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sophia_sol) wrote2024-12-12 04:18 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2024-12-12 04:18 pm
shipping meme and fic-writing meme
whoops I drafted this for crossposting but then never got round to it - just discovered the draft while cleaning up some files!
two question/answer memes I did over on mastodon! reposting here so you can see my answers too :)
Shipping meme
1. three shipping tropes I love:
bodyswap, fake dating/marriage, sex pollen/fuck or die, inter-species communication, timeloop, whoops that's five but I'm not deleting any!
2. three shipping tropes I don't love:
soulmates, omegaverse, royalty au (I usually see that in the context of shipping so I think it still counts as a shipping trope!)
3. One emotional aspect of a ship that always gets you:
when you can tell how much they know each other on a deep level, and nothing they see of the other's full self puts them off!
OR when they're so different that there's no hope of them ever managing true and full understanding but they care about each other so much that they try anyway
4. One physical aspect of a ship that always gets you:
I'm fairly far in the direction of aphantasia; I simply do not picture my ships having physical existences because I can't picture them period!
anyway what I want my ships to have physically is for them to have the things that those characters in specific would be super into
5. Multiship or Monoship?
you can convince me of nearly any ship! me shipping one thing by no means stops me from simultaneously being into like five other ships that conflict with the first one. each ship has different dynamics to explore and it's fun to spend time thinking about all of them!
6. Rare pairs or Mainstream?
both! ship all the things!! I often start in one of a fandom's bigger ships because it's what's there to dive into, but over time I start hungering for variety and investigate all the possibilities
7. Polyamory or Monogamy?
either, both, whatever makes sense for the characters and ships in question!
8. If the ship is physical, reversible or not?
truly not something I have strong feelings about in any particular direction, *shrug*
9. Do you always have romantic ships for fandoms?
honestly.....almost any characters I'm into romantically shipping, I would also be into platonically shipping, unless that would be wildly out of character for them. I just want them to have intense feelings about each other! the specifics of those feelings are less important.
10. How important is the sexual part (if any) of your ship?
not a big deal to me! unless it is obvious from canon that sex is important to these characters, in which case, it's important to me because it's part of writing them in-character
11. Opinion on platonic ships?
love em! I like stories about people's relationships with other people, whatever shapes those relationships takes
12. List 3 ships you currently love:
I love so many it's ridiculous. I am into the major ships of all my current fandoms as well as plenty of other ships, but let me name three rare ones I like, just for fun:
13. List 5 OTPs from past fandoms:
chosen somewhat at random from the vast numbers I could pull out of my fandoms of yore!
14. Opinion on the importance of marriage?
not something I have any particular attachment to for my ships, one way or another. if it's something the characters would place high importance on, then that's great, but it's not something I feel any need to lead characters in the direction of if they're not already going there themselves
15. Opinion on OC kids?
I'm not personally into kidfic or other narratives that are inherently focused on themes of reproduction, pregnancy, parenthood, or the wonders of children/childhood/babies. OC kids are particularly likely to be props in a story that's about those themes, so they're a flag that a fic is likely not going to be for me!
fic writing meme
1. Fave genre to write:
I find it the most fun to write humour, I think, but I don't actually do it very often; only the occasional fic idea I want to write actually lends itself to being humour. I think a lot of my fics are.....idk, literary fiction that happens to be in an sff setting? focusing on style, character, relationships, and theme.
2. Preferred tense and pov:
strong preference for past tense as my default, but present tense can sometimes be useful for certain effects - I just don't like to use it unless I have good reason to!
for pov I like to mix it up, because different ones can serve different purposes. first, second, and third, but also within third doing either limited or omniscient. I like experimenting with the different things you can achieve with pov! fandom house style is limited third so I do default to that, but I think I have written fics in all the possible varieties of pov!
3. Tag you've used most:
Post-canon, with 5 uses out of 60 works on my ao3. You can tell I don't tag profligately - I mostly use tags as a way to tell readers who see the fic what kind of fic it is, rather than trying to draw in more eyes by having my fic show up in every possible relevant tag. I'm just not that interested in that style of marketing for myself I guess, for better or for worse!
