![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Fandom Snowflake Challenge - Day 11
Day 11
In 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?
I always think I love writing about my creative process until I try writing about my creative process--not that it isn't interesting to me, but I don't always feel like my writing about it makes it interesting to other people, since it's pretty run-of-the-mill and doesn't include any interesting quirks like writing only in purple ink or an antique typewriter; basically I get an idea, try to write it, and either succeed or don't. And generally once it's finished I will post it, even though not every story I post is one that I personally felt hit the mark. But if it's done it's done, and there's always a chance that someone out there will like it.
My initial inspirations always stem from a character or characters. Plotting is my single biggest weakness as a writer and most of my stories, especially my fics, aren't all that plot-focused. I love interesting character dynamics or characters with a unique voice, and voice is another big part of my initial inspiration--if I can't "hear" it clearly in my head, I can't write it. One of the trends that I've noticed in my fanfic is that I tend to glom onto characters with distinctive voices, like Yondu from GOTG, Joan Clayton/The Cut-Wife from Penny Dreadful, and Steve Harrington from Stranger Things (Steve isn't as dramatic as the other examples, but a lot of his mannerisms and expressions are pretty specific to him; he's very preppy). On the one hand, super distinctive voices are easier to get wrong, but on the other, you can just tell when you get them right--there isn't much of an in-between. (I may or may not have posted about this distinctive-voiced-thing before, but right now I'm too lazy to go back and check, so if it sounds familiar, sorry.)
If my fic isn't cooperating it's usually because it's heading down a direction that I don't want it to go in or that isn't as interesting as I first assumed it would be, so my biggest trick is to either scrap the scene/story and start over again or, if it's an issue with the entire piece, just set it aside and start working on something else. If it isn't an issue with the entire piece, and I can't figure out where to take the story next, talking it over with a friend helps a lot. All the bits and pieces that never made it into fully-fledged stories live in a document in my Google Docs account that's more than 100 pages long at this point. I start many, many more stories than I finish.
I'm basically a pantser, in that I don't usually sit down and outline my stories--I've never found outlining all that helpful--but when I start writing I do have a basic idea of where the story will go in my head, and also a couple major scenes along the way, plus the first couple of lines. I need to have enough in my head that I don't feel like I'm pulling a story out of nothing, but it still needs to be misty enough that the twists and turns surprise me. Otherwise, there's not much point in writing it, at least not for me. The one exception to outlines is when I'm working on a story with someone else. Then planning a broad-strokes version out keeps us both on the same page and works almost like a brainstorm; there's still a bit of not knowing exactly how the story will play out because I'm not the only one working on it.
Oh, and once I finish a story, I almost always feel an intense need to read over it a hundred times and fiddle with it until it's perfect. I do read over my stories at least once before posting them, but I also try to fight back against the impulse to make it perfect, since that's just setting myself up for failure.
I always think I love writing about my creative process until I try writing about my creative process--not that it isn't interesting to me, but I don't always feel like my writing about it makes it interesting to other people, since it's pretty run-of-the-mill and doesn't include any interesting quirks like writing only in purple ink or an antique typewriter; basically I get an idea, try to write it, and either succeed or don't. And generally once it's finished I will post it, even though not every story I post is one that I personally felt hit the mark. But if it's done it's done, and there's always a chance that someone out there will like it.
My initial inspirations always stem from a character or characters. Plotting is my single biggest weakness as a writer and most of my stories, especially my fics, aren't all that plot-focused. I love interesting character dynamics or characters with a unique voice, and voice is another big part of my initial inspiration--if I can't "hear" it clearly in my head, I can't write it. One of the trends that I've noticed in my fanfic is that I tend to glom onto characters with distinctive voices, like Yondu from GOTG, Joan Clayton/The Cut-Wife from Penny Dreadful, and Steve Harrington from Stranger Things (Steve isn't as dramatic as the other examples, but a lot of his mannerisms and expressions are pretty specific to him; he's very preppy). On the one hand, super distinctive voices are easier to get wrong, but on the other, you can just tell when you get them right--there isn't much of an in-between. (I may or may not have posted about this distinctive-voiced-thing before, but right now I'm too lazy to go back and check, so if it sounds familiar, sorry.)
If my fic isn't cooperating it's usually because it's heading down a direction that I don't want it to go in or that isn't as interesting as I first assumed it would be, so my biggest trick is to either scrap the scene/story and start over again or, if it's an issue with the entire piece, just set it aside and start working on something else. If it isn't an issue with the entire piece, and I can't figure out where to take the story next, talking it over with a friend helps a lot. All the bits and pieces that never made it into fully-fledged stories live in a document in my Google Docs account that's more than 100 pages long at this point. I start many, many more stories than I finish.
I'm basically a pantser, in that I don't usually sit down and outline my stories--I've never found outlining all that helpful--but when I start writing I do have a basic idea of where the story will go in my head, and also a couple major scenes along the way, plus the first couple of lines. I need to have enough in my head that I don't feel like I'm pulling a story out of nothing, but it still needs to be misty enough that the twists and turns surprise me. Otherwise, there's not much point in writing it, at least not for me. The one exception to outlines is when I'm working on a story with someone else. Then planning a broad-strokes version out keeps us both on the same page and works almost like a brainstorm; there's still a bit of not knowing exactly how the story will play out because I'm not the only one working on it.
Oh, and once I finish a story, I almost always feel an intense need to read over it a hundred times and fiddle with it until it's perfect. I do read over my stories at least once before posting them, but I also try to fight back against the impulse to make it perfect, since that's just setting myself up for failure.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject