colorcoded (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
colorcoded) wrote2023-12-11 09:54 pm
colorcoded) wrote2023-12-11 09:54 pm
Entry tags:
Meme: Questions for fic writers
A meme, from ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
clumsyclifford: https://clumsyclifford.tumblr.com/post/670262339138994176/questions-for-fic-writers
1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)
2. Go to your AO3 "Works" page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for "Additional Tags." What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?
3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?
4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?
5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now!
6. What's one fact about the universe of [insert fic] that you didn't get a chance to mention in the fic itself?
7. Any worldbuilding you're particularly proud of?
8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?
9. How do you find new fic to read?
10. How do you decide what to write?
11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?
12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?
13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don't anymore?
14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?
15. What's your favorite AU that you've written?
16. What's an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)?
17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?
18. If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it involve?
19. If you wrote a spin-off of [insert fic], what would it involve?
20. If you wrote a prequel to [insert fic], what would it involve?
21. If you wrote a "missing scene" in [insert fic], what would it be?
22. Who is your favorite character in [insert fic] and why?
23. What's a trope, AU, or concept you've never written, but would like to?
24. Are there any easter eggs in [insert fic], and if so, what are they?
25. What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write?
26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?
27. How long did it take to write [insert fic]? Describe the process.
28. Does anyone read your fics before you post them? If so, who?
29. What songs would be (or are) on a playlist for [insert fic]? Explain your choices if you want!
30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?
31. What's your ideal fic length to write?
32. What's your ideal fic length to read?
33. If you write chaptered fics, what's your ideal chapter length to write? Is it different from your ideal chapter length to read?
34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?
35. What aspects of your writing are completely unlike your real life?
36. Do you visualize what you read/write?
37. Promote one of your own "deep cut" fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?
38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?
39. Is any aspect of your writing process inspired by other writers or people? If so, who?
40. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?
41. Link a fic that made you think, "Wow, I want to write like that."
42. Have you ever received a comment that particularly stood out to you for whatever reason?
43. If you take/write prompts: what's your favorite prompt fic that you've written?
44. If you take/write prompts: do you prefer dialogue or scenario/narrative prompts?
45. What's something you've improved on since you started writing fic?
46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write?
47. If [insert fic] was a pair of shoes, what kind would it be? Describe the shoes.
48. What's the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?
49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you're up for it!
50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about!
Feel free to ask me any of these questions anytime in a comment below, and I will reply! Even if you see this months later (which I am guessing will most likely be the case, as not many people watch this journal), I am happy to answer these.
1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)
2. Go to your AO3 "Works" page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for "Additional Tags." What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?
3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?
4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?
5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now!
6. What's one fact about the universe of [insert fic] that you didn't get a chance to mention in the fic itself?
7. Any worldbuilding you're particularly proud of?
8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?
9. How do you find new fic to read?
10. How do you decide what to write?
11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?
12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?
13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don't anymore?
14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?
15. What's your favorite AU that you've written?
16. What's an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)?
17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?
18. If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it involve?
19. If you wrote a spin-off of [insert fic], what would it involve?
20. If you wrote a prequel to [insert fic], what would it involve?
21. If you wrote a "missing scene" in [insert fic], what would it be?
22. Who is your favorite character in [insert fic] and why?
23. What's a trope, AU, or concept you've never written, but would like to?
24. Are there any easter eggs in [insert fic], and if so, what are they?
25. What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write?
26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?
27. How long did it take to write [insert fic]? Describe the process.
28. Does anyone read your fics before you post them? If so, who?
29. What songs would be (or are) on a playlist for [insert fic]? Explain your choices if you want!
30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?
31. What's your ideal fic length to write?
32. What's your ideal fic length to read?
33. If you write chaptered fics, what's your ideal chapter length to write? Is it different from your ideal chapter length to read?
34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?
35. What aspects of your writing are completely unlike your real life?
36. Do you visualize what you read/write?
37. Promote one of your own "deep cut" fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?
38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?
39. Is any aspect of your writing process inspired by other writers or people? If so, who?
40. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?
41. Link a fic that made you think, "Wow, I want to write like that."
42. Have you ever received a comment that particularly stood out to you for whatever reason?
43. If you take/write prompts: what's your favorite prompt fic that you've written?
44. If you take/write prompts: do you prefer dialogue or scenario/narrative prompts?
45. What's something you've improved on since you started writing fic?
46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write?
47. If [insert fic] was a pair of shoes, what kind would it be? Describe the shoes.
48. What's the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?
49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you're up for it!
50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about!
Feel free to ask me any of these questions anytime in a comment below, and I will reply! Even if you see this months later (which I am guessing will most likely be the case, as not many people watch this journal), I am happy to answer these.
no subject
Tropes: With Quodo, it's very much "Quark and Odo have sex but in a weird/ambiguous sort of way, and then that makes them realize they have feelings for each other that go deeper than they want to admit." (I kind of think Quark and Odo also work really well for "near death experience leads to feelings realization," but oddly I don't think I've ever written that for them.) For my fic more generally, sex with conflicted/complicated feelings? A bit broad but I think I need for there to be an underlying emotion setting the tenor for a sex scene for it to compel me, whether it's pining, guilt, nervousness, resentment, unreliable narrator thinking they're getting what they want when they're being manipulated, etc.
Details: Oh there are so many details I have the tendency to reuse but I can't think of any off the top of my head! Sometimes I'll read an old piece of writing, though, and go, "I've written a sentence almost exactly like this in another fic!" As an example, I think there are times when I've written a character finding themselves/feeling like they're coming home by meeting/being intimate with someone else they've been estranged from for a long time (which is an emotional note I generally like in fiction) and it's often written very similarly each time I do it.
12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?