4. What inspires you to write:
A number of intersecting factors! it's fun and interesting creative work, it's a way to engage with thinking about the fandoms and characters I love in a more structured way that lets me dig deeper, it's a way of regularly connecting with my cheerleader verity, it feels good to finish a thing and post it online for accolades, it's a way of connecting with others in fandom and being excited about our shared fandom together, and probably more!
you'll note that none of this is the type of "I am just driven to write" or "I have so many ideas I simply have to get out" that I often see from people who identify as writers. I don't think I'm an obligate writer, but it is a hobby that brings me lots of joy and pleasure regardless, and I love having it in my repertoire of hobbies!
5. One line from a current WIP:
you're getting three whole paragraphs! :D
6. Trope you want to write:
It's unconscionable that I have not yet written any time loop or time travel shenanigans in my entire decades-long fandom career
7. Favourite character to write
I like to mix it up, I would get bored writing the same character(s) regularly, but I do keep coming back to shen qingqiu of late - I think because the disconnect between his self-perception and his actions is enormously fun
8. How you choose your titles:
mostly: sighing, despairing, looking through the fic to see if there's a short phrase I can use that's thematically relevant, seeing if I can find lyrics I like in a song or poem that's thematically relevant, asking friends for help
9. Describe your writing style:
hmmm a tougher question! I would say - heavy on creating vibes and on interiority, precise and careful about choosing just the right words, and tending over-much towards very long multi-clause sentences. flowy rather than high-tension or rhythmic.
but I might be too close to my writing to describe it accurately! I'd love to hear how others would describe my writing style!
10. A comment you treasure:
one fic I wrote eons ago got a comment from a person who was deeply moved and grateful because they saw themself and a major struggle in their life reflected in my fic in a way they had never seen before. that comment has really stuck with me!
11. Favourite scene you've written:
I am extremely fond of the scene from Habitat, Behaviour where bingqiu transition from peaceful cozy homelike vibes of sqq writing an angry letter to a publisher while lbh brings him more paper and snacks, to a scene that's extremely sexual with sqq in lbh's lap while lbh hand-feeds him and escalates from there, and sqq has no idea how or why this counts as sex because lbh's pillar isn't involved at all. meanwhile lbh is sobbing into sqq's neck over how amazing it is. (sqq loves it too.)
I am really proud of the physicality I managed in this scene, the groundedness in sensation and tangible presence of things, as well as the conveyance of what sqq is actually feeling vs what you hear of his thoughts from his close pov!
12. Fic that best represents you:
hmmmm, probably Artifice and Affectation. from the pov of a secondary character who's not a man and who doesn't get much fandom attention, gen with ambiguously shippy vibes, About Gender thematically but not explicitly, interested in interrogating structures of power, doesn't actually have a plot.
13. A fun fact about a fic you wrote:
do I even have any fun facts? if I haven't written it down somewhere I've probably forgotten it!
*goes to check my old fic notes*
oh ok! so while I was writing precious treasure I was very aware of what I felt was needed from each side of the foursome to turn them into a viable ship from the state they start the fic at, so these were the things I had to be sure to make happen.
14. How you handle writer's block:
I put the fic aside for the day and come back the next day. if I keep on not coming back to it, I try to think about whether there's something I feel unsure of in terms of where the fic is trying to go, and I either think it through on my own or talk it through with a friend, to get myself unstuck. if that doesn't feel like it's what's going on, I just accept that there are factors in my life that make writing harder for the time being and I let it go, because trying to force writing when it doesn't want to happen doesn't give me what I want out of this hobby!
15. Hardest thing for you to write:
in the past I would have said dialogue but I think I have really levelled up on that! I suppose now what I find hardest is plot. I'm working on it though!
16. Dialogue you loved writing:
every single line from the aquarium hobbyist discord fic!!! so much fun, and rereading it now, I still think I'm very funny :D
17. Your planning process:
Not a huge amount of pre-planning, usually! once I have the general concept of the fic, I dive into writing, and discover as I go whether more planning is needed. Sometimes I keep an outline of the fic in a separate doc as I write - a retroactive outline, showing what I've done so I can see what structure I'm creating. Sometimes I talk through the concept with a friend to figure out what I'm actually interested in exploring with the concept. Sometimes I get partway in and realize I don't know where I'm going and need to do some brainstorming on that front. But sometimes the concept is all the planning I need and I just....write.
