#I may have scene that 'hype your fics/ocs post again

[impossiblefangirl0632]

Soon...

[creideamhgradochas]

Thanks to the lovely @abovethesmokestacks for taking the time to answer these! Get to know more about lovely Pia, go give her a follow and then show her some love!

These questions are from this list. You should check it out, there’s 50 questions all together and they’d be great to ask your favorite fic writer!

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fan-fiction?

I started back in 2008 when I was 21 years old.

2) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

I do enjoy both, but lately it's been more reader inserts. It's challenge to write a good reader insert, to make them a natural part of the setting, to make them relatable to your audience and find a way to make them click with the other characters. Because they are meant to be a character you should be able to see yourself in, it tests your ability to make the character both approachable to a wide range of readers, yet specific enough to mesh with the story. 

3) What is your favorite genre to write for?

Well, I have been called the angst queen on numerous occasions. Apparently I am a sucker for making myself and others hurt. 

4) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

Oh Jesus, probably one of the Twilight fics I wrote during the dark days of my ff.net run. I got swept up in the hype and with a few exceptions, I have no qualms about tossing those fics into a volcano. 

5) When is your preferred time to write?

When I have both inspiration, motivation and time. Sadly, sometimes that happens at night and let's just say I have sometimes sacrificed sleep in favour of a story. Generally, though, I don't have a preferred time of day.

6) Where do you take your inspiration from?

From anything and everything. Something I've seen or heard or experienced, videos I've seen, songs I've listened to.

7) In your Sweet Dreams - Assorted Flavors fic, what’s your favorite scene that you wrote?

The final scenes of Assorted Flavours is close to my heart. Same with the scene in the Easy As Pie-chapter where they discuss Bucky's metal arm.

8) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

I haven't made major amendments. Someone may have pointed out typos or missing words which I have edited, but nothing storyline-wise. 

9) Who is your favorite character to write for? Why?

I am a sucker for a lot of Seb's characters, especially Bucky and Hal. And Chris Beck. They are fun to write and there is so much that can be done and explored with them. 

10) Who is your least favorite character to write for? Why?

I wanna preface this by saying it's not so much I dislike them as I find them hard to write well. Tony and Thor hard for me to write because I can't seem to connect as easily with them as I can with other characters, and I'd hate to do these guys wrong.

11) How did you come up with the title for the Sweet Dreams - Assorted Flavors?

This is the eternal struggle with me, to come up with a good title. I knew I wanted something that alluded to reader being a baker and one my Spotify playlist shuffled to Emily Browning's rendition of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). For the sequel series, I wanted to continue on the same theme, and my friend Loup helped me land on Sweet Dreams - Assorted Flavours. 

12) How did you come up with the idea for Sweet Dreams - Assorted Flavours?

I am not entirely sure anymore, but it may have included a conversation about Bucky Barnes (or Seb, or both) and cupcakes, and evolved into an idea about Bucky finding a nightopen bakery during one of his nightly walks through Brooklyn (because obviously). 

13) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

I have two. One is a Twilight fic that I abandoned and deleted when I left behind my ff.net account for good. It was never going to get finished and I didn't want any WIPs on the account. I didn't delete the account, it's basically there as an archive, but yeah. Deleted that story because I was never going to finish it. The second fic is a Gilmore Girls collab fic I started YEARS ago with a friend from Australia. It was put on hiatus when my friend started writing original fiction. That one I would love to finish, but I don't know how likely that is.

14) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

None that I am really aching to do a sequel for. That being said, with the right inspiration, I could possibly nake a third fic in the little verse I created with Hal in Cling To Me and Cling To You.

15) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

Surprisingly, no. I've been happy with the endings to all of my fics.

16) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

Are we talking other fanfic writers or other fiction writers? For fanfic writers, just go into my fic rec tag. All of them are immensely talented in their own way. I will give special props to the writers of Not Easily Conquered because what they did with that series has fucked me up for life and I have the tattoo to prove it. For fiction writers, I do love Rowling for what she created with Harry Potter. I remember reading the books as they were published and just... I was mezmerized! I also love everything Neil Gaiman writes, it's dark and quirky and has that little something that takes hold of you. I can reread Pullman's His Dark Materials over and over just for the amazing world and mythology he created for that series. 

17) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

I usually don't reread stories I haven't clicked with, so not really.

18) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

Both. I have a Bucky playlist on Spotify that I usually crank whenever I am writing a fic that features him. But I can just as well write in silence.

19) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

Yes. I cried while writing With Him I Will Stay and Goodbye for example.

