Cause Everybody's Doing It

[lls_mutant]

I'm swiping this question from... well... everyone. ::Shrugs::

Ask me one question - any one - about my writing, then post this in your LJ so I can satisfy my curiosity about yours.

We'll see.

In other news, Accidentally In Love 5 is coming along slowly. ::Sigh:: the good news is the reason for that is partly a one-shot of Remus's bite and fall-out from Remus's parents POV. We shall see. Monday off will help immensely, I suspect.

Lame entry, I know. But hey, such is life.

Comments

[nassima.livejournal.com]

Accidentally In Love is, by nature, a fic that begins well, goes on rather happily, and will soon take a turn to not-that-happy to end completely tragically. How do you feel with it? Are you going to stop on a happy moment? Or wallow in angst? Or turn completely AU and create the best ever resurrection fic?

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Oooh. Good question!

Definitely not a resurrection fic. Sadly, I believe Sirius is dead and will stay that way. I wish I could believe otherwise, but I can't. :P~~ to me.

One thing that is important to note is that I don't necessarily think that things were that horrible between Sirius and Remus at Halloween. In the Shack, one of Peter's lines of defense is wouldn't Sirius have told Remus? This implies that Peter saw Sirius and Remus as very close. And what is Remus's response? Not "we weren't speaking" or "when did I ever see Sirius?", but "not if he thought if I was the spy. I assume that's why you didn't tell me?" It sounds like there's no huge resentment there on Remus's part, and that Sirius's decision to think Remus was the spy was (typical Sirius) spur of the moment and last minute. I really think he HAD to be believe it was Remus or Peter.

However, as plotted AIL only goes up to 1981, and that does end icky. So I'm planning on writing an epilogue where Remus and Sirius see each other again, and you know the love is going to be rekindled. And that's where it will stop, because I really don't want to end on a depressing note. IF I change my mind and go up to Sirius's death, it would be very important to me to write Remus eventually accepting it. Remus loves Sirius, yes, and he always will, but I think that he will accept Sirius's death and continue with his life as best he can. (Until JKR kills him off mercilessly, wherein I can console myself thinking that he's with Sirius.)

So, in the end, I'm going to end on a bittersweet moment, whichever one I choose!

[juliette-kelley.livejournal.com]

I think all of your fans will agree with me when I say the "scrabble" scene in Accidentally In Love where Sirius and Remus make love for the first time is such an incredibly hot moment. Was that scene a challenge to write? In general, do you find the smuttier scenes one of the hardest parts of your fics to write (pun NOT intended *g*), or one of the easiest? Why?

[marilla82.livejournal.com]

When and why did you get turned on to writing R/S? (Read: What was it that made you fall for the pairing?) Do you only write R/S pairings? Or are there other pairings you write?

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Thanks on the scrabble scene :)

What was a challenge in that scene- and one of the reasons I find smutty scenes harder to write- was to make the actual love making non-cliched. The Scrabble part was not hard at all, because the idea was there. (Although I do confess to having actually drawn out the Scrabble board!) The actual sex afterwards, however, was a bit tough.

What I really wanted to avoid was the "sex formula." I know that there are certain "steps" to sex and all that, and logical progressions, but I wanted to make that sex scene different from others I had read. What's hard is coming up with the words and phrases to express pleasure. The actual infusion of emotion was easy. For example, it was very easy to write the part where Sirius is entering Remus and he realizes he's hurting him. It was very hard to write Remus touching Sirius and Sirius enjoying that.

I also really have to be in the mood to write smut. I wrote The Art of Subtlety very quickly, because I had LOVELY inspiration and I was in the mood to write it. And the fact it was a one-shot... The Scrabble scene did have the pressure of not just three chapters of AIL before it, but all of Deny Thy Father and Mentors as well. So that made it harder as well.

Overall, I don't really like to put too much smut into my serious writing. I find it's often distracting unless it has a point. I put in the first time, cause, well, duh. And I put in the morning after in part 4 because Sirius wanted to make the point to Remus that the relationship was going to be equal. (Plus, bad sex scenes are rarely written!) It might come up again, but if it does, it will again be one of them trying to make a point.

Any other NC-17 writing will be confined to one-shots! :)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Their story. It's such a beautiful, complicated, wonderful story. It's the right balance of angst and happiness. (I'm one of the believers that one of the best things about this relationship is it gave my two favorite characters some happiness during OotP.) I definitely got turned on to R/S after OotP- except for one instance, I didn't see it before then.

