20 questions for fic writers
I was tagged by @inoankin ! Thank you very much ♥ I love talking about writing despite not doing much writing myself lately hahah (jk jk I'm working on a couple things but it takes time and etc).
1. how many works do you have on ao3?
61! That's the official number. Although Together With You (TF2, helmet party anthology) is a compilation of helmet party one-shots and it has ten chapters so Idk if that counts as ten more or just as an anthology. And two of the works are zines I did organize but the works inside them are not only mine. So er the number is hazy.
2. what's your total word count?
157,705. It feels like a lot and not enough at the same time hahah XD I hoped Penthouse Bloke would eventually reach the 100k words but it's got hands kjfsdlk writing it is a struggle currently.
3. what fandoms do you write for?
Mainly Team Fortress 2, of which I wrote about 28 fics, organized 1 zine and made 2 translations into Spanish! Then I wrote mostly about A Way Out (and organized 1 zine), *squints eyes like Timmy Turner's dad talking about Dinkelberg* HLVRAI, and the occasional Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. This is my entire fandom list:
I want to write Apex Legends fic one day! If possible and only if it's fun for me. And I need to keep writing my Mortal Kombat and The Hobbit fanfic.
Leaning On You (627), a HLVRAI, frenrey fic written by request for SmokeyGG. They gave me a lot of direction so I never felt super proud of it, but nowadays I'm happy people enjoy it.
Something To Rely On (397), a TF2, sniperspy fic and the first one I wrote about TF2! I experimented with mirror narrative, it's divided in segments, and it has two "mirrored" halves, separated by the chapter when Sniper realizes he's in love with Spy. Each segment is mirrored, like, the first one with the last one, the second one with the second-to-last one, and etc. It's one of the stories I'm the most proud of ngl, despite not havin nailed down the characters' voices by then.
Sketch My Smile (394), a TF2, flashfire fic written by request of Shadowenza ♥ I had a lot of fun writing it, though I haven't gone back to reread it a lot of times, so I'm hazy on the details of it hahah XD It's about Scout drawing Pyro, and it was challenging to write about art without tiring with descriptions!
Sudden Realizations (360), a HLVRAI, frenrey fic, and the first one I wrote about frenrey. It was the opening for what I feel is my most stereotyped and unoriginal pieces of writing, which is like 80% of my HLVRAI fics, being this fic, Status Quo and (Feel) Like a Circle in a Square Hole the exception to that. So er I'm bittersweet about it ngl. I like it, but I also feel pretty cringe lmao.
Reaching Out (276), a TF2, bush medicine fic written as a loooooong secret santa to Nova (spacesucculant). It was one of the works I suffered the most writing, but also the one multichaptered story I've enjoyed the most rereading of my roster. Writing an amnesiac Sniper struggling to recover his memories and to solve the mystery of what has everyone on edge at the base was super fun, and most of my suffering came from the same source: please, if you write a mystery story, plan ahead or you'll be devoured by the plot holes lmao. It happened to me, it could happen to y'all.
5. do you respond to comments?
I used to; nowadays I try to keep up, but if I reply to 10 comments I often get 10 more and I'm sort of back where I started on the delay lmao. But!! Comments are sometimes what makes me rise out of bed and face the day with renewed energy. Comments are what makes me not give up on writing. So I appreciate a lot each and every one and I wish I could do a better job of conveying it in replies.
6. what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
I was going to say a tie between Reaching Out and Broken, but I feel Broken takes the crown this time. I wrote it about growing old in a bad way, swallowed by bitterness, alone and declining. The resolution is pretty imperfect too. I'm fond of it in a bittersweet way.
Edit: My mom told me to add as a special mention Kinds of Love, a TF2, one-sided heavymedic where Medic pines. I don't think it has ended poorly, but it's true that 90% of the comments and bookmarks are readers telling me they cried when reading it, or felt sad, so er mom feels it'd be a crime not to talk about it lmao.
7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
I'm a sucker for happy endings hahah most of my stories end up finishing happily XD I'd say either Winning Lines, a gen TF2 fic about BLU in a drawing contest (written for the Tales of Teufort zine), or Party Havoc, a gen TF2 fic about the mercs trying to set up a surprise birthday party for Soldier (written for the At Ease, Soldier zine).
