#at least the fanfic people got a really good sandbox to write in

[kcscribbler]

20 Questions with a Fanfic Author

Thank you for the tag, @andthekitchensinkao3!

1. How many works on AO3?

Looks like 167, to date. I haven't yet reposted my ACD Sherlock Holmes or BBC Sherlock fics from ff.net to AO3, or a couple of the SPN fics, so the total count IDK.

2. Total AO3 Word Count?

1,889,222 right now. I believe I have about 1.5M in as-yet unposted from the above fandoms (another reason the cross-posting hasn't happened, lol).

3. Top 5 Fics by Kudos

Kudos aren't something I pay attention to, but it looks like:

Open Books & Closed Doors (Star Trek AOS, gen, 28K) 477 Kudos Five times Jim Kirk epically failed to keep a secret from his command crew, and one time his command crew kept it for him.

As a General Rule (Star Trek AOS, gen, 20K) 434 Kudos Five times Jim Kirk protected his crew, and one time they returned the favor

Watching the Watchman (Star Trek TOS, McSpirk vibes, 21K) 419 Kudos Five times Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock went all protective on Dr. McCoy, and one time McCoy showed them that he doesn't need y'all's coddling and can darn well take care of himself, thanks very much.

Living in the Shadows (Star Trek AOS, gen, 21K) 354 Kudos Five times Jim noticed one of his officers wasn't doing well, and one time they returned the favor.

My Captain (Star Trek TOS, Spirk vibes, 45K) 327 Kudos Five reasons why the crew of the Enterprise would follow James T. Kirk to Hell and back, and one reason why he would do the same.

We all like a good 5+1, don't we.

4. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, actively writing for the Loki fandom and kicking around some ideas for getting back into Star Trek TOS and AOS. Other potential fandoms can be seen on my pinned post, though I'm not actively looking at anything other than ACD Sherlock Holmes and potentially Good Omens.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I really try to, though I'm very behind on that at the moment. I've had very few spoons lately due to IRL things.

6. Angstiest Ending?

I dislike major character death, though I've written it (not recently, so I can't link to it). Since I tend to write for fun and don't find writing angst much fun usually, I don't write a lot of angsty endings. But the end of Act Two: Civil War was fairly angsty by my low standards.

7. Fic with the Happiest Ending?

I'm not sure my readers would agree, but I personally think the ending of the Storyteller series is the happiest. For me, it "fixed" the S2 ending without actually discounting the sacrifices of that story arc, and the older I get, the more attractive the idea seems, of just growing old peacefully being loved by someone special.

Otherwise, I'd choose Second-Best Destiny, my AOS/TOS crossover and Generations fix-it.

8. Do you get hate?

Not often, and not recently, since I turned off anon messages on Tumblr and deleted my ff.net profile (though oddly, I also got a lot of hate for doing that). Most people in my fandoms are lovely, as a rule.

9. Do you write smut?

I don't. I'm on the gray end of demisexual and don't really enjoy reading smut unless it also has great emotional connection, so I also don't really enjoy writing it. There are plenty of amazing writers who do write the spicy stuff very, very well, and so I think I'm good to just play in my corner of the sandbox.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not very often. They're super hard to do, and you have to really know both fandoms very well to do them properly, IMHO. I usually hyperfixate on only one fandom at a time, especially because my fics tend to be dialogue heavy and that gets diluted if I'm mixing fandoms.

I've written a few Star Trek AOS/TOS crossovers and one wild Star Trek TOS/Sherlock Holmes crossover that is still one of my favorite things I've ever written, but I haven't done one recently.

11. Ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. I've been made aware of them being circulated off-platform without my knowledge, which is a big ick, but at least no one's claiming them as their own.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Several times. It's super flattering! I have a blanket consent policy on my profiles for translation (or things like podfics, etc.), provided I'm credited with the original. I'm always amazed and honored when that happens.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic?

Several times and with a few different writers, though not recently. It was a super fun experience, and crucial to my development as a baby fic writer. But it does mean both parties have to have great communication and complementary styles, IMHO, to stay enjoyable to the end. Super fun if you have the right collaborator.

14. All time favorite ship?

I'd probably go with the OG and choose Kirk/Spock, because Star Trek TOS was a formative fandom experience, but I'm pretty ship-agnostic if the fic and characters are well-written.

15. WIPs you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My WIP "dump document" is over 100 pages long, so. Let's not go there.

16. Writing strengths?

Dialogue and plot twists, maybe. Over the last decade-plus, I've also developed a pretty solid process for ruthlessly cutting and editing, as well as being able to write out of order, which helps get around writer's block sometimes.

17. Writing Weaknesses?

Actual plots. 🤣 And descriptions. I tend to lean too hard into dialogue to carry a scene and then two pages later remember "oh right, they were supposed to be walking outside."

18. Thoughts on mixed language dialogue?

As a reader, I don't mind it if its basic meaning can be easily extrapolated from context. I would love to be multilingual, but I'm not, and it takes me out of the story if I have to scroll down to read a footnote and come back.

In writing, I presume that's the majority opinion and only use it if it can be extrapolated from context, unless it's plot-twist related (such as a communications breakdown and designed to increase the reader's confusion as well).

19. First fandom you wrote for?

ACC Sherlock Holmes, though I'm guessing most of the stories I wrote as a teenager were probably just unintentional Nancy Drew self-inserts.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

The Last Dream (Star Trek TOS, Spirk vibes, 15K) Missing chapter from the end of The Voyage Home, because I wanted more emotional resolution.

No-pressure tagging @elodiah, @lokimobius @in-my-loki-feels @justabigoldnerd @thewildballyntynesgrow

@tigereyes45 @strangenewwords @affixjoy and open tagging anyone else who wants to join!

[thisonesatellite]

Tagged by the always wonderful @fsbc-librarian -- thank you so much, darling! 💖💖💖

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

42 works

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

677,643 (how do i have so many?)

3. what fandoms do you write for?

MCU/Stucky -- this is my main focus and current sandbox. i love to play with these two. OUAT/CS -- that is where i started my fic writing journey and it still makes up the bulk of my works. i no longer write it, but it will always have a soft spot in my heart. Dramione -- i wrote one dramione fic a while back, and it is a ship dynamic i really enjoy. i still have one big, rather epic fic idea for it, too. Since this idea -- (and @mysteriouscatstellation) -- have been bugging me about it for over a year, i absolutely have to write it. Eventually. Obvi. (Actually, it's up next after i finish my East German Stucky Spy Lunacy, shhhhhhhhh.) Leverage -- i also have one Leverage fic. i have literally no idea how that happened. None. This fic basically walked out onto the page and said, my turn. 😂 It did give me a really good opportunity to create an original character though.

4. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

Always. ALWAYS. i love and appreciate each one, from a row of emojis to a page of analysis. i go back often and re-read them, just to motivate myself. People who leave comments are the real heroes. (Although i do understand that not everyone has the spoons to comment, and that's OK, too. Just know that if you leave me a single emoji i will love it no less than if you write a dissertation. 💖💖💖)

5. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that i know of. But i haven't checked either.

6. have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes -- The Sword and The Heart, an epic rewrite of OUAT S5 i tackled with the amazing @ohmightydevviepuu. If you have never collaborated with another writer, i strongly urge you to try it. i learned things about myself and my writing that i am still benefiting from to this day and i am immensely proud of what we created together. However, that is pretty much due to dev being the best collaborator ever. (Get yourself someone you trust and love and yet challenges you at every turn, is what i'm saying.)

7. what’s your all-time favourite ship?

That's a hard question, because affinity does change -- and why wouldn't it. We change, become different people, and sometimes the things we used to bleed for no longer resonate quite as hard. Like - my OG ship was Buffy /Angel, and i have the absolute soft spot of all time for them, but also i'm (obviously) no longer in high school and so the urgency has subsided. There have been a few other ships i've sideswiped over the years, characters i absolutely loved but never quite got 'ship-invested' in. (Shipvested? 😂) Personally, one factor is definitely that i did not know what a fandom was, or even that there was 'fandom' (as a concept, a community, a Thing) until Captain Swan tore a hole in my heart five years ago. i didn't really know what fanfic was. Or AO3. Apparently i live under a rock. But currently, the tl;dr is a dead tie between Stucky, Captain Swan, and James Holden /Naomi Nagata from The Expanse. With lots of honorable mentions bringing up the rear. 😂

8. what are your writing strengths?

Plot, dialogue, world building, and having characters stay true to their nature even when seen through various AU lenses, i think. Also action and fights and sometimes even battles. And i think i have a knack for letting exposition bleed through action and dialogue, instead of writing it outright. (That last one is a hard-won skill and kills me dead at least once a chapter, you feel me.) i also put a ridiculous amount of research into everything. Seriously, it's a sickness. i once spent more than two hours looking up radio dramas from the 30s that had a supernatural bent and might appeal to teenagers. For half a throwayway line. Possibly i should not list this as a strength. 😂

9. what are your writing weaknesses?

Smut. SMUT ALL THE WAY. i cannot write it, i don't know how. People who read my fic will always get shortchanged in the E department and for that i am sorry. But i really am completely useless on the smut front. And fluff. i can do soft scenes, but i cannot write pure fluff. i don't know how to do that either. i'll write a fucking coffee shop oneshot, or a thieves AU that doesn't even crack 5K, or even a BARTENDER fic, and yet complex back story and plot and action will still burst out from between the lines. All you people out there who can just tear off a sex scene or a fluff piece, i salute you. Also all you people who have multiple WIPs. i don't know how you do it. i can only ever write one fic at a time. You are all wizards, aren't you.

10. first fandom you wrote for?

OUAT /Captain Swan, back in 2019.

Zero pressure tags: @sparkagrace @cable-knit-sweater @bittersweet-in-boston @late-to-the-party-81 @metalbvcky @voylitscope

[ar-feyniel]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by the darlings @grandlovescheme and @anamazingangie, and since the only thing I love more than writing is talking about my writing until people tell me to shut up, here I am.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

33

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

365,863

3. What fandoms do you write for?

HOTD/ASOIAF - my personal opinion is this universe is the best for ficwriting in general since it's like a huge playground with many sandboxes. As for pairings - Daemyra is the dominant one but I also do Daemma and Daemon/Rhaenyra/Laena at times.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Maternal love

Violet-Eyed Jealousy

Passion driven

Armistice

Purrfection

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to. I usually reply before posting a new chapter or when I have a few recent one-shots. I haven't replied to comments on some of my fics when the fic means a lot to me emotionally, and I am not sure I would be able to reply and engage? Idk if it makes sense, but it was the case with "You're not my homeland anymore" - it was heavy to write, and I was not ready to reply to comments. But I re-read every comment at least a dozen times.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably squeeze, since it deals with heavy topics and doesn't really offer happy Daemyra. If not Daemyra, then you took everything from me.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I mean, Rhaenyra comes in every single fic I write so it counts as a happy ending for me. On a more serious note, I actually do not know. Maybe "A Birthday Present" since they run away and start a new life.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

It happens. I have been mostly spared compared to my fandom friends, but I had people criticize my writing and my plot ideas.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sometimes it feels like this is the only thing I do. I love different flavours of incest (gods, this sounded awful). Fingering is a must, unprotected sex is a treat, size kink is the default. Idk, I love writing about many things and pushing myself. I have even written foot fetish (which is far from my thing irl). I love experimenting with smut, and I am glad Daemyra is canonically codded to have the freakiest sex.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really. I love the ASOIAF universe as it is, and I think it offers me enough.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of. I would cry for days if I had.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I helped one person once. They ended up deleting the fic (no offence, it's their right!), but I felt really proud when they reached out and asked for tips and suggestions. I am always very open to brainstorming and helping, and I have written some of my friends' ideas.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Daemyra, if we judge by the number of fics I have actually written. Celegorm/Aredhel was my first ever ship - I got into fanfic because of them. Then there was a Jaime/Cersei phase.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a long outline (20+ chapters) for a fic where Rhaenyra gives birth to Daemon's child in the first year of marriage to Laenor. I wanted it to be really detailed, following the pregnancy and how Rhaenyra went from loathing the child inside her and the role of a mother to accepting it to loving her kid to forgiveness, but I don't think I will finish it in this lifetime - it's just too complex.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Ehhh... I hope I have some. I would say that I am quite good at conveying desperation - be it in angsty or sexy way. People also have been praising my characterisations - this is probably it because I managed to create an OC so realistic that it got his own universe lmao.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions for one. That's because I myself rarely care about what people are wearing, doing, or seeing when I read. Sometimes it's necessary for the plot or symbolism, but I am a dialogue girlie. I can write a whole chapter of them just talking or fucking, not giving you a single description. Also, I think I struggle with "flowery" language - English is not my first language, and I am very used to the idea of "less is more", so my writing tends to be dry at times.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

That is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I don't like it. One word for emphasis? Fine. The whole phrase in High Valyrian I need to scroll to the end of the fic to understand? I won't do it. I will just deduce the context, and that's it. I found that it rarely works as intended. Soves or kirimvose? Fine by me. A whole dialogue? Nah.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Silmarillion.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

This is hard. Probably Only then I am human - funeral sex somehow made me famous to an extent in the fandom lol? Although I wonder if it would turn out better if it was the current me writing it. But also we feel so good it's almost frightening - who knew I could enjoy writing non-con so much.

