Fic writer meme: 2, 4, 81
2. talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.”
omg so I think the coolest one was with edwina sharma in my first multichapter bridgerton fic, the viscountess who vexes me. for those who don't know, the tl;dr of s2 is a doomed love triangle between edwina and kate sharma (sisters) and anthony bridgerton who pursues edwina because he doesn't love her and is terrified of being in love. the fic I wrote was a kate/anthony engagement fic because in the show they skip over that completely and jump straight to the epilogue when they're married. I always thought given the circumstances that edwina would not have attended kate and anthony's wedding - I know that I wouldn't have if I were ever in that position. but the more I wrote of edwina, including her interactions with anthony now he was engaged to her sister, the more I started rethinking my plan. edwina was not meant to be in a lot of scenes in this fic, and she's not in loads, but she does feature somewhat at the wedding and other ceremonies (mehndi and pithi) not because I planned it but because edwina just would not leave my mind. plus I found her dynamic with anthony fascinating to write. that being said, I know that most of the fandom dislikes her immensely, so I don't write as much of her as I would like.
4. what is the plot bunny you've been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven't written it yet and experience deep existential dread?
okay okay so there's this legendary bollywood movie that is an absolute classic - kabhi khushi kabhie gham (translating as "sometimes in happiness, sometimes in sadness") and I wrote my idea for a kate/anthony au based on the plot. I was a genius about it tho because I reversed the gender roles. in the movie, rahul is the adopted son of a rich guy who falls for anjali, a working class girl, and then rahul's father doesn't accept him and refuses to give his blessing for their marriage. I dreamed up an au with kate sharma as rahul and anthony as anjali, not just because of the gender switch here but also the change in kate being from the upper class instead of anthony. my main thing with this is that I have 3 active wips currently and I don't want to add to that pile when I'm barely updating my current wips as it is. not to mention I think I'd need to watch the source material (both bridgerton and k3g) to fully immerse myself in this au and idk. the stars just haven't quite aligned yet.
plus there's another movie au I'm obsessed with but idk how to write it - and that's wicked! in my mind, kate is fiyero, anthony is elphaba and simon basset is glinda, with a very homoerotic friendship between anthony and simon (just like the show lbr) and kate/anthony endgame. my whole thing is subverting the roles characters have in the original source material because I find their roles in aus far more interesting in exploring underrated elements of characters - like anthony's more playful or sassy or bashful side in elphaba, simon's mean girl potential or kate being a female casanova. and also then I'm taking away what previously felt like integral parts of said characters like anthony being wealthy - and it still makes sense character wise. I feel like all my stuff is character driven, so having aus as a way of character exploration is fun, but I guess the reason it fills me with existential dread starting any new wip is literally because I know it will snowball, that's what happened with my last three fics lmao.
81. if you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of writing advice specific to you, what would it be?
oh god. see I'm tempted to say just don't write as much smut as you did, but honestly I don't think I'd have been able to learn to get good at it. and I think you have to be bad at smut to then learn to be good at it, at least for writers starting out as teenagers or whatever.
maybe I would say that just because you regard something as practice writing doesn't mean you shouldn't consider fic as sharpening your craft or being a better storyteller. I feel like I only really started having conversations about specific storytelling techniques very late into my fanfic journey, and that was such a shame. and I guess advice for me specifically is that when you get an idea write it down stat, because your brain sucks and you won't remember.
