#young regency maiden? modern? 20s AU?

[shoreslippery]

[phoxphyre]

10 Writing Questions Tag Game

Thank you @sbazzing and @vkelleyart for the tag! I’m loving reading everyone else’s answers. 

1. What’s your favorite genre to write?

Historical fantasy--I get really hooked on the research. I fell in love with history in school and then majored in Classics in college and have just...never emerged. I thought that might be different for fanfiction, but given that I’m now knee-deep in a regency AU...um, I guess not. 

For fanfiction, mostly AUs so far. I love canon desperately, but I think I’m too new to fanfiction to have developed the knack for finding “gaps” to fill with fic. Maybe it will come? 

2. Do you pull inspiration from real life, or do you pull things from other books/fan fiction you’ve read?

All of the above? The emotions are definitely drawn directly from my own experience, and my characters tend to have a lot of bits and pieces of myself and other people I know in real life. It’s hard for me to write something that feels “true” without putting myself into it. But the situations are all fantasy!

I saw a great interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda (one of my personal heroes) where he said that he has a lot of browser tabs open in his brain all the time. That rang true to me. I can only hope that I’m mashing all of those influences into something that feels new. In fanfiction in particular I’m still learning the norms around how much it’s okay to borrow from/be inspired by other people’s fics. 

3. Do you tend to write one-shots, short stories, or longer things?

Hahahahaha. *snort* I’m constitutionally unable to write short things. I was that person in school who had to cut literally pages from my papers, and then shrink the font size and narrow the margins. Even my short stories turn into novellas. My novellas turn into epics. My epics turn into...well, see answer 8 below. 

4) Do you prefer to write description or dialogue?

Dialogue! Internal monologue, too. Descriptions are harder for me and I end up having to go back and fill them in after the fact. 

One thing I love about writing for CO (versus my novel, which is based in a fantasy version of ancient Asia Minor) is that I get to write modern dialogue. Lord, how I have missed snappy dialogue. 

But then of course I have to go write a regency AU. Apparently I live to suffer.  

5) Favorite fic/book of all time?

Oh wow, it’s a long list. I reread a lot and there are a whole pile of books that are old friends at this point. Off the top of my head? 

Carry On and Wayward Son, obviously!

The Prydain Chronicles

The Blue Sword (and a lot of other Robin McKinley books)

Possession

Kushiel’s Dart

Tigana

Clockwork Angel

The Aubrey and Maturin books

The King Must Die

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

In Other Lands

I could go on...and on...

For fanfic: I’m new to the CO fandom and I’m still working my way through...well, pretty much everything! It’s a joy to read all of this for the first time. 

It’s way too hard to pick one favorite, but I have a special place in my heart for @vkelleyart‘s Light a Match Inside Your Heart, which is the first fic I ever read and pretty much the direct reason I’m here now.  

6) Favorite Trope?

Slow burn? Does that count? I have a soft spot for “romantic leads trapped in a conveniently private cave in the middle of a dangerous adventure.” Also time travel...I have grave doubts about being to pull it off myself, but it’s my favorite thing in the world when other people do it well. Looking at you, @sharkmartini. 

7) Are you the kind of person to work on more than one wip?

Three months ago I would have said I’m a strict one-project-at-a-time person, but fandom is already totally ruining that master plan! I have 2 Snowbaz WIPs plus my (sadly neglected) novel, and another fic poking around the edges of my brain. Two months ago I was worried that I would never have fic ideas. Whoops. 

I usually only actively write one thing at a time, though, partially because I don’t have time to do more, partially because I like to immerse myself in one story at a time, and partially because if I jump around too much I never finish anything (ask me how I know!). I usually only read one book at a time, too. 

8) How long have you been writing?

I’ve wanted to be a novelist for almost as long as I can remember. I wrote novels all through middle and high school, including an epic work called “Battle Maiden,” which I still have and which included the immortal line, “Why didst thou not tell me it was thy first time?” 

I’ve been working on my current novel off and on for almost 20 years (work, parenting and the rest of real life keeps getting in the way, but I love the story and characters). I’m on my third discrete draft and have high hopes for this one. I’ve been in the same writer’s group for years (which, fun fact, now includes two published novelists) and I’ve done something like 10 NaNoWriMos, mostly drafts of my novel but some other stuff for fun. Oh, and I write poetry in fits and bursts, but I almost never show it to anyone. 

I don’t think fanfiction existed when I was in school (the Web wasn’t a Thing until I was in college), but I wish it had. I’m pretty sure I would have gone deep. 

9) Do you tend to write more in the morning, afternoon, or evening?

Morning! I like to get up at 5am before anyone else is up and write over way too many cups of coffee. But with two young kids I’m trying to learn to snatch writing time where i can. 

10) Do you prefer to post and update your wip chapter by chapter or wait until it’s 100% complete before sharing it?

In theory, there are a lot of advantages to writing the whole thing first. In practice, I need the validation of posting as I go. I have my eternal novel for writing long internally consistent things that no one ever sees! I had a bad experience in a writing class in college and went for almost 20 years without showing anything to anyone, so I’m trying to unlearn that. Fandom is a way for me to practice sharing with other writers and artists. I’m so happy to have found you all! 

I’m so late to this that I feel like everyone has been tagged already. Trying to think of whose I haven’t seen yet. @sharkmartini? @krisrix? @warriorbeeofthesea? @knitbelove?