3, 18 and 20 for writing ask game??
man you picked some hard questions
3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)
Maybe it’s because I’m an extremely linear thinker or something, but I seem to mostly come up with beginning scenes for stories, so set-up etc. isn’t a problem; the problem is usually “okay well I wrote this one scene, now what?” In terms of things I want to write in general but can’t get myself to: plot-relevant smut. Am I too embarrassed to try my hand at it or just worried it will turn out awful? Probably both.
18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.
Re: the linear thing, I really don’t think that far ahead when I’m writing so most of the time if something turns out a bit different than I thought it would in the beginning it’s generally not a big thing and I pretty much forget it right away. The only thing I can think of that’s big is for Foggy Nelson, Super Sleuth! when I was in the stages of mapping out the premise I briefly flirted with the idea of Foggy thinking Matt has some sort of self-harm issue (self-indulgent, I know) instead of an alcohol problem. But that made less sense logically and seemed a lot less “fun” for Matt to keep up the pretense for. (also holy shit somebody please make me update this fic it’s been so long wtf!!)
20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)
Woohoo okay, as far as symbolism goes I love a metaphor and I probably honestly cram too much of them into my writing. This ficlet, Cartography, is basically an extended metaphor for how we navigate (see what I did there lolll) interpersonal relationships, and especially how the same event/circumstances can end up being interpreted so differently. Basically maps here stand in for those interpretations and how we add or subtract to them as time goes on, and of course maps and borders have always been contentious among different powers through history, so I used that to reflect how the characters end up in conflict over how they’re each processing the same grief. And maps are generally used when you’re going someplace, so I also used that to convey the idea of “where do we go from here?”
