#galactic-pirates

[sarcasticsciencefictionwriter]

questions for fic writers - 1, 3, 7 and 14

Hi again! And 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?)

*glances at 111 fics*

Probably The Abnormal X-File.

I feel it's a good example of my writing without being too long or over-detailed or anything like that. It's a good way to ease into my style, I think, and is pretty much the gateway that led to me writing everything else I have.

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

I think gentle intimacy, whether it be romantic or platonic is high up on the list. (I'm a sucker for forehead/brow kisses among other thing)

Also my tendency to have family/platonic above/before romantic things and inserting a good dollop of angst into the middle of that stuff.

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

Um... I don't know? I don't know how much world building I've done for fics in general, really.

Enigmatic Confections, probably, because it's my longest fic and I'm very happy where I have it right now. I don't know how much world-building that really required, because I just plopped them into modern-day London and made them 'normal'.

Unpublished fics, it would be my Ranna-centric fic, I think, because I made up a lot of lore about Praxis and how it's run, and the people there to fit with what I wanted and I really like what I have there so far, even though I'm still building it up. For that one, I made up lore about Ranna's family, how hers and other founder bloodlines are controlled by the Senate for ruling and bonding with Kanaan, and a bunch of other things besides.

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

Uh...I don't know, really? Probably '[blank] made them do it.' Those are just kind of icky to me.

Oh! I'm not huge into smut, but I really, really want to read my mutuals/friends' stories, like @chartreuseian's 'Lessons' series, which I am thoroughly enjoying and started reading because it's their story and it's so good. So yeah. Stuff like that.

If one of my friends writes something, I'm most likely to read it eventually, even if it's not my thing, because I trust their writing. :)

[sarcasticsciencefictionwriter]

even more fic writer asks - Strangers in the night - 3, 9 and 16

Hi, thanks so much! :)

(For anyone reading this that doesn't know, this fic is Helen/John + royalty AU)

3. Did the idea change at all by the time the fic was complete?

Not really, I don't think. I went into it with a goal and I think I accomplished it fairly well. It probably helps that I only worked on it in short bursts for three months, so I didn't spend as much time agonizing over it as I do for most fics.

The idea was always Helen/John in an arranged marriage, finally deciding to get to know each other only months after the conception of their child.

9. Did you get stuck at any point? How did you get past that?

I did for a bit, right at the beginning, where Helen and John were actually talking and Helen was frightened, because I was torn about how to have John physically show her that he wasn't going to hurt her or anything. it was a very delicate situation that I didn't feel equipped to handle, even though it was rather the point of the fic.

I got past that by ignoring the fic for a bit to work on other things, and eventually talking it out with my sister, who pushed me to keep writing it. (Probably so I wouldn't keep bugging her about it. 😂)

16. Talk about the fic’s biggest moment & how you came up with it

Oooh, that's hard, because there are three bits I consider big in this. Um... well, I think it was the bit I got stuck on, honestly.

I think the biggest moment is near the beginning, where I have John kneel in front of Helen to be less intimidating to her and then he touches her stomach to feel the baby for the first time, even though she's six months pregnant.

I came up with it because I really wanted to show just how intense the separation between them was, that they do not know each other despite their enormous positions in each other's lives, so I spent quite a bit of time trying to think of physical ways to show it.

John can be menacing on a good day, especially with his height, so I thought kneeling in front of Helen would be a good way to demonstrate his willingness to make her comfortable, to place the power in her hands.

It was both practical and symbolic, which really fit the tone of what I was going for and I liked it a lot, so I played around with it a bit and tweaked it to fit the scene.

Also, the part where he feels the baby for the first time really helped Helen's realization of their situation, that he was just as scared as she was, and again, was a symbolic demonstration of their circumstances, and let Helen take control where she felt she had none.

[sarcasticsciencefictionwriter]

Never have I ever written a fic with…. Amnesia

Or… holiday focused story (like Christmas, Halloween etc.)

Thank you!!! :D

Amnesia

Nope! I haven't written amnesia. Yet. I would probably write it as John in Sanctuary, forgetting that he was the Ripper and such, and Helen and James (maybe Nikola) struggling with whether to tell him or let him have a clean slate to start over with. And then there's the problem that he may eventually remember and be faced with the fact that they chose not to tell him.

