kate | Oh, this meme looks like fun! Let's do this!

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Oh, this meme looks like fun! Let's do this!

Pick one, two, a few, or many, and I will answer in the comments! :D My collected works at

kisahawklin, if you need that.

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 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 sending the ask 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].

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X. Have you ever deleted one of your published fics?

Hmmmm. Not that I can remember, but I do feel like I might have at some point when I shifted everything over to the AO3.

I do know that I wrote a couple of fics for exchanges that I've left up on the exchange sites and not included in my collected works at the AO3 because I was embarrassed about them.

I have deleted SO many fics. Orphaned a lot, too.

I've only orphaned two - and one of them, I reclaimed when Yuletide was brought over, heh. In general I claim almost everything I've done, just because I feel like it's important to have a history. Some day I may even track down those two exchange fics and add them. But I'm still pretty embarrassed by them, so maybe not. I'm embarrassed of them in a way I'm not embarrassed about my other fics.

I'm embarrassed about almost all of my fics. Probably all of them, but then it depends on who's reading them at the time.

*shrug* I'm just not embarrassed about my fic. I put a lot of time into that stuff, and for the most part, I did what I was trying to do. And at the very least, I like having a history of how I've improved.

I think you're just a lot more confident than I am. I have a strong instinct to hide everything I care about or put anything of myself into.

Ah, yeah, that makes sense. I also come from a performing arts background, I've been trained since I was 5 that creative endeavors are meant to be shared - and usually (unlike with stories) what you see is what you get. That's the nice thing with stories - I can keep tweaking them until they're right, unlike recitals.

U. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

Welllllll, I don't generally post in chapters, so this is a whole fic thing. And honestly, it depends on length. For short fics (under 5k), I write them all in one go, read them over for typos etc. (maybe get a second reader, if I have a chance), and post. Then over the next few days, as kudos and comments come in, I tend to re-read them compulsively, editing every time.

For longer fics, I edit as I go. I tend to read the last scene before writing the next, and I edit anything that feels out of place before I start writing the new stuff. I generally get honest-to-goodness betas for anything over 5k, and so there's that process - sometimes it takes one go round, sometimes two or three - and I re-read it a couple times after I post it (just like shorts, but less often because it takes longer to read) and edit anything I catch.

M. (And also P, if I'm allowed two.)

You're allowed as many as you want! :D

M. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

Write every day. I've heard it all over, but the first time it really got through to me was in Stephen King's On Writing, which is still my writing go-to book for when I need a little pick-me-up. I find, for me, if I write first thing in the morning every day, everything goes better - my day, my writing, and just... my life in general.

P. If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?

Well, this is disingenuous, because I would probably stop writing if I could only write one pairing for the rest of my life, but right now I'd pick Wincestiel because three people gives you more options than two and it's just the fandom I'm involved in right now and the pairing whose dynamics work for me right now. I'm pretty sure if you'd asked me this question three years ago, I would've said McShep without any hesitation. I know I'll fall out of SPN eventually, but I hope I get a few more good years out of it.

In general, there isn't anything I think will last for the rest of my life (except hopefully my wife) because I am just too mercurial to be stuck with something for that long.

Thanks! I just read through all your answers and enjoyed them. That Cougar/Jensen scene is fabulous!

Yay, thank you! I love this meme - I have to go back and read some other people's answers! I skipped over them when I posted it myself.

Oooo, ooo, O or Q!

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

Ooooooh, this is a good question!!!! Well, if I'd finished Impromptu, it would TOTALLY be that. But since I haven't, I think antechamber of another world would be cool as hell - I'd really like to see that world.

Q. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

I'm mostly a linear writer. I don't do outlines, and I don't generally figure out specific throughlines on fics (though, unless it's a huge novel, I do generally know where it's going to end up (and of course, even that has been untrue from time to time)). Sometimes I don't even know where the story is going until I start writing it.

The few times I've written scenes before I've gotten to them in the main story, I've had to dump them because things just didn't line up when I actually got there.

I'm doing this right now; I've got a story where I started writing, and I also started writing the sex that's about a third of the way through (because I was inspired to, and I'm not interested in writing sex a lot of the time, so I have to write it when I'm inspired) and already I can see the cracks, things I wrote into the sex that don't line up with where the main body of the story has gone. I may be able to massage the sex to make it fit, but I'm not really sure it'll be possible - I may just have to rewrite the whole thing.

Impromptu would be fabulous to see!

I totally respect following the whims of the porn muse, even if it means bashing it into shape later - porn is HARD. ;)

Yeah, I would love to see Impromptu on the big screen, even if they would likely get the music stuff all wrong (I can't honestly imagine Hewlett playing violin or JFlan playing piano all that convincingly - though, if he put his mind to it, pretty sure Jason Momoa would look great as a conductor).

Gods, yes. Sometimes porn works for me. The same story I'm talking about above, I was just writing the main body of the thing and it was like, "oh, shit, time for porn" and it just came out while I was writing, no muss, no fuss. But it was a lot less complicated - the choreography, the POV (the POV character was being a voyeur), and and the emotional landscape were all much simpler. The later one is twenty times as complex.

I LOVE THIS MEME! <3333333

Can I pick more than one? I wanted O, but see someone beat me to it, so instead: B, H, L, and AL. If that's too many, just H. :D :D :D

YAYYY! I've not read most people's answers - I need to go back through my dwircle and look at them. You can have as many as you want, bb, ask away!

B. Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

Hmmmmmmmmm. There are a lot of tropes I love, and a lot of tropes I've written, but I can't think of one I want to write but haven't taken a shot at. I don't generally come at prompts that way. Usually something about the canon (or characterization or a random funny bit of dialogue or "what if?" question happens) makes me want to write things.

I may want to try my hand at ABO someday, but it would take a lot of thinking and wrangling that kind of universe, so I don't know that I'll bother? Or at least, when I compare the amount of work to the amount of interest, yeah, not going there just yet.

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

Well, with dialogue, it's always about sounding like the characters, so the ones I'm proud of are where I capture their voices really well. I looked for some SPN stuff (I feel like I have a pretty good handle on those guys) but nothing really fit the bill exactly right. There's a lot of introspection in most of the dialogue scenes that doesn't really work. Here's a scene from a Losers fic instead - it's a consort universe, where Jensen's a consort that's been hired to get Cougar ready for an official black-tie party. I think my favorite thing about this is how little Cougar says and how Jensen's read his body language perfectly - and then the last thing that's "said" is also Cougar, not actually speaking.

Jensen sighs, the deep one Cougar had expected to hear earlier. "If you tell me what's making you nervous, I can probably make you feel better about it."

The honesty is surprising, and Cougar can't help raising an eyebrow.

"Look, Mr. Alvarez –"

"Cougar," Cougar says automatically, groaning inside when he realizes what he's done. It's just that he hates being called Mister Alvarez.

Jensen grins again; the soft one, crinkling the corners of his eyes. "Cougar." He starts moving toward the bag of suits on the hook, pulling Cougar along by their connected wrists.

"Look, Cougar. I'm just here to do a job." He starts rummaging around in the bottom of the garment bag, pulling out small cases and bags. "I'm good at my job. I can do it any way you prefer. If you like professional, I can be professional. If you like gentle, I can be gentle. If you need to be manhandled because it'll make you feel better about me doing things to you that you associate with girls and slumber parties, I can do that." He pulls out something that looks like a tiny remote control and clicks a button. The handcuffs make a snick sound and Jensen grabs them and folds them up – putting them in his pocket, Cougar notices, not the garment bag. "Normally I can get a lock on what people want pretty quickly, but you're giving me mixed signals, so just tell me what you want and I'll do it that way."

Cougar's caught off guard again; he doesn't know what to say, much less what to do. Jensen looks at him evenly. "If you need my assurance that I will not attempt to initiate anything sexual during our time together, I can tell you it is specifically written into my contract." His eyes are focused just over Cougar's right shoulder, and there isn't a hint of a smile anywhere.

Cougar does the only thing he can think of. He reaches up and pulls the hair tie out of his hair, letting it fall loose over his shoulder.

L. Is there an episode section of canon above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?

Uh. I feel like this question is really poorly worded. For SPN, there are a few things that really stand out for me for Destiel - the two eps where Cas beats Dean up, for starters - but nothing for Wincestiel and nothing, really, for Sam/Cas or Wincest. It's more... I like the way their relationship works, and I like figuring out ways I could make things work like canon and then get them together.

Jensen/Cougar is almost canon in The Losers comics; less so in the movie, but I don't care, I still totally see it.

AL. Talk about a review that made your day.

OH MAN. I don't get a lot of really thinky reviews, so this one on Truth, Justice, and the Lantean Way just bowled me over. I was just sort of stunned. It's a page long! It talks about (and compliments) things I did both intentionally and intuitively (the stargate as a metaphor thing totally caught me by surprise but is totally accurate). It talks about a technical part of it (POV) that I spent a long time making sure I got right, and all in all, I think this may just be the best comment I've ever gotten.

It's the one I think of when I'm trying to leave meaningful feedback for others because it is just so generous and I felt so good for a week after receiving it (and after any other time I've read it).

Can I have Z, AI and AJ please!

Absolutely! :D

Z. Do you beta yourself? If so, what kind of beta are you?

I do beta, though I haven't in a while due to time constraints. I tend to be very thorough - I write as many, if not more, words of beta as there are words in a story. I am explainy, too, so for new writers (or new-to-me writers), I will explain why I am suggesting what I am suggesting. This has really codified how I feel about things like epithets, starting sentences with conjunctions, and the difference between ellipses and dashes. I knew I did or didn't do things in my own fic, but I didn't really know why until I had to explain them to other people.

I try to be sensitive to style, though - I beta for people who have very different styles than my own, and so I let some things go that I normally wouldn't because it's obviously a stylistic choice.

