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edenfalling22 – Have you ever participated in a fest or a Big Bang? If so, write about your favorite experience in relation to one. If not, are there any you've thought about doing? And if not, why not?
No Big Bangs. I have never trusted my ability to write ten or twenty thousand words on command in any given fandom. (Yeah, yeah, go ahead and mock me for writing stories of that length anyway for challenges that only require one thousand words. I don't do that on purpose!) Additionally, most Big Bangs seem to be in fandoms for which I don't write.
As for fests and exchanges in general: I have done Yuletide three times, Remix Redux five times, Femgenficathon three times (and am currently working on a fourth, ack help!), the Narnia Fic Exchange once, and one Harry/Hermione fest (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
hhr_serendipity. I tried and failed to write a story for lgbtfest in 2010 and also failed to complete Femgen that year. I have also twice attempted thirtyforthree, which is where you pick a threesome and try to write thirty ficlets about them based on a list of prompt words and phrases; I finished the Ginny/Harry/Draco set (Fixation, and Other Stories), and am still slogging through the Kira Sakuya/Mudo Setsuna/Mudo Sara set (The Transient and the Eternal).
I really like Yuletide, Remix, and Femgen. I enjoy writing to a prompt -- it's the sort of challenge that you might think would restrict creativity, but which actually stimulates ingenuity as I have to figure out how to fill someone's request. Remix is exciting because I am fascinated by the mechanics of story structure, and it's a challenge explicitly about playing with those elements. And with Femgen, well, I love gen, I love female characters, and there are never enough stories that combine the two. It's fun to redress that a little. :-)
I am terrible at time management and estimating the likely length of a story and therefore frequently end up writing like someone possessed in the last day or two before I have to send in the file or post the story. The thing is, I hate that feeling beyond words... but I also love it. The pressure forces me to stop overthinking myself and just write -- write something, write anything, write my way out of blind corners I've written myself into -- and I think that often makes me write from my heart and gut instead of from my head; the resulting stories feel a bit less careful and a bit more alive. Ideally I would then have a week or two to tidy up the inevitable idiocies that a lack of editing time produces, but I have never figured out how to trick myself into setting a deadline before the actual deadline. I need the external pressure. So that is another reason I like fests and exchanges.
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23 – When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?
I post to my journal first. Most shorter fics never make it anywhere else. Others go to ff.net. A lot of my HP fic is on FictionAlley, a fandom-specific archive. My latest Yuletide and Remix fics are on AO3, and I have one story up there that I would have put on ff.net if Laurell K. Hamilton weren't scared of fanfiction. :-( I should probably get around to cross-posting my ff.net stories there, at the very least, but I am lazy and keep putting that off.
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24 – Betaing: how many betas do you like to use to make sure there are no major flaws in your fic? Do you have a beta horror story or dream story?
I almost never use a beta when posting to my journal, though I do often wait a day or two so I can reread more objectively and catch my most egregious errors. (I am pretty good at spelling, grammar, and other mechanics, so I don't worry much about those issues.) I use my journal as a sort of public beta draft and revise things if people comment on or ask about them. When writing for a challenge or a fest, I do try to find a beta, mostly on an ad hoc basis.
I had three semi-regular betas back when I was only writing HP fic, but two left the fandom, one acquired a husband and child and has no more time, and anyway, I don't really write HP anymore.
My beta horror story is when, for Remix a couple years ago, I had run out of time and used my sister as a beta (I do this when I am in a pinch, because she knows how I think and can tell me where I'm weaseling out on things even if she knows nothing about the fandom in question), but she had no computer access at the time and had to do a thematic editing job over the telephone, in response to a lengthy, rambling summary I gave her. It is, I think, a testament to how well we know each other that that worked in any way at all.