Or....I, personally, do not count this among amnesia, because it's one thing out of many in the fic, but I do have a fic for SG-1 where Sam suffers a gunshot wound to the head and as a result, has extensive brain damage, including memory-loss.

Since she also has communication difficulties, the other characters actually don't know how much she remembers versus how much she can actually express.

I haven't updated the story since August (🙈) and I haven't decided how it's going to go with her memory.

Mind Over Matter <- link

Holiday Focused Story

Yep, more than I thought I would, actually! (I'm including stories that take place on/around the holidays, because the fact they do are factors in the stories)

-- No Monsters Allowed , a Sanctuary story about Henry's first Halloween at the Sanctuary and his realization that his family are what everyone else considers 'monsters', so the staff and residents rally to give him a fun Halloween at home.

-- One for the Ages , a Sanctuary story focusing on Declan dealing with the shenanigans and dangers of the abnormal world on Halloween his first year as Head of House.

-- O Night Divine , a Sanctuary story about Helen feeling very melancholy on Christmas Eve in the Underground Sanctuary and Nikola doing his best to cheer her up.

-- Christmas Cookies , a Sanctuary story where Helen starts a tradition of making cookies at Christmas and watches it change over the years as her family changes.

-- To Start Anew , Sanctuary fic where Helen and Nikola confess their feelings on Christmas Eve post-show. Written as a gift for @theleotorrio :)

-- Nook , SG-1, where the team and Cassie are exchanging gifts on Christmas Day and Cassie gives Jack an unexpected gift.

And since they're devolving from being all about the holidays, here are the honorable mentions:

-- What Makes a Mother , a SG-1 story for but not about Mother's Day, about seven mothers (Egeria, Hathor, Drey'auc, Janet, Sha're, Sam, and Vala) and their different views and experiences.

-- Fatherhood Does not Simply Stop , a SG-1 story on Father's Day, where Jack is mourning the loss of Charlie and Teal'c shares the loss of his firstborn child.

-- Five Minutes to Midnight , Sanctuary, takes place on New Year's Eve/New Year's Day, where Helen and John talk as they approach midnight. <- probably doesn't actually count, I only wrote it taking place then because I wanted to use the 'time travel' element of John teleporting between time zones so they went back to the previous year.

[lilolilyr]

Fic writer asks: 15, 23, 34 and 52

15 What’s your favorite time to write?

I don't know about favourite/, but I'm most productive in the middle of the night after having half asleep daydreams that turn into too coherent fanfics to pass up the opportunity to write them down while I still remember them... But of course then I'm overtired af the next day, so again I dunno about the favourite bit xD

I'm also good at writing in situations I can't escape where I can't do much else to amuse me, like on the train or stuck in boring lectures.

23 Is writing the beginning, middle, or end of the story easiest? Hardest?

Hmm depends on what part of the story was my first idea. Easiest is when I thought through the whole thing in one go either just before or while writing it down. Hardest is when I have a beginning and an end but no idea how to get from point A to point B, and that's why I still haven't posted part 3 of the Avorah series I'm writing xD

34 How much of your personal life/experience do you include in your fics?

Not much but also not nothing? I have a tag for fics that are vaguely inspired by real life events, because usually either a scene/conversation or the setting has been taken from my own life and adapted to fit the characters I'm writing about :) hey new ask meme ideas: try to guess what's taken from my life in those fics xD

52 What’s the average word count of your fics?

Oh holy fuck I have no idea! I mean, I think most of my fics are somewhere between 1 and 10k, but to get an actual average I'd have to look at way too many numbers! Or is there a bot or sth that counts through your ao3 for you? xD

Thanks for the questions! Sorry it took me so long to reply!

fandom ask | fic writer ask | book worm ask

[tinknevertalks]

📝, 🦉and 😱for the writing asks

Eeee! Thanks for the ask. :D

📝 How many words do you have posted? - 295404. I write a lot of short things.

🦉 Is there another author that helped inspire you to write? - There's been a few. @rinari7 encouraged me so much (the very best beta reader *ever*). @ladyelysandra, @zebsfloppyears, and @xbleeple too. Oh! And @sarcasticsciencefictionwriter and @chartreuseian! The Sanctuary fam is such a wonderfully supportive group, even when we have different headcanons and theories and ships. 💕

😱 What's your greatest fear as a fanfic writer? - Accidentally plagiarising someone’s fic, or, “Oh, I've got her blocked. She's so shit but thinks she's hot shit and I can't deal with that on the daily.” I know it's a them thing if they wanna block me, but I so want everyone to like me that thinking someone thinks poorly of me makes me sad.