I've actually been working out the elements of it, because I want to include an R/S-like pair in my fantasy novel. So things that attract me:

1.) the hurt/comfort aspect- and the fact that it's mutual.
2.) the respective failings of both characters. Their relationship is truly impacted by their flaws.
3.) the fact that when we do meet them, they're in their lives already. There's a mystery to them.
4.) the prejudice they both face. (murderer from Azkaban and werewolf aspects)
5.) the fact that their love is actually not the defining characteristic of their characters.

I only write R/S (caveat to follow). I'm trying to get out of fanfiction and get into something original, because I can't get paid for fanfiction and I can for something original. The caveat is I do have a few other ideas for stories, but they aren't pairings. I want to write one that's about Peter and Percy, and Peter's feelings for Percy (which are along the lines of paternal). Every time I hear "Remember When?" by Alan Jackson, I want to write Molly/Arthur. And of course I have Deny Thy Father, which isn't shippy, and I'm working on "Our Fault" (working title, probably to be changed), which is about Remus getting bitten from his parents' perspective. And I have an idea that will probably never come to fruition about McGonagall and Snape, and her being part of the reason he turned back to the good side.

I like other pairings, but I'm not comfortable writing most of them. Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny, for example. There's two reasons for that: 1.) I think JKR will cover these pairings (or lack thereof), and I don't feel the need to write the fic, and 2.) I get really, really uncomfortable writing anything sexual with the younger generation. Mainly because I'm 30- that would really make me feel like a pedieophile. I won't even read a lot of the Ron/Hermione or Harry/Ginny stuff because of those two reasons. The only other pairings that really spark my interest are a very, very angsty post-OotP Snape/Lupin, which I don't write because I find writing Snape very difficult, and Charlie/Tonks.

[momebie.livejournal.com]

Because I'm always interested in the process of other people...

How do you write? Anything? Do you think about it and sort of collect the info in your head? Do you write impulsively and possessedly and then edit it later? That's probably pretty nosy of me, but I think it's fascinating.

Also, mind if I friend you? <3's fellow Immeritans. :p

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Don't mind if you friend me at all :)

I tend to have the info collect in my head. I've tried outlining before, but I find I rarely actually stick to the outline. If it's something really long I'll take notes, but usually the ideas just come into my head and I see where it goes.

As far as impulsively and possessively, it depends on the story. Azkaban's Tango and certain chapters of DTF I've written like that. Other times it takes me forever, or I need to go back and edit to go on with the fic. Sort of regain my momentum.

The one habit I can't decide if it's good or bad is that I tend to write scenes long before I'm ready for them. For example, I have the scene of James confronting Sirius about his and Remus's relationship written already. The good thing is I wrote it when it occurred to me, and I'm really, really happy with it. The bad thing is that if I change anything, it might change the entire scene, and I hate that.

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

Ah! Just discovered your LJ, and I have a question for you, something I've sort of been wondering since first reading your stories. You tend to write characters who are very self-aware; what I mean is, they think and talk a lot about their motivations and emotions. It's clear that you have yours boys figured out right to the core. But what I'm wondering, how do you decide how much you're going to tell when you sit down to write the story? How do you decide to draw the line (or not to draw it, whatever the case may be) between knowing, yourself, what your characters are thinking or feeling, and conveying that exactly to the reader?

Erm, does that question even make sense? I feel like I'm not asking it very well...I guess another way of asking it is, why do you so often leave so little up for interpretation, so little room for doubt?

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

It makes a lot of sense to me, actually, and is something I sometimes consider a weakness in my writing- and why I'm rather bogged down with this chapter of Accidentally In Love.

I think it partly comes from me being a scientist, and being very trained to explain EVERYTHING. Kind of "if I know the answer, I need to show it" type-syndrome. I will get into phases where I need to show -everything-, and that certainly gets annoying.

It also comes from having a co-writer. I've had a co-writer for the past five years, and clear communication is vital.

Thirdly- and this is the more sylistic reason- a lot has to do with this being fanfiction. I'm actually trying to be an interpreter of what I think happened as much as I am trying to tell a story. So I tend to be more clear about what's going on in the character's heads. There's no doubt because I have no doubt. I'm trying to convey something very specific, and that's my version of what happened.

My style definitely tends to be more expository than some, and I do rather like it that way. A lot of it has to do with the type of stories I tell. I don't really want there to be room for interpretation and doubt- I want to explain why these things happened. In Deny Thy Father I didn't want there to be ambiguity about why Sirius ran away from home: JKR left that story vague enough already! I wanted to fill in the blanks and offer a definitive reason and story. Same with Accidentally In Love. We have an ambiguous story already, and there are questions. Why did Sirius not trust Remus? How did everything fall apart? what made their feelings for each other so strong their relationship could be kindled again after 12 years? I don't want to ask more questions; I want to provide an answer.