Other than that, all my betas have been lovely. :-)
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My local library does not, apparently, have a copy of Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, which annoys me because I specifically went there this afternoon to find a copy and I want to read it as background research for my Femgen fic. (And also because it is apparently a classic and entertaining in its own right.) I have ordered a copy from Barnes & Noble, because there is no point in having a membership discount card if I don't use it now and then. *wry*
No Big Bangs. I have never trusted my ability to write ten or twenty thousand words on command in any given fandom. (Yeah, yeah, go ahead and mock me for writing stories of that length anyway for challenges that only require one thousand words. I don't do that on purpose!) Additionally, most Big Bangs seem to be in fandoms for which I don't write.
As for fests and exchanges in general: I have done Yuletide three times, Remix Redux five times, Femgenficathon three times (and am currently working on a fourth, ack help!), the Narnia Fic Exchange once, and one Harry/Hermione fest (
hhr_serendipity. I tried and failed to write a story for lgbtfest in 2010 and also failed to complete Femgen that year. I have also twice attempted thirtyforthree, which is where you pick a threesome and try to write thirty ficlets about them based on a list of prompt words and phrases; I finished the Ginny/Harry/Draco set (Fixation, and Other Stories), and am still slogging through the Kira Sakuya/Mudo Setsuna/Mudo Sara set (The Transient and the Eternal).I really like Yuletide, Remix, and Femgen. I enjoy writing to a prompt -- it's the sort of challenge that you might think would restrict creativity, but which actually stimulates ingenuity as I have to figure out how to fill someone's request. Remix is exciting because I am fascinated by the mechanics of story structure, and it's a challenge explicitly about playing with those elements. And with Femgen, well, I love gen, I love female characters, and there are never enough stories that combine the two. It's fun to redress that a little. :-)
I am terrible at time management and estimating the likely length of a story and therefore frequently end up writing like someone possessed in the last day or two before I have to send in the file or post the story. The thing is, I hate that feeling beyond words... but I also love it. The pressure forces me to stop overthinking myself and just write -- write something, write anything, write my way out of blind corners I've written myself into -- and I think that often makes me write from my heart and gut instead of from my head; the resulting stories feel a bit less careful and a bit more alive. Ideally I would then have a week or two to tidy up the inevitable idiocies that a lack of editing time produces, but I have never figured out how to trick myself into setting a deadline before the actual deadline. I need the external pressure. So that is another reason I like fests and exchanges.
-----
23 – When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?
I post to my journal first. Most shorter fics never make it anywhere else. Others go to ff.net. A lot of my HP fic is on FictionAlley, a fandom-specific archive. My latest Yuletide and Remix fics are on AO3, and I have one story up there that I would have put on ff.net if Laurell K. Hamilton weren't scared of fanfiction. :-( I should probably get around to cross-posting my ff.net stories there, at the very least, but I am lazy and keep putting that off.
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24 – Betaing: how many betas do you like to use to make sure there are no major flaws in your fic? Do you have a beta horror story or dream story?
I almost never use a beta when posting to my journal, though I do often wait a day or two so I can reread more objectively and catch my most egregious errors. (I am pretty good at spelling, grammar, and other mechanics, so I don't worry much about those issues.) I use my journal as a sort of public beta draft and revise things if people comment on or ask about them. When writing for a challenge or a fest, I do try to find a beta, mostly on an ad hoc basis.
I had three semi-regular betas back when I was only writing HP fic, but two left the fandom, one acquired a husband and child and has no more time, and anyway, I don't really write HP anymore.
My beta horror story is when, for Remix a couple years ago, I had run out of time and used my sister as a beta (I do this when I am in a pinch, because she knows how I think and can tell me where I'm weaseling out on things even if she knows nothing about the fandom in question), but she had no computer access at the time and had to do a thematic editing job over the telephone, in response to a lengthy, rambling summary I gave her. It is, I think, a testament to how well we know each other that that worked in any way at all.
Other than that, all my betas have been lovely. :-)
-----
My local library does not, apparently, have a copy of Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, which annoys me because I specifically went there this afternoon to find a copy and I want to read it as background research for my Femgen fic. (And also because it is apparently a classic and entertaining in its own right.) I have ordered a copy from Barnes & Noble, because there is no point in having a membership discount card if I don't use it now and then. *wry*