[sarcasticsciencefictionwriter]

Fandom asks: 12, 21 and 23

Thank you!! 💕

12. What's the funniest or craziest AU idea you've ever come up with?

I already got this question, but I'll take the excuse to talk about another AU! :)

My Encanto AU idea is probably a little crazy. It involves a bit of science + magic, a Helen/James/Nikola pairing, and stars Alice Foss-Myers trying to hit into her family that have all been 'gifted' with abnormalities while she has been.

It also features flashbacks of Helen/John and Helen being a hard and disillusioned matriarch of her family, sometimes to the point where it hurts them instead of helps them.

(I only watched Encanto once for this to happen, so go figure)

21. Go onto your AO3. Which ship have you written for the most? The least? Does this correspond to who you consider your "favourite?"

Sam Carter/Jack O'Neill (21).

I mean....no? I love Sam/Jack, but this is definitely influenced by my having written more for Stargate SG-1. They're one of my top ships, but I consider my Sanctuary ships to be my favorites.

Henry Foss/Erika Meyers (1)

Abby Corrigan/Will Zimmerman (1)

I like these ships just fine, but I just don't have a lot of inspiration to write for them yet.

My favorite is Helen Magnus/Montague John Druitt, which ranks somewhere in the middle of my having written. But I've been afraid of messing that up, so I've avoided it a bit.

23. Has your favourite character/ship changed over time?

Nope! I stand by Helen/John and Sam/Jack.

I have warmed up to Helen/Nikola a lot, though, so now it ranks among my favorite (It's in the top three, probably).

[tinknevertalks]

Fic writer asks: 4, 16, 45 and 52

Oooooh, thank you for the ask!

4. How do you choose which fics to write? - Basically whatever grabs my interest. I have a few wips in the old google docs, and I'll have a little read of some, and if I go, “Oooooh, what happens next?!” I try to figure it out. Or I get inspired by a random post on Tumblr and bash out 500+ words. It's all much of a muchness.

16. Do you write by hand, on your phone, or on your laptop? - Mostly on my phone, sometimes on my work computer, rarely on paper (unless I've got hard core writers block).

45. What genre/trope do you tend to write the most? - Slice of life stuff, mostly, with romantic stuff and family feels coming along as back up. :)

52. What’s the average word count of your fics? - OK, so mathematically, the true average is 1225 (and change). However, that includes the outlier that is my NaNo novel, which is a hefty 51k words. (OK, hefty for me.) So take away that and I come in at 1017 and change… Huh. I'll take that. :)

[sarcasticsciencefictionwriter]

Fic writer asks: 3, 12, 20 and 38

Hi and thank you so much! 🥰

3. Do you share your fic ideas, or do you keep them to yourself?

I love to share my ideas, but I'm a little shy to just randomly go on about it on Tumblr, unless asked in an ask game, because I'm always like: who really wants to hear about this? Am I just spoiling it for people who just want to read it, not hear about it?

But I do share most of my ideas with my sister and bounce things about them off of her. (This includes dumping my excitement, anxiety, moaning, etc. with her) She knows about AUs I haven't even written the idea down for.

Also @zeldamacgregor has been so wonderful in letting me talk about and share fic ideas with her and for reading pieces of Sanctuary fics when I'm vibrating with the need to share.

12. Do you outline your fics?  If yes, how detailed are your outlines?  How far do you stray from them?

The only fic I outlined (as in actually sat down and wrote out/planned the whole thing) is Enigmatic Confections. I have a collection of index cards with each prompt from Fictober and a chapter summary with it.

I have a timeline for Come Now, Little One..., but mostly I just have an idea of where I want fics to start and where I want them to go, with maybe a few pieces along the way, but I don't write it out consciously. Most of my writing is getting from point A to point B.

20. Do you prefer writing AUs or canon fics?

Oof, that's a hard one. I believe I have more canon fics (or canon compliant fics, as it were, because I do mostly missing scenes or pre-canon or whatever) but I think I have more fun with the AUs.

38. What is your most self-indulgent posted story?

truedairship beat you to this one, but it's 'Bleeding Through the Blue', but Out of the Blue + Magnitt fic, because I love both the episode and the ship so much. It was also my first multi-chaptered Sanctuary story.