And Accio Bananas!, well now, that one just wouldn't have been the same if there was a lot left up to the reader, huh? ;)

Seriously, though, I think I'm a story teller more than a poet-type of artist. I try very hard to keep the boys from actually discussing their emotions too much, because that's just not all that masculine, but I do think that with the complicated lives they lead (and giving the male species a lot more credit than I pretend to), there is a lot going on in their heads, and that's what I'm most interested in.

Hope the anwer is coherent and makes sense! :)

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

That is coherent, and it does make sense. Interesting, too. The bit about the co-writer caught my attention--I'm currently co-writing a project with three other people, and while we discuss details ad nauseum, we certainly don't put everything we work out into the stories. (But part of that, I think, is that it would take wild horses, vats of boiling oil, and scary sharp spikes to get krislaughs and myself to "tell" more than "show" in our writing....)

It's funny, too, that you mention "because it's fanfiction" as a reason. Funny, because that's one of the main things I dislike about fanfiction--there's a fine line between "telling a story" and "explaining a story" that doesn't seem to exist in most fan writing. You're mostly on the right side of that line, but so many people aren't, it makes reading fanfic a little tiresome if I'm looking for stories rather than theories.

But now I'm curious--is your style for your original fiction much different?

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Yes and no.

Showing as opposed to telling is something I tend to have to be careful of, and I have to be even more careful of it in the original stuff I've been working on, because it's first person point of view, and it's a character going through a very difficult, confusing time. And my co-writer was writing the first-person point of view of the other main character. So you can see where this got very, very complicated, and where comparison to my fanfic style is very difficult!

That said... I think I do tend still have a more story-telling style in my original fic. If you look at Accidentally In Love, which I consider more "original" than Deny Thy Father, I think you can sort of see a difference, but not an overly profound one. And like I said, that's why I'm totally bogged down on Chapter 5 right now. I'm too mired in the details and need to get out of it.

I think I am a very literal person, and I notice that when I write, my focus isn't so much on imagery and symbolism, but plot twists and motivations. If I were going to compare our (yours and mine) styles to famous writers, I'd venture that I'm more like JKR, who tends to be more obvious and plot-oriented, and you're more like C.S. Lewis, who is much more focused on the language, but not remotely to the point where the plot suffers. (That's why I'm finding this particular discussion so fascinating- I said it in your journal, but I think we have such incredibly different styles that it's really interesting to have a discussion about the actual writing.) Because I am so plot/story-oriented, I find it necessary to be very clear about what my characters are thinking, or the plot doesn't make sense. In what I've read of your writing, the language and the interactions take center stage, and exposition like I do detracts rather than adds. I actually put krislaughs somewhere in between us on the style scale, where we're the extremes and she's the balance.

Either I'm getting very deep or I need to go to bed.

it makes reading fanfic a little tiresome if I'm looking for stories rather than theories.

I agree with this, and think there's a fine line. The challenge in filling in the holes is to make it your own story as much as JKR's, and I do agree that a lot of fan writers tend to miss this part of it.

The entertaining thing right now is the story I'm working on in order to step away from AIL for a bit is a rather different style for me than my other pieces have been. Same universe, but much briefer and more stilted. I'm honestly not sure if I like it. It reminds me of a story I wrote for another fandom that was decent, and had scenes I really really liked, but overall... eh.

We shall see!

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

You're co-writing an original novel? That's quite brave of you. How does that work out? And I know what you mean about the pitfalls of writing first-person...so, I know you like fantasy books--have you read Robin Hobb's novels? There are two trilogies that are in the first-person, one of the very few examples of that POV in fantasy/adventure that I've ever liked. And there's a wolf. Anyway. That's your random rec for the evening.

I can say with much certainty that, when it comes to writing, I am definitely not a literal-minded person. (I am in many other aspects of my life, but that's another story.) krislaughs has not-at-all-jokingly described my editing style as using a big whomping Subtlety Stick. ;) I don't think it's so much that plot isn't important, just that I don't really want plot to be the first thing you notice. I don't like to read a scene and think, "The writer clearly put that in there as a turning point, and that's in there as a necessary confrontation, and this is where the finale begins..." And the same goes for characters. The very actions a character takes should be explanation enough for why they're important; if not, why are the actions in there in the first place?

