flonnebonne (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
flonnebonne) wrote2008-04-13 09:04 pm
flonnebonne) wrote2008-04-13 09:04 pm
Entry tags:
Fanfic Writer's Meme, or This Is How We Procrastinate on Blind_go Fic
So like everyone else is doing it. Unecessarily long and rambly answers ahoy! I like procrastinating.
The Fanfiction Writer's Meme
How about a brief introduction?
I'm Flonnebonne and I am an alcoholic. No wait, I am Flonnebonne and I don't drink at all. Because fanfic is my anti-drug. Also I don't like alcohol.
I was once primarily known by the name Laziness Incarnate but I gave up that name when I got an LJ because it was too difficult to type LOL. No seriously, I did. I am mainly in Hikago fandom nowadays, but in the past I wrote a lot of Slam Dunk and Lord of the Rings fic and some Final Fantasy fic.
Fabulous! And what got you into fanfiction to begin with?
Final Fantasy VI. Does anyone remember ye olde FFRPG, a massive multi-writer multi-game multi-craziness project that kind of petered out and never got finished? I got my first whiff of fanfiction from ye olde FFRPG.
The story of that first whiff...
Ten years ago, my cousin showed me this new-fangled internet thing she had on her computer (a black-and-orange monitor, unless my fevered imagination lies), and I asked her to type FF6 into the search box. We clinked on a bunch of the search results, and there was this marvelous something that said something like, "Locke raised a hand to forestall their comments. He said, 'Edgar is evil. He must be stopped.'" I was so dying to read more, but my cousin was like, what the hell is this crap, and hit the back button, and I have never stopped being embarrassed about reading fanfiction ever since.
Now how I started writing fanfiction...I think my first fic was a horrid sequel to FFVI about Locke and Celes' children--fraternal twins, a boring male hero and a girl who was kidnapped by some random evil new empire and raised into its service, like her mother before her. Oh, and I killed Locke in the prologue because I had a crush on him and I wanted everyone to mourn his tragic, heroic death. I had no idea what was supposed to happen in the middle of my fic but I had planned out the big epic confronation at the end (spoiler: Celes dies) (come to think of it, I usually plan a beginning and end of a fic and just kind of fill in the middle as I go). Fortunately, I never finished this fic because I realized that even I found the plot and characters boring.
I see. So what kind of fanfiction do you like to write?
Short fics, but not drabbles. Drabbles are too short! (I think I'm missing the point) I've only started one really long chaptered fic, and I don't think I'll ever get that finished. Genre-wise, I like writing genfic that's character-centered and in which not much happens but Canon Is Explored.
Do you find writing easy? Hard? What are the aspects of writing you struggle most with?
Hard. Except the short comedic pieces that occasionally just spill out of me. I'm not one of those people who can pump out sentences that are interesting and clear and insightful with little apparent effort. Those jerks. I, unlike those jerks, really have to work at it. Which is why I don't do many LJ posts, I think, or why my fics take so damn long to write.
Even more difficult is plotting. I am not a crafty, plotty person. I am more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-and-do-what-feels-decent person. Also, I am lazy. I have come to terms with this aspect of my personality. I have embraced it. I make love to it occasionally when I can work up the energy. It is my defining trait. It kind of gets in the way of writing long stories and becoming a better writer, but oh well.
Write a few sentences or so of your favorite pairing or character.
I am totally going to cheat and grab a few sentences from a fic I'm working on about a character I like but who I wouldn't say is my favourite character in the whole wide universe. Because I want to go to bed soon and this question is way too difficult.
Excerpt from "Dink in the Dark," an Ender's Game fic set in the aftermath of the final battle:
There was a guard posted inside every room.
Dink knew, just like every Battle School kid on Eros knew, that those guards were not just guards but also wardens, and potential executioners. Should the battle for Eros be lost, and the Polemarch's men come to collect their prizes--for surely the brilliant, idiot children from Battle School were the main prize here--well, would the wardens hand over their charges, or shoot them? It would only take a few bullets to ensure that the Earth's most brilliant military minds never worked for the Polemarch, or any other enemy of the IF.
Cost effectively speaking, we're goners.
