Elwin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
elwinfortuna) wrote2023-04-22 09:22 am
elwinfortuna) wrote2023-04-22 09:22 am
Fannish Fifty #5: Writer's Meme
Please comment with as many of these as you would like for me to answer and I will!
1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?
2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?
3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?
4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?
5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?
6. What is your darkest fear about writing?
7. What is your deepest joy about writing?
8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?
9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know.
10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?
11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?
12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules.
13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?
14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?
15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?
16. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?
17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.
18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.
19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?
20. If a witch offered you the choice between eternal happiness with your one true love and the ability to finally finish, perfect, and publish your dearest, darlingest, most precious WIP in exactly the way you’ve always imagined it — which would you choose? You can’t have both sorry, life’s a bitch.
21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?
22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?
23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.
24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?
25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?
26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?
27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?
28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?
29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?
30. Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up?
31. Write a short love letter to your readers.
32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?
33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?
34. Thoughts on the Oxford comma, Go:
35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?
36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice...what do you Know?
37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?
38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?
39. What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up?
40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.
1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?
2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?
3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?
4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?
5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?
6. What is your darkest fear about writing?
7. What is your deepest joy about writing?
8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?
9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know.
10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?
11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?
12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules.
13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?
14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?
15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?
16. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?
17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.
18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.
19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?
20. If a witch offered you the choice between eternal happiness with your one true love and the ability to finally finish, perfect, and publish your dearest, darlingest, most precious WIP in exactly the way you’ve always imagined it — which would you choose? You can’t have both sorry, life’s a bitch.
21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?
22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?
23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.
24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?
25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?
26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?
27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?
28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?
29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?
30. Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up?
31. Write a short love letter to your readers.
32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?
33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?
34. Thoughts on the Oxford comma, Go:
35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?
36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice...what do you Know?
37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?
38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?
39. What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up?
40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.
no subject
no subject
*checks* Palatino, size 13, at 125%. It's not, like, crucial, but it's the most comfortable for me. A nice serif font, sized so I can read it back over easily, because a lot of my process involves reading and rereading what I've already written.
5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?
Nothing is an absolute, but I like to have snacks and drinks on hand, I like to wear headphones and listen to music without lyrics, and I like to be alone. Even the presence of cats can interfere with my process -- I don't like interruptions.
7. What is your deepest joy about writing?
Getting into that flow where everything just works right, and it feels like your hands and your brain are totally in sync. I've written some of my best work that way, and it's intensely pleasing on so many levels.
22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?
One word: Scrivener! I just shove everything in there, creating new drafts as I go. Sometimes I start a new 'project' if there's too much stuff in the current one. As I finish, I move each draft to a "Completed" folder and mark it complete. I have all my zillions of WIPs in there. Some of them are in folders by fandom, some in folders for the particular exchange/fest/bingo/event, some just free-floating.
I also have snippets I write in Notes, usually when I'm out and about, but I transfer these over to Scrivener when I'm home and want to work on them more.
28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?
This is difficult, because I find elements of delight in every character I write, but probably Fëanor, because as I write him, he is so full of intense creativity and joy in the world. It's through him that I feel I can give voice to a fierce, intense longing to have all the time and strength to explore and enjoy all that there is in the universe.
no subject
no subject
Hmmm, I don't really have any dark fears about my writing, but I guess I'm most afraid of it being misinterpreted or mocked.
12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules.
That I would always have inspiration to write, always have available time to write, and always have energy/health to be able to write.
13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?
Noncon or any kind of sex that involves non-consensual violence is incredibly difficult. I've tried a couple of times and found it to be an intensely stressful experience.
I find writing sex scenes in general pretty easy and enjoyable.
29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?
I tend to draw my inspiration from either canon or other fanworks. I like to fill in the gaps, get inside characters' heads, explore behind the scenes and in the hidden corners.
When the well runs dry (as it currently is), I guess just take a break for a while, use that time to explore other forms of creativity, then slowly start building back up using the 50-words-a-day method.
no subject
no subject
Shrugging off her wings, she handed them to Celegorm, who put them on. “Then fly fast and far we must. But where shall we go for aid?”
“To my cousin Fingon,” Celegorm said. “He is the closest.”
Over the burned plain Huan ran and Celegorm flew, leading them on and ever and anon turning to watch their pursuers. If they but knew it, they retraced the way that Fingolfin rode, and some virtue in his passing kept them safe. At last the towers of Barad Eithel rose in sight.
By this time Beren was barely conscious, and Lúthien hardly much better. Celegorm flew ahead, knocking urgently on the gates, begging for help.
Fortune smiled upon them, for Maedhros of Himring was there, having only just arrived that day. Together he and Fingon the King rode down the long slope from the castle to the gates, and greeted Celegorm with astonishment.
“My brother, what trouble have you got yourself into now?” Maedhros exclaimed.
For answer Celegorm withdrew one of the Silmarils from his pocket.
“Oh, nothing. Just fulfilling our Oath, that’s all,” he said casually, and threw it to Maedhros, who caught it with his one hand, stunned and speechless.
From Go On As Three. The concept for this particular part of the story started life in a totally different WIP that I abandoned long ago. In it, Beren and Luthien diverge from canon and end up in Barad Eithel rather than back near Doriath, and Luthien begs Fingon for help, meaning that ultimately Fingon and Maedhros (who in the story have been lovers for many years) wind up in a tense standoff over the Silmaril. I borrowed the idea of them ending up in Barad Eithel and Maedhros being there from that story, but of course, the outcome is very different. It's my little private homage to that WIP; it did not sacrifice itself in vain!
32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?
There are so many lines from various places that have inspired me multiple times, it's really hard to pick one!
Something that's been stuck in my mind pretty much all my life is Faramir's dream of the great wave overtaking Númenor, to the point where I've had dreams like that myself. The idea of "darkness unescapable" feels more and more relevant and possible, considering the times we live in. Thinking of the time when Tolkien was writing that very passage, it feels like we're again coming rapidly toward that brink, watching the wave rise.
"...the great dark wave climbing over the green lands and above the hills, and coming on, darkness unescapable."
no subject
Thank you for sharing the backstory of that passage! I also had not read the finished story and enjoyed catching up with it on AO3.
no subject
no subject
If I could only write by hand, I would only write poetry and, like, drabbles or very short fics. There's just no possible way I could ever manage to write thousands of words by hand.
3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?
I don't really have one, that's probably why it's cursed.
9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know.
I don't NOT believe in them, but I haven't ever seen incontrovertible proof they exist. I'm skeptical about them but wouldn't rule them out completely.
10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?
I guess what "haunting" me means is that it sticks around in my head, either for good or bad reasons, and, yes, my own writing has definitely haunted me in both ways. There are times I recall out of nowhere bits of my own writing that make me shiver with delight, and other times I recall bits that make me cringe in embarrassment.
no subject
no subject
Okay, so, I've had this space AU for the Silmarillion kicking around in my head forever, and I'm not sure I'm ever going to write it out fully, but in it, Elves and Ainur are immortal aliens, and the Silmarils are essentially extremely effective power sources that allow ships to jump through wormholes to different galaxies. So when Morgoth steals the Silmarils, he jumps through to our galaxy and conquers it. Fëanor, following, takes the ships of the Teleri, who are space wanderers and therefore have good power sources that enable fast travel, but not quite the wormhole capabilities of the Silmarils. Fingolfin and company, abandoned, cobble together some barely capable ships and take the long way, ending up here many years later. There's also laserswords and various other bits of fancy tech (basically all the jewellery in the Silm is actually technology of some form or another).
27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?
Huh, I don't think I find any particular character stressful, it's more what they're doing. I think one of the most stressful experiences I had writing a character was Finarfin in Setting A Precedent, because he had to make a difficult and nuanced judgement, which of course meant I had to make it too.
38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?
I don't think anything about my writing process is that weird! :D
So, cats absolutely think we are put on this earth to be their at their beck and call with food, snuggles, pets, and generally making them feel good. Cats are the centres of their own little hedonistic worlds, and you gotta love them for it.
no subject
he had to make a difficult and nuanced judgement, which of course meant I had to make it too.
The worst! XD That's why I haven't tried writing actual clever plots or political shenanigans, because I'd have to come up with all the clever stuff and plans, and I'm... so bad at that. XD
Cats rule our lives and I'm fine with it. ♥
no subject
no subject
Dear readers:
Hi, I appreciate you and I hope you enjoy what I do! I hope it gives you food for thought, inspires you, turns you on, leaves you with a smile and/or makes you cry. I put my stories out into the universe without concrete expectations, so every indication that someone read and enjoyed them is a delight to see. I hope that fandom always brings you joy and happiness, and that you find inspiration, community, and friendship in this delightful hobby.
Love
Elwin
39. What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up?
That sweet sweet dopamine hit that comes when I get myself into a proper flow state! :D
But seriously, I don't think I could ever "give up" writing, it would be like "giving up" food. If I'm alive and capable of communication, I will at some point be writing. There are struggles at times, ups and downs, it is sometimes very hard to write but the act of physically writing things down is only part of the process. Always in the back of my mind, there will be ideas and thoughts churning away, forming, reforming, snippets of text and visions of characters in my mind: this is writing too.
no subject
And yes, there is definitely a rush when you get into the zone after struggling a bit!
I’m the same: I can’t imagine not writing. I found a very old poetry book that was once my nan’s. A prize from Brighton Ladies College, I think she said. In the back there were pages left for people to write their own poems. My nan wrote some, and my gramps too and at the end are some little attempts by me, age about 7, I think? So I can’t really imagine giving it up. And yes! writing it is only part of the process.
no subject
no subject
I'm deeply, inordinately fond of "zhiji," which is often translated as "soulmate" but actually means something more like "the one who knows me" and as so many Chinese words do, has a long history full of poetry and story.
I first encountered "zhiji" as a concept in The Untamed, but it wasn't until I watched Word of Honor that I really went feral about it, because although Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian express feelings of zhiji-ness to each other in The Untamed, in Word of Honor, Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are zhiji, we see the process as they go from effectual strangers (who met once in childhood) to knowing each other, loving each other, and having a bond so strong they literally make each other immortal because of it.
I'm indebted to this Tumblr post for so much understanding about this wonderful concept and word.