3. What is your absolute favorite kind of fic to write?
AUs, because they’re less restrictive than canon. When I write fic, I don’t tend to think of what we think we know of the people I’m writing about, I basically start from scratch with character motivation, positive character traits, negative character traits, etc. I feel like it’s easier to move beyond the stories we’ve been fed when doing an AU.
9. Do you ever have plans to write anything other than fic?
I came to fanfic from original fic, so yes. I’ve also had a personal essay published on a now-defunct site, and had some work-related things published.
16. Do you have structured ideas of how your story is supposed to go, or make it up as you write?
Yes, absolutely! I always have an outline, some more detailed than others. My characters do take over, especially when it comes to dialogue, and I have to take that into account. I trust it when my characters take the reins because they tend to find a way from X to Y when I can’t.
20. 4 sentences from your work that you’re proud of.
I have been staring at this question for far too long.
Is this supposed to be four sentences in a row or four individual sentences?
I think the problem is my writing tends to be really stripped down and I don’t think a single sentence makes a lot of sense out of context.
Having said that, I’m cheating and choosing four little sections from chapter three of To Give You a Hand to Hold. This scene is the major turning point of the fic, but I still wanted to keep the tone and communication style between Harry (also called Doc) and Louis (nicknamed Monster) consistent with what it had been. (I hate it in fics when a major turning point suddenly changes all communication styles between two characters!)
A storm is coming up, and Louis and Harry are sitting next to each other on the steps of an old wooden deck on a farm, early September, in the Midwestern US. They’re talking about almost everything they want to say, without actually saying it.
The sky had turned a murky purple-green under a thick, dark grey blanket. Heaven’s cosmic bruise splashed out in front of them as cows mooed in the distance and the corn stalks scraped against each other.
The sky is not the only cosmic bruise we’re dealing with in this scene. Their issues, both long- and short-term, are the subject. The cows are warning them they don’t have much time before the thunderstorm arrives, and the image of the corn stalks scraping together mirrors how Louis and Harry are sitting side by side on the steps of the porch, barely touching one another.
They finally move towards each other, just a bit more and--
Doc’s body was a safe, heavy pressure and Louis’ eyes closed for just a moment. He tasted static in the air.
The “safe, heavy pressure” actually reflects some things that happened in the previous scene that Louis doesn’t know about. And I just love the static detail because it’s such a telling sign of the intense sort of summer storm they’re going to experience.
Louis then says something that risks changing the tenor of their relationship (no, he does not declare his love; that’s not how Monster and Doc work).
A wall of silver droplets hurtled toward them and he hoped his words hadn’t been carried away by the crashing wind.
He absolutely doesn’t want to repeat himself, in case he just messed everything up.
Harry responds in kind, taking the same risk Louis does, and--
His words were infused with pecans and peaches and each syllable rolled around in his mouth.
Harry’s character is originally from Atlanta, but we learn in chapter one that he has worked hard to get rid of his accent. He’s testing the words, saying them for the first time, and going back to his roots to do so. He’s showing that bit of himself, and letting his guard down a little more in a raw moment. It’s a tiny detail, but to me it says a lot about Harry’s comfort. So I like it.
There you go, six sentences and four tiny sections of text I’m really happy with!
(Thank you, @myownsparknow for helping me choose these!)
