30 Days of Fandom, catch-up, days 7-10
9/13/15 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kateHere's the full 30 days, for those who want to play along.
Day 7: Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?
All the time! Really good fic always gives me new insights into a character. I don't mind doing a 180 on characterization, but the fics I like best are more subtle. They don't change my mind so much as deepen the characterization that already exists.![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
denugis's The Place of the Lion did this for me with Cas, and it's one of the reasons it will always be high on my recommended fics list.
Day 8: Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they're not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.
I write OCs and original fiction. My original fic is on hold mostly, but I often introduce OCs in my fic because I need someone not involved in canon to get a point across. One of my very favorites was Kiidra from Rx, a Lorne/Zelenka story I wrote forscheherezhad.
My OCs are created usually because the story takes me somewhere that requires one. I treat them just like any other character; I'm always weirded out that people automatically assume OCs are either self-inserts or Mary Sues. They're often just characters that push the story where it needs to go.posingasme has just brilliant OCs, and I often like them even better than the canon characters, like in her series Inked Touches, where punk!Cas and law student!Sam get together and raise four foster kids.
I have strong feelings about Mary Sues and self-inserts, (see my Mary Sue meta), and they are that I love them. Even badly written ones. Maybe especially badly-written ones. I think that OCs are a way to flex your writing muscles, and like many things in writing, they take practice.
Day 9: Pairings – For each of the fandoms from daytwo three, what are your three favorite pairings to write?
Caveat here is that I don't write a lot of these fandoms anymore, so there's basically "the pairing that I wrote" and "pairings I have read/would like to read."
Stargate Atlantis: Writing: John/Rodney, OT4, Lorne/Zelenka (and I love to request and read Elizabeth/Teyla but never got my own story off the ground).
Supernatural: Wincestiel, Sam/Castiel, Sam/Dean.
The Losers (2010): Cougar/Jensen, Pooch/Jolene as background. I will read Aisha/Clay/Roque, Clay/Roque, and have written and loved to read Aisha/a zillion other female characters.
Alexander (2004): Alexander/Hephaestion, with Bagoas as part of their lives, if not part of the sex.
Criminal Minds: Reid, in no pairing. Reid&Gideon mentorship, Reid&Prentiss friendship, Reid&JJ friendship.
Leverage: Parker/Hardison/Eliot. I have asked for Tara/Sophie which I would love the crap out of, and have read and enjoyed Sophie/Parker.
Lord of the Rings RPF: Writing: Viggo/Orli. Reading: Billy/Dom, Orli/Elijah, Elijah/Dom.
Psych: Writing: Shawn/Lassiter. Reading: Shawn/Jules, Shawn/Gus.
So You Think You Can Dance RPF: Kent/Neil (those are the only ones I've ever written, though I have also read and loved Travis/Ivan, and had Billy/Robert written for me (it's delightful)).
Constantine (2005): None. I wrote gen, and did it for Yuletide.
Priest (2011): Priest/Black Hat, Priest/Priestess (though I will probably never actually write that).
Marvel Cinematic Universe: This is for reading, as I don't write in this fandom and will probably never: Tony/Pepper, Steve/Bucky, Clint&Natasha BFFs (and I have to add Clint/Coulson just because I love whatlavvyan's done with them).
Murder by Numbers RPF: Michael Pitt/Ryan Gosling (yeah, there's really nothing else here).
Firefly: Writing: Zoe/Wash Reading: Mal/Inara, Kaylee/Simon, Kaylee/Inara)
Day 10: Pairings – Have you ever gone outside your comfort zone and written a pairing you liked, but found you couldn't write, or a pairing you didn't like, and found you could?
All the time. By the end of SGA, I was pretty sure I could write any pairing that existed (and I wrote my first John/Rodney/Jennifer for SGA santa a few years ago). I'm not to that place in Supernatural yet; I have to finish the stories I've got in process, and eventually I will start getting non-OTP/3 bunnies and start writing those. It takes years for me to get there, though, so don't expect the Sam/Kevin, Dean/Benny, or Michael/Lucifer stuff until 2017 or so.
