Writing meme

[osprey_archer]

Via anactoria. Because yay, memes!

Put a number in the comments and I’ll answer accordingly.

The mission for those of us who answer the questions, should we accept it, is to stay positive about our writing and ourselves, but to also be fair about our shortcomings.

1. Of the fic you’ve written, of which are you most proud?
2. Favourite tense
3. Favourite POV
4. What are some themes you love writing about?
5. What inspires you to write?
6. Thoughts on critique
7. Create a character on the spot... NOW!
8. Is there a character you love writing for the most? The least? Why?
9. A passage from a WIP
10. What are your strengths in writing?
11. What are your weaknesses in writing?
12. Anything else that you want to know... (otherwise known as Fill in the Blank)

Comments

[bogwitch64.livejournal.com]

#4
As one who "doesn't get" fanfic, I am curious about the inspiration one needs to write it.

(And my "doesn't get" is not derogatory about fanfic, but about my lack of understanding of the genre.)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

These are actually two different questions. The thing that draws me to fanfic is not so much themes as the sense of community. It's the fact that a newbie writer can make friends and discuss writing and get in-depth critiques from people who are passionately interested in these characters and this world and bring all that enthusiasm to beta-reading this specific story.

In high school I used to bribe my friends with cookies to read my original stories. It's much nicer to find people who genuinely want to read my work. And of course one can find that enthusiasm for original fiction, but I think that generally takes a higher skill level than for fanfic, and I'm only just getting to that point - in part because of the passionate writing talk and beta-reading culture of fandom.

As for favorite themes. I'm fond of writing about loyalty and friendship, particularly friendships and loyalties that have to transcend some gap between the two participants. I like stories where characters want to communicate, but have different worldviews or difficulty understanding (or expressing) their own feelings and therefore find it difficult to understand each other.

I also have a fondness for stories where these difficulties ultimately prove insurmountable, although I try not to indulge that too much.

[bogwitch64.livejournal.com]

Thank you, darling.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm fond of writing about loyalty and friendship, particularly friendships and loyalties that have to transcend some gap between the two participants. I like stories where characters want to communicate, but have different worldviews or difficulty understanding (or expressing) their own feelings and therefore find it difficult to understand each other.

You have such a clear way of seeing things and saying things! This is lovely. I like it as a theme, and you do it well. You have a great writing future ahead of you.

[anactoria.livejournal.com]

Hmm... 1?

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

1. Of the fic you’ve written, of which are you most proud?

Probably still Mr. Yunioshi's Photographs (http://archiveofourown.org/works/38014), the fix-it fic for the racist caricature that was Mr. Yunioshi's character in the otherwise excellent Breakfast at Tiffany's. I think my prose has improved since then, but the purpose of the story is more ambitious than most of my others. And a lot of people commented that with the story in mind they would be able to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's again, so I definitely feel proud of that.

[lyredenfers.livejournal.com]

5!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Oh, gosh. For original fiction, I often find that pictures spark ideas: they'll give me a set-up to people with characters.

For fanfic, I already have the characters, so usually it's more a question of "What would make these characters react in an interesting manner?"

[morbane.livejournal.com]

#6, please!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It depends on the context. I think a good beta reader is one of the best tools writers can have for improving a story (and just for improving their writing in general), although it is sometimes of necessity painful.

But I tend to oppose unsolicited critique on a story that's already been posted, beyond maybe pointing out a typo. The writer isn't going to rewrite the story and therefore isn't going to assimilate the critique - assuming that the critique is worth assimilating and not just a complaint that the reader wanted a different kind of story, which they often are.

I'm talking here about commenting directly on the story. No one seems to write fic reviews, only recs, but I think it would be okay to discuss a fic's weaknesses as well as strengths in a review, because then it's aimed at the reader and not directly at the writer. The writer can (and probably should!) not respond to a review, whereas there's some expectation that people should respond to comments, and there's really no good response to a bad comment once the story has been posted.

[morbane.livejournal.com]

That's interesting! Only from seeing your response do I realise just how open-ended the topic is; I was particularly thinking about critiquing scenarios where the critique has been with solicited, as with betas, and what your style is in giving it, and how you feel about receiving it. I guess I should have specified! On the other hand, I guess not specifying allowed you to pick an angle you already had definite thoughts on.

I agree that it's okay to discuss a fic's weaknesses in a review aimed at someone who might read the fic, rather than the author. I imagine that the balance of recs to reviews is due to the smaller benefit in giving a negative review for a fic than there is for a book or a play. A poorly executed fic will fall into obscurity, and no one has any interest in its success or failure except its author. A poorly executed book still sits on a store shelf (assuming the sales reps convinced the bookstore to take it) and even negative attention is useful to sell it - perhaps?

there's really no good response to a bad comment once the story has been posted - I think that's the only place I disagree with you; there's plenty to get out of a review that mentions flaws. Of course, that assumes that that such intelligent reviews are likely to be given. I'm not a wide enough writer or reader to have come across reviews demanding that a different story be told. I've received reviews on my own work that suggested the tone was too angsty, or parts were confusing. I think there is a good response to that, and it goes along the lines of, "It's interesting that you thought that way, here are my thoughts on your critique, thank you for commenting"? But I personally dislike the vacuum of non-response more than I dislike someone telling me, even pompously, entitledly, or scornfully, what I did wrong.

