6. Do you plan your stories beforehand or go with the flow?
100%, I'm a pantser.
Every effort I have made to plan a story in advance has been a spectacular failure. Either the planning fails because I can't figure out how the story would work past a certain point or any interest I had in writing the story vanishes.
My typical "planning" is to start a story with a dialogue snippet or an overall objective, and then to see what happens.
Sometimes—as is the case with a story I'm currently writing—the idea that was the purpose of the story gets dropped. That's always fun. /s
It's always a balancing act between finding out what story wants to exist vs. what story I wanted to have exist.
For the most part, pairings are incidental to my fanfic choices, with the exception of a rare few that I want nothing to do with.
Two of my favorite character types are: The person who is trying to figure it all out (where 'it' is usually a superpower), and the person who is motivated by kindness and is trying to do the right thing in situations that don't have objective right paths.
One of my favorite pairing dynamics is two characters who have no reason to trust one another, thrown into a situation they would not have chosen to be in and needing to figure out how to work together. It's even better if the efforts result in them building some trust or goodwill.
There are a lot of characters who fit these general parameters, though I have found that the main character of shows often does not.
And now you see my draw to Scott McCall and Richie Ryan. :)
11. Which fanfic completely changed your brain chemistry?
So. Many.
The one that left the most indelible impression though would have to be "The Witness" by Michele Martin. I encountered this very early in my fandom journey and was so blown away by the idea of a 5-way crossover that it became my primary fanfic bucket item.
That’s so strange. It loads on my phone just fine. It doesn’t load on my tablet, though.
3. How long have you been writing?
I shared the first work I knew was fanfic in 1993.
As can be expected, I’ve been writing (mostly fanfic) for as long as I can remember.
However, I didn’t start writing in any dedicated way until 2011, when Teen Wolf bit me hard and I discovered non-Yuletide fic exchanges and Bingo events.
The number of total fics I posted between 1993 and 2011 is in the single digits. The number I posted in 2011 alone is not.
That's so interesting that you had such a big jump after 2011. I totally get how falling for a fandom can make us super motivated to write - especially Teen Wolf!! Most of my fics on AO3 are Teen Wolf fics even though I haven't written in that fandom in a while.
Some of it was merely a matter of building skills. Some of it was the environment. Fests and exchanges are very motivating for me, whereas writing on my own isn't.
Teen Wolf is also a prime fic playground because of how great the characters were and how poorly structured the story was.
Most of my fics on AO3 are Teen Wolf fics even though I haven't written in that fandom in a while.
Same, although I still write in the fandom occasionally for events. Even if I didn't, it would take a long time for any of my other fandoms to catch up.
Fests and exchanges are very motivating for me as well. Maybe it's because with an exchange, I know at least one person will read the fic!
So true, I love so many of the characters but the storylines are all over the place. Lots of room for exploration through fic. I think this year I might catch Teen Wolf if I write more MCU-related fic. That umbrella fandom fit a bunch of ships and is popular enough that it always gets requested for exchanges.
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100%, I'm a pantser.
Every effort I have made to plan a story in advance has been a spectacular failure. Either the planning fails because I can't figure out how the story would work past a certain point or any interest I had in writing the story vanishes.
My typical "planning" is to start a story with a dialogue snippet or an overall objective, and then to see what happens.
Sometimes—as is the case with a story I'm currently writing—the idea that was the purpose of the story gets dropped. That's always fun. /s
It's always a balancing act between finding out what story wants to exist vs. what story I wanted to have exist.
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Community energy.
If I had no one to write for except myself or some distant hope of publication someday, I'd never write
Therein lies the power of fandom, exchanges, and utterly obsessive discussions about 30 year old TV shows.
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For the most part, pairings are incidental to my fanfic choices, with the exception of a rare few that I want nothing to do with.
Two of my favorite character types are: The person who is trying to figure it all out (where 'it' is usually a superpower), and the person who is motivated by kindness and is trying to do the right thing in situations that don't have objective right paths.
One of my favorite pairing dynamics is two characters who have no reason to trust one another, thrown into a situation they would not have chosen to be in and needing to figure out how to work together. It's even better if the efforts result in them building some trust or goodwill.
There are a lot of characters who fit these general parameters, though I have found that the main character of shows often does not.
And now you see my draw to Scott McCall and Richie Ryan. :)
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So. Many.
The one that left the most indelible impression though would have to be "The Witness" by Michele Martin. I encountered this very early in my fandom journey and was so blown away by the idea of a 5-way crossover that it became my primary fanfic bucket item.
Someday. Someday, I, too, will achieve this.
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3. How long have you been writing?
I shared the first work I knew was fanfic in 1993.
As can be expected, I’ve been writing (mostly fanfic) for as long as I can remember.
However, I didn’t start writing in any dedicated way until 2011, when Teen Wolf bit me hard and I discovered non-Yuletide fic exchanges and Bingo events.
The number of total fics I posted between 1993 and 2011 is in the single digits. The number I posted in 2011 alone is not.
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Some of it was merely a matter of building skills. Some of it was the environment. Fests and exchanges are very motivating for me, whereas writing on my own isn't.
Teen Wolf is also a prime fic playground because of how great the characters were and how poorly structured the story was.
Most of my fics on AO3 are Teen Wolf fics even though I haven't written in that fandom in a while.
Same, although I still write in the fandom occasionally for events. Even if I didn't, it would take a long time for any of my other fandoms to catch up.
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So true, I love so many of the characters but the storylines are all over the place. Lots of room for exploration through fic. I think this year I might catch Teen Wolf if I write more MCU-related fic. That umbrella fandom fit a bunch of ships and is popular enough that it always gets requested for exchanges.