9 questions with prettymessedupsitutation
This week: @prettymessedupsituation talks the pitfalls of canon; wanting to be a better writer, and the benefits of having multiple projects to work on.
ASS: What do you most enjoy about writing fanfiction?
prettymessedupsituation: The best thing about writing fanfiction, for me personally, is the ability to take these characters I know and love and expand on their inner thoughts and desires - like in a character study. That microfocus and tight point of view is something we don’t get to experience much on the show, and being able to take a facial expression or action and put all the emotion and motives behind it on the page is just as fun as it is challenging.
What aspects of writing do you find difficult when you write fanfiction?
It’s hard to navigate tropes and canon, in that you want to be original, but as you’re writing someone else might be writing about the same thing or what you’re writing suddenly becomes an arc on the show. I’m dealing with that now with my DCBB, and there’s a lot of frustration as well as the challenge of how to continue with your original vision to where the story was going without feeling as if you’re just rewriting canon. Rewriting canon is fun, but when you set out with an idea you felt was pretty original for fic and after you map it out it happens on the show, it’s a punch in the gut.
Also trying to not write the same scenes in smut over and over again. How many times can you use the words pushed or thrust? All the words I need seem to have few synonyms, and the ones they have are not at all what want to use - unless I’m writing crack.
Have you ever received hateful comments on your fic and how do you deal with it?
I don’t think I’ve ever received comments that were hateful that actually affected me. I wrote a Wayward Daughters MoTW fic called “Weekend at Jody’s” just for fun and someone actually read a fic that was centered entirely around the girls and felt the need to leave comments like “I like the girls but Sam and Dean are still the best!” Literally no one asked who you like better. And then on a later chapter they called Krissy and Claire bitches and said they didn’t like the story. Okay? Hateful trolls are the worst. I just thanked them, a person who obviously is just hateful and misogynistic, for taking the time to read a Wayward Daughter’s fic. Those kind of comments you have to brush off because it’s so very obvious they’re just enjoying being assholes.
Conversely: what’s been some of your favorite feedback on your fanfic?
With crackfic, I love it when people comment about struggling not to burst out in laughter at work or on a bus or something. I really love when I’ve made people laugh. This is just me, but feedback that’s constructive criticism I think is best handled through messaging and not on the fic itself. Personally I write for fun. I’m not looking for writing feedback about structure or another aspect of my writing, but would love to hear from people privately if they think I could do something better. I want to be a better writer, because it’s my job! But in the comments, feedback that lets me know what I’ve done right helps me strengthen those things. Some things I wrote for a prompt or challenge have become some of my favorite things to write because of reader response. I’ll be more confident in the future with writing certain characters, taking on certain storylines, and drawing on specific emotions because of the positive feedback I’ve received from readers.
How do you handle writer’s block?
Listen. I got a job writing last April and I didn’t write anything substantial for a full year. A whole year. Prior to that, I had 70 works on AO3 that I’d written over the course of maybe two and a half years. It was like writing as a job completely zapped my will to write for fun or working on my personal projects. But this April, I broke through and I’ve been writing a lot. It feels so amazing to finally enjoy doing what I love again. Writer’s block happens, and sometimes you just have to put it down for a while. Currently, I have my DCBB, an extension of a 420 fic that was completed but had a high demand for more chapters, and a mental health book. Whenever one of them is giving me trouble, I bounce between the others. Having a heavy project, a personal project, and a more lighthearted project gives me good balance and I think it’s helping me avoid that damn block.
Which Supernatural fanfic of yours are you most proud of and why?
Definitely “Take Me Back to the Start”, even though it’s not my best writing and has a low number of hits, that’s my baby. I wrote it for a challenge, and it was a fulfilment of the Mark of Cain prophecy and a series finale. I put a lot of thought and love of the characters into it, and the response of the tiny audience that read it made my writer’s heart so incredibly happy.
What/who has had the biggest influence on your writing?
I feel like I’m getting better the more I write, the more I read my favorite authors, and the incredible insight of other people in the fandom - especially my writer friends. Reading others’ takes on the same prompt, seeing a different characterization or tone of writing that really works, and suggestions by readers and friends of what they’d like to see me write or what they feel I really write well influence how and what I write, for sure.
What are you currently working on?
This year is my first year participating in a DCBB! The fic is a follow up to my KBB “Watch Him Go”, but I’m working hard to make sure that you won’t have had to read it to know what’s going on (though it would help, I’m sure). It’s angsty and painful, but I’m hoping for a happy ending.
If you could give one piece of advice to a new and/or struggling writer, what would it be?
Write. Just keep writing. You’ll be amazed at how you’ll grow in storytelling, dialogue, and characterization if you just write. And don’t be afraid to try different tones and ways of telling a story - be experimental and have fun with it. Just write.
Here be awesome...
Tumblr: prettymessedupsituation.tumblr.com and fic on Tumblr
AO3: PrettyMessedUpSituation