I'm not sure I have that many. A long time ago, I used to put "slap-slap-kiss" dynamics as a soft DNW in my exchange sign-ups but I removed it after I started requesting Quodo. I don't know if it's that the trope as a whole has grown on me, though, so much as I just happen to like Quodo generally for many reasons, and belligerent sexual tension happens to be built into their dynamic a bit.
I'm not sure if it counts but I think omegaverse has generally grown on me but mainly because I think omegaverse as a genre has broadened and gotten pretty diverse in the kind of worldbuilding it can be used for. In its original iteration, I think it tended to be more narrowly focused on kinks like mpreg, knotting, nesting/bonding, etc., which I don't intrinsically find sexy. But I think as people come up with more and more variations on omegaverse worldbuilding, and as D/s or BDSM AUs have sort of faded away in favor of omegaverse-style worldbuilding instead, I find it's not uncommon for omegaverse fics to feature kinks I particularly like (e.g. D/s, heats, social-category-related taboos/pining/mistaken identity shenanigans type premises) more heavily than ones I'm indifferent to.
So I guess as omegaverse has become more varied and less niche in its kinks, it has started to appeal to more people, and I'm an example of that.
13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don't anymore?
It's hard to say because there aren't that many tropes I dislike in general, and most of the tropes I really love (e.g. setting change AUs, identity issues, etc.), I have actually gotten more intense about loving them over time.
I don't think this really counts but... crossovers, if you're very broad in the interpretation of this question? It used to be the case I *might* check out a crossover fic occasionally (of the type where cast of canon X meets the cast of canon Y) but now, I have so little time to read all the fic I want to read that these type of fic are basically an instant no / will always fall by the wayside first. But yeah, I don't think I ever really liked crossovers in the first place... (I do love fusions, though, including cast X goes to or always existed in canon Y's world.) But also, I think crossovers and characters from different canons I'm into meeting each other kind of activates a cringe reaction in me for some reason, and I think that's something I didn't experience when I was younger!
17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?
Going along with my love of fusions, there are several casts of JRPG fandoms I would LOVE to see in the Star Trek world. I like imagining what Star Trek race various characters would be, whether they would be in Starfleet or a civilian, and if they're in Starfleet, what their position is, etc.
I think when it comes to Quodo, there's a lot of alternate meeting AUs I would love to see. I like that we got their first meeting in canon, but I also like playing around with other first meetings. When I was brainstorming the masquerade fic, one idea I played around with is having Odo meet Quark at a party before Quark opens a business on Terok Nor and then they part ways for a while. Or I also love the idea of Odo having a long-term/recurring relationship with Quark while disguised as someone else, which is an idea that I think can only work if you go pretty AU/divergent with canon.
For some reason, I don't have a lot of setting change AU ideas for Quodo (although I love reading them or seeing art of them!). I do love the Hunger Games AU prompt in this letter. I don't think I could write it as I don't think I have a strong enough handle on Hunger Games canon to put together a sensible plot, and I can tell I'd want to write a longfic for that idea and it's not practical. But yeah, Odo being so fiercely independent and Quark trying unsuccessfully to cover up his unselfish side compels me.
Thanks for the questions! I hope these answers were interesting to read! :D
no subject
And you write that type of idea so well! Before getting into Quodo, I didn't read many fics where the characters have sex before having the "feelings realization," but I've come to really really love it for Quark/Odo, and your fics have played large role in that!
I kind of think Quark and Odo also work really well for "near death experience leads to feelings realization."
Ooo, me too! I love that trope in general, and I agree it would work really well for Quark and Odo. My oldest Quodo WIP actually kind of touches on that. Maybe I should take a peek at that one again...
I completely understand about the "slap-slap-kiss" trope as it's not something I generally consider to be compelling either, but the Quodo dynamic can definitely have a bit of that in there. Quark and Odo are more confrontational with each other than the characters in most of my other ships are, so Quodo's been pushing my horizons all over the place lol!
I love Hunger Games AUs, and I've been rotating DoreyG's prompt around in my head ever since I read it. It still hasn't coalesced into a story in my head yet, but I keep hoping one day it will. The Hunger Games books/films are some of my favorite media. I rarely re-read books, but I do re-read those three on occasion, as well as watch the movies pretty often. Maybe one day the story will come together in my head, or maybe someone else will be struck by inspiration and write it for us! XD
Thank you for answering the questions! This was very interesting to read!
no subject
Yeah to be honest, before Quodo, I didn't really know I enjoyed it either? But it works so well for their dynamic. I'm glad my fics have helped give you an appreciation for the trope! :D
My oldest Quodo WIP actually kind of touches on that. Maybe I should take a peek at that one again...
Sounds fun!
Quark and Odo are more confrontational with each other than the characters in most of my other ships are, so Quodo's been pushing my horizons all over the place lol!
Yeah, same, getting into Quodo has definitely been a weird/new experience for me in so many ways. I guess it helps that they both have really strong and weird personalities to the point where you do buy that they would be into the bickering. For more grounded/realistic romance leads, when they're constantly bickering, I'm just like, "Are you guys okay...? It doesn't seem like you're having fun..." But with Quark and Odo it's like, these guys are deeply weird, and they ARE having fun. XD
The Hunger Games books/films are some of my favorite media. I rarely re-read books, but I do re-read those three on occasion, as well as watch the movies pretty often. Maybe one day the story will come together in my head, or maybe someone else will be struck by inspiration and write it for us! XD
Oh, that's very cool that you're a fan of the series! Sometimes I feel like I'm playing fic chicken(?) with a plot bunny. Like, "Is anyone going to write this? I hope someone writes this. I REALLY don't have time to write this, but I'd like it to exist..." XD At least I have enough WIPs I'm invested in finishing to distract me from any tempting plot bunnies at the moment. But it is tempting!
I'm glad you found it interesting!