Fic meme

[icepixie]

Meme stolen from spatz, who has also tagged me for another meme I will complete...soon. Maybe when I'm on vacation/staycation the week after next!

I think the object is to say letters at me in comments and I'll write you answers, and then you post to your journal so I can give you letters.

A. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.
B. Is there a trope you've yet to try your hand at, but really want to?
C. Is there a trope you wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole?
D. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?
E. Share one of your strengths.
F. Share one of your weaknesses.
G. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you've written and explain why you're proud of it.
H. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you've written and explain why you're proud of it.
I. Which fic has been the hardest to write?
J. Which fic has been the easiest to write?
K. Is writing your passion or just a fun hobby?
L. Is there an episode or section of canon above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?
M. What's the best writing advice you've ever come across?
N. What's the worst writing advice you've ever come across?
O. If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?
P. If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?
Q. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?
R. Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines?
S. Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse?
T. Describe your perfect writing conditions.
U. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?
V. Choose a passage from one of your earlier fics and edit it into your current writing style. (Person asking the question is free to make suggestions).
W. If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?
X. Have you ever deleted one of your published fics?
Y. What do you look for in a beta?
Z. Do you beta yourself? If so, what kind of beta are you?
AA. How do you feel about collaborations?
AB. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.
AC. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?
AD. Do you accept prompts?
AE. Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?
AF. How do you feel about smut?
AG. How do you feel about crack?
AH. What are your thoughts on non-con and dub-con?
AI. Would you ever kill off a canon character?
AJ. Which is your favorite site to post fic?
AK. Talk about your current wips.
AL. Talk about a review that made your day.
AM. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?
AN. Write an alternative ending to a fic you've written (specify by title, link or general description)

Comments

[graycardinal]

I'll pick C, H, O, AB and AC.

Conveniently, my post is over here; as you'll note, when I picked it up I added actual instructions because I thought it might help move things along. (You can tell how well that worked.... :-/ )

[icepixie]

C. Is there a trope you wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole?

Well, I don't write porn, so any sex-related trope is right out. But I also wouldn't touch a high school AU with a ten-foot pole. There's a reason I don't read much YA fiction, and it's that kids and teenagers bore the crap out of me. I certainly don't want to write about them.

H. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you've written and explain why you're proud of it.

(I'm not sure how long a snippet the meme requires, or if it wants dialogue only, which I don't do anyway, but whatever.)

"Nicky," Nora said when she came back from a quick trip to the powder room, "what happened to my olive?"

"Hmm?" Nick, who had been absorbed in placing the fragile little candy-striped glass balls Nora was so fond of on the Christmas tree in their suite at the Normandie, looked across the room to find his wife holding a full martini glass and looking puzzled.

"The olive from my martini. It's gone."

"Are you sure you put one in?"

"I'm positive! I hope I have a few more years before senility sets in."

"As long as it doesn't affect your looks, darling, I wouldn't worry about it."

She stuck her tongue out at him, and he replied in kind. Leaving the tree to decorate itself, he walked over to her and took the glass from her hand, then swallowed half the drink in one sip. It was indeed a martini, heavy on the gin and light on the vermouth, just as Nora liked it. And it was indeed missing the olive.

"Well," he said, "I suppose we'll just have to search for it." He placed the glass back on the end table. "Could it be here?" He brushed one of her curls away with a finger and peered into her left ear.

"Nicky!"

He leaned back and met her indignant gaze. "It's entirely possible that olive just couldn't stand being parted from you while you were indisposed. And I can't say I blame it."

She preened a bit at the compliment, then narrowed her eyes. "As nice as that theory is, I rather think it's you we should be investigating for the olive—specifically your stomach." She poked him in the suspected region.

"Darling, do you really think I'd eat the olive and leave the martini?"

She contemplated that for a moment. "No, I suppose that's not your style."

"Thank you." He picked up the martini glass again and swallowed the rest of it—just to be sure the missing olive hadn't turned up while they were talking, of course. "Now, it couldn't have gotten far in five minutes, so it must still be in the suite. Personally, I'd suggest talking to its friends to see if they know where it might have run off to. We should interrogate every last olive in that jar."

"Nick—"

"And then if that proves inconclusive, we should move on to the maraschino cherries."

"Dear—"

"And after that, if all else fails, the citrus. I've always thought limes were highly suspicious. Too green."