Tagging @laiwyah, @charlie-leau, @awfullylongtime but no pressure at all!

[little-fandom-gal]

It physically hurts me to see the direction Miraculous is heading. On one hand, we’re actually getting some linear movement! We’re finally getting relationship dynamics going on!! Heck, we got a lot of theories actually correct and get to see them play out!!!

On the other, the pace is still off, any previous character arcs have been either rushed beyond comprehension or turned around and forgotten about, and we’re at a point where I don’t even think a big reveal could save it for me personally. I came for the love square, stayed for the lore, and I guess now I’m just trudging along to watch the train when it inevitably falls off the tracks to crash and burn

[power-chords]

It must be doing the rounds. Twice on my dash now I’ve seen that old post that’s like, “A lot of fanfic is really GOOD, actually! As good or better than original published fiction!” (From what I understand this woman is not a troll, she’s just got weird opinions.) Every time I am like: what the fuck are you talking about? And it’s not that I’m a snob — enthusiastic King and Crichton reader, here — or that I’m goofing around in the wrong sandboxes. The quality:quantity ratio for fanfic is uniformly abysmal, almost as a rule. It’s to be expected. There’s no participatory bar to clear, zero barriers to entry. What are there, like seven million fanfics on AO3 as of 2020? Fiction writers who are good enough to get their original work published for money, who have finite amounts of time like the rest of us mortals, are less likely to be wasting it screwing around. And it is screwing around. Stop pretending it isn’t. That’s why it’s fun. Stop making it less fun, god damn it!!!!

Distribution curve aside, the standards for “good” fanfic* and “good” published original fiction are misaligned. It’s not even that fanfic audiences are more generous, or that fanfic writers are at least partially relieved of the structural legwork that forces you to develop as a storyteller, to earn a reader’s sustained interest and emotional investment. To say something meaningful and ideally vital. The basic motivation is just… sillier. Reading/writing fic is pure fantasy indulgence, it’s imaginary wish fulfillment and play, and it drives me nuts when people insist on taking it too seriously, robbing it of its essential ridiculousness and whimsy. At best you have annoying pedants sincerely arguing that Alighieri is bible fanfic, and at worst you have swarms of key-smashing Twitter psychos litigating the morality of (really, usually very mundane) erotica. Neither of those things are enjoyable for me, which is part of the reason my engagement with “fandom” is so… oblique? Hesitating? Neurotic? Like, embrace your own cringe but have some good humor and self-awareness about it, my god.

*What makes a “good” fanfic? I know what I’m looking for, personally: good prose (and it had better get its hooks in within the first two paragraphs), print-quality copy (no one cares about a stray typo here and there, but command of grammar/syntax is non-negotiable), believable characterization (you can nail all of the above and still just bomb this one, it’s the fanfic original sin of immersion-breaking, the risk you are automatically, continuously taking on), and clear mastery of the source material (writer did their homework). I want a deleted scene, or an aside, an epilogue or a prologue, some kind of in-universe expansion that allows me to spend more time in that world, to treat it as I would a theme park. If there’s some kind of identifiable, self-contained literary merit in there, that’s an added bonus. But the most important thing is that it be good enough — soup to nuts, from how well it flows to the scenario it’s pitching — to accomplish a baseline of faithful mimicry. I’m here to be momentarily fooled and taken along for the ride. I don’t expect complex narrative arcs and sophisticated themes in, let’s be real, 3k-15k words of “What if those two weird-looking dudes fucked that one time.”

But I DO expect them to fuck in a way where I don’t immediately roll my eyes and go, “Oh, come on, get real.” You know? So that’s the appeal. The challenge, the balancing act. This has gotta be the dumbest, most indulgent shit, but it also has to be like, OK, I could see it. I could envision this happening very easily, in my mind’s eye. You’ve sold me. I treat fanfic like a fictionalized research paper at the end of the semester: “Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the curriculum. You can make it horny for extra credit.”

[shadowmaat]

Realms of Ruin

I caught the tail end of this debacle right before the whole thing went up in smoke and boy howdy was it a short but wild ride.

For those who missed it, "Realms of Ruin" was going to be a grand collaborative project featuring six YA authors, their fans, and a whole big world to play in. Sounds cool, right? Mmm... There are a few tiny little caveats to that.

(original credit for the screencap goes to Amanda Woody on twitter. I think it came from a site/post that has since been deleted.)

So, yes, it was going to be a fun sandbox, but it was predicated entirely on N.F.T.s. You know, those bitcoin pyramid schemes where people pay ridiculous amounts of money for a screencap so they can pretend they own exclusive rights to it, all while speeding up the destruction of the environment?

Oh, but it's okay, because these N.F.T.s would be on an "environmentally friendly" blockchain that wouldn't destroy the planet! Kinda like how the oil pipelines are totally safe and never break.

It's hard to know where to start with all of this. Authors trying to cash in on the N.F.T. craze is bad enough. Like, did none of them do their research on this? Also, they're YA authors so their target audience is young teens who wouldn't be old enough to buy the cryptocurrency necessary to pay off the authors to play in their sandbox. There was some vague talk about setting up some kind of pool of funds to help kids with that, and if that sounds like trying to get kids into an early debt, well, shhh! What do you know about it anyway?

For a group of supposedly intelligent, well-read authors, not a lot of thinking seemed to go into this project and even though it was set to debut in a month, they had no answers to even the most basic questions. Like the issue of copyright. Or concerns of plagiarism. Or how payment was supposed to work out, anyway. Especially if kids had to take out of the "pool" in the first place. Would they even be able to make money if their ideas got popular? Or would they have to pay back their debt first? Given interest rates and the wildly fluctuating value of digital currency, would kids EVER get themselves out of the hole?

HOWEVER. I think what bothers me the most about this is the way it preys on fans and tries to commodify fanfic in a new and terrible way. Set aside the whole ticking timebomb of N.F.T.s and you still have a bunch of authors who basically expect children to pay them for the right to write fics of their stuff. And then maybe if their stuff is super good and popular the authors might deign to make it canon. Or, y'know, just borrow the ideas and rewrite them themselves. I've seen whole huge essays on why authors are legally discouraged from reading fics of their stuff so they don't accidentally copy ideas from fans (or find out that fans have already guessed where they're going and thus force them to change paths). This whole scheme would have authors actively reading fics. And what measures are in place to make sure they don't simply steal ideas for themselves? Even if accidentally? Well, they'll have to get back to you on that one, but rest assured, these are trustworthy authors who would never do something like that!

How does the copyright work? Yeah, they don't have answers for that yet. But they will! Promise! Who's protecting the fic authors and their rights? Good question. We'll let you know when we find out! How does payment work? Another good question! We don't have that information yet. What happens if there's a dispute? Damned if we know, but with such a loving community of fans and authors, how could there ever be a dispute in the first place? What proof do you have that this blockchain really is environmentally friendly? Well, they told us they were and they seem nice, so there.

Like, the whole thing is a shitshow of idealistic visions backed up by no facts whatsoever. It's like Dashcon and Fyre Festival, but for books. At least this one got nipped in the bud before it could take off. By which I mean the authors have been deleting all their tweets about it, the official account for it has disappeared, the Discord Server has gone Read Only, and at least one article I saw about it has been deleted.

Look, collaborative works are a fun playground. Having a whole open world to play in sounds great. But there are also very good reasons why fanfic can't be turned into profits, and the idea of having to pay for the right to write fanfic is just terrible. Sure, you can say that you pay for the books you read and then write about, or you pay for the cable/streamer that airs the show(s) you fic, but that's nowhere near the same thing. Especially since things like libraries and torrents exist. And, y'know, if we're talking about young teens and preteens, chances are they aren't the ones paying the bills anyway.

If I want to write fic, I'll write fic. I don't need to pay an author or their snake oil salesmen for the "privilege" to write in some exclusive sandbox. I don't need senpai to notice me and deem my fic "worthy." In fact, I'd prefer if the creators didn't read my stuff. And not just because of the legal headaches it might entail. My fics are for me and for other fans. That's it.

[kedreeva]

Man, the amount of still people not accepting that "unsolicited crit is unneccesary". Sure, once upon a time it was an accepted part of fanfic culture! You posted a story and you expected at least some unsolicited critique!

But that isn't the culture anymore. I think that's awesome. Crit should always be "opt in".

The thing is.......... even back when it was “expected” that you’d get crit, even when back when it was widely held that you had to accept “polite” crit..... so many people didn’t LIKE it. They did it - hell, *I* did it - because they were told that that was the expectation. That they HAD to accept crit with a smile or they couldn’t play in the sandbox.

And like, yeah, sure, SOME people were genuinely there to “improve” as a writer in preparation for writing original stuff but like........ in the same vein as my previous point..... how many people actually WANTED to use fanfic as a stepping stone? No one that genuinely wanted to write original work also genuinely wanted to write fanfic first; we did it because it was WAY easier to get validation for our writing while doing fanfic. There was a time when I really, really wanted to write original, but putting original work online back then meant maybe a dozen views, and you were lucky to get one or two comments at all. People just... were not reading original fic online back then.

So you got this weird mix of people who wanted to write original but were mixed into the fanfic crowd for the feedback, and people who wanted to write fanfic for the joy of it who were posting just because they wanted to share with their fandom for the joy of it, but the latter group had to accept the “rules” of the former group because the former group HEAVILY used shame to control the realm: ie, if you don’t want crit you’re not a REAL writer, and the ONLY reason people write fanfic is to practice being a REAL writer.

and then self publishing dawned, and print-on-demand, and the internet performed a pretty goddamn big bang, and in that turmoil, AO3 separated from older platforms and became a fan-run space specifically for fans and fan content, and with it, the idea that people could just write fan content for fun. There’s not fictionpress mirror. There’s very, very little mixing of original work and fan work, very little original work at all; it’s actually SORT OF prohibited.

and....... importantly........ the title of the box at the end of stories changed from saying “review” to saying “comment” and the shift began

and at some point, fandom also started to become more mainstream, followed by the idea that.... fanfic is a legitimate genre of its own, with its own rules, it’s own etiquette and style and language even. It became a thing people could just do for fun, as a hobby of its own, without being beholden to “improving” or using it as some kind of stepping stone. Fanfic became an end goal for many. Money is not a part of (and cannot be a part of) the equation for fanfiction, and so it is done as a thing of pleasure.

And there are people who hate that idea and cannot fathom someone doing something just for the hell of it. If someone does something without the express intent to get good enough to monetize it, then why bother doing it? They don’t understand at all.

