Thanks to the lovely @writingruna for taking the time to answer these! Get to know more about lovely Lizzie, go give her a follow and then show her some love!
These questions are from this list. You should check it out, there’s 50 questions all together and they’d be great to ask your favorite fic writer!
1) How old were you when you first starting writing fan-fiction?
I was nineteen when I first started writing fanfiction, but I’ve been writing my whole life. My parents have stories I ordered them to write down from when I was two or three.
2) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.
In fanfiction, I like writing reader insert more than OC’s. I started writing fanfiction – and have continued – to practice writing without having to world-build. It gives me an opportunity to grow as a writer without worrying about accidental plot holes, which I have written plenty of.
3) What is your favorite genre to write for?
When writing fanfiction, I like to toe the line between canon and AU. I always try to keep my characters in character, but I don’t mind putting them in situations that don’t exist canonically or ignoring deaths that occurred canonically. Actually, I pretty actively ignore canon deaths.
Working on original works, my favorite genre is young adult fiction with a focus in mystery and spy craft. I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes as a child.
4) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?
I actually started as a Supernatural writer, and I have deleted a few of those stories and will never speak of them again – specifically a horribly written story centered on the game 2048 that a friend asked me to write.
5) When is your preferred time to write?
Unfortunately, in the middle of the night. It is horrible for my real life, but it’s quiet and peaceful and I find it easiest to focus.
6) Where do you take your inspiration from?
Underneath the bitter cynicism of being a college aged millennial in a dreary economy, I am very much a Romantic Era writer. I am all about finding beauty where there really isn’t any and emphasizing. I find most of my inspiration in dark moments that can bring good. I am well aware the world isn’t always beautiful, but I like to choose to see the beauty wherever I can.
7) In your Where Do the Flowers Go Series, what’s your favorite scene that you wrote?
My favorite scene in Where Do the Flowers Go actually hasn’t been posted yet. There are ten more chapters in the series, and there is a scene between Bucky and the reader that I not only loved writing, but that I love in terms of character growth. It’s a turning point in the series, and a turning point in who the reader is viewed to be.
8) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?
I haven’t, but I think I should have. Although it’s not something I talk about openly on Tumblr – mostly because I’m not asked – I have a pretty severe anxiety disorder and some brain damage from a concussion in high school and I stutter when I get anxious. It’s something I didn’t realize wasn’t “typical”. In my story Babadook, the reader stutters when she gets scared. Now that I know it isn’t the way everyone reacts, I worry I might have offended some.
9) Who is your favorite character to write for? Why?
Wanda. I absolutely adore writing characters who speak English as a second language because their dialogue is challenging. Also, I have a huge crush on Elizabeth Olsen and my little bi heart needs me female x female loving in the fanfiction world. I enjoy writing Illya from Man from U.N.C.L.E. for mostly the same reasons.
10) Who is your least favorite character to write for? Why?
Probably Frank Castle? I was asked to write a few Frank drabble during one of those three-day writing games I run when I get stuck and I have actually never seen Daredevil or The Punisher or any of it. Thanks to an amazing friend, I managed to pull it off, but I felt sort of guilty for accidentally writing a character I didn’t know well.
11) How did you come up with the title for the Where Do the Flowers Go Series?
Where Do the Flowers Go is based on an original story I wrote which is loosely based on the myth of Hades and Persephone. The idea is meant to reference the loss of flowers when Persephone descends into the underworld and references a specific chapter in the series itself, although it has not yet been posted. I would love to answer this question in more detail once I have posted the remainder of the story.
12) How did you come up with the idea for the Where Do the Flowers Go Series?
Where Do the Flowers Go is actually based on an original story I wrote which is itself based on the myth of Hades and Persephone. Since I haven’t posted the final ten chapters, I don’t want to give away too much, but there is a specific aspect of the myth that always fascinated me which I incorporated it into an original work about the KGB and a Chicago socialite. I would love to answer this question in more detail once I have posted the remainder of the story.
13) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?
I have a few much older stories that I started when I was fifteen and sixteen that I have since decided not to write. In most cases, it’s because I had a good idea for a short story and tried to stretch it novel length and it just got really bad really fast, but in a few cases I just no longer felt invested in the story I had started.
14) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?
Definitely! I would love to turn Fell for You into a mini-series. I originally wrote it because I had fallen down the stairs at work and really bruised myself up. I am clumsy to the point that it’s not a “quirk”, it’s something people worry about. It could be fun to recount a few more of my more disastrous moments.
15) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?
Yes and no. I don’t regret any of my endings, but I think the ending of Change of Plans was a little unrealistic. I created a plot hole and actively didn’t fill it because I liked the ending anyway.
16) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?
