More Meme Sheepage

[kerravonsen]

Gacked from astrogirl2 and altariel1 (hmmm, maybe that should be the other way around? Have I ever ordered my friendslist in numerical order?)

Ask me one question - any one - about my writing, then post this in your LJ so I can satisfy my curiosity about yours...

Comments

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Do you get ideas for original stories in the same genres as your fandoms (ie, SF&F)?

[kerravonsen]

I don't get very many ideas for original stories, but, yes, definitely the SF&F variety when they do come. I would write what I enjoy reading, and SF&F is what I mostly read. And while I read and enjoy historical novels (whether straight historical, historical romances or historical mysteries) my knowledge of history sporadic, and I know that writing a historical novel properly would take so much research in an area I know so little about there's no point in even considering writing it, and besides, I don't have any ideas for historical stuff, and if I did, I'd probably rather write a historical-like fantasy story instead.

If I ever managed to write anything original.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

All right, here's a question inspired by the one you asked me: What makes you want to decide in a particular fandom?

[kerravonsen]

Well, like you, I wouldn't dream of writing in a fandom where I didn't know the canon backwards. Except sometimes I might have written a poem or something in response to a particular episode, where one doesn't actually need to know canon that well (for example, I wrote a poem about the "Dead Letters" episode of Millenium, which is one of the few epsiodes I've seen of that, which I saw chiefly because it had James Morrison in it).

Sometimes I might get an idea for a fandom where I didn't know the canon backwards, but I'd usually end up researching it as best I could -- like rewatch or record or borrow tapes of it. Like I did for the Buffy/Samurai Jack story I did for RemixRedux last year. I researched that as best I could.

But even out of the bunch of shows I know well... I guess you're really more interested in what attracts me to write in particular fandoms...
Of course one has got to like the characters. Star Trek: Next Generation was the first major SF show I'd seen where the entire cast could have been eaten by a mutant star goat and I wouldn't have turned a hair.
But even having interesting/likeable characters isn't enough. Some universes just don't seem to spark the ideas.

And even while I may have a bunch of ideas written down for various fandoms (especially crossovers) that doesn't mean I will necessarily actually manage to turn those ideas into stories. As one could judge by the abandoned plot bunnies I was trying to give away last year.

So I have this list, see. And what's at the top of the list is more likely to get written than what's at the bottom of the list. And what is likely to move something closer to the top of the list is (a) an interested reader (b) deadlines.

Which is why most of my fic last year was challenge or ficathon fic. They all got to the top of the list.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I find deadlines are wonderful for prompting me to actually write and finish things, too. Which is why I like ficathons. :)

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Which character POV do you prefer to write from - the character you actually like better, or the character who is interacting with him/her?

[kerravonsen]

Hmmm. Well, the cop-out answer is probably "it depends on the particular character". And it can also depend on the particular story, if I'm trying to experiment with point-of-view too. For example, "The Butterfly Effect: Out of the Dark" was told mostly from the villanous alien's point of view. But that kind of thing is probably more the exception than the rule.

But it still does depend on the character. I do like writing from Avon's point of view, rather than the others, but with Jim and Blair I think I'm equally happy with both -- but that could be because I like them both equally... though I do tend to lean towards Jim. But it could also depend on the particular story structure -- I've written more than one Sentinel story where Jim and Blair have been separated for at least part of the story, and the natural structure of the story was to have alternating points of view from both Jim and Blair.

Yes, I do like writing from the PoV of the character I like better, because I often can get into their heads more easily because that's part of why I like them... but I'm not entirely sure that I have a huge preference.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Which character(s) do you find easiest to write (as POV)? And if you feel like answering more than one, I'm also interested in which character(s) you find hardest to write as POV, and which fandoms are easiest/hardest.

[kerravonsen]

I think Avon would have to be easiest, because he's the one I most identify with. And B7 is the easiest fandom, because the whole thing sunk into my brain when I was a teenager, much more thoroughly than any of my later fandoms.

The hardest characters to write from the PoV of are the ones I don't write from the PoV of at all. Though that's a kind of non-answer. I was going to say "the villains", except that I've actually written poems from the PoV of both Travis and Servalan (see, I told you B7 was the easiest fandom).

I think "Lady Blue" was hard, partly because I wasn't confident with Farscape, since I haven't seen all of it. But I did my research...

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

What makes some characters easier to write than others?

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Oh! Oh! Rudely jumping into kerravonsen's entry to say that I adore your icon. With big smooshy lurve, I adore it!

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

Heh. Thanks!

[kerravonsen]

Heh, everyone is asking about characters tonight!

Easier characters are ones which I can get inside the head of, ones that I identify with more, find something in common with. Avon is the obvious one. With The Sentinel, it's sort of spread between Jim and Blair because with Jim I can identify with the quietness, the responsibility and guilt, the determination. With Blair I can identify with the curiosity, academicness, sense of wonder.

Which I guess means that a way of making a character easier to write is to try to find that common thread of humanity...

[temeres.livejournal.com]

To what extent, if any, does your religion influence the content of your fiction? Aside from the obvious absence of slash.

