Tag Archives: Sam talks Writing

Are any of your characters based on real people? What’s a pairing (romantic or platonic) that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind?

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Hey *waves* thanks for the ask! 🙂

Are any of your characters based on real people?
No. Now if the question was “are any of your characters inspired or influenced by other characters”? Then yeah absolutely! I’m not talking about the fact that it’s fanfic and therefore based on characters either. Take Between Two Fires for instance – hello Jack and Irina from Alias. The Price We Pay morphed into something else eventually but I had Mia from The Princess Diaries in mind originally. Still rumbelle of course but there’s scenarios and facets from others in there too.

What’s a pairing (romantic or platonic) that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind?
Erm wow this ones hard. Exposure to pairings have made me love them more but I don’t know if I’ve ever changed my mind completely. My opinions usually just get reinforced. That isn’t always the case with everything. Tumblr has persuaded me to give entire shows a second look (Farscape being a case in point) but I don’t think that’s happened with pairings.

Sorry I guess I’m too stubborn /shrug

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I just found the start of a Lady Sif ficlet on my HD that I’d forgotten all about. I started it in January apparently

“There was something wrong with Odin”

aka I wanted to explain why Lady Sif wasn’t kicking Hela’s butt in Thor: Ragnarok. It is utter rubbish, I think I’ve forgotten how to word.

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Right time to step up and accept my public humiliation.

*bows head in resignation*

I said failure wasn’t an option and there’s a week left in the month and yeaaah not going to happen. I’m talking of course about the long neglected Painting Layers of Love. I must have been having an optimistic moment BUT I might be having one again *braces self*

It’s energy-sapping hot so I must be crazy but I just time blocked my calendar. I’ve done this before (to no avail). This time I’m following the “Rule of 3 system” that I watched a video on last night. Nothing has done the trick so far in getting me productive but I live in hope.

It was a very good video actually. I felt like it was talking to me when it said things like – “don’t try and do too much at once” because yeaaah. When I decide I want to ‘do better’ I tend to go all-in 0-lightspeed (forget 0-60) and so predictably it falls apart.

This time I’m just going to try and build 1 habit at a time. The first one I picked to instil in myself is “review a fic at least 3x a week” because I’ve been so rubbish at reading and I feel terrible about it.

I’m also only going to look at one fanfic this week. I’m going to go over the edits the always-wonderful Marie sent me for this oneshot I wrote. I may even *gasp* post the thing. It’s not Painting Layers of Love but hey any forward motion at this point is welcome and knocking something small off the list seems sensible.

Next Monday I’ll review what I managed this week and then plan the upcoming week. We’ll see what happens. *fingers crossed*

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theoneandonlylittlebird:

kimrossa:

VALENSOLE Lavender Fields (June 2018)

@galactic-pirates you know what I’m thinking of?

Yes I do

I’m been thinking about it every single day lately. It’s Camp NaNo this month so you never know 🙂

theoneandonlylittlebird reblogged your photoset and added: “theoneandonlylittlebird:
kimrossa:
VALENSOLE Lavender Fields (June…”

There, there, no shame intended! Just wanted you to know I was thinking of your fic. If it speaks to you, that’d be wonderful, but if not, I’ll remember it fondly anyway.

Oh merlin I hope it won’t remain just a fond memory! I’ve had an eventful year to put it mildly. I know intentions are meaningless but both back then and now – it’s always on my mind to write.

I avoided stating it earlier but you know what I’m going to risk it. Cast iron guarantee right here, etched in stone etc. there WILL be an update before the end of the month.

or at least I hope not urk heh

For the fanfiction ask – 22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

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I got an ask! Yay 🙂 Sorry it’s been ages on account of how I’ve not produced anything in forever. Thank you so much anon 🙂

Do I have a fic I look back at and cringe?

Seriously I could fall over laughing because like oh man SO MANY!

In the interests of my self-esteem I’ll only look through my current masterlist. There are some fics in my past that are just beyond the pale (I know I was 11 but what was I thinking??)

As always I’ve gone on a bit *eyeroll*

The List:

  • Pretty much all my smutty fics. I wanted to add “smut writing” as a tool for my writers toolkit. It also feels like the rumbelle fandom loves their smut and I wanted to join in and be part of the “cool kids club” but I have buyers remorse on that decision tbh. It would probably be easier to list the ones I think are ok-ish, but that might get confusing. So cringe ones:
    • All We Are
    • Story as old as video
    • Hands all over (this also killed my desire to finish the actual WIP as its a future fic – seriously what was I thinking?)
    • The smut in Brighter Days (I rather enjoyed pointing out Young’s deficiencies though)
    • Highway to Hell
    • The Quest (at least this finished me as a smut writer so I’m grateful for that)
    • More than a feeling
    • Trouble Sleeping
    • Last Friday Night
    • This Afternoon
    • Once Upon a Lifetime
    • Sweet Masquerade
    • The smut in The Auction
    • Happy Anniversary
  • Swim to the Stars. (Sweet and fluffy? Yes. In character? Not so much imo)
  • Learning Curve.
  • Broken Apart (just badly written imo)

I probably should cringe at Wizard Love or Never Let the Pirate Babysit Alone but I rather enjoy the silliness. There is nothing wrong sometimes with just having a laugh.

Also (because I can never leave anything alone) the smut fics I accept on my masterlist without cringing are: Fall All Over Again, What Makes You Different, To Be Loved and The Beauty and the Tragedy because I feel like the smut adds something, rather than it just being ‘smut’ with no actual story or an unnecessary addition.

