griseldabanks

[griseldabanks]

questions for fic writers

a collection of questions i, as a writer, would love to be asked !!!

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now!

6. What’s one fact about the universe of [insert fic] that you didn’t get a chance to mention in the fic itself?

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

9. How do you find new fic to read?

10. How do you decide what to write?

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

15. What’s your favorite AU that you’ve written?

16. What’s an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)?

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

18. If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it involve?

19. If you wrote a spin-off of [insert fic], what would it involve?

20. If you wrote a prequel to [insert fic], what would it involve?

21. If you wrote a “missing scene” in [insert fic], what would it be?

22. Who is your favorite character in [insert fic] and why?

23. What’s a trope, AU, or concept you’ve never written, but would like to?

24. Are there any easter eggs in [insert fic], and if so, what are they?

25. What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write?

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?

27. How long did it take to write [insert fic]? Describe the process.

28. Does anyone read your fics before you post them? If so, who?

29. What songs would be (or are) on a playlist for [insert fic]? Explain your choices if you want!

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

31. What’s your ideal fic length to write?

32. What’s your ideal fic length to read?

33. If you write chaptered fics, what’s your ideal chapter length to write? Is it different from your ideal chapter length to read?

34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?

35. What aspects of your writing are completely unlike your real life?

36. Do you visualize what you read/write?

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

39. Is any aspect of your writing process inspired by other writers or people? If so, who?

40. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

42. Have you ever received a comment that particularly stood out to you for whatever reason?

43. If you take/write prompts: what’s your favorite prompt fic that you’ve written?

44. If you take/write prompts: do you prefer dialogue or scenario/narrative prompts?

45. What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic?

46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write?

47. If [insert fic] was a pair of shoes, what kind would it be? Describe the shoes.

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about!

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why'd you choose your oc's name?

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Take Me In Chapter 47: Tell Me Why

While everyone tries to recover from the fight with Zemo, Steve dares to hope he might have a second chance at convincing his son that he loves him.

“Should I leave the light on?” Steve asked, remembering that Jake had woken from a nightmare not too long ago. Jake said nothing, holding very still. He didn't look anywhere near as relaxed as he had a moment ago. Steve hesitated. Dared he ask? He didn't want to get his hopes up, but.... “Maybe...I could stay...until you fall asleep. Would you like that?”

TW: referenced child abuse

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Bucky thought of returning to his room, lying down, staring up at the ceiling...closing his eyes and returning to that darkness.... A small hand covered his own. “If you're scared of nightmares, I can tuck you in.”

this week's word is...

Find the word in any WIP and share the sentence containing it. Reply, reblog, stick it in the tags, tag us in a new post, or keep it private. All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome.

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*This poll was submitted to us and we simply posted it so people could vote and discuss their opinions on the matter. If you’d like for us to ask the internet a question for you, feel free to drop the poll of your choice in our inbox and we’ll post them anonymously (for more info, please check our pinned post).

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And, just to round this off, the final character on the list...

Leon - One of the main characters from my medieval fantasy parody story. In a typical fantasy, Leon would be the protagonist. He's the feisty, impetuous youth who grew up on a farm that was then burned to the ground by the Dark Lord's minions, and so he took up a sword and went off to defeat the Dark Lord once and for all. Along the way, he becomes convinced that he must be the Chosen One - after all, look at all the signs pointing in that direction! - but whether he is or not remains to be seen ;) The only hitch in Leon going off and becoming a successful hero is that he discovers he's actually terrified of fighting, and tends to run away and hide once the rubber meets the road. He easily gets angry and fired up, rushing off into danger...but once that sword comes out, he suddenly remembers he's a teenage boy who has no idea what he's doing. Which is why he discovers he needs his companions to help him along the way. (After all, everyone knows evil is defeated by the power of friendship!)

Pick one of my characters that sounds interesting, and whichever one has the most votes will get a full description!

Feel free to do the same ;) Characters can be from fanfiction or original, they don't necessarily have to be a character you made up--the point is to have fun describing them.

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Vesper - One of the dragon riders from my dragon rider story, The Ambassadors. Which is not an anthro animal story ^^' Vesper is shy and timid on the surface, beaten down by various circumstances and, at the beginning of the story, kind of at the point of giving up on the idea that she actually has anything of worth to contribute. But then Shard and Shynael, the main characters, show up and befriend her! Or she befriends them. They find kindred spirits in each other, as seemingly the only people who don't take the war between humans and dragons as an inevitable part of life, but as something that there's actually hope of stopping. You'd think that would be a more common sentiment among the dragon riders, who are supposed to act as a liaison between the two races, but...therein lies a huge chunk of the tension in this story.

Vesper is kind, quiet, thoughtful, and would much rather just live in a peaceful little cottage in the woods with her green dragon, Vannasai. But when push comes to shove and the people she loves are in danger, she'll discover she actually has a backbone of steel.

Pick one of my characters that sounds interesting, and whichever one has the most votes will get a full description!

Feel free to do the same ;) Characters can be from fanfiction or original, they don't necessarily have to be a character you made up--the point is to have fun describing them.

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I want to go on the record and say that I always welcome constructive criticism, no matter the platform. (But like...it actually has to be constructive, not mean, you know XD) I guess maybe that makes me an outlier.

I've made friends on both sites, I've gotten lovely comments and total weirdos on both sites, but it's true that (before the art commission spambot apocalypse) FFNet seemed to foster more of the constructive feedback I've always craved. One of the biggest improvements in my writing came about as a result of a reviewer there saying, "Hey, I've noticed basically all your sentences are complete sentences in narration. You don't need to do that in creative writing, and it would actually make your writing feel less stiff and have more personality."

