hindsightseeing (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hindsightseeing) wrote2026-06-07 12:39 pm
hindsightseeing) wrote2026-06-07 12:39 pm
More Fic Writing Questions (1/?)
As threatened!
I have a bunch of these, so I'm doing them in batches of ten to give myself stuff to post about for a bit longer.
Do you daydream a lot before you write, or go for it as soon as the ideas strike?
That depends entirely on how nervous I am about putting pen to paper. Sometimes I'll get a line in my head and just dive straight in without a thought, while other times I need to play out the entire scene / fic / whatever over and over and over again in my head in ever-increasing (and ever needlessly complicated) detail before I can find the courage to even type a word.
Where do you get your fic ideas?
Hell if I know! Sometimes it's a "what if X happened" sort of question, sometimes it's "what was going through X's head during [scene]", sometimes it's "I heard a line in a song that alluded to elevator sex and now I have to write that". Sometimes a random line will pop into my head and then I need to come up with a whole-ass story to grow around it.
Do you share your fic ideas, or do you keep them to yourself?
I have always been cripplingly, devastatingly, destructively self-conscious, and generally avoid talking about my stuff with anyone. The mere existence of this journal, and the fact that I've actually done a couple of posts detailing my experience with this WIP -- including actual snippets, which is absolutely unheard-of -- is so far beyond my comfort zone I can't even begin to describe it.
But yea, even back when I had actual fannish spaces to engage with, sharing ideas and feelings was always a big struggle. My current fandom is effectively dead, so far as I can tell -- if there are few people who still care enough about it to talk or show interest, I've not seen it on any of the spaces I frequent, so bouncing ideas with The Wider Fandom is out.
I did go through a very, very brief period of brainstorming with my partner a year or so ago... but then she stopped asking, and my asshole brain obviously jumped immediately to catastrophising about it, so... yea. I'm not sure the abovementioned self-consciousness is ever going to recover enough to try that again, so... y'know. This journal, I feel, is 'baby steps' enough in that department.
How do you choose which fics to write?
You don't choose the fic. The fic chooses you.
Seriously, though: that. On the rare occasion I'm genuinely torn on which idea I want to knuckle down and beat into shape (or, y'know, get beaten by until I beg for mercy), I mostly try to just keep poking randomly at whatever happens to be speaking to me in the moment, and, as a general rule, the one that wants to be written the most will be the one that sticks.
How many wips do you have? What fandoms/pairings are they for?
Hm... I'm currently working pretty intensively on just one. But I do have half an opening scene jotted down for the next fic in my ongoing series, and I'm constantly brainstorming that... so I think it counts? Plus, as always, a couple of little episode tags prodding away at the back of my brain that I'm sure I'll get around to giving an honest shot at some point.
So, uh... 1 active, 1 passive, and 2-3 percolating? All GLOW, obviously, because I will apparently never, ever, ever be done with these women.
What’s the last line you wrote?
Last spoiler-free line: Ruth still didn't know how to feel about that.
(Which, let's be honest, could describe every living second of that woman's life.)
Post a snippet from a wip.
Ooh, it's been a while since my last snippet from this thing, so...
Post an out-of-context spoiler from a wip.
I don't know if it counts as a spoiler, but the 'warnings' section of my 'author's notes' draft is currently closing in on 700 words. Any longer, and it may need its own chapter.
Do you work on multiple wips or stick to one fic at a time?
Depends on the WIP. Usually, when I'm working on a longfic, I'll listen to my gut -- if it says "you need a breather from this thing so you don't burn out," I'll set it aside and poke at a little one-shot or something simpler or less intense. It's not really going that way with this one, on account of the setting and situation and the need to stay locked in, but... at 90,000 words and counting, it's still "early days" (!!!), so I may end up knocking out one of those little episode tags before we're done, just out of sheer insanity.
Do you write scenes in order, or do you jump around?
I absolutely cannot jump around. The closest I ever really manage is going back to an earlier point in the scene I'm currently writing to add something for context or foreshadowing, or remove something else that became wrong or unnecessary. I barely even know where my scenes are going when I start them, so writing something that takes place afterwards is just... unfathomable to me.
More to come!
I have a bunch of these, so I'm doing them in batches of ten to give myself stuff to post about for a bit longer.
Do you daydream a lot before you write, or go for it as soon as the ideas strike?
That depends entirely on how nervous I am about putting pen to paper. Sometimes I'll get a line in my head and just dive straight in without a thought, while other times I need to play out the entire scene / fic / whatever over and over and over again in my head in ever-increasing (and ever needlessly complicated) detail before I can find the courage to even type a word.