This question is the hardest to answer because there are so many and I am so aware that I am going to forget some and end up feeling guilty. However, the three I am closest to both on and off tumblr are @buckyywiththegoodhair, @captainpunk, and @bucky-plums-barnes. These three women will listen to me rant for hours about fanfictions and original works, they’ve always been willing to read anything and everything I write, and they are constant cheerleaders both in writing and in life. I would not be where I am and trying to finish my novel without these women. On top of it, all three are amazing writers. Nicky creates such stunning imagery that her stories just swallow you whole. Talya has heart wrenching emotion in her stories that is so hard to capture. Genny has this ability to interact with everyone in every story she writes and make it feel completely personalized.
17) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?
Just Say It. I had a story in my head that I wanted to tell and I – inexplicably – tied to Not Really Anyway and it just couldn’t measure up. Not Really Anyway is a fic I am amazingly proud of and should have stood alone.
18) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?
Neither, actually. I usually have Netflix on. I’ll play a show that I have seen before and don’t need to pay attention to, but that can provide background noise. I get unease in complete silence and I also don’t want my other people to overhear me talking to myself when I try and work through dialogue.
19) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?
Stole the Show. I still cry when I read it. I don’t write angst very often, but it’s not because I am not good at it.
20) Which part of your Where Do the Flowers Go Series was the hardest to write?
I removed the part of the series that was hardest for me to write. At the end of the undercover operation, I originally wrote an arrest scene and then I couldn’t post it. Although I knew Zadie was doing terrible things, she was doing it because she truly thought it was right and, deep down, she was a good person. I cared about her as much as the reader did and I couldn’t bear to put anyone through watching her arrested.
21) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?
Both. Depending on the complexity of the storyline, and the inspiration. Since my concussion, I have begun to lean more heavily on general outlines, but I do not always use them.
22) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fan-fiction?
That I would find such a community of friends and other writers – and that other people would enjoy my writing. I never imagined I would make such close friends and find so many people who admired what I did.
23) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?
Stole the Show. It is the only angst story I have ever published and it was painful to write, but I have never been more proud of a story that I was of Stole the Show. I know that female x female fics have a smaller audience and so I didn’t expect it to get a lot of attention, but I experimented with the style and wish it had more of a chance.
24) In contrast to 23 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?
Naked Confessions! It was the second Pietro story I wrote and it was one of those stories that you write in two hours in the middle of the day because the idea just hits. I did a single edit and posted it thinking it might get a few notes and it is by far my most popular story.
25) Are any of your characters based on real people?
Yes, although actively and with permission. The readers in Clair de Lune and My Queen were both actively written to resemble the friends I wrote them for. Additionally, a lot of background characters in stories are modeled after other writers on tumblr. I would ask favorite colors or middle names and incorporated details into the stories as “shout outs”.
26) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?
I have a had a few followers create fan art of Where Do the Flowers Go and I straight up cried when I saw it. As a writer, all you want to do is touch your readers and make them feel something and it was such an honor and inspiration to have this actual proof that I had done so.
In that same strain, it’s always a compliment when other writers come to me for advice or want me to beta for them. I’ve been writing for more than twenty years and I am proud of what I can do, but it’s such an honor when someone else wants me to teach them what I’ve learned.
27) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?
I’ve actually been really lucky on tumblr so far, and I have yet to get anon hate. I think I once had a follower ask me why I was taking so long to post, but it was more from a place of concern that something was wrong in my life than anything else.
28) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?
There a few close friends that I share most of my ideas with. Specifically, @captainpunk puts up with so much more than anyone else from me when it comes to ideas. I have texted her at two in the morning with random thoughts and she always betas everything I write. She’s even been there to help me plan a lot of my original works as well. She has been my biggest supporter and my biggest cheerleader from the first day we met.
29) Do people know you write fan-fiction?
A few close friends, and of course the friends I’ve met on tumblr. Strangely enough, my parents know, although I have actively never let them read any of it.
30) What’s your favorite minor character you’ve written?
Zadie from Where Do the Flowers Go. She’s the minor character I spent the most time with and I ended up just absolutely loving her – despite what she does. In creating her, I realized she would only do what she had done if she truly thought it was the best thing to do and she just became this very genuine, very loving character that I hadn’t expected her to be.
31) What spurs you on during the writing process?
Again, it’s @captainpunk most of the time. I go time blind when I write and when everything falls into place, I can write for seven or eight hours without stopping, but most of the time I struggled to get through more than two or three paragraphs at a time and Talya on the sidelines sometimes cheering and sometimes yelling can always get me to focus.
32) What’s your favorite trope to write?
Relationships – whether romantic or platonic – between very hard and very soft characters with bonus points if the only reason the soft character is soft is because the hard character is hard and when the hard character disappears the soft character turns out to harder than the hard character. I really hope that makes sense.
33) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?
I don’t remember what it was called, but it was about Dean Winchester and @tralfamadoreian5 made me read it.
34) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?
Fluff. Life is hard and unfair and scary enough without stories about life is hard and unfair and scary. The world needs more happy endings.
