Collected Thoughts

rosenho

My ideas come in flashes more than pinpricks. Sometimes I hear a voice, or a I see an image, occasionally I start wondering about a particular aspect of a character, or I'll riff off of a challege, but even that is just a flash of an image, a feel of an emotion, or hearing a voice.

Why do you choose to write in the tenses you do (present tense, or first person POV, or third person) and how do you choose particular styles for particular stories?
I don't always conciously chose. I don't sit down and think "I'm going to write a First person POV present tense story" or "I'm going to write a story in present & future tense." I get an idea for a story and then I start working on it and it grows and changes as I write it. Sometimes I start in one tense or POV and realize that doesn't work and change it. My stories are short, but I still have worked with multiple tenses. It wasn't deliberate, I was just trying to get the rhythm and the sound right.

Do you have music that inspires your writing? (That you listen to while writing, or certain songs that remind you of certain characters.)
I usually listen to music while I write, but mostly it's background music I filter out becuase I don't really like silence. Sometimes I play certain cds to set the mood, but I'm not really inspired by the music.

How do you brainstorm what comes next in a story?
The benefit of writing short pieces, you would think, is that it's pretty much all laid out. It's a vignette or a snapshot, there's not much that comes next. However I do get stuck and sometimes I have to keep thinking about it. Or I start reworking the current order, or look at the story from the end to the beginning. I get up and walk around and think, or read what I have outloud, go outside and take a walk. The physical jolt usually knocks something loose.

What do you do when you hit a road block?
Take a walk. Put the story down, do not look at it for awhile. Sometimes I stop thinkig about what is giving me trouble and work on other parts of the story--refining the rest of it, tightening up my lines.

How often do you end up deleting a whole bunch of already-written stuff, and how hard is it to let that stuff go?
What if you really, really want to include something but part of you is saying it's not right for that particular story?

I have several stories I just gave up on because they weren't working. I also have a couple sections of my current story that I didn't end up developing becuase the tone was wrong. I usually end up using most of what I think up, although sometimes I use it in a different order, or I break up the ideas and wording and build them into new sentences and put the ideas into different places.

Do you take notes longhand, and if so, when?
Again it depends. For my current story, which is episode based, yes I sat down and made lots of notes while I was watching. Lots of pausing and rewinding and note taking. Occasionally I'll do an initial draft in a notebook but it quikly goes in the computer so I can cut and paste.

Do you use challenges by other people to inspire you?
One challenge directly inspired two of my stories and one challenge indirectly led me to my current project.

Do you do anything in particular to get you into the right mindset to write a certain character or characters?
Watch the episodes, if I don't have access to those read the scripts or transcripts and bug people about what they saw and their impressions on the character.

Which characters are easiest for you to write, and WHY?
I don't know if I can really answer this. I haven't had a real problem "hearing" a voice, it's been structring the story.

Which ones are hardest, and again, WHY?
Again, hard to answer. Future Superman was difficult to get down, but only because I had to balance the idea of a emotionless Superman who was an alter, yet seperate persona from Clark Kent. But once I found the voice that was easy to write. I have a Clark snippet I started but couldn't expand on becuase I lost the voice and couldn't get it back. I still have the idea but the voice won't come back to me no matter how many times I watch Smallville.

Which characters are most like you emotionally?
That I've written? Lord I don't know. I see different aspects of myself in the various characters and draw on that. I can't really say "oh I'm just like so and so!" Forced to chose I'd have to say I'm probably closest in emotional make up to Wesley.

How often do you feel like what you're writing is fulfilling some emotional need - ie, when you're writing comfort, is it because you often feel that you don't get it IRL?
I don't know, I haven't thought about it. I just go with the flow when it comes to my writing. I do like exploring the darker aspects of people's minds, and I think that fufills some curiosity that I can't fufill in real life.

