Torchwood Fan writing...

[fajrdrako]

A meme from jadesfire2808 to amuse me over lunchtime.

A writer's questions and answers.


1. How about a brief introduction?

But you all know me already.

Oh, all right.

My name is Elizabeth. I'm addicted to fanfic, mostly slash - though I admit, Doctor Who and Torchwood fandom has lured me into the realms of het fic and even (occasionally) gen. Who'd'a thunk it?

Oh. Yes. That too. I'm also addicted to Torchwood, and John Barrowman songs (especially when he sings Cole Porter). I'll try to confine my answers here to Torchwood fandom applicability, otherwise this post will look like Marcel Proust -interminable. A reference to Marcel Proust is, of course, a Torchwood reference - you see why I love Captain Jack so?

2. What got you into fanfiction?

I've been writing fic since I learned to write, long before this kind of fandom existed. I waited a long time, and fandom sprang up. I suppose it started with getting a lot of letters published in Marvel comics, back when I was a letterhack. Then there were Star Trek clubs (where I was introduced to slash), and apazines, and fanzines, and conventions, and online groups, and now Livejournal. The fun just never ends.

3. What kind of fanfiction do you write?

Slash or relationship stories. Stories that answer questions that weren't answered in the show. Examination of backgrounds, motivations, ideas.

4. What is your most popular fic/muse, and why do you think people like it so?

No idea, either way. I don't think I'm the one who would know. Ask my readers.

Speaking as myself on the issue, I think my best stories (and the best-received) are the ones in which I come closest to the voice of the characters.

5. Forget other people, what is the fanfic/post/prompt you've written that you're most proud of?

Impossible to say, really, but it's possibly my Captain Jack Harkness/Captain Mal Reynolds crossover story Time Fugitive. Or my examination of Rhys Williams in Mourning Rites. Or Relativity, which showed Captain Jack through Jackie Tyler's eyes.

6. Do you find writing easy? Hard? What aspects do you struggle with?

Yes. All of that. Easy, hard, and everything in between. Sometimes impossible.

7. Do you write for the same pairings/characters?

No. With Torchwood, I've written Jack/Doctor (which is my favourite, especially Jack/Nine), Jack/Mal Reynolds, Jack/Ianto, Jack/Jack, Jack/Estelle, Gwen/Tosh, Owen/Captain John, and so on.... I like exploring relationships, and go for whatever I get an idea for. I'm rather fond of the theme of Owen's repressed love of Jack, and I love the idea of Jack/Tosh. I also like writing threesomes, and I'm working on it - Jack does it so well! - but it's more complicated than writing about couples.

8. Write a few sentences of your favorite pairing or character.

The Doctor puttered around the Hub, curious about everything. "Dangerous," he murmurred as he examined the Rift machine, but then went to look at Tosh's Rubik's cube and the flowers on Ianto's desk. He noticed a button attached to a cord on the side of Owen's keyboard. "What's that?"

"A button," said Jack, grinning.

"What does it do?"

"Destroys the time/space continuum."

The Doctor gave him a withering look. "Stupid Dalek-brain. Tell me, or I'll push it."

Jack shrugged. "The fate of a million timelines on your head, then."

"Jack?"

"Imagine all those worlds going 'ping' at once. The anguish! The loss! The bad poetry, the rock music we'll never hear again -"

The Doctor pushed the button.

A television turned on. It was the middle of the current episode of Spooks.

"Oh!" said the Doctor in delight, his irritation with Jack suddenly forgotten. "I haven't seen this one, yet!" He sat down on the battered sofa, and proceeded to watch.

Jack wondered why the Doctor bothered to watch television in real time, when he could have any episode of anything at his fingertips in the TARDIS. He decided there was no answer for it, it was just one of those Time Lord oddities. Or perhaps a quirk of the Doctor's own - he had so many.

Smiling, Jack sat beside him to watch. Normally he had no time for television, but for the Doctor, he was always willing to make an exception.

(I tried to write just a few sentences, but I have trouble sometimes getting Jack and the Doctor to shut up.)

9. Are there any fanfiction trends/cliches you hate?

Oh, many. Way too many. And themes I hate. But on the whole, whatever it is, if it's well-written, I'll read it. I suppose my hates could be summed up as follows:

1. Unbetaed fics with misplaced random apostrophes.
   
2. Fics in which the writer thinks the word 'alright' is all right to use.
   
3. Fics in which characters are hot for each other and then talk about sex for pages without doing anything.

This is not counting fics that are just genres and types I don't like and never read - Mpreg, for example.