Which is why they don’t understand the culture shift to “crit is now opt in, and shouldn’t be given except by request” because that means there are people out there doing this for some reason they don’t understand.

And to that I can only say.... I hope that they rediscover doing things for the joy of it. And I hope no one is there waiting to take it away because of outdated beliefs.

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Syntax6

Syntax6 has 17 stories at Gossamer, but you should visit her website for the complete collection of her fics and to see the cover art that comes with many of the stories (and to find her pro writing!). She's written some of the most beloved casefiles in the fandom. I've recced literally all of them here before. Twice. Big thanks to Syntax6 for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I’m delighted but not surprised because I’ve written and read fanfic for shows even older than XF. Also, I joined the XF fandom relatively late, at the end of 1999, so there were already hundreds of “classic” fics out there, stories that were theoretically superseded or dated by canon developments that came after them, but which nonetheless remained compelling in their own right. That is the beauty of fanfic: it is inspired by its original creators but not bound by them. It’s a world of “what if” and each story gets to run in a new direction, irrespective of the canon and all the other stories spinning off in their own universes. In this way, fanfic becomes almost timeless.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it? What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

(I feel these are similar, at least for me, so I will combine them here.)

First and foremost, I found friends. There was a table full of XF fanfic writers at my wedding. Bugs was my maid of honor. I still talk to someone from XF fandom pretty much every day. Lysandra, Maybe Amanda, Michelle Kiefer, bugs…these are just some of the people who’ve been part of my life for half my existence now. Sometimes I get to have dinner with Audrey Roget or Anjou or MCA. Deb Wells and Sarah Ellen Parsons are part of my pro fic beta team. I have a similar list from the Hunter fandom, terrific people who have enriched my life in numerous ways and I am honored to count as friends.

Second, I learned a lot about writing during my years in XF fandom. I grew up there. Part of this growth experience was simply due to practice. I wrote about 1.2 million words of XF fanfic, which is the equivalent of 15 novels. I made mistakes and learned from them. But another essential part of learning is absorbing different kinds of well-told tales, and XF had these in spades. Some stories were funny. Others were lyrical. Some were short pieces with nary a word wasted while others were sprawling epics that took you on an adventure. The neat thing about XF is that it has space for many different kinds of stories, from hard-core sci-fi to historical romance. You can watch other authors executing these varied pieces and learn from them. You can form critique groups and ask for betas and get direct feedback on how to improve. It’s collaborative and fun, and this can’t be underestimated, generally supportive. The underlying shared love of the original product means that everyone comes into your work predisposed to enjoy it. I am grateful for all the encouragement and the critiques I received over my years in fandom.

Finally, I think a valuable lesson for writers that you can find in fandom, but not in your local author critique group, is how to handle yourself when your work goes public. Not everyone is going to like your work and they will make sure you know it. Some people will like it maybe too much, to the point where they cross boundaries. Learning to disengage yourself from public reaction to your work is a difficult but crucial aspect of being a writer. You control the story. You can’t control reaction to it. It’s frustrating at first, perhaps, but in the end, it’s freeing.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

I participated in ATXC, the Haven message boards, and the Scullyfic mailing list/news group. For a number of years, I also ran a fic discussion group with bugs called The Why Incision.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I started reading XF fanfic before I began watching the show. I had watched one season two episode (Soft Light) and then seen bits and pieces of a few others from season four. I’d seen Fight the Future. Basically, I’d seen enough to know which one was Mulder and which one was Scully, and which one believed in aliens. An acquaintance linked me to a rec site for XF fanfic (Gertie’s, maybe?) so that I could see how fic was formatted for the web. I clicked a fic, I think it was one by Lydia Bower dealing with Scully’s cancer arc, and basically did not stop reading. Soon I was printing off 300K of fic to take home with me each night. I could not believe the level of talent in the fandom, and that there were so many excellent writers just giving away their works for free. I wanted to play in this sandbox, too, so I started renting the VHS tapes to catch up on old episodes (see, I am An Old). After a few months, I began writing my own stuff.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to The X-Files. I’m not a sci-fi person by nature. I think my main objection is that, when done poorly, it feels lazy to me. Who did the thing? A ghost! Maybe an alien? I guess we’ll never know. You can always just shrug and play some spooky music and the “truth will always be out there…” somewhere beyond the story in front of you. You never have to commit to any kind of truth because you can invent some magical power or new kind of alien to change the story. I think, by the bitter end, the XF had devolved into this kind of storytelling. The mytharc made no kind of sense even in its own universe. But for years the XF achieved the best aspects of sci-fi storytelling—narrative flexibility and an apotheosis of our current fears dressed up as a super entertaining yarn.

What eventually sold me on the XF as a show is all of the smart storytelling and the sheer amount of ideas contained within its run. At its best, it’s a brilliant show. You have mediations on good versus evil, the role of government in a free society, is there a God, are we alone in the universe, and what are the elements that make us who we are? If Mulder and Morris Fletcher switch bodies, how do we know it’s really “them”? The tonal shifts from week to week were clever and engaging. For Vince Gilligan, truth was always found in fellow human beings. For Darin Morgan, humans were the biggest monster of all. The show was big enough to contain both these premises, and indeed, was stronger for it. The deep questions, the character quirks, the unsolved mysteries and all that went unsaid in the Mulder-Scully relationship left so much room for fanfic writers to do their own work. As such, the fandom attracted and continues to attract both dabbling writers and those who are serious craftspeople. People who like the mystery and those who like the sci-fi angle. Scientists and true believers. Like the show, it’s big enough for all.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I look at it like an old friend I catch up with once in a while. We’ve been close for so long that there’s no awkwardness—we just get each other! I love seeing people post screen shots and commentary, and I think it’s wonderful that so many writers are still inventing new adventures for Mulder and Scully. That is how the characters live on, and indeed how any of us lives on, through the stories that others tell about us.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I ran the Hunter fandom for about five years, mostly because when I poked my head back in, I found the person in change was a bully who’d shut down everything due to her own waning interest. A person would try to start a topic for discussion, and she’d say, “We’ve already covered that.” Well, yes, in a 30-year-old show, there’s not a lot of new ground…

Most other shows, Hunter included, have smaller fandoms and thus don’t attract the depth of fan talent. I don’t just mean fanfic writers. I mean those who do visual art, fan vids, critiques, etc. The XF fandom has all these in droves, which makes it a rare and special place. But all fandoms have the particular joy of geeking out over favorite scenes and reveling in the meeting of shared minds. It will always look odd to those not contained within it, which brings me to the part of modern fandom I find somewhat uncomfortable…the creators are often in fan-space.

In Hunter, the female lead joins fan groups and participates. This is more common now in the age of social media, where writers, producers, actors, etc., are on the same platforms as the rest of us. Fan and creator interaction used to be highly circumscribed: fans wrote letters and maybe received a signed headshot in return. There were cons where show runners gave panels and took questions from the audience. You could stand in line to meet your favorite star. Now, you can @ your favorite star on Twitter, message her on Facebook or follow him on Instagram. In some ways, this is so fun! In other ways, it blurs in the lines in ways that make me uncomfortable. I think it’s rude, for example, if a fan were to go on a star’s social media and post fanfic there or say, “I thought the episode you wrote was terrible.” But what if it’s fan space and the actor is sitting right there, watching you? Is it rude to post fanfic in front of her, especially if she says it makes her uncomfortable? Is it mean to tell a writer his episode sucked right to his face?

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I own the first seven seasons on DVD and will pull them out from time to time to rewatch old faves. I’ve shown a few episodes over the spring and summer to my ten-year-old daughter, and it’s been fun to see the series through her eyes. We’ve mostly opted for the comedic episodes because there’s enough going on in the real world to give her nightmares. Her favorite so far is Je Souhaite.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I don’t have much bandwidth to read fanfic these days. My job as a mystery/thriller author means I have to keep up with the market so I do most of my reading there right now. I also beta read for some pro-fic friends and betaing a novel will keep you busy.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

I read so much back in the day that this answer could go on for pages. Alas, it also hasn’t changed much over the past fifteen years because I haven’t read much since then. But, as we’re talking Golden Oldies today, here are a bunch:

All the Mulders, by Alloway I find this short story both hilarious and haunting. Scully embraces her power in the upside down post-apocalyptic world.

Strangers and the Strange Dead, by Kipler Taut prose and an intriguing 3rd party POV make this story a winner, and that’s before the kicker of an ending, which presaged 1013’s.

Cellphone, by Marasmus Talk about your killer twists! Also one of the cleverest titles coming or going.

Arizona Highways, by Fialka I think this is one of the best-crafted stories to come out of the XF. It’s majestic in scope, full of complex literary structure and theme, and yet the plot moves like a runaway freight train. Both the Mulder and Scully characterizations are handled with tender care.

So, We Kissed, by Alelou What I love about this one is how it grounds Mulder and Scully in the ordinary. Mulder’s terrible secret doesn’t involve a UFO or some CSM-conspiracy. Scully goes to therapy that actually looks like therapy. I guess what I’m saying is that I utterly believe this version of M & S in addition to just enjoying reading about them.

Sore Luck at the Luxor, by Anubis Hot, funny, atmospheric. What’s not to love?

Black Hole Season, by Penumbra Nobody does wordsmithing like Penumbra. I use her in arguments with professional writers when they try to tell me that adverbs and adjectives MUST GO. Just gorgeous, sly, insightful prose.

The Dreaming Sea, by Revely This one reads like a fairytale in all the best ways. Revely creates such loving, beautiful worlds for M & S to live in, and I wish they could stay there always.

Malus Genius, by Plausible Deniability and MaybeAmanda Funny and fun, with great original characters, a sly casefile and some clear-eyed musings on the perils of getting older. This one resonates more and more the older I get. ;)

Riding the Whirlpool, by Pufferdeux I look this one up periodically to prove to people that it exists. Scully gets off on a washing machine while Mulder helps. Yet it’s in character? And kinda works? This one has to be read to be believed.

Bone of Contention (part 1, part 2), by Michelle Kiefer and Kel People used to tell me all the time that casefiles are super easy to write while the poetic vignette is hard. Well, I can’t say which is harder but there much fewer well-done casefiles in the fandom than there are poetic vignettes. This is one of the great ones.

Antidote, by Rachel Howard A fic that manages to be both hot and cold as it imagines Mulder and Scully trying to stay alive in the frosty wilderness while a deadly virus is on the loose. This is an ooooold fic that holds up impressively well given everything that followed it!

Falling Down in Four Acts, by Anubis Anubis was actually a bunch of different writers sharing a single author name. This particular one paints an angry, vivid world for Our Heroes and their compatriots. There is no happy ending here, but I read this once and it stayed with me forever.

The Opposite of Impulse, by Maria Nicole A sweet slice of life on a sunny day. When I imagine a gentler universe for Mulder and Scully, this is the kind of place I’d put them.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Bait and Switch is probably the most sophisticated and tightly plotted. It was late in my fanfic “career” and so it shows the benefits to all that learning. My favorite varies a lot, but I’ll say Universal Invariants because that one was nothing but fun.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I never say never! I don’t have any oldies sitting around, though. Everything I wrote, I posted.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I write casefiles…er, I mean mysteries, under my own name now, Joanna Schaffhausen. My main series with Reed and Ellery consists of a male-female crime solving team, so I get a little bit of my XF kick that way. Their first book, The Vanishing Season, started its life as an XF fanfic back in the day. I had to rewrite it from the ground up to get it published, but if you know both stories, you can spot the similarities.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

The answer any writer will tell you is “everywhere.” Ideas are cheap and they’re all around us—on the news, on the subway, in conversations with friends, from Twitter memes, on a walk through the woods. My mysteries are often rooted in true crime, often more than one of them.

Each idea is like a strand of colored thread, and you have to braid them together into a coherent story. This is the tricky part, determining which threads belong in which story. If the ideas enhance one another or if they just create an ugly tangent.

