sarcasticsciencefictionwriter asked:

Hello! For the elemental writer’s game:

Water, Fire, Air, Shadows, and Space! 😊

Oh wow so many! Thank you so much!!!!

Water: How did you start writing?
I don’t remember.

That is the honest answer because I have been writing for the entire of my living memory. I don’t have anything I wrote when I was like 6 or something. I do have some scribbles from when I was 9 I think? I was obsessed with the Hardy Boys books, and Diagnosis Murder TV show at the time. These were more ideas than complete stories. The first complete stories were fanfic for The Royal/Heartbeat which was an odd fandom for me to accidentally fall into, and it was nothing to do with being obsessed and everything to do with wanting to make a friend IRL. This girl at school was obsessed and I found her trying to make a fansite and I knew how to code so helped, she then asked me to beta read her fanfic, and being story-minded, I then dove into writing my own. It was a good gateway I guess because while I didn’t care all that much about that show, it led me into fan spaces online and I found fandoms that I did really love.

Anyway, it’s been 23 years since I posted my first fanfic on the internet, and I’ve been writing for longer than that so yeah, I don’t recall precisely how I first picked up the pen. I had stories I wanted to tell and that’s just how it’s always been.

Side note: I think this is a “how I was raised” thing because mum is more about words, and if the topic of ‘art’ comes up, always states very firmly that she can’t draw. It’s a point of frustration for me now in trying to teach myself how to draw, that the years when I could have comfortably been shit at it (when I was a child) were decades ago and I missed them because I didn’t even contemplate drawing until I was an adult. I think if I’d grown up in a more artistic environment then I would have had an outlet other than words for crafting stories, but instead words were all I had.

Fire: What’s a scene that you are dying to write?
As I don’t write fanfic anymore, and trying to describe a scene from my novel would be missing so much context, I’ll instead pick an art piece I hope to make in the next couple of months 🙂

Janeway and Amelia Earhart from Star Trek: Voyager for AU August. I think it could fit under Day 1 (canon divergence) or 18 (space travel) but I want Amelia on Voyager dammit! It’s been years since I watched “The 37s” episode and it has never left me. The injustice. Amelia Earhart should have joined the crew, become a pilot, hooked up with Janeway. Ahem.

Obviously I want to make everything on my list (and hopefully will one day) but when I ran my eyes down the list, this is the one that jumped out. So cross fingers I can make it happen.

Air: What’s the easiest part of writing for you?
Can I say the ideas? Planning. I love it when pieces just click into place and then everything unfolds. It’s just like magic.

Buuuuut as I said when I answered the question about the hardest part, that is probably not what is meant? It’s probably more about the words. In which case… I guess dialogue? I mean I said description was the hard part as setting the scene can be clunky and I need to fix that in revision. And if something isn’t description then it’s dialogue. I mean there’s a lot in between too like whether something is scene setting, action beats, thoughts etc. though that kinda all falls under the heading ‘description’. I think I’m overthinking this.

Shadows: What’s the darkest theme you’ve ever written about?
I don’t know. I’m not really given to dark themes because I always like a happy ending. Sometimes characters go through some shit but only so they can have revelations and become happier/more at peace with themselves. There was the apocalypse in Life Without Purpose. I did do a time loop character death fic The Beauty and the Tragedy but I wound up writing an alternate happy ending as while structurally it was beautiful (one of those that I look at and I’m like I wrote that?? as it’s so not my usual style), it was too sad. Painting Layers of Love had agoraphobia and that’s why it’s abandoned because I have that, and put too much of myself into it and then couldn’t fix it.

I guess in a lot of ways I don’t think I’ve really written dark ‘themes’ because while bad stuff happens, it’s never the end. There is always hope. I don’t like unrelenting misery in my entertainment – there’s enough of that in real life. That doesn’t mean characters don’t go on journeys, or grapple with darker issues. Like my current novel thematically is a battle about losing hope. Some characters give up and surrender to despair, others make unwise choices out of fear, there is the constant question of do they persevere? I don’t just write fluff, I just like to make it right in the end.

Space: Where’s your favorite place to write?
Answered here. So have an extra 🙂

Spring: Have you ever scrapped (a huge chunk of) a story to start over?  Why did the change come about?
Bwahahahaha – I laugh so I do not cry.

I have scrapped hundreds of thousands of words over the years I’m sure. Maybe even a million I don’t know. There was an espionage novel which was a NaNo project on… at least 4 occasions (possibly more), and I kept doing complete rewrites because when I went to revise it was never the story that I had hoped to tell. My current novel series I am writing a rebooted version. So essentially complete rewrites. Very little of the original books remain, so just off those I have tossed probably getting on for 200k. I also have a complete rewrite in the works for my sci-fi thriller novel (another 80k or so tossed). Eventually I will reboot my Camelot retelling and that will be another 50k out the window as I turn it from the wreck of a rushed, sloppy novella into an actual series. I haven’t looked at my Steampunk since I took a break from it, but I’m pretty sure that’ll need an almost complete rewrite as well (another 60k tossed).

