For the fic ask game! 18+6 in general, and 25 x 3 from fics of your own choosing
6. How did you decide what tense and POV(s) to use?
I generally default to third person present unless there’s some kind of meta element I want to toy with. I feel like it’s a lot easier to figure out past/present/future tenses from that starting point, whereas starting from past tense it can be harder to keep track of past tense (current) and past tense (pluperfect/past continuous/etc whatever).
As for what point of view character, it ranges from ‘barely a decision because the fic inherently needs to be from this character’s perspective’ to ‘going back and forth writing snippets of scenes from different perspectives to find out what works’ but in the end, the decision’s made based on what perspective drives the fic the furthest and the easiest. I might be swapping a pov of a wip to see if it goes further..
18. Talk about your editing and revision process
I generally don’t write in a way where I do major revisions, I usually have a Very Specific Idea about the atmosphere and the intention I have for a scene, so it’s more about filling in gaps and fine-tuning something. I remember a while ago I had a foxskull fic where the emotional cohesion wasn’t working out, and air was like ‘I think it’d make more sense if there was conflict here’ & while they were right about that as a possible solution, and while I love conflict, I was like. no. I think what ended up happening was pushing the vibe to more extremes, like cautiously defusing an emotional bomb.
If I can, I like getting a pal who can read over and give notes on what works and what doesn’t. I like thorough notes on atmosphere and phrasing and pacing, and I need the positives to be pointed out so The Agonizing Process Of Being Edited is offset. Which is a pretty common experience of editing preference, I’d imagine. If I’m writing in isolation it’s easy for me to lose focus and motivation, but fortunately I’ve had friends who were willing to hype me up as I dragged my corpse over the finish line… there’s no way I would’ve finished night flowers without liz or april lol
25. Share your favorite line (x3)
I never like just one singular line so I’m gonna change it to ‘section’
from as it turns out, dying isn’t the romantic gesture you might think it is
Despite being explicitly told not to get involved, Shang Qinghua involves himself for a couple reasons, neither of them flattering.
Reason number one: jealousy.
Listen. It took years for Shang Qinghua to close the gap between him and Mobei Jun, to get them from an undefined relationship between strangers… to an undefined relationship between acquaintances. And that was fine. That was great. Who could ask for more, especially from someone like Mobei Jun?
Shen Qingqiu, apparently! In less than a day, fucking Shen Qingqiu swooped in from nowhere and usurped what Shang Qinghua had built over the better part of a decade! Who wouldn’t be bitter!! Who wouldn’t go mad!! Fuck!!
Reason number two: desperation.
I liked going all in on stupid bitter jealousy and resentment and then figuratively switching to the next powerpoint slide. I think I’m hysterical. In general, mo/shang is where some of my funniest writing is
from “I can’t stay” and other lies to tell
The thing about being a blindingly competent genius with a very specific skillset is that everyone wants to use Han Sooyoung in completely inconsequential ways. It’s a waste. It’s overkill. It’s as insulting as buying a sword from a master craftsman and using it to chop vegetables.
“I’m not editing your essay,” she says, looking up from the three sheets of paper that Lee Gilyoung had shoved into her hands.
I love when sooyoung is annoying <3
from reprise, refrain
“Then it sounds like we’re all on the same page!” Lance claps his hands together, clearly pleased with himself. “All we have to do is get in the cat-stack and we’ll be fine, right?”
this is buried in a vld gen fic which means hardly anyone would’ve seen it. I still really love lance describing voltron as ‘the cat-stack’ and it’s one of my favorite lines I’ve written for him even though I’ve for sure written much more overtly funny lines for him.
