moragmacpherson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
moragmacpherson) wrote2011-05-10 09:45 pm
moragmacpherson) wrote2011-05-10 09:45 pm
I've actually written stuff - you can read it - and the continuation of the May Writing Meme
Okay, lots of things to get through in this post because I've taken time and actually gotten shit done in my real life. Astonishing, I know. Sorry if I haven't been responding to comments/emails in a timely fashion - it's easy for me to get lost in my thoughts lately. So, first things first:
Remix Reveal
I wrote "Not Really Here (The 'Stand in the Place Where You Are' Mix)" foralixtii . I really can't say just a few words about it -- it was a serious problem child fic for me that I slaved over and which only got published because ![[info]](https://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=3)
booster17 and jjhunter looked it over, helped me tweak it, and told me that despite my rampant insecurity over a dense, heavy meta fic with a POV character who doesn't actually exist and large quantities of Dru dialogue (there aren't many characters more difficult to write than her), it actually wasn't a complete POS. And then people seemed to like it - especially the Dru voice. No one was more surprised than me. Some day I'll maybe write up a dense meta post explaining what the heck I was trying to do (and perhaps succeeded?) with this story, but for right now, I'm going to keep my distance - my personal feelings over the story are still too conflicted (not for nothing is this story referred to elsewhere as "The Zombie Fic That Ate My Brain and Then Set Itself on Fire To Make Sure Nothing Was Left").
Random Castiel Comment Fic
To tide us over mini-hiatus, there's a Castiel-centric comment fic fest going on at this post [link to post]. In an effort to try to blast through this nasty writer's block and over-thinking issue I've been having lately, I posted a quickie response to![[info]](https://files.livejournal.com/userhead/146)
wingsunfurled Doctor Who crossover. Castiel meets the Doctor. (preferrably 10 but any is fine)", I wrote Lost in Translation, a quick ~500 ficlet that isn't really so much Castiel meeting Ten as much as it is a meeting between Castiel and Ten. It's also a little meta-y and maybe a little pretentious but mostly intended to be cracky. I might have a beta look over it at some point and then post it as an actual fic, but if you like unfiltered scribblings by me, it's there for your enjoyment. I also have a prompt up there that I would completely die if anyone filled it -- pretty pretty please, folks? **bats eyelashes**
May Writing Meme - Days 6-10
I'm gonna try to be quick with these, because I'm really quite tired and I think I've been longwinded lately. So, rapid fire:
6: How do you come up with names and story titles?
They're either automatically apparent to me or I wind up begging my betas to help me title them. Generally, if the title is mine, it's an allusion to something not actually mentioned in the fic but part of the theme. If they're really clever, my beta probably came up with it.
7: Do you use beta reader(s)? If so, what do you look for in a beta reader? What specialties would your ideal beta have?
Absolutely - my self-editing is wretched. I'm totally cribbing this from a bit of meta I wrote about the process of writing The Catch: (it goes on a bit, and this isn't what I look for in every beta, but they are some of the more beautiful things about betas.)
"I love and respect betas - both doing the job for others and when someone betas for me. Betas are the silent heroes of fandom. They labor out of love and anticipate nothing in return but a quick credit in the header. Rumor has it bad betas exist; if they do, I've never managed to find one. Over the years, I've worked with at least a dozen awesome betas in all of my various fandoms.
This past September one of my favorite betas - and my only SPN-reader - got backlogged in real life when I had a deadline approaching. Instead of leaving me in the lurch, she decided to hook me up with a friend of hers whom she thought might be interested in the job. And, lucky for me, JJ was. That first project (a light-hearted 6,000 word Discworld/SG-1 crossover) worked out so well and we got along so swimmingly that afterwards JJ asked if I had anything else for her to look at. I’d just been assigned Dollar’s prompt and wrote back, 'Well, if you’re feeling game, check out this 500 word outline. It's sort of new territory for me…'
‘The Catch’ was written over the course of thirty days: October 3 through November 2. During the final fifteen, I wrote it using Google Docs, which has this wonderful feature that allows you to chat with collaborators while they make notes on what you’re writing. So when I say 'JJ was with me the entire time writing this story,' I mean it in a literal sense: she would often comment on words as they appeared on the document. JJ noted themes and repeated devices before I did, pushed me to make them stronger and more consistent – she forced me to work out the honest mechanics of how Hell worked – and she provided some of the best lines and background material. Our marginal notes expanded into Talmudic proportions that brought Google to a stand-still, the chat logs grew longer and longer, and at one point I told her, 'I really wish people could see all the work you're doing."
We still have all the chat logs. Sometimes I look at them just to cheer me up.
8: What kind of support, if any, do you get for your writing?
