How I write....

[fajrdrako]

Got this writing meme from tynantblue0162:

Works in progress:

1. "Pharaoh", which has been hanging around too long. I'm going to post it today, satisfied or not. It's for Nerodi's Historical AU challenge: Clex set in ancient Egypt.
   
   
2. A Lex/Lionel/Dominic story for which I did the first draft eons ago. Must polish and post.
   
   
3. A "Pirates of the Caribbean" story: Jack/Will pwp.
   
   
4. A T.S. Eliot-based Clex story promised to isagel a month ago, in return for one from her. She fulfilled her part of the bargain, mine is still in fragments.
   
   
5. A dozen or more other Clex stories, plotted, part-written, awaiting completion.
   

Processes

1. Do ideas come in little tiny pinpricks and then get expanded, or do they start great big and scopy and then get refined?
   
   I don't quite understand the question. I'm not sure what differentiates a tiny pinprick from a big idea, or how to judge. I guess each story has its own scope and parameter.
   
   
   
2. 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 always write in the past narrative tense. I don't think I've ever done otherwise. I don't expect I ever will do otherwise - but don't hold me to that!
   
   Why? I find it most natural, most comfortable, most conducive to smooth writing.
   
   
   
3. Do you have music that inspires your writing? (That you listen to while writing, or certain songs that remind you of certain characters.)
   
   I used to occasionally listen to the music from The Professionals while writing Pros stories. Once or twice I've listened to the music from Smallville while writing Clex, or the soundtrack of "The Lord of the Rings" while writing LOTR-fic.
   
   Ninety-nine percent of the time I don't listen to anything at all but the chatter of my budgies and the sound of my own brain. Music distracts me, making it harder to write.
   
   
   
4. How do you brainstorm what comes next in a story?
   
   Brainstorm? No. I don't. I just muse until the story takes shape. Brainstorming... wouldn't work. I try out ideas and scenarios in my head, but that's different. Brainstorming would give me too many ideas. I already have enough ideas: the trick is to write them down and make them work.
   
   
   
5. What do you do when you hit a road block?
   
   Write something else while musing on the problem, or sleeping on it or ignoring it.
   
   
   
6. How often do you end up deleting a whole bunch of already-written stuff, and how hard is it to let that stuff go?
   
   I don't think I've ever done that. I have scrapped stories that didn't work, and that was easy: it was a relief to get rid of them and not worry about them any more.
   
   
   
7. What if you really, really want to include something but part of you is saying it's not right for that particular story?
   
   Huh? The question doesn't apply. Stories come to me complete, not in parts. If something wasn't right for that story, it wouldn't be part of the process of writing that story. It would be another story, I guess, so I'd just write it as such. But I wouldn't ever confuse the two because they wouldn't be confusable.
   
   
   
8. Do you take notes longhand, and if so, when?
   
   When travelling, sometimes. I remember writing a good chunk of a Lex/Bruce Wayne story in a restaurant in Toronto. It's never seen the light of day and maybe never will, but it was certainly fun to write.
   
   In normal circumstances, I avoid writing things longhand: it's an extra step that takes more time in the long run.
   
   
   
9. Do you use challenges by other people to inspire you?
   
   Occasionally, especially when it's not part of an official challenge.
   
   
   
10. Do you do anything in particular to get you into the right mindset to write a certain character or characters?
    
    No. Either I'm ready to write it, or I'm not.
    
    
    
11. Which characters are easiest for you to write, and WHY?
    
    It's amazing what the differences are between the easy to write and the not-so-easy. Lex Luthor is easy, easy, easy. So was Fox Mulder. There's a level of identification that makes their 'voice' and thought natural to me, at least in the way I feel I understand and interpret the character. On some level I feel as if I *am* LEx, or I am Mulder.
    
    Sir Edward Pellew was easy to write as a heroic/historical type; Gambit is easy, because his speech patterns and type of thought is so clear from the comics; Jack Sparrow is easy because I feel as if I understand him, and he reminds me in character and style of Lymond, the character in fiction I know and love best.
    
