you how the story unfolds), so that's out, too.

But what I do know is that, since I'm more susceptible to images of any kind, there's no shortage of artwork that would make me want to write something.  It's pretty much a given that anything by mushroomtale or amphigoury will make me want to pick up a pen and write.  There are gorgeous pieces by altocello and alby_mangroves that make me want to beg to write the scene.  And I only name these artists in particular because I've spoken with them on several occasions -- there are many, many, many other artists whose artwork I've seen in Merlin fandom that make me shake my head in awe.

Tumblr is a dangerous place for someone like me, by the way.  ALL THE ARTWORK.  OH MY GOD.

I have a Tumblr tag entitled "story ideas" -- things that triggered a plot bunny nesting.  I have a file folder of artwork that I've saved under a naming system of [username]_[website where found]_[basic gist of idea] -- my 2014 folder is 72 images in, and that's only because the year isn't over yet and I haven't had the time to really follow link after link to look at all the beautiful artwork that's posted online.  Interestingly enough, except for the artwork that I wrote RVBBs for, or Smoke and Mirrors, I haven't written a story based on a single piece of artwork, and I wouldn't, not without permisison.

lizzy61 also asked for F, which is: Share one of your weaknesses.


I will preface this by saying that every single person is most critical of themselves (unless they're narcissistic, in which case, more power for them!), and I'm no different.  I'm really critical.  I've never once looked back at something I wrote and thought that it was perfect.  I always tell myself, I could do better, and this is probably the number one reason I rarely reread anything I write.  If I do, I'll be overwhelmed by the urge to rewrite it, to fix it, anything, because it's a monstrous thing and I can't believe I flung this garbage out at people.

Share one of my weaknesses?  How can I do that when my weaknesses are all the things? Except action and fight scenes.  I'm happy with my action and fight scenes, though I admit that I could make them not as long?

I have a list of things that I don't do well, and that I'd like to improve on.  For example:

• Long, run-on sentences that, while being structurally sound, tend to go on for so long that by the end of it, I've forgotten the original point.


• Long, run-on sentences that don't even come close to the bull's-eye of being structurally sound, but that don't make sense.


• Long, run-on sentences that I don't even finish, but


• Repetition of words within sentences.  Or within paragraphs.  Or completely spraying a full page with a single word.


• ALL THE TYPOS.


• Bad slang usage.  Not doing my research properly.


• etc.

But those are structural things and can be easily fixed.  Basically, they are the end result of turning off your inner editor and just writing to get it on the page.


And there's the non-structural things that I suck at:

Crappy Visualizations:
Without fail, every beta who has gone through my fics has had to fix my sex scenes.  Happily, I can claim no mysterious "third arm" belonging to the same person, or a pretzel maneuver that would never make it into the Kama Sutra because it's frankly impossible.  But invariably, I will write something that makes absolutely no sense and that always makes me pull the What the fuck was I smoking? face when a beta points it out.

Who the What Where?
Insufficient descriptions.  Or insufficiently clear descriptions.  Sometimes a new person appears on the scene and I have no idea where they came from.

This Fight Scene Did Not Need to be 5000 Words:
However well I think I write fight scenes, I admit that in many situations, the fight scenes did not need to be as elaborate as they were.

The Corrollary to This Fight Scene Did Not Need to be 5000 Words:
Everything else doesn't need to be as freaking wordy as it is (see: the entirety of LM).  There are infodumps.  There are long explanations.  There is probably 5000 words somewhere that you could cut and never miss.  Hell, after I posted SLAPK, I realized I could easily cut 30,000 words, rewrite one chapter, and it would still be the same story, only stronger.

AND THERE'S MORE.  Just.  I'd like to leave this post with a modicum of self-esteem, thanks.

Actually, my self-esteem is fine, because I accept that I'm overly critical of my work, but I also accept that if I don't shut my inner editor in a dark dungeon somewhere, I will never finish anything and I'll never move on to the next thing.

The fics I post are the fics I write, warts and all, and you'd see them, too, if I didn't have the awesome betas that I have.

dorci_adelaida asked for "H", which is, Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.


My favourite, favourite piece of dialogue -- the one I can quote from memory even though it's been over a year since I wrote it -- is from an original fiction that is out on submission.  Regretfully, I won't be posting it here for reasons of not screwing my chances of getting it published.

Other than that snippet, I can't think of any particular bits of dialogue that stand out.  I mean, I've written so much that I honestly don't remember some of the things I've written.  So, instead, I'm going to share a bit of dialogue that I wrote recently and that I'm fond of.