<end slash snippet>
Are there any fanfiction clichés or trends you're sick of or just can't stand?
The word "curl." It was lovely and evocative the first time I read it, but now it just screams "fandom word!" at me. "His hand curled against the warm coffee mug." "Her smile curled secretively at the corners." "They curled into one another, two bodies become one." It doesn't bother me that much, but it does seem a bit overused.
Mpreg and ignore!canon fic annoy me a bit. Also, I think there's too much pairingfic in the world, if you can call that a cliche. Don't get me wrong, a lot of it is excellent, but I think most fandoms focus too much on it, you know?
Are you guilty of any fanfiction clichés you hate? Or any other ones?
The Very Secret Diary of Touya Akira.
Mind you, I don't really hate any cliches--in fact, I kind of like a lot of them. Anyone who knows me knows that I have several cliched catch phrases that I use all the time (mainly "You're fired!" a la Donald Trump and "x is for the weak!" a la the internets).
What was the first fandom you wrote for, and do you still like/participate in it?
Final Fantasy VI if you count the long sequel!fic I never finished or even bothered typing up in bygone days. But the first fic I put on the net was a FFVII fanfic based on someone else's parody fic (yeah, I know). That author isn't on the net anymore (that I know of) so I can't really put up that first fic of mine. But it was glorious and hilarious in my memory, and on my hard drive.
I still occasionally work on FFVI fic (never VII, that was a one-time thing only), and I read everything I can from the fandom, but I never considered myself "in" the fandom.
Name your OTPs or most frequently written pairings/characters and explain what it is about them that you love to write.
Shindou Hikaru, I suppose. I don't think I really have a favourite, actually, and I don't write pairingfic at all, except incidentally. I like writing about Hikaru because most of the ideas and themes in Hikago that really interest me are centered around him. Things like growing up, and loss, and chasing ghosts. He's not my favourite character in the series, but he is the one whose development interests me the most. Usually whenever I write other characters I still have Hikaru in mind, at the heart of it all.
Also, I like Hikaru because I can put silly dialogue into his mouth, because I am a silly person and my characters tend to talk a bit too much like me.
What would you call your writing style?
Very dialogue-y. Except in a few serious fics.
Thinking about themes and concepts. Not thinking about character so much as just writing it.
Not too plotty. Plot is difficult.
Simple. Not much description. Description is difficult.
Lazy.
Occasionally crackalicious.
Do you read other people’s fanfic? If so, what do you find yourself reading the most?
I used to devour long, plotty fics. I still love them, but the time investment makes me cringe now so I don't read them as often. I think I probably read character pieces the most, because that's what my flist writes! And it's what I write too. (is sheep)
I read a lot of pairing fic, because that's what out there, but I wish there were more gen.
Name one thing you'd LOVE to write, but have been too afraid or shy to do.
I was trying to write a silly Ogata/Isumi cybersex fic for the anon porn thread that was up a while ago, but I was laughing too hard to finish it. At some point Ogata was going to say "I put on my robe and wizard hat."
To give a more serious answer, I really ought to write a long serious fic one of these days, but I haven't had any ideas for one and I am, again, too lazy. Original fiction too, would be good, but meh. No inspiration at this point. Don't feel like I have enough life experience.
Do you have trouble taking criticism? Or worse yet, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?
I don't think I do, but maybe I do! If I did have a big ego I certainly wouldn't know about it.
I think that I generally take criticism well, and I love getting good, well thought-out criticism (not ff.net "omg i think it needs to be longer" brand criticism--tell me WHY it should be longer plz) but I am too lazy to do anything about it when I do get it. Am a terrible person. Ah well.
When you write, is there anything that helps? Music? Quiet room?
Hah, being away from the computer. I get my best ideas and lines when I'm in a situation where I can't write anything down. I think this is fairly common.
I am at my most productive when I'm procrastinating on something else. I wrote a TON in university whenever I had papers I was supposed to be working on.
What inspires you?
Emotional events in my life, but in a subtle way that I'm usually not aware of.
Other fanfic, definitely. When I read something great, I go all oozy and uplifted and wistful. "Man I wish I could write like that."
"Maybe someday I can."