    
    
12. Which ones are hardest, and again, WHY?
    
    I find all the Firefly characters difficult to write - maybe they are so distinctive. I feel intimidated, fearing I'll get them wrong somehow - as if I'm competing with Joss Whedon.
    
    
    
13. Which characters are most like you emotionally?
    
    Funny, but identifying with a character doesn't mean I'm quite like him. I'd be like Lex if Lex didn't have a temper. But that means he isn't like me emotionally, doesn't it? I think Inara is exactly like me emotionally. Somehow this makes her more difficult to write.
    
    
    
14. What about writing smut - do you find it easy, difficult?
    
    If I've thought the story through, it isn't difficult. It's just like any other part of the story: it has to be done right, but if it flows, it flows.
    
    
    
15. What kinds of smut are easiest for you to write, and WHY?
    
    I'm not sure what 'kinds of smut' means. It always depends on the needs of the story. I'd like to be able to write BDSM more, but it doesn't come so easily to me.
    
    
    
16. Which of your stories is your favorite and WHY? Least favorite?
    
    I really can't judge. It changes all the time. I'll love and hate the same story a dozen times in the course of writing it. "Transport Cafe" has a special place in my heart for some reason. (Pros fandom.) Also my one and only "Babylon 5" story, which was Garibaldi/Sinclair, and the finished story was pretty much what I envisaged when I started, which is rare. My "Star Wars:The Phantom Menace" story is probably my least favourite of anything I've ever written.
    
    
    
17. Which of your titles do you like the most/least, and why?
    
    Eh. Titles always distress me. And I have trouble remembering the titles to even my own stories.
    
    
    
18. How do you choose titles for your stories?
    
    I worry until something suitable turns up. Or doesn't, and I say to hell with it, and use whatever dull title I find.
    
    
    
19. Do you write differently with a cowriter than you do alone?
    
    Yes, of course. With a collaborator, I have to keep compromising to incorporate their vision.
    
    
    
20. Is it easier or harder?
    
    Much, much harder.
    
    
    
21. Do you write original fic differently from fanfic (if you write it at all)?
    
    Uh... no, I don't think so. The writing process is the same.
    
    
    
22. For series and long works, do you decide a goal in advance to stop at or are they open ended?
    
    I don't write series. I always envision the complete story before I start it. It is never, never open-ended. The end comes with the beginning and the middle, they aren't separable.
    
    
    
23. If you do choose a goal, how often do you stick to it?
    
    It isn't a matter of choice: it's just what the story is. If I didn't stick to it, it would be a different story.
    
    
    
24. When a scene feels forced, what are the first few tricks you try to fix it?
    
    It's like any writing problem - change words till it works.
    
    
    
25. Are most of your fixes deletions or additions?
    
    Additions. My betas all say the same things: "Add more here" and "explain this more fully" and "needs more detail". Second drafts are always much longer than first drafts.
    
    
    
26. How long does it usually take you to write a story?
    
    Anywhere from a couple of hours to a few months.
    
    
    
27. How many revisions do you go through?
    
    Two or three. Sometimes more.
    
    
    
28. Do you use beta readers?
    
    Yes, when and if I can find good, compatible beta readers whom I trust. Luckily I have been blessed with some really good ones, for which I am thankful. In print zines, I like tight editing and tend to send my stories to zines where I like the editor's style.

Comments

[justblue0162.livejournal.com]

Stories come to me complete, not in parts.

That's completely fascinating to me. And part of why i don't consider myself a true writer. Very cool meme response! :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not sure that I'm a 'real writer' and I don't think that really determines it - but I do tend to think of stories as a unit and a whole, and have difficulty separating it into parts, either in terms of length or number of scenes, or in terms of overlapping themes, plot and character. Sometimes it feels as if every word is in my head and I'm just being a stenographer.

Sometimes I struggle for each word but the ideas are there already.