I do usually end up having a notes document for any fic that's longer than 1-2 k words though, with little thoughts to remind myself about what my intentions are for the fic, or noting things I want to keep in mind as I write, and that doc gets added to and altered as I go. But the kinds of notes I keep in there vary fic by fic!
18. Your editing process:
I do a fair amount of editing as I go, both editing the bit I'm writing as I write it, and semi-regularly going back to the already-written parts of the fic to tweak when I have more distance from what I wrote and more sense of where the fic is going. When I'm done a draft I give the whole thing another read, fixing anything that stands out to me, then I send it to beta. I do another round of editing based on my beta's comments, and then I consider the fic done and I post it!
19. Your favourite writing tip:
(caveat: not all advice is right for everyone, ignore if not right for you!)
it's been big for me to have a cheerleader! a friend to send snippets of fic to as you write it, who will say encouraging things!
some reasons:
A++++ would recommend.
20. Your current writing goals:
keep having fun writing :)
two question/answer memes I did over on mastodon! reposting here so you can see my answers too :)
Shipping meme
1. three shipping tropes I love:
bodyswap, fake dating/marriage, sex pollen/fuck or die, inter-species communication, timeloop, whoops that's five but I'm not deleting any!
2. three shipping tropes I don't love:
soulmates, omegaverse, royalty au (I usually see that in the context of shipping so I think it still counts as a shipping trope!)
3. One emotional aspect of a ship that always gets you:
when you can tell how much they know each other on a deep level, and nothing they see of the other's full self puts them off!
OR when they're so different that there's no hope of them ever managing true and full understanding but they care about each other so much that they try anyway
4. One physical aspect of a ship that always gets you:
I'm fairly far in the direction of aphantasia; I simply do not picture my ships having physical existences because I can't picture them period!
anyway what I want my ships to have physically is for them to have the things that those characters in specific would be super into
5. Multiship or Monoship?
you can convince me of nearly any ship! me shipping one thing by no means stops me from simultaneously being into like five other ships that conflict with the first one. each ship has different dynamics to explore and it's fun to spend time thinking about all of them!
6. Rare pairs or Mainstream?
both! ship all the things!! I often start in one of a fandom's bigger ships because it's what's there to dive into, but over time I start hungering for variety and investigate all the possibilities
7. Polyamory or Monogamy?
either, both, whatever makes sense for the characters and ships in question!
8. If the ship is physical, reversible or not?
truly not something I have strong feelings about in any particular direction, *shrug*
9. Do you always have romantic ships for fandoms?
honestly.....almost any characters I'm into romantically shipping, I would also be into platonically shipping, unless that would be wildly out of character for them. I just want them to have intense feelings about each other! the specifics of those feelings are less important.
10. How important is the sexual part (if any) of your ship?
not a big deal to me! unless it is obvious from canon that sex is important to these characters, in which case, it's important to me because it's part of writing them in-character
11. Opinion on platonic ships?
love em! I like stories about people's relationships with other people, whatever shapes those relationships takes
12. List 3 ships you currently love:
I love so many it's ridiculous. I am into the major ships of all my current fandoms as well as plenty of other ships, but let me name three rare ones I like, just for fun:
- jin guangyao/su she
- ling wen/shi qingxuan
- ning yingying/liu mingyan
13. List 5 OTPs from past fandoms:
chosen somewhat at random from the vast numbers I could pull out of my fandoms of yore!
- marcus/esca
- budur/hayat/kamar
- methos/everyone
- elisabeth/death
- valjean/fauchelevent
14. Opinion on the importance of marriage?
not something I have any particular attachment to for my ships, one way or another. if it's something the characters would place high importance on, then that's great, but it's not something I feel any need to lead characters in the direction of if they're not already going there themselves
15. Opinion on OC kids?
I'm not personally into kidfic or other narratives that are inherently focused on themes of reproduction, pregnancy, parenthood, or the wonders of children/childhood/babies. OC kids are particularly likely to be props in a story that's about those themes, so they're a flag that a fic is likely not going to be for me!
fic writing meme
1. Fave genre to write:
I find it the most fun to write humour, I think, but I don't actually do it very often; only the occasional fic idea I want to write actually lends itself to being humour. I think a lot of my fics are.....idk, literary fiction that happens to be in an sff setting? focusing on style, character, relationships, and theme.
