81 days to go until rough drafts are due for the Perseia Big Bang!
To help everyone get into the writing mood, we’re interviewing some of our authors about their fanfic writing process, with one interview posted each week. This week, we’re very excited to be talking to @punkflame queen of seafam angst and author of the infamous Triton raises Percy as his son in How to Avoid a Prophetic Death, the demigods get Hanahaki disease in Love Blooms from Within, and Keep One Eye Open.
How do you go about plotting and coming up with ideas for your fics?
While I do have quite a few stories that are based on prompts, either through exchanges / events or otherwise, my overall story plotting is highly self indulgent. The physical process is somewhat basic. Typically, I think of a situation I would like to see characters in, or an emotion I would like to evoke. From there I write any random thoughts down, make bullets under and expand on each one until I have some semblance of a real idea. Exchanges etc. and other such things are so fun, too, though. Not only do they help oneself get out of a rut, but it's so rewarding to craft a story specifically for someone and their interests and likes.
How do you go about your characterisations and keeping your characters three-dimensional and consistent, especially for characters that aren’t developed in the OG series like Triton or Amphitrite?
The thing about building a character up that doesn't have much canon appearances -- especially so for those who have a single scene and maybe five lines combined -- is trying to identify and define *motivation.* What drives them? Why? How does this fundamentally shape their experiences, and how they interact with others on a day to day basis? Who does this affect around them and how? Who is important to them? Who do they hate? How does that affect their other relationships?
Once there's an overall 'base' for a character built in your mind, literally basically just the 5 W's, it's a matter of filling in more fine details. Even just some basic ones that are somewhat surface level. Like appearance. Any significance to any aspects of their appearance, anything that ties them to their past, or other people. Even further on that; posture, cadence, and general self presentation. Everyone has things that shape all of those aspects. How they act and react to people, places and things. How they hold themselves, and how that makes them seem to the world around them. They may be perceived one way, but the very basis of why everything about them is the way it is, is because of the very opposite thing. People often assume. From one pov we see one side, and then another we see the actuality to it.
When one is actually building their own characterization, I often find it best to not go on assumptions; even with established media. By that I mean... Well it's kinda that whole 'show me don't tell me' thing. We don't always have all the information, and we won't often get it all at once. Character building, in my opinion, often works best when the reader uncovers the information along with another character. In this way you really feel like you're getting to know them rather than like.... Reading a bio. You want to decide for yourself the above information, but not outright state it.
This does work especially well with non pre-established characters. There is so much more room for fleshing out. One can really make them however one wants when... starting from scratch, so to say.
For those who are established, however, assuming everyone knows everything about them so therefore this doesn't need to be done at all may result in depictions falling flat. Everyone portrays characters a little different, especially as each story the characters will have motivations relevant to the story being told. Assuming we know motivations just because we read the books / engaged with canon can leave these big blank spaces or even feel somewhat repetitive in a way. It's always great to get to know whomever's version of a character upon reading a new story. If that is omitted, it's harder to connect to the story that is being told, why it matters to the characters, and the world that one has built to tell the story.
That being said, one doesn't, of course, have to go in depth for every story. Especially not short things. Though distilling everything above down to the basis of 'show me don't tell me' tends to be the best way, in my opinion, to have a character that actually feels like there's dimension there, rather than just a topic. For the most part, once you're happy with and familiar with your characterization, writing for them in a way that expresses that and who they are becomes easy and more fluid.
What about character arcs and believably having characters change and grow in your fics?
This overall process directly ties into character arcs and story arcs to a degree as well. They're so intrinsically tied, to me. Especially for longer things. There can't truly be one without the other. A character can't grow and change and have this big defining moment if we don't know why it matters, or anything about them. It takes away the value of the entire story. The writer needs to give it value. Why would the reader care if the writer doesn't? A character can't change if we don't know what they are changing from / who they are and why it matters to them, or the world in which they live. The change can't mean anything if one doesn't give it a reason to.
On the other side, learning all about a character and connecting with them can fall flat if it doesn't even truly matter. No character *should* be entirely perfect. They *will* be affected by and affect the story, themself. They're all connected to the plot somehow. They don't exist in a vacuum. *How* does the lived experience of the story affect them? How does that shift compare and contrast to how they were at the start? Or, who knows, perhaps they're resistant to change. Though this should be shown in the story including *why* they are and *how* their active efforts to defy such things affect relationships and personal growth otherwise.
In the end, there's good and bad in everything. They can't (shouldn't) *exclusively* have positive takeaways from *everything* that happens. They shouldn't only ever do things that have positive results. Sometimes stuff sucks. Sometimes they make mistakes, or have good intentions that aren't exactly the right choices. That's what makes stories -- and life -- mean anything. If it were always perfect, what would the story even be? Why would it need to be told?(Things like some fluff can of course be exceptions here, but this is speaking generally and, of course, excluding situational genres and stories.)
What’s your favourite and least favourite parts about writing?
I love making people happy through telling stories…. Or hitting them hard with angst and other fun things that keep them coming back. >:)
Overall world building can be sooo fun too, and hyper specific research that is literally in a sentence of a fic if at all and is basically entirely inconsequential. (Like finding the exact co-ordinates of where camp, and specifically, Thalia's Pine would be in order to find a real store on the route to camp. Or researching specific books from a franchise to see which would be out at the time of canon to allow a character make an era appropriate niche reference.) Meeting amazing people and communities as a whole, also.
Least favourite…. Probably editing. It's so rare I have access to my Editing Brain (tm). She's a fully different entity from Writing Brain (tm)
Do you have any unusual hacks to deal with writer's block?
Writer's Block is a pain. Especially when you haven't really written in a long time for other reasons. My favourite way to help deal with it is to use a one word prompt to write *anything*. I have a spinner with random words that I use. If you don't like that, maybe make a spinner with random genres, or tropes, or anything like that. Maybe look on tumblr for one sentence writing prompts.Go with the first thing you think of when you see or choose the prompt.
Don't put too much thought into exactly what it *should* be, that is the opposite of the point. It is key to not overthink it. Don't care about the word count. Don't even look at it. Don't force yourself to outline if you normally do. Don't force yourself to world build or be 10000% accurate to history or myth or the books or whatever else your brain gets hung up on. *Don't get hung up on making it perfect.* Hell, don't even post it if you don't want to, just get your brain working and thoughts flowing.
Who knows, maybe it'll spark an idea for a longer fic or series.
And, finally, do you have any advice for other Big Bang fanfic authors at this stage in the writing process?
If you're wondering ‘would anyone even read this?’ the answer is:
1. Yes
2. It doesn't matter, write for *you* not for commenters and what others think.
These events are for fun, not for stress. Yes there is a minimum word count for this event, but you don't have to do it all at once. Write a little bit every day. Even if that means a sentence. It's good to get thoughts out and on a page.
Want to join in? You can sign up to write/make art/beta here!
Want to come hang out in our discord? Link here!
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