xviruserrorx asked:

1, 2 & 20 for the ask game 😁❤️

Oooooh thank you 🙂 🙂 🙂

1) Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?
On one hand my answer to this is “how long is a piece of string?” because a story is only as long as it needs to be. I have written novel-length fics, I have written oneshots. A few years back I wrote a handful of shorter Librarians fics and I like those, but they were just one moment in time, one particular plot point. It all depends on the story I’m telling.

However, on the other hand it’s asking what I prefer and in which case I’m a multi-chapter plotty shenanigans type writer. I like multiple POV’s and conflicting agendas, character arcs and themes, subplots and genre mash-ups. I suppose to put it another way when I fall in love with a TV show, it’s not just with one episode – it’s with how all the episodes string together. When I get a spark of inspiration for a story, it’s not usually just for one moment, it’s for a lot of moments all strung together into a greater whole. I’m not creating one story, I’m creating a universe – in some cases literally.

2) Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?
I’m a planner. For my fanfics how deep the planning goes depends on the length of the story. I always have the broadstrokes, even if it’s just a handful of bullet points. For my novels I do a complete scene by scene outline BUT I don’t plan either of them by ‘chapter’. I don’t know how long scenes will be and I try and break my chapters so they are all around the same length (unless story-wise it works better for a chapter to be ultra short or long). So I tend to break into chapters by feel/word count, as I write, rather than as part of the planning process.

20) Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?
Oh definitely. No words/expressions are immediately coming to mind but that will be something I look out for when I do revision. I don’t want my ‘voice’ to overpower the characters.

However, something that I always, always come back to is the notion of masks and acceptance. My characters always seem to want to be seen, for someone to know them as they are and accept them. It doesn’t have to be romantic (though that’s often an easy way to write it). But yeah if we’re talking what a character needs vs what they think they want, then almost always what they need is true acceptance. I think this is probably a theme in every story I ever write.

It’s probably not the only repeating theme but it’s the first one that comes to mind.