Mostly, though, stories begin by asking “what if?” What if Scully’s boyfriend Ethan had never been cut from the pilot? What if Scully had moved to Utah after Fight the Future? What if the Lone Gunmen financed their toys by writing a successful comic book starring a thinly veiled Mulder and Scully?

Growing up, I had a sweet old lady for a neighbor. Her name was Doris and she gave me coffee ice cream while we watched Wheel of Fortune together. Every time there was a snow storm, the snow melted in her backyard in a such way that suggested she had numerous bodies buried out there. How’s that for a “what if?”

What's the story behind your pen name?

I’ve had a few of them and honestly can’t tell you where they came from, it’s been so long ago. The “6” part of syntax6 is because I joke that 6 is my lucky number. In eighth grade, my algebra teacher would go around the room in order, asking each student their answer to the previous night’s homework problems. I realized quickly that I didn’t have to do all the problems, just the fifteenth one because my desk was 15th on her list. This worked well until the day she decided to call on kids in random order. When she got to me and asked me the answer to the problem I had not done, I just invented something on the spot. “Uh…six?”

Her: “You mean 0.6, don’t you?”

Me, nodding vigorously: “YES, I DO.”

Her: “Very good. Moving on…”

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

My close friends and family have always known, and reactions have varied from mild befuddlement to enthusiastic support. My father voted in the Spookies one year, and you can believe he read the nominated stories before casting his vote. I think the most common reaction was: Why are you doing this for free? Why aren’t you trying to be a paid writer?

Well, having done both now, I can tell you that each kind of writing brings its own rewards. Fanfic is freeing because there is no pressure to make money from it. You can take risks and try new things and not have to worry if it fits into your business plan.

(Posted by Lilydale on September 15, 2020)

[serendipitous-magic]

what's your writing process like? do you plot things out beforehand? or do you sort of write it as it comes? a mix of both?

Depends on what I'm writing!

In general I'm a planner. I can't write from a blank page, unless I'm just like... really really captivated by whatever I'm writing, which was what happened with the first chapters of both The Art of Living Your (Second) Life and The Partnership Plan.

a) In general, if it's a fanfiction I'm writing, I tend to build the plan as I write - meaning, oftentimes I'll be inspired to write the first chapter, and I'll write that with little idea what the rest of it will be. Or, even if I have an idea what the rest will be, it's more of a vague skeleton than a full plan. And then, as I continue to write, I think more about where the story is going and I continuously add to and refine my plan kind of alongside the actual writing. In this way, the plan grows at the same time that the actual chapters do - but because the chapters take significantly longer to write than planning does, the plan outpaces the "real" writing and I usually know the basic story arc from fairly early on. Then it's just a matter of fleshing it out, adding detail, writing down scenes I thought of, etc. And then when I get to that point in the actual writing, I have a framework in place already.

-_-_-

b) Sometimes for fanfic, I have a more complete plan upfront - although I use "complete" here to mean "from beginning to end," not "completely detailed." So, more like a full skeleton than a full body, if that makes sense. I did that with Roll for Strength. What usually happens is that my plan will look something like...

...

Chapter One

-Will suspects Mike has a girlfriend and is kind of put out about it but thinks he's over Mike so he tells himself he doesn't care

-Will walks in on Mike and his BF (name??) and has a crisis (they don't see Will, so Will knows about Mike but Mike doesn't know that Will knows)

-Will might get off to that later, guiltily? (Or move to chapter two)

Chapter Two

-Do Mike's POV to tell about how he ended up dating a guy, how he got very disillusioned with the world after canon events and got into a "fuck it, the rules don't matter and I hate them anyway" mentality, which eventually snowballed into him kind of realizing and accepting his sexuality earlier than usual fanon

-Also introduce BF (name??) in a scene

-Set time and place - season should set the mood if not already mentioned in Ch 1

-Maybe also do BF's POV briefly to introduce him?? Or leave that for later

...

Etc.

And that's the original skeleton plan. And then it gets expanded upon more and more and more as I continue to think about the story, sometimes even with full pages' worth of unbroken text blocks as I get inspired and start basically thought-vomiting an entire scene. So by the time I get around to actually writing it, it might look like the above, or it might be a few steps shy of an actual draft already, depending on how much I've thought about / worked on that part.

See #5 in this writing advice post to see what I mean about a "thought vomit" draft.

-_-_-

c) Here's the thing - the above was for fanfic, or for short stories, or stories that I'm just kind of having fun with.

For original stuff, I adhere much more tightly to the "rules," because the guidelines for original work (that you might try to publish in the actual publishing market) are much stricter - and for good reason! Fanfiction is a sandbox, and we're all invested in the characters and worlds and settings already. We're all reading and writing fanfic because we already love these characters and this world, and we just want to play in it.

It's a different situation with original novels that you hope to publish. The plot, pacing, tension, and story beats have to be much, much tighter and more polished. Because people reading original work have no prior reason to be invested in it or care what happens - that's work that you have to do. For fanfic, that work was done for you by the original thing. Not to mention, the publishing world is so absolutely choked with competition, and the emphasis lies so heavily on sales, that if your book isn't fucking top-tier compelling, no publisher or agent will take a second look at it. Which is kind of unfortunate, because there's value in slower, more relaxed, more reflective storytelling, too - it's just not what capitalism has decided to value, which is sad.

But anyway.

When writing an original thing, I basically need a full plan - beginning to end, covering all plot points. Not necessarily all the details, just all the plot points - I need a skeleton and I need connective tissue. The rest comes later. But to start, I need to know what happens, why, and how the characters get from event to event. I need to know the physical story events, the emotional beats, and how those things logically flow throughout the story.

Some people can write without this and it still turns into a compelling story, tight narrative, etc. I envy these people. I have all respect for these people. I cannot do this. If I write original work with no plan, and especially without at least like 50-75% of a plan, I end up with something slow, meandering, and kind of limp. No bueno.

So, I usually use a beat sheet.

What's a beat sheet?

It's a 15-beat plotting structure used by screenwriters. And, yeah, technically it's for movies / screenplays. But storytelling is storytelling. And it's highly flexible. (And my favorite professor ever taught it to me in college so you can pry it out of my cold dead hands.)

Google it. It's what I use to make sure my (original work) plots are tight, have momentum, have a satisfying character arc, etc.

Okay, okay, I'll paste the basic structure below just so you can see wtf I'm talking about:

-_-_-

-Act I:

1) The First Frame

-What is the first thing we see? This should be a snapshot of the main character’s problem, before the story begins

-Ex: the Star Destroyer in A New Hope

2) The World Around Us

-What is the main character’s world like at the beginning of the story?

-What is missing in the main character’s life?

3) State the Theme (sneak this into The World Around Us)

-What is the story secretly about? This should happen during The World Around Us

4) Inciting Incident (smol tentpole)

-What happens to put the hero on the road? This is where the hero’s life changes forever.

5) The Hero Questions

-1st introspective moment

-Can the hero really do this? Should the hero chicken out?

-Oftentimes the hero fails at something

-Ex: Luke gets his ass beat by the raiders

-Act II:

6) Crossing the Threshold / The Emotional Hurdle (big tentpole)

-The main character makes a choice

-Beginning of Act II

7) The B Story / The Love Story

-Introduced here

-Often but not always a love story

8) Promise of the Premise

-Fun and games in the world you promised

-Horror movie? Creeps here!

-Sci fi? Space battles!

-Animation? Shenanigans!

9) Midpoint (big tentpole)

-The hero finds out that what they want is not what they need

-Luke rescues the princess - turns out that’s not really what the story was about

10) Bad Guys Close In / Throwing Rocks

-Events conspire to tear the hero’s goal to shreds

-Wesley is mostly dead, Inego is drunk, Fezzick is part of the brute squad

-This is the other side of the fun and games coin where things are no longer fun

11) All is Lost

-Something super bad happens, and that goal is impossible

-If someone important is gonna die, it’s probably now

12) The Pit of Despair (smol tentpole)

-The hero mourns the death (if someone died) and wallows in his/her lowest point

13) Inspiration

-A fresh idea

-Act III:

14) Come and Get Some / Final Confrontation (big tentpole)

-The final confrontation - the final showdown

-A and B stories wrapping up at the same time

-The theme makes sense and the battle is engaged

15) Final Frame

-Opposite of the first frame

-The hero is changed

-_-_-

It's what I use. But hey, you don't have to. What works for me might not work for you.

I'll finish this off by pasting in a section of actual real-ass planning I have open in a document for one of my novels at this moment (it's giving me the evil eye, I swear) so you can see what I kind of mean by "thought vomiting." Also note that in my actual document, the bullet points are indented incrementally to be kind of "nestled" underneath the relevant points, if that makes sense, and that it's a whole eye-watering mess of different colors. But for Tumblr, it's this:

-_-_-

-You have to be rescued by the rest of the team, because you fell down that hole - and you are, eventually, after screaming yourself hoarse some more (plus it’s been like an hour or more now, so they have since noticed that you were missing)

-I could gloss over this, like end the chapter when you run away, and open the next one with “It takes another half hour of screaming your throat nearly bloody before the team finds you,” or something

-They berate you for chasing after ghosts - you say you didn’t find anyone down there, because you know for damn sure nobody’s gonna believe what you think you saw, and you don’t even think you believe it

-This leads to a trip to the local doctor (a clinic, probs, akin to UrgentCare), which you’re not happy with because that’s more people taking notice of you

-However, you’re also going through the change in mindset here - see below

-Note: I as the writer don’t have to worry about the paperwork or whatever that you’d normally have to fill out, getting hurt on the job, because you weren’t officially hired - however, it would be a good “humanity is okay” moment if the guy who hired you came in and helped you with the medical expenses because he felt bad - he’d also probably be a little nervous about you suing or something, but you assure him that you have zero interest in that

-I could include a funny line where the guy says he’ll pay for your doctor bill and you try to say no (being indebted to someone is bad news for you) but he insists, because he says he feels responsible, and you just kind of stare at him and then blurt, “Do you need me to kill anyone for you?” (Something you probably regret as soon as you say it, not because you expect him to accept but because you abruptly remember what happened two days ago.) (Would it be too much to also add like “You want me to murder anyone for you? You want a blowjob? I will do anything,” and he gets flustered and bats it off like “Nah, nah, nah, chill out. You’re crazy, man.” And insists that you don’t need to pay him back)

-Here’s a decision I have to make - does the guy pay for your doctor bills as well as paying for your work today (leaving you enough money to potentially split town, but you decide not to), or do you have to pay the $2,500+ in doctor bills with no insurance for the injury, which raises the stakes by depleting all your money?

-I think I like Option A best, because it gives Sam more agency as a character if they decide to stay despite having the option to leave, versus them just being stuck completely - plus I don’t know how else I’d be able to explain away you having money for the hotel

-The guy who hired you pays you for the work day here - and maybe, just maybe, that gives you barely enough to buy that used car (although, why would it? It couldn’t have been more than like $200 for 8 hours of work, maybe $300 if he was really really desperate - if it was a really cheap used car, that might give you barely enough to buy the car but literally nothing left over)

-Point being, maybe you have enough money to bolt now, if you chose to - and you have to make the choice not to

-The car you found might be a $1,500 Honda Civic (or Jeep or whatever) with a dead battery, and the guy selling it says it should run fine with a new battery, which you Google (apparently it would be somewhere in the range of $100-$200) - maybe you think of how nice the mechanic was for you and wonder if you could cut a bit of a deal with him, if you get this car - and if the guy pays for your trip to the doctor and pays you for the temp work, this could just tip you into the margin of being able to afford the car, if you haggle with the seller

-_-_-

Or another example, with more actual sentences:

-_-_-

-As you approach the trailer you start to register a smell that turns your stomach - something like a porta potty and something like the sharp tang of rusting metal. It makes you pause - maybe there really is someone in there, using the place to live whether there’s a sewage hookup or not - it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing you’ve heard of. But after standing for a bit, silent and listening, and then hiding behind a large tree to chuck a rock at the vehicle to no response, you continue forward. You’ll just have to be cautious. Your spirits lift when you see the door. It’s completely grown over. (Leafy vines lace over it, tangling in the handle, yellowing and unbroken. If someone is living in there, they’ve been using the window to come and go, and that doesn’t seem all too likely. Bolstered by a new swell of confidence, and picturing the unlikely riches you might find stashed away in a cabinet or a glove compartment, you cross the last few feet towards the shape.