10. Are you guilty of any of the trends you hate?

I have never said 'alright', I think. But I have been guilty of any number of other atrocities.

11. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Do you still write for it?

It depends how you define 'fandom'. I wrote about Beatrix Potter characters when I was six. I wrote about The Man from U.N.C.L.E. at twelve, but it was just me and my friends back then. My first slash fandom would be K/S. My first serious fanfic written for a wider audience would be X-Men.

12. Name your OTPs and explain what is it about them you love to write.

Interesting question. I'd say that the reason I write anything about anything is a combination of loving the character or characters, and having something to say about them - an idea. I focus on favourite pairings (like Jack/Doctor) because I love the characters and there is something about their interaction that I find interesting, intriguing, though-provoking, unusual, and (especially) hot.

13. What would you call your writing style?

George?

Home to supper?

Truly, I don't have an answer for the question. My style is my style. Like the walking formation of the Torchwood team, it varies. But only in certain ways.

14. Do you read other people's writing? If so, what do you find yourself reading the most?

I read a lot. I love to read. I'm reading a lot of Jack/Ianto stories lately, because it seems to be the slash staple of Torchwood fandom. I like to read good well-written stories, and the only way to find them is to sample everyone and everything. First I look for things by writers I like, none of whom are prolific enough to suit me, and then I tend to read NC-17 or R stories randomly to find more good writers - really enjoyed the recent Porn Battle held by oxoniensis. Then I go for interesting titles or pairings on torchwood_three.

15. Name one thing you'd love to write but have been too afraid or shy to do.

Shy? Me? Not when I'm writing.

There are many reasons I don't write - too busy, health troubles, writer's block, lack of ideas, dissatisfaction with my results - but I've never held back on a story I wanted to write through fear.

16. Do you feel uncomfortable taking criticism? Or worse, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?

If we could all judge our own egos, there'd be fewer bloat problems in this world. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable with criticism, especially unasked criticism from someone whose tastes I don't share, or whose judgement I don't respect. I know my writing won't please everyone. Why should it? Everyone's writing doesn't please me.

On the other hand, I wish most of my beta-readers were more critical. I have no difficulty with intelligent criticism. I always have the option of disagreeing with it. (And I always think carefully about it first.)

The thing is, criticism isn't about me, it's about the story, and the quality of the story is always the most important thing.

17. When you write, is there anything that helps?

Inspiration.

18. What inspires you?

Ah, now, there is the question. Good characters inspire me. Good ideas. Good conversations about the characters - sometimes not directly, but it all filters into my brain.

19. Lastly, how would you sum up your fanfiction/RP experiences and you as a writer?

The most fun I've had ever.

20. Tag some friends, because they'll hate you for it.

And why would I want to be hated by people I like? Of course I'd love to hear my friends' answers to this, especially becky_h, smithy161, nina_ds and benbenberi, and now if they hate me for mentioning them, I'll whimper.

Comments

[elebridith]

Now that is an interesting meme! A look into writer's minds, I love that.
O_O You wrote Jack/Mal crossover? *bookmarks*
Re 9: Oh, the apostrophe apocalypse! It's spreading, I swear, and it has even reached the german language... and in 9 out of 10 is used horribly wrong...
But what's wrong with "alright"? *is curious*

English usage geekiness ensues...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

[Sorry - I keep messing up my links here. Third time lucky?]

Fun, isn't it?

Yes, I wrote a Jack/Mal crossover; I only ever wrote one other piece of Firefly fic and I wasn't happy with it, but "Time Fugitive" was fun to write.

Apostrophes: I weep like the Trojan Women over their abuse.

As for 'alright' - heh. I am exposing myself as a Language Snob. It's one of those words that isn't supposed to exist - but does. For instance, Fowler (a famous grammarian who wrote Modern English Usage) said:

all right - The words should always be written separate; there are no such forms as all-right, allright, or alright, (though even the last, if seldom allowed by the compositors to appear in print, is often seen, through confusion with already and altogether) in MS.

Random House has an interesting discussion of it here (http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990604).

