And that meme thing...

[briarwood]

Meme started by fluterbev:

1. What do you think is your best story, and why?

My "best" story is always the most recent one I worked hard on. So today it's Deliver Us From Evil. I am proud of that story; it's some of the darkest stuff I've ever written. Maybe the horror elements are a tad overdone; I'm not sure. But the AU hangs together really well and even though it's been slightly Jossed by canon I actually think it still works with the new version of canon as well.

2. What do you think is your worst story, and why?

End of the World: Stargate SG-1, AU, Slave!Fic. It's an awful collection of cliches.

3. Which story did you enjoy writing the most, regardless of how well the end product has turned out?

Dreamwalker. It's a SPN AU and I wrote it so fast it felt more like channelling than writing. The story had been in my mind for a long time before I put pen to paper, and when I finally began writing it down it just flowed so beautifully. It's a rare thing: a story I wrote from beginning to end. Usually I write in a very disjointed way, and put the parts in order when I type up my notes. For this one, I started with the diary entry and ended with the dream, wrote the whole thing in order. And it changed very little when beta'd. I guess the story was just eager to get out there!

4. Which story did you enjoy writing the least?

There are several that come to mind, but I'd have to go with Restrain, Release. It was written for Sweet Charity and though I was happy to write what my buyer wanted, I had really hoped I'd be bought by someone who wouldn't ask for porn. I find writing pure porn so goddamned boring lately; sex scenes as part of a plot-ful story are different. A PWP isn't fun to write: it's just slog.

5. Which story has been the most popular? (you could measure this in amount of feedback, recs, awards etc)

Ironically, I'd have to say End of the World which is also hands-down the worst I've ever written (yeah, even including my HTLJ Mary Sues). Just goes to prove how much fandom loves badfic.

6. Which one is the least popular?

No clue. Well, if I go purely by the amount of feedback/comments, it would be Without Words: it's never had any feedback at all. But there are reasons for that: it's only ever been posted on my site, never on a comm or list or even my LJ, it's femslash, and it's a fandom I've only written in this once. If I remember right, it was written for a challenge of some kind; I seem to remember I had to include ketchup in the story somewhere...

Comments

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

I'm going to comment instead of actually doing the meme because I don't HAVE a lot of fic out there to do this with. :D

nd when I finally began writing it down it just flowed so beautifully. It's a rare thing: a story I wrote from beginning to end. Usually I write in a very disjointed way, and put the parts in order when I type up my notes.

Quite often, I'll do that as well. I have one fic (we're still in beta mode with it right now) that I've written it in bits and pieces in Open Office and then numbered the file names and plugged the numbers into the master doc file to figure out how everything fit together. Slowly, I fill in the puzzle pieces. Usually I write disjointed, too. Seldom in one consecutive flow because I'll want to get a scene or bit of dialogue down before I lose it.

[morgan32.livejournal.com]

Usually I write disjointed, too. Seldom in one consecutive flow because I'll want to get a scene or bit of dialogue down before I lose it.

I tend to start with one particular thing. It might be a line of dialogue, an image, an action...occasionally a whole scene. Then I build the story up around that: what needs to happen to lead up to it? once I've got there, what would happen next? Who needs to be involved? Where might we be? So I've written some stories literally backwards: start at the end and go on until I've found a good place to start.

It's weird...but then I am that :-)

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

*nods* I've done that before - once. Had an end scene and tried to build up to how and why they got where they did - it's a lot harder than it sounds. Usually I get the base of the story down and end up with a zillion little filler scenes that I end up needing to plug in.

[morgan32.livejournal.com]

it's a lot harder than it sounds

I suppose it depends on how you plot. For me, the journey is all about the destination: how you get there is important, yes, but the end point is what defines the journey. I can't begin a story until I know where it will end.

But I don't need to know everything. With Carnival of Souls for instance, I started with the ending: I knew it was going to end with John telling Sam not to call again. So I knew it had to begin with Sam calling - how else could it start? After that, the other pieces slotted in as I went along; all I needed to begin with were the questions: why was Sam calling, what would they do about it, what would happen to prompt John to reject Sam?

That's the skeleton. It's putting flesh on the bones that's hard :-)

[betagoddess.livejournal.com]

Very interesting to see your thoughts about your own writing. Thanks for sharing. =>}

[morgan32.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.