It's also happened to me where I was just done with a pairing (John and Rodney). When I fell out of SGA, it was partially because I just felt I'd said everything I needed to about John and Rodney (except for Impromptu, which will probably be incomplete forever, which is simply a crime. I'm almost ready to post it incomplete; maybe another 6 months.
Day 7: Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?
All the time! Really good fic always gives me new insights into a character. I don't mind doing a 180 on characterization, but the fics I like best are more subtle. They don't change my mind so much as deepen the characterization that already exists.
Day 8: Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they're not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.
I write OCs and original fiction. My original fic is on hold mostly, but I often introduce OCs in my fic because I need someone not involved in canon to get a point across. One of my very favorites was Kiidra from Rx, a Lorne/Zelenka story I wrote for
scheherezhad.My OCs are created usually because the story takes me somewhere that requires one. I treat them just like any other character; I'm always weirded out that people automatically assume OCs are either self-inserts or Mary Sues. They're often just characters that push the story where it needs to go.
I have strong feelings about Mary Sues and self-inserts, (see my Mary Sue meta), and they are that I love them. Even badly written ones. Maybe especially badly-written ones. I think that OCs are a way to flex your writing muscles, and like many things in writing, they take practice.
Day 9: Pairings – For each of the fandoms from day
Caveat here is that I don't write a lot of these fandoms anymore, so there's basically "the pairing that I wrote" and "pairings I have read/would like to read."
Stargate Atlantis: Writing: John/Rodney, OT4, Lorne/Zelenka (and I love to request and read Elizabeth/Teyla but never got my own story off the ground).
Supernatural: Wincestiel, Sam/Castiel, Sam/Dean.
The Losers (2010): Cougar/Jensen, Pooch/Jolene as background. I will read Aisha/Clay/Roque, Clay/Roque, and have written and loved to read Aisha/a zillion other female characters.
Alexander (2004): Alexander/Hephaestion, with Bagoas as part of their lives, if not part of the sex.
Criminal Minds: Reid, in no pairing. Reid&Gideon mentorship, Reid&Prentiss friendship, Reid&JJ friendship.
Leverage: Parker/Hardison/Eliot. I have asked for Tara/Sophie which I would love the crap out of, and have read and enjoyed Sophie/Parker.
Lord of the Rings RPF: Writing: Viggo/Orli. Reading: Billy/Dom, Orli/Elijah, Elijah/Dom.
Psych: Writing: Shawn/Lassiter. Reading: Shawn/Jules, Shawn/Gus.
So You Think You Can Dance RPF: Kent/Neil (those are the only ones I've ever written, though I have also read and loved Travis/Ivan, and had Billy/Robert written for me (it's delightful)).
Constantine (2005): None. I wrote gen, and did it for Yuletide.
Priest (2011): Priest/Black Hat, Priest/Priestess (though I will probably never actually write that).
Marvel Cinematic Universe: This is for reading, as I don't write in this fandom and will probably never: Tony/Pepper, Steve/Bucky, Clint&Natasha BFFs (and I have to add Clint/Coulson just because I love what
lavvyan's done with them).Murder by Numbers RPF: Michael Pitt/Ryan Gosling (yeah, there's really nothing else here).
Firefly: Writing: Zoe/Wash Reading: Mal/Inara, Kaylee/Simon, Kaylee/Inara)
Day 10: Pairings – Have you ever gone outside your comfort zone and written a pairing you liked, but found you couldn't write, or a pairing you didn't like, and found you could?
All the time. By the end of SGA, I was pretty sure I could write any pairing that existed (and I wrote my first John/Rodney/Jennifer for SGA santa a few years ago). I'm not to that place in Supernatural yet; I have to finish the stories I've got in process, and eventually I will start getting non-OTP/3 bunnies and start writing those. It takes years for me to get there, though, so don't expect the Sam/Kevin, Dean/Benny, or Michael/Lucifer stuff until 2017 or so.
It's also happened to me where I was just done with a pairing (John and Rodney). When I fell out of SGA, it was partially because I just felt I'd said everything I needed to about John and Rodney (except for Impromptu, which will probably be incomplete forever, which is simply a crime. I'm almost ready to post it incomplete; maybe another 6 months.
