I was tagged by @thatmysticbafflingwonder, who has one of my favorite online names ever… thanks! Today is the first time I’ve had a chance to look at Tumblr for a week, and I woke up to a tag…it was nice.
1. Have you ever written in an unusual place? Where? I mostly write on my computer at home. I often write on my phone on the train during my morning commute, but that really only works if I’m on a roll. I think the strangest place I’ve written is in a campsite, still on my computer. Thank goodness for chargers that work from car cigarette lighters…
2. The word/phrase you know you overuse, but can’t get rid of it. Cock. If you can find a good substitute that doesn’t sound ridiculously stupid or literally limp, I’m all ears. Seriously, though, as much as I think I fall back on certain phrases, I think the far greater sin is that I fall back on similar sentence structures, and it feels like the longer I write, the worse it gets. Maybe this is “developing a style” but mostly it feels lazy. I look at my old writing and other people’s writing and I think, “Wow, they put that clause first..what a great idea.” I’m not sure what to do about it. I think that if I were serious about writing fiction I would need to workshop or something so I could be more aware of it and conscious about style decisions. I was very conscious on “Compromised,” where everything is very filtered through Spock’s internal dialog until Jim literally breaks through it with dialog, but that awareness of style is rare for me. My Pinto fics for the most part follow a certain style and tone that I’m almost getting bored with. So there’s that. **scrubs face with hand…thereby showing one of my commonly overused descriptions**
3. Do you keep notes? Do you have a notebook? What does it look like? Add a picture/screencap of your notes. All my writing is in electronic form. I may have notes in a gdoc, but it’s still electronic. Even when camping, I’ll work on my laptop until it dies and then switch to an iPad before I’ll pick up paper. When my husband once gave me paper and pen for writing in the car I snarkily asked him where the stone tables and chisels were. So yeah, not notebooks, sorry. I do have folders full of picspiration, both for smut and baby interactions and world building stuff for o-fic.
4. What’s the hardest part of a fic to write for you? (angst/fluff/smut, exposure/plot twist/ending) It depends on the fic, to be honest. But I think it’s introducing conflict that feels real and non-contrived and can also be recovered from, because I really don’t write tragedies. I’ve been married long enough to know that misunderstanding can happen and grow between otherwise intelligent people who are just too frazzled to communicate well, but if you aren’t careful in fic you can end up with characters seeming either willfully ignorant or stupid, and others willfully obtuse or cruel. And I always want the reader to feel sympathetic to both of my characters, even when they’re fighting. I want the conflict to come from their interests just not quite aligning, and their perspectives being different but reasonable, rather than one of them just being an asshole. So that’s always the struggle. I’m struggling with it even now with my current wip (we’re using the word “progress” very generously, here).
5. Have you ever based something in your fic on your personal experience? What was it? Always. The Bleary boys’ experiences with Nathan are based on mine with an infant/toddler. The Jumping boys courtship and explorations are similarly grounded. Spock’s feelings of loss and isolation. Jim’s attempts to build something from nothing… I’ve experienced all of it, though none of it in quite that way, of course. The only thing I write that I don’t have personal experience with on some level at least is physiological… what it feels like for a boy getting various parts stimulated. I have adequate proxies for some of those experiences, but have had to fill others with wishful thinking and fantasy, while trying to keep it real.
6. What’s that one fic you want to write but somehow know you never will? God, I really hope it’s not the one I’m working on currently. I haven’t made progress for weeks (work and PTA have been INSANE). Part of me just wants to drop it, because I’m not feeling very motivated, but I really think it will be the capstone of the Beary!verse, and probably the last fic of that series. I know exactly where it needs to go, but the actual writing has been difficult. Other than that one, 30k words of Spirk that needs a final chapter that might never come, and an O-fic half formed in my mind that may never firm up. Who knows. Writing is my therapy, but a hobby, so until I retire it has to be something I just fit into the corners of my life and only do when it feels good.
7. What do you usually do when you procrastinate? I’m usually writing when I should be doing something else, so the whole question is a bit on its ear, but when I have time to write but still somehow don’t, Tumblr is usually to blame. Or lately, 00q fics.
8. What’s the funniest typo you’ve made? I’m not sure it’s the funniest, but “escellent” is so common that one of my betas has actually made it a word in her vernacular. I think the funniest stuff happens when I writing one-thumbed on the train on my phone and autocorrect has its way with my text. I can’t remember anything off hand, but I remember many times loading the new material onto my computer to edit and thinking “what the ever fucking fuck?” Sometimes it takes ages for me to work out what I was trying to say.
9. Do you listen to music when you write? What kind? Again, it depends on the fic. For the Jumping boys, Nakhane Toure’s “Just Like Heaven” became their song, and I listened to that album almost constantly. When I’m writing Christmas fics, I’ll play holiday music. Otherwise it’s usually jazz or some other instrumental (classical or modern).
10. Your favourite comment a reader has left on your fic? Anytime someone quotes a part of the chapter and tells me that it affected them…gave them chills, made them laugh, etc. That’s the best drug.
Since I’ve been largely absent from Tumblr the last week, I’m not sure who’s been tagged already (looks like a lot of folks), so I’ll add a few, but if you’ve been repeated, please ignore, and if you follow me and haven’t been tagged yet, please consider yourself selected. @blushingkate, @cate-adams, @hopeforyouyet, @klinfield, @loves-pie, @multifandom-madnesss, @mightymads, @stellarbisexual, @seepunkrun, @suedescripture.
Ato's Fandom Blog 