Where do you get your fic ideas?
Hell if I know! Sometimes it's a "what if X happened" sort of question, sometimes it's "what was going through X's head during [scene]", sometimes it's "I heard a line in a song that alluded to elevator sex and now I have to write that". Sometimes a random line will pop into my head and then I need to come up with a whole-ass story to grow around it.
Do you share your fic ideas, or do you keep them to yourself?
I have always been cripplingly, devastatingly, destructively self-conscious, and generally avoid talking about my stuff with anyone. The mere existence of this journal, and the fact that I've actually done a couple of posts detailing my experience with this WIP -- including actual snippets, which is absolutely unheard-of -- is so far beyond my comfort zone I can't even begin to describe it.
But yea, even back when I had actual fannish spaces to engage with, sharing ideas and feelings was always a big struggle. My current fandom is effectively dead, so far as I can tell -- if there are few people who still care enough about it to talk or show interest, I've not seen it on any of the spaces I frequent, so bouncing ideas with The Wider Fandom is out.
I did go through a very, very brief period of brainstorming with my partner a year or so ago... but then she stopped asking, and my asshole brain obviously jumped immediately to catastrophising about it, so... yea. I'm not sure the abovementioned self-consciousness is ever going to recover enough to try that again, so... y'know. This journal, I feel, is 'baby steps' enough in that department.
How do you choose which fics to write?
You don't choose the fic. The fic chooses you.
Seriously, though: that. On the rare occasion I'm genuinely torn on which idea I want to knuckle down and beat into shape (or, y'know, get beaten by until I beg for mercy), I mostly try to just keep poking randomly at whatever happens to be speaking to me in the moment, and, as a general rule, the one that wants to be written the most will be the one that sticks.
How many wips do you have? What fandoms/pairings are they for?
Hm... I'm currently working pretty intensively on just one. But I do have half an opening scene jotted down for the next fic in my ongoing series, and I'm constantly brainstorming that... so I think it counts? Plus, as always, a couple of little episode tags prodding away at the back of my brain that I'm sure I'll get around to giving an honest shot at some point.
So, uh... 1 active, 1 passive, and 2-3 percolating? All GLOW, obviously, because I will apparently never, ever, ever be done with these women.
What’s the last line you wrote?
Last spoiler-free line: Ruth still didn't know how to feel about that.
(Which, let's be honest, could describe every living second of that woman's life.)
Post a snippet from a wip.
Ooh, it's been a while since my last snippet from this thing, so...
For a long, long while, neither of them spoke. Ruth stayed where she was, not strong but not weak either, and Debbie just stood there staring at her. Eyes bright, glimmering, water like shards of glass dripping onto her hands, refracted a thousand times over by the cluster of diamonds on her finger.
She looked smaller than Ruth had ever seen her. Vulnerable, almost, and all the more beautiful for it.
Finally, so soft it was like she was afraid of breaking herself, Debbie asked, “How are you so brave?”
Ruth felt a laugh catch in her throat, felt it crack over the flayed, raw, broken remains of her innards.
She didn’t answer the question.
Post an out-of-context spoiler from a wip.
I don't know if it counts as a spoiler, but the 'warnings' section of my 'author's notes' draft is currently closing in on 700 words. Any longer, and it may need its own chapter.
Do you work on multiple wips or stick to one fic at a time?
Depends on the WIP. Usually, when I'm working on a longfic, I'll listen to my gut -- if it says "you need a breather from this thing so you don't burn out," I'll set it aside and poke at a little one-shot or something simpler or less intense. It's not really going that way with this one, on account of the setting and situation and the need to stay locked in, but... at 90,000 words and counting, it's still "early days" (!!!), so I may end up knocking out one of those little episode tags before we're done, just out of sheer insanity.
Do you write scenes in order, or do you jump around?
I absolutely cannot jump around. The closest I ever really manage is going back to an earlier point in the scene I'm currently writing to add something for context or foreshadowing, or remove something else that became wrong or unnecessary. I barely even know where my scenes are going when I start them, so writing something that takes place afterwards is just... unfathomable to me.
More to come!
no subject
It's such a beautiful way of seeing the concept of an idea... and, honestly, it feels so true to the experience of being in their thrall, too. Just a really wonderful sentiment... and, obviously, in the current world, it's more important than ever to keep that feeling close.
no subject
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/elizabeth-gilbert-when-a-magical-idea-comes-knocking-you-have-three-options-1.2474157
Yes, the current world is money obsessed, we need to keep the things alive that are NOT about money, don't we? Things that are about love, creativity, connection, community.