Meme Time - A to Z writing meme

[la_samtyr]

Snagged from indy1776 via tumblr:
Just pick as many letters as you want to ask me.

A: How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

C: What character do you identify with most?

D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with [insert fic]?

E: If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about?

F: Care to share a favorite hurt/comfort fic?

G: Care to share a favorite crack fic?

H: How would you describe your style?

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic].

K: What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?

L: What's the weirdest AU you've ever come up with?

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you'd care to share?

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

O: How do you begin a story--with the plot, or the characters?

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an "architect" or a "gardener"? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

Q: Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

S: Any fandom tropes you can't resist?

T: Any fandom tropes you can't stand?

U: A pairing you might like to write for, but haven't tried yet.

V: A secondary (or underrated) character you want to see more of in fic?

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

Y: A character you want to protect.

Z: Major character death--do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can't tolerate?

Comments

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

C, K and X :)

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

C: What character do you identify with most?
Hmmmmm. That varies a lot by fandom, so I'll break it down a bit.

Tolkien: Éowyn. (For reasons that I have no doubt mentioned before. :)

MCU: Loki. (Because it was only 'recently' that I discovered how much of my past was hidden from me, in addition to being outright lied to about so many other things. Yeah. Totally understand a lot about that now.)

BBM: Junior del Mar. (Seriously, I understand her deep down in my very *bones* -- which might sound strange but it's true.)

K: What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?
Hmmmm. That would probably be a gift-fic au I wrote years ago: "Meleth Naegra".

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.
Let's see. I simply choose a descendant from the House of Finwë... and the rest is easy. (Also, it's why I often write them -- Finwë & Family -- during the happier days, before the Valar decided to be all forgiving and noble and let you-know-who out...)

[engarian.livejournal.com]

B, I and O

- Erulisse (one L)

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?
I think a lot of them are, to some extent. If you read them, you'll probably have a good idea of where it comes through.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?
Probably most of it is, to be honest. I love a good weird-funny fic (sometimes referred to as crack, though I dislike that term: I prefer to think of it was 'theatre of the absurd') and I adore a really good mpreg. [vbeg]

O: How do you begin a story--with the plot, or the characters?
It depends on the story but a lot of the time I need to "hear" a character speak (leading directly to the plot) before I can do anything else.

[huinare.livejournal.com]

P, U, and V.

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an "architect" or a "gardener"? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)
More of a gardener, I imagine. First, I need inspiration, then I need to hear a character and it usually unfolds from there. My ideas start something like: Start with "C" then perhaps some smooth progression to "D" or "E", jump to "P", back to "L" and then try to fill in the rest of it so that it goes smoothly from "A to Z". I've tried writing "A-Z" and it just doesn't work. (Even worse is when things don't save properly, for whatever reason -- that can really be fun, trying to rewrite from rough notes.)

U: A pairing you might like to write for, but haven't tried yet.
I can't think of any offhand. There is so much that depends on if I can hear a character on not. I think it's part of why I enjoy challenges and exchanges -- they push me out of my comfort zone.

V: A secondary (or underrated) character you want to see more of in fic?
Oh, there are so many! Especially in Tolkien, where there are all sorts of tantalizing hints and references that seem to go nowhere -- especially with the women. I enjoy writing Nerdanel, Éowyn, and Gilraen too but I just don't seem to write women very well or very often. I'm a lot better at writing cooks and support staff. :D And kids. For some reason, I seem to be pretty decent at writing kids (or so I like to tell myself.) Go figure, eh?

[huinare.livejournal.com]

I can appreciate your references to hearing a character, as I tend to write in a very character-driven way as well. Often I have some crucial "signpost" sorts of plot points that I know I want to get to right from the start, but how the characters will decide to get us all there is completely up in the air (and usually they do a lot of unanticipated and vitally important things while going from point A to point B).

Nerdanel! I love her. And characters on the margins, including cooks and support staff, always have their own stories to tell. That's one of the great things about world-building like Tolkien's--so very many margins to write in. :D