20) Which part of your Sweet Dreams fic was the hardest to write?

There wasn't one part that was specifically harder to write than others. I do sometimes get stuck on transitions, how to move from one scene to the next as smoothly as possible. If anything, writing Sweet Dreams has taught me that sometimes it's totally okay to just shift scenes and not make a big deal out of it. Not everything has to be complex.

21) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

Often I have a rough idea of how I want things to play out, focus points that I want to include that function as pit stops for me as I write. The only time I haven't made a clear outline was for Kintsugi. I let the prompt guide me and hopes like hell it made sense.

22) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction?

That it's a process and you learn. I was so worried about writing perfectly. When I started out in the Gilmore Girls fandom and posting at ff.net, it was really common to have a beta reader. I was new, I had no one to beta read and I kept obsessing over getting things right until I realized that I didn't HAVE to have a beta reader and that yeah, I made mistakes but I could learn from them and from reading other what other people wrote.

23) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

Maybe Snapshots. Or my T.J fic. I love them both dearly.

24) In contrast to 23 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Not to the point where it's an eye roll because I do like the attention my fics get. I was very surprised though by the amount of notes that flooded in for a drabble called Fight Night.

25) Are any of your characters based on real people?

I haven't really made use of a lot of OC's. Aiden from Make Me Feel Like I'm Real is the only one that qualifies and with him it's all in how he looks. When I came up with him, I had a very vivid image of a man that looked like a mix of Donald Glover and Daveed Diggs. His personality came quite naturally as he started interacting more with T.J.

26) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

There are so many that have made me blush so hard. One that I remember very vividly was when @lostinthoughtsandfeelings-blog commented on Soft Devotion that it made them feel the same kind of empowerment that the Wonder Woman soundtrack evoked!

27) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

I have been very lucky so far in the criticism that I've gotten. Mostly it's just been typos or something similar that's been pointed out. When I started out on ff.net there were a few who commented that they didn't understand where I was going with a certain story. I think for one fic I got a comment about having dragged it out for too long, but that's about it.

28) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

I do share some of them, simply because I get excited about them or because it's an idea that comes from a conversation that ends with "I need to fic this!!"

29) Do people know you write fan-fiction?

My husband knows, but he doesn't really know what it is (despite my attempts to explain). A few of my old school mates know I write, but otherwise no. I don't really talk about writing fan-fiction with people outside the fandoms I write for.

30) What’s you favorite minor character you’ve written?

I love Steve's parts in Sweet Dreams, and anything that involves Sam.

31) What spurs you on during the writing process?

If I'm writing a series, the feedback from previous chapters do so much to encourage me. Feedback in general motivates me. I often ask friends to give me feedback on certain scenes or passages while I write and seeing their excitement does a lot to help me push through and finish.

32) What’s your favorite trope to write?

AUs and A/B/O for sure.

33) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

I can't remember exactly which one, but it was a Gilmore Girls fic.

34) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

I'd love to say fluff, but angst just hurts so good, and getting screamed at in caps-lock is kinda fun.

[creideamhgradochas]

Thanks to the lovely @ursulaismymiddlename for taking the time to answer these! Get to know more about lovely Kati, go give her a follow and then show her some love!

These questions are from this list. You should check it out, there’s 50 questions all together and they’d be great to ask your favorite fic writer!

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fan-fiction?

I think I was around 12 or 13, definitely middle school age

2) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

I can't say for certain that I have a preference.  I never wrote reader insert until Tumblr and I realized that's mostly what people want to read here.  Before that, it was all OCs

3) What is your favorite genre to write for?

Dude, I am a sucker for romance!

4) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

I actually did this with one fic and it was an SPN fic set in St. Louis around Six Flags... it was called Spellbound, after an AC/DC song lol  It was just AWFUL and I got as far as Sam being afraid of clowns and Dean wanting to eat ALL the funnel cakes before I realized that's all I really had of the fic

5) When is your preferred time to write?

Usually at night, but that rarely happens anymore

6) Where do you take your inspiration from?

Often times it's random thoughts that occur to me, occasionally a song or something. I get a lot of inspiration from trying to murder my friends with soul-crushing ideas haha

7) In your All That’s Best of Dark and Bright fic, what’s your favorite scene that you wrote?

That's a tough one because I vacillate between hating everything and kinda enjoying a lot of it.  I suppose any of the smut scenes are good, and I enjoy the "Winter Soldier" scene in the dance hall from Bucky's perspective.  It was interesting to write.

8) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

Not that I can think of.  Thankfully I haven't gotten a lot of criticism in my fics, save for spelling and grammar issues.  I may have edited for something like that before.

9) Who is your favorite character to write for? Why?

I love writing for lots of characters! Just my mood sometimes determines who I feel is the best "fit" for writing.  Bucky is obviously a prominent one because there's been lots of feedback for that muse.

10) Who is your least favorite character to write for? Why?

That's... hard to say?  Maybe Natasha Romanoff and I think it's because the movies don't give a lot of good, consistent characterization and I've never gotten into her comic stuffs?

11) How did you come up with the title for the All That’s Best of Dark and Bright?

- It took me months and already 10 chapters written before I came up with the name.. and honestly it's from a poem I've always enjoyed.

12) How did you come up with the idea for All That’s Best of Dark and Bright?

I think it was mostly wanting to see Bucky recovering in a believable way. There's a lot of Bucky recovery fics out there... A LOT, but while many are lovely work, a lot just seem so quick.  Like, suddenly he's fallen for someone and he's all better.  Nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to write something that felt more natural to me.

13) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

I have several, actually.  An SPN fic that I have posted on AO3 and very nearly finished.  A Star Trek: Into Darkness fic and a Vampire Diaries fic.  The first I just lost the muse for and it's been several seasons since I started it, so I felt it was just done.  The other two I lost when an older laptop crashed.  I think there's even an Outsiders fic in the depths of this blog that I never finished haha

14) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

I sometimes think about doing a sequel to Pretty, Shiny Things, but the original was so self-contained and I worry I would ruin it by adding more.

15) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

There are so few stories that I've actually finished that it's difficult to say haha

16) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

I admire a TON of writers on this site, just the act of putting your work out there is an admirable thing in my book.  Some that especially stick out to me are @interestedbystanderwrites @redgillan @plumfondler @after-avenging-hours @captainpoopweinersoldier @angryschnauzer @abovethesmokestacks @the-squid-one ... I mean, really, they are all wonderful writers and you can hardly go wrong picking a fic of theirs.

17) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

Most of 'em, yeah haha  My Thir13en Ghosts ones are pretty awful from back in the day

18) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

I used to always have music playing when I wrote, and then one day I turned it off and I've only been able to write in relative silence since

19) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

Yes, happy and sad tears

20) Which part of your All That’s Best of Dark and Bright fic was the hardest to write?

I think maybe the whole goodbye chapter.  There was a lot of emotion in that chapter and it took a long time

21) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

I do generally make an outline of scenes I'd like to happen and try to put them in the right order... I agonize over them throughout the process, but sometimes while I'm writing, other things happen and I have to adjust accordingly.  Writing's hard, man.

22) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fan-fiction?

That few people would read it and I'd be nervous about every single one of them haha

23) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

Maybe my Stucky fic?  Or my Clint Valentine's Day fic, featuring Deadpool haha Maybe my Chris Beck fic... that was some smutty goodness

24) In contrast to 23 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Hmmm, I don't know that I roll my eyes at any praise I receive in that extent lol

25) Are any of your characters based on real people?

If I'm being honest, any reader insert or OC is gonna have a lot of me and/or my closest friends in it

26) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

Probably every time @creideamhgradochas takes the time to write such a long comment on a fic/chapter haha  So many of the compliments I get are amazing, though one that always sticks out is a commenter for the dancing chapter of ATBoDaB saying that Bucky's words in Russian and the way he got so protective reminded her of her boyfriend, who always called her "my sunshine"

27) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

I mean, there's been a person or two who've told me I just shouldn't bother writing because it wasn't any good, so... that was pretty harsh, but not really criticism

28) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

I tend to share ideas with friends to see if they sound believable or not OR to help hype me up to actually writing it

29) Do people know you write fan-fiction?

Some people do, like my husband and one of my friends.

30) What’s your favorite minor character you’ve written?

Clint Barton probably

31) What spurs you on during the writing process?

Mostly alcohol and friends as cheerleaders

32) What’s your favorite trope to write?

Slow burn, sharing a bed, friends to lovers, A/B/O... so many

33) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

Actually, I can.  It was a Darth Maul fic that my best friend found and printed out for me to read.  In it, he's in his early 20s and he and Darth Sidious capture a lion-headed Jedi and his female apprentice (I think she was blind?) that Darth Maul started to catch feelings for, but he ended up killing her.

34) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

It's so difficult to choose between fluff and smut!  Smut can allow for some fluffy bits or angsty bits, but there's only so many way you can write genitals moving together haha