Why do I scrap and start over? Because past!Me thought I had done a good job and hadn’t basically. When idea met reality on the page, that’s when all the flaws are revealed. Plus I have read a metric ton of craft books in the past year and learned loads. I know I can do it better now – this is the TLDR of it all. Basically I want the story to fulfil it’s potential – I want it to be good! – and to get the story to where I want it requires sacrifice and hard work.

Now if the question is “have I ever scrapped a huge chunk of fanfic” then the answer to that is no (aside from the unfinished messes on my HD anyway). I have very little filter when it comes to fanfic. Sometimes I rework things a little bit, go back and add in extra scenes or something, but otherwise the fanfics are just driven by pure love and obsession. What you see is what you get with them.

bookwormchocaholic asked:

Elemental Writer Asks: Rock, Spirit, Summer? 🙂

Rock: How do you deal with writer’s block?
Same way I deal with everything else – avoidance.

Honestly it depends how you define ‘writers block’. I mean you could say I have it now because when I sit down to write, I can’t focus for 10 seconds, no words are forthcoming and anything that I do scribble is just drek. It’s a bad time. BUT that has nothing really to do with writing and everything to do with depression deciding to do a comeback tour and drown me again.

However, I have always thought of the definition of writers block more being “I don’t know what to write” and that has never been the case in my life. I have always had more ideas than spoons to write with.

Anyway, when I can’t write I bang my head against the brick wall of “sitting there, trying and failing” for as long as I can without crying and then I run away. Then I repeat the process the next day.

Spirit: What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received on your writing?
Answered here 🙂

Summer: How do you know when you need a break from writing?
Why would I need a break? I ask, as I also think of that line about “you take a break or your body takes a break for you” – stares into the camera like I’m on the Office.

I don’t recall ever thinking “I need a break” and then taking one. I have taken ‘breaks’ from writing but it’s always either been involuntary and driven by health issues, or on a rare happier occasion it’s because I’ve had to prioritise another task, and I haven’t had the time/spoons for both. But no I don’t ever know that I need a break, it’s not ever been a thought that has crossed my mind like that.

Fall: Have you ever completely abandoned a WIP?  What led to that decision.
(as Spirit had been answered already have a bonus)

Yes a handful of times. I have 2 abandoned fanfics on AO3. One was a Lachbelle fic that I just ran out of steam on. It’s not that I didn’t have the ideas but I got tired, it went a long time, and then I couldn’t muster the energy to make myself finish. It was going to be a long one and at that time in my life I didn’t have it in me.

The other fanfic is of course Painting Layers of Love which I still feel a bit of guilt over. This was a prompt fic that lived because it was loved. It actually won a TEA. For someone like me that has always felt like an outsider in any community that really meant a lot. The problem is I accidentally wound up pouring too much of myself into Belle’s characterisation, and then I wanted to write a happy ending and didn’t know how – as I don’t know how to fix myself. Since then personally I’ve only got more agoraphobic, and if I knew how to fix that I would. So I really have zero clue how to write Belle out of it, and honestly I don’t know if I would. I’m ace, with no IRL friends, so I’m not really all that bothered about not being able to go outside. I think if I continued the fic I would be tempted for Belle to be like “I don’t need to be fixed. I’m content as I am”, which I doubt would work long-term with a relationship of any kind. Other people want to do things, go places, and not just hang out at home all the time. Guilt, resentment, frustration would build (at least I theorise it would), so not the ‘happy ending’ anyone wanted I’m sure, so perhaps for the best it stays unfinished potential.

I have also abandoned novels. Lots at various stages. However, the novel that got the furthest was a time travel series. I wrote book one and then book two. I then totally scrapped all of book two and tried writing it again. No matter what I tried I could not make it work, so I wound up binning the entire series.

ussjellyfish asked:

Clouds and sand!

Hey thanks for the ask! 🙂 🙂

Clouds: How clearly do you picture a scene before you start writing it down?
Hmm, it depends. Some scenes are like a movie, others are more like odd snapshots. However, to be honest I think if I can’t really picture a scene all that well, then there’s a problem with the scene. I need to be able to picture it to be able to write it.

So pretty clearly or I need to have a rethink.

Sand: What’s the softest scene you’ve ever written?
Ooooh I’m not 100% sure. I have written some real fluff over the decades. Maybe the blanket fort in In Your Arms? That’s the first that comes to mind anyway.

tinknevertalks asked:

Metal, space and spirit for the elemental asks, please. 🙂

Oh yay thanks for the ask! 🙂

Metal: What’s the hardest part of writing for you?
The… writing? Lol. Ok that sounds dumb but what I mean is planning – no problem, revision – cool, even editing – fine. But actually drafting? That’s the step in the process that is the hardest. I suppose it is also the step that takes the longest.

