[notfic] fic writer meme

[alaeaureae.livejournal.com]

i don't feel much inclined to study while eating dinner, so stealing this meme from chiharu n_n mmmm for somewhat similar reasons, aka this journal is blaaaaaaaaank! (i do have other journals and exist in ~other realms and dimensions~ but eh) and just feel free to ask me anything \o/ i like talking! i don't like studying!

Brief Intro
91 line. i'm a cat i can sleep. science student, kind of a geek, chinese by ethnicity and canadian by birth. lackadaisical and a believer in mediocrity with no life goals! my life can be summed up by my bookshelf (currently, L to R: feynman lectures, bar book, 三国演义, the trouble with physics, a song of ice and fire, a dessert book, a pasta book, norwegian wood, wild adapter, and my nail polish) and the posters on my walls. my weaknesses are drama and cheesy lines, and i hover eternally between the extremes of both boyish and girlish pursuits. i drink tea and coffee!

What fandoms have you written in?
before kpop, i spent the longest time in JE fandom—HSJ with a dash of news, kat-tun, and various jrs. before that i wrote fma, fruits basket, prince of tennis, other things i've forgotten. i've also written for nabari no ou, wild adapter, saiyuki, devil survivor, spiral, and a slew of things i've forgotten by now. anything i wrote for harry potter was so bad it should never be mentioned again. kpop: sj-m, shinee, exo :)

Do the number of reviews tell how good a story is? Do reviews affect how you write in any way?
hmmm yes and no. i feel like the number of reviews goes hand in hand with how much it provokes a response, but sometimes a good story, a good piece, does not require a response, and simply does not prompt one. in terms of my own stories, i tend to tar them with the same brush of 'eh it was okay...i guess...' regardless of comment count!

i think they certainly have in the past, and in some cases, they still do. for example, if i write something again that involves multiple languages, i'll definitely put 'be more careful' at the forefront of my mind before i start tapping away at the keyboard, to make sure that it's more smoothly incorporated because i don't think i was doing that well enough. but overall, in terms of writing for comments? hmmm maybe a couple years ago when i was just getting into fma, but i've stopped that for now.

Do you use a beta?
...yes and no. i have a very, very dear friend who was my beta for years when i started writing, and she's seriously influenced me and hand-held me and pretty much taught me all i know...or something like that :D SO YOU CAN SAY I HEAR HER VOICE IN MY HEAD WHEN I WRITE. but she's busy and stuff and unless it's something i feel like needs a beta (see: qmirship/dystychisofs/也许明天 which both yunyun and cal beta'd and i had multiple people read) i...am lazy ~o~ something along the lines of perfection is out of my reach anyway so why strive \o/ (that, and i usually write to get it out of my system, not to construct a masterpiece.) i sometimes get my friends to do quick read-overs though for obvious typos!

What warnings have you used on your fiction?
rocks fall people die :3 once i had a warning that basically said 'there is sex'. this was in 2008 okay. i contest that as long as no one dies, the fic is considered happy. apparently people do not agree @___@

Have you ever stolen something from another person's work?
i've written several AUs which fit the plot, most notably 如烟, which while i considered breaking away from the plot, ended up barreling straight to it while writing. cochlear's world was heavily influenced by bunnyfic (kisumai fandom). but overall noooooo not really. although i am heavily contemplating asking if i can borrow someone else's abandoned wip and spin something off that hmm

Favorite fandom to write/read?
oh gosh. currently, to read, it's definitely exo. i spent three hours reading fic last night instead of studying. (IT WASN'T REALLY MY FAULT. IT LOOKED CUTE FLUFFY HAPPY AND SHORT AND THEN IT JUST KEPT GETTING PLOTTIER AND SADDER AND PLOTTIER AND MY HEART. I HAD TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED NEXT.) but hsj will always have a special place in my heart. the number of times i've reread pisudori_play's entire masterlist... (ps chiha all in the family is still great and palace!au will forever be one of my favourites n_n)

in terms of writing...erm i am obviously writing only exo(-m) atm ;; i really loved writing for qmi (zhou mimimimimi) and sj-m, but i think after i...thought...i quit fandom, the spark is gone. infinite also has great dynamics.

Favorite pairing?
no idea! qmi and yamajima will forever hold special places in my heart. i call niutao my Original OTP (formerly, just OTP), xinglu my otp (formerly Other otp), and kailu my other otp. ...yes. well. tbh i have a weakness for chinaline ot3 in general. i also ship joonmyun/kyungsoo and sehun/chanyeol. ...and yixing/chen and yixing/baekhyun. and baekyeol is so qt ;w; wooyeol will also hold a special place in my heart and myungyeol is clearly otp okay. so real. SO REAL.

Do you tend to write the same pairings/characters?
yes! i do! ...qmi, yixing. i think. before, yamajima yamajima yamajima.

Favorite writer/writers?
published writers or fanfic writers? gg kay (altho what was ysabel, and i have ambivalent feelings towards under heaven), grrm (for all his faults, i really do love asoiaf), and yes, i am fond of haruki murakami. also, a pale view of hills by kazuo ishiguro really is one of my favourites ever so i'll put him too, although i think i enjoy his short stuff more than his long things (same with murakami, although i adore norwegian wood and hard boiled wonderland). also! brian jaques, tamora pierce, kenneth oppel, and daniel handler.

in terms of fandom...orz i very rarely read fic these days ;; this is with a heap of bias but i adore pisudori_play and halcyondusk (...and not really my fandom but ourhandsfroze is absolutely lovely). also fumerie, windowright and one_if_by_land! also pretty much all the qmi writers ;w; including the ones that left ;w;


What is your most popular fanfic and why do you think people find it so?
from comment count, i'd say 如烟. mmmm i guess because niutao is a popular pairing? and qmirship because it was long. i guess. i am the harshest critic and the worst judge of my own work. (for a while i think it was possession, yamajima...and idk it was the first time i even implied sex okay. IT FELT TOO RAUNCHY FOR ME.)

Forget most people, what's the fanfic you've written you're most proud of?
'proud' is hard to say because i am bad at putting in effort @_@ but fics that i like the most!
- opposite me: minseok centric, that when i read it, still felt fairly clean and simple and...clean. there were a few things i'd change, a few things i'd elaborate on, but overall, i was happy with it. (when i read it for the first time, now, there's a lot i'd love to add!)
- qmirship: there are so many things wrong with it and that just aren't good and have holes and who am i kidding it's terrible—but overall, i would actually maybe say 'proud' because i'm proud of finishing it? i have a habit of losing steam, especially if it's something that's plot driven. what is plot can you eat it.
- something that in hindsight was almost perfect but isn't posted here ~o~


Do you find writing easy? Hard? What are the most difficult aspects of writing you struggle with?
i'm laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy. there are things i find hard, but for the most part, i kind of go with the flow. see: lazy. if it's hard i usually just quit. see: abandoned drafts folder.

right now, the thing i'm struggling with the most is word choice and syntax. i'm really struggling with having it sound more natural and native english-like. i don't think it helps that i read more fic in chinese and spend a lot of time doing translations, but at the same time, i've been reading a lot more books and paying critical attention to the way authors write. BUT JFC THIS IS HARD.

i also struggle a lot with pacing, and tbh, this ties into losing steam or whatever. i almost always write in one-pass (...with no editing hehe) so i have to get the pacing right as i go, and that's tricky when you're not planning ;;

Pairings you avoid?
none really ~o~ i write as it comes, read as it comes.

Are there any fanfiction trends/cliches you can't stand or are just sick of?
.......................................................................................................

no?

[non-con ---> all is rosy and happy] is Not A Good Thing though.

Are you guilty of any of the fanfiction trends/cliches you now hate? Or any other ones?
OH MAN so funny story i once had this thing against 2nd person (this is not a cliche) but that was before i started experimenting with it. um, lowercase.....? tbh this is usually because i can't be assed to hit the shift key and/or i'm on my phone and idw to change it all back @_@

When you write, is there anything that helps? Music? Quiet room?
alcohol, coffee, ice cream. music for sure! sometimes a change of scene. i have hauled myself to the library in the middle of exams before just to write. or gone to the basement, or down to starbucks/second cup...or mcdonalds. a quiet room is too distracting /o\

Lastly, how would you sum up your fanfiction experience and yourself as a writer?
rewarding! i've gained so many friends, and i'd never give that up for the world. fanfiction is what started me writing, and what's kept me writing, and it really has given me an outlet to express myself and reflect myself in my writing, which has been indispensable to me. in terms of myself as a writer? "nothing happens" is a pretty accurate descriptor :) for all my penchant for dramatic scenes, i end up sticking to the slow slough of life.