A lot of this is just stubborness on my part: A writer should be able to do those things without having actual, explicit sentences that do those things, and the snobby elitist part of me always assumes that a writer just isn't trying hard enough if the skeleton of the story is so apparent. I remember in high school reading novels for AP English, and the teacher telling us to find a single line in the story that represented the theme. I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now. If a single sentence says it all, why write the book? Everything in a novel must serve a purpose, and the truly great novels are those in which every word and sentence serves multiple purposes. A story needs a plot, and good writing needs symbolism and imagery, so I try to put them together. I don't know if it always works--I'm still ambivalent about "Man-eaters of Kumaon" (mine, not Jim Corbett's--no doubt in my mind he succeeded at what he set out to do), even though the entire thing is One Huge Symbolic Plot.

And now? I need to go to sleep. :)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

You're co-writing an original novel? That's quite brave of you. How does that work out?

In many ways, it works great. My co-writer and I have similar styles, and she's someone I can work with on a business-like and personal level. (And I'm not just saying this because I know she reads my journal ;) ) Where it gets difficult is in the editing stage. Editing, and time. As in, editing takes huge blocks of it which neither of us have.

Never read Robin Hobbs, although I've been told she's good. I'm also very wary of first person in a fantasy novel, but this novel's very grounded in Earth, so... ;)

Have you ever read Ayn Rand, out of curiousity? She's one of my favorite authors, and I think my style is very influenced by her. (Actually, my top 5 writing influences are my co-writer, Ayn Rand, Maeve Binchey, Anne McCaffery, and J.K. Rowling. Interesting crew, and definitely explains a lot about my style.) Anyway, I think of her because for the most part, I really like Ayn Rand's novels, particularly Atlas Shrugged, my all-time favorite book. But while most of the writing is brilliant, there's a 60 page speech given by the main character that amounts to "in case you missed the point in the 800 pages of text that come before this and the 200 pages that come after, here it is, spelled out for you." I struggled through Galt's radio speech once, and I've never read it again, even though I can pretty much recite the rest of the book, I've read it so many times.

I do think sometimes telling as opposed to showing- when used very judiciously- can be very, very powerful. The problem is I do it RIGHT every now and then (the very end of Deny Thy Father, when I completely break the fourth wall and speak in my own voice about family- that's one of those sections that came out exactly as I intended it), and that makes me want to use the device. I know I can do it and do it well, but it's not always as effective as it was right there. :P

Okay. Enough expoundin- er, procrastinating and back to work. :P

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

I read both Ayn Rand ages ago--in high school--and I liked the books at the time, but I've never felt the desire to go back and read them again. I think Rand's stories suffered from the fact that she was clearly a philosopher first, storyteller second. Well, that, and the vast majority of her characters are inherently unlikable. I guess it's a sign of strong characterizations that they still annoy me, ten years later, but I'm not sure that's what she was going for. And I skipped the radio speech, completely. :) I don't have anything against philosophy--in fact, I think it's fascinating, and took several philosophy classes in college. I just think that Ayn Rand, in trying to make her ideas accessible by putting them in novel format, ended up with something a bit too muddled on either front.

I liked Anne McCaffrey's dragon books (again, read them in high school), although after the first three or so I felt like she was stretching the ideas a bit thin. I've never read interviews or anything of hers, but I definitely got the impression that she didn't plan beyond the first trilogy. They were a fun read, but I don't think of the writing is particularly memorable.

Hehehe, this is almost predictable, because the books that I recall with both writing and stories that just blew me away are essentially the polar opposite of those you list. Have you ever read Gene Wolfe? They usually file his books under sci-fi, though that's not entirely accurate. The man is an absolute genius, and I would sell my soul to be able to write like he does. Or even just has his vocabulary, which requires a dictionary by your side as you read yet still feels perfectly natural. His writing is chock-full of images and allusions and symbols. His most famous work, the four-books-that-are-really-one-book Book of the New Sun is the type of story in which, though it's told entirely in first person, you have to constantly stop and re-evaluate exactly what's happening, and the plot is so obscure you don't figure it out until the end (but, damn, it's brilliant when you do). It's not easy to read, but it's worth the effort.

I guess, overall, I much prefer a complicated, shadowy, difficult book that makes you work to stories in which plots and characters are all laid bare. So I tend to write that way--with not as much regard as I probably should have for how easy it is for the reader to "get" what I'm saying. That's where my maniacal devotion to the "show not tell" rule comes from; when I write and rewrite my stories, I'm always thinking, "Why should I state this when I can make them figure it out, instead?" I think I'm a little bit sadistic as a writer. :)