I've never gotten any comments like that on AO3, which basically means that I have no space where I might get that sort of feedback, other than my personal friends (which is always a little different, because they have much more invested in the relationship than a random internet stranger). And I miss that.

But then, FFNet was also a place where I got comments on "plot inconsistencies" of things I wrote that didn't happen that way in canon, because apparently AUs were a foreign concept to them. So I guess it's best not to keep the rose-tinted glasses on too long.

I just saw a Tik Tok that said writers on AO3 are not looking for constructive criticism in their reviews. I have no audience on this platform so I have to know if this is true? I've always left my pros and cons when reading a fic and now I'm concerned that the authors didn't like that.

Yeah writers are Not looking for criticism, constructive or otherwise. Unless they specifically ask for it, it’s considered rude and honestly a bit hurtful. In the least bitchy way possible, don’t do that. It’s unwanted.

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Something that's been knocking around in my head for a while: I think a lot of new writers get thrown off by their assumption that writing will be anything like reading. Reading is a dreamy, passive experience--scenes, dialogue, and description flow over you as you are taken under the writer's spell. Writing, on the other hand (with the exception, sometimes, of the first draft), is the laborious, almost mechanical-like task of putting narrative elements together so that the reader can lose themselves in your story. In short, reading and writing are very different experiences, and the assumption that they will be, or even should be, the same, is cause for much angst among new and experienced writers alike. It's a frustrating thing, because a love of reading is usually what gets people interested in writing in the first place. I've been writing for several decades and I still feel confounded by this clash--it's part of why I don't read much when I'm deep into my writing, and vice versa. And when I am writing, I constantly have to remind myself: Writing is not watching a magic show. Writing is figuring out how to smuggle the rabbit into the hat.

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25 from Let Me Count the Ways for John and Sherlock, please?

Ugh, I hate to have to do this, but I've been staring at this for over six months now, and I have literally no idea what to do with this at all, and I'm kind of regretting including that line of dialogue in the list in the first place, because I had an inkling this would happen x.x

Any chance you'd like to pick a different prompt, either for this duo or somebody else? ^^'

The list of prompts, in case you need them.

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reblog with a spoiler for your wip with zero context. no context allowed.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/55660189/chapters/163774384

In the hospital after bringing Zemo in, Steve clears a few things up.

“You know, sometimes you can be aggravatingly...magnanimous. I've had this whole conversation planned out for months—I was going to point out how self-righteous you always are, you were going to get offended, I had some snappy one-liners...it was a whole thing. But then you have to go and apologize and thank me, and...now I can't remember any of the stuff I was going to say. Except that I want to punch you in your perfect teeth.”

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sometimes the best writing advice is "just let it be bad." revolutionary. terrifying. but it works.

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Oooh, "epilogue"? What's that one about?

That's the "epilogue," for lack of a better word, to my Captain America fic Take Me Beyond (which is the yet-to-be-published companion fic to Take Me In). I've only written a couple chapters of the fic so far, so I really don't need to be writing the epilogue just yet, but you know how it is XD

Basically, the point of it is to show the readers how far we've come from the beginning of everything, how far the characters have come, and just kind of reassure everyone that everything is going to be okay (particularly because the epilogue happens in the summer of 2018, which in the MCU is when Thanos snaps half of the universe out of existence, but that doesn't happen in my AU because I said so :P).

It's especially fun because this is only the second time I've written anything from my OC Jake's POV:

Jake rested his head against her chest and let his eyes slide closed, listening for her heartbeat. She felt different from Daddy and Bucky and Uncle Sam—she didn't hold him as snug and tight most of the time, but she was very soft and warm. Like Lion, only a lot bigger and she hugged him back. And she always smelled really nice. For several minutes, they just lay there, warm and cozy. Mommy's heart went whump-thump, whump-thump, whump-thump in Jake's ear, not stopping for a single second. It made him think of that book Bucky had read with him last week, that explained how the heart was a muscle just like the ones in your arms and legs, only you didn't have to think about moving it. The heart just pumped blood all on its own, all day every day. Jake had asked if the heart also pumped love all around the body, and that was why love never stopped, like Daddy always said. Bucky had just laughed, and then gave him a kiss. Jake didn't get what was funny about that—but then, there were lots of jokes he didn't get. But he liked it when Bucky laughed. It made him look...soft. Not soft like Mommy. More of a Bucky kind of soft.

WIP Ask Game

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To all my writer friends who have too many ideas, but particularly @bunnyscar

fuck it. be creative even if you never really *make* anything. write out plot synopses of stories and then move on. design OCs you'll never use. make mood boards and concept art and don't do anything with them. life's too short to forget everything that inspired you and creation doesn't have to be "complete" to be worth the time you put into it.

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Friendly reminder to not punish yourself for creating. 

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WIP Game

RULES: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I was tagged by @dairogo - I'm still kind of warming up after a lengthy break from writing, so this seems like a great way to sort of remind myself what I've got going on ^^' I don't have a "WIP folder," and I have a bunch of story ideas not listed here that are always bouncing around in the back of my head, but I'll just list the ones that I'm "actively" working on (sorta):

5

25

clothes

Cosmic Eclipse

epilogue

See Through My Eyes

staron proposal + wedding + honeymoon

waves of darkness

Ummm...I'm not sure I can think of that many people that I'm sure have WIPs they'd like to share about, so I'll just leave this as an open tag.