Also this is maybe not what the question meant? Perhaps it meant like dialogue or description or something? In which case hmm… probably description. I have got better at it lately (I think) but it still tends to be something I need to work on in revision, because it doesn’t come out smoothly during drafting.

Space: Where’s your favorite place to write?
In my office/at the PC for drafting. I tend to do planning and revision at the dining table on paper.

Spirit: What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received on your writing?
I think probably the comments I have got on Time Will Tell. Just blow me away. All the hearteyes.

sarcasticsciencefictionwriter asked:

Hi (again)! For the even more fic writer asks: 22 [your choice], 23 [Time Will Tell], and 25 [Life Without Purpose].

Awww thank you, one from both lists. You are sweet.

22) What is something you learned about yourself as a writer from the experience?

Hmm ok my choice aaaaand the difficulty level in answering jumps up a LOT haha.

If I look at the last fics I posted. There was the outtake of the fic I never got round to writing, the pinch hit for the Librarians exchange, a ficlet accompanying art for the B&W exchange and then the last fic I wrote – a canon-compliant, post-season fic for Seven/Raffi, Star Trek: Picard.

When I moved house September 22 I decided to draw the line then and quit fanfic. But I hit a rough mental health patch and wrote this little oneshot. I intended it to be a series. I have a lot of notes for a fic focusing on Raffi, and then one focusing on B’elanna. They would be in series, having a shared theme rather than time, events or setting. I never wrote anything past the first Seven fic.

What I learned about myself I guess is the reinforcement of quitting. It could have been a gateway back in because I love story, and I love the world of Trek, and I have headcanons and feelings. I have a lot of nostalgia for fanfic. It is comforting and it is safe. It has given my life purpose. But it has also been a way to self-sabotage because original writing is scary.

This Trek fanfic series I literally have so many notes and so many feelings but in writing out the first one, I just knew I was done. It gave me peace I guess? I still have a lot of fondness for my unwritten fanfic ideas. I love them. I wish they could have been written. But I have the same fondness for my original ideas too. Plus I think it being a Picard fic… that show hurt me a lot. That oneshot was a way to self-heal a bit. And I kinda vowed not to invest myself so much in other peoples creations, because that way leads to disappointment. My original writing will always turn out how I would like. I have the power of happy endings.

23) How did you come up with the title?

I’m pretty sure the phrase imprinted most strongly on my mind thanks to Alias. The vibe of a mystery and a love entwined with pain.

But time – timers. The whole countdown nature of the soulmark. Only time will tell as to who they match with, and whether that match will turn into love and a happy ending.

Honestly the title just jumped out at me. It fits IMO perfectly. I don’t think I could have called it anything else.

25) Share your favorite line
Hmm there’s a few turns of phrase that work quite well. I’m going to go with this though:

Fifteen thousand people vaporised in an instant but only one that mattered.

sarcasticsciencefictionwriter asked:

Hi! For the questions for fic writers: 1, 6 [Time Will Tell], and 18 [Life Without Purpose], please?

Yay, thank you!

1) What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

Hmm. Given I have moved across fandoms it really depends on that. I mean it’s no use reccing a Librarians fic to a Sanctuary fan (even if I did cross them over and do think they work well together).

I have written one shots and I have written novel length fics. I feel like I mostly write plotty these days but I have a lot of fluff on my AO3 too. Especially back in the day I wrote a lot of prompts.

So yeah it’s like one fic doesn’t encapsulate all genre, fandom etc. Maybe I guess for a ‘taste’ a shorter fic as an intro so perhaps one of the Librarians fics? I did half a dozen for prompt month a couple of years ago.

6) What’s one fact about the universe of [insert fic] that you didn’t get a chance to mention in the fic itself?

Time Will Tell 🤔

I find this question hard because did I put it in the fic? Have I just rambled about it? Have I not said it before? Can I remember the difference? No the answer is no haha. So yeeeeah erm… ok let me think.

The difficulty of this question is why the ask has been in my drafts for a couple of days. I have been struggling to think of a good answer. I mean with it being fanfic I was free to indulge myself and so I had that epilogue with all my headcanons about the intervening century.

I think what I might need to say is “do you have any questions?” I have really tried to think of a detail off the top of my head and failed but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something. It just means I am struggling. Sorry :/

18) If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it involve?

It’s kinda hard to write a sequel when all the characters are dead. Well I suppose Nikola is left but he’s alone, the world is apocalyptic. It’s all very bleak.

I think if I had to continue it somehow then a sequel would involve time travel, like Nikola going back in time to stop the outbreak from happening. I need to get a happy ending somehow.