Writing Process Meme by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dmitchell1985
Aug. 18th, 2006 01:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tj_roweI'm supposed to be listing ten facts about my writing process, and then tagging ten of you, so, um... Here we go!
10. My best plotbunnies have been for pairings that I hate. I shudder at the thought of, say, Beast Boy/Terra or Katnappé/Kimiko, and am eventually asked to defend my veiw. A qualifier is used, I say that there may be an instance where I would like it, and suddenly the plotbunny won't get out of my head.
I still hold that YinYang: How it could have been was my best Teen Titans fic, even if it does have emoangst!Raven and A Single Tear. XD 'The Other Dream Stalker' is a work in progress that's mostly smut, so I can't really comment on that one. ^_~
9. I write at least a page and a half of A4 of the next chapter before posting the last. back when I was still writing Herbal Tea, I eventually got so far ahead of myself that I was hating the chapter I was typing because the 'current' one was so much better. Steep learning curve, with that fic.
8. The page+half used to be three notebook pages, but now it tends to be a page and a half on OO, or 'until I'm scrolling a fair bit' on Wordpad. Laptops make insta-fic easier - unless it's smut, in which case it goes into the notebook and stays there. You have no idea how many times I've re-written the first Rai/Jack smut scene of 4. Xiaolin Past, or jumped into the middle of 'Mala Mala'.
7. I can't write anything good before 2130. I can sit at the laptop and type from about 0100, or notebook-write lying in bed from when it's properly dark. Any other time? I may note down a plotbunny or odd line, but I shan't do any writing. Most writing occures right after I have switched out the lights - the plotbunny always picks that moment to strike.
6. The Fortnight Rule. With one-shots especially, I try to sit on fic for a fortnight before going through and proofreading it. This usually fails, as I am way too impatient - that or works too well, as evidenced by 'Don't Say It', which was sat on for about a year. This often ties into point 8.
5. I stick a mechanical pencil in my hand and I am in Maths Mode; I stick a blue ballpoint in my hand and I am in fic-plotting mode. It's awesome - unless I've lost my pencil and am trying to do lessons in ficwriting mode.
4. When I want to write m/m smut onto the screen, I listen to Rammstein. When I want to write girlslash of any stripe, I listen to Seth Lakeman.
3. The proof-reading process consists of changing 'she's to 'he's (I don't know where the extra 's' comes from - and it's always in reference to Jack Spicer, too), 'g's to 'd's and vv, 'they's to 'the's and 'the's to whatever they were supposed to be, making characters more kickarse (a recent addition) and inserting subtext.
2. Plotfics come to me gradually - if I write down odd scenes when they come, they eventually form a picture that I can manipulate. Plotty scenes with dramatics generally take care of the manipulation for me. XD
1. An Author is a god to characters who don't believe in gods. Remembering that I can use deus ex mechena in moderation is helpful - there are such things are external forces, and a lot of the time characters are not in a Closed Circle, no matter how fanficcers tend to think of them being in one.
That's what I think about it, anyway. *shrug*
I would tag, but my brain is dead, I need sleep, and would need to look at my flist to make sure these people have me friended. Cuz, y'know, it defies the point of tagging if they never see the post.
As a start:
1.muniyeka, because I actually want to know. ^_~
10. My best plotbunnies have been for pairings that I hate. I shudder at the thought of, say, Beast Boy/Terra or Katnappé/Kimiko, and am eventually asked to defend my veiw. A qualifier is used, I say that there may be an instance where I would like it, and suddenly the plotbunny won't get out of my head.
I still hold that YinYang: How it could have been was my best Teen Titans fic, even if it does have emoangst!Raven and A Single Tear. XD 'The Other Dream Stalker' is a work in progress that's mostly smut, so I can't really comment on that one. ^_~
9. I write at least a page and a half of A4 of the next chapter before posting the last. back when I was still writing Herbal Tea, I eventually got so far ahead of myself that I was hating the chapter I was typing because the 'current' one was so much better. Steep learning curve, with that fic.
8. The page+half used to be three notebook pages, but now it tends to be a page and a half on OO, or 'until I'm scrolling a fair bit' on Wordpad. Laptops make insta-fic easier - unless it's smut, in which case it goes into the notebook and stays there. You have no idea how many times I've re-written the first Rai/Jack smut scene of 4. Xiaolin Past, or jumped into the middle of 'Mala Mala'.
7. I can't write anything good before 2130. I can sit at the laptop and type from about 0100, or notebook-write lying in bed from when it's properly dark. Any other time? I may note down a plotbunny or odd line, but I shan't do any writing. Most writing occures right after I have switched out the lights - the plotbunny always picks that moment to strike.
6. The Fortnight Rule. With one-shots especially, I try to sit on fic for a fortnight before going through and proofreading it. This usually fails, as I am way too impatient - that or works too well, as evidenced by 'Don't Say It', which was sat on for about a year. This often ties into point 8.
5. I stick a mechanical pencil in my hand and I am in Maths Mode; I stick a blue ballpoint in my hand and I am in fic-plotting mode. It's awesome - unless I've lost my pencil and am trying to do lessons in ficwriting mode.
4. When I want to write m/m smut onto the screen, I listen to Rammstein. When I want to write girlslash of any stripe, I listen to Seth Lakeman.
3. The proof-reading process consists of changing 'she's to 'he's (I don't know where the extra 's' comes from - and it's always in reference to Jack Spicer, too), 'g's to 'd's and vv, 'they's to 'the's and 'the's to whatever they were supposed to be, making characters more kickarse (a recent addition) and inserting subtext.
2. Plotfics come to me gradually - if I write down odd scenes when they come, they eventually form a picture that I can manipulate. Plotty scenes with dramatics generally take care of the manipulation for me. XD
1. An Author is a god to characters who don't believe in gods. Remembering that I can use deus ex mechena in moderation is helpful - there are such things are external forces, and a lot of the time characters are not in a Closed Circle, no matter how fanficcers tend to think of them being in one.
That's what I think about it, anyway. *shrug*
I would tag, but my brain is dead, I need sleep, and would need to look at my flist to make sure these people have me friended. Cuz, y'know, it defies the point of tagging if they never see the post.
As a start:
1.
muniyeka, because I actually want to know. ^_~