-You find the body and recognize it as one of the two obnoxious vlogging dudes from the motel

-I’m kind of imagining the moment of discovery like the wardrobe moment in Narnia where, during your nice forest trek, there’s been some pleasant acoustic music playing (like All the Pretty Girls by Kaleo maybe) and then it just stops abruptly in the middle of a phrase, maybe echoing slightly, when you see the body, and all at once everything is sickly silent.

-Oh dude, maybe you continue thinking it’s a duffel bag (possibly feeling pretty upbeat, though cautious until you’re literally about to step over it, and then you happen to glance down and get a sickening, chest-slamming shock when an empty human face is staring up at you

-Note: there should be mushrooms growing in, on and around the RV, because mushrooms are Creepy

-You go to investigate the RV

-Maybe you recognized the body as one of the vloggers and you’re trying to see if his friend is around - or maybe, in a kind of sick daze, you short circuit and find yourself doing the only thing you can think to do: continuing along your trajectory, stumbling towards the RV and tearing the rusted-out door free from the lattice of brittle vines that held it in place (this is what alerts The Dude that someone has been here), like if you just get to your original goal that’ll fix everything - somehow, if you just keep moving forward on the track you set out on, that thing won’t be real anymore - at the very least you have to get inside, to put a door between you and the body, like you’re pulling the blankets over your head to shield yourself from the boogeyman. Just as long as you’re not out there with, with...

-_-_-

Anywho, I'll stop.

I apologize again for... (scrolls up for a million miles) all of that, but you asked me about my passion and now you pay the price, lmao.

[autumnslance]

how do you get into roleplaying on a ff server? like how do you do it and how do you know if your character is lore compliant? ;A; pls youre a big inspo to me

*Hugs Nonny* Getting into RP on a FF server can vary; I don’t actually RP much these days, outside of some friends I already have connections to--and that in itself can be difficult just due to Life! It can take time, and patience, and some fits and starts.

And this gets...really really long, so buckle up and go below the cut, please. :)

The cut got broken by an edit. Sigh.

In game there’s always the RP status tag, and just doing RP with folks in public spaces. There may be trolls now and then, but they can be ignored. I personally find Balmung’s Quicksand area too busy and anxiety inducing and not actually all that conducive to actual RP, even “meet at a tavern” walk-up type. But unless you already have a ready-made group of friends/FCmates willing to RP more than some random walk-ups with you, it may take some legwork to find folks you can and want to write with.

Social Media There are a couple of RP community blogs, like @mooglemeet​ and @ffxiv-crystal-rp​  and plenty of server-specific ones. There’s also some Discords for these communities. They host and advertise events and reblog people who are looking for RP contacts. Some of them have running gdoc calendars and in game linkshells and fellowships as well.

Shofie has a good post about Tumblr/social media RP blogging.

@shofie-ffxiv

It’s a fact now that social media outside game is a way to make contacts, or even a medium for RP itself. There are few centralized websites/forums for server RP communities anymore. Making connections over your social media, like Tumblr and Twitter, can help find RP. You can’t just throw your own character info out there or reblog prompts hoping others bite, though; you have to put in some work and show interest in others, too. This can be difficult and even scary. That’s OK.

RP is about collaboration and creating with other people, which means finding folks you can write with, and who see you as someone interesting but also interested in them and their OCs. If you want to keep it a solo endeavor focused on your own OCs, write fanfic (which I’ve actually made friends and gotten RP interests that way too through comment interactions, so hey).

If you reblog a prompt from someone, see others on your dash reblogging prompts, if people reblog that prompt post from you? Send them asks! Alternatively, don’t wait for prompts, just send asks, comments, or chats saying hello and things you notice or like about their blog/character/posts they make. Try to form connections with people you think are genuinely interesting and might be fun to talk with. Social media should be, well, social.

BUT respect boundaries, too. Don’t try sarcasm or jokes with people you don’t actually know, it tends to go over poorly. Unless someone’s specifically posting a naughty meme/prompt, keep stuff you others send clean and polite, especially if it’s unsolicited and you’re not already friends (doubly so if you don’t know how old they are IRL, there are laws you do not want to break). Respect if people aren’t open to random asks or chatting with new followers, or say “no” to RP, and know it’s not personal--it’s just what they have time, energy, and emotional/mental capacity for. Don’t give up on other people, though. This stuff can take time and effort to find those you click with.

Respect and communication with RP partners is pretty key.

Do curate your feeds and don’t be afraid to unfollow/mute/block folks, either. I’m selective in who I follow and remove as needed, too, for my own mental health. I miss so much of the discourse and drama and that’s fine by me. Also it costs nothing to not step in on a lot of the drama when it does pass in sight.

Profiles I have static RP profile pages for my girls here on Tumblr (and a lot of other static links and pages, but I’m weird about organizing like that). This way, if people want to write with me, send me prompts, if I sent them prompts, or they want to otherwise interact with my characters, the information is handily available. For some folks, this makes all the difference in who they choose to interact with: how easily can they find even basic info about your OC?

Some people make Carrds. Some folks have gdoc links, or use Dreamwidth, etc. Just keep the links in the blog’s sidebar menu, and/or in the blog desc so people can see ‘em on mobile. There are templates out there, or you can make your own. Feel free to snag mine if you’d like. A lot of times people also copy their profiles to rebloggable posts when looking for RP contacts. Profiles are a good way to let folks know just the at-a-glance basics about your character(s).

I picked a simple theme with a simple layout that makes it easy to add and show off links. I put them in the blog desc to make them easy to find on mobile, too.

[Images: links from my blog sidebar menu showing how over organized I am]

RP, Stories, Lore Post some stories or RP logs (with permission of others involved) or even just random little blurbs and headcanons, as well as any screenshots, art, aesthetic posts for your OCs. Have something of interest to show for your character, too, so some of those folks your interacting with have something of their own to see and ask about!

If possible, try some light RP with friends and FC Mates who are amenable. Go to events, even if just to lurk at first. When you do get up the nerve to talk to people, don’t try to throw a character’s entire backstory at them, or try to steal the limelight--RP is collaboration, back and forth, and a lot like real conversation. Maybe come up with little light things to talk about if asked; a recent adventuring job, a silly shopping incident, etc. They can break the ice or just give you something to reply with for a few minutes.

Lore Compliance is Variable. Some people really want lore compliance, others are OK bending it here and there, while still others throw it out the window entirely. If you want to be super lore compliant...read. There’s a LOT of information, in game and out, for finding lore; from official publications and website material, to tools like Garland Tools site, to compilation blogs like @mirkemenagerie.

Note what’s important for your concept. Narrow it down. Characters aren’t going to know or be or do everything, so only worry about what’s necessary for the base idea. And be flexible; it’s SE’s sandbox, we just play in it, and they can change things any time. They usually do it in the guise of characters not knowing/having all the correct information, at least, but also some places just don’t exist in game yet so we don’t have info.

I’m unspecific about a lot of elements of Aeryn’s childhood, for instance, other than “traveling merchants near Thavnair.” I don’t have to be super specific. I can keep most details vague, and focus on her family and those relationships.

Dark, as my first character, has a fairly simple backstory that I’ve expanded on and adjusted over time as I learned and came up with new info. I also bet no one remembers I originally said Dark was from the North Shroud. I’ve changed things (now from East Shroud, due to the proximity to Gyr Abania and its Hellsguards) as I learned more about the world and my character. You don’t want to change things willy-nilly, but sometimes being flexible and smoothing down some rough edges and making small changes can be fine, especially as one gets more lore over time.

Iyna has a pretty detailed backstory, that came from a basic idea, and checking dates in the pre-Calamity timeline. I based her being taken and trained the way she was not only on what info we have about Garlemald’s imperial practices with conquered provinces, but borrowed a bit from real life and the re-education schools many Native Americans were forced into (though I haven’t gone into detail on that yet, either). I tied the turning point in Iyna’s life to a major event that wasn’t the Calamity, and have left plenty of space in between for me to fill in as time goes on and I learn more about her and the world.

The world isn’t static, and is bigger and more diverse than what can be shown in the game. There’s space in the margins for plenty of weird stuff and contradictions or unusual cases. So read up on what you can, ask questions, and then find where in those spaces your OC fits. Then, find people who enjoy similar tastes in lore compliance (or non-compliance), and who enjoy playing with you and your OCs, and not worrying about the rest. Can’t please everyone, nor get along with everyone, so don’t try; just find what works for you, and who works with you, and don’t police anyone else’s pretendy fun times, either.

There’s no magic answer on the “right” amount of lore compliance, or how to quickly and easily find RP partners or break into the broader RP community.

I hope this helps at least a little bit! Good luck in finding your niche for RP, and maybe I’ll see you sometime at an event :)

[xianglingslesbian]

Hiii, if you're still doing the writing ask: 2, 5, 7, 12, 15, 22, 29, 30, 31-32, 37, 39, 40, 50 and 54 I am absolutely Incapable of asking just a few when there's such a good list present & such an interesting person to ask, thank youuu and I'm sorryyy <333

AKJSDJKDSF VEE NO NEED TO BE SORRY UR AN ANGEL 💖💖💖💖💖 this got VERY long so i’m putting it under a cut

2. Favorite part of writing.

the writing process itself!! i love when the words start to flow and sew themselves together, when i know exactly where a scene is going and manage to be surprised by how it’s turned out anyway. 

5. Books or authors that influenced your style the most.

hmm... i’d say khaled hosseini, his simple but powerful use of language is smth i rlly try to emulate!! i’m also greatly influenced by brandon sanderson’s stormlight archive series, i love the way he manages to take the simplest of things and derive powerful imagery from them. neil gaiman and nikita gill inspired me too haha

7. Favorite author.

samantha shannon!!! if you haven’t read ‘the priory of the orange tree’ READ IT it’s so good

12. How do you deal with self-doubts?

i look at my writing once more and try to figure out what bothers me about it and why i’m doubting myself. if it’s more a general self-doubt thing then i try to distract myself because i don’t wanna dwell on it too much haha

15. Where does your inspiration come from?

anything and everything! right now i’ve got a long ruler and pencil next to me, so when i look at that i imagine... what sort of live commentary they’d give if they were sentient, or what i could use them as metaphors for, things like that!

22. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied and a project is ultimately done for you? 

depends on the project, bc there’s always something that can be better. usually i do just one draft, then rewrite scenes i’m personally not happy with and send it off to the beta lmao

29. Who do you write for?

myself. there’s nothing better to me than an empty document and an idea, it sets me free. 

30. Favorite line you’ve ever written.

is it cheating if it’s more than one line

Then again, whatever takes you away from something you love is often what brings you back to discover it painted freshly in hues you never could have imagined back then. To find it the same as ever, warm and familiar, and yet…

Born anew.

this is the last line of ‘eagles’ and i think its rlly impactful bc it encapsulates what change means to me personally. also i like the imagery in it lol

31. Hardest character to write.

akashi is really tough for me to write bc on one hand he has a lot of negative traits, but on the other i don’t wanna trivialise his mental illness so figuring out that balance is always tough ahhh!! 