8. do you get hate on fics?
I have never iirc, I hope it stays that way but I don't truly mind deep down.
I have! Bound (TF2 heavymedic PWP), Hands On (A Way Out, vinceo), Something To Rely On... Penthouse Bloke (TF2, multiship) is meant to have smut but I haven't reached the chapters yet *sobs*. And a special mention to OSHA Would Disapprove (A Way Out, vinceo), which is a funny bondage-gone-wrong situation. And I promise, no trauma involved, just how this reader described it in bookmarks:
10. do you write crossovers?
I do! I'm writing Finding Home, a TF2/JJBA crossover where Speedwagon is the tenth class. Probably one of the few if not the only fic featuring Speedwagon having a light crush on the Heavy lmao (spoilers though!)
11. have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not that I know. I tend not to know where the line of fic stealing lies, because we all get inspiration from each other in a way, right? But I've never seen my fic copy-pasted anywhere without crediting me. And well, I'm pretty sure we've all ended up being used to train AI's at one point or another, so... *sighs* I guess in that way, I have.
12. have you ever had your fic translated?
Not that I'm aware of! I'd certainly love it if someone were to do so, and y'all have my permission to try ♥
13. have you ever co-written a fic before?
I tried, with a secondary school friend, writing an ATLA multichaptered fic. Unluckily for us, we were both mad and unaware of it, so it went god-awful.
14. what's your all-time favourite ship?
I always find myself driven to a specific brand of sniperspy hahah. I love writing sniperspy, and reading it too. I certainly haven't written enough of it. For some reason I ended up writing a lot of helmet party lmao, which is also a cool ship imho.
15. what's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
Nah I feel I will get to finish writing it, it has more chances than others. Two WIP's I doubt I'll ever finish bc I'm too ambitious about them are Ocean Swept, a JJBA jonawagon fic that's best described as a Titanic!AU (I've read about the Titanic, seen videos about the sinking, watched the movie, studied maps of the ship... I'm too meticulous for my own good lol), and the Mortal Kombat AU - Fury of the Realms series, which is huge and it involves knowledge about the MK games' lore I definitely don't possess (I guess I should mention it contains the rareship Johhny Cage/Raiden XD).
16. what are your writing strengths?
I guess the flow of words! And playing with linguistic knowledge. I love making things sound nice when you read them, like, as if they were prose poetry I suppose. I like mixing sentence lengths, using specific words for specific characters' trains of thought... and creating harmony, in a way.
17. what are your writing weaknesses?
I might make action scenes a bit difficult to read because of the reference words. I must admit English is not my first language, and we use reference in a different way in Spanish. Having learnt this, I try consciously not to mess it up so that it reads natural in English, but it's one of those things that I'm afraid I'll never shake off entirely hahah.
Also I'm super shy about smut lmao
18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?
I love learning new languages, and reading multilingual texts is very fun for me. I always get happy when I understand something that I couldn't before XD I guess by writing in English I'm already doing that by default lmao so thumbs up!
19. first fandom you wrote for?
I think Attack on Titan? Before it became uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh y'know. My first fandom was Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged iirc but I don't remember having written fic in secondary school about it.
20. favourite fic you've ever written
Penthouse Bloke! It might haunt my dreams, but I've mentioned it a thousand times across this post, and that has to mean something, right? XD I have planned spin-offs, plot twists, resolutions, beginnings and endings and I have it all and I'm so in love with this story, but I haven't tapped on its full potential yet bc of how long it's taking and AGH--
The story is based on a song by Ricardo Arjona named Historia del Portero, which is uhhhhhh but I loved the idea of a TF2 modern!AU sniperspy story, with sniper as a doorman and Spy as the rich penthouse resident. It has laughter, it has crying, it has friendship and betrayals and sex of many kinds, but overall, it has love. And lots of research behind lmao. (And possibly a cameo by Linda Caruso fkldjsfkjd)
Be patient with me, everyone (and God pls let me finish it).
Tagging @offensiveagentpie , @tangentburd , @redwiddershins @walker-walker-fashion-baby and I know I'm missing a lot of writers so please if you read this and you write you're invited to do this! ♥ Thank you for the long read if you've reached the end; and I promise I have more fics I love in my roster, in case you want to check some out! Big hug ♥
