#library searches just aren't properly describing what i'm thinking of.

[poetriarchy]

it’s crazy like actually insane that i can’t find historical demographic analyses of childlessness rates among women of any time period before the 1800s. that seems like it should be such a interesting illustrative statistic in and of itself but also as an indicator of broader social/economic/religious/political/environmental conditions. it’s a statistic that establishes something entirely distinct from what you get out of an average birth rate...

OK NVM post kind of cancelled i'm finding a couple articles. but nothing that's really what i'm looking for/what i'd be wanting answers to. w/e do i sound insane/is this already obvious

[cha-melodius]

3, 14, and 18 for the fic writer asks?

3. Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

Hoo boy, what a question! Ok, my process, such as it is: usually I get some kind of idea. From a song, from a prompt, from something completely random... it starts with a kernel. When I decide to pursue an idea, I either dive in—for a one shot, less than 5k—or I start plotting everything out in a brief summary form. I have a bunch of these, ideas fully plotted out, that may or may not ever see the light of day. Eventually, when I start writing a fic, I usually start after the beginning and work more or less linearly, although I occasionally jump around a bit. Usually while I'm writing a fic there are some points where things aren't quite figured out, some sticky point that gives me trouble, and those I typically think about and work out while I'm driving to or from work, lol. I think that pretty much encapsulates the "creative" part of things, the rest is just banging it out.

14. How do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

Ooh, another good one! I do try to put myself in the characters' positions, although rarely I'm able to draw from personal experience. I just haven't experience that much drama in my life lol. I will say that for the really emotional shouting match emotional confessions I usually write out all the dialogue first without any description. It's like I can hear all the emotions in my head but I can't quite get the description of it out at first... it takes me a bit to figure out how to properly express it, the nuance of describing what characters are doing and feeling.

18. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

Sometimes a fic starts with a title—usually only the ones that come from a song inspiration the first place, though. For others, sometime early on I go searching for a title just so I have something to title the document when I save it lol. I usually have some part of the fic I want to emphasize, a feeling or a plot point, and I search my music library for things that might suit. Sometimes I find the perfect title that just feels like it fits. For those there's this moment of yessssss where it's just super satisfying lol. Other times I find something that kind of works, and it's fine but doesn't get the yesss moment. Every once in a while I find a title that isn't explicitly tied to the plot but I just have to use it because of the song's vibes. Some good examples of this are The Hardest Cut, White Knuckles, and most recently Nova, Baby. I definitely have some titles I love and some that I'm kind of meh about. Almost all my titles are song titles or lyrics.

Thanks so much for asking!

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