More survey goodness
Aug. 20th, 2002 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenI know, I haven't been around. Very busy weekend. Dad's 60th birthday was yesterday, so we had a day long celebration on Sunday with my parents, my brother, sister in law and niece (not the newborn who lives out in LA). Then yesterday I visited my grandmother and that also took up most of the day. I spent last night being a big lump and here I am.
Shout out to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wesleysgirl for the questions:
How do you choose titles for your stories?
With the holy trinity of U2, Indigo Girls and NIN. [/end obshoutout tocatscradle]
No, seriously - it depends. Um, no pun intended. Usually I try to think up a word or phrase that sums up a theme for the story. Sometimes I'll get it from the mood of the story ("Bind" "Alienation"), sometimes from songs ("Everybody Fell") or concepts ("Present, Imperfect").
I try to pick things that will be a little off-kilter though. Like for Everybody Fell I didn't pick the song title, I picked a few words from the lyrics. Reason being I like to make people wonder about the title sometimes, and how it reflects on the story. Lust For A Reason would be another example of this.
Do you write differently with a cowriter than you do alone? Is it easier or harder?
I do write differently. Typically with co-writers I'll claim a character or set of characters, they'll claim the others and then we'll get everybody interacting. Usually in IRC or some other form of written down log where we set the scene, have a vague idea of what needs to happen, and go from there.
Sometimes this is a hard and fast rule, like "You write Louis, I'll write Lestat" othertimes it can be flexible. Returning, I'm So Happy and Buffy were written this way with me taking any LA characters andstakebait and buffybot taking the Scoobies, but if anybody came up with a good line for any of the character we'd use it. Or sometimes we'd enhance what somebody else came up with. For example in "Buffy" Keren had the line of Buffy telling Wes "You're a man" and I said "No - You're a man - kinda."
I find that it's best to divvy up characters when co-writing since for me that's the best way of making sure everybody is true to everyone's internal picture - or at the very least that there's a way to get a consensus. We don't have arguments like "But Angel wouldn't do that!" because it's my Angel and I get final say. Likewise if Mer has Spike do something that I disagree with, she gets final say.
Which isn't to say there isn't debate - there is, that's how we understand everyone's motivations, but just that having everybody claim a character gives us a clear way to know how to end the debate in a worst-case senario.
Do you write original fic differently from fanfic (if you write it at all)?
I don't write much but it's very similar. I need to get the characters in my head first, and then once they're alive enough I set them free in their environments and let them do what they need to do.
For series and long works, do you decide a goal in advance to stop at or are they open ended? If you do choose a goal, how often do you stick to it?
I've had some series which had a specific goal that I worked towards and stopped at. These tended to be plot, rather than character driven.
The next level is things like Epiphany and Cat and Mouse, where I have some goals that I'd like the characters to strive towards, but I don't set them on a schedule. The characters can get there however they like - or decide that they want different goals. But I give them goals so they've got motivations and a reason to get up in the morning. I don't force them to stick to it though because I don't like forcing characters.
How do you deal with character plinkage?
Depends. If it's a large plinkage it usually happens in my head and just changes the story as a whole if it's better. If it's a small plinkage it's usually when I start typing it out and a word suddenly appears that adds a new shade or meaning to the scene. I then have to decide if I want to keep it or not. Sometimes I do - for example the line in No Answers about Wes worrying about the shadows of the library was an unplanned shade of meaning - if it enhances things, or reveals a new way for things to go. Sometimes I go back and delete it and the subsequent lines and rewrite if it's bringing up issues that don't need to be addressed. The chemistry between Wes and Spike in It Depends is an example of this. Their scene plinked at the end into much heavier flirting, and Mer and I had to rewrite it to tone it down just a smidge.
When a scene feels forced, what are the first few tricks you try to fix it?
First I go back to where ever it started to feel forced, delete and try to rewrite. If that doesn't work I sometimes rewrite the entire scene right from the start.
If that doesn't work I re-evaluate. Either I'm not ready to write the scene yet or the scene doesn't want to be written - does it need a new POV? A new thesis? A new setting? I'll poke and prod it until it feels right.
Are most of your fixes deletions or additions?
I'd say an even mix. I need to remove extraneous information about as often as I need to add a line to make sure the events make sense to people who don't live inside of my head.
How long does it usually take you to write a story? How many revisions do you go through?
Depending on the length of the story I'd say it averages at about 4 hours, not including the brainstorming time and pre-writing that I do in my head on a constant basis. Once I've written it it then goes to beta readers who will let me know if I need to tweak anything. It's not often that I have to rewrite entire scenes once it's hit the beta reader stage. I think the last time that happened was in the alt dimension story arc, whenzortified rightly pointed out that one of the scenes needed to be clarified. I even think that she might have been happy with just some tweaks, but I decided to rewrite it anyway.
Do you use beta readers?
Yep. Although not always. I'm lucky enough that I've got a set of beta readers who are usually online whenever I'm done with a story and are happy to give it a read-through, but sometimes I'll post without sending it to them. That'll either be because the story is a short one-off, or because I'm very firm in how the story is and I'm not going to change it regardless of what they say. Granted, this does result in some grammar issues ;)
(Buffyverse specific) How do you name your demons?