Ultimately however while I cringe and wish I had a back button so I could make it like it never happened – I learned something.

I learned what matters to me as a writer and what drives me to put pen to paper. I learned that I really should learn to just say no. The number of fics I’ve written only because I was asked, and the number of fics I’ve never written because they would be self-indulgent… why is that a bad thing? Who am I trying to make happy here. The answer should be me.

That is a thought I’m going to try and hold in my head as I go on. I’ll probably forget and have to relearn the lesson because I feel guilty writing what I want, as opposed to writing what I think others will like. I’m going to try though because those stories that burn in my veins, the ones I ignore to try and please others – those are mine and nobody else will tell them.

/steps off soapbox

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I saw the poster for the movie “The Spy Who Dumped Me” and I clicked on it because it had two women on the cover and I thought it was going to be an epic lesbian rom-com.

Naturally I was disappointed. The spy was a guy, and the two women were just room-mates BUT it made me wonder, could it work for either of my ships? The answer is I think it could work for both of them! but in different ways.

1) Original thought – After locksat was dealt with Haley eventually got bored and started travelling for work again. The distance, plus the age gap, led Haley to break up with Alexis. When some bad guys from her latest job start hunting Alexis, Haley thinks their break-up was an even better idea because look at the danger she put her in.

Alexis disagrees, she’d been kidnapped and shot at long before she met Haley and what she hates the most is the people she loves being in danger, and not being there to help them. Alexis asks Haley whether she expects her to turn her back on her dad and never see him again. Shocked Haley says no, so Alexis says then why would she turn her back on her? To cut a long idea short basically they prove they are stronger together, plus being forced together like that reminds both of them why they fell in love with each other in the first place.

2) Second thought – Ruby had dated Whale, Victor Whale, for a short time. Unfortunately it was during this short time that Victor was tailed and so Ruby was flagged as being his weak spot. Now Victor is a lothario but not a jerk, if he could then he would have gone to protect Ruby, but he was deep undercover on another assignment. So instead the agency dispatches Mulan.

Things get a little more complicated when Merida from down the hall gets caught up in the initial shootout/chase at Ruby’s apartment. Now the three women are on the run and to be cheesy – sparks are going to fly.

Yeah I want to fic it.

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I sent this to my friend but you know what I’m just going to post it.

Last night I got this fic idea which just unfolded in my brain. I wrote out the summary during break and I thought “hmm this is cool! I like it 🙂 I want to read!”

Then I realised I’d actually have to write it…

 If only it was easy as imagination and a summary

Where is the line between fanfic and original work?

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This … issue arose tonight and it just made me wonder. I mean obviously canon-compliant fanfic/fanart is obviously not original but AU is far murkier territory.

We take characters we know and love and transplant them into completely different settings. We give them new backstories and new motivations. We change things about them, we make them experience new defining moments. We give them family or take it away. We do role reversals (Light!Rumple, Dark!Belle for instance).

Ooops I went on longer than intended so I’ll use a cut 🙂

Then there are aspects of the character. We take the downtrodden scared spinner, or the ruthless business man, or the lonely man behind the mask. Each are just one aspect but we exaggerate, we change, we use our impression of the character and not the actual character.

AU can change things so much that if we changed the names would anyone know? Some people have taken their fanfic and turned it into original works because there is a lot of originality in there. By the time the AU story has been told how much is fanfic and how much is original?

I ask this because like I said the ‘issue’ arose tonight when I spoke with someone who was adamant the drawing I was signing up to do had to be original. I explained that I used references as I’m still pretty bad at drawing, and they said that was fine but it couldn’t be fanfic.

I don’t do well talking with people face to face so it was only on the drive home that I started musing that maybe we were talking at cross purposes. Perhaps what they were afraid of was canon-ish fanfic, whereas what I had in mind would basically only share the faces of these characters. (It was a Beauty and the Beast adaptation in case you were wondering, and they said they’d throw something (me or the drawing I’m not sure) if I drew Robert Carlyle).

This reminds me of that graphic where someone simply told the story of Star Wars, Harry Potter, King Arthur and a couple of others because they can break down the same. Young Orphan is the Chosen One, sees their mentor die, has a special skill, defeats the bad guy etc. Which brings up the age old argument of what is an original story in the first place?

If we get inspiration from another piece of media and take one aspect e.g. the lonely man behind the mask, as I used it as an example earlier, and put it in a new setting, new name, new looks, new backstory, new everything else – is that still fanfic?

Anyway, I’ll stop now before I go on any further as I’m hoping someone will read this and respond – I’m really interested to hear other opinions – and if I ramble on too long then nobody will read heh 🙂

5. Did you make an outline for Conspiracy Afloat? Did you stick to it?

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Oh yes – on both counts actually.I planned that fic the way I plan a novel, which given that it probably would have been better (and less rushed) if it was novel length kinda made sense. I did a full timeline, scene by scene outline etc. To make sure I didn’t mess up and have it be day/night at the wrong time.

You have no idea how tempting it was to go ‘off book’ and veer off the outline. I had so much more I wanted to do but that was an RSS fic so it had a strict deadline. It was getting on for 30k I think when it was done anyway, so I really didn’t time to expand it. The outline helped me get it done, I don’t think I would have managed otherwise.

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Having answered twice that “long languishing fic – will this be the year it gets finished and posted?” I’ve now remembered the other half-dozen, half-written fics. Last year I started things mainly for AMR and oops…

image

Ok I hereby coin 2018 as the year of getting stuff finished. So mote it be!