AI. Would you ever kill off a canon character?

Yep! I have, actually. I've killed Rodney more than once. I think I've killed John, but I can't remember for sure. Oh - yeah, I killed him (sort of) in Four Funerals and a Wedding, and once in Variations on a Theme of John Sheppard. I haven't killed anybody in SPN yet, but they do just fine on that front, so I guess I haven't felt the need? Oh, well, there was a temporary character death for Castiel, but since he never really died, they just thought he did, I guess I don't feel like that counts.

Usually I kill people off as part of an emotional arc I'm writing for the other person(s), though once I killed off Rodney for porn (I wrote necrophilia for a friend).

AJ. Which is your favorite site to post fic?

Definitely Archive of Our Own. I've gotten lazy about fic, and I'm also keeping the Supernatural fandom at arm's length. I'm happy to write fic about those characters, have people read it and kudos or comment, but I don't want to know about the kerfuffle of the moment because Jensen or Jared said something stupid at a con, or the producers stuck their foot in their mouth, or Clif tweeted something dumb. Also, I hate being spoiled - I enjoy shows so much more when I'm not spoiled. Also, I hate having to post to communities anymore. And SPN's newsletter is not comprehensive the way SGA's was (this is just a necessity due to size of the fandom) so technically they don't publish anything not actually posted on LJ, where I refuse to put content any more.

One of my favorite things about AO3 is the feeds - I'm following a few relationship and character tags, so reading content is sent right to my flist and I can see what's being written without having to be on communities (and since I know other people are following these feeds, I don't have to advertise anywhere, another brilliant thing!).

Besides the ease, distance from my current fandom, and feeds, I also love kudos and the statistics feature. I never really figured out those hit counters/statistics things for LJ and DW, so having the statistics page just do it for me has been AMAZING.

<3333333

A. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.

I'd love to say I write pretty broadly, but my guess is it's less broadly than I think.

I think the commonalities of most of my fics are: angst, whether from canon issues or issues I make up (usually that's for AUs) that the characters have to work through (and do, to some degree or another), romance, slash, usually and at least one queer character, even if it's a het story, and generally happy endings.

And now I'm going to do a spreadsheet to see how much of that is statistically true. But that'll take a couple hours, so I'll be coming back later.

ETA: I really did start a spreadsheet (only got to about #80 or so before I petered out), and (thankfully, actually), happy endings are not actually THAT much a part of my M.O. Bittersweet and downright unhappy endings are just as common. I did notice a few other commonalities, though - one is that I tend to write canon-compliant or canon-based things waaaaaaaaaaaay more than AUs (though my AUs are more well known, I think), and I also write a lot of first time fics - if there is romance (and that, too, is not as prevalent as I suspected), then it's likely to be first time.

Edited 2014-08-25 11:30 (UTC)

T, please?
I'm living in a very uncomfortable apartment right now, and it helps me to put off sitting down to write. I keep reminding myself of that part in Stephen King's "On Writing" where he talks about the crazy places people have had to write. It's inspiring.

Also -- I'd never even thought of making feeds from AO3. Huh... I love that place. :)

T. Describe your perfect writing conditions.

You know - I like to think if I had some idyllic little cabin in the woods tucked away, with no distractions, I'd write like the wind! But I know myself, and that's not actually what makes me write.

Honestly, I write better and with more concentration when there are other things (particularly work) fluttering around me. I used to write porn in the ER when the uber-Christian doc put on Christian music. It was a huge motivator.

I work better at a desk/table, though. I do write in bed (first thing in the morning, for real, I get good words then - this is probably 75% of my productivity) but I'm much happier sitting at a table.

The AO3 is the best! I love it, I love having fic show up on my dwircle nearly hourly.

Interesting! I have a handful of favorites that I've written, and none of them was written at a desk, even though I am most comfortable writing at a desk. Weird. Porn in the ER! We write - and read - it everywhere! :D

I want to try this "daily writing" thing... hmmmm...

Honestly, daily writing is the #1 piece of advice I give about writing. Making it part of every day, making it ordinary keeps those "waiting for my muse to show up" moments at bay. I write because it's time to write, you know? And it turns out, my stuff from days like that often ends up way better than when my muse is really sparking me (then, often, I'm typing so fast I skip things, and I have to go back and fill a lot of things in (or delete the whole bit)).

E and F?

Hmmmmmmmm. *thinks*

E. Share one of your strengths.

I think some of my strengths are starting and choosing POV. I'm really lucky that I almost always know where my stories start and what POV they're going to be in and I can usually just sit down with a new idea and just pound out the first several thousand words easily.

F. Share one of your weaknesses.

I think, like a lot of people, the slogging middle kills me. I get to the middle and I just... want it to be over. I usually figure out the rest of the story by about halfway through, and once its all settled into its final form, I lose a lot of steam because I just want it to be done. :|

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Oh, this meme looks like fun! Let's do this!

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