Mer and I share the "keep a list of your typos" method. I also take regular words and tweak them, or I'll take words from mythology and strip them down for parts.
Shout out to
wesleysgirl for the questions:How do you choose titles for your stories?
With the holy trinity of U2, Indigo Girls and NIN. [/end obshoutout to
catscradle]No, seriously - it depends. Um, no pun intended. Usually I try to think up a word or phrase that sums up a theme for the story. Sometimes I'll get it from the mood of the story ("Bind" "Alienation"), sometimes from songs ("Everybody Fell") or concepts ("Present, Imperfect").
I try to pick things that will be a little off-kilter though. Like for Everybody Fell I didn't pick the song title, I picked a few words from the lyrics. Reason being I like to make people wonder about the title sometimes, and how it reflects on the story. Lust For A Reason would be another example of this.
Do you write differently with a cowriter than you do alone? Is it easier or harder?
I do write differently. Typically with co-writers I'll claim a character or set of characters, they'll claim the others and then we'll get everybody interacting. Usually in IRC or some other form of written down log where we set the scene, have a vague idea of what needs to happen, and go from there.
Sometimes this is a hard and fast rule, like "You write Louis, I'll write Lestat" othertimes it can be flexible. Returning, I'm So Happy and Buffy were written this way with me taking any LA characters and
stakebait and buffybot taking the Scoobies, but if anybody came up with a good line for any of the character we'd use it. Or sometimes we'd enhance what somebody else came up with. For example in "Buffy" Keren had the line of Buffy telling Wes "You're a man" and I said "No - You're a man - kinda." I find that it's best to divvy up characters when co-writing since for me that's the best way of making sure everybody is true to everyone's internal picture - or at the very least that there's a way to get a consensus. We don't have arguments like "But Angel wouldn't do that!" because it's my Angel and I get final say. Likewise if Mer has Spike do something that I disagree with, she gets final say.
Which isn't to say there isn't debate - there is, that's how we understand everyone's motivations, but just that having everybody claim a character gives us a clear way to know how to end the debate in a worst-case senario.
Do you write original fic differently from fanfic (if you write it at all)?
I don't write much but it's very similar. I need to get the characters in my head first, and then once they're alive enough I set them free in their environments and let them do what they need to do.
For series and long works, do you decide a goal in advance to stop at or are they open ended? If you do choose a goal, how often do you stick to it?
I've had some series which had a specific goal that I worked towards and stopped at. These tended to be plot, rather than character driven.
The next level is things like Epiphany and Cat and Mouse, where I have some goals that I'd like the characters to strive towards, but I don't set them on a schedule. The characters can get there however they like - or decide that they want different goals. But I give them goals so they've got motivations and a reason to get up in the morning. I don't force them to stick to it though because I don't like forcing characters.
How do you deal with character plinkage?
Depends. If it's a large plinkage it usually happens in my head and just changes the story as a whole if it's better. If it's a small plinkage it's usually when I start typing it out and a word suddenly appears that adds a new shade or meaning to the scene. I then have to decide if I want to keep it or not. Sometimes I do - for example the line in No Answers about Wes worrying about the shadows of the library was an unplanned shade of meaning - if it enhances things, or reveals a new way for things to go. Sometimes I go back and delete it and the subsequent lines and rewrite if it's bringing up issues that don't need to be addressed. The chemistry between Wes and Spike in It Depends is an example of this. Their scene plinked at the end into much heavier flirting, and Mer and I had to rewrite it to tone it down just a smidge.
When a scene feels forced, what are the first few tricks you try to fix it?
First I go back to where ever it started to feel forced, delete and try to rewrite. If that doesn't work I sometimes rewrite the entire scene right from the start.
If that doesn't work I re-evaluate. Either I'm not ready to write the scene yet or the scene doesn't want to be written - does it need a new POV? A new thesis? A new setting? I'll poke and prod it until it feels right.
Are most of your fixes deletions or additions?
I'd say an even mix. I need to remove extraneous information about as often as I need to add a line to make sure the events make sense to people who don't live inside of my head.
How long does it usually take you to write a story? How many revisions do you go through?
Depending on the length of the story I'd say it averages at about 4 hours, not including the brainstorming time and pre-writing that I do in my head on a constant basis. Once I've written it it then goes to beta readers who will let me know if I need to tweak anything. It's not often that I have to rewrite entire scenes once it's hit the beta reader stage. I think the last time that happened was in the alt dimension story arc, when
zortified rightly pointed out that one of the scenes needed to be clarified. I even think that she might have been happy with just some tweaks, but I decided to rewrite it anyway.Do you use beta readers?
Yep. Although not always. I'm lucky enough that I've got a set of beta readers who are usually online whenever I'm done with a story and are happy to give it a read-through, but sometimes I'll post without sending it to them. That'll either be because the story is a short one-off, or because I'm very firm in how the story is and I'm not going to change it regardless of what they say. Granted, this does result in some grammar issues ;)
(Buffyverse specific) How do you name your demons?
Mer and I share the "keep a list of your typos" method. I also take regular words and tweak them, or I'll take words from mythology and strip them down for parts.