Friends, betas... random people who comment. It's more than enough for me - writing (usually) is its own reward for me
9: Do you share your writing publicly or keep it private? Have you or would you like to be published?
I publish it on the internet, but it's a separate sphere from my RL existence (and even from my other internet identities). I have no real goals when it comes to being paid to write fiction - I'm much more likely to become a free-lance editor than an author.
10: What's your biggest source of writer's envy?
People who can consistently finish WIPs that they publish serially. I used to be okay at it... I've gotten worse. I also envy people who can develop OCs that feel as real and compelling as the canon characters.
Remix Reveal
I wrote "Not Really Here (The 'Stand in the Place Where You Are' Mix)" for
alixtii . I really can't say just a few words about it -- it was a serious problem child fic for me that I slaved over and which only got published because booster17 and jjhunter looked it over, helped me tweak it, and told me that despite my rampant insecurity over a dense, heavy meta fic with a POV character who doesn't actually exist and large quantities of Dru dialogue (there aren't many characters more difficult to write than her), it actually wasn't a complete POS. And then people seemed to like it - especially the Dru voice. No one was more surprised than me. Some day I'll maybe write up a dense meta post explaining what the heck I was trying to do (and perhaps succeeded?) with this story, but for right now, I'm going to keep my distance - my personal feelings over the story are still too conflicted (not for nothing is this story referred to elsewhere as "The Zombie Fic That Ate My Brain and Then Set Itself on Fire To Make Sure Nothing Was Left").Random Castiel Comment Fic
To tide us over mini-hiatus, there's a Castiel-centric comment fic fest going on at this post [link to post]. In an effort to try to blast through this nasty writer's block and over-thinking issue I've been having lately, I posted a quickie response to
May Writing Meme - Days 6-10
I'm gonna try to be quick with these, because I'm really quite tired and I think I've been longwinded lately. So, rapid fire:
6: How do you come up with names and story titles?
They're either automatically apparent to me or I wind up begging my betas to help me title them. Generally, if the title is mine, it's an allusion to something not actually mentioned in the fic but part of the theme. If they're really clever, my beta probably came up with it.
7: Do you use beta reader(s)? If so, what do you look for in a beta reader? What specialties would your ideal beta have?
Absolutely - my self-editing is wretched. I'm totally cribbing this from a bit of meta I wrote about the process of writing The Catch: (it goes on a bit, and this isn't what I look for in every beta, but they are some of the more beautiful things about betas.)
"I love and respect betas - both doing the job for others and when someone betas for me. Betas are the silent heroes of fandom. They labor out of love and anticipate nothing in return but a quick credit in the header. Rumor has it bad betas exist; if they do, I've never managed to find one. Over the years, I've worked with at least a dozen awesome betas in all of my various fandoms.
This past September one of my favorite betas - and my only SPN-reader - got backlogged in real life when I had a deadline approaching. Instead of leaving me in the lurch, she decided to hook me up with a friend of hers whom she thought might be interested in the job. And, lucky for me, JJ was. That first project (a light-hearted 6,000 word Discworld/SG-1 crossover) worked out so well and we got along so swimmingly that afterwards JJ asked if I had anything else for her to look at. I’d just been assigned Dollar’s prompt and wrote back, 'Well, if you’re feeling game, check out this 500 word outline. It's sort of new territory for me…'
‘The Catch’ was written over the course of thirty days: October 3 through November 2. During the final fifteen, I wrote it using Google Docs, which has this wonderful feature that allows you to chat with collaborators while they make notes on what you’re writing. So when I say 'JJ was with me the entire time writing this story,' I mean it in a literal sense: she would often comment on words as they appeared on the document. JJ noted themes and repeated devices before I did, pushed me to make them stronger and more consistent – she forced me to work out the honest mechanics of how Hell worked – and she provided some of the best lines and background material. Our marginal notes expanded into Talmudic proportions that brought Google to a stand-still, the chat logs grew longer and longer, and at one point I told her, 'I really wish people could see all the work you're doing."
We still have all the chat logs. Sometimes I look at them just to cheer me up.
8: What kind of support, if any, do you get for your writing?
Friends, betas... random people who comment. It's more than enough for me - writing (usually) is its own reward for me
9: Do you share your writing publicly or keep it private? Have you or would you like to be published?
I publish it on the internet, but it's a separate sphere from my RL existence (and even from my other internet identities). I have no real goals when it comes to being paid to write fiction - I'm much more likely to become a free-lance editor than an author.
10: What's your biggest source of writer's envy?
People who can consistently finish WIPs that they publish serially. I used to be okay at it... I've gotten worse. I also envy people who can develop OCs that feel as real and compelling as the canon characters.
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