G - Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?
I usually write start to finish. When I write scenes out of order, it's usually because I can't wrap my brain around the whole thing, and then the bits just sit, sad and dejected, in my writing folder and never get finished/published.
The major reason for this is that I rely a lot on previously-established details to build my scenes; elaborating on/playing with motifs is a huuuuuuge part of my inspiration, and for that to be possible for me, I usually need to know the genesis of the motif, if that makes sense? They don't develop for me if I don't have a solid sense of timeline and the... emotional progression of where everything is at the different times the motif has been invoked.
O - How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?
I... am not entirely sure how to answer this! Characters is closer to correct, because of course I have that fic-writer experience of "I'm terribly interested in and emotionally invested in these characters so I want to write about them," but that doesn't feel quite right, either. I think maybe the right answer is a different thing entirely, because if I look at how I approach my original work, it's easy to see that it's neither plot nor characters - it's theme. All of my original work starts with some thematic concept that's separate from both plot and characters. And that still applies to fanfic, too, though I'll also be particularly inspired by a character dynamic - what makes me *actually write the thing* is the intense desire to explore a concept or theme as relates to those characters.
The WIP I presently have open is a Hannibal fic that started with "okay but what would they have said in the car on the way to the cliff house in the finale," the idea of car conversations and the unique form they can take. The idea of passing the time with both a huge amount of intimacy and a huge amount of emotional distance coexisting between two characters.
I have another partially-published WIP that's an absurdist stage play rendering of Overwatch, focused on the Reaper76 ship/dynamic, because I saw a tumblr post that planted a bug in my brain I couldn't get rid of.
U - Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.
Firelight_and_Rain on AO3 is a longtime fandom friend of mine and a writer I respect a great deal. Ze does very thoughtful, quietly insightful work that plays with concepts while maintaining a deep connection to characters in a way that works well for my brain.
tiggymalvern has written some of my favorite Hannibal fic. Her characterizations are entirely in line with how I think of the characters, which is important, and she's got a knack for clever turn of phrase and... the right details to linger on.
And then there's Alicorn. I read her Twilight fanfic despite loathing the source material for reasons that are mildly complicated to explain, but uh, if the term "rationalist AU" makes sense to you at all then that's why. It's great and I recommend it to just about anyone, regardless of one's feelings regarding the original material. And she's written SO MUCH amazing fantasy and sci-fi original speculative fic and I love all of it. She's particularly brilliant at small-scale worldbuilding; a short story in a 'verse never to be revisited nonetheless still carries the sense that it's part of a wider, fully-understood tapestry.
no subject
I usually write start to finish. When I write scenes out of order, it's usually because I can't wrap my brain around the whole thing, and then the bits just sit, sad and dejected, in my writing folder and never get finished/published.
The major reason for this is that I rely a lot on previously-established details to build my scenes; elaborating on/playing with motifs is a huuuuuuge part of my inspiration, and for that to be possible for me, I usually need to know the genesis of the motif, if that makes sense? They don't develop for me if I don't have a solid sense of timeline and the... emotional progression of where everything is at the different times the motif has been invoked.
O - How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?
I... am not entirely sure how to answer this! Characters is closer to correct, because of course I have that fic-writer experience of "I'm terribly interested in and emotionally invested in these characters so I want to write about them," but that doesn't feel quite right, either. I think maybe the right answer is a different thing entirely, because if I look at how I approach my original work, it's easy to see that it's neither plot nor characters - it's theme. All of my original work starts with some thematic concept that's separate from both plot and characters. And that still applies to fanfic, too, though I'll also be particularly inspired by a character dynamic - what makes me *actually write the thing* is the intense desire to explore a concept or theme as relates to those characters.
The WIP I presently have open is a Hannibal fic that started with "okay but what would they have said in the car on the way to the cliff house in the finale," the idea of car conversations and the unique form they can take. The idea of passing the time with both a huge amount of intimacy and a huge amount of emotional distance coexisting between two characters.
I have another partially-published WIP that's an absurdist stage play rendering of Overwatch, focused on the Reaper76 ship/dynamic, because I saw a tumblr post that planted a bug in my brain I couldn't get rid of.
U - Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.
Firelight_and_Rain on AO3 is a longtime fandom friend of mine and a writer I respect a great deal. Ze does very thoughtful, quietly insightful work that plays with concepts while maintaining a deep connection to characters in a way that works well for my brain.
And then there's Alicorn. I read her Twilight fanfic despite loathing the source material for reasons that are mildly complicated to explain, but uh, if the term "rationalist AU" makes sense to you at all then that's why. It's great and I recommend it to just about anyone, regardless of one's feelings regarding the original material.
And she's written SO MUCH amazing fantasy and sci-fi original speculative fic and I love all of it. She's particularly brilliant at small-scale worldbuilding; a short story in a 'verse never to be revisited nonetheless still carries the sense that it's part of a wider, fully-understood tapestry.