Wikipedia is more tolerant of it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_with_disputed_usage) than I am - it always looks and sounds totally illiterate to me. (When I hear "all right" pronounced so the letters run together, it sounds sloppy and improper.) Now, there are far worse language bloopers that I hear all the time without a qualm, so this is just a personal quirk, the way some things become a pet peeve and others do not.

I don't usually like pedantry, but sometimes I slip into it without even trying.

Re: English usage geekiness ensues...

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

Use "alright" and get sent to bed without supper. House rules.

Re: English usage geekiness ensues...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That's alright with me.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I can't stand it, I used That Word! (which of course isn't a word) I am sullied! I am destroyed! Oh, the pain!

Re: English usage geekiness ensues...

[elebridith]

Aaah, that makes sense - it's not the word per se, but the incorrect spelling. Huh - I always thought somehow that it's either "all right" or "alright", have to check what my Langenscheidt says to that... *g*
Personal pet peeve, huh? *grins* I know what you mean - we have the word "einzige" meaning "the only one" and some people keep saying "einzigste", you could say "only-est one" maybe. I can understand using it as a joke, but it's not correct - it can not be "one-er" that one... and people, it's "trilogy", not "triology". Those are my Personal Pet Peeves... and no, I'm usually not pedantic either... *lol*

Re: English usage geekiness ensues...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I chuckle over "einzigste". It brings to mind 'very unique' or 'more unique' - a construction that is not supposed to exist in English, but you hear it often enough - I caught myself using it the other day, and chastized myself, and then maaseru scolded me and maaboroshi groaned at how far I'd fallen. I can only excuse myself by saying it was a very unique situation!

Re: English usage geekiness ensues...

[elebridith]

Yes!! "more unique" - that's the equivalent!!
Annnd... *ducks* oh dear, I have used "alright"... *g* my excuse is that my trusty dictionary tells me that it is the American English form of "all right" and dictionary.com says that it's ok for non-formal writing. And neither my spellcheck nor my beta reader has flagged it... I'm innocent!! *lol* But I will watch out for further usage. Promised. *g*
This is really interesting. Another good example of LJ's educational value. *nods*
Oh - and one Pet Peeve I inherited from my father - do not, *never*, confuse a pistol with a revolver when he's around. Sadly, nearly every Friday evening crime show does it once in a while - I would hear a growl coming from the living room and I go "Oops, they did it again..." *lol*

Re: English usage geekiness ensues...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hee - now I feel like the language police. Or maybe, more like Torchwood trying to save the world from the evil predation of the Weevil-life word 'alright' that lurks in dark corners to jump out at us.

Oh course LJ has educational value. Just think of all the really good rude words I have learned. Even some that aren't in dictionaries. [g]

*never*, confuse a pistol with a revolver when he's around.

Ah! That's a good one. I promise to be careful about those words. For his sake. (Well, in the interst of accuracy, too.)

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

I love the Doctor/Jack bit you wrote! :-D

I'll check out all the links I missed out on.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I love the Doctor/Jack bit you wrote!

Big grin! Thank you.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I don't like alright either. It's used a lot by some writers I read frequently and it always bugs me just a bit each time.

I shall embrace my own geekiness here and admit to having 2 letters printed in Marvel comics in my younger days. Before they destroyed all the characters I liked. *shakes fist at Marvel writers*

I don't think I read your Jack/Mal fic before- thanks for the link!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't like alright either. It's used a lot by some writers I read frequently and it always bugs me just a bit each time.

Yes. I try to be cool about it. No big deal, just a word, some authorities even accept it now. (Though I'm tempted to say, not the good ones!) I just can't help flinching whenever I see it.

I shall embrace my own geekiness here and admit to having 2 letters printed in Marvel comics in my younger days.

How cool! What titles? I never counted the number of letters of mine they printed... not as many as T.M. Maple or cat yronwode, but a fair number. It was such fun.

And who were the characters that you liked, whom they destroyed? (Sad to think how many characters that could apply to.)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

In Daredevil and "What if" (The 'new' version- the one started in the late 80's)

Let's see- Fantastic Four (mostly Johnny Storm) and Daredevil, also Longshot and Gambit in the X-Men!verse, and Thor/ Thunderstrike, Hank Pym (although I never managed to pick up as many Avengers back issues as I'd have liked I had nearly the entire run of WCA until the stupidity level grew to epic proportions) oh and more too probably... FF became odd and violent and Johnny whiny, DD did the same then they cancelled it and then rewrote his backstory in the stupidest way possible, they killed off Eric (Thunderstrike) and Hank went trough more changes and random powerswitches than should be possible. *sigh*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

In Daredevil and "What if" (The 'new' version- the one started in the late 80's)

Right. I loved Daredevil in that era.

