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silveradeptIn your own space, talk about your creative process(es) — anything from the initial inspiration to how you feel after something’s done. Do you struggle with motivation or is it a smooth process? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to pull out when a fanwork isn’t cooperating? What is your level of planning to pantsing/winging it?
Well, that's embarrassing. Mostly because I might have spent a significant portion of December talking about just that. And several of the things that go along with it. Heh. Who knew, right?
For me, I enjoy being one of fandom's short-order cooks, turning around exchange works on their deadlines, often because it can be easier to take someone else's idea of what they would like to see and weave in the parts that are uniquely mine. There's less risk of a work being a complete flop if you know at least one person is supposed to like it other than yourself.
It's fairly rare, at least for me, on exchanges, to match with someone on me than one of their potential topics, so a lot of the prep work involved for me is in the signup part - if it's not a fandom, pairing, or combination where I get a glint in my eye about the possibilities, I pass on it and keep looking. Sometimes I might go back and fill things in later so that I can have a wider net cast and make it an easier time for matching, but I'm really trying to set myself up for success right from the beginning by not including things that I'm not feeling an itch to write right now.
At that point, when the exchange assignment goes out, I find the matching fandom and then read up what's present in the prompt suggestions and the Dear Author letters to see whether we're going to be relatively compatible in our characterizations and how to approach the thought. Some ideas get shelved at this point because they're not really going to run compatibly, and others get promoted to the working table.
At that point, I often let the ideas cook until one of them spits out something, whether dialogue or action, that I can envision, and that brings that glint back to my eyes. That idea often becomes a key frame in how I structure the work. Then comes the writing of "how do we get there, and what happens afterward, if anything?" Sometimes extra key frames appear, and those get grafted into the timeline and have their own webs spun out until the work is finished (or the deadline is approaching.)
Usually after the first draft is done, I'll do a quick wordcount to make sure that I'm at least close to the line. Whether it's under or over or comfortably there, the process of adding usually happens next, filling in spots that might have [COOL ACTION SCENE GOES HERE] or spots where, on a reread, I or a beta goes "that doesn't make as much sense" or "that's feels like the wrong character, or the wrong motivation for that character" or other things that help mold the hot take into a more polished and complete work.
There will always be one thing that slips through SPAG and only gets noticed after posting and gifting. It's almost like a signature at this point.
And then it's done, and ready to go out into the world and collect a small number of hits, comments, and kudos. (I just had one piece reach the century mark, two years after posting.)
Then comes the next assignment. And sometimes it helps to be able to oscillate between assignments so that another idea can take over when one work is starting to run dry.
There's very little formality and outlining and all those tools that seem to be helpful in building epics. Which might be why my biggest wordcount is still under 10k.
No matter. I still like being a short-order cook.
Well, that's embarrassing. Mostly because I might have spent a significant portion of December talking about just that. And several of the things that go along with it. Heh. Who knew, right?
For me, I enjoy being one of fandom's short-order cooks, turning around exchange works on their deadlines, often because it can be easier to take someone else's idea of what they would like to see and weave in the parts that are uniquely mine. There's less risk of a work being a complete flop if you know at least one person is supposed to like it other than yourself.
It's fairly rare, at least for me, on exchanges, to match with someone on me than one of their potential topics, so a lot of the prep work involved for me is in the signup part - if it's not a fandom, pairing, or combination where I get a glint in my eye about the possibilities, I pass on it and keep looking. Sometimes I might go back and fill things in later so that I can have a wider net cast and make it an easier time for matching, but I'm really trying to set myself up for success right from the beginning by not including things that I'm not feeling an itch to write right now.
At that point, when the exchange assignment goes out, I find the matching fandom and then read up what's present in the prompt suggestions and the Dear Author letters to see whether we're going to be relatively compatible in our characterizations and how to approach the thought. Some ideas get shelved at this point because they're not really going to run compatibly, and others get promoted to the working table.
At that point, I often let the ideas cook until one of them spits out something, whether dialogue or action, that I can envision, and that brings that glint back to my eyes. That idea often becomes a key frame in how I structure the work. Then comes the writing of "how do we get there, and what happens afterward, if anything?" Sometimes extra key frames appear, and those get grafted into the timeline and have their own webs spun out until the work is finished (or the deadline is approaching.)
Usually after the first draft is done, I'll do a quick wordcount to make sure that I'm at least close to the line. Whether it's under or over or comfortably there, the process of adding usually happens next, filling in spots that might have [COOL ACTION SCENE GOES HERE] or spots where, on a reread, I or a beta goes "that doesn't make as much sense" or "that's feels like the wrong character, or the wrong motivation for that character" or other things that help mold the hot take into a more polished and complete work.
There will always be one thing that slips through SPAG and only gets noticed after posting and gifting. It's almost like a signature at this point.
And then it's done, and ready to go out into the world and collect a small number of hits, comments, and kudos. (I just had one piece reach the century mark, two years after posting.)
Then comes the next assignment. And sometimes it helps to be able to oscillate between assignments so that another idea can take over when one work is starting to run dry.
There's very little formality and outlining and all those tools that seem to be helpful in building epics. Which might be why my biggest wordcount is still under 10k.
No matter. I still like being a short-order cook.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-12 04:14 am (UTC)