What about writing smut - do you find it easy, difficult?
Difficult! I get giggly. Which is why I only have one story that is anywhere close to smutty and it's just kissing. Lots of hot kissing, but still just kissing. I want to write actual sex smut but we'll see. I'm more interested in relationships and personal dynamics and exploring emotional issues than writing sex. If it worked for the story then I want to write it, and I do want to jump this smut hurdle in my writing but it's not my main focus.

What kinds of smut are easiest for you to write, and WHY?
Can't answer this.

Which of your stories is your favorite and WHY? Least favorite?
oh god, do I have to chose? Okay. Well my favorite story, that is finished currently, is probably...(it's not like I have that many to chose from). I'm going to cheat. Dream Forever (BtVS), Dawn's diary entries after the Gift, I totally knew I was going to be Jossed and didn't care. I wrote what I felt would be true. Also, that's currently finished--Variations of a Kiss (SV). I think it really shows that I'm hitting my stride as a writer. Least favorite? Easy, first one I wrote, which I need to go over to FF.net and delete. It's not a bad vignette but it sucks as fanfiction.

Which of your titles do you like the most/least, and why? I'm terrible at naming things. Mostly I go for themes of the story (Shatter, Dream Forever, etc). My Favorite has to be Variations of a Kiss. It sounds nice, sums up the whole story, it has its own rhythm when you say it and the story has it's own rhythm. Least favorite?I'll go Grief, first Fanfic.

How do you choose titles for your stories?
I'm big on repeated words or themes (Shatter, Dream Forever), also title challenges, something that sums up the story (Variations of a Kiss). I'd like to start getting more creative with my titling.

Do you write differently with a cowriter than you do alone? Is it easier or harder?

Haven't done that, would like to try it. I think it would help me with writing lighter, fluffier stories. I'm not good with the humor and I'd like to write something funny. And something with dialouge, I'm not strong with dialouge.

Do you write original fic differently from fanfic (if you write it at all)?

My original stuff is mostly poetry, although I'm working on some creative non-fiction works. I get my ideas in flashes, just different kinds of flashes than fanfiction flashes.

For series and long works, do you decide a goal in advance to stop at or are they open-ended? If you do choose a goal, how often do you stick to it?
No series, no long stories. I don't really have a desire right now to write longer stories. I like just delving in and exploring an emotion or certain specific aspect of a character. Not that I don't want to work on writing longer pieces, but right now I'm getting plenty of ideas.

How do you deal with character plinkage (i.e, the characters develop a mind of their own)?
I listen to them, figure out what they want to do/say and then write that. I had a different idea for an ending for Dream Forever but Dawn was adamant, she wouldn't cooperate at all so I went with what she wanted. Biogenesis started out completely different, but still with the idea of Superman as a seperate persona from Clark. Only I started writing Future Superman as sympathetic and missing Clark until he started telling me how he did NOT miss Clark Kent, he didn't even LIKE Clark Kent. And I had to listen because it was his story.

When a scene feels forced, what are the first few tricks you try to fix it?
Well, I think scene isn't the right term for my works. But when I come to a part of my story that feels forced I take a look at it and figure out why. Occasionally I'm trying to hard to be clever and I just have to rework a few lines. Occasionally I just have to alter the sequence of paragraphs. I have had to just take stuff out.

Are most of your fixes deletions or additions? Either. Both. Neither. I do a lot of tearing apart and collaging back together. I do out right excising of material but I also reuse.

How long does it usually take you to write a story? How many revisions do you go through?
How long? Depends, couldn't give you a time line. As for drafts, unless it's super short I save every time I make signifcant changes. So I have lots of drafts, plus anything that I get back from a beta reader I consider a draft. I go through lots of revisions occasionally.

Do you use beta readers?
YES! I couldn't live without them. Not only do I need a strong editor (I am an abuser of commas), but also I look at my stories so much I tend to lose prescpective. Also I like to leave things vague and only make implications in stories and often I'm not sure if I'm being too vague because I know the whole story in my head.