Some background:  This snippet comes from a Teen Wolf fanfic that I haven't finished and have put aside for now.  It's an AU -- the Stilinskis have just moved to Beacon Hills and some variation of canon has happened, though with different outcomes.  Stiles is the new kid at school and he's barely been there a few days when he gets in a fight with Jackson, and Stiles' dad, who is the new Sheriff, is not happy when Mr. Whittemore gives him a call, wanting to press charges.

---

"In three minutes, Deputy Graeme is going to bring Mr. Whittemore and his son into my office.  You have exactly two minutes to give me one damn good reason why I shouldn't agree to every single one of his requests to punish you for what you've done."

Stiles pointed at his face by way of explanation.  Not even prompt application of an ice pack had managed to keep the worst of the swelling down.  There was a half-moon shiner forming around his eye, a blackening purple-green-yellow bruise spreading toward his cheek and temple, and a large scratch just over his jaw where he'd hit asphalt when the very not-entirely-human Jackson had thrown him across the school parking lot.

The Sheriff crossed his arms, squinted his eyes, and raised his brows, unimpressed.  Stiles flailed an arm in the air.

"He threw the first punch.  There are witnesses.  There's video footage from the school security system, pathetic as it is.  And he doesn't have a mark on him," Stiles said.

An eyebrow inched higher.

"I'm doing him a favour, thrashing his car --" both eyebrows dropped and there was a pinch between the Sheriff's eyes, as if he were in great pain.  "-- we both know his type.  He'll have a new Porsche by the end of the week, if not sooner."

Stiles glanced over his shoulder and through the glass door.  Mr. Whittemore gestured rudely in the air and Jackson was behind his father, looking smug and self-satisfied, but Deputy Graeme was, thus far, a pretty effective barrier.  When he turned back, the Sheriff unfolded his arms and stared pointedly at his chest as if to say, it's me you're talking to.

Stiles grit his teeth.

"He invoked mom," he admitted quietly, clenching his hands tightly to keep his magic from tickling down his arms and frying everything in the room.

---

Why I like it:

As new as Stiles is to BHHS, his dad is new to being Sheriff of Beacon Hills.  The last thing someone in his position would want is to have his own son up on assault and property damage charges by the most vindictive asshole attorney in town.  It does not reflect well on him as the new Sheriff, and he will do anything to make sure that his first impression on the citizens of Beacon Hills is a good one.

On the flipside, while the Sheriff knows damn whell what his son is like and isn't suprised by the fight, he's also well aware that Stiles wouldn't have gotten into a brawl if there wasn't a really damn good reason.  Because of that, he's prepared.  As soon as Whittemore called him up and started blasting in his ear about his delinquent son, the Sheriff did his homework on Whittemore and has an ace up his sleeve (which comes out in the next part).

But he needs a reason to use it.  That's why he's staring Stiles down.  He wants to help his son, and he will take an excuse -- any legally justifiable excuse -- to do it.

And he gets one -- Jackson incited the fight.  He also started it, it's on camera, but it's Stiles who escalated the situation when he took a bat to Jackson's car.  While I'm not a legal expert by any means, I do know that the guy who incited the fight can be charged and the assault charges laid on the other person (who "won" or "ended" the fight) dismissed.

And that's what the Sheriff would have pushed for, regardless of Stiles' answer.  But knowing that Stiles was triggered by Jackson mocking Stiles' mother --

Oh, no, no.  That just does not stand, not for the Stilinski men.  The next part shows the Sheriff not bothering to placate or defuse the situation.  He's very firmly on his son's side, and he's using (but not abusing) the power of his position to nail the Whittemores to the wall.

That's why I like this part.  Stiles means everything to the Sheriff, and the two of them are close -- closer than they are on the show by virtue of their situation in this AU.

sp_owl asked for "B", which is, Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?


Sure there is.  Though it's less of a trope and more of a genre, I suppose.  I'd love to write Dark!Fic.  The sort of Dark!Fic with morally ambiguous main characters with every sort of wrong and an ending that's a  psychological mindfuck for the reader.

I'm not sure what that would be in Merlin fandom.  Or in any fandom, really, even though I'm only in two.  But I have two different original fictions that fit the description.  They're crudely outlined, with only a few pages' worth of beginning, but that's it.  I haven't done much with them because I haven't figured out the story yet.

repna also asked for "S", which is: Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse?

( Sure do )

chasing_pillows asked for "W", which is, If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?



Ignoring the fact that I hate revising, if I were to revise -- and I will -- any of my older fics from start to finish, it would be the entirety of the Loaded March series.

I get a migraine just thinking about it, but yeah.  The entire series.

