Fanfic Writer's Meme

[lls_mutant]

The Fanfic Writers' Meme


Keyboard or biro?

Now that I'm home, keyboard, all the time. My handwriting is absolutely heinous and if I don't transcribe what I've written immediately, it's a 50/50 chance even I'll be able to read it later. But when I was working, and running my engine, which meant I had to monitor it but didn't have to acutally do much for long periods of time, I wrote by hand a lot.

Beta or no beta?

I've been getting better about using one. I always use one when I'm uncertain- I used one for Remus's coming out in Accidentally In Love and I definitely knew I needed one for Let the Water Hold You Down. My spelling and grammar tend to be reasonably good (especially if it's a Muggle word), but I am an American and it shows. Way too much at times. :P I've been starting to use a beta for Accidentally In Love, and I think it's a good thing.

As a note, the reason I never bothered was partly because I used to post on Immeritus, where there wasn't as strict a beta culture, and partly because I write such long fics I feel bad asking anyone to beta them. And I'm impatient and like to post.

Plot?

The twistier the better. That's what I like, is plot.

It's interesting how plot comes to me, though. It comes either in its entirety, or in flashes. Ten Galleons came in its entirety, and took me two hours to write. Accidentally In Love gets continuous flashes. But I almost always know the ending from the beginning.

Title?

I suck at titles, and I'm so glad fandom allows song lyrics as titles.

Smushy or smutty?

Neither. I'm not terribly good at writing sex, and I write mainly men, so smushy is kind of out too. :P

Summary?

An area I could really stand to improve. I'm never that impressed with my summaries, but I appreciate the importance of them.

Funniest fic?

Accio Bananas, I'm sure. Although I've been amused with parts of Accidentally In Love.

Most popular fic?

Accio Bananas, again, I believe. Accidentally In Love has a pretty decent readership, but I know people get put off by the length. Deny Thy Father is probably number two, because it's young Sirius and gen.

Most fun to write?

I've loved doing the remixes, and I really loved doing Let the Water Hold You Down. And A Boy Thing. That was a blast. But Accidentally In Love obviously holds a special place in my heart.

Best and Worst?

Best: Let the Water Hold You Down, Come Talk to Me, Ten Galleons, chapters 7 and 11 of Accidentally In Love, and Mentors.

Worst: Walls, Replace the Fear, and that awful fic I posted on Immeritus and never reposted here. Ick.

Coulda been Contenders?

I like A Little Respect, but I have a hard time writing Draco and Blaise, and I think if I paid more attention to them in canon it could have been a little stronger. I love the idea of Brotherly Love, and wish I'd gone full-fic instead of ficlet with it.

Strengths

Plot and characterization, I think.

Weaknesses

Magic, fights (I find them hard to write), and prose quality. I think my prose is decent, but I think it could be better.

Dirty Little Secrets?

I'll have to think about this one.

Comments

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

:) That's what non-verbal spells are for! I rarely have them speaking specific spells because I suck at inventing them.

There's also that disconnect between wizard and "muggle" thinking about what constitutes war, and the abilities and spells themselves. Considering that they learn to transfigure body parts and learn to vanish kittens in school, you'd think they wouldn't have to resort to childish things like jelly-legs curses. It's more than that though. Why don't they use apparation more often? Why not shrink things or enlarge them or lift and drop heavy objects - wingardium leviosa is a 1st year spell after all.

And why the chivalry? X casts such and such, Y casts such and such back, which causes X to cast mumbojumbo resulting in Y casting abracadabra back... The focus on one-on-one fighting like it's a sword fight. You rarely see "sniper" type fighting either, though admittedly I don't see many fics where there's fighting going on. (And I'm waiting for you to finish AIL so I can read it all in one go) But that bugged me about her writing in OotP especially - Sirius taunting Bella like that, the back and forth. Sirius' taunting served no purpose if he was just going to stand there. It was stupid, and while he may be stupid about some things, that was a bit over the top.

A lot of fights, I think, come off sounding scripted, in part because they are and have to be, but there tends to be too much precision and not enough chaos. With my reversathon story, I purposely skipped over the actual fight at the beginning because I really didn't want to write it all out, and it wasn't necessary for the plot of the story anyway. So I got lucky.

People should write the unexpected, the "they're wizards, so of course that can do this/that", and the "they're wizards, so of course that can shield/block this/that". Apparate behind the person, turn their opponents into ferrets, spray water in their eyes because they don't expect it - anything and everything should be possible - because they're wizards. A wand isn't a gun or a sword, but I think some people tend to write and even think of it that way anyway.

And I'll stop babbling now. *g*