And Longshot - ! He was wonderful, at his best.

Johnny Storm has had his ups and downs; a variable pesonality depending on whether writers and editors like him or not, I assume. (Or maybe they thought the more obnoxious Johnny was all right?)

I didn't read the Thor/Thunderstrike stories.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Daredevil in the mid 80's through early 90's was amazing. From Frank Miller's era on for about 100 issues or so...

I loved Longshot when they first introduced him- innocent in his own way, but sweet and kind and yet strong and had seen too much

And Johnny. *sigh* he was just written all over the place, wasn't he?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Daredevil in the mid 80's through early 90's was amazing.

Yup. There was some really brilliant, ground-breaking material there. Great use of character and action.

Longshot was innocent and beautiful and he had such a lovely energy about him. All motion and grace. What a terrific character he was - for a brief, shining while. I still hang a Longshot figure on my Christmas tree. (Actually, I hang most of the X-Men, but I hang Longshot up with a special sense of pleasure.)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

by the mid-late 90's I'd pretty much given up on comics unfortunately, the characters I liked either were killed off or disappeared from the group and the art was terrible (The very last DD I bought (late 96/early 97ish) Was a Cap America crossover and I realized about 3/4 of the way through that the person I thought was Matt was actually Cap... oops) and they'd gotten expensive and money was tight... I pick up graphic novels at the library now, although I never wait in anticipation for them or anything

what else do/did you read?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I stopped getting comics a couple of months ago because (a) my money problems are the worst ever and (b) I was getting a backlog of comics I hadn't read yet.

My favourites over the years have been Daredevil, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Master of Kung Fu too, though generally speaking I buy for characters I like (Daredevil, Gambit, Nick Fury, Magneto, and so on) or writers I like. Sometimes artists, but mostly writers, or writer/artist combinations like Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. I've always liked Spider-Man, but haven't kept up with him regularly.

Though I mostly read Marvel, I'm a Batman fan (and to a slightly lesser degree, Nightwing), and I went through a spell of being very into Legion of Super-Heroes Fandom, during volume 4, when Keith Giffen and the Bierbaums were doing it.

Currently I'm enjoying Iron Man and stories featuring Tony Stark more than I have in the past. There's a Thor revivial, though I haven't read it yet. Loved Young Avengers with its cute young gay couple, Wiccan and Hulkling.

I'm confused or not sure what's happening with the X-books these days, though I've come closest to following Astonishing X-Men (by Joss Whedon), and I really love the Scott Summers/Emma Frost relationship.

I miss Gambit.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

My hubby was always much more of a DC fan, so i've read quite a bit of DC too. And Image and other smaller companies.

I've tried to follow X-men on and off, but usually whenever I start to get really interested Marvel does one of it's massive crossovers and I miss some issues and get confused.

*sigh* Gambit. Way to take a good character and mess with him completely...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Crossovers can be a lot of fun - I really enjoyed the Civil War - but they do get confusing and they do tend to make changes, which isn't necessarily a good thing. I liked the status quo with the Marvel Mutants more before the mutant crisis - and yes, the X-Men are very confusing now. It seems to be a bit of a hodge-podge. I've lost track. I don't even know how many x-titles there are, or who is an X-Man and who isn't.

Which just shows I haven't been paying enough attention, but they've made it difficult enough that I don't care.

Of the independents, I really liked Love and Rockets, Zot!, Bone, Akiko, Echo, and Grendel, to name a few.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Which just shows I haven't been paying enough attention, but they've made it difficult enough that I don't care.

exactly- that was the death knell for me too

I've read some of those, but not recently. I think we have a large run of Grendel around somewhere

We've also collected Xenozoic Tales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenozoic_Tales) (Marvel and kitchen sink press) and Wildcats and Grifter and team-7 etc (Image) and bunch of others. It's hard to remember them all

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I never read Grifter but I always liked the look of the art - just seeing the covers and such.

I didn't read much from Image for budgetary reasons.

In a pefect word I could afford comics and have time to read 'em.