There are typos.  There are SPAG issues.  There are dropped sentences.  There are Americanisms/Canadianisms.  There are flagrantly mis-used British slang.  There are (unintentional) missing sections.  I might have botched on a couple of fight scenes (but luckily, no one has noticed, or have been too kind to point it out).  There are issues, all right?  They should be fixed.

If there's one thing I hate more than revising, which is something I despise with the intensity of one thousand fiery suns, it's not turning in a polished product.  So, yeah.  That would be why I will be revising the whole thing, though I admit it'll take me a while.

dorci_adelaida and keoki both asked for "G", which is, Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it. So two replies for this one -- one for fanfic, and the other for original fic.


I don't write prose often.  Or, more precisely, when I do, there's not a lot of it.  My writing tends toward the fast-paced, and I'm pretty sure that I sacrifice long descriptions and mood in favour of compact descriptions and quick mood-setters peppered through the text.  It's a sacrifice.  You can't have both -- Rather, I should say, I can't have both gorgeous descriptions and intense actions at the same time.  Maybe someone else, better skilled than I, can manage it.

Some fics just beg for it, though, like Gold and Glory, Heart and Home -- a Reverse BB I wrote for amphigoury's art.  You can't not write prose in that setting.

In my fanfic writing, I have a whole lot of snippets of prose that I love to pieces -- so much that they ended up on the cutting floor when I went into edits.  Sometimes, it just doesn't fit with the story or the frame of the writing, and it has to be removed.  That's what it means when someone gives you writing advice for editing and they tell you, kill your darlings.

So the first snippet is from a part of GG/HH that I had to cut, because it was an unnecessary prologue.  In a rewrite, parts of the snippet made it in the text, so I'll give you the before and after:

Before:
Some men went West for gold and glory.  Other men went West to run from their ghosts.

Other men... simply ran.  They ran West seeking new lives that were better than the ones they'd left behind, always afraid that someone or something would drag them back to their pasts.

Arthur looked over his shoulder every day, wondering who would come after him to force him to return to a home that wasn't home anymore, that probably had never been.


castmeaway, who was my beta for this RVBB, could tell you just how much I didn't want to cut this piece, but she was right, however grudgingly I admitted it -- it didn't work.  It was set as the prologue, and prologues, however brief, are kind of useless anyway.  It's wistful, and the tone of it is more a setup for a flashback into the past than a story moving forward.


After:
This was the West, a wide-open land of promises and new beginnings.  Most men came out this way in search of gold and glory.  Some men rode West with their hats pulled low over their heads and their collars up, running from their ghosts.

A rare few headed into the wild of the promised land seeking new lives better than the ones they'd left behind, always looking over their shoulder, afraid that someone or something would drag them back to their pasts.  Arthur knew that feeling all too well.


The prologue made a reappearance somewhere in the text, after the characters, the setting and the driving force had been established.  It's better, because it paints a better picture of what Arthur went through to get to the point in life where the story begins.  I like this snippet -- both of them, really -- because it's phrased in a way that Arthur denies that he's like anyone else (because this is Arthur, c'mon), even as he admits, yes, he's just like everyone else after all.


For original fic, there's several snippets from one work in particular that I love like mad, but won't share, because it's out on submission (again) in the hopes that it'll get picked up.  So for this part, I've dug up one of my short stories -- a very high fantasy piece that begs to be turned into a full novel (which is why I never submitted it) -- and I present to you the very beginning, and the beginning of the end.


One sidelong look was all it took, from traitorous servant to disguised assassin, and it was the end.  An untainted soul, a virgin blade, and the Lady Witch of Mendylar, Queen of Shandalyan, was dead.

It's two sentences.  And I could never bear to cut them or rewrite them, and I know they'll never reappear if I ever get a chance to rewrite it, because it needs more words.  But for a short story, it was all that it needed.  I love the rhythm of these two sentences, because it could easily be the first few lines of a minstrel song, even though it's curt and abrupt and not colourful at all.  Those two sentences detail what happened -- a deal between an assassin and a servant, the ingredients that were required to fell the most powerful person in the city, and together are the triggering weight for the full story.

uchiha_sister also asked for "L", which is: Is there a section of canon above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?


Actually, I have to go with no for this one.  I don't tend to write a lot of canon, so I can't say that canon inspires me.  What does get me going are character interactions or specific scenes.  Or, in the case of mushroomtale's art, an image, which triggered the closest thing to writing canon that I'll ever write (Smoke and Mirrors).

brunettepet also asked for "AB", which is: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

( Original Fiction )


( Fanfic Writers )