"I suppose you found them in cahoots with some lemons once when you were missing a sugar cube," Nora said archly.

"No, I'm afraid that was entirely the fault of the absinthe."

(From The Case of the Missing Martini Olive, a Thin Man fic.)

I picked this one because it's light and funny and kind of ridiculous while still being sweet, which is what the movies are to me, so I'm proud of capturing that quality. I like writing dialogue. When I write, I frequently write the dialogue first, then put in action and narration around it as necessary. I guess it's because I primarily write fic for TV/movie fandoms. My few forays into original stuff have all been much more narrative-centric.

O. If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?

Honestly, I think at this point the not!drawerfic would win, since it's basically a biopic. (It's figure skating RPF for an ice dance team that hasn't been in the public eye for about fifteen years, because I am old and dorky.) It's probably the only one long enough to be a movie. (Ha, at this point it's probably way too long to be a movie.)

AB. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

Dirty little secret: I actually read almost no fic. There are a few fandoms or pairings I'll drop everything to read whatever comes out for, but that's about five fandoms/pairings, and each of those five gets 1-2 fics per year, if that. Sometimes I will briefly dip into a bigger fandom and read widely, but that typically only lasts a week and then I don't really remember most of what I've read.

That said, I will read just about anything mylittleredgirl writes, even RPF for Dancing with the Stars, which I have never watched. Something about her style tickles my id, I think, with its frequent combination of heightened angst/emotion paired with down to earth sarcasm and banter. Which is a trademark of a lot of fanfic, don't get me wrong, but she does it in a way that really works for me.

AC. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

I'm going to have to punt on this one, because I just don't read/remember enough fic to have an answer.

Thanks for playing!

[graycardinal]

Heh. In some respects we are uncannily alike; I won't absolutely refuse to do porn (I have one mildly naughty ficlet up on AO3, in which the smut is actually the window-dressing rather than the point of the exercise), but I generally try not to go there. Also, I dislike alt-premise AUs (high school, barista, etc.) in general. [OTOH, I read -- and will write fic for -- a good deal of YA. That said, the YA I tend to like treats its characters largely as functional grownups rather than angst-ridden, socially awkward tweens/teens.]

I do like that dialogue; I am not directly familiar with the source canon, but I recognize and appreciate the tone. That's a fun piece, and I clearly need to go find me some movies.

Ah, the not!drawerfic. Yup, probably too long for a movie; OTOH, possibly you have a TV miniseries. (Most novels are too long for straight conversion to movies; this is one reason a lot of the current YA film franchises are running four or five movies to adapt three books.) Also, while I may not be a natural figure-skating devotée, I'm learning a lot from my DW flist (have you met missizzy yet?).

Two asides here: since I myself am only middle-aged, you certainly do not qualify as old. And I don't think "dorky" is a legally permissible descriptor for anyone who's actually pursuing figure skating even at a serious-recreational level.

Meanwhile, I shall have to bookmark mylittleredgirl for future reference.

[icepixie]

Yeah, I'll read smut if it's a pairing I'm otherwise desperate for or if the smut is less than 20% of the fic by volume, but I just don't have it in me to write it. I would cringe the whole way through.

I do like that dialogue; I am not directly familiar with the source canon, but I recognize and appreciate the tone. That's a fun piece, and I clearly need to go find me some movies.

Thanks! And yes, you need to watch these movies! The quality declines steadily after the second one, but all of them have their high points. (The first one is the best, though.) Do you listen to the Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast? (If not, you'd probably love it and should check it out.) Frank and Sadie Doyle are very obviously based on Nick and Nora from these movies.

I think I actually know missizzy from way, way back in the day when we were on a mailing list together! It was for DS9, as I recall. Maybe a Bashir/Jadzia Dax list?

since I myself am only middle-aged, you certainly do not qualify as old.

I would like you to tell that to my back, please. Also my knees. And my ankles.

And I don't think "dorky" is a legally permissible descriptor for anyone who's actually pursuing figure skating even at a serious-recreational level.

Heh. Some would argue that that particular quality only increases the appropriateness of the word...

[spatz]

If you're still playing, I'd love AB - I've been asking everyone that, I think it's so mean :)

[icepixie]

:)

I answered it above. Unfortunately, the answer was pretty much "I don't read enough fic to have one."