[kerravonsen]

Well, you could ask just as much "How does my religion influence my thinking?" because at the root, that's the same question. And of course, the answer to that is "a great deal, both conciously and subconciously". It is, after all, my World View.

But I figure you're probably more interested in specific examples, like that of not writing slash... I mean, I'm not going to write things I don't believe philisophically (like, I wouldn't write a story set in a (fantasy) universe where the Creator is evil) -- though that won't stop me writing characters who don't believe what I believe -- or I wouldn't be able to write Avon to start with! I wouldn't write stories with reincarnation in them, for another example -- not even if it were a fantasy universe.

Does it influence the kind of stories I write? Well, I'm not going to go around writing preachy propagandaistic fiction -- that's an insult to the reader, an insult to the process of storytelling, where the Story is the thing. That isn't to say there might not be symbolism of various kinds, but that sort of thing tends to be a lot unconcious more than concious -- at least with me.

[temeres.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not going to go around writing preachy propagandaistic fiction

I credit you with more common sense than that:) It's just that I can see some potential constraints on your writing, though all of them are easily sidestepped. Metaphysical actualities are one, such as the Evil Creator you mention, and reicarnation. Presumably you would likewise avoid an SF plot that revolves around evolution, since you've expressed your antipathy to neo-Darwinism elsewhere.

You don't slash established characters, but what about an OC homosexual? After all, whatever your attitude to homosexuality, it's real enough and out there. As are other plenty of other things that you would consider immoral (I'd probably agree with you on some of them). What about dialogue that you personally would consider blasphemous, even though it would be in character for an OC (or an established character, come to that) to say such things? Would you feel uncomfortable writing it even though you knew that you personally did not in any way endorse it?

Not that there's any onus on you to include that type of thing in what you write. I'm just curious as to how your sense of faith affects what you choose to write about, what not to include, and how it affects your take on canonical characters. Something like that must exert an impact on all writers, regardless of their religious persuasion (if any). I'd have to think, for example, whether or not 'my' Cally was a vegetarian. I'd like her to be one, but I'd probably opt for pointing out that she wasn't. But I would have to stop and think about it, if only for a moment.

[kerravonsen]

You don't slash established characters, but what about an OC homosexual? After all, whatever your attitude to homosexuality, it's real enough and out there.

Yeah, but I'm not obligated to put homosexual original characters in my stories any more than I would be obligated to put, say, people from South Africa in my stories.

What about dialogue that you personally would consider blasphemous, even though it would be in character for an OC (or an established character, come to that) to say such things? Would you feel uncomfortable writing it even though you knew that you personally did not in any way endorse it?

I'd possibly tone it down a bit, but if it was a particular character that it was part of his character that he spoke that way, then I wouldn't want to write them out of character. And I'm a bit less uncomfortable about swear words than I used to be.

I'd have to think, for example, whether or not 'my' Cally was a vegetarian. I'd like her to be one, but I'd probably opt for pointing out that she wasn't. But I would have to stop and think about it, if only for a moment.

Interesting point. I think it's not only my faith but my culture which influences what... assumptions I make about characters. I remember getting into an argument on someone else's LJ about whether or not various Buffy characters would go to Heaven, and I realized that my cultural attitude (that any given random person you meet is not a Christian) was shaping my assumptions about the characters, about whom we didn't have much evidence one way or another.
And of course the questions one considers important vary from person to person -- I've never even considered wondering about whether Cally was or was not a vegetarian, wheras you have. All we have in canonical evidence is that Blake definitely isn't, and Vila possibly is.

Of course, in B7 the question of religious belief of the characters is easy -- in a culture which suppresses religion, the chances are that they're all nominal atheists. In other fandoms, the question is more open. In The Sentinel, I'd guess that Jim was brought up a nominal Christian, simply because his father was into appearances, and it would look good to go to church in the social circles he was in. Whether Jim himself is actually a Christian is more open to interpretation. And Blair we know is a Jew, but probably not a terribly religious one.

[temeres.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I'm not obligated to put homosexual original characters in my stories any more than I would be obligated to put, say, people from South Africa in my stories.

Of course not! Any more than I would be obliged to put a fox-hunting neo-Nazi in one of mine. But I would be tempted to try one, or at least something comparable, if only to see if I could manage it.

And I'm a bit less uncomfortable about swear words than I used to be.

Not a problem I have:) If I tempered my language in my fiction (and I did) it was more with a view to not offending the reader. And getting accepted by the zine editor, of course.

I think it's not only my faith but my culture which influences what... assumptions I make about characters.

I'd expect culture to be more influential than faith for most people, since faith is embedded in culture (in this secular day and age, even though the culture arguably grew out of the faith to begin with). Awareness/experience of other cultures is definitely an asset to any writer, though not an asset I can claim for myself (unfortunately).

[kerravonsen]

Presumably you would likewise avoid an SF plot that revolves around evolution, since you've expressed your antipathy to neo-Darwinism elsewhere.

Though in a fandom which has evolution as cannonical (such as The Tomorrow People) one simply has to live with the rules of that universe.