2. Preferred tense and pov:
strong preference for past tense as my default, but present tense can sometimes be useful for certain effects - I just don't like to use it unless I have good reason to!
for pov I like to mix it up, because different ones can serve different purposes. first, second, and third, but also within third doing either limited or omniscient. I like experimenting with the different things you can achieve with pov! fandom house style is limited third so I do default to that, but I think I have written fics in all the possible varieties of pov!
3. Tag you've used most:
Post-canon, with 5 uses out of 60 works on my ao3. You can tell I don't tag profligately - I mostly use tags as a way to tell readers who see the fic what kind of fic it is, rather than trying to draw in more eyes by having my fic show up in every possible relevant tag. I'm just not that interested in that style of marketing for myself I guess, for better or for worse!
4. What inspires you to write:
A number of intersecting factors! it's fun and interesting creative work, it's a way to engage with thinking about the fandoms and characters I love in a more structured way that lets me dig deeper, it's a way of regularly connecting with my cheerleader verity, it feels good to finish a thing and post it online for accolades, it's a way of connecting with others in fandom and being excited about our shared fandom together, and probably more!
you'll note that none of this is the type of "I am just driven to write" or "I have so many ideas I simply have to get out" that I often see from people who identify as writers. I don't think I'm an obligate writer, but it is a hobby that brings me lots of joy and pleasure regardless, and I love having it in my repertoire of hobbies!
5. One line from a current WIP:
you're getting three whole paragraphs! :D
Bored and suspicious, Luo Binghe glanced through the memorial he held, ignoring the watchful attention of those around him. His reading skills were developed under the neglectful tutelage of a sect who did not appreciate the potential of the student whom fate had given them. Five subsequent years in the Endless Abyss provided few opportunities for practice.
Luo Binghe was a slow reader, ashamed of it, and angry at being so ashamed. This added to the forbidding impression he gave to the anxious northern official. After looking at the paper in his hands for long enough only to take in a few phrases here and there, Luo Binghe's eyes snapped up again, glittering and dangerous. The memorial said something about a mating season, he thought. The location of the ritual seemed to be the problem at hand. Tedious business to a ruler who was used to focusing on duels and battles and power struggles, and vital in the working life of a career bureaucrat.
“Why are you bothering me with this?” Luo Binghe asked, his voice soft.
6. Trope you want to write:
It's unconscionable that I have not yet written any time loop or time travel shenanigans in my entire decades-long fandom career
7. Favourite character to write
I like to mix it up, I would get bored writing the same character(s) regularly, but I do keep coming back to shen qingqiu of late - I think because the disconnect between his self-perception and his actions is enormously fun
8. How you choose your titles:
mostly: sighing, despairing, looking through the fic to see if there's a short phrase I can use that's thematically relevant, seeing if I can find lyrics I like in a song or poem that's thematically relevant, asking friends for help
9. Describe your writing style:
hmmm a tougher question! I would say - heavy on creating vibes and on interiority, precise and careful about choosing just the right words, and tending over-much towards very long multi-clause sentences. flowy rather than high-tension or rhythmic.
but I might be too close to my writing to describe it accurately! I'd love to hear how others would describe my writing style!
10. A comment you treasure:
one fic I wrote eons ago got a comment from a person who was deeply moved and grateful because they saw themself and a major struggle in their life reflected in my fic in a way they had never seen before. that comment has really stuck with me!
11. Favourite scene you've written:
I am extremely fond of the scene from Habitat, Behaviour where bingqiu transition from peaceful cozy homelike vibes of sqq writing an angry letter to a publisher while lbh brings him more paper and snacks, to a scene that's extremely sexual with sqq in lbh's lap while lbh hand-feeds him and escalates from there, and sqq has no idea how or why this counts as sex because lbh's pillar isn't involved at all. meanwhile lbh is sobbing into sqq's neck over how amazing it is. (sqq loves it too.)
