2. Is there a trope you've yet to try your hand at, but really want to?
Hmm. Mostly stuff to do with power? Like, I have a serious power kink. I wouldn't say that massively overpowered characters are a bulletproof kink of mine, because they are sadly very hard to do in an emotionally and logistically convincing way, and also without rendering the rest of the cast into a useless cheering section, but when done right... oh god yes.
The problem is that hits so close to the live wires of my id that I am terrified of doing it wrong in fanfiction. And also my original work tends to be very low-magic for fantasy, so unless I'm aiming for political/social power -- which is also very good, but not quite as good as "I can vaporize you with a stray thought" superpowers -- there's no real opportunity.
But I'm working on it. :-)
14. What's the worst writing advice you've ever come across?
Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. That book. There are not words for how much I dislike that book. I am sure it works just fine for many people, but I had a high school English teacher who practically took that book as gospel, and it is pretty much diametrically opposed to the way my mind works, and I just... I have a lot of bad memories, okay?
18. Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines?
Depends on the length of the work. For ficlets, I have a vague idea and start writing, adjusting as I go. Once I reach the end, I go back and make sure the beginning matches it, and there's support for events and characterization in the middle.
For longer work, I tend to make a background file, which contains everything from generic world-building thoughts, to a brief (can be several paragraphs) statement of the story's point -- what I'm trying to say about the characters, or about some general theme, or about the canon, or whatever -- to character sketches, to timelines, to scene-by-scene outlines, to actual ultra-rough-draft sketches of the story itself (without dialogue and with lots of "and then stuff happens" handwaves). These files can get quite long, and are organized more by date -- I add to them as stuff occurs to me, or as the story takes unexpected turns -- then by any coherent and easily searchable structure.
no subject
Hmm. Mostly stuff to do with power? Like, I have a serious power kink. I wouldn't say that massively overpowered characters are a bulletproof kink of mine, because they are sadly very hard to do in an emotionally and logistically convincing way, and also without rendering the rest of the cast into a useless cheering section, but when done right... oh god yes.
The problem is that hits so close to the live wires of my id that I am terrified of doing it wrong in fanfiction. And also my original work tends to be very low-magic for fantasy, so unless I'm aiming for political/social power -- which is also very good, but not quite as good as "I can vaporize you with a stray thought" superpowers -- there's no real opportunity.
But I'm working on it. :-)
14. What's the worst writing advice you've ever come across?
Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. That book. There are not words for how much I dislike that book. I am sure it works just fine for many people, but I had a high school English teacher who practically took that book as gospel, and it is pretty much diametrically opposed to the way my mind works, and I just... I have a lot of bad memories, okay?
18. Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines?
Depends on the length of the work. For ficlets, I have a vague idea and start writing, adjusting as I go. Once I reach the end, I go back and make sure the beginning matches it, and there's support for events and characterization in the middle.
For longer work, I tend to make a background file, which contains everything from generic world-building thoughts, to a brief (can be several paragraphs) statement of the story's point -- what I'm trying to say about the characters, or about some general theme, or about the canon, or whatever -- to character sketches, to timelines, to scene-by-scene outlines, to actual ultra-rough-draft sketches of the story itself (without dialogue and with lots of "and then stuff happens" handwaves). These files can get quite long, and are organized more by date -- I add to them as stuff occurs to me, or as the story takes unexpected turns -- then by any coherent and easily searchable structure.