32. Easiest character to write.

gray fullbuster from fairy tail! he was my first anime bby and i greatly identify with him so it’s just *insert projection insert projection insert projection*

37. Most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

“Sometimes a hypocrite is simply a man in the process of changing.” -- Dalinar Kholin, Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

39. Do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

yes haha!! my current WIP’s MC is based off of this one girl i used to know when i was really young. i don’t remember her name, but i do remember that she was tenacious and free-spirited and an amazing friend. the character, dhruva, isn’t a complete copy of her, but there’s some pretty heavy influence there

40. Original Fiction or Fanfiction, and why?

as much as i love fanfic, i’m gonna say original fiction. playing in others’ sandboxes is amazing, but once you make your own, it’s just... it’s this bliss that you can’t substitute with anything else, for me at least!

54. Any writing advice you want to share? 

don’t write because you ‘have to’, write because you want to. it should make you happy to create, or it’s a waste of your time. if you don’t feel like writing at a given moment, then don’t. don’t force yourself. it will come. you are no less of a writer than those who write 6000 words a day.

[saphyrenights]

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions, don’t cheat. Tag 10 (or however many) people.

Stargate SG-1

Star Trek: Voyager

Teen Wolf

House, MD

Xena: Warrior Princess

1. Who is your favourite character in 2?

I don’t dislike anyone on Voyager, which is rare for me. I give Neelix a lot of shit, but I do actually like him. A little. :) When I was a kid, Tom Paris was my fave, probably because he was a Gary Stu who never got called out as a Gary Stu, and that appealed to me in middle school oop. As an adult, tho, I love Seven of Nine. She probably has the most character development of anyone on the show. Harry is second, but poor guy never got promoted. Not his fault, but it stunted some of his potential development ;_; So, I’m gonna say Seven of Nine.

2. Who is your least favourite character in 1?

Rodney McKay. I was so glad when they shipped his annoying ass off to Atlantis. I know the writers were presenting his constant misogynistic harassment of Sam as “humorous,” but it really wasn’t. Sam deserved better.

3. What is your favourite episode of 4?

Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh. God. Ummm....this list is way too long. Since it’s been a really long time since I bothered to remember individual House episode names, I can only describe the episode. It’s in the show’s final season when Shit’s Getting Real, and the writers are finally like “lol fuck it” and wrote Wilson sobbing to House, “I need you to tell me that you love me!” Suddenly, all of that subtext from over the years became canon. The little jokes, the winks and nods, they all paid off in the end. I remember being FLOORED that a network show just Did That. I’m just sad that Wilson had to be literally dying before we got it.

4. What is your favourite season of 5?

Again, it’s been a VERY long time since my memory needed to be this sharp for an old show, but I’m going to say all of the seasons EXCEPT for the last one. It was all over the place, and then Xena just fukkin dies. I get that it was a noble sacrifice, but why couldn’t Xena and Gabrielle live happily ever after? Gabby becomes a famous bard, Xena opens a dojo or something, they get married, do a lil farming on the side, boom. Done. Happy ending. But nooooo....

5. Who is your favourite couple in 3?

Season 5 was completely deleted from my memory through a very complicated and delicate brain operation I never told y’all about it. So it’s still Sciles. Feels good, man. :)

6. Who is your favourite couple in 2?

B’Elanna and Tom. But if I could picked a polyship, it’d be B’Elanna/Tom/Harry. 👀

7. What is your favourite episode of 1?

"Abyss” is almost always at the top of my list, but “Orpheus” is damn good, too. I’m picking both of those, and you can’t stop me.

8. What is your favourite episode of 5?

“The Bitter Suite!” It’s a really fun episode. And I remembered the name of it. :)

9. What is your favourite season of 2?

Probably season 4.

10. How long have you watched 1?

I started watching in season 3. SG-1 was still on Showtime, and aired on Friday nights. I usually had football games to attend (I was in marching band), so I’d set up the VCR to tape the show, and I’d watch it when I got home. My first full SG-1 ep was “Legacy.” I caught up with the first two seasons in syndication, and I was all caught up by the time season 5 came around. 

11. How did you become interested in 3?

I read some Big Wolf on Campus fanfic that crossed over with Teen Wolf. So I decided to watch Teen Wolf to see what all the fuss was about. I’m not going to go into details, but the fic I read wildly mischaracterized the show. I’m glad I checked it out for myself. I ended up loving Scott McCall so much, in spite of that stupid fic.

12. Who is your favourite actor in 4?

Robert Sean Leonard.

13. Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

Yeah, I’m gonna echo Divvy here and just say, “Fuck you” to this question lol

14. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3 ?

SG1 literally aired over 100 more episodes that Teen Wolf, so um, math.

15. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

A dying patient of the week who watches all these doctors hash out their personal drama over my deathbed while I collect all the tea they’re recklessly spilling, and then I get cured at the last second from a stupid disease I got from eating cat litter or something. Don’t ask why I was eating cat litter. That’s not for House’s team to decide, which is why I didn’t immediately tell anyone I ate cat litter when I was first admitted. All I know is that at least six of those doctors are fucking each other, one is on meth, and another one definitely killed a guy on purpose.

16. Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

Teen Wolf and House? Sure. Melissa transfers to New Jersey, Scott eventually follows her since a couple of his pack members are already on the east coast after they all graduate high school and deal with the bounty hunter mess. Scott decides to go to med school (some of his vet school credits might transfer, who knows), and he ends up at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. He only sees House in the halls, because I don’t want Actual Ray of Sunshine Scott McCall coming in direct contact with House. He hangs out with the ducklings, tho. And he does rounds with Wilson, who takes a huge liking to him and his ability to literally make patients feel better just by holding their hand...ohhh, this could be a fun sandbox to play in. I just might...eat...some sand...  

17. Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple?

Jack and Maybourne. I SAID IT! Oh, and Daniel/Martouf because I shipped it when I was in like 8th grade lmao. Everything else I’m thinking, like Sam/Janet, Daniel/Teal’c, Jack/Daniel, Sam/Martouf...none of those are that unlikely. Aside from the dead people, but y’know.

18. Overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

Let’s be honest; the writing on both Teen Wolf and Xena was never anything to get excited over. Huge plot holes, inconsistent characterization, incoherent plots, they all pretty much made up the overall experience of watching these shows. But I didn’t watch for that stuff. I just liked fun stories and nice characters. I don’t care if they didn’t make sense. Xena jumps 10 feet straight up in the air and somersaults through an open window while catching her chakram mid flip? Fantastic! Everyone in Beacon Hills suddenly becomes broke af and are struggling to pay bills because it serves the plot for one season and one season only? Great! Gabrielle gives birth to an evil doppelganger? Okay! Where did Kira go? Huh? WHere DID SHE GODOHDOJDLJD

tl;dr: neither one lmao

19. Which has the better theme music, 2 or 4?

There’s no competing with Jerry Goldsmith. Sorry, Massive Attack.

Cool, cool, cool. I’m going to tag: @anomalagous , @runicscribbles, @kimmykun, @intthewoodsomewhere, @lozenger8, @elfysparkles88, @theboywiththepurplesocks, @tombwolf, @carelesswhisper41, @pissoffghosts

[p-and-p-admin]

Interview given to The Severus Snape and Hermione Granger Shipping Fan Group.  (sharing here Admin approved)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718373383293/

Hello Aurette and welcome to Behind the Quill, thank-you for letting us get to know you a little better.

I'm deeply honoured to be asked.

A true titan in the world of SS/HG fic, many of our readers will have broken their hearts over your story The Tattered Man.

Okay, let’s jump right in.

What's the story behind your pen name?

Honestly, it was a whim. Long before I thought of writing, I needed a login name to read fanfic. It was a play on Auror. I had no idea it was an actual name.

Which Harry Potter character do you identify with the most?

Hands down, Snape. I know that might sound strange, but he was the one that clicked. My niece introduced me to the books. Being in my 30s at the time, I already had kids of my own, so I didn't identify as one of the students. I loved Harry from the start but he had this uncanny ability to keep being wrong about nearly everything. The character who best expressed adult annoyance with that was Snape. And I do love a good jerk. Snape was a jerk.

Do you have a favourite genre to read? 

I'm a sucker for fantasy and science fiction. I hated reading as a child. All there was available when I was a kid was Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys and it was insipid. I glommed on to mythology early but once I'd read all the books in my library on the subject, I gave up reading at all. That was about 4th grade. Children's books in the 70s were total garbage and YA books only had one author: Judy Bloom.

Ironically, my first job was working in a bookstore. It was a college bookstore, so it was all textbooks. I wasn't even a student, so I had no interest in any of them. One semester. A Lit prof assigned Fahrenheit 451. The cover art caught my eye and I read the blurb. Then started reading the book. I finished it in about 5hrs. It blew my mind. I had no idea writing like that existed. And the book was about someone discovering the value of books. It was intellectual Inception waaaaay before that was a thing.

After that, it was like a switch flipped in my head. I sucked up books air. I was never without a book or two. Or three...

Do you have a favourite "classic" novel?

Obviously Fahrenheit 451. I'm going to go ahead and say Les Miserables as well. I was in my 30s when I finally read it and sobbed like a baby at the ending. The care and tenderness Hugo showed when portraying these disposable lives were so unique for that age. Sadly, even today. A lot of our culture is wrapped around the belief that only the wealthy have value and beauty is a pathway to wealth. The poor and ugly are a constant plague to be shunned or dealt with, not humans with crushed dreams that deserve to be valued in their own right. Look at how often fanfic recreatesSnape as handsome or Hermione as gorgeous. Those are always the least interesting stories. (hops off soapbox)

At what age did you start writing?

Whatever age I was when I wrote Safe House. Probably 40ish? That terrible little fanfic is literally the first thing I ever wrote beyond shopping lists and emails. It's an ugly child, but my first, so I love its pointy head. I intentionally leave it up so new writers can see my learning curve. No one starts out good. Read my stories in reverse chronological order and you'll see they get a little worse each time. That's how much I grew as I learned the craft.

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

Reading tons of it. I was at a total loss after the book Deathly Hallows came out and it was all over. Reading it had become an event in my house. My husband and I would snatch the book out of each other's hands "You've had it long enough. My turn." And then there were no more...

I couldn't even tell you how I found fanfic, but it kept me sane. I keyed in on SS/HG because at the time there was a noticeable difference in the talent level in that ship. I must have read SS/HG fanfic for a solid 2 yrs before I took a leap and wrote my own. I was inspired by the amazing stories, but also by the crappy ones.  "Heck, I could do better" became its own form of allowance. So I had a small 'what if' and just went for it. Of course, it was crap, everyone's first is. But taking the leap and writing it was a huge thing for me to have done.

What's the best theme you've ever come across in a fic? Is it a theme represented in your own works?

I'm a sucker for a story where characters overcome emotional adversity, both external and internal. If you squint. You'll see that theme repeated throughout my fics.

What fandoms are you involved in other than Harry Potter?

None. Nothing else ever grabbed me as a sandbox I wanted to play in before or after HP.

If you could make one change to canon, what would it be? Do you have a favourite piece of fanon?

Gosh, I don't think I would change a thing about JK Rowling's work. Things I would change would only be me forcing her story to fit my preferred ideal. However, if you think about it, her world, the good and the bad,  challenged all of us to churn out 100,000+ what ifs. Some out of anger. Heh.

As for fav piece of fanon, probably that Malfoy jr was Snape's godson. He's totally not, but whoever started that created a great layering of the dynamic between them that you can share in so many tones.

Do you listen to music when you write or do you prefer quiet?  

I was a stay-at-home mom when I was writing most of my fanfics, so I wrote in a chaotic and very noisy environment. I didn't listen to music when I wrote, but music was often the inspiration. When I would get stuck in writing, I would leave it and go listen to music that was emotionally similar to where I wanted the story to be while I thrashed out plot points. Colossus by Afro Celt Sound System is amazing for plotting a prelude to a battle.

What are your favourite fanfictions of all time?

Gosh, there are so many. Sadly, many of the authors who first inspired me are gone and pulled their fics off the web, like my fanfic bestie Dressagegrrrl. I would have to call out Pet Project by Caeria as the one I found most inspiring.  Anything by ApolloniaV is pretty high up there in my book. There are dozens I'm forgetting. There was one called Resurrection Man about Snape accidentally creating a hilarious Zombie apocalypse. Best. Fic. Ever. It disappeared from the web when the author moved on. An incredible loss.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? How does that affect your writing process?

