Writing Meme
Sep. 30th, 2025 11:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereI saw this writer meme via havocthecat, and (being in likewise need of rebuilding blogging muscles) I have answered it. Very fun questions.
Which of your fics is your pride and joy?
All of them qualify in one way or another. Point at any of my fics and I will rattle off things I'm proud of with each, starting with the fact that they exist. Even a trifle such as Diminutive Disruption, which I had legit forgotten I wrote, I am super proud of. Because I did manage to write something silly, and because it made a few people smile, and because I wrote it in two days while in bed with a fever. It's an accomplishment.
However, there is only one true answer and favorite among my own works, and that is Life in Death. My non-linear, epigraph-laden darling. My case for why Libby and Sims were both more nuanced than a surface read of "betraying bitch" and "sadistic psychopath," and where I attempted to salvage them as people, with motivations and personal codes and coping mechanisms for the horrible stuff they did.
It was a deep dive into the show's least explained lore and into the mental landscape of a man attempting to disassociate from his own existence. It was about the parallels Sims has (like all great villains) with various of the good guys. I also went to bat for my most cherished interpretation of canon and declared that actually, there is zero proof that Sims is dead and a weight of evidence suggesting the opposite.
It's still my favorite of everything.
What are your top three most commonly used tags on AO3?
"Angst" leads the pack with 7/14 fics tagged as such. Second place is "Female Friendship" with 3 uses. There's a bunch vying for third, and if I remove tags that belong to multiple works in a series, it's a tie between "Canon-typical Violence," "AU - Canon Divergence," and "Women Being Awesome."
I like canon. I like what ifs within the canon. I like female characters. And I love exploring dark emotions. Somewhere in the nexus of those elements is where I find most of my plots.
What’s something you learned while researching a fic?
Most recently: Every possible symptom of concussion, so I could pick and choose what level of hurt/comfort to put Erin at in my current fic. Previously: I ended up down the rabbit hole of 1920s era bank robbers, hunting for a pre-Bonnie and Clyde equivalent to Amanda and Cory's crime spree and eventually stumbling across the Whittemore Gang, who fit the mold perfectly. Then, of course, I threw away all that research on one line of the fic and moved on.
Is there a character or ship you’d love to write for, but haven’t yet?
Hmmm. Most of my ships are darker pairings which range from obscure to nonexistent, so it's less "love to write for" and more "stoked with stage fright." When it's an unpopular pairing, I worry more about failing to build a convincing case.
A character I look forward to writing is much easier to answer. Rebecca Horne for Highlander. So much history to draw from. She probably knew absolutely everybody, she was much more mobile than Darius, and she's always in need of fix fic. Loads of potential for many kinds of story.
What makes a fic ‘successful’ in your opinion?
If it gets one positive comment (long or short), that's pretty much the gold standard. That's my reassurance it was worth sharing and brightened someone else's day. Any further response is icing.
Other than that, since I write the fic I want to read, it's pretty much just me still enjoying them when I finally revisit which makes them feel successful to me.
What makes you happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers, or Tumblr asks?
Comments, because I can revisit them and feel better on bad days. I love my regular commenters, my casual commenters, the long detailed raving comments and the super short comments. I love when they're on new work or old work and I absolutely know that commenting is not always easy (I always intend to do more of it myself and then life gets away from me), so I super appreciate all I receive.
I also really love user subscriptions. I am always happy when one of my user subscriptions posts, because I take it as a barometer indicating the writer/vidder is doing well enough to be creating. Thus, even if it's for a fandom I don't know or a bunch of tags I DNW, I still throw mental confetti and I hope my subscribers feel the same good will toward me when one of my useless alerts hits their inbox.
Does anyone you know in real life know you write fan fiction?
My mother and a former coworker I was on really good terms with. It's not something I keep secret, but it's also not something that has any reason to come up in conversation.
Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?
I used to get high fives. I miss those.
In general, I always try to make a post talking a little about the creative process. While I'm writing, I usually picture an accompanying deep dive behind the scenes. However, I'm usually so exhausted and tired of the story that when it comes time, I don't say very much and then, three months later, I wish I'd done the huge post.
What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?
So many crossovers! Especially Hard Core Logo as Immortals. However, I'm trying to finish my current projects before I let my eye wander.
Do you ever prep your fics with outlines or warmups before you start writing, or do you just dive right in?
