Fanfic Meme: days 25 to 30

[elen_nare]

Before finishing it off, an addenda to question 8, about OCs and Mary Sues: I found this post just now, and it really sums up a lot of my problems with the way the concept of Mary-Sue is applied.

25 – Music – Do you listen to music while you write? Do you make playlists to get into a certain "mood" to write your fic? Do you need noise in general? Or do you need it completely quiet?

Sometimes I’ll listen to instrumental music, but anything with lyrics is really distracting, unless I get so immersed I'm completely ignoring it, which makes having the music playing at all rather pointless! I can live with normal ambient noise – according to my parents, I can switch my ears off when I’m reading or writing! Anything very loud will annoy me, though.

26 – What is the oddest (or funnest) thing you've had to research for a fic?

Umm... tough one, I do so much (often wildly tangential) research... the latest I remember was on rationing of chocolate in the UK during WWII, combined with how rationing affected RAF personnel (I’m still not done with that, actually!). Then there was the time I researched magical creatures in Latin America... Invisible ink... nicknames for Margaret and Susan in 1930s UK (specifically “childish” and “grown-up” ones)... Cold Iron and the Fae... And these are just the non-fandom-specific ones I remember off-hand.

27 – Where is your favorite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer?

I write at home, usually, preferably somewhere where people can’t read over my shoulder :P I usually write on the computer directly, though I have occasionally done bits by hand, especially if I have a sudden bunny, time to kill, and a notebook but no computer available. I don’t know how much it affects the writing process – it does make it harder to change things, but I’ve got no problem with striking out and adding notes all over the place, so I don’t think it makes much of a difference.

28 – Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic?

I help my sister with one of her fics (June's Diary, Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers series). I’m... some sort of cross between co-writer, sounding board for ideas, and beta is the closest I can come to a description (Although she won’t let me re-read chapters for a SPaG check before posting, and she just ignored me last time I pointed out people sleeping in the garden shouldn’t be coming out of bedrooms in the house at the middle of the night... so not much beta-ing, really). It’s fun, though we do occasionally have arguments about it – there again, we can argue about anything. There are several quotes in there that are lifted from real life exchanges between us– especially during the tutoring in the later chapters ;)

29 – What is your current project or projects?

• Swallows and Amazons 50x500, specifically the “chocolate” fic.
• Upstairs Downstairs fic for the “breakfast” prompt at fan_flashworks
• The Mentalist fic for the june challenge at Paint It Red
• Upstairs Downstairs AU Rosie/Thomas fic (which may come accompanied by meta-style musings on Thomas, if I ever write them and there’s interest – does anyone reading know the series? To be clear, I’m talking about the 1970s tv series, specifically the first two seasons).
• Possibly a Star Trek:TNG Attached fanmix for the “breakfast” prompt atfan_flashworks, if I have the time.

Am I really planning to do all that?! *side-eyes self*

30 – Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!

Oh, this is a tough one! There’s quite a few I could pick, for different reasons: being my first fic in a fandom, being longer than is usual for me, belonging to a genre I’d never written, being about a character I’d never written... Ultimately, I suppose it’s about how much it challenged me?
And going by that criterion, I think I’m going to say “Five Times River Danced With Her Feet (And One Time She Didn’t)”. I’d never written fanfic for Firefly (and it was only my second sci-fi fandom story, the first being for Asimov’s Robot Series), I’d never done a “five things” style fic, and I found writing from River’s POV to be a complex, but really enjoyable, challenge.

And because I’m curious, what’s your favourite fic of mine? :)

Comments

[bluealoe]

Wheeee!!!! You did it! You finished!

I don't think I could write anything while listening to music. I used to have a good attention span, but now I get distracted far too easily.

Isn't researching sometimes the best part? ;)

Your description of semi-beta-ing for your sister made me laugh. I guess ignoring your suggestions is a sister's prerogative. ;)

Yay for lots of projects! Good luck. :)

I really like your River fic, and everything you've written for the DAYDverse is awesome. I'm especially fond of "Rays of Light"...you can probably guess why. ;) And I enjoyed your Little Women story, though I'm not very familiar with the canon.

[elen_nare]

I did! :D

I've tried it sometimes, but I start getting annoyed or distracted so I just turn it off.

Research is awesome :)

I suppose ignoring my suggestions is a sister's prerogative... which means it's my prerogative to sulk and moan about it, right? ;)

I managed to miss the deadline for the "breakfast" challenge (dates, I no can manage them *headdesk*), but I was able to reuse the fanmix for the current challenge, here. And I'll probably finish the Upstairs Downstairs one and post it anyway.

Hmm... no, can't think why you'd like Rays of Light :P The Little Woman one was another close runner for the answer to that question!

[bluealoe]

Of course it's your prerogative to complain about it. That's what sisters are supposed to do. :)

"Attached" is one of my favorite TNG episodes, and the fanmix look really good!