Total pantser. The obvious effect is to drive the story right off a cliff and be unable to salvage it. It's why I vowed to never start posting until I had a rough draft ending. Too many dead stories waiting for an ending that never came. But an outline for me is a killer in disguise. I lose interest in telling the tale because I already did in the outline. The fun part is over. Sitting at a keyboard typing your fingers off, while muttering, "What the hell are these people doing? Who's writing this stuff?!" is an amazing experience.

What is your writing genre of choice?

In fanfic, I ran with every genre there was. Mostly I wanted to see if there was one I couldn't tackle.  Most of my o-fic is a hard-to-define mishmash of fantasy and sci-fi. I want to write romance, but it always turns into something complicated and angsty that no longer fits the box.

Which of your stories are you most proud of? Why?

The Tattered Man.

Did it unfold as you imagined it or did you find the unexpected cropped up as you wrote?

It came off exactly as I'd planned in my head. A rare occurrence for me.

What did you learn from writing it?

I could make people cry with my words. Up to that point, I'd made readers laugh and yell and blush, but to get a reader to the point of actually weeping? That's not easy. JK Rowling did it with ease. It was a challenge.

How personal is the story to you, and do you think that made it harder or easier to write?

It's very personal. My father had just died.  He'd had cancer, and it might have got him in the end, but what actually killed him was being sent home with a feeding tube and the wrong instructions. None of the homecare nurses realized the mistake until his kidneys shut down. It was devastating. When I next took up writing, I was still hurting so I tried to make others feel what I felt at a death that didn't have to be. It was crazy easy to write. I wrote it all in one day. Based on the reviews, I achieved my goal. It helped me work through my loss. Pretty sure I gave a few readers PTSD. My bad.

What books or authors have influenced you?

My all-time favourite book is Iain M. Banks' Use of Weapons. Definitely a classic among the eighteen people in the United States that read it. The man was a shockingly gifted author and I was devastated when he passed away. His ability to just drop you into the action from the first page and not bother to explain what's going on is sadistic genius.

How do you think that shows in your writing?

It led to my belief that a writer is always better when they assume their readers are smart. Grab their interest and just run. They'll catch on and even pass you with their theories of what's going to happen next. I've no patience with stories that spell out everything in minute detail. They're tedious and insulting. Less really is more. On the other hand, writing over your reader's head is just as annoying. Intentionally using obscure SAT words in your story just makes you a pretentious twat. Unless your character is a pretentious twat and it's part of the dialogue.  In that case, twat away. *gigglesnort*

Do people in your everyday life know you write fanfiction?

My family all knew. They were tremendously supportive. Especially Mr. Aurette, my personal Snape. Outside of my family, I was less forthcoming. Mostly because it was so crazy hard to explain. I think it's a lot less weird now, but back then? It was far more stigmatized.

How true for you is the notion of "writing for yourself"?

That's a hard one. For someone who'd never tried to write a story before, it was an amazing journey to realise what I could do. That changed me forever. Having the instant feedback of reviews was intrinsic to that experience. The downside is you can get sucked into writing for reviewers, and they will tell you clearly what they want and expect.  That can stifle. I knew no one wanted The Tattered Man to end the way it did. I was pretty terrified of the reaction. But it's what I wanted. It was the entire point. I wrote that ending for myself, but I cowered after posting.

How important is it for you to interact with your audience? How do you engage with them? Just at the point of publishing? Through social media?

I absolutely loved interacting with my readers. I made some real-life friends and some really great fic buddies all over the world. I watched them become friends in reviews too. It was a really great experience. Spam-posting a fic would often take on a festival atmosphere. Unfortunately, when my review count started to really take off, I couldn't cope with the sheer numbers the same way. There weren't enough hours on the day to reply to everyone. Trying to personalize my response to a review grew overwhelming. I actually grew quite depressed over it. Connecting on a more removed, professional level seemed cold. I connected the most on Livejournal when that was a thing. But I had to back off. "Aurette" became far more witty and wonderful than I was in real life. Everyone wanted a piece of her. I couldn't keep up with the bitch. Lol.  I faded away from most interactions on social media out of self-preservation. Even tiny fame can make you whacko.

What is the best advice you've received about writing?

There's a few that come to mind.

1-If you want to be a better writer, kill every adverb you come across.

2-Read your words out loud to yourself. If you run out of breath, your reader will run out of patience at that exact point.

3-Dressagegrrrl was the one that finally made me see how playing POV ping pong within a scene was something that marked my writing as an amateur.

4-Stop trying to be clever. Be clever, if you are clever, but don't try. It comes off hamfisted every time. Readers hate that.

5-Never, ever, ever post something you wrote that day. You've left half of it in your head and you can't tell. It's awful.

6-If you're not even a little embarrassed by something you wrote 6 months ago, you're no longer growing as a writer.

What do you do when you hit writer's block?

That's a bit of a sticking point. Stress is a muse-killer. Anything you can do to rid yourself of stress will help. Writer's block is usually the result of something going on elsewhere in your life. Fix that and the creativity will come back.

That said, my life has turned into constant stress with the result being I no longer write at all.

Has anything in real life trickled down into your writing?

Everything has. 'Write what you know' is true for fantasy too. Whether it's heartbreak, or a drunken hookup that turned into love (Hello, Mr. Aurette) or a moment when you were a child and ignored or teased, or maybe the bully, all of it makes it's way into the emotional truth of a scene or character, no matter how outlandish the setting.

Do you have any stories in the works? Can you give us a teaser?

I have a Dropbox full of stories I've run into the wall or had to leave half finished, both fanfic and o-fic. No teasers, because at this point I don't think they will ever see the light of day. Never say never, but the light of hope is dim.

Any words of encouragement to other writers?

Anyone can write and everyone has something to say. Be open to the process. Part of that process involves having a stranger tell you that your shiny new love is really shit. Being defensive only prolongs your shittiness. Embrace criticism. Sometimes,  the process of justifying something can actually buttress your choice, so you double down with better results. Other times, you'll see your idea wasn't working after all. Be ruthless in your editing, but don't delete. That scene you cut because it caused everything to go off the rails could be a different story trying to get out. Take that leap, you fail at everything you don't try, so why not try something you really want?

Thanks so much for giving us your time.

It's been my pleasure.  Thank you for the opportunity.  *waves to my readers*

[lizzybeth1986]

Sorry for this XD, but 1, 4, 9, 11, 26 and 27 for the salty ask? If it's not too much, of course

Don't say sorry! 😁 Thanks for the ask Nonny and apologies for the delay.

I must caution you, the post is going to be long and and there's too much salt in my responses for even me to handle.

1. OTP in fandom that you just do not get.

IDK I most don't give much of a thought to OTPs that I don't get. Like that is the nature of any fandom, that you can see potential for ships even without a say-so from canon.

What I really don't get is the absurd double standards that I see sometimes - how some fans will pull down other LIs/characters to make a favourite look good, how some LIs will be nitpicked to high hell while others can say the grossest things and not be judged. How one character can be judged for the same thing we will admire in another (I'll get to this later).

It's weird, considering the app literally allows you to choose who you will fall for (unless you're wlw or like a character that's a person of colour in a majority-white cast, in which case they will dangle scraps in front of you once every ten chapters, I suppose). You don't need to trash one LI to justify your choice of another. They're there. Stop tearing down an LI while deliberately tagging the character's tag and ship tags for your notes. Go generate (and promote) content for your own ships and characters instead.

4. A personal NOTP? Are they considered an OTP in the fandom?

Hana x Madeleine. Fortunately, lots of people had plenty of problems with this pair and the way it was written in Book 3. The narrative was subtly pushing that ship over the course of Book 3, but the backlash was strong enough that they got Madeleine to issue an apology for her bullying in the epilogue instead (I doubt they even remember the chocolate allergy scene, given that the MC acts like this information is brand new).

It still left a bad taste in my mouth, because it showed me how little the writers cared for Hana as a character, but at least the fandom made sure it didn't become a ship.

9. Most Disliked Character(s):

Hoo boy. I have a freaking list. Besides the really really obvious ones:

• Drake Walker: has way more privilege than he knows what to do with. Narrative acts like he is the Voice of the Commoner...well. I feel sorry for the commoners that don't get to practically live in court without having to change their attire or yap all day about steak, burgers and whiskey. And whose sisters don't have friends that will fleece their entire ancestral house's already-plummeting finances to keep her house running while her brother trash-talks the same friend in Book 1.

• Damien Nazario: is a hypocrite. That is all.

• Constantine: Almost every apology of his has to come punctuated with an excuse. Even if it involves orchestrating sexual assault.

• Madeleine (TRR) and Mallory (RoE): The demonic duo of People PB Wants So Desperately For Me To Forgive™. Without them even having to earn that forgiveness, too (Nana deserves to be on this list too, except the question of forgiveness doesn't even arise when it comes to her. She is worshipped in this series!). I see a small step towards change in D&D Book 2 with Lady Grandmother, but only time will tell if they will actually execute the "will never forgive you" route properly.

• Penelope: is so, so fucking entitled I just can't. I understood how her condition, and manipulation from people like Constantine and Bastien, got her to the point where she would be ready to harm someone. But I can't for the life of me understand how she can forget this so easily after the tea party.

I was hoping for a redemption arc where Penelope recognizes what she's done and unconditionally tries to make amends in Book 3, but that never happened. There was not a single reference in Book 3 to the harm she did you in Book 1. We had to do an immense amount of coddling to convince her to come for the wedding, and there were consequences if you didn't call her your "best friend" or support her demands. The narrative has Drake Walker...Drake "Ambassadors Go To Dangerous Areas, Lady Kiara (So Get Over It)" Freaking Walker...reassure Penelope in a way that Kiara never gets from anyone in the group, and she suffered a knife attack. Ezekiel is literally created out of thin air as a reward for her.

Why does she need a reward again? Who knows.

• Ajay: Didn't apologize.

11. Unpopular Character that You Like that Fandom Doesn't.

(This is going to be loooong. I'm not sorry. This rant has been really, really building up. It's like a dam).

Kiara. It's popular to sorta kinda like her now, but back when she started showing feelings for Drake she got a lot of hate...hate that I feel bled into the treatment she got in the third book.

It took me a while to warm up to Kiara, but I think what did it for me was her friendship with Penelope. She was protective and supportive, even though she lacked an understanding of what Penelope was going through. I was even more pleasantly surprised when she spoke about her bond with Savannah. There was a warmth and a sweetness about Kiara in Book 2 that we didn't see much of in Book 1 and she slowly won me over. When they spoke about her injuries in Book 3, I was looking forward to seeing that story explored.

I will always maintain that Kiara in Book 3 is what happens when both the writing team and the louder, more vocal portion of the fandom are heartless towards a particular character. Heartless is a heavy word, and a word I don't want to be using willy-nilly, but I've seen enough to come to that conclusion in this case.

Kiara was often called an opportunist and a host of other names in the fandom for not supporting the MC through the scandal. Except that we all forget she never promised anything beyond supporting your claim to being picked as future Queen. She tells you straight off the bat in Book 1 that she is looking for allies and not friends (guess who is often admired for that mindset? Madeleine...well, until she harms Hana for flimsy reasons). Meanwhile we have Penelope being all adorable and happy and congratulating you knowing that you're going to be slut-shamed, humiliated and dragged out of court for a scandal she helped generate. Kiara on the other hand was honest. She wanted a job in the ministry and a bomb married life while she was at it. I'd rather have an ambitious (but won't abuse her power like Madeleine does) Kiara in my corner than a person who lies to my face about supporting me, does little more to help than just tell me who her boss was, then expects me to call her my best friend later.