I guess I'm thinking about reviews that are more like "this was my response as a reader, and it was negative," and it sounds like you're talking about reviews that are like, "You, writer, should have done it this way," and I don't like the latter type either.

[sineala.livejournal.com]

9!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I shook my head slowly. “I’m not planning to sell.”

“No?” she said, tapping on the pipes in the robot’s chest. She didn’t say anything else; but I knew she knew how much we needed the money.

“No,” I said, picking at a patch on my overalls. “I don’t think I can.”

“Yeah?”

“He said please,” I said, like that explained anything.

“He talked?” said Kittyhawk, surprised. “What all did he say?”

“Just that. Just please. And then it started to rain, and little bits of blue lightning jumped all over him, and he fell down in the grass.”

“Sounds like he short-circuited.” Kittyhawk and me looked at the robots for a little bit. She scooted over by the big robot and lifted up his arm, flexing it to look over the joints. “You sure it wasn’t just some kind of recording, Susannah? Like he had a phonograph inside?”

“Well of course I’m not sure. Maybe you could open him up and look. Only I just…he was asking for help. I wouldn’t feel right selling him for scrap. Even if we need…” My voice trailed off.

Kittyhawk tore her eyes off the robot to look at me. “That’s an awful lot to hang on a please,” she said.

“I know,” I said. I picked at my overalls a little more. She twisted the robot’s arm. Its shoulder joint squeaked. “You think you can fix him?”

“Fix him!” Kittyhawk said, rocking back on her heels. “I don’t have the first idea how he runs.” She picked up the robot’s hand and stopped, looking at its Swiss army knife fingers: knife, corkscrew, screwdriver, tweezers. “And maybe we better not, anyway. What if he turns out to be dangerous?” Suddenly she grinned. “Maybe that’s how they got here: they’re on the lam. We might have us a regular robot Bonnie and Clyde on our hands.”

“Or maybe they’re lookin’ for work, just like anyone else,” I suggested. “Robot hobos.”

“Or maybe they dropped out of the sky from Mars. The Martians read H. G. Wells and decided to send robots rather’n risk catching our diseases themselves.”

“Or maybe they just need help!”

Kittyhawk looked at me. I picked at my overalls again, embarrassed by my outburst. I’d just about picked the patch off my knee.

“Well, I guess they’re probably not from Mars,” Kittyhawk said. “’Cause I know some of the brand names on these parts, and why would the Martians bother to get Earth parts?”

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I love this story! I'm glad it's still IP.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It's coming along! It's going more slowly than the time travel story, but I guess I can't expect everything to gush forth like a waterfall.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Definitely not. Sometimes things take time, and it doesn't necessarily mean *anything* about the story.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

How about 3? (Do you *have* a favorite?)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Well, I have strong feelings about POVs, but it depends what I'm writing. For fanfic I always write third person, unless I'm writing for a book that was first person to begin with. It always sounds off to me, to try to translate a canon from third to first person.

But when I'm writing my own children's or YA stories, they always seem to peter out unless they're in first person. I guess it makes the characters seem more immediate and real to me, as if they're telling their story? It's like I'm letting them down if I don't share their story. Third person doesn't give me that urgency.

But my secondary world fantasy stories are always in third. I haven't managed to finish a good one yet, but I don't think the POV is the problem.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

But the time travel story is in third person, and it doesn't peter out AT ALL--it's fabulous.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

No, it's in first person - Piper is telling the story. Maybe you've got third person and first person switched around?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Haha, no, I know the difference. But maybe I'm just misremembering. Let me go back and look.

Yup, just misremembering!

Wow, that was weird though--funny what the brain can do.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

And now I feel very self-conscious, like you may be thinking, but how can you mis-recall something so central to the book?? --to which all I can say is that I see *both* main characters so clearly in my own mind, and feel like I have such a window into both of them--and into Angela and the dad as well--that I guess I lost sight of the fact that everything I perceive, I owe to Piper's eyes. Of course as soon as I went back and looked at the MS I remembered--but--well, what can I say: it was just very complete in my mind. (Which sounds now like I'm dissing first-person point of view, which I'm not at all, since I too like to write from it--and of course one *aims* to present a complete picture…. ehhh, I'm tying myself in knots here…)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I think it is a fairly transparent use of first-person POV, which might account for the confusion. Oftentimes stories in first person have an a-ha! moment where the character realizes there's a gap between their perception and reality, but Piper never really has a moment like that. She doesn't always have the whole picture, but she's accurate about what she does see.