I live by outlining. Every idea I have gets an instant synopsis. Then I break it down into a multi-paragraph outline. Then I start sketching easier scenes, throwing in bits of dialogue, and I recap everything I can think of. I am a slow writer in all other things, but I can knock out a recap in a couple of days. That way, while I inch through current projects, my ideas don't get lost. And if I think of something neat, I can open the document and jot it down in more or less the correct part of the story map.
It's not a rigid structure, and I'll do broad strokes on different aspects (often action sequences are purely descriptions of the physical/emotional outcomes, with no effort at logistics until I am forced to it). A lot gets changed once the real writing is underway, but the outline is always the starting point.
How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?
Countless. I revise as I go. There is no first draft, or second. There are only scenes in greater or lesser state of completion. Once I finally get to the point where there are no connecting passages missing, then I still have to sit down and read it again, to combine short sentences into something prettier or fix last second plot holes, or discover that an entire extra sequence is needed. It's only when I draw a blank on how to make it better that I post, by which point my brain is soup.
A character you enjoy making suffer.
Do I have to pick just one? My favorites suffer so beautifully. Lydia Martin spends an incredible amount of Teen Wolf's six seasons in torment, and I am writing an entire series to chart her pain and add to it. I traced Brian Cullen's deterioration. I followed Sims to the bottom of his physical and mental cliff. My first finished story was a study of Erin's grief and isolation. My latest one in large part involves Erin being stripped of her entire support system to find out what she's like with no resources. So by numbers, it's probably Erin, but honestly, if I love a character, I want to hurt them.
Except Amanda.
A character you want to protect.
See the above list. I see no contradiction between wanting to hurt and protect a character. I like to save those who died in canon and write at least one AU where they survive. I like to reform villains, or at least humanize them on their road to hell. I like it when deeply traumatized characters find a place in the world. I only hurt and isolate characters for their own good. They'll get their happy endings. Eventually.
What is your favorite fic to get comments/messages on?
All of them, are you kidding?
What fic took you the longest to write?
Of posted fic, that would be Sidelined, which I started in March 2023, and which then took two years to become more than a couple of cool scenes connected by a string of what ifs. However, of incomplete projects, the longest is also the first: My albatross of angst, the long as hell Jeremiah sequel fic. Still unfinished. I should get on that.
havocthecat, and (being in likewise need of rebuilding blogging muscles) I have answered it. Very fun questions.Which of your fics is your pride and joy?
All of them qualify in one way or another. Point at any of my fics and I will rattle off things I'm proud of with each, starting with the fact that they exist. Even a trifle such as Diminutive Disruption, which I had legit forgotten I wrote, I am super proud of. Because I did manage to write something silly, and because it made a few people smile, and because I wrote it in two days while in bed with a fever. It's an accomplishment.
However, there is only one true answer and favorite among my own works, and that is Life in Death. My non-linear, epigraph-laden darling. My case for why Libby and Sims were both more nuanced than a surface read of "betraying bitch" and "sadistic psychopath," and where I attempted to salvage them as people, with motivations and personal codes and coping mechanisms for the horrible stuff they did.
It was a deep dive into the show's least explained lore and into the mental landscape of a man attempting to disassociate from his own existence. It was about the parallels Sims has (like all great villains) with various of the good guys. I also went to bat for my most cherished interpretation of canon and declared that actually, there is zero proof that Sims is dead and a weight of evidence suggesting the opposite.
It's still my favorite of everything.
What are your top three most commonly used tags on AO3?
"Angst" leads the pack with 7/14 fics tagged as such. Second place is "Female Friendship" with 3 uses. There's a bunch vying for third, and if I remove tags that belong to multiple works in a series, it's a tie between "Canon-typical Violence," "AU - Canon Divergence," and "Women Being Awesome."
I like canon. I like what ifs within the canon. I like female characters. And I love exploring dark emotions. Somewhere in the nexus of those elements is where I find most of my plots.
What’s something you learned while researching a fic?
Most recently: Every possible symptom of concussion, so I could pick and choose what level of hurt/comfort to put Erin at in my current fic. Previously: I ended up down the rabbit hole of 1920s era bank robbers, hunting for a pre-Bonnie and Clyde equivalent to Amanda and Cory's crime spree and eventually stumbling across the Whittemore Gang, who fit the mold perfectly. Then, of course, I threw away all that research on one line of the fic and moved on.
Is there a character or ship you’d love to write for, but haven’t yet?