Kiara had to only look at and flirt with Drake for people to hate on her. Meanwhile Olivia could spring an unwanted kiss on Liam in public, and the fandom would still be blaming Liam for not loving her back. In regular fandom content Kiara was mocked and sometimes suspected of having an illicit affair with Drake, in fanfic that featured her she was often either villainized, or written as the "other woman". Which is okay - fanfic is your own personal sandbox, after all - but it does highlight a pattern.

In canon...Kiara was made a survivor of a terrorist attack and nobody cared. Not the MC, not the country's king, not her closest friends, not the man who got injured at the same ball. It was bad enough that her parents were considering leaving the goddamn country (they should have). She was ignored in her own estate. The MC speaks to her not with sympathy and reassurances, but instead reminds her of her 'duty' and pressurizes her. (@callmetippytumbles illustrates this amazingly in her ask here, having Liam say "have a apple and buck up for Cordonia". No lie there. No lie there at all). All the 'sympathy' goes to a brother who has absolutely nothing to do with court.

She was suspected and interrogated at Lythikos. The MC has the option to be dismissive and to minimize - by labelling her "not as driven" - as Kiara literally pours her heart out about her trauma. Sample this:

(Ngl folks. Reading this was really, really triggering for me. I know exactly what it feels like to have my trauma dismissed like this. It doesn't feel great. Fuck you MC. Fuck you Drake. Fuck you TRR writers)

There are no consequences for doing this to her, btw. She still returns and she still fights at the boutique and she'll still speak very positively about you to her mother. I imagine if Joelle found out the truth of how the group really treated her daughter, she'd verbally destroy them and never support the kingdom again. And she'd be right not to.

On its own that scenario looks bad enough already, but when you hold it up next to how we treat the other ladies? Pure, stinking trash:

Madeleine: A diamond scene to console and encourage her, and all the right options are meant to support her to her parents. If you don't succeed in making her parents understand what she wants, you lose out on their support. There are consequences.

Penelope: A diamond scene to comfort and reassure her that they will not be like Madeleine. Immense coddling from the group. If you don't call her your best friend or altogether be nice and supportive to her, that negatively impacts the way Landon responds to you. AND I have heard that if her parents don't believe Penelope is safe with you, she doesn't even join the tour. There are consequences.

Kiara: No diamond scenes to even figure out how she is or what she thinks. A one-minute scene to convince (emotionally blackmail, actually) her to "do your duty", which will happen no matter which option, then a diamond option for her brother...who exists only because they want to give Penelope a reward for something I still cannot fathom. Her brother's response depends on his own issues and the presence of Penelope, and Hakim and Joelle's depend on what you do at the Festival. Kiara's situation of being an attack victim should have warranted the kind of coddling Penelope felt entitled to, yet when it comes right down to it her plight matters to literally no one.

In Lythikos no special diamond scenes for her either, just an interrogation. While we can choose to view Kiara as innocent in Chapter 11, her leaving is branded "suspicious" by both Drake and the MC by default the next chapter, and Maxwell literally says (disappointment writ large on his face) "jeez, that's one suspect off our list" after we're done. We go to her pretending to be her well-wishers, but in reality we're interrogating a traumatized woman, and not even ashamed when she trusts our untrustworthy asses with her secret.

You get the option to forget what happened to her (for which she rightfully slams you). You get the option to be a trauma-minimizing pile of steaming fecal matter (for which she doesn't slam you, even though she should). No matter what, Drake is your puppet and will agree with you, and you get away with all this. Drake stands there and minimizes her experiences with you, and shows zero remorse for putting an attack victim in that situation.

Like, it's actually quite shameful the more you think about it. Kiara was interrogated. After two traumatic experiences that at the very least should have her questioning whether we are worth her support at all. In a scenario that any fool would realise was at least scary to her if not altogether traumatizing. Madeleine and Penelope feel entitled to good treatment, Kiara has to make do with the crumbs we throw at her. She is never given a chance to speak of this as problematic, and the group never gets truly called out on their bullshit.

Even if you do pick the absolute nicest options...the fact remains that the MC, Duchess of Valtoria (and possible future Queen) and her group of influential friends, ignored the concerns a person who was badly injured at their event, pressurized her into showing support for them, didn't do jackshit to ensure her safety, suspected and questioned her when she rightfully withdrew public support, and dishonestly interrogated this traumatized woman, while still keeping the expectation that she support them. All without earning a shred of that support. They felt zero remorse, every last one of them, for putting her in that position.

Kiara not getting much attention isn't exactly a surprise. She has always been given the least focus among the ladies of the court and Book 3 wouldn't have been an exception...if they hadn't made her a victim of a terrorist attack!! Once they placed Kiara in that position, she deserved to have her concerns addressed, and addressed properly. What happened to her was a highlight of the failure of the security system at the palace and Royal Court, and to have that ignored while we had all the time in the world to address Madeleine's parents' petty family squabbles was disgusting. That there are absolutely no consequences for doing this to Kiara, while there are for not attending to Penelope or Madeleine's concerns, and it all ends with Kiara praising us to her mother, is disgusting. That the writers were more busy trying to backtrack on Driara and make the ship impossible to happen in canon, than on focusing on Kiara's own story in her own estate, is disgusting. And I cannot ignore that the latter decision sprung in a large part from the hate the fandom was spewing on Kiara for most of Book 2. The writers wouldn't have dared to do such a thing to Penelope, and it was clearly because there would be a backlash. They knew they could get away with insensitive writing for Kiara easier than they would with Penelope - and they did.

The other thing is this. Back in Books 2 and 3, loads of people in the fandom used to aggressively ship Liam and Olivia (to the point where he would be blamed for not returning her affections). Loads of people would also find excuses to hate on Kiara once she began to show she liked Drake. Nowadays, it's popular to state that "Olivia deserves better" (I'd be inclined to agree if it weren't for the way that argument is often framed. She deserves a man who loves her completely) - again, in a way that blames Liam for not returning her affections.

Yet, when people speak of Kiara's feelings being one-sided? Little to no blame for Drake there, even though he was rude or dismissive to her more than once (for me, personally, Lythikos was the last straw). Hardly a handful would say "Kiara deserves better than Drake". I can bet if Liam treated Olivia even half as poorly as Drake behaved with Kiara, we'd be bashing that man to the high heavens. I guess it's because it's Kiara who is the recipient of this kind of treatment that it matters to so few. I shouldn't be surprised.

26. Most shippable character?

Hayden xD Mostly because they're so much fun to customize, yet there's a very strong inner core there that does not change and that grounds the character.

27. Least shippable character?

I don't know. Nana?

[rueitae]

ooh i ask 4, 5 (but all stories not just multi-chapter), 6, 17, 18, 28, 29, 30, 48, and 49!!

4) What is your favourite genre to write for?

Canon verse, followed very closely by fantasy. That’s why I love VLD so much, its a beautiful blend of sci-fi/fantasy but yet also modern and found family.

5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi chaptered stories, which would it be and why?

I think it still might be Frostbite. I think partly because it was born out of another person’s headcanons (who sadly isn’t on the site, or Ao3 anymore) and I just really enjoy playing in other people’s sandboxes (i mean, i write fanfic so that’s given) but I really like the challenge of taking all these set conditions and making them work together. It’s my favorite kind of prompt. Also it has a lot of elements that just worked really well together. There’s action, softness, enemies but kinda friends and wanting to be lovers, tension, teasing, I was just able to fit a lot of things I loved into it and it flowed really nicely. It didn’t feel incomplete, but was definitely a snapshot of a larger picture.

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

How about that very first fic I ever wrote? The Pokemon/DBZ crossover? I’m not even going to link it. Although honestly I just laugh at it now.

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.

Pidge’s heart raced, and it wasn’t because she was in the heat of an intense pokemon battle. The last time she’d been this nervous before the doors of the Varadero City Gym, she’d been a bright-eyed ten-year-old challenging for her first badge.

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

This was a popular question! Hmm, I had a Yu-Gi-Oh OC that I wrote part of a fic for, and my intention was to seamlessly tie her into canon as sort of a background player in the original series and then a more active player in GX (she’s Atem’s little sis and doesn’t like the card game because I adore irony and I really enjoyed the Egyptian mystery around the show, she was to be to Jaden was Atem was to Yugi - which added a whole can of worms that I still find hilarious). I still love her story as a whole (even if its not as feasible as I once thought), but I fell out of interest to write it. I still read over the bits I wrote every now and then.

28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction?

I wish I had known that the shorter fic, the drabbles and ficlets - the ones that start right at the good parts, those are great to share! I feel like I could have offered so much more in my college days if I had realized that not everything had to be a well fleshed out epic.

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

I kind of thought Between Rocks and a Hard Place would get more love when I first posted it. Its got canon verse Plance confession, couple in peril, Lance being all sacrificial, hurt Pidge. I totally thought it would be a hit.

I also thought SBE would be too, since its mermaid Pidge and pirate Lance. I thought the fandom was totally into the mermaid thing.

30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Exsanguination was my first long Plance fic, and while I still enjoy it I look back and think ‘wow, this made sense to people’?

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?

Kidnapped. Enemies to Friends to Lovers. Established Relationship. I’ve managed to do all three at the same time in Crystal Clear. Frostbite is also that, just exchange Established Relationship with School Crush and same with Power Up!. Exsanguination is the soulmate version. Wrong Diamond is the gentleman thief version (with prequel of how they met). SBE also has 2/3 since they’ve only just met.

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

It was a Gundam Wing fic. I can’t even remember the name but I still bust into giggles thinking about it. So there’s an episode where Duo (one of the pilots) is working in the salvage yard with his girlfriend (enemies to friends to lovers btw) and he says something about wanting a nice juicy steak when he’s done.

Well, he never gets the steak because he gets kidnapped a little later on to become a test pilot for the ZERO system. So this fic is post series and Duo is finally about to get his steak (he’d forgotten about it but Hilde is that amazing) except that all these ridiculous things keep happening that prevent him from eating it, the steak getting run over by a truck the least of them. I’m pretty sure everyone makes a cameo and I remember I just could not stop laughing.

[anthropwashere]

Also e with Catch Me Heal Me?

(fanfic ask game)

Did you send another ask? If so, I didn’t get it!

E: If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about?

Hmm! The thing about being, like, a professional one-shot ficcer at this point is that there are a lot of fics to choose from!

The obvious one, of course, is a sequel to wash away the darkest days because I did actually start a sequel! It hit 50k words before I got overwhelmed and shelved it for Later… and that was uh… several years ago now. :T Considering the sheer size of the thing I really ought to go back and clean up what’s there and throw it up on AO3 with a summary of where I was going to go with it, though honestly it’s been so long I can’t remember many details. 

Dead Man’s Blood is by FAR my most popular fic (y’all it broke 20k hits, that’s bananas), so for that reason alone it could deserve some sequel action. If memory serves every single one of my SuperPhantom fics are initial meeting fics, not any sort of developed interaction fics. I never  had any sequel planned, mind you, but seeing how interested people are in SuperPhantom just made me want to work on other ideas for the SuperPhantom sandbox. I really need to put aside some time to work on at least one of them, because Bobby is a good character I’ve never written anything for and that’s a shame.

Burn the Streets, Burn the Cars, my ParaNorman/Danny Phantom xover, also deserves a sequel where Norman visits Amity Park and gets some temporary Phantom-style powers. That was the vague plan back when I wrote that fic, but considering how much that fic fought me? Yeah, never gonna happen. 

feel the outside turning in was a giftfic that received surprisingly nice feedback, and that combined with S1E2 involving ghost dragons has made the idea of a sequel super tempting, no lie. Will I? Probably not. I’m having too much fun in FMA-ficland.

Lastly, for a not-DP fic, Erase Me Whole was going to have a sequel that was post-intergalactic war where Sollux is freed from his helmsman duty and Equius equipped him with mechanical limbs and he struggled to adjust to life as a regular troll again. That’s never gonna happen either since I’ve pretty much shelved all fic-writing interest for Homestuck, but it woulda been fun.