I am really proud of the physicality I managed in this scene, the groundedness in sensation and tangible presence of things, as well as the conveyance of what sqq is actually feeling vs what you hear of his thoughts from his close pov!
12. Fic that best represents you:
hmmmm, probably Artifice and Affectation. from the pov of a secondary character who's not a man and who doesn't get much fandom attention, gen with ambiguously shippy vibes, About Gender thematically but not explicitly, interested in interrogating structures of power, doesn't actually have a plot.
13. A fun fact about a fic you wrote:
do I even have any fun facts? if I haven't written it down somewhere I've probably forgotten it!
*goes to check my old fic notes*
oh ok! so while I was writing precious treasure I was very aware of what I felt was needed from each side of the foursome to turn them into a viable ship from the state they start the fic at, so these were the things I had to be sure to make happen.
- sqh needs: to be able to complain at lbh without being nervous of how he'll respond
- lbh needs: to feel like he could be fussed over in a caretaking way by sqh
- mbj needs: to find something in lbh that he can respect
- sqq needs: nothing, he's soooo gay for everyone in pidw plus the creator of pidw, he's easy to get on board
14. How you handle writer's block:
I put the fic aside for the day and come back the next day. if I keep on not coming back to it, I try to think about whether there's something I feel unsure of in terms of where the fic is trying to go, and I either think it through on my own or talk it through with a friend, to get myself unstuck. if that doesn't feel like it's what's going on, I just accept that there are factors in my life that make writing harder for the time being and I let it go, because trying to force writing when it doesn't want to happen doesn't give me what I want out of this hobby!
15. Hardest thing for you to write:
in the past I would have said dialogue but I think I have really levelled up on that! I suppose now what I find hardest is plot. I'm working on it though!
16. Dialogue you loved writing:
every single line from the aquarium hobbyist discord fic!!! so much fun, and rereading it now, I still think I'm very funny :D
17. Your planning process:
Not a huge amount of pre-planning, usually! once I have the general concept of the fic, I dive into writing, and discover as I go whether more planning is needed. Sometimes I keep an outline of the fic in a separate doc as I write - a retroactive outline, showing what I've done so I can see what structure I'm creating. Sometimes I talk through the concept with a friend to figure out what I'm actually interested in exploring with the concept. Sometimes I get partway in and realize I don't know where I'm going and need to do some brainstorming on that front. But sometimes the concept is all the planning I need and I just....write.
I do usually end up having a notes document for any fic that's longer than 1-2 k words though, with little thoughts to remind myself about what my intentions are for the fic, or noting things I want to keep in mind as I write, and that doc gets added to and altered as I go. But the kinds of notes I keep in there vary fic by fic!
18. Your editing process:
I do a fair amount of editing as I go, both editing the bit I'm writing as I write it, and semi-regularly going back to the already-written parts of the fic to tweak when I have more distance from what I wrote and more sense of where the fic is going. When I'm done a draft I give the whole thing another read, fixing anything that stands out to me, then I send it to beta. I do another round of editing based on my beta's comments, and then I consider the fic done and I post it!
19. Your favourite writing tip:
(caveat: not all advice is right for everyone, ignore if not right for you!)
it's been big for me to have a cheerleader! a friend to send snippets of fic to as you write it, who will say encouraging things!
some reasons:
- I get accountability, because they're expecting fic updates, so I don't get as caught up in the executive dysfunction failure to initiate task
- I maintain a sense of perspective, that my fic is good and worth continuing to work on
- Praise as a form of critique is under-valued! Having someone react excitedly to my writing as I go tells me which things I'm doing well and encourages me to do more of that! It can help me see things in my writing that I wouldn't have seen without that outside perspective! It motivates me to hone skills to do more of that better and on purpose!
- I have a friend who is invested in my story to talk things through with when I run into issues!
- AND MORE.
A++++ would recommend.
20. Your current writing goals:
keep having fun writing :)