Hmmm. Most of my ships are darker pairings which range from obscure to nonexistent, so it's less "love to write for" and more "stoked with stage fright." When it's an unpopular pairing, I worry more about failing to build a convincing case.
A character I look forward to writing is much easier to answer. Rebecca Horne for Highlander. So much history to draw from. She probably knew absolutely everybody, she was much more mobile than Darius, and she's always in need of fix fic. Loads of potential for many kinds of story.
What makes a fic ‘successful’ in your opinion?
If it gets one positive comment (long or short), that's pretty much the gold standard. That's my reassurance it was worth sharing and brightened someone else's day. Any further response is icing.
Other than that, since I write the fic I want to read, it's pretty much just me still enjoying them when I finally revisit which makes them feel successful to me.
What makes you happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers, or Tumblr asks?
Comments, because I can revisit them and feel better on bad days. I love my regular commenters, my casual commenters, the long detailed raving comments and the super short comments. I love when they're on new work or old work and I absolutely know that commenting is not always easy (I always intend to do more of it myself and then life gets away from me), so I super appreciate all I receive.
I also really love user subscriptions. I am always happy when one of my user subscriptions posts, because I take it as a barometer indicating the writer/vidder is doing well enough to be creating. Thus, even if it's for a fandom I don't know or a bunch of tags I DNW, I still throw mental confetti and I hope my subscribers feel the same good will toward me when one of my useless alerts hits their inbox.
Does anyone you know in real life know you write fan fiction?
My mother and a former coworker I was on really good terms with. It's not something I keep secret, but it's also not something that has any reason to come up in conversation.
Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?
I used to get high fives. I miss those.
In general, I always try to make a post talking a little about the creative process. While I'm writing, I usually picture an accompanying deep dive behind the scenes. However, I'm usually so exhausted and tired of the story that when it comes time, I don't say very much and then, three months later, I wish I'd done the huge post.
What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?
So many crossovers! Especially Hard Core Logo as Immortals. However, I'm trying to finish my current projects before I let my eye wander.
Do you ever prep your fics with outlines or warmups before you start writing, or do you just dive right in?
I live by outlining. Every idea I have gets an instant synopsis. Then I break it down into a multi-paragraph outline. Then I start sketching easier scenes, throwing in bits of dialogue, and I recap everything I can think of. I am a slow writer in all other things, but I can knock out a recap in a couple of days. That way, while I inch through current projects, my ideas don't get lost. And if I think of something neat, I can open the document and jot it down in more or less the correct part of the story map.
It's not a rigid structure, and I'll do broad strokes on different aspects (often action sequences are purely descriptions of the physical/emotional outcomes, with no effort at logistics until I am forced to it). A lot gets changed once the real writing is underway, but the outline is always the starting point.
How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?
Countless. I revise as I go. There is no first draft, or second. There are only scenes in greater or lesser state of completion. Once I finally get to the point where there are no connecting passages missing, then I still have to sit down and read it again, to combine short sentences into something prettier or fix last second plot holes, or discover that an entire extra sequence is needed. It's only when I draw a blank on how to make it better that I post, by which point my brain is soup.
A character you enjoy making suffer.
Do I have to pick just one? My favorites suffer so beautifully. Lydia Martin spends an incredible amount of Teen Wolf's six seasons in torment, and I am writing an entire series to chart her pain and add to it. I traced Brian Cullen's deterioration. I followed Sims to the bottom of his physical and mental cliff. My first finished story was a study of Erin's grief and isolation. My latest one in large part involves Erin being stripped of her entire support system to find out what she's like with no resources. So by numbers, it's probably Erin, but honestly, if I love a character, I want to hurt them.
Except Amanda.
A character you want to protect.
See the above list. I see no contradiction between wanting to hurt and protect a character. I like to save those who died in canon and write at least one AU where they survive. I like to reform villains, or at least humanize them on their road to hell. I like it when deeply traumatized characters find a place in the world. I only hurt and isolate characters for their own good. They'll get their happy endings. Eventually.
What is your favorite fic to get comments/messages on?
All of them, are you kidding?
What fic took you the longest to write?
Of posted fic, that would be Sidelined, which I started in March 2023, and which then took two years to become more than a couple of cool scenes connected by a string of what ifs. However, of incomplete projects, the longest is also the first: My albatross of angst, the long as hell Jeremiah sequel fic. Still unfinished. I should get on that.
