January Activities 2011

[CoolCatElly]

Review for Your Son

Lovely story Mere! Here are a few questions:

1) What is your favorite era to write and why? You seen to have a lot of Marauder...

2) The story "Your Son" was very engaging and emotional. What do you do when writing emotional scenes, if anything? E.g. listen to music?

3) What's the furthest you've ever gone out of your comfort zone when writing?

Just three quick ones there!

Thanks!

XXXXXX

Elene

[Kerichi]

There's a psychological term, temporal discounting (overvaluing the present and undervaluing the future), which I think pretty much sums up why I haven't kept my writing resolutions the last couple of years. Fan fiction is instant gratification, feedback and encouragement. To switch from chapter fics to one-shots and spend most of my time on original fiction requires a change in priorities, a change in habits, and a change in values.

I don’t know what the future will bring, but I know what makes me happy, and my resolution is to set goals and take steps to achieve them. Henry David Thoreau said, “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

Sounds good to me! ^_^

[lucca4]

My review for Empty Words. I really really liked this one, Mere!

What inspired you to write Empty Words?

Do you have a favorite Marauder-era character to write?

How did you decide to write from an OC's POV instead of a canon character?

Does writing emotion come easily to you?


xx Ariana

[MerryD]

Thank you all so much for your reviews! They each made my day, seriously. I think I've responded to all of them. If I haven't, feel free to throw something at me to remind me. I know that's my favourite part about reviewing.

From Hannah-->

Which of your stories are you proudest of and why?

ugh. That's a tough one. I think my writing is the most mature and the best in The Breaking Point, but Drowning in Darkness was really hard to write and I'm kind of amazed at how I handled it. So, it's a toss up between those two.

I noticed that a lot of your writing seems to centre around more minor characters and pairings, what draws you to those?

I guess I feel like I'm allowed the most creative license with them. To be honest, I really don't know. I was kind of taken by surprise by this question because I'd never really thought about it much. I just write whatever pops into my head.

Is there a particular element of writing (characterisation, plot, style, themes etc) that you find yourself exploring most often in your writing?

Characterisation definitely. I'm a very character-driven writer and I pride myself on my characterisation. I often sit down to write with just a character or two in mind and maybe a vague idea or prompt and the plot, style, themes, etc come as I'm writing.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

I really, really like one word prompts. They're possibly my favourite to explore. I'm also inspired a lot by music--or, rather, the emotions conveyed by the song--and images. A lot of the time, though, I have no idea where my inspiration comes from. I'll just be going through the day, doing normal, everyday things and an idea will pop up out of nowhere. *shrugs*

Do you have any particular writing goals?

Write lots?

uh, well, it's kind of all I want to do. I'd love to be a published novelist who's able to write for a living, but it's a bit of a hard business to get into, so . . . yeah. I don't know. According to my mom, I've been writing ever since I was able to hold a pen and I definitely don't plan on stopping any time soon.

From Vorona-->

also for The Breaking Point (honestly, I just picked the one with the fewest reviews! I didn't realize one of them was Hannah's!)

haha, that's okay, dear. It's actually the story I prefer reviews on since it's my most recent and probably best. Most of my stories have been SPEW'd several times over anyway.

1. I was really impressed with your voice and tone in The Breaking Point. I haven't read the other stories. Is that your natural voice or do you vary the voice with each story?

hm. Well, I don't consciously vary the voice of each story. That is, I've never sat down and been like "well, I'm going to try and make this one sound like this." So I guess it's my natural voice?

2. Also, as I mentioned in the review, I tend to prefer internal conflict to external conflict. Do you as well, or do you like them equally? Which is easier to write?

To read, as long as the plot and the characters are engaging I don't care what type of conflict it is. To write, I definitely prefer internal. They say you write what you know, yeah? Well, it's never been me against to world or me against someone else; it's only been me against myself. It's all I know how to write.

3. How did you come up with your characterisation of Regulus?

A really good friend of mine who's no longer active on MNFF wrote three fabulous Regulus/OC one-shots--Honorable Intentions, Sin Like Fire, and Puppet Heart Strings (Puppet Heart Strings is possibly my favourite story on the archives). My Regulus is nothing like Nikki's Regulus, but her Regulus got me thinking about my Regulus. I don't know exactly where he came from. He was just this idea of a character that I had that never became embodied until I wrote my Lily/Regulus fic.

4. Do you write original fiction? If so, is your process for original fiction different from your process for fan fiction? Does fan fiction ever inspire your original fiction or vice versa (if you write original fiction)?

I do write original fiction. I usually try to explore my characters a little bit more because I have no idea who they are, whereas in fanfiction, I know exactly who everyone is already. I don't have much of a writing process, actually. I just kind of sit down and write and see where I go. I've tried planning things, but I always get bored and antsy and just want to write already, damnit! I don't think FF has ever inspired any OF or vice versa, unfortunately. That would be pretty cool if it did.

From Elene-->

1) What is your favorite era to write and why? You seen to have a lot of Marauder...

. . . and that would be because Marauder Era is my favourite to write. The Trio specifically and the Trio Era in general don't really interest me because, well, we have seven books about them. I know that my characterisation of Harry, Ron, or Hermione would never be as good as JKR's (obviously) and that would just frustrate me.

*shrugs* I started writing Mararuder Era and now I'm just kind of stuck there. I do have this nagging Oliver/Percy idea, though, so that may change.

2) The story "Your Son" was very engaging and emotional. What do you do when writing emotional scenes, if anything? E.g. listen to music?

um. I don't really do anything. I wrote most of Your Son in an airport. I do like to listen to music when I write, but my music rarely matches the tone of the story or the scene.

3) What's the furthest you've ever gone out of your comfort zone when writing?

Drowning in Darkness deals with domestic abuse. That was uncomfortable. I also wrote an OF with a rape scene once. Also uncomfortable.

From Ariana-->

What inspired you to write Empty Words?

It was the final for a class I took here on the boards called Strictly Summarizing. I was given the summary and had to write a story that would go with the summary. I also had Taylor Swift's "Should've Said No" and Linda Ronstadt's "When Will I Be Loved" stuck in my head while I was writing it. I think I also watched the Olympics and baby sat while I wrote it, but I'm pretty sure neither of those things were very inspiring.

Do you have a favorite Marauder-era character to write?

LILY EVANS.

How did you decide to write from an OC's POV instead of a canon character?

er. I think I've established at this point that I think very little before I start writing. I didn't really decide, it just happened . . .

Does writing emotion come easily to you?

Well, non-emotional stuff comes a lot harder, so I think yeah. I'm a pretty emphatic person and I've been told I have a good grasp on people and human nature, so imagining a character's emotions in a particular situation has never been hard for me.

Again, thank you all so much for those reviews and these questions! *hugs*

--Mere