Lastly, how would you sum up your fanfiction experiences and yourself as a writer?
I am not a particularly dedicated writer or fandomer, but I've been here a while and I'm probably too used to it to ever leave. :)
How about a brief introduction?
I'm Flonnebonne and I am an alcoholic. No wait, I am Flonnebonne and I don't drink at all. Because fanfic is my anti-drug. Also I don't like alcohol.
I was once primarily known by the name Laziness Incarnate but I gave up that name when I got an LJ because it was too difficult to type LOL. No seriously, I did. I am mainly in Hikago fandom nowadays, but in the past I wrote a lot of Slam Dunk and Lord of the Rings fic and some Final Fantasy fic.
Fabulous! And what got you into fanfiction to begin with?
Final Fantasy VI. Does anyone remember ye olde FFRPG, a massive multi-writer multi-game multi-craziness project that kind of petered out and never got finished? I got my first whiff of fanfiction from ye olde FFRPG.
The story of that first whiff...
Ten years ago, my cousin showed me this new-fangled internet thing she had on her computer (a black-and-orange monitor, unless my fevered imagination lies), and I asked her to type FF6 into the search box. We clinked on a bunch of the search results, and there was this marvelous something that said something like, "Locke raised a hand to forestall their comments. He said, 'Edgar is evil. He must be stopped.'" I was so dying to read more, but my cousin was like, what the hell is this crap, and hit the back button, and I have never stopped being embarrassed about reading fanfiction ever since.
Now how I started writing fanfiction...I think my first fic was a horrid sequel to FFVI about Locke and Celes' children--fraternal twins, a boring male hero and a girl who was kidnapped by some random evil new empire and raised into its service, like her mother before her. Oh, and I killed Locke in the prologue because I had a crush on him and I wanted everyone to mourn his tragic, heroic death. I had no idea what was supposed to happen in the middle of my fic but I had planned out the big epic confronation at the end (spoiler: Celes dies) (come to think of it, I usually plan a beginning and end of a fic and just kind of fill in the middle as I go). Fortunately, I never finished this fic because I realized that even I found the plot and characters boring.
I see. So what kind of fanfiction do you like to write?
Short fics, but not drabbles. Drabbles are too short! (I think I'm missing the point) I've only started one really long chaptered fic, and I don't think I'll ever get that finished. Genre-wise, I like writing genfic that's character-centered and in which not much happens but Canon Is Explored.
Do you find writing easy? Hard? What are the aspects of writing you struggle most with?
Hard. Except the short comedic pieces that occasionally just spill out of me. I'm not one of those people who can pump out sentences that are interesting and clear and insightful with little apparent effort. Those jerks. I, unlike those jerks, really have to work at it. Which is why I don't do many LJ posts, I think, or why my fics take so damn long to write.
Even more difficult is plotting. I am not a crafty, plotty person. I am more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-and-do-what-feels-decent person. Also, I am lazy. I have come to terms with this aspect of my personality. I have embraced it. I make love to it occasionally when I can work up the energy. It is my defining trait. It kind of gets in the way of writing long stories and becoming a better writer, but oh well.
Write a few sentences or so of your favorite pairing or character.
I am totally going to cheat and grab a few sentences from a fic I'm working on about a character I like but who I wouldn't say is my favourite character in the whole wide universe. Because I want to go to bed soon and this question is way too difficult.
Excerpt from "Dink in the Dark," an Ender's Game fic set in the aftermath of the final battle:
There was a guard posted inside every room.
Dink knew, just like every Battle School kid on Eros knew, that those guards were not just guards but also wardens, and potential executioners. Should the battle for Eros be lost, and the Polemarch's men come to collect their prizes--for surely the brilliant, idiot children from Battle School were the main prize here--well, would the wardens hand over their charges, or shoot them? It would only take a few bullets to ensure that the Earth's most brilliant military minds never worked for the Polemarch, or any other enemy of the IF.
Cost effectively speaking, we're goners.
<end slash snippet>
Are there any fanfiction clichés or trends you're sick of or just can't stand?
The word "curl." It was lovely and evocative the first time I read it, but now it just screams "fandom word!" at me. "His hand curled against the warm coffee mug." "Her smile curled secretively at the corners." "They curled into one another, two bodies become one." It doesn't bother me that much, but it does seem a bit overused.
Mpreg and ignore!canon fic annoy me a bit. Also, I think there's too much pairingfic in the world, if you can call that a cliche. Don't get me wrong, a lot of it is excellent, but I think most fandoms focus too much on it, you know?
Are you guilty of any fanfiction clichés you hate? Or any other ones?
The Very Secret Diary of Touya Akira.
Mind you, I don't really hate any cliches--in fact, I kind of like a lot of them. Anyone who knows me knows that I have several cliched catch phrases that I use all the time (mainly "You're fired!" a la Donald Trump and "x is for the weak!" a la the internets).
What was the first fandom you wrote for, and do you still like/participate in it?
Final Fantasy VI if you count the long sequel!fic I never finished or even bothered typing up in bygone days. But the first fic I put on the net was a FFVII fanfic based on someone else's parody fic (yeah, I know). That author isn't on the net anymore (that I know of) so I can't really put up that first fic of mine. But it was glorious and hilarious in my memory, and on my hard drive.
I still occasionally work on FFVI fic (never VII, that was a one-time thing only), and I read everything I can from the fandom, but I never considered myself "in" the fandom.
Name your OTPs or most frequently written pairings/characters and explain what it is about them that you love to write.
Shindou Hikaru, I suppose. I don't think I really have a favourite, actually, and I don't write pairingfic at all, except incidentally. I like writing about Hikaru because most of the ideas and themes in Hikago that really interest me are centered around him. Things like growing up, and loss, and chasing ghosts. He's not my favourite character in the series, but he is the one whose development interests me the most. Usually whenever I write other characters I still have Hikaru in mind, at the heart of it all.
Also, I like Hikaru because I can put silly dialogue into his mouth, because I am a silly person and my characters tend to talk a bit too much like me.
What would you call your writing style?
Very dialogue-y. Except in a few serious fics.
Thinking about themes and concepts. Not thinking about character so much as just writing it.
Not too plotty. Plot is difficult.
Simple. Not much description. Description is difficult.
Lazy.
Occasionally crackalicious.
Do you read other people’s fanfic? If so, what do you find yourself reading the most?
I used to devour long, plotty fics. I still love them, but the time investment makes me cringe now so I don't read them as often. I think I probably read character pieces the most, because that's what my flist writes! And it's what I write too. (is sheep)
I read a lot of pairing fic, because that's what out there, but I wish there were more gen.
Name one thing you'd LOVE to write, but have been too afraid or shy to do.
I was trying to write a silly Ogata/Isumi cybersex fic for the anon porn thread that was up a while ago, but I was laughing too hard to finish it. At some point Ogata was going to say "I put on my robe and wizard hat."
To give a more serious answer, I really ought to write a long serious fic one of these days, but I haven't had any ideas for one and I am, again, too lazy. Original fiction too, would be good, but meh. No inspiration at this point. Don't feel like I have enough life experience.
Do you have trouble taking criticism? Or worse yet, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?
I don't think I do, but maybe I do! If I did have a big ego I certainly wouldn't know about it.
I think that I generally take criticism well, and I love getting good, well thought-out criticism (not ff.net "omg i think it needs to be longer" brand criticism--tell me WHY it should be longer plz) but I am too lazy to do anything about it when I do get it. Am a terrible person. Ah well.
When you write, is there anything that helps? Music? Quiet room?
Hah, being away from the computer. I get my best ideas and lines when I'm in a situation where I can't write anything down. I think this is fairly common.
I am at my most productive when I'm procrastinating on something else. I wrote a TON in university whenever I had papers I was supposed to be working on.
What inspires you?
Emotional events in my life, but in a subtle way that I'm usually not aware of.
Other fanfic, definitely. When I read something great, I go all oozy and uplifted and wistful. "Man I wish I could write like that."
"Maybe someday I can."
Lastly, how would you sum up your fanfiction experiences and yourself as a writer?
I am not a particularly dedicated writer or fandomer